Two Bits

July 31, 2015July 31, 2015 by Sarah | Leave a comment

We want to break down these internet barriers and invite you into our lives and we’re hoping you’ll do the same. You are welcome to share a bit of your week or day in the comments, or if they’re better represented by a photo, tag us on instagram @liveseasoned.

Sarah here :

Can you see it? Yep, that’s three adobe programs open at once. My to do list is a mile long this ~~week~~ month and while it’s a little intimidating, it’s also thrilling and I love trying to squeeze it all in. There are never enough hours in a day, but that’s why I organize my list by week! I’m definitely a list person.

As you know, I’m preparing for my trip to Nepal, which means I’m squeezing in all kinds of odd jobs and activities before go. Right now I’m focusing a lot of energy on my RAW gallery show in Raleigh. I’m digging through my archives and ordering prints, designing postcards and trying to envision my space. I’m shooting a wedding this Saturday and working in the darkroom on Sunday then next week I’m off to visit Katie (the other half of Seasoned) in Colorado :)! I’m also trying to iron out all the details of the upcoming Schu Farm Fest, a mini music and arts festival, the Schu siblings hold every year. Okay, last year was the first year, but it was amazing and it will go on forever. Of course, I’m always working on organizing and creating materials for Haand, the lovely housewares company where I work.

Oh yeah, I’m 26 now! My birthday was last Saturday. I spent the morning at The Honeysuckle Tea House, hiked in the afternoon with Cash and Kevin, and then went to an event held at a local goat cheese and milk farm. While the farm party was not exactly what we envisioned (beer flowing freely from a dozen spouts and baby goats in pajamas), we had a great time. While we waited for the local brewery reps to arrive, K and I rowed a boat across the pond, mooed at innocent calves, ate our weight in Middle Eastern food and kissed baby goats.

I shopped online for health insurance yesterday. It was worse than doing taxes.

Katie here :

Ack! This week flew by in a flash. Ready for it?

Monday : I don’t even remember.
Tuesday : Drove to Aspen for a meeting and back. I couldn’t help but stop at the top of Independence Pass for a photo! It never gets old.
Wednesday : Recovered from Tuesday just in time for a little picnic dinner in our favorite park.
Thursday : I had one goal all day. Make a kicka$$ dinner, and I did. More on that soon!
Friday : We’re heading out of town tonight for a weekend camping trip with five other families! It’s going to be crazy. Let’s hope the kiddos sleep.

In between all of that I’ve been working to repair my broken hard drive. The one with all of my photos since 2003 (yikes!). We’re in the homestretch and everything is going to be recovered! And if you’re wondering where my backup was, this was my main copy and my backup. Thanks LaCie.

How was your week?

State College, Pennsylvania

July 29, 2015August 7, 2017 by Sarah | Leave a comment

We love traveling. Check out some other travel spotlights or watch our four favorite travel documentaries on Netflix.

It’s Wednesday! It’s time to procrastinate and daydream about traveling and visiting spaces you’ve never seen before. I must admit, I wasn’t always in love with State College, Pennsylvania. Growing up, I thought of it as a drinkers’ paradise where sports fans would flock on the weekends to watch Penn State football. I was absolutely right about those things, but State College is so much more than that. It’s Happy Valley, an adorable little city nestled between mountains in the middle of beautiful central Pennsylvania. As an adult, I was reintroduced to State College when Katie and her husband bought a home there. They both worked at Penn State University and I had just returned from Thailand when they convinced me (it wasn’t too hard) to move away from Philadelphia and move in with them. I spent the next eight months working as a delivery driver, walking their dog. readjusting to life in America and learning my way around town.

After a couple weeks, I knew the streets better than Katie, but she introduced me to a lot of the goodness on this State College city guide list. State College is a completely different space depending on what time of year you are visiting. During the summer, it is usually calm because many of the students are gone. The city actually halves in population! It goes without saying that summer is my absolute favorite time to visit. In the Fall, during football season, downtown is crazy crowded with students and fans that flock from across the state and nation to watch Penn State football. If you’re a female delivery driver that means stacks of cash and lots of traffic. In the dead of winter, State College is cloudy, icy and cold. I try to avoid winter in State College at all costs, but really, I try to avoid winter everywhere at all costs.

Lemon Cream Popsicles

July 28, 2015January 29, 2016 by Katie | Leave a comment

Lemon is our ingredient of the season! So far we’ve used it in a buckle, in bars, in a savory pasta, and in the shower.

