homemaking | kimberly ah

Dec 04 2012

celebrations, Christmas, holidays, homemaking, Merry & Bright

the stockings were hung…

…on the liquor cabinet with care…

The tree is done, but I’m still fussing with it…I ran out of ornaments, so when I say I’m fussing, I’m pretty much just moving ornaments around on the tree. It’s a total waste of time. I don’t think this tree is bigger than trees we’ve had in the past, but for some reason, I feel like it needs more ornaments…it’s probably just me being all perfectionist with my crooked tree.

In other news, the bathroom is speeding right along! Tomorrow, the sanding of the drywall begins…the messy job. I’ve been holding back on the Christmas decorating because everything will be covered in dust. After tomorrow, I can go to town with my cleaning and decorating (in that order…must. clean. first!) I feel behind…but that’s nothing new around here.

And, Presley could use a new stocking, don’t you think? A little felt one that matches ours better…must think about that…

Tagged celebrations, Christmas, decorating, holidays, home, homemaking

Nov 30 2012

1 Comment

home is a 1970s apartment

Construction rolls on slowly…

The bathroom renovations seem to be coming along slowly because of the holiday, but things are happening…behind the walls. Last week the plumbers installed the shower base and this week they replaced and relocated our pipes. In our building–because it is filled with a bunch of retired people who are around all day, who never remodel their tired apartments and who like to find things to complain about–you become really popular when you have work done. (And by popular, I mean hated.) So I wasn’t surprised at all when the guy across the hall knocked on the door to tell me how I had basically ruined his day with my construction work…

Wednesday the electrician came to work on the wiring and yesterday we passed our inspections of the electric and plumbing work. Today, the drywalling begins…

I really need to pick a paint color…pronto.

Do you know how hard it is to choose a winning grey?

(The picture above shows our shiny new pipes and our nifty new pocket door frame.)

Tagged decorating, home improvement, homemaking, retirement community

Nov 28 2012

Christopher Kimball at Unity Temple

Last night, Naoto & I had the pleasure of listening to a talk about the science of cooking with Christopher Kimball. The event was held at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple, where Naoto & I got married. Mr. Kimball is the host of America’s Test Kitchen on PBS and the founder of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. Naoto and I watch America’s Test Kitchen whenever we can, and we especially love the equipment tests and Christopher Kimball’s geeky wit. I was happy to see that he wore his signature bow tie, though I missed his red apron. (I suppose it would be weird for him to wear it outside of the kitchen…) What I liked best about the night was that Christopher Kimball was able to debunk a few myths about cooking–things that you hear TV “chefs” claiming all of the time. (Example: Searing meat does not “hold in the juices”.) It’s nice to know the Test Kitchen is out there trying recipes hundreds of times and getting it right so I only have to try it once.

Tagged adventures, books, food, homemaking

Nov 26 2012

3 Comments

celebrations, holidays, homemaking, Thanksgiving, what's for dinner

my mom’s twinkie cake

When Hostess filed for bankruptcy the week of Thanksgiving (which, for the record, is very sad to me…even though I have probably only eaten five Twinkies in my whole life and even though hopefully some other brand might buy the product rights and the Twinkie may make its comeback in the future), I joked to my mom that she should bring her Twinkie cake for Thanksgiving dessert. I know, I know…we followed our completely traditional Thanksgiving meal with something completely nontraditional…it was delicious!

This is one of those old-school recipes that I loved as a child. Ahhh…the innocence of childhood…when I didn’t realize that blue can of Crisco was filled with artery-clogging hydrogenated oil…sigh…Now, as a semi-responsible adult, I am a label reader and I manage to talk myself out of many treats that list hydrogenated oil in the ingredients. I make an occasional exception (Chewy Sweettarts are one.) and to me, this Twinkie cake is one of the best exceptions.

This recipe comes from my mom’s recipe box, and her recipe says it comes from her mom’s kitchen. (We all have these recipe cards in our recipe boxes.) I’m sure my grandmother found the recipe somewhere else, maybe from one of those church cookbooks where recipes get passed around to all of the members of the tiny, small-town congregation. And, I should also say that this cake isn’t meant to be one of those fake-out recipes…it doesn’t taste exactly like a Twinkie. It lacks the weird sponginess and the sugary, light and fluffy filling. The cake (from a box-mix) is dense and moist and the filling is rich and creamy. It has the spirit of a Twinkie, but it is decidedly homemade (and delicious.)

