Friday, September 16, 2011

Stashoholism Confessional and Q&A

G Street, 9-2011

I blame Amanda S. for this purchase from G Street Fabrics. She recently made a top out of textured fabric and I liked the way it jazzed up a simple design. This is a fairly bright orchid color with a crinkled top layer that forms roses. I'm wondering if this might be good for a simple cowl dress.

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I know I have more questions to answer than this, but here are a few recent reader questions:

Lynn Mally asked on my Swiss dot birthday dress post if I have ditched the Danskos for pretty shoes. Ha! You can pry my Danskos off my cold dead feet. If you see me in heels, you can be sure that I have worn them no further than to walk over to the camera to hit the self-timer button. I did take those pink flowered shoes with me (Borns, so as comfortable as heels can be) to my birthday happy hour, and put them on when I was assured I would have a seat.

Amber Elayne asked on the same post if I had trouble moving the zip to the back of the dress. None! It worked perfectly. So much better than the side zip. As noted in the post, do not run the zipper all the way up to the back neckline. Sew the center back seam from the neckline down about 2 inches and install the zipper from there. That way you don't interrupt the ruffle.

Beth Conky said on my planning for Fall post: Girl, you need to move to Texas. We have 10 seconds of winter and a good six months of summer. You'd be the happiest girl in Texas.

Ha! My family lives in Texas and I spent a total of 7 years there. Even though it gets really hot and sometimes it's too much, I never took for granted that it doesn't get too cold for too long. If DC could be transplanted to a warmer clime, I'd go for it in a heartbeat.

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The Kitchenaid Ice Cream Maker Attachment is quite a success! I need to find a go-to ice cream base recipe. I did well with the Jeni's Splendid base from the Washington Post on my first batch, but the second batch had a bad texture. I suspect this is because I only rested the base until it cooled. I think it really needs to rest overnight to get all the air bubbles whipped in with the whisk to release. Also, my first batch was sort of a hybrid and included egg yolks, which might be a difference. Most recently I made Fig Honey Mascarpone Gelato from the LA Times and it came out very well.

I highly recommend this device. The only problem is, I'm going to have to buy an auxiliary freezer. I have a fridge/freezer on the small side as I am in a condo not a house, and my freezer is full already. Jiggering the ice cream making bowl into the freezer is an extremely irritating operation not for the faint of heart, involving taking most everything out of the freezer and then putting it all back in. I've been fantasizing over chest freezers...

12 comments:

puu said...

i definitely recommend using a mascarpone base, because you get amazing texture and flavor without having to worry about making a creme anglaise. :-) i like to make an ice cream per week sometimes, in the summer, and the mascarpone base never fails me!

Jean S said...

We have a small freezer--about the size/profile of the classic dorm refrigerator. Things don't get lost in it the way they will in a typical chest freezer.

Now, the caveat: It does need to be defrosted about once a year. Easy for us, as it's in the garage...

Karin said...

Danskos and borns....you must have feet like me! I also recommend naot sandals and Earthies. You can find both on zappos.

redhotpepper said...

Skip the chest freezer unless you want your feet sticking out the top with your head stuck in the bottom! My short body suffered with one because it came with one of our houses and, let me tell you, I was so excited when we were afraid it was going to die and we bought an upright.

Anonymous said...

Get a small cheap chest freezer--I think we paid about $200 for ours around 6 years ago, I doubt they've gone up too much since then, and they are worth their weight in gold. We stashed ours in the spare bedroom of our apartment.

The consistency of the egg-based ice cream can't be beat, and the flavor is out of this world, even for vanilla. My recipe came with my little cheapie rival ice cream maker though, so I don't know where to link you to it.

And that fabric is gorgeous. Not a color I could wear, but still gorgeous. :-)

Unknown said...

Fall sewing is upon us, and I'm jealous that you are ahead of me!

I live in the DC area also, and this climate is actually an improvement for me over the long, long, snowy Northeastern Pennsylvania winters. I do wish it was just a bit further south though, because I have a hard time imagining living anywhere else now!

As for comfortable shoes, I love the Cole Haan -Nike Air collaboration. I get to wear heels that feel a bit like a sneaker. Really!

I am in love with the pink, and what a great price! xo

Amanda S. said...

I'm all about texture and would totally snap that fabric up, too. It's gorgeous!

Anna Keeton said...

I'm with you on the Danskos! They are my favorite brand of shoes and always make my feet feel happy. I have a recipe for ice cream that I think turns out well- I'll share the recipe so you may try it.

Amber Elayne said...

Thanks! I think it may pull my version out of the UFO pile... Not liking the side zip at all!!!!

gwensews said...

Love the dress in your previous post. Yellows are so pretty and happy.

Skaapie said...

My favourite vanilla ice cream recipe:
Ingredients
1 x 375 g can Condensed Milk
5 ml vanilla essence
500 ml Fresh Cream, whipped
4 egg whites, stiffly beaten
Preparation method
• Add vanilla essence to condensed milk.
• Lightly fold in cream, egg whites.
• Pour mixture into a 2 litre container and freeze.

If you want it less sweet, add more egg whites or cream.
Also, I find freezing the ice cream in metal bread tins is great for saving space in the freezer.

Happy ice cream-ing!

Cathi said...

We've made several of the the Jeni's recipes from her book. They are all awesome! Did you chill the base in an ice bath? Love her lemon yogurt with blueberry and the salty carmel.