Lemon cream popsicles : just three ingredients and you’ll create a popsicle that’s equal parts tart, sweet, and deliciously creamy. I’ve been trying for days, but I can’t quite figure out how to explain these. They’re creamy like a lemon custard, but airy, like whipped cream. Maybe lemon mousse? Try licking whipped cream off of the slice of a lemon. That’s what this is (sort of).

I got the idea for these after reading The Merrythought’s post on Brazilian Limeade Popsicles.Loving desserts that blend citrus and cream (orange sherbet & vanilla ice cream, key lime pie), I was immediately intrigued and thought it would be fun to make a version that uses lemons. Subbing the limes for lemons, produces the recipe as I wrote it below, which just contains milk, sweetened condensed milk, and lemons. That’s it! And there’s no cooking involved, just blend, strain, and freeze….

At this point are you thinking about the lemon juice and milk combination? Won’t you just end up with curdled milk? That’s what I wondered, but ~~amazingly~~ surprisingly, it just works! Calder says it’s because you’re using cold milk. Maybe that’s the case, but I’m incredulous, I think there’s something else going on here, I just don’t know what it is.

Lemon Cream Pops

Ingredients

2 whole lemons
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups milk (I used whole)

Instructions

Juice one lemon, removing all seeds. Cut and discard the ends from the second lemon, and then cut the rest of the fruit into eighths, removing as many seeds as you can (do not peel the fruit).
Place the lemon pieces, the lemon juice, the sweetened condensed milk, and the milk in a blender. Pulse or blend (my blender doesn't have a pulse option) for about 5-10 seconds. At this point you can taste your mixture and adjust it as necessary, adding more lemon juice or sugar depending upon how tart or sweet you want them.
Strain the liquid, throwing out the pulp.
Pour the strained liquid into popsicle molds and freeze overnight.

https://liveseasoned.com/lemon-cream-popsicles/

A note about our popsicle molds : we love them! We have both the mini pops and the classic molds. The mini pops are the perfect size for kids and for small treats for adults (each pop is less than an ounce). Those are made from silicone and it’s so easy to remove each pop without having to run them under water (the silicone sleeve turns inside out as you’re pulling out the pop) . The classic molds produce large/average-sized pops. These aren’t made from silicone, but you can remove each pop with its plastic sleeve from the large holder. This makes it easy to grab just one pop at a time to run under hot water, or to carry a bunch at a time as you deliver them to your guests on the deck. Zoku. I’m having so much fun making popsicles this summer that now I want to collect all of the Zoku holders (rocket ships! sea life!). I’m obsessed, but really just because they are such high quality molds that are well designed.

Luckily for me, I live with a little popsicle monster. If he had his way, he’d have them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have to admit, as the supply dwindles, I love planning what the next batch will be. Strangely enough, he calls every one a “watermelon pop” because that’s the first flavor he ever had!

Mad About Moths

July 23, 2015July 23, 2015 by Sarah | Leave a comment

It’s National Moth Week! Learn about the differences between moths and butterflies or learn how to keep clothes moths away from your precious wool sweaters.

Yesterday we took a little moment away from moths to whip up some lemon curd a.k.a summer in a jar, but today we’re back with some moth madness! Originally I intended to show you how to attract moths, but I apparently moths hate me. I hung up a white sheet yesterday and today and NADA. I’m blaming it on the late evening rains we had because I promise you I did ev erything that I was advised. You can try that activity for yourself and let me know how it goes, hopefully better than it went for me ;). Fear not faithful readers, I searched the web far and wide for some fun moth links sure to delight the moth lover in you.

I might need to add more nectar plants to my yard to attract moths in greater numbers.

Raise a little moth lover of your own with this cute and colorful caterpillar sleeping bag for kids.

I think this fabric moth sculpture is pretty rad.

This moth halloween costume is so cute that I may make an adult version this year!

The Moth actually has very little to do with moths. It’s true stories told live, and most of them are amazing. Read about how The Moth got its name here.

This watercolor painting of a Luna Moth is absolutely gorgeous. Have you had the pleasure of seeing a live Luna Moth? Thankfully I have and even though it was a decade ago, it’s something I won’t forget.

I love this moth watercolor too. I wish I could paint!

The woman behind The Butterfly Babe Gallery has an amazing story and lovely photos.

The internet is amazing. Remember when you would search for the perfect piece of clipart all computer class long?! Well now you can easily search and find what you need, like this pretty moth vector.

