memories | kimberly ah

Mar 12 2013

home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking

Sidetracked: Fondue Forks

I’m in the middle of tidying up the kitchen drawers and the pantry. I’m in the middle of trying to convince Naoto that we need to get rid of our steamer. We’ve only used our steamer once AND we have a steamer function on our rice cooker AND we have a huge pot with a steamer tray…why keep it? (I’m losing this fight. Does anyone need a steamer?) I’m in the middle of replacing our three incomplete sets of measuring spoons with the one complete set from my parents. I’m in the middle of sorting through our pantry and thinking that we buy too much food that we don’t finish. We need to make better choices at the grocery store.

This morning I was sorting through the drawer that has the “infrequently used” things…things like summery serving trays (a gift) and tiny vases (and pretty bottles that I use as vases) and fondue forks. These fondue forks were a re-gift from our coffee-shop friend Madonna. We used to drink coffee with Madonna when our friends owned the bakery near our old apartment. When Madonna learned we had hosted a little fondue party, she brought us these fondue forks. They had been a gift to her in the 70s.

In case the picture is unclear, it says:

Dear Madonna,

Sorry we were late that night. We were looking for a place to buy a liqueur to “warm” your house. As it turns out, maybe you’ll get more and longer enjoyment from these.

Love,

Jessica & Terry

I love the wooden handles and the gold Roman numerals on each fork. I think the handles could use a bit of oil, but it is really such a lovely set. I love that Madonna thought to give them to us–it’s nice to have a little but of her history in our home since she was a big part of our life when we lived in Oak Park.

I think a little fondue party might be in the making!

Tagged food, home, homemaking, memories, vintage

Mar 10 2013

3 Comments

homemaking, in my library, what's for dinner

The Original 100 Calorie Snack

I always thought those “100 Calorie Snacks” were new creations, and I guess they are new in their pre-packaged, highly marketed forms. But the church cookbook proves that someone’s been thinking of 100 calorie portions for awhile now. Crazy insane how many rutabagas you can eat for 100 calories.

Tagged food, home, homemaking, memories

Mar 09 2013

3 Comments

Christmas, holidays, homemaking, in my library, what's for dinner

The BEST Christmas Gift

A long time ago, I was pilfering through my mom’s cookbook drawer searching for some recipe I’d loved as a kid. My mom hasn’t bought a cookbook in years. Nope, you won’t find a Rachel Ray or a Giada or a Barefoot Contessa book in her drawer. She does have plenty of old-school pamphlets filled with recipes promoting things like Philadelphia Cream cheese and Eagle Brand condensed milk and of course she has the Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. (Does everyone have this cookbook? Naoto and I each brought one to the marriage and neither of us is willing to part with the copy we brought.) While I was looking through the drawer I found her old Methodist Church cookbook. I flipped through it finding all of the usual church cookbook fare: plenty of jello salads, punches and casseroles. I loved seeing familiar names from our small town and seeing which recipes my grandma and her church lady friends contributed. I told my mom that I wanted a copy of the cookbook.

Since the cookbook was published in 1984, I knew finding one would be pretty impossible. I sifted through eBay listings of church cookbooks for weeks, but gave up and kind of forgot about it for awhile. When we were celebrating Christmas Thursday, I opened a box that had some new kitchen towels and new measuring spoons inside and there it was, tucked under a kitchen towel–the church cookbook! Apparently my mom told my aunt that she was searching for one and my aunt offered up her copy for the cause! (Thanks, Aunt Karen!)

My mom and I spent a good amount of time looking through our books and discovering recipes that include outdated ingredients (Have you ever used Dream Whip before?), many cans of cream of mushroom soup, oleo (aka margarine) and lots of Jello. I’ve already picked out a few recipes to try. I’m starting with a Jello salad, since Naoto and I have been in a Jello groove lately and I’m super-psyched to see several lima bean salads and casseroles!! Limas are my favorite and who knew they were the star of so many dishes!!

Tagged books, celebrations, Christmas, food, holidays, home, homemaking, memories, parents

Feb 01 2013

1 Comment

home is a 1970s apartment, homemaking, Uncategorized

It’s Been Quiet Around Here…

…because I’m in the middle of the most depressing cleaning project ever. Depressing only because I’ve put it off for so long.

We’ve lived here for two and a half years, but in some ways, I feel like we’ve never settled in. Certain things have never had a “place” and the guest room has always been an easy home for clutter. So this week I’ve been making a “place” for the things I want to keep and bagging up the things that I don’t. On Wednesday I finished up in our bedroom and our closets. This makes me extremely happy because repainting our bedroom and finishing our bathroom (FYI: the big work is done and we’re using it, but we still have to hang our mirror, the hooks and some art) are the last two big things we have to do before I will feel completely settled here. (Full disclosure: Our bedroom is the first room I painted when we bought our apartment. I’ve hated the color since the first roll. Lesson: Life’s too short to live with a bad paint choice.) Now that the bedroom and the closets are decluttered, we can get in there and paint. (And when I say we, I mean me.)

