Friday, July 27, 2012

Emeril's Szechuan Spareribs-Shortcuts!


Ummm....you should make these! They are so delicious and will inspire your significant other to post sweet things about you on Facebook. Recipe can be found here. I highly suggest cutting down the five hour cook time to two hours with some shortcuts.



Short Cuts

-Completely make the sauce. Add the honey and sesame oil when you mix it all together.
-When the ribs were finished boiling, I added the sauce and stuck them in the fridge. 
-I let the ribs sit in the fridge while I whipped up some Potato Salad.
-I coated them with a brush before broiling for 5mins. 
I then took them out, added more sauce and broiled for another 5mins. 




Monday, July 23, 2012

Polka Dot Painting

You probably already know by now that polka dots are all the rage. 

My friend, Julie, just moved and wanted to make some art for above her bed. She was inspired by this blog and images on Pinterest. We started talking about a Polka Dot Painting and she told me her ideas. She wanted to do it on a canvas and we both agreed that working with potatoes stamps isn't usually successful for us. So we brainstormed and went on a trip to MICHAEL'S!

Juile picking up supplies
 At Michael's we found these amazing round sponges with plastic holders by none other than Martha Stewart. Each is a different size in the package but it had the size we needed. They are officially called "pouncers." Julie picked out acrylic paints in shades of gray, blue, purple and white for mixing.

The Cast of Characters appearing in this craft are:
Pouncer + Goomba helped with spacing
Pencil
A Canvas
Acrylic Paint
Circular Foam Pouncers (sponges)
Scrap Paper
Two Rulers or Measuring Tape
Paint Palette and Palette Knife (or could use plate, bowl, chopsticks, paper clips, etc)
Lint Roller (in case your canvas needs a little dust removal)
Painters Tape (optional)
Paint Brush (for touch ups)


First: After you have gathered your supplies and lint rolled your canvas, it is time to MEASURE! This Polka Dot Painting will have evenly spaced dots. Julie chose to have a 3" border and her dots 3" apart. With measuring tape and a ruler we made tiny dots or x's every 3" to tell us where the dots will go.

Bunny Tip: We lined up the measuring tape with a ruler and held it down with painters tape. This way we could quickly get an entire row done.  If you mess up, no worries. The pencil erases right off the canvas. AND the pencil doesn't show underneath the paint as well. 




Second: Mix your paint colors! We got a white paint to mix with the others to create different shades. Julie made each color as she went along. We tested the colors on scrap paper.

Third:  Stamp dots on the canvas! Stamp one color at a time and in random spots on the canvas. Make sure you eyeball where you are putting the dots so they are evenly spaced throughout.












Bunny Tips for using the Pouncer: 
Sometimes the paint didn't evenly spread across the sponge. Julie used her fingers or scrap paper to make sure it was evenly spread on the sponge and wasn't collecting around the sides. It isn't necessary to press the sponge all the way down, but you can. Paint will collect in the sponge so you don't have to reapply for each dot.

Some Pictures of the Process
With a few colors
Fourth: Finally, let it dry! 

The finished polka dot painting


Julie with her finished Masterpiece
Bunny Tip: When the canvas is dry, you can go over any little mistakes with white paint.



Lastly, I got a little inspired watching Julie dot away. I had a canvas laying around the house, so I tried making my own without even spacing. I randomly spaced some of the dots and clustered others close together.


A big "Thank You" to Mr. Hulse who took photos, brought us water AND washed our dinner dishes! 
I have the best husband ever.

Friday, July 20, 2012

New Photo Roundup! Weekly Roundup!

I've had some requests to share my Instagram pictures on the blog from non-Instagramers. Like the ones I shared from Maine. So, here we are...

Some things I did 
                                    or My Week in Pictures.

Upcoming post!
Julie and her new masterpiece!

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (isn't that stone owl genius!)
I had a real attraction to ceramic cats this week....
Central Park Art (Enjoying it much more than the tires..)
Central Park Picnic with Mr. Hulse and a duck...
Mets Vs. Cubs 
Dinner View in Sea Cliff with Family In-Law

First #Mood photo


Friday, July 6, 2012

Goodbye Maine!

Leaving Maine. Have you ever been? Had such a fun vacation. Wanted to share some of my Instagram pictures with you.