What a month. Lots of new faces coming into my life, and lots of loved ones slipping out of it, onto bigger and better things! I had a fantastic June, full of dancing and eating and walking around, and being a tourist in my own city. I plan on spending my July in exactly the same way, if possible! I thought I’d share (in case you’re interested) the video version of June. Hope you enjoy! Happy Monday.
I think this week’s photo set can be summed up in one phrase: try to spot “The Art of Fielding”! It pops up 3 times. I spent a good chunk of my week immersed in the book, which I loved and recommend. As you can see from the stack-of-books photo, I’ve been exploiting my local libraries to the fullest! I love having books scattered all over my apartment. This week also held an all-you-can-eat sushi lunch, a trip to the farmer’s market to meet with our plant mentor (and buy some basil!), a brunch or two, some podcasting, and the beginning of the Jazz fest! It’s been lovely.
Hope your weekend is beautiful so far. Get outside and enjoy it! xo
In order to prepare fully to write this post, it was necessary for me to eat yet another of the buns in question, smothered with cream cheese frosting. Necessary. For research purposes, you understand? A necessary evil that comes with blogging about food. Such is the life of hardships that I lead. (Not.)
I have enjoyed every second of the creation (and subsequent consumption) of these buns. They re-affirmed the fact that, apparently, I actually love working with yeast/kneading dough? I love it. For a potluck over the weekend, I made another loaf of X bread, which turned out better than the first time and was a giant hit. I love that I had the skills to do that. Soon, I’m hoping to set a bread-baking goal that is a little loftier than 4 loaves! I’ve conquered my fear of yeast, now I just need to practice.
The dough for these buns is sweet, stretchy, and very fun to work with. The icing is amazing, perfect, delicious, incredible. Make these, and your house will smell like a Cinnabon. Your friends will love you when you bring them a hot one on a paper towel. You’ll make new friends if you wrap one up in tinfoil for their roadtrip home (Hi Adam!). You’ll feel like Martha Stewart when you bring a plate over to someone’s house. You’ll feel like you’re building a home that smells like cinnamon. These are all awesome feelings.
So who what where when how?
Who: Sweetapolita’s recipe is perfection. Very easy to follow, clear, and gets great results.
What: Cinnabon-Style Gourmet Cinnamon Buns
Where: HERE.
When: NOW.
How: It’s simple! Make the dough, let it rise. Roll it out. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Roll up, slice, let rise again. Bake. Make the icing, eat only a small amount of it, GLAZE. Eat. Sigh of contentment.
Chow time? Chow time. Happy nomming.
By the way: this is the fourth and last bread for my 2012 bread goal! I’m so excited. But who knows? Maybe I’ll tackle a few more. See the rest of the breads here.
This project was pretty fun to make. And it still is fun, to wear! Also, lo and behold, it taught me several things – as these DIY projects are wont to do. I buzzed through this skirt, making my fair share of mistakes, getting justifiably annoyed (cutting fabric is a ridiculous endeavour) and fixing as I went along. I was left with a skirt! That fits me! It doesn’t fall off or anything!
Here’s what worked: it fits. It’s cute, comfortable, not too fussy to put on. I like to wear it around the house mostly, but I have worn it a couple times on the street. Mostly, my goal with this skirt was just to practice sewing techniques, so I’m happy even just to wear it for mucking around in the kitchen.
But there were a few things that didn’t work. First, I messed up my thread tension, so the side seam is a little bumpier than I might have liked, but it’s not too noticeable when it’s on. Also, it’s a little tricky to walk in, which might explain why I don’t wear it out much! It’s long, and not very flared, so I have to take small geisha-esque steps, unless I hike it up a bit. Next time, I would flare it quite a bit more (like this tutorial shows) so that it’s easier to walk in. And I ended up having to cut off a few inches because it was much too long at first.
I used this tutorial. For the most part, I liked it and it wasn’t too complicated. Then again, I had my fair share of frustration in making this skirt, so use at your own risk. (Although likely that was only due to my inexperience.) I used a simple jersey-like fabric that I found at the store, I have absolutely no specs on it whatsoever. It’s comfy and soft.
(I’m a goof. Did you know this about me?)
It was a terrific second sewing project. I should probably give you a disclaimer: sewing experts would probably shudder at my sewing. Objectively, I suck. But this is probably the easiest it gets (3 seams, that’s it), which means that if I can do it, so can you! Perhaps the process wasn’t that fun (at times – at others, it was!), but getting a finished product certainly was.
And with that, I’m finished 7/10 DIY projects this year! See the rest of them here.