Yesterday I started tearing apart the guest room…it’s a big job in there. It was already a disaster and then, while I was cleaning our bedroom, I used the guest bed as a place to hold the things I couldn’t decide about. Now it’s time to pay the piper and find that stuff a home, or send it out. The picture above is of my stationery drawer–which has gotten a little bit out of hand. (Just a little.) I’ve sifted through it and everything fits into a basket now, which will be much easier to transport into the living room for letter writing. Tonight, I’m tackling the craft stuff, getting rid of dead and uninspiring materials and organizing the stuff that’s left. I’m trying to consolidate all of the like items and find them a home once and for all.

As depressing as the Great Clean Out has been, it’s also like a mini surprise party! I’ve unearthed some amazing things that I’d forgotten about like letters from old college friends and my old work notebook, filled with haikus that I’d written during meetings. (I was a diligent employee.) I’m glad I’m taking the time to find a good home for these little treasures of my past. And, I’m glad that I’ll soon be able to see all the craft stuff so I can use it up and spend it out.

So, that’s what’s been keeping me away from doing anything fun. Hopefully I’ll be back next week with a finished project and some good stuff to share (like an old work haiku).

Tagged home, home improvement, homemaking, memories

Jan 17 2013

4 Comments

crafty adventures, homemaking, some stuff about me

Tiny Plastic Pig

I had the nicest teacher ever in third grade. Mrs. Cox was so patient and caring, but she was also firm. One morning when I walked into the classroom, I found the entire contents of my desk tossed on the floor and on my desktop sat a tiny plastic pig. I was a very sensitive child–a bit of a goody, goody–so at first I was stunned, then I was saddened by this “mean” act. But when I looked at Mrs. Cox, she was smiling and she said that when desks got this messy it was best to start over. That just made everything better (well, a little bit…to this day I still feel slightly mortified by that moment, even though other students–mostly boys–had pigs on their desks, too). I got to work putting my desk back together and throwing out a ton of old papers and other stuff (I was apparently a hoarder back then, too!). My third grade desk never got that messy again…but I hardly learned my lesson–I am still very messy today.

So on Monday, I pulled out the tiny plastic pig (unfortunately, this is only a metaphor…I really do need a plastic pig) and started dumping everything out of my desk drawers. What you see in the picture above is some of my desktop clutter mixed with the contents of one of the drawers. All week I’ve been working on getting my desk to “perfection” status (all while trying to remember not to let perfect be the enemy of the good!) It’s quite a challenge. Since most of my crafting happens on the desks but most of my craft supplies are in the second bedroom, the process involves a lot of walking around and deciding what should go where…and what should go into the donation pile. In other words, organizing the desk has opened a whole other can of worms that involves the spare room (and somehow the junk drawer in the kitchen). I’m trying to keep my eye on the prize: a neat & tidy & functional work surface.

Tagged crafts, decorating, homemaking, memories

Dec 22 2012

2 Comments

adventures, Christmas, Merry & Bright, Oh Tannenbaum

Oh Tannenbaum 6 – Road Trip Honeymoon

Since we had so much fun on our first road trip, I made my mind up that a road trip honeymoon was the right idea for our wedding the following year. We didn’t want to do anything too crazy expensive, since we knew we wanted to go to Japan at some point. And we didn’t want to do a beach honeymoon because we could visit Naoto’s host family in Hawaii any time.

So we decided to head east for the honeymoon. We started in Cleveland and the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. The ornament isn’t crazy-awesome, but the building really is amazing. It was designed by I.M. Pei (who also worked on the Louvre expansion) and the building itself is enough of a reason to visit Cleveland, not to mention the rock awesomeness on the inside. It was super-educational for Naoto, too…because he didn’t have the same rock education growing up as I did.

After Cleveland, we headed into Pennsylvania for the main event: a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water (ornament pictured at the top). We are both huge fans of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s work, especially since we were surrounded by so much of it while living in Oak Park. (Plus, we were married in Wright’s Unity Temple.) Falling Water was stunning…we geeked out over all of the architectural details during the tour and had the perfect summer day to walk around the grounds. We even took a quick side trip to see Kentuck Knob, another Wright house nearby.

