The wee mousey burrito

The title of this post sounds utterly disgusting, I know, but don't worry it's not a real burrito or even real mice. If you ever find me eating real mice burritos, then you should consider that to be a sign of either my descent into insanity, or the apocalypse.

little mousey poking out of his cover

During a recent visit to our local antique store, I found a cute little box of mice with extraordinarily long tails. When I asked the proprietor for more information as to their use, he said that the very long tails were for holding cheese and other hors d'oeuvres. Well, I think I may have hopped with delight, right there in the middle of his store. I was so excited at such a cute and clever idea. And when he offered  to sell them for just twenty dollars, well, I couldn't refuse.  

such long, luxurious tails

Now I have a whole litter of tiny nice to help me with my next party. Fortunately, these mice are more like the little, happy, clean mice in Cinderella and not so much like the ones in my cupboards.…hmm, maybe scratch that next party until I can convince my neighbor to stop sending over all of his little furry cupboard friends.

So, to keep these little mice in tip top shape, I decided that they needed their own rolled felt case. This would protect them from each other and from any outside scratches. I will admit, they came in their original box which kept them nicely separated and displayed them beautifully. Somebody had taken great care to keep the box in fairly good shape, but it still had an inevitable layer of grime from having been around for many years. So, I tossed the box and, although I have little doubt that when I threw away that box I probably gave up any chance of selling my little Napier mice(Napier is the company that made them) for a fortune in the future, I find the tiny felt burrito cover to be a much more adorable way to keep them clean. And handmade by me, means that that I can make a new one anytime I want :)

so mysterious... what's inside?

oh, hello!

Now there are two of them!

so many mice came out to play.

The Cheery Gift

 
It may come as no surprise to those who know me, but I dearly love making a very ordinary (or even downright boring) gift special with just a little bit of extra cheery packaging.

 
Cheerful packaging can be as simple as a beautiful ribbon, or as complex as an expensive roll of paper with carefully selected ribbon and a perfectly matched card.

 
It doesn't matter much which option I choose, the important thing is making sure that what ever my choice, I make the packaging as perfect as I possibly can. I like to tie a single ribbon, or bit of twine into the most lovely bow I can manage.

 
Anytime I feel so inclined to indulge in expensive paper for a special gift or recipient, I take the time to find a good box so that I can wrap it with perfect corners and nicely folded down paper edges.

Sometimes the simple addition of a homemade Birthday flag or bouquet of red mushrooms can make a boring looking gift really fun.

Sometimes, cute packaging comes together very easily.

 
This tiny goody bag comes ready to give. I could have simply stapled the bag shut and it still would have been very cute, but I happened to have the perfect ribbon that I picked up last week on a whim and so I strung it through the top of the bag. I never would have thought to put them together until I had both the bag and the ribbon sitting on the desk together. It was purely accidental, but ended up being perfect.

Side view of the bag. so adorable!!!

reverse side of the bag. even cuter!!!

All these little details help make me feel proud to give whatever gift I have to offer, even if it's just a bar of chocolate or a packages of sticky notes.

And please remember: every day is a gift, and every gift is an opportunity to make someone's day or week a tiny bit brighter

Christmas came and went

A tiny snowman cottage in the woods

Now is the time for a post christmas mini Christmas celebration. 

Normal Christmas has too much pressure attached to it so now it's time for tiny Christmas! With all it's tiny, cute, cheerful glory.

Tiny, unexpected packages on each plate.

The month of canning

 So, I realize that it has been over a month since I last posted on my blog, but once you see all the delicious treats I've been making this past month, you'll realize just why I haven't had time to post!

I've gone on a little bit of a food preserving rampage. I have, of course, made some normal jams and such, but I also tried my hand at some less common (for me, at least) products: tomato ketchup, peach ketchup, mustard, jasmine peach pickles and pickled grapes.

I didn't actually photograph the pickled red grapes because they do look a little bit frightening, floating around their jar like tiny monster's eye balls, but they really are delicious! I love them with any cheese. I used this recipe, and would happily make them again and again, any time I'm stuck with more grapes than I care to eat up fresh (this happens more often then you would imagine and is part of the reason that I so rarely buy grapes).

I did manage to photograph everything else that I made, and I will say that I was delighted with how everything turned out. It's all delicious! And, while I'm still figuring out how to use the new stuff, it's kind of exciting to have things like homemade mustard and ketchup that I made all on my own and didn't have to buy from a store. This isn't to say that my versions are better than store bought, or that I would only ever use my homemade versions in the future(I absolutely won't), but it's always a nice feeling to be able to make something that is usually always store bought, in our modern age.

