Seamripper

Nicole-ua

Here are two of my bottles of homemade kahlua. I printed out address labels for them. One of these is going to be a hostess gift for Jen. I gave the rest to my parents, uncle, brothers, and sister for Christmas.

Unfortunately, I gave away my two bottles of amaretto, so I don't know how it tastes. But when I tried the kahlua before Christmas, it tasted good but very, very sweet. It was also very, very potent. It should be good to drink in about two weeks.

What to do with your Xmas money

When I was home in NJ for Christmas, my mom and I went to see my sister Lisa's shop, Crazy Eye, on 9th St. in Philadelphia across Passyunk (I think) from the Italian Market. She sells all locally-made or -designed T-shirts, handbags (her own and others'), scarves, and other odds and ends. It's pretty cool. Say hello to Nutter, the shop dog for me. It's open Friday through Sunday.

Lisa sells some of the glasses, mirror compacts, coasters, and other items made by my cousin Pat's company, Lazy Susan. I bought the "Mirror, mirror... Oh, forget it, I know I look good" cameo compact from Lisa's store. I'm thinking of getting some of the glasses, too. Once I saw the Lazy Susan catalog, I realized that I had seen their products all over the place and coveted many of them (especially the lace dresses glasses. I LOVE them). You can find them at all sorts of stores including Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters, as well as on the Web.

I guess we're a pretty creative family.

Homemade Hooch

I almost gave up the idea of making kahlua for Christmas gifts this year because I didn't get around to doing my test run. Once I actually started on it, I realized just how darn easy it is.

I based my recipe on one from Ready Made magazine, with a few changes:
1/2 cup ground coffee beans (Peet's Major Dickason's Blend)
2 Tsp. espresso (also Peet's, Espresso Forte)
2 cups water
4 cups sugar (we ran out of white sugar, so I used 3.5 cups light brown sugar and .5 cup white)
3 Tsp. Trader Joe's vanilla paste (really just goopy vanilla extract)
2.5 cups vodka

I brewed the coffee in our French press (next time, I'll let it steep a bit longer than normal--maybe up to a half hour). Then I poured the coffee into a pot with the sugar and vanilla and boiled the mixture until all the sugar dissolved (Ready Made said it would take about an hour; I found it took about 20 minutes). Once the coffee-vanilla-simple syrup mixture cooled, I poured it into a bottle with the vodka and shook it around.

I bought a case of 375 ml. clear bottles and 12 T-corks today at San Francisco Brewcraft, which, for the record, was a pretty trippy place. From the amount I made, I filled 3.5 bottles.

I'm going to try it this weekend to see how it tastes. It should be too sweet right now (apparently the sweetness dies down after a few weeks), but I want to make sure the vanilla isn't too overwhelming.

Once I make a label for the bottles, I'll post a photo.

By the way, if you're thinking of trying this yourself, All Recipes.com has a pretty informative article on making your own hooch.

Feria Urbana

I love Feria Urbana. Although sometimes I go and think, "I could make that for so much cheaper," it's always cool to see people who are out there who are creative enough to come up with the ideas, execute them, and put themselves out there to sell them. Chad and I went today to see if we could find something for his sister.

We saw Colleen Keenan's cool pocketbooks (er--handbags, as soon as I said, "pocketbooks," Colleen asked if I was from the East Coast). They were made of vintage tapestry fabric and were really nicely done. They had the magnetic clasps of professional bags, the metal feet, labels on the front, and the designs and fabrics were really cool. But the execution of her designs was really top notch, and considering that, the prices were really reasonable. So often, I see handbags there that are nicely designed, but the execution is still a little amateur. Colleen's bags were really well done, very professional.

Lotta Jansdotter had some gorgeous textiles--very clean designs printed on a coarse linen as well as some paper products and ceramics. I was tempted by her 2005 calendar.

Jill Bliss had these great wallets made out of old sheets. At first I thought the fabric was a little too flimsy, but then I realized you can just toss them in the wash if they get dirty! A negative becomes a positive!

There was also some nice jewelry there, but nothing as cool as the Maya Kini Organix necklaces and earrings. I so loved the radish one.

We didn't buy anything, but I'm considering saving up for one of the small-ish Colleen Keenan bags (the one I want isn't on her site), at least until I can find a Kelly-style bag that doesn't look too fake.

Xmas gifts

It's really coming down to the wire in terms of gift-giving. I'm hoping to make homemade Kahlua or amaretto liquers for folks, but then I feel obligated to make cookies, which, quite frankly, takes me a long time to do.

Now I'm thinking paperwhite kits, with pretty glass vases or simple flowerpots. That might be nice.

I might make Erika and Liz needle holders, but I won't have time until next weekend. I'm thinking of trying to modify my design to a one-row roll for them. If I can do that (and maybe make up some extras), I might try selling them on Craftster. Who knows.

Christmas Tablecloth

Chad and I had our Christmas party last night. As we were getting ready Friday night, making the crab cakes*, cleaning the bathroom, making the gingerbread dough, etc., I carved out some time to make this tablecloth.

And embroidered this snowflake (my first successful embroidery project!):

It was inspired by this napkin, from Pottery Barn.

* Mini Asian crab cakes from Martha Stewart Living, December 2003. This is a surefire hit at parties, and although it takes a while to prepare, you can make them weeks ahead and just pop them in the oven when people start showing up. Ten minutes later, garnish, and serve! Delish!