Our next stop was Hershey, Pennsylvania– home of chocolatey goodness! We stayed in the Hershey Lodge (which was slightly cheaper than the fancy Hotel Hershey) and it was sweet (pun intended) and filled with cute details. The room numbers are adorned with Hershey kisses, the pillows had Hershey Kiss covered pillowcases, the restaurant served chocolate-themed food (not just desserts either!) and I drank the most delicious, not-too-rich chocolate martini I’ve ever had, and Naoto had his favorite chocolate beer ever! And, when we left our room in the morning, there was a York Peppermint Patty hanging out in the hall to greet us! He gave me a hug.

After Hershey, we drove along to Philadelphia to visit Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell (pictured above). The Liberty Bell was way more impressive in real life and Independence Hall was very simple…it seemed smaller than I imagined.

And finally, with no ornament to share, we ended our trip at the Crayola Factory. Because of Mister Rogers and this video, I’ve always wanted to see the Crayola factory. And while it isn’t the actual factory where the crayons are still poured, we still learned a lot. And, we were the only people in the whole place without children. Because it is one of those places that kids go on school trips or with their parents…there were crafting areas where kids could play with the clay, the markers and the crayons. We didn’t do that (because it would have been awkward), but we learned a lot. The best thing we learned was that Mister Rogers poured the 100 billionth Crayola. And a cardigan hangs in the museum next to that crayon. Neat, huh?

So that was our honeymoon…I have to admit that a road trip honeymoon wasn’t completely relaxing. It would have been much calmer for us to head to a beach and stay in one place. But the road trip was perfect for us, and we had so much fun together on our first adventure as husband and wife.

I wouldn’t change a thing.

Tagged adventures, Christmas, decorating, holidays, memories, wedding

Dec 21 2012

2 Comments

adventures, Christmas, holidays, Merry & Bright, Oh Tannenbaum

Oh Tannenbaum 5 – Road Trip!

In 2005 I was tired of work travel and itching for a good vacation. Naoto & I had taken several flying vacations before, but I wanted a road trip. I kind of hate flying, so sometimes the anxiety about getting on a plane is enough to spoil the relaxation in a vacation. Plus, road trips are a great way to see plenty of states.

We started in Iowa in Madison County. I’ll let you take a moment to giggle…I’ve always loved covered bridges, not necessarily because of the book or the movie, but because I visited one as a kid and I thought they were neat. Well, I probably didn’t think it was neat at the time, but as an adult, I grew to love them. I think Winterset, Iowa is just about the cutest tiny town in Iowa and I loved that the bridges held years of history…many initials and names were carved in the old wooden walls and the floor boards of the bridges were gorgeously worn.

Our next stop was Mount Rushmore. On the way, we visited the “required” stops in South Dakota: the Corn Castle and Wall Drug, the Black Hills, Crazy Horse, the Badlands. Mount Rushmore was incredible…breathtaking…it’s absolutely amazing to think that it was designed and executed without technology… I am not someone who gets weepy about my country (okay, I sometimes am) but seeing those presidents sitting on a mountainside just made me feel proud of their hard work many years ago…

Our final stop was…the SPAM museum. Naoto grew up in Hawaii from age twelve and is a huge SPAM fan. He ate it all the time growing up and he still eats it today (when I’m not around). The museum was great fun…the exhibits were interesting, educational, historical and hilarious. I think we giggled through the whole place. And we spent a fortune in the gift shop on crazy SPAM paraphernalia and “limited edition” SPAMs (that sit unopened in our pantry, yet still have a few years to go on their expiration dates…)

Tagged adventures, Christmas, holidays, memories

Dec 17 2012

1 Comment

Christmas, holidays, Merry & Bright, Oh Tannenbaum

Oh Tannenbaum 4 – Childhood

When I was little, I wore these knitted red and green bells on my coat every December. They were a gift from my great-grandmother and they were out of rotation for many years. In junior high, it’s not exactly “cool” to wear knitted Christmas pins! Once I moved out on my own, I decided they would make a good ornament for the tree. This year I might borrow them for a day to use them in my childhood Christmas pin rotation.

The green angel ornament is a gift from my grandmother. The angel is one of those painted wood ornaments that were everywhere in the 80s. I have a box of tiny ones that I pilfered from my mom’s collection. My grandmother and I picked it out together. Her wings are dated 12-21-1982, and though that was long ago, I remember this rare shopping day and how excited I was to have my own ornament to put on the tree.

Today, I am finishing my Christmas cards. Hopefully I can get them all in the mail tomorrow and my international friends get theirs in time (crossing fingers!) I still need to finish some last bits of shopping and all of the wrapping, and I need to poke through the closet to make sure I don’t forget anything I had tucked away during the year…so much to do before Christmas and so much to enjoy before Christmas.

