Roasted Garlic Rosemary Potato Bread

So at the potluck I went to last month someone brought some amazingly delicious rosemary bread. Not sure if my love of rosemary has made it onto this blog yet- it's not as much of an obsession as ginger, but it's a flavor that makes it into much of what I bake. After tasting that bread I had to find a recipe.

This recipe from Brown Eyed Baker seemed to combine all the things I love in bread. So last weekend I baked up a batch. The result?

Yum...ish.

It was fine, just not the tastiness I was hoping for. I think it needed more salt, maybe some butter. But I'm thinking if I'd used my real mashed potatoes instead of just some leftover baked potato those flavors would've come through more. Or I could've brushed the bread with oil and sprinkled a little salt on before baking. Maybe next time.

The good news- the biga for this was the best dough I'd made since the baking hiatus- the perfect tacky but not sticky consistency.

Pickles!

So...these are refrigerator pickles, not puttin' up pickles. Eventually I'll get one of those canning kits and go crazy, maybe once they go on clearance at Target.

Anyway, these are both delicious, and adaptations from one of my favorite cooking shows I never get a chance to watch anymore: Good Eats. Such a fan of what that show does, and so sad to hear that it's ending soon. Here's hoping it'll go on Netflix streaming, yes?

Spicy Curry Pickled Carrots (adapted from Good Eats)

Ingredients:

• Baby carrots
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder **(next time I'll add more)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoon chili flakes **(next time I'll add more)

Place your carrots in a quart sized glass jar, as many as will fit (I used a lovely Slom from IKEA, which leaks a little- so that was fun!). Carrots float apparently- something I learned while making this- so cram 'em in or you'll have a sad little space of empty brine on the bottom of you jar that will mock you. I know from experience.

Place the rest of the ingredients in a small, non-reactive pot and bring to a boil. Once it's boiled for a few minutes pour the hot liquid over your carrots. I transferred mine from the pot to a measuring cup with a spout for an easy/non-scalding pouring experience. Let cool for a bit, then close the jar and let cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge. Wait a few days before eating.


Rosemary Pickled Beets (adapted from Good Eats)
Ingredients:

• 2 cans sliced beets
• 1 large sweet onion, frenched
• 2 (or 3, or 5) cloves of garlic, smashed
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Uncan your beets, rinse them off in a colander to remove excess salt. Let them hang out in there for a while while you prep everything else- i.e. french your onion, smash as much garlic up as you'd like, and pull the rosemary leaves off the stems.

Put the sugar, water, apple cider vinegar, salt, garlic, and those rosemary leaves in a small non-reactive pot and bring to a boil. Once the pot has boiled for a few minutes, remove from the heat and pour your brine through a strainer into a measuring cup.

Take the rosemary leaves and garlic from the strainer and mix them with your onions. Then layer the beets and onion mixture in your jar. You'll probably have a bit of each left over. I made a sandwich with mine, with some roasted garlic hummus on the bread and a few slices of cucumber. Very tasty. Anyway-

Pour the brine over the beets and onions, let them cool for a bit, then close your jar and let cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge.

Per the episode, they'll technically be pickles within 12 hours, but they'll taste better if you wait a week. It's hard, I know.

Corduroy and Plaid Clutch

Were you aware that the most corduroy-y Corduroy Day was last Friday? In celebration I finally got around to making a new clutch, as my last one finally died- or at least, the pull came off the zipper and it was getting a bit dingy. I still used it for a month or so despite the hassle, as I always run my bags into the ground.

I used some corduroy I had left from my corduroy tie, as well as some plaid I bought ages ago with a project in mind that never came to fruition.

The lining is that same plaid.

I usually don't take the time to cut things on the bias, but for the plaid it makes the whole thing look so spiffy. Will have to try it with a few other plaids I've been saving.

The pattern is once again based off Noodlehead's gathered clutch tutorial, though I was too lazy to create the gathered front, as well as unsure it would work with this fabric anyhow. Per usual the zipper tabs ended up wonky, though I think less wonky than the first time. I think I finally understand what the directions say, so the third try may actually get the desired result.

And as the project came together so quickly I think I may make an extra to give to a friend. We'll see.

