Wine, Bacon, and Pasta...A Food-Centered Weekend!

We had the BEST weekend this weekend.  It started with dinner and a movie with my sweet god-daughter and niece on Friday night.  Gravity is a fun thriller (even if it is a bit far-fetched!).

Saturday was all about fall and farm and vine with a farm tour and wine tasting at a local vineyard. 

My hubby and me enjoying the beautiful fall foliage with a glass of wine!

The tour included a barrel tasting.  It was so interesting to taste the difference in the wines as they matured!














The highlight of the day, though, had to be the bacon on a stick.  Yep!  That is thick sliced bacon with a sweet/spicy rib rub slathered over it that was just delicious.  Who knew that bacon went so well with wine???











Since we are on a wine theme and just to make sure that Monday wasn't too jealous of the weekend...I made my husband's favorite pasta dish -

Wine Poached Salmon, Pasta and Snowpeas.

I started making this dish way back in the '80's after I picked up a recipe card in the grocery store by a Robert Mondavi wine display.  It has morphed a bit over the years - more veggies - less butter, but my husband pronounced it still a winner tonight at dinner.  

So here's to Monday! Enjoy a nice glass of wine - in a glass or in a sauce over pasta.  Happy Monday!  :-)

Wine-Poached Salmon Pasta with Snowpeas

• 8 oz pappardelle pasta
• 1 lb Salmon file, cut into 1/2 inch strips
• 4 cups sugar snap peas cut diagonally into pieces
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, chopped (I always use 2!)
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup White Zinfandel or Rose wine
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives, chopped
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 tsp lemon zest, grated
• Parmesan cheese to garnish

1.  Prepare dry pasta per package directions.  Add snap peas to water when pasta is nearly done - just until snap peas are bright green.  

2.  Save 1/2 cup of starchy pasta water.

3.  While pasta is boiling, in a small saucepan bring wine and water to a boil.  Add Salmon strips and reduce to a simmer.  Poach about 2 minutes.

4.  Remove Salmon and reduce stock to 1/3 cup.  Add lemon juice, ginger, and garlic.  Remove pan from heat and stir in butter until sauce thickens.

5.  Toss in pasta, snap peas and Salmon.  Add a bit of the starchy water if pasta is a bit dry.  

6.  Sprinkle with chives, lemon zest and a frosting of Parmesan.

Styling Lunch Tote

Last year I bought the cutest fabric at Hobby Lobby to make a new lunch tote to replace my raggedy looking old one.  Yesterday, it was finally complete!

Vera Bradley move over - There's a new lunch tote in town!

I don't know why, but I agonized over the construction of this simple bag.  I googled, I pinterested, I pondered.  And then I made it in an afternoon. 

It is just a 14 x 15 inch rectangle with two 2.5 inch squares cut in the bottom so that I could make the bottom of the bag.  I lined it with insulbright and a wipeable, waterproof lining.  

The draw string top was sewn together - side seams, casing, and then sewn to the bag top - right sides together.  Lastly, I pushed the drawstring part to the inside of the bag, pressed the top seam and then top stitched at about 1/2 inch all around.  Easy.

...And did I mention that I think it's pretty cute!

It is a bit different then I originally envisioned, but it does what I wanted it to do:

• It is cute (vitally important!) - and shows off the coordinating fabrics that I fell in love with. 
• It is big.  Big enough for my mega-clean-eating salads and snacks.
• It is lined with a wipe-able, waterproof fabric (ordered from Fabrics dot com)
• It has long enough straps to sling over my shoulder on the way to work.

I bought a zipper for the top (one of the reasons I was pondering and stalling I think) but then a slight miscalculation with bag width made it just too skinny an opening for my mega-lunches so it turned into a drawstring top.  

I actually like the drawstring, though.  It gave me a chance to showcase the striped fabric.  

So happy with the way the pattern lined up on the sides!
Groovy, right?

Even though I lined the bag with insulbright lining, with the drawstring top, I'm not sure it would really insulate too much.  

I keep my lunch in the fridge anyway.

Things I'll do better next time:

 - Treat the main fabric, insulbright and water proof lining as one and seam with a french seam.  (I lined it like a traditional bag and the lining is a bit floppy inside)

- Make the bag a bit shorter and a bit wider 

- Don't let the zipper intimidate me!  Next bag will have a zipper.  I swear!

Ok zipper...You're going here next time!