Blueberry jam made with Liquid pectin.

Pluot Jam- I only made three jars of this. It's delicious! I didn't use any pectin for this recipe.

This is actually new to me, I've never actually made pepper jelly before but thought it would be fun to help a friend who has never canned before. This turned out great. We used Liquid pectin for this jam/jelly.

This plum butter turned out pretty good. I made it in the crock pot(a first for me) and I actually think it needed a little more sugar and a little more time on the heat. I took it off too early because I was getting impatient, but also because it started to stick.

Nectarines in Syrup- growing up, we made canned peaches every summer, and last year I made a single jar of peaches, but this year I thought I'd try canning nectarines because they are so easy. I think I like canned peaches better =)

This is the only really strange item that I made recently. These are from a really innovative chef, Edward Lee, and while I love this concept, the peppers he called for in the recipe give the peaches an odd, vegetal taste. Still, these are lots of fun!

The most unusual and most delicious item I made, this peach ketchup goes splendidly with cheese, especially brie, but any cheese will do =) it's really, really good.

I used David Lebovitz's recipe for Mustard. I've been wanting to make mustard for years and finally decided to make some this month, since I've been on a "making weird foods" roll.

The tomato ketchup. This was pretty good. I ate some with roasted potatoes last night for dinner and I really think it would be tasty on a hamburger. Hopefully I'll have some left the next time I get around to making hamburgers. I doubt that I'll make this very often since it took a lot of cooking down to get it to the correct consistency. But it was fun to try homemade ketchup. I used a mix of different recipes for this and hope to find the perfect, easy recipe some day =)

happy helmet

oops, my helmet is a little bit crooked, that's not safe!

I finally got around to having Matthew take a picture of me in my bike helmet. Of course, I went with the polka dots =) And, of course I really wanted a pink polka dotted one but the fellows at the bike shop didn't have such a darling helmet in stock. So, I went with the second cutest helmet, a red and white polka dotted helmet, because it actually exists!

Anyway, it's adorable and when I wear my red polka dotted helmet and my Hello Kitty Sunglasses; I look like a cute little weirdo riding down the street. It's great fun and very eye catching. Good for safety, at least, if not for fashion.

Easy plum cake and my happy new kitchen cutie

Today, I needed to use up a couple of ripe plums and plum cake sounded good to me. Never mind the fact that I've only ever heard tell of plum cake and have yet to experience the delicious flavors of plums baked into a soft, moist cake. I spent the five minutes required to put it together, baked it up and now it's cooling on my new little kitchen butcher's block cart.

On Tuesday, I had to exchange an item at Ikea and whilst wandering around the As Is section of the store, I happened upon a lonely looking little item that just looked up at me and asked to be taken home. It was too cute to resist and, ended up being just the right size for my teeny, tiny, pint-sized kitchen. Anyway, it turns out that this sweet little butcher's block cart is the perfect size for just about everything, including holding a cooling plum cake.

A lovely, fanciful baby shower

 This summer I took on a fairly unusual project: planning a baby shower for a friend. I've never planned a shower of any sort, bridal, baby or any other type(is there any other type?) so this was a great learning experience. I had loads of fun with the whole event and, for the most part, thought the whole party went perfectly. Of course, I forgot a few details which only I noticed but the excessive preparation during the two months before the baby shower made for a really lovely experience, even for me. In fact, I may have enjoyed it more than anybody.

The snack table

A Tier of treats: Blueberry and Lemon curd tartlets

Fruit skewers and baby scones

Chicken and Arugula sandwiches and tomato basil skewers

I loved decorating the tiered tray with tiny porcelain bowls of baby pink carnations

My favorite: the hand crafted flag toothpicks. These were made with washi tape and turned out very cute

Daisy bicycle

I was recently given a free bike (thanks! Christy =)). Now, I can join the hordes of hipsters riding around San Diego, buying veggies and art supplies; it's absolutely fantastic!! =)



I'm having loads of fun riding up to Whole Foods, down to Little Italy and over to the craft/art supply store. It gives me a little extra exercise and saves a small puddle of crude oil somewhere in the world. I haven't found a helmet yet, but I'm sure that when I do, I'll make sure to post a photo of it in all its adorable, helmety glory.

cheerful pear

My latest crochet project was very