TBP: Pumpkin Yeast Bread

The first Wednesday of every month is potluck at my bar (well, not mine per se, but I spend enough time there...). Though I've only been to two before this I seem to by default bring the desserts. First month was a tasty bread pudding using homemade brioche-ish bread, then the second was delicious nutella cookies.

This month I wanted to try some of the skills learned from my awesome Le Pan Quotidien bread class and stuff rolls with chocolate. As it's nearing Thanksgiving and I had leftover pumpkin from my vegan pumpkin cranberry walnut bread, so I looked up some seasonally appropriate recipes.

What turned up? This lovely King Athur Flour recipe. It came together reasonably well, though I tried to keep my dough on the sticky side so there were a few minor freakouts during the kneading process (I'm a bit rusty it seems).

The bread itself turned out delicious- I made a loaf and 14 or so rolls, which I stuffed with some bittersweet chocolate and butter. The final verdict though: needed more chocolate! Also a kitchen scale to help with the uneven (and slightly too big) roll sizes. Will definitely make again though.

The biggest breakthrough came once the rolls were done- the pumpkin flavor was very mild, especially with the chocolate inside, but it gave the bread a nice softness and light golden color. It reminded me of my attempts at potato bread. Well, they were more than attempts- tasty potato bread was, in fact, made- but I never got that orangeish/yellow bread I was looking for. Those breads must have sweet potato in them. Will have to make search for more recipes one of these days...

*FYI- the camera has been found! Expect posts with pictures soon!

The Bread Project: Vegan Pumpkin Quickbread with Cranberries and Walnuts

I have ten bags of cranberries in my fridge and freezer. No kidding. They were 49 cents a bag at the Target by me for some reason, so we stocked up. Some of them may be used for a beer D is in the planning stages of, but that still leaves at least five bags, probably more if they're still cheap next time I go. Clearly I have a problem. So expect a lot of cranberry-based posts while we work through it all.

We also had canned pumpkin which needed to be used, and the thought crossed my mind to make something vegan. So foodblogsearch.com searching commenced and turned up a recipe easily incorporating both.

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Cranberry Bread and Muffins (slightly adapted from Joy the Baker)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp cloves
• Scant 2 cups of pumpkin puree (canned or freshly roasted, if you're all fancy)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup roughly chopped cranberries

Preheat your oven to 350. The usual muffin method- whisk the dry in one bowl, whisk the wet in another. Add dry to the wet. Stir a little. Add the walnuts and cranberries. Stir a little more. Try not to overmix.

I was able to get a smaller loaf and 18 muffins, though you could probably to a regular loaf and 12 muffins. Baked them together- the muffins were done in about 25 minutes, the loaf in about an hour. I probably took them out on the early side just to keep the bread moist, as I'd read sans eggs it can get a bit crumbly.

As is- super delicious. Next time I'll add more walnuts and cranberries though. You can probably even forgo telling people it's vegan, unless like me you have a vegan coworker who usually cannot partake in foods people bring in to work.

*Note: apologies for the lack of pictures. My camera has gone missing, and my cell phone's is just awful. Hopefully will find it soon! Or Black Friday's coming up so maybe I'll just get a new one.

TBP: Banana Bread & Brioche-ish Bread

The snowstorm going on outside my window at the moment reminded me some of bread I'd made a few months ago and never blogged about. It was day of the hurricane, and as the power can sometimes be fickle at the apartment, D and I decided to use up as many perishables as possible. That meant eggs and butter that could possibly go to waste, so I put them to good use making potatoy egg bread. There was also banana bread (middle bottom).

I went a little crazy over that dud of a hurricane.

Recipe #1: Brioche-ish (from Epicurious)

So I guess this isn't necessarily a brioche, but there are eggs and butter, so I'm going to call it that. Textually it reminded me of brioche, and it was nice and sweet. The recipe says two loaves but I was able to get three decent sized ones out of it. D & I ate the smallest, the one on the left was brought to my fav bar, and the one on the right was frozen and later turned into a seriously delicious bread pudding for a potluck at the same bar haha.

I think this was the largest amount of dough I'd worked with at once- eight cups of flour! But it came together well and I loved the resulting bread. Will probably make it again at some point.


Recipe #2: Banana Feather Loaf (from The Bread Bible)

My previous try at a yeast banana bread was pretty delicious. So when I saw this recipe from The Bread Bible I had to give it a try. The loaf was very different, obviously- light and sweet, banana flavor only especially pronounced when you toasted it. Very good for peanut butter sandwiches, or just warmed with butter.

