Rosemary Room Spray

by Katie | 5 Comments

Rosemary is our ingredient of the season. Today we’re stepping out of the kitchen and using rosemary oil to create a room spray that will leave your whole house smelling fantastic!  If you follow this link, you’ll see some of our other favorite uses for essential oils. 

Hey readers, it’s been a fun week around here, hasn’t it? Did you check out Sarah’s profile of Connie Zamorano Tuesday afternoon? Now I’m obsessed with getting one of those cicada prints on my wall!

If the bugs left you squirming in your seat, you can channel that energy into this super simple project: homemade rosemary, mint and eucalyptus room spray. Have you tried store bought room sprays? I have a few, and I have to admit that I love them at first, but find that they can be a bit overpowering in their staying power and/or they just smell chemically over time. I don’t have either problem when I make my own. As for complexity, it’s going to take you longer to read this post than it will to mix up your spray.

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Welcome April

by Katie | Leave a comment

On the first Wednesday of every month, you can find us checking in with what’s coming up on the calendar. 

Well, Punxsutawney Phil was not joking this year! March never quite warmed up, did it? As I sat down to write this month’s welcome letter, I thought about how almost nothing has happened in our backyard, but that just means we have so much to look forward to in April!

The snowdrops and winter aconite that I mentioned last month timed their bloom to the first day of spring. Sarah reports that the forsythia and magnolias are blooming in North Carolina.  And we can feel the warmth moving north as our mom’s crocuses bloomed last week in Virginia, while mine started blooming just two days ago in PA. With everything off to a slow start, April will be bursting with flowers. I’m a big proponent of picking flowers and bringing the beauty inside. A vase of cherry blossoms, daffodils, hyacinth, and tulips creates the perfect early spring mix! And if we’re lucky, that will be followed by vases of lilacs and tree peonies.

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Creative Corner: Artist Connie Zamorano

by Sarah | 5 Comments

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Last week I had the pleasure of spending an hour in the studio with Connie Zamorano, a young artist originally from Texas, who is currently completing her Masters of Fine Arts program at the University of North Carolina. While wandering around Connie’s studio, I immediately noticed her love of nature and insects, specifically the cicada. Her thesis is entitled UPROOT and the exhibition is going on right now (March 31- April 5) in The John and June Allcott Gallery at the Hanes Art Center, see the details at the bottom of this post.  I didn’t want to take up too much of Connie’s time since she was only a couple days away from the big show, but I did get to ask her about her creative past, current inspiration, and the process of creating works for UPROOT.

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Rice & Pulses Two Ways

by Katie | Leave a comment

I originally wanted to title this post “Rice & Beans Two Ways”. After a bit of research I learned that lentils are not officially a bean, but chickpeas and lentils are both pulses.  Pulses are the subset of legumes that are harvested for their dried seeds, differentiating them from other legumes like green beans and peas that are eaten fresh.  On with it then…

While the term rice and beans may conjure up images of Mexican or Tex Mex cuisine, today’s dishes reflect the flavors of middle eastern cuisine. I like both recipes because they push me outside of my seasoning comfort zone. We all have that selection of herbs and spices that we use on a regular basis, and we’re happy with the results, so that’s not the issue, but sometimes it’s nice to shake it up, and that’s what these dishes do!

Speaking of seasonings, another good reason to get out of your comfort zone and eat dishes with a variety of herbs and spices is because there are so many health benefits associated with both. Cumin, my favorite spice lately, protects against cancer and encourages the secretion of pancreatic enzymes necessary for good digestion and nutrient absorption. The second recipe contains turmeric, a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant with proven cancer-blocking activities. Parsley’s a rich source of antioxidants and vitamin C, the latter protecting against rheumatoid arthritis. Cinnamon is considered to have one of the richest sources of antioxidants and studies have shown that it lowers the risks for a variety of type 2 diabetes factors.

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Moving West!

by Katie | Leave a comment

*This post is probably best read as a drinking game ~ line up the shot glasses and knock one back every time we use the words excited and explore, or anything similar. What can we say, we’re excited (ding ding!).*

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Cash & Calder on Independence Pass, Dec. 2011

We have (ahem) exciting news ~ half of the Seasoned crew is moving west! To Boulder, CO, specifically, and we are jumping at the guns to explore our new digs.

We knew that sooner or later our current posts would be up and it would be time to move. For the longest time we didn’t know where to go, batting around east and west coast ideas, and just dabbling at the thought of planting ourselves in the majestic scenery that is the Rockies. Then, as luck would have it, an opportunity came up for Calder, and we jumped! We’re moving in shifts this summer, with a little bit of back and forth because there’s east-coast-beach-fun that has to happen before we settle out west.

Needless to say, I’ve been researching all things Boulder, trying to learn more about the new place we’re going to call home. I thought it would be fun to share a bit of what I’ve discovered, and if you any suggestions, please share!