So, after a year, the pondering is over and the lunch bag is born!  Almost makes packing a lunch for my return to work after the weekend a bit less painful!  Almost.

How about you all...Has anyone else ever spent tons of time pondering a project and then found that it was not nearly the challenge that you thought it would be?  

Share your happy ending - leave a comment.  :-)

I Won!!!

I won!  I never win.  But...I won!  

I won a really cute bag pattern from Stacy at Stacy Sews.  Stacy's blog was the first blog that I ever followed so I think it is especially apropos that hers was my first blog giveaway win.  Stacy has some very creative ideas and does a great linky Thursday post each week.  Hop over there and check it out!

Thanks Stacy for the adorable pattern!

But before any sewing or cooking can happen at Casa Feasts and Fabrics, we have to finish up the painting in my new "roommate's" (AKA my daughter's) room.  We are taking out the teen look and moving to a more sophisticated - we hope!- young adult room that can morph into a guest room when she saves enough for her own place.  

Here is a sneak peek at the before pics:

The cutesie border has to go...

Painting over the chalkboard...Not so easy.

We are doing most of the painting after work, after working out, after dinner, so between 8pm and 11pm.  We've finished the chalkboard half of the room and are working to get as much done of part 2 before the weekend flies by.

  

Don't let the smiles fool you.  Weeknight painting...not my favorite.

The last little bit of summer sewing.

I always have so many projects lined up that I could never in a million years finish them...At least as long as I have this full time job gig that keeps interfering with my hobby life!  :-)

I bought a bunch of summer-y fabrics this summer and was determined to actually sew them up in the same season I bought them.  The first one was the sweet white burnout knit that got made into the little sleeveless sweater I blogged about here.  I have gotten so much wear out of it that it is almost worn out already!

I also bought some stretch denim in a cool graphic floral print.  I knew right away this would be a short pencil skirt for summer. And a couple of weeks ago...just in time to still officially be summer...I completed it!

My late season zinnias match my new pink cardi!  :-)

I was going to use a straight skirt pattern from my stash, but while visiting my husband's family in King of Prussia, I dashed into a local fabric store - Obviously! - and saw Pamela of Pamela's Perfect Patterns.  I had seen her patterns sewn up while visiting the blog over at Lucky Sew and Sew.  So I grabbed up the Magic Pencil Skirt pattern and some of her Fantastic Elastic and gave it a try.  

The first thing I noticed is that the pattern measurements are very generous. Pamela has you measure your waist, hips and low hips and tells you to choose the largest measurement because you will take in the rest.  My largest measurement fell at the low side of the medium pattern. Medium?  Yes!!!

Working the model poses - or something...

I am such an "apple" that I ended up having to take it in quite a bit through the hips and thighs and it was still a bit more roomy than I really wanted for a pencil skirt.  Even the waist actually ended up being a bit big.  I also shortened it a few inches for a summer skirt look.

I think that next time I will actually try a small (Worth buying the pattern just to say that I am going to make a small next time!) and grade up to a larger waist size.  I think that I will get a better over all fit for my shape and will keep the pegged look better.  It fit well enough to wear it to work the next day and was certainly comfortable.

Overall it was a super easy pattern to make and I learned a lot about fitting me - which is my big goal in sewing right now.  I am definitely going to try another one!  I was happy to get two of my summer sewing projects done.  I still have several fabrics to sew up, but I think that I can use those for some cross-seasonal garments.  Maybe this weekend?  Is it wrong to hope for rain so that I don't feel guilty about spending the weekend in the basement sewing room???

Anyone else out there use Pamela's patterns?  What do you think?

I'm back! And With a Monogrammed Pillow.

Wow!  It has been a long time since I posted!  A new job and some road trips to visit our son in college have dominated my time.  

Not that I haven't been cooking and sewing...I mean a girl has to have some creative time, right? It just came down to cooking and sewing or blogging about cooking and sewing...and you know what choice I made!

The good news:  I have a number of projects lined up to blog about - starting with this monogrammed linen pillow:

Monogrammed linen pillow

 I made this for a special friend's birthday.  She and I have a wonderful friendship based on many shared passions. She is also one of the most thoughtful people I know - one of those people who always know just the right thing to say at the right moment and the right little gift to give to make you feel so special.

I do not have the gift of gift-giving.  But I wanted a really special gift for my friend.  I thought and thought about something to buy her for her birthday, but could not come up with something that was special enough for my dear friend.  Then I remembered a book of monograms that she gave to me years ago.  On the cover is a natural colored linen with a large ornate monogram on it.  Perfect!