As it was I made far too much bread that day. Definitely kept that in mind during this snowstorm- though I did bake, and may post about it later, assuming I can find my camera. Don't hold your breath though haha.

TBP Week...???: Le Pain Quotidien Bread Class

It's been a very long time since I posted, I'm aware. Life got in the way a bit of bread, and although there were some loaves I did make and just never got around to taking pictures of and posting, there were a lot of weeks I just didn't have the time. Hopefully things will settle down so I can get back on track.

One thing that should hopefully help was a wonderful (wonderful!) bread class I took at Le Pain Quotidien. It was the Bread Basics class, and you can sign up for that and a few more here.

Yes, you read that right: Bread Basics. No, I didn't learn a ton I didn't know already. The main things were shaping (which I never really paid attention to) and the reminder that making bread isn't terribly hard. Also we stuffed bread with chocolate and nuts and other delicious things, which I now will have to try. But it was three hours of bread with a professional fancy oven, and we had to take home everything we made. And some people didn't take home their share so I got extra.

Here were the spoils:

baguette two ways

rolls stuffed with chocolate and butter, whole wheat bread with walnuts and apple

Not pictured: the pizza we made in class and ate for dinner. Also the pizza dough we made to take home. Also how happy I was.

Very highly recommended. And apparently they have classes in LA now!

The Bread Project Week 11: Pitas (and failing)

Pitas are awesome!

...I guess I should say more than that though.

For a while there I always had some (store-bought ones) on hand. If not for sandwiches, then to toast them up to eat with hummus. So it was natural that I'd want to make my own. As it happened, I ended up making two batches: one from The Bread Bible, the other from A Bread A Day, which is an old site, but I may have to start reading through it for more ideas. Daily bread would be lovely, if only there were another three or four hours in a day.

Anyway, neither ended up being traditional pocket pitas, but I'm pretty sure that was my fault. They were still delicious though, and went well with falafel, which I made myself (did you know you could do that??), adapting a recipe from from another Bread a Day post.

Recipe #1: The Bread Bible Pitas

I picked this recipe because she said you could keep the dough in the fridge for up to three days, and I'd hoping some kind of sourdough-ness would develop. That didn't happen. Oh well.

The dough came together fairly easily but was very wet. When I attempted to roll it out, all it did was stick to my rolling pin. I read through the recipe again for ideas and noticed she mentioned how similar it was to her pizza dough, so I just stretched it out with my fingers. So much fail in that idea- the width was uneven, and while it did puff up a bit the thin sections prevented it from reaching its full potential. It's very good for pita pizzas though.


Recipe #2: Whole Wheat Pitas from A Bread A Day

This was a dryer dough that came together easily. I actually adapted it slightly- she let her sponge sit for four hours, I adjusted the starting flour amounts a bit, nixed the early dose of honey (just added it a bit later) and let it sit in my fridge while I was at work. These rolled out a lot easier but again didn't puff. I'm assuming my dough was too dry?

Will definitely be trying these again, I'm a big fan of the quick cooking times for both recipes.

Earring-A-Day 31: Pencils

So of course my last earrings of the month would be posted late, of course. Wednesday is/was office supply day, and it also became an upcycle day. Remember my oh-so-awesome Flying Spaghetti Monster Earrings? Those eraser meatballs came from pencils. Which I saved. As I tend to do with things.

I took those pencils, cut them up, and came up with this:

They're kind of shabby-looking, right? I used a box cutter. It was pretty tedious. I definitely need to buy a coping saw. But they're not bad. I was kind of inspired by this craftzine post, though when I drilled all my lead broke. Ah well. Here's another shot:

I wish I'd had more sections of pencil with writing, as I think it gives a nice touch.

The Bread Project Week 10: Basic Hearth Bread

I told a million people I was going to make pita bread, or maybe english muffins, or maybe etc etc etc. The weekend ended up being insanely busy. I enjoyed myself a lot, but unfortunately bigas fell by the wayside. I ended up settled on...

The Recipe: Basic Hearth Bread from The Bread Bible

I picked it since the recipe called for a sponge (like a biga, but wetter) sit out for 4 hours, giving me time to do laundry and go to the gym. I also hoped it would be a nice compromise, flavor wise, between a straight bread and having to wait another three days to make something.