We’re moving from a grey zone to an orange zone!
I love opening my weather app and seeing this.
  • Perhaps one of the most surprising things to me is that we can expect to have better weather than we’ve experienced living in central PA. The Boulder area folks are quick to point out that they average about 300 sunny days per year. Calder’s first reaction was “that’s excessively sunny,” which still has me laughing; we are so used to the cloudy and overcast days here.
  • In the interest of research, we’ve been looking for movies filmed in Boulder, so far all we have is Catch and Release. The reviews are average, but C and I loved it! Have any other recommendations?
Our current CSA, I’m going to miss you!
  • Bon Appetit named Boulder America’s #1 Foodiest Town. The sheer quantity of restaurant mentions and food-based blogs that have come up in my online searches for Boulder, suggest there’s something to this. It’s obvious that there’s a lot to explore, and I can’t wait to get out there to start sampling and sharing my experiences. And of course there are a million and one CSAs ~ which to choose?
  • Likewise, there’s  a healthy brewery, distillery, and winery scene. Is there any question that I’m beyond excited to report back?
  • So of course, with sunshine, good eating, good drinking, and good mountains, it’s no surprise that Boulder has won a slew of “happiest/healthiest city” awards in all variations of the phrase.
Snowmass, Summer 2011
Independence Pass, Summer 2008
  • Hiking is going to be a whole new adventure as I learn about Boulder’s grassland ecosystem and the ponderosa pine forests, which are both so different from the humid forests of PA.  Along the same lines, I’ve been researching native plants with the hopes that we’ll eventually have a yard that needs tending.
  • And then there’s the biking. I think this sums it up: they don’t just have bike lanes, they have “bike  routes”, “sharrows”, “multi-use paths”, and underpasses so you don’t have to even intersect with cars. Everything will be done by bike (until we get cold)! When Alex was born, my mom bought a Taga, and I think we’re going to clock a lot of miles on it as we explore.
  • I love a good city guide, especially written by a local, and find myself heading straight for Design Sponge’s guides whenever I’m going to a new place. So of course, I immediately opened their Boulder guide, and am excited to visit their recommendations.
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Snowshoeing near Ashcroft, January 2014

We’ve visited Colorado quite a bit (thus the Colorado photos in this post), and Calder even lived out there for a year in high school, but neither of us have spent much time in the Boulder area. As I said above, we would love recommendations ~ if you’ve been there or live there, give us some tips! 

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From our road trip in 2008. Can’t wait to go on more photo-taking adventures!

But ugh, as exciting as this is, I still find a lump in my throat when I think about moving so far away from my east coast home and family. My head is a whirlwind of “you only live once” excitement mixed with the homesick blues. {Sarah here: I have that same lump! I also have excessively tapping feet because I can’t wait to plan my visit!} I hope that if anything, our lives will be richer because we already know the east coast up and down, so now we’ll get to explore the big mountains and skies of the west.

Cloud cover map from here.

In Season: April Fools

by Sarah | Leave a comment

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April Fool’s day is next week! We like to keep things light hearted and fun ~ an “out of order” sign on the bathroom mirror or a pile of fake puke that fooled everyone when Charlie the cat still lived with us (it’s not as convincing now that she’s spending her time taking cat naps at the beach house). We gathered a few links that will leave you laughing and hopefully inspire a bit of fun when Tuesday rolls around.

This takes a bit of planning, but it’s such a cute prank!

Here’s a list of some seriously easy, yet creative pranks to play.  Lots of these are office appropriate, how funny is #38 and #34?! Some of these are enough to drive a person crazy – #26 and #16.  Save #12 for any day of the year, it’s shocking and harmless and makes me fall over laughing every time.

Watch this extremely elaborate beer-in-the-pipes prank.

We can’t wait until Alex is a few years older to surprise him at dinner and then again for dessert!

If you need a little laugh on the daily, check out The Onion, a satirical news source. The Onion’s comedy writers were featured on This American Life way back when too. Give it a listen to get a feel for their creative process.

Remember that old MTV show High School Stories: Scandals, Pranks and Controversies? It has a surprisingly high rating on IMDb.

Here’s the full story of Jimmy Kimmel’s Sochi Wolf prank.

Remember to be wary of pranks played by corporations next week! Here’s a roundup of last year’s.

Have a great weekend!

Yarn Tassel Garland

by Sarah | 4 Comments

I’m loving these sweet and simple yarn tassels.  Knowing that I needed a cute backdrop, I decided to hop on the yarn train to garland town.  Once I got started, I quickly decided that one can never have enough fun fluff to string about the house.  I’m not sure my live-in boyfriend agrees, but if he says anything I’ll just shove a tassel in his yap trap.  These little tassels are really easy to make and their design is easily customizable to suit your tassel taste.

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Early Spring Camping

by Katie | 2 Comments

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Surprise! We had to come back with a one-two punch, because what goes better with a maple syrup festival than camping?!

If you haven’t tried it yet, early spring camping can be a lot of fun. During our week-long road trip in early March, we spent almost as much time camping as we did sleeping indoors. Albeit our camping isn’t necessarily roughing it; the back seat of our van folds down into a bed big enough for the three of us (four when Cash curls up for a snooze). These were taken on the first morning in George Washington National Forest, just outside of Warm Springs, VA. 