A few years ago, I was living in Thailand and visiting plenty of night markets. I came across a stall that was basically a rummage sale and I found a framed Atlas Moth. The stall owner was nowhere to be found, but I waited there for ten minutes until they returned so I could purchase it, for $5, which is hella expensive in Thailand, but crazy cheap (in my opinion) for the largest moth in the world! At the time, I had no idea it was the largest moth, I just really, really like framed insects, now it’s one of my most prized possessions.

We’re not trying to make this a competition, but ever since I made the venn diagram and wrote ‘moths typically have drab-colored wings,’ I’ve felt pretty bad about it. So here are twenty beautiful moths for you to feast your eyes on and to ease my guilt. #sorrymoths

photos: me/2/3

Lemon Curd

July 22, 2015July 31, 2015 by Katie | 1 Comment

Earlier this summer I was sharing some of the crafts that were included in our DIY wedding (four years ago this summer!). Today we’re sharing yet another wedding-related post, and this one includes lemons, our ingredient of the season!

Since our wedding was such a relaxing, picnic-on-the-farm affair, it would have seemed out of character to serve a traditional, multi-layered cake. Plus, there’s no way that Calder and I could decide on just one flavor! Instead, my mom made three different cakes for the reception, my favorite carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for Calder, and a delicious almond cake with buttercream frosting and lemon and orange curds between the layers. All three were amazing, and it was nice to be able to offer guests options for their dessert.

Our sister, Kristin, made the citrus curds for the cakes, and they were perfect. Just the right consistency and with that bit of tart flavor that paired so well and added a bit of interest to the white cake and buttercream. I asked her what her secret was, and her response : Martha.

Even though I can go through a jar of Trader Joe’s lemon curd in no time, I’ve never tried making my own, assuming that it was fussy and would require too much precision or time (funny since I’m always itching to work on my macarons). But, with lemons as our ingredient of the season, I knew it was time to make a batch, and to my surprise, it couldn’t have been easier!

Following Kristin’s lead, I turned to Martha and made this version (reprinted below). You’ll see that this makes a fairly small batch, which is perfect if you’re the only one eating it in your house, but as far as I can tell, the recipe easily doubles. Kristin sent me a recipe from Martha that was exactly double this one. Although, search “Martha Stewart lemon curd”, and you’ll come up with a number of variations. This recipe’s size is more than double the one I’m sharing, and it includes salt, which would be a nice addition to the recipe below. This recipe is the exact same size as the one I just linked to, but here she has you add the butter to the saucepan while it’s cooking (something that the other recipes did not do). There seems to be some flexibility in both the proportion of the ingredients and the technique used to make it.

Bottom line : don’t stress and just make a batch.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients

3 large egg yolks
zest of 1/2 lemon (I used the zest of a whole lemon since mine seemed small)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (don't use bottled lemon juice)
6 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces

Instructions

Whisk together the yolks, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
Cook the mixture over medium heat stirring constantly and making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the pan. Continue cooking for about 5-7 minutes or until it's thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, and begin adding the butter, one piece at a time. Continue stirring with the wooden spoon until the butter melts and the curd's consistency is smooth.
Pour the curd through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl or jar for storage. Place a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd to stop a skin from forming as it cools.
Refrigerate until completely cool before serving.

https://liveseasoned.com/lemon-curd/

Want to make orange curd? Just substitute the lemon juice and zest for orange juice and zest, and you’re welcome to use bottled orange juice.

If you’ve never had lemon curd before, it has a sweet and tart lemon flavor and the consistency of a really thick pudding (I think that’s the best way to describe it?). I like to spread my lemon curd over toast with butter, but it’s commonly used in a variety of desserts. You could put it between the layers of a cake as we did for the wedding. Use it to fill a tart shell. Serve a dollop over ice cream. Stir it into some cottage cheese for a mid-day snack. Eat it by the spoonful.

Clothes Moths : Our Common Household Pest

July 21, 2015September 23, 2017 by Katie | 1 Comment

Today we mention the use of essential oils to deter moths. If you’re interested in more essential oil posts, check out our archive. It’s also National Moth Week! Want to know the difference between moths and butterflies?

While we love moths and try to live in harmony with nature, there’s something we just can’t come to peace with, and that’s moths eating our clothes (and yarn!). Since it’s moth week, it’s the perfect time to discuss the ugly underbelly of the moth world, as we like to think of them, and offer suggestions for keeping your house free of these pests.

