papervore coffee table

This. Is. Mind. Blowing.

Mike, William and David of Pigeontail Design with their amazing Papervore Coffee Table.
As their site says, "Turn your junk mail into recyclable mail. The Papervore is hungry for all of your printed leftovers. With a turn of the crank you too can put that gas bill off until next month. "

Please buy me one. Quickly.
Getting take out will never be the same. As in... you can shred the paper bag after use. Yeah. That's why I need it.

Scallops, not just for dinner.

I'm on a scalloped edge craze now. It's such a beautiful shape!
Some images I compiled:




left to right, top to bottom:

bunting from sweet jessie, scalloped print from etsy;
christopher kane (left) and chloe (right); scalloped mirror from etsy;
hannah from bekvam

Makes me feel like I should make some scalloped potatoes now. Those are quite delish :). Email me for a recipe!

Spring updates

Had my dear friend Tiff over for dinner tonight and we had a lovely meal together :)

For my birthday (last Monday) she gave me this lovely succulent plant, which I used as our centerpiece. But since we are both lacking in the green-thumb department and didn't know that succulents required such specific care, it's kind of dying. One website I looked up said that it didn't require too much water, but not to assume that it didn't need enough water. What does that even mean? I'm sad.




A new recipe I tested out :). I've made it a couple times in the past week and it's gotten good reviews! Scroll down for the recipe ;). (I used magazine catalogs for table settings if you're wondering what those sheets are)


Ghetto but delicious. I know, I know.


I made mushroom canapes, the pasta and she brought strawberry-walnut-lots-of-other-wonderful-things salad :).

And before I leave....
a little hint of where I went on Saturday for my birthday. Can you guess where it is? :)



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parsnip and pancetta tagliatelle with parmesan and butter
(from jamie oliver)

*i used bacon instead of pancetta because that's what i had and i'm a poor college student. i'm sure it'd taste better with pancetta though!

cast of characters:
(serves 4)
-- 12 slices of pancetta or bacon
-- 1 handful of fresh thyme (you can also use rosemary)
-- 4 good knobs of butter (i love that they say "knobs")
-- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
-- 2 parsnips, peeled, halved and finely sliced lengthways
-- dried tagliatelle
-- 3 good handfuls of grated parmesan cheese
-- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper ( to season)

instructions:
1) in a non-stick frying pan, fry your pancetta/bacon and herbs in half the butter for 2-ish minutes
2) add the garlic and parsnips
3) cook for a further 3 minutes on a medium heat, until the pancetta is slightly golden and the parsnips have softened
4) cook your pasta to your liking, drain, and reserve a little cooking water ( i forgot to do the latter part but it still turned out well!)
5) mix the pasta with the parsnips and pancetta and stir in the rest of your butter and the parmesan, adding a little of the cooking water to loosen the mixture and make it creamy and shiny
6) season!

the parsnips and bacon are a wonderful sweet-salty combo :). tell me how it goes!

my little day

Saw this on simplesong and thought it was cute too!

It's a kid's party supple site, My Little Day! I especially like the different color schemes (with corresponding bunting!) for the different parties!

Kindle commercials

I have to say, these stop-motion videos never get boring! Love these!

Oatmeal reinvented

I know this looks quite nasty... but it's actually quite good!

So, I told a dear friend that I had never eaten oatmeal in my life (to her shock). As a health nut, I think she was quite offended. I told her that it always looked quite unappetizing to me, and there always seemed to be a sugary cereal alternative (which I took).

She quickly put together an... oatmeal kit (?) for me. That's the only way I can think of describing it.


It contains the following:

1. yogurt (any will do)
2. flax seed (as someone who would be content with a diet of fried chicken and potatoes, my eyes glazed over)
3. blueberries (other fruits will do as well!)
4. cereal (honey bunches of oats is a good choice)
5. oatmeal (can't forget you!)

Mix it all together, and voila! I call it, blueberry oatmeal mush.

sickly thank-you's

It's a beautiful Thursday afternoon and I'm sick inside. Eating things I shouldn't be eating. (Like cookies with chocolate in the center). Doing things I shouldn't be doing.
(Like watercolor-ing thank-you's instead of doing work).

Some sneakpeaks:




Sorry I can't show more, or it'd give it away to the people i'm making it for..


My inspiration? Things in my room:


(My birthday bouquet mostly... still going on strong! And no, your eyes aren't deceiving you, my lamp is tilted because it's broken.)


I feel a headache coming on... back to bed. But I'm thankful God is giving me rest today! :)

These are the days when I wish I was 7 again, in the arms of my mother, eating congee. What did your mothers/father/grandparents/etc. do for you when you were sick as a child?