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As you can tell, the morning air was freezing crisp and refreshing, with a beautiful layer of frost and ice crystals covering every surface. So first things, first, Calder made some coffee in the french press while I wandered off to check out the scenery. Soon I was back at the van, grabbing my coffee, and encouraging everyone to get out and watch the rising sun sparkle on the ice.

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Tap that Maple.

by Katie | Leave a comment

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Last weekend we finally (finally! I whisper/shout under my breath because I’ve been wanting to go for the past three years.) made it to our local environmental center for their maple harvest festival. As we mentioned in our Welcome March post, this month is prime maple tapping time in PA as the warm weather creeps north. You’re laughing because we started this week with temps in the teens, aren’t you? Well, while everyone agrees that it’s time for winter to throw in the towel, below freezing overnight temps are necessary for a good tapping season.

Why do we tap trees in the spring? When maple trees are growing throughout the summer, they produce starches that are stored in tree’s sapwood. During the fall and spring some of these starches are converted to sugar molecules (mostly sucrose) and stored in the sap allowing it to flow throughout the tree as the temperatures warm. A healthy supply of sap requires water, which is plentiful at this time of year from snowmelt and rain showers.  And lastly, the season’s combination of cold nights with temps below freezing and warm days with temps above freezing creates a pressure in the sapwood. When we drill into the tree, that pressure pushes the sap out of the hole and into our buckets!

I was surprised to learn that you can tap more than just Sugar Maples! Black, red, and silver maples can all be tapped, but as you may have guessed, sugar maples have the highest sugar content. The sugar content ranges from 1-6% in sap, and can be measured using a refractometer. On average 40 gallons of sap are required to produce 1 gallon of syrup, which will have a final sugar content of 66-67%. Now for the sad news, on average a single taphole will only produce 15 gallons of sap in a season, but under ideal conditions it is possible to collect 40-80 gallons from that tap!

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Savory Rosemary Scones

by Sarah | 1 Comment

Rosemary is our ingredient of the season. We think you’ll love the rosemary aroma that’s left on your fingers after mixing these scones, only to by topped by the aroma that fills your house as they are baking!

These are your grandmother’s scones.  Rosemary, butter and heavy cream are the main flavor players in this mix.  Crumbly, but not dry, these scones are perfect with a cup of tea or in place of a biscuit at lunch or dinner.

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Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbs. sugar
  • 2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 Tbs. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 6 Tbs. cold unsalted butter
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 large egg yolks

Glaze (optional)

  • 1 large egg
  • 1 Tbs. milk
  • sea salt for sprinkling

*makes 8 large scones

Instructions:

  • Place an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 400ºF.  Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, rosemary, baking powder and salt.  I like to give the ingredients a light whisk to ensure everything is mixed evenly.
  • Slice cold butter and add it to the dry ingredients.  Now it’s time to play Edward-butter-knife-hands, if you have a pastry cutter-use that now.  Hold a butter knife in each hand and begin chopping the slices of butter even smaller until all the pieces are no larger than a tic-tac.  That little lump you see on the butter knife is an example of what your largest butter ball should look like.
  • In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the two egg yolks and stir in the cup of cream until it’s blended together.  If you’re new to the egg-separating game, don’t fret it’s easy.  Just give your egg a good whack on the side of a small bowl, right about in the center of the shell.  Then pour the yolk into one side of the shell and back into the other.  Continue to do that little egg dance until all of the egg whites fall out of the shell and into the small bowl.  You should be left with a perfect little yolk.  After the egg yolks and cream are blended, combine it with the dry ingredients.
  • Gently mix the batter with a wooden spoon.
  • Dust your hands and a clean surface with flour.  Lightly knead the batter.  I like to push the ball forwards over and into itself, backwards, left and right.  You don’t want to over mix the dough or it will become gummy.  Lumps and bumps are characteristics of a great scone.
  • Form the dough into a disk about an inch thick.  Cut the disk in half and then cut each half into four triangles.  Place the triangles on your prepared baking sheet.

The glaze is optional, but it adds a nice golden sheen to the scones, so if you’d like to pretty ‘em up a bit then glaze on.

  • Lightly whisk two eggs and a tablespoon of milk and brush it onto your wedges.  If you’re like me and your kitchen isn’t fully stocked with gadgets, gizmos and mainly a pastry brush, no worries!  Wash your hands and grab a spoon.  Spoon a little bit of glaze onto each triangle and gently brush two fingers over it to evenly coat the scone. You’ll have a good amount of glaze left over. Martha is probably shaking her head, but that’s how we do it over in Sarah’s kitchen.
  • Sprinkle each scone with a bit of course salt and before popping them in the oven for 15-18 minutes.

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While the scones were baking I mixed the extra glaze with the two egg whites and scrambled up a healthy little snack.  It was just enough to tide me over until the buzzer rang.  The scones should have a golden brown crust when they’re finished.  To ensure they are fully baked, insert a toothpick, chopstick or butter knife into the center of a scone and make sure it comes out squeaky clean. Serve warm or at room temperature and be sure to enjoy!

*I slightly tweaked this recipe from one found in Fine Cooking.