Twinkie Cake

Box of Yellow cake mix
Prepare cake per directions.
Bake in jelly roll pan
Cool

For the filling:

5 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
Cook over low heat until thick like paste. Cool

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oleo*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Crisco
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat well. Cream together until fluffy.
Add the thick flour & milk mixture once cooled. Beat again until fluffy.

Slice cooled cake in half. Spread fluffy filling on half & then put remaining half on top.
Refrigerate. ENJOY!!

If you’d like to make a HoHo cake, use chocolate cake mix instead.

In spite of the fact that my dad ate three (!!!) pieces on Thanksgiving, we still had some cake leftover for Naoto & I to enjoy over the weekend. mmmm…

*oleo=margarine

Tagged celebrations, food, homemaking, memories, parents, Thanksgiving, Twinkie

Nov 25 2012

the season of Turkey leftovers…

We cook a fifteen pound bird for Thanksgiving dinner, and since we were only feeding five people, we had ~~some~~ a lot of leftovers. On Saturday night, we made Mexican turkey soup, a modified Ina Garten–better known as the Barefoot Contessa–recipe. It was the perfect recipe for our leftovers because we got to use up the rest of the turkey and the leftover celery and carrots from the dressing.

Mexican Turkey Soup-

original recipe here, or it can be found in Barefoot Contessa At Home.

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups onions, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

4 large garlic cloves, chopped

2.5 quarts chicken stock (or turkey stock if you made some)

28oz whole tomatoes, crushed

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

leftover turkey (Ina’s recipe calls for 2 whole chicken breasts, we used about 4 cups of turkey)

salt & pepper to taste

In a Dutch oven, cook your carrots and celery in the olive oil for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. (Please don’t burn the garlic.) Then add the stock, the can of tomatoes, cumin, coriander, cilantro and leftover turkey. Bring everything to a boil, then cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

We garnished our soup with store-bought tortilla chips and fresh avocado and finished everything off with a squeeze of lime. The lime makes the soup.

You can also top the soup with shredded cheddar or sour cream.

Either way, don’t forget about the lime.

Tagged food, homemaking, Thanksgiving, Trader Joe's

Nov 20 2012

2 Comments

celebrations, holidays, Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Preparations Roll On…

I’m still working on cleaning up the spare room and wiping down well, everything in our home…construction dust does not stay in the construction area…lesson learned.

I also looked over our recipes and made my shopping list and did *almost* all of the grocery shopping. I say “almost” because I can never get it done in one shot, no matter how hard I try or how many lists I make. Upon returning home from the store, I realized we haven’t come up with a solution for cranberry sauce…canned or homemade? I admit that I really love the canned jelly stuff…it might be the noise it makes as it exits the can, it might be it’s jiggly can form, it might be that it’s a familiar friend at the table every year…I enjoy having it around. But I’m also intrigued with making my own…and it’s something that can be made the day before, so I feel like taking a stab at it. What’s the worst that can happen? If it’s a disaster, we can always open the expired can from the back of my cupboard! (just kidding…)

While I’m cleaning, I’m also contemplating what the table will look like. The table is my favorite part, but I never give it the time it deserves…mainly because I leave it for the last minute! I’m thinking candles, kraft paper, my new favorite gold paint, and feathers will be involved…but that’s all I’ve got. Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with some accomplishments…

Tagged celebrations, food, holidays, homemaking, Thanksgiving, Trader Joe's

Nov 01 2012

3 Comments

homemaking, what's for dinner, Wine

The Maiden Voyage of the Yellow Dutch Oven

We finally broke the new yellow Dutch oven out of the box this week and made French onion soup for dinner Monday night. As hurricane Sandy pounded the East and the residual winds battered Chicagoland, it felt like the perfect night to slow cook some onions into caramelized, salty goodness. And, I’m proud to say, I did all of the prep work of the soup by myself. (But once you see how little effort goes into making French Onion Soup, this fact is not impressive at all.)

I’ve been wanting to make French Onion Soup for a long time now, and I suppose I could have made it in our old metal soup pot, but I bet it wouldn’t have tasted as good…there was something so perfect about making it in that sunny pot. And, although the soup takes time, the rest of the work couldn’t be any easier. You seriously just have to slice a few onions–thin slices are important, but imperfect slices are fine!–and roughly measure out the rest of the ingredients. That, and a few stirs of the pot, and you’re done!

Here are the onions in the beginning:

And after almost an hour of cooking & caramelizing:

Delicious, yes?

We used this recipe from the Smitten Kitchen. We halved the ingredients, which made about three small bowls of soup for us. It was the perfect amount (one bowl for me, two for Naoto) with a light, herby salad.