The Result:

There was probably a bit too much flour in my dough but I didn't mind, as it wasn't scary wet while kneading. It turned out fine and probably had the best crust I've made. Next time if/when I make this bread I'll do a freeform loaf or rolls.

Earring-A-Day 30: Rubber Ducks!

I picked up these ducks years ago, on a little group trip in college. A bunch of people I worked with were going apple picking, and there was food and stands near the farm. These immediately jumped out at me for earrings, but they say for ages in drawers and boxes as I moved around. It's nice to finally get them made.

Not at all seasonally appropriate, but completely adorable. Wish I had more.

Earring-A-Day 29: Mini Pin Cushions

When I sew, I have the terrible habit of putting pins in my mouth, mostly because I have no pin cushions. A lazy Sunday gave me the opportunity to create these mini pin cushion earrings with bottle caps, though I've had the idea in my head for at least the past two Mondays.

I love this fabric- I actually made a tie out of it a while back. So adorable, though you kind of look like a 6 year old going to church on Easter. Having some crazy idea turn out well is the best feeling in the world- and they're not too hard to make either.

Materials and Tools:
- Fabric (scraps)
- Bottle Caps
- Stuffing
- Earring Hooks
- Glue
- Pliers
- Scissors
- Needle/Thread

Start with a circle of fabric:

Use whatever needle and thread you have on hand (I had embroidery floss) to sew a quick running stitch around the outside of the circle.

Then tighten the string, creating a pouch.

Fill said pouch with your stuffing of preference and tie it closed:

Create your bottle cap earrings with (the usual method)- making sure the inside faces front. These caps are plain silver ones we use for homebrew, I didn't take pictures of the other side- sorry!

Put a big glob of glue in the cap and stuff the cushion inside, knot side down. I used Elmer's glue that takes forever to dry, so rubber bands came in handy:

Once it's dry, you have your adorable little pin cushions:

Now I won't have to worry about inhaling pins when I sew! Hooray!

Earring-A-Day 28: Paper

I was a bit stumped for today's earrings, though I guess I always am for studs. I'd gone so crazy preparing for the dud of a hurricane that I there really wasn't much to do today. Most stores were closed, and although it wasn't terrible out I didn't really feel like driving. So I took the opportunity to clean up a bit around the house, and used one of the ad's to make my earrings:

Call it a bonus upcycling day. Also, very easy. Just coiled up strips of paper. Hooray!

Earring-A-Day 27: Keys!

Ok, this was a lazy one, but come on- I was preparing for the hurricane! One of the things I wanted to do (which I didn't actually end up doing) was to put my bike inside so it didn't blow away. The problem: I always lose my bike keys. The lock I bought came with two keys- perfect for earrings:

This way they can live in my earring frame when I'm not wearing them so they won't get lost! Added bonus: shiny shiny.

Earring-A-Day 26: Soda Tabs

Friday was upcycle day, and I decided on soda (well, beer- Genny Cream Ale to be specific) tabs. There was an Etsy Labs day where they made bracelets and belts out of tabs a while back, but I wasn't able to attend. I think for that they used elastic- which makes sense for a bracelet, not so much for earrings- so I used duct tape. Here's a front and back view:

Yep, that's the same duct tape as Day 23's. Very easy, and I liked the way they turned out.

Earring-A-Day 25: Birthday Candles

The 25th was my birthday, and although nobody could've blamed me for taking the day off, it was actually very easy to come up with my earrings for the day: Birthday Candles!

You see how they're burnt? I tried to light them while wearing them. Fun fact: the melting wax puts out the flame. Instead I lit them while just holding them, D sang, and I blew them out. Still very cool. And less of a chance of me setting my hair on fire, which is always good.

Earring-A-Day 24: CD Cases

You know how I mentioned two fails in last week's office supply theme post? Well I managed to salvage one of them: CD Cases!

Are CD cases office supples? I think so- especially since I work in operations for a TV network and we use these for DVDs. In my previous position I always ended up recycling a number of these, so they'd even work for a Friday upcycle post, too.

Basically I put these in a reusable shopping bag and broke them. Originally when I took them out I thought the pieces looked too big/obviously CD cases and deemed it a failure. Last night I revisited the idea and broke off smaller pieces by hand. Then it was just a matter of drilling holes in each and looping some wires through to attach the hooks.

