Doodle

iPad doodle with ArtRage app.

A different look at food preservation

I stumbled on this article through Etsy: Artist Jihyun Ryou combines design with more traditional methods of keeping food fresh without refrigeration.

While not necessarily practical for all climates or households with more than 2 people, I like the idea behind it and designs are simple and clean. Control humidity and avoid keeping certain foods next to each other because they release certain gases which may speed up ripening or affect flavor.

Click here to see more of the designs.

Valentine's Day Stalker Cookies

Butter cookies with royal icing and edible ink by Kopykake. Happy Valentine's Day!

Recipe Box App

Available for iPad $3.99. Also a "To Go" version for the iPhone.

If you're like me and you have dozens of bookmarked websites with recipes you love, (or want to try) and you want to consolidate them all, this is an awesome app. Very user-friendly interface, easy to navigate and edit and once you've input the recipe, you don't have to be online to look at them.

Basically, you copy/paste a recipe from the internet (or from any other digital document) into their app, then cut it up into the appropriate sections (generally Ingredients and Directions). Or you can just hand type the recipe yourself. There's a great in-app keyboard with keys like "preheat," "chopped," measurements, etc. to save you some typing. I'm actually addicted to plugging in as many recipes as I can right now, so I don't have to sift through all my books.

You can also import photos from your albums or from the internet.

It's great if you're out shopping and you forget what ingredients you need. Personally, I love propping it up near the kitchen, instead of having to run across to my computer, while dripping ingredients all over the floor.

Polymer Clay Pendants

Made a few polymer clay pendants this weekend. I'm trying to mix the media a bit and include gemstones, metal backings and painting to help it not feel quite so clay-like.

What I found the most difficult was keeping the clay perfectly clean. All it takes is a tiny speck of another color getting onto the clay and it's really hard to remove.

Painting is also really difficult on such a small surface, so my brush strokes definitely aren't as even as I'd have liked. But overall, I'm pretty happy with the results.

Egg Carving: First Attempt

Our Design Director at work brought "egg carving" to my attention a few weeks ago. I didn't even think such a thing was possible given how fragile egg shells are.

We just happen to have a dremel lying around, so I received a quick crash course on how to use it and started making holes in my egg. It took 2 different bits, one to make the initial hole and another to carve outward from the hole. The shell is surprisingly resistant. I got a bit too bold and tried drawing an S curve, which resulted in the big hole.

My first attempted ended abruptly since I didn't want noise complaints from our neighbors about someone drilling at 9:30pm, but hopefully there will be more refined attempts to come!

Wear a mask, or work in a well ventilated area so you don't risk breathing in salmonella dust! Either that or find a way to sterilize your egg shells beforehand.

Apple Sharlotka

I've followed the blog Smitten Kitchen for a couple of years, but until now hadn't actually tried any of the recipes, even though they all look amazing. Her photos of this cake are much more appetizing, so I recommend visiting her site to get the recipe.

This is a dense, super-moist Russian apple cake. What made me want to try it was seeing how many apples were put into it (6). There is no butter or oil in the recipe, but because there are so many apples, the batter absorbs the juices and stays moist without all the fat. I can definitely see myself making this more often.