We really had a lovely Thanksgiving with my family this year, just look at the pretty table my mom put together... the food was even better! (Click on the picture, it looks much better bigger!)
In my neighborhood they have a Persimmon party in the little historic park up the street each year. The past two years I've donated a batch of Persimmon biscotti, I'm so hooked on the recipe now I like to make it for Thanksgiving and Christmas too.
Just in case you have a persimmon tree nearby, I thought I'd offer up the recipe:
Biscotti con Cachi
1/2 Cup Oil
1 cup Sugar
1 Tsp vanilla
1/2 Cup Persimmon pulp
2 Eggs
2 3/4 Cups sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp allspice
small bag of white chocolate for melting
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Lightly grease (or use parchment paper) baking sheet.
Peel skin off of persimmons and puree in food processor to make pulp. (*hint* persimmons are in season now if you don't know anyone with a tree, you still may possibly be able to find them at the market!)
In a mixing bowl, blend the oil, sugar and eggs. Stir in 1/2 cup persimmon pulp, then vanilla and mix well.
In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Fold in wet batter to combine. Fold in chopped walnuts.
On the prepared baking sheet, spoon batter into two loaves approximately 1 1/2" by 14", spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake in the middle of a preheated oven for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
Transfer from the baking sheet to a rack. Let cool for 5 minutes. Place on a cutting board. With a serrated knife slice diagonally on a 45 degree angle about 1/2 inch thick. Place on the baking sheet flat, cook an additional 10 -15 on each side to crisp. (Biscotti after all means "twice-baked"!)
posted by Liquid Sky Arts at 2:05 PM
11.26.2005
How to recycle an old sweater (by felting and re-creating) at: tag sale tales.
posted by Liquid Sky Arts at 1:17 PM
11.18.2005
Inspirations: week 2 (�ber girly)
From left to right:
Chandelier, chair, and silhouette motifs used in design.... a good example is Jeffrey Fisher's Nolita pillows.
Vintage Vogue cover illustrations like this one created in 1913 by George Wolfe Plank. The Art of Vogue Covers 1909-1940 (out of print but you can still find used copies on Amazon and Ebay) by William Parker, is pure eye candy.
Niceness.uk original wallpaper. This one is peacock feathers... I have a bit of a weakness there.
Usually I'm so stubborn when it comes down to painting a room. I find a color swatch that I like and don't think twice about having a few paint cans mixed of it. Then we cross our fingers it's going to all work out! This time around though I decided to take a different approach to our living room, since I've been living with a deep Laura Ashley Jade green that I wasn't entirely smitten over for the past 3 years, and didn't want to take any chances!
I'm following the advice from all of the interior magazines, to test out my favorite color swatches using sample pots of paint. I've been watching the different colored squares as the light changes in the room during the day, and after many tries I finally found a winner. The color of the room I fell in love with from the Domino article works really well here with our white painted furniture and restored woodwork around the window frames. Now I'm really excited to see what the whole room is going to look like.
In other fun news:
I have to share my latest obsession, binding handmade books! I can't wait to get the gocco out to screen some fantastic original covers.
I've packaged up so many goodies this year from the liquid shop, but most has gone undocumented. I thought it might be fun to start a flickr album with all of the different wrapped boxes I make... This will come soon!
posted by Liquid Sky Arts at 11:18 AM
11.10.2005
When I look at something and it makes my heart skip a beat, I mentally scramble trying to file that thing somewhere in my brain so I don't forget it. This morning I thought, "wouldn't it be grand, to share the one's I would normally keep to myself ?!". So starting this week, I'm upping the ante to post a little more often to include my weekly inspirations... so, here we go!
From left to right:
� Hurrah for inspiring fashion photography! I always find such lovelies through the foto decadent community on live journal.
� Anthropologie's holiday gift wrapping, using felt and other home-spun fibers.
� juldagen mugs also from anthropologie, with Apples, snowflakes, finches and flowers ...my favorite motifs at the moment, it couldn't get any better.
� Cozy home photos (the kitchen looks like my kitchen, hey!), found by my artistic mom!
� Vintage postcards from the early 1900's with beautiful handwriting, thank you ebay.
� Michael Smith's upcoming release, the Elements of Style found in my new favorite magazine Domino (looks like just my cup of tea!)
After walking around our neighborhood's home tour a few weeks ago, I started thinking about how much colors affect our state of mind. There was such a feeling of under stimulation after walking through so many houses with beige walls! Luckily there was one house at the end of the tour that was so brilliant in it's color choices, it had the kind of effect where my mood was instantly lifted. Which really sparked something within me, about the need to feel that same kind of intensity in my own home. It's time to match the outside with the inside.
For weeks now I've been eyeing different color schemes, in the hopes that I'd find the right colors to repaint the rooms in our house with. I was feeling pretty lost in finding a color that would match our newly acquired moss green couch, until this month's issue of Domino Magazine fell into my lap! Now that I've seen this aqua color in this living space, I'm noticing it everywhere...in my wardrobe, on my favorite cushions, in my artwork. A sure sign it's meant to be. So hopefully soon I'll be happily re-painting our living room up before the holidays.
Last week, I had found this funky vintage dress at a local shop called "Flashbacks"! It was so fun shopping there, it reminded me of the days far gone where we would convince my friends mom to drive us to Hollywood so we could shop at The Jet Rag on La Brea. I used to hunt for Chinese jackets, and funky vintage skirts (I was in a phase where I only wore skirts and tights with my big buckle Mary Janes). I didn't realize we had a shop comparable to that one here in my neighborhood, so I was pretty giddy at having my own "flashback". Of course the irony here is that I went there to find a Halloween costume... anyway, i found this great dress and it had to be mine. I was going to be a funky swashbuckler pirate, but once I tried on the dress at home I realized I looked more like a stepford wife. So that was going to be my costume, until our fun plans were foiled by my husband who slipped at work the day before my friends party, and came home looking like he had been in the world's worst street fight with a black eye and a large cut near his eye. He wasn't in much of a mood to play along and use it to his advantage as a costume.
On Halloween night, further spoils would of been had since we don't get any trick-or-treaters on our street for some reason... Luckily we have really great neighbors that live on the street just behind us. They get 100's of kids coming by for their treats, so they're always happy to have the company!
My favorite of all of the costumes that I saw while passing out candy there was: A father holding his baby that was dressed as a bumble bee, he had netting over his baseball cap and the back of his jacket said "The Bee Keeper", many jr. high Napoleon Dynamite's, and a really great adult Willy Wonka that looked like the real thing (man or woman though, I couldn't tell you)!
I've been working on some new necklaces, things have been all kinds of busy here... but I'll be sure to start adding these to the shop today.
Also, don't forget to come visit me at Tag Sale Tales too, every Friday...