Earring-A-Day 23: Duct Tape Flowers

Another idea I'd had kind of fizzled out last night, but glancing around my room I happened to notice a roll of red duct tape I'd bought in an attempt to patch my rain boots. That attempt mostly failed, but red duct tape is very cool regardless.

I folded over strips to take away the sticky side, then cut out petal bits. I attached them together with that makeshift staple in the center. Kind of wish I'd thought of this for tomorrow, as I could've used an actual staple and saved myself some trouble. Does duct tape count as an office supply?

Anyway, here's another view of the earrings, showing the layers off a little more, and getting my requisite short depth of field picture in.

Purdy!

Earring-A-Day 22: Otter Creek Macaroons

I knew there was a reason I love making bottle cap earrings- they're so easy! These are a bit more complicated than the normal method I'd been doing. Instead of the standard single caps I put two together with wire.

I think they kind of look like macaroons:

In that last pic you can kind of see how they were connected with head pins. I wish I'd had a single longer piece of wire- despite my best efforts they moved around (noisily) everywhere I went during work.

OCB stands for Otter Creek Brewing. Technically we got these caps from Wolaver's bottles- which is owned by OCB. Wolavers makes a lovely coffee porter, though their wildflower wheat is incredibly tasty, too.

Earring-A-Day 21: Perler Bead Flowers (...?)

Not going to lie, pretty sure these are the worst ones I've made this month. But I was very much running short on time (I think I made these at 8 or 9pm on Sunday), so I was happy to get something done at least:

These kind of look like flowers...right? Maybe? Ah, well they're simply perler beads ironed together then attached to backings with glue. Easy, though it kind of shows more with these than others.

Maybe by the end of the month I'll get the stud thing down.

Earring-A-Day 20: Dominos

This past weekend was fairly insane for a number of reasons, so sorry it's taking me so long to post these last few days. For Saturday's pair of earrings it's an especially iffy post, as I gave them away that night.

They were dominoes I'd picked up at a church rummage sale a few months ago:

These were not $3.35 as the sticker says- I think I got a bag with a million things for $2? At most $3.

Anyway, I picked out two sevens (I believe a 4/3 and a 5/2) and drilled a hole in middle/top. I threaded some head pins through, made loops and attached them to hooks. Here's a closeup on the dominoes themselves- the back on these are pretty cool, too:

My hole for the one on the left would've been on the face of the domino above (below) the center dot. Have a ton left, will definitely make more. If I ever open an Etsy shop maybe I'll put some up.

The Bread Project Week 9: Oatmeal Banana Bread & Corn Bread

In my mind I will only officially be obsessed with baking bread when:

a) I own and use a kitchen scale to measure out ingredients
b) I have a pizza stone/quarry tiles/bricks in my oven
c) I maintain my own sourdough starter

Until that point I'm on the cusp. But! I did end up making...uhhh...five loaves of bread this weekend? There were only three batches (and only two recipes between them), but still. So much bread.

How did this happen? Well, I'd already picked a bread for this week (the cornmeal alternate to Buttermilk Potato Bread from The Bread Bible), when I noticed I had a few extra bananas this week. Food Blog Search has become a great friend of mine, and I stumbled upon this Whole Wheat Oat Banana Yeast Bread from Judicial Peach. There is literally no part of that name that didn't sound good to me. So it was set. Lots of bread. And it all ended up being tasty.

Putting in a page jump as this thing will be loooong.


Recipe #1: Whole Wheat Oat Banana Bread from Judicial Peach

Two of these three things are my breakfast everyday at work:

And I've been trying to eat more whole wheat bread so this was the perfect project for me. Everything came together well- I was worried since Banana Breads were usually quickbreads that something would go wrong with the rises, but the end result was very good. I probably needed to cook it a bit longer, but the honey (I believe) was already making the crust rather brown and I was worried about it burning.

As I knew I'd end up with two loaves I decided to try a roll method I'd read about. I created little boules and squished them together in a pan, creating a lovely crown of bread that could easily be pulled apart for consumption. I think next time I'm making bread specifically to bring somewhere I'll use this technique, it ends up much less messy than cutting slices.