I had some nice linen left from a set of embroidered collars I made for some fall dresses for my daughters.  I had a pillow form.  I had a pocket of time to sew.  A birthday gift was born!

Of course, the monogram on the cover of the book was hand embroidery and time factors ruled that out.  I think that the embroidery machine did a good job with the monogram for the time that I had.

A twist on a traditional monogram

The tassels on the corners of the pillow came from some trim from a $5.00 fill bag at a home dec store that we visited during our Stitchin' Charleston Style trip.  

Overall it was a satisfying afternoon of sewing and I was happy to give my friend a gift that came from my hands and heart.  

Beach Sewing

Enjoying the last of summer has kept me from blogging, but, boy did we have  a wonderful time at our favorite beach house!  

Sunset Kayaking at my favorite place in the whole world!

We had two houses and the whole extended family.  The weather was perfect!  We filled our days (and I mean filled our days) with beach going and kayaking and ghost crab chasing and feasting and toasting the sunset each night!  It was sooo hard to come home! 

 Even with all the competing activity, I did manage to get a bit of embroidery done.  I worked on the tea towel from one of my Stitchin' Charleston trips. 

This is the start of Rainbow Row in Charleston

The houses are linen squares that are pin stitched onto the towel.  

The next step was to add the house details.  Here I have started the windows and doors.

A little more done...

Almost done!  Just needs a wash and press

Here I have added all the details:  Wrapped chain stitch palms, crepe myrtles, and even little flower boxes under the windows.  

Laura Jenkins Thompson, the designer and teacher of Stitch' Charleston Style is the most creative person!  Her designs are full of adorable details.

I'm loving it in my coral bathroom!

 Well...I didn't get nearly the sewing done this summer that I wanted to, but at least I got one UFO done!  

Enjoy the last few days of summer!!!

Pattern File Cabinet Re-do

As I have mentioned in this post my mother-in-law and I shared our love of sewing.  She was a talented sewist and worked in several sewing shops teaching lessons and selling Bernina machines.  Over the years she collected many cool sewing gadgets and other items all of which I inherited when she passed away. It has been years now and I am still in the process of discovering all the nifty things she had.

One of the pieces that I inherited was a pattern file cabinet that she snatched up when one of the stores that she taught at remodeled. It was half-painted the requisite "almond" color of the '80's.  The rest was the gold color that you see toward the back of the cabinet:

"Almond" pattern file getting ready for an update.  
That's my handsome and helpful son in the background helping 
with the set up and heavy lifting.

My plan was always to repaint it in a vibrant blue color so that it would really stand out in the sewing room. But the years go by and...you know how that goes!

This week, with the help of my strong and generous son, it got a new look. 

TaDa!  The new "Brilliant Blue" file cabinet!

By the time we finished spray painting, we both got a new look too!  The fine little particles of paint landed on us and we both ended up looking a bit like zombies or some character from Avatar!

Photo from Avatar the movie

I added pretty patterned paper inserts where the pattern numbers would normally go.  A different coordinating paper for each drawer.  

The shiny cabinet and the shiny plastic covering on the handle made it really hard to get a good picture, but I think you get the idea, right?




But there are treasures still to be discovered!

Vintage patterns anyone?

The pattern file was stuffed full of...wait for it...patterns!  There are many absolutely awesome vintage patterns from the late 40's, 50's and 60's - with my Mother-in-Law's handwritten notes about the pattern included!  So cool!

There are a few from the 70's, but a ton of patterns from the 80's.  I have my own collection of Flashdance favs from the 80's so I am not that interested in keeping those. Many of them are new, never been opened in the envelope.  I  remember wearing those styles what seems like not so long ago, but I doubt I could ever sew them now. Is there a market for "vintage" 80's patterns? Should I just donate them?

One of the drawers was packed with vintage trim, ricrac, zippers, belt buckles and on and on.  My daughter and I have been having a blast going through all these goodies.  

Needless-to-say, not much sewing getting done with all this chaos in the sewing room, but so much fun to find all these treasures from Shirley!

I'm still working on the muslin for the stretch lace dress.  Like all my sewing...it is going slowly!  

So...Anyone interested in a batch of 80's patterns?  Let me know.  I would love to have them go to a loving home.  :-)

Happy August!

Pam