Now that we know this soup will be a part of our regular repertoire, we are adding oven proof soup bowls to our Christmas list. The only thing I would change about our first attempt is that Naoto bought this weird, domestic-made “Gruyere” cheese…to get heavenly results, a good cheese is crucial to this soup…especially if the soup is secondary to the cheese, as it is for me! And, we need a little bit more practice using our broiler before I feel confident that we won’t burn the apartment down…little details…

Tagged food, homemaking

Oct 24 2012

6 Comments

home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Our Hardware Cabinet Finds Its Home

Last week we finally bought our first grown-up TV. Actually this is the first television purchase for either one of us–both Naoto & I have lived on TV hand-me-downs (and my gifted college TV from this post) our whole lives. When I met Naoto, his TV was so old, it didn’t even have a remote control and mine was my parent’s old set that worked perfectly, except it occasionally made this sizzling noise. It was slightly alarming, but harmless, until one day, it sizzled out in the middle of a thrilling Law & Order episode. Sad. (Confession: We hopped in my car and sped over to Naoto’s apartment to finish the episode.)

We finally got everything set up with HD and all that fancy stuff (clearly, I have no idea what I’m talking about here) and here it is! And we are so excited that it fit on our vintage hardware cabinet from Yearbook. Even the HD cable box tucks nicely to the side! (Sidenote: Do you remember this Friends episode where Rachel randomly wears her old cheerleader uniform to woo Joshua?)

I love our little hardware drawers. Most of them are still labeled with the contents of each drawer. I have a vintage Dymo label maker, so I might break it out for the drawers that have lost their identification. But I’m keeping the original old labels on the others.

I still need to vacuum out the drawers and decide what we are putting in them (any suggestions?), but for now, we are really happy with our impulse furniture purchase.

P.S. I tried to wipe off the stuff on the bottom drawers, but it seems to be more permanent than dirt…just so you don’t think I didn’t try.

P.S. (Part 2) Thanks for all of the hair love last week! Every comment made me smile!

Tagged decorating, home, home improvement, homemaking, vintage

Oct 11 2012

6 Comments

Halloween, holidays, homemaking

The Halloween Desk

The desk, since it’s new this season, was the most fun to decorate. I was happy to hang up my new prints and to finally stick something–a glittery skull–in my curio lamp. It’s the just-right amount of creepy. The book is a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories with wood block print illustrations. It’s my favorite, and since we are reading “The Murders of Rue Morgue” for book club, it’s handy to have the book around. The little mercury glass votive is filled with vintage flashcards that have creepy words on them, like “cadaverous “and “corpse” and “heinous”. Every year, I say I’m going to make something with them, and every year I don’t…this year shall be no different.

I’ve had my foam/plastic jack-o-lantern for years–he lights up like a champ at night. The jade plant is from Trader Joe’s. (Am I the only one who has a hard time passing up the plant section there?) And I bought the little Charlie Brown Halloween ornament last weekend at the Hallmark store–total impulse purchase. Who has a Halloween tree to hang ornaments from? Clearly, that didn’t stop me from buying it…I have such a soft spot for the Peanuts gang.

That’s all for now. I’m waiting to see my mom who has some pumpkins and gourds for me before I finish decorating the dining room. And, now that I’ve shown you my tidy, decorated workspace, I’m going to move my crafting mess back onto the desk and try to finish my watercolor project before I have to go to work this afternoon.

Tagged celebrations, decorating, Edgar Allan Poe, Halloween, holidays, home, homemaking

Oct 10 2012

Autumn Nostalgia

I’m still struggling to finish decorating for Halloween around here. Nothing is working for me, and I have the same stuff as I had last year. That might be the problem…boredom. But really, it will be good enough, especially since we aren’t having anyone over this month and I will have to quickly put everything Halloween away and haul out the red, white and blue for the Election Party. (Typing that sentence makes me wonder why I’m bothering with this Halloween stuff…) But, the good news is my new prints from Tag Team Tompkins look great above my desk, just as I’d pictured. (I will show you tomorrow when I have better light!)

I’ve had the little autumn squirrel pin above since I was very small…1982 to be exact. It’s vintage Hallmark, and even though it’s rather cutesy and child-like, I still wear it every fall. (And I occasionally troll Etsy for other vintage Hallmark pins because I love them so…) Ahhh, nostalgia…gets me every time.

Tagged celebrations, decorating, Edgar Allan Poe, Halloween, home, homemaking, memories