The Results:

I didn't take a picture of the loaf. I used this bread for peanut butter sandwiches (delicious!), dunking in a few spicy soups I'd made to combat a cold I felt coming on (weird tasting...), and as a bun for sliders (actually good, though I couldn't taste the bananas over the burger so that's probably why).

Recipe 2: Tangy Cornmeal Bread from The Bread Bible

This is the tastiest bread I've ever made. No kidding. Leaving the biga (flour, water, and yeast you mix ahead of time to develop flavor) in the fridge for three days gave it a lovely acidity- almost a sourdough flavor. Kneading the dough was kind of scary as it was (intentionally, per the recipe) very very wet. I have to rethink my kneading surface as the cutting board I use wasn't working well at all. Luckily my mom had gotten me a dough scraper a while back. That definitely helped.

The Results:

As I said the flavor was delicious and tangy. The crumb looked lovely as well, and the crust was thin but chewy.

Will definitely be trying the biga method again, perhaps next week!

Earring-A-Day 19: Earbuds

I have a hard time throwing some things away. Eventually old electronics will get tossed, but for example I held on to the innards of a rotary phone for far longer than is sane. I don't know anything about wiring, what was I going to do with it? Still not sure. Did eventually throw it out, after doing something awesome with the dial I'll have to post about soon.

Today's use up three sets of busted earbuds that have been sitting in my desk drawer. There may be another pair floating around, but I wasn't able to find them:

I was originally going to just do the Apple ones, and have a single pair long enough for me to actually put in my ears, but I liked the way the three together looked.

I threaded each of the wires through the loop, then used jump rings to cinch and secure the wires. I still may make them tighter just so I know they'll stay put, but overall I'm so happy. Especially since they're not in my drawers anymore! Well...I still have the jack ends. Maybe I'll make a matching bracelet. Or throw them out- you know, eventually.

Earring-A-Day 18: Legos

Well obviously I have a thing for nostalgia. As I've said. Apparently I like red more than I thought as well. Today's earrings: legos!

I've seen a number of lego studs, and some Sunday coming up I'll be kicking myself for not doing that. But these were taken these from my parents' house ages ago- it's not like I had my whole old stash on hand. Simple construction: drill, insert headpin, make loop, attach hook. Still, it's nice to make things that people recognize and like.

Earring-A-Day 17: Paper Stars

Today's earrings came out of a whole ton of fail. I had two different ideas before this- one featured plastic that was incredibly uncooperative, the other was too simple. And soon as I'd basically finished that second one a new strategy came to mind that I liked a ton better but was impossible given what I'd already done. Sorry about the vagueness, if I can work out the issues they will be featured the next two Wednesdays of the month.

Yes, it's office supply day! Today's are simple but cute:

 
Yes, those are the paper stars you probably made in elementary school. Thing is- I didn't learn until last week. Truly I had a deprived childhood.

After creating the stars with paper strips I used a sharp embroidery needle to create holes for my headpins to go through. Then it was just a matter of creating loops at the top and attaching earring hooks.

This is my first experience with paper earrings, and I'm happy the weather today is supposed to be nice. For added protection I may coat these in some outdoor mod podge I happen to have, we'll see.

Earring-A-Day 16: Bears

Are you ready? Brace yourself.

Today's earrings may just look like the cheapie bears that used to be ubiquitous at the registers of craft stores (are they still? I haven't noticed any lately, but I haven't really been looking), but if you notice, I've drilled through their ears. The question is: are they my earrings, or am I theirs?

I'll give you a minute to clean your brains off the walls, as I'm sure your mind was just blown. Or something.

Method was the usual: drill holes, insert wires, attach hooks. I didn't have any premade gold jump rings so I finagled my own. They're a bit on the heavy side but they're so adorable I don't mind.

The Bread Project Week 8: Whole Wheat Potato Bread

Surprisingly on track with my variations on a recipe...well, kind of.

I was debating between two recipes- one from The Wooden Spoon Bread Book, the other from what I just checked out of the library: The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. In love with the latter from what little I've read, but it's a bit intimidating in that most breads require even more forethought than I'm used to (at least a day, maybe three). So I played it a bit safe and did one from the former.

The Recipe: Whole Wheat Potato Bread from The Wood Spoon Bread Book

The Changes: Butter instead of shortening, subbed in 1.5 tbs of honey as I ran out of molasses midway through. Also used one loaf pan and two random pans (all pyrex- one technically for pies, the other a larger oval pan), as that was all I had.

The Result: 

The Verdict: I should probably make smaller recipes. Or start giving this stuff away haha.

Seriously though, this was too much variation from last week's for me to get a good feel for the differences from Week 7's bread, but I'm happy with the result. I want to bake more whole wheat breads (much to D's dismay), and this had good texture and flavor. Still didn't have that potato-bread flavor I'm looking for though.

Earring-A-Day 15: Troegs Caps

Today's are one of the more decorated caps I've seen: Troegs

All their packaging is similarly epic. I'm a big fan of coffee in beers, and their Javahead is pretty nice. Originally I'd had something else in mind for today's caps but when I went beer shopping over the weekend I remembered selection in North Jersey can be a little spotty, so I went with that.

And as I need two caps I picked up a Troegs I'd never seen before: Flying Mouflan

The description on the bottle really sold me:

We classify this beer as pushing Nugget Nectar off the side of a cliff. It is bold and intense–think hops dipped in candied sugar and rolled in dark chocolate nibs.

It was tasty for sure, though it's kind of hard to live up to that description...

Earring-A-Day 14: Wine Cork Studs

I think these earrings work well as a concept, and that my execution was just ok and didn't do it justice.

Apologies for the flash photo- it's a super nasty day out and all my non-flash pictures looked awful.

These are wine corks that I colored with sharpies and then carved shapes into. Stud backings were glued to the back. Ta da!

In a perfect world I wouldn't have had to color anything. The goal was to use corks from bottles of red wine, where the corks would've been naturally (and prettily) stained by the wine. Unfortunately the only other corks I had I used on Friday, and really, the color was far too pale to work:

I guess I could've bought a few bottles but I'm not really feeling having to go through that much wine right now. The final results of my improvised method weren't bad- maybe if I'd chosen easier shapes they would've turned out better?

Oh studs, you're the bane of my existence. Or, you know, the Sunday earring part of my existence.

Earring-A-Day 13: Dart Flights

I love today's earrings so much. But then my ancestry is like half German, so of course I like shiny things.

Do you recognize what they are? Dart flights! Aka the bit on the tail end of a dart.

I'm not much of a darts player, but these great for earrings. Besides the aforementioned shininess, they were soo cheap. I found mine in a clearance bin at Kmart, marked as being 67 cents but rang up for 21. Then it was just a matter of drilling a hole and attaching jump rings and earring hooks.

Here's another pic so you can get a better feel for the shape:

Earring-a-Day 12: Wine Cork Earrings

Wine Corks are on the upper end of the trash spectrum, but I managed to leave work with both my iPod charging and my earrings supplies sitting in a drawer so yeah, it's good I got anything done haha.

Yes, that The Dread Pirate Rabbit in the background.

These are Pepperwood Grove corks- they have a decent but cheap Cab Sauvignon. I don't drink wine a ton, but when I do I want to be attacked by pepper and leather or drink, you know, a Reisling or something. Because those two flavors are so similar haha.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of the cork design- very mod and cool. My plan was originally to put head pins all the way through for support, but I couldn't get them to go through straight. So instead I just put a loop on the end of a bit of wire and stuck it in the top. It seems to be holding alright, but I'm not going to do a lot of walking or chair stacking with these on just in case. Once I get home I'll put some glue on to keep everything in place.

*Updated 8/13 to replace photo

Earring-A-Day 11: Button Chain Earrings

Ooh first post that didn't automatically go up at 9:30am. Slackin' off today. Why? Well between two dead mice (one computer, one my cat caught. ew) it was a little tough to get everything ready before I went to bed last night. That and I was working on bread. Expect that post later this month as the The Bread Project is a few weeks behind meat space. Anyway, onward!

Today's earrings fairly simple. Once again I reached into my bag of church rummage sale buttons, and took out a few that are the same shape but different tones. Buttons + jump ring chain =

I'm not totally in love with these. Originally I'd wanted to hang the buttons vertically, but I thought that might be too similar to last week's Sailor Jerry Earrings, so I went horizontal. The buttons are nice and woody looking, which is a nice contrast to the shiny shiny jump rings, but I'm not completely sold on it. Ah well, maybe I'll revisit this idea later, as there are still sooo many buttons left in that bag.