Tagged celebrations, Christmas, decorating, holidays, memories, vintage

Dec 15 2012

1 Comment

Christmas, Merry & Bright, Oh Tannenbaum

Oh Tannenbaum 3 – work travel

My first job out of college was working for an education company. In the beginning, I traveled quite a bit, and traveling was an adventure. Somehow, I lucked out and always traveled with entertaining people, we went to interesting places and there was enough free time for shenanigans (not to mention the free-flowing alcohol and generous expense accounts).

Since our headquarters was (is) located in New Jersey, I ended up in New York City quite a few times. My first time in NYC was in the winter of 2001 for a staff training. I stayed the weekend with my colleague friends, Rita and Jeanine. We saw Chicago on Broadway, visited the Today Show (and made it on TV!), walked along Fifth Avenue and checked out Tiffany’s…cliche, yes, but fun nonetheless. On our walk around the city, we saw a group of sailors touring the city in their dress whites. I had just watched the musical On the Town and I when I saw the men in their perfect white hats, I couldn’t help myself and I uttered “Sailors!” Jeanine thought this was hilarious and she poked fun at me about it for the rest of our working days together. I found the teeny sailor up above at the Hallmark store the next Christmas…he reminds me of those first days of work (when things were fun!) and those first work friends.

I went back to New Jersey that summer. I decided, even though no one else was staying the weekend, that I wanted to head back into NYC. To this day, I have never taken another solo trip like this, but at the time, I felt such a wave of independence wandering through Central Park and the New York Public Library, taking the subway to a Yankees Game, seeing Rent…all on my own. I bought two library ornaments that summer–one for me and one for my mom (a librarian)–and every time I hang mine on the tree, I remember that trip and that exhilarating feeling of freedom.

My last trip into New York City happened a few years later. It was Christmastime…Christmas in New York City is magical…someday, I want to go back in December again with Naoto. I ventured into the city with my colleague Maurice (who was Irish and was best Japanese/English interpreter in our company). Maurice and I walked through Central Park and saw all of the people ice skating and we explored Fifth Avenue. We ended up in Macy’s choosing Christmas ornaments–one for Naoto and one for his girlfriend, now wife. I picked out this yellow cab–which ended up being a little ironic because Maurice and I ended up spending a fortune in cab fares just to get back over the bridge into New Jersey…

For some reason, the only other work-related travel ornament I have is Elvis. I went to Graceland twice with my company (apparently Memphis is an inexpensive place to hold meetings). As a matter of fact, I wasn’t such an Elvis fan until I went to Graceland. My first visit was at Christmastime…Elvis loved Christmas (so I’ve heard Priscilla and LisaMarie say a dozen times). The house was decorated with Elvis’s now-retro decorations and there were plenty of lawn decorations and lights everywhere. Blue Christmas is a holiday standard around our house.

Thanks for a little walk down memory lane with me…a few more days of memories are coming up!

Tagged adventures, Christmas, decorating, holidays, homemaking, memories

Dec 12 2012

3 Comments

Christmas, holidays, Merry & Bright, Oh Tannenbaum

oh tannenbaum 2 – Avon calling

When I was five, we moved to town into a home of our own. Soon after moving in, a strange women carrying bags full of make-up, perfume and costume jewelry appeared at our door. It was the Avon lady, Linda Lee Laible. Linda Lee dropped by our house twice a month to show my mom all of the latest jewelry and various shades of blue eyeshadow from the Avon catalog. She always wore at least five Avon rings (on each hand)–she was like a walking display case. Linda Lee had a fancy gold metal box where she kept her money and I can still hear the coins inside rattling around as she made change for my mom’s purchase (in cash, always, because no one paid with a credit card back then).

Christmas time was the best, because that meant new ornaments showed up in the catalogs, and my mom always picked some good ones. Lucky for me, I have a few of them. These are a few of my favorites. The Precious Moments angel (above) is tiny and sweet. Because the angel is so petite, she is always near the top of the tree (next to Charlie).

This one (above) is pretty enormous for a Christmas ornament. It’s about six inches across and yes, it is a little retro-ugly, but i love that about it. I use it to fill in the “holes” in the lower branches…with an ornament this bold, no one notices a little space between the branches!

The Christmas gift was one in a set of three, and my mom had two of this one. I love the mirrored red and the fabric ribbon and fake holly…it seems very late-80s Avon to me.

Linda Lee retired quite awhile ago, and now most Avon sales are done online…which probably makes more sense…because really, unless you lived in a small town, would you let just any over-accessorized woman in your door?

Sadly, Linda Lee passed away this year and Avon was listed in this article as a business that won’t survive through the end of 2013. It kind of makes me want to start hoarding their hand lotion…

Tagged Avon, Christmas, decorating, homemaking, memories