If you’ve never suffered through infestations from these moths, count your blessings. On the other hand, if you have had the displeasure of trying to eradicate these moths from your house, we’re here to commiserate, and to share our strategies for keeping our closets moth-free.

Moths and Butterflies

July 20, 2015July 20, 2015 by Sarah | Leave a comment

Dudes! It’s National Moth Week! We’re treating this week as an opportunity to educate ourselves and others (you!) about the wonderful world of moths. I hope you’ll read along this week and spread the news. National Moth Week is a celebration of one of the most diverse and successful organisms on earth. Scientists estimate there are anywhere from 150,000-500,000 moths on earth. If I could do one thing to celebrate National Moth Week, it would be to trek into the rainforest, set up a white sheet, shine a spotlight on it and watch them flock to it, but unfortunately my rain forest moth-ing dreams must wait. I am going to try to make time to do that aforementioned activity in my backyard though. National Moth Week is a great time to become a citizen scientist and collect data. I might not get a glimpse of an Atlas Moth, but maybe I’ll see a Luna.

Two Bits

July 17, 2015July 16, 2015 by Sarah | Leave a comment

We want to break down these internet barriers and invite you into our lives and we’re hoping you’ll do the same. You are welcome to share a bit of your week or day in the comments, or if they’re better represented by a photo, tag us on instagram @liveseasoned.

Sarah here :

This week has been equal parts work and play. On Monday and Tuesday, I ran around from job to meeting to gallery walk-through, and now that Friday is here, I’m chillin’ on the beach. This is my first visit to the Outer Banks and so far it’s lovely. The beach is free and alcohol is permitted so that’s where you can find me all weekend!

Summer Essentials : Park Days!

July 16, 2015July 31, 2015 by Katie | Leave a comment

From the popsicles on Monday to cooking with Little A on Tuesday and Sarah’s tips for taking sibling snapshots yesterday, it inadvertently turned into a kid-themed week over here. Meanwhile, Alex, Luc and I are in the middle of an awesome summer of kid fun. What does that mean? Playgrounds and parks. Between naps and rainy day visits to the library, we try to spend as much time outside as we can, so I thought I would share our park/sun essentials.

Swim/sun suits are the way to go if you have little ones and a park with a fountain. The suits make sunscreen application so easy! … and they aren’t just for kids, my mom just gave me this suit for my birthday. PS. everything on that site is 15% off with the code SUMMER15.

I love all of the cheap options for prescription glasses these days, and am thinking about ordering these sunglasses.

Homemade sunscreen? Check!

Word on the playground is that skorts are a mom’s best friend. I never thought I’d say that, but luckily, there are a lot of great looking and fitting skorts out there. Unfortunately, my current favorite is now sold out, so I can’t buy a dozen more, but this is the “sport” alternative.

Keens are awesome for active little kids. Socks aren’t necessary, they keep feet cool, they are great on dry or wet days, and they dry quickly. The only bummer? They’re targets for stray pebbles.

I always pack a hat, and my favorites are the inexpensive floppy ones.

No matter where we’re going, staying organized is the key to getting out the door quickly. I just bought this small Timbuk2 bag and am so happy to be back on the messenger bag train again, especially when there are so many pockets involved.

And the key to keeping everyone happy in the heat is water. At Christmas time I used Cafe Press to make us a couple of personalized water bottles – they made great stocking stuffers, and now they’re in constant rotation for our park trips.

Little A is such a tough guy that he rarely needs more than a kiss to get back on his feet, but I picked up a couple of these first aid kits just in case we happen upon a bandaid moment. They are compact enough to keep in my bag and in the glove box.

As is my nature, I try to keep things simple when we head out for the day; it gets us out the door faster and there’s less to keep track of when we’re at the park. Of course, we always pack a snack and my camera :-). What about you? What are your park essentials?

How to: Photograph Young Siblings

July 15, 2015March 24, 2016 by Sarah | 3 Comments

Family portraits are hard. There’s a good chance everyone involved has varying levels of interest in taking a great portrait. I’m usually the one in the bunch groaning, so I’m here to tell you how to make future family shots a little less painful, specifically portraits of young siblings.

It all comes down to making it quick, easy and safe for the little ones. You’re not going to walk away with fifty amazing portraits, but if you get one great shot, the squawks and squeals are all worth it. In previous posts, we gave you a primer on photography, newborn portraits and kid candids. I advise skimming those posts to get a better understanding of light and photography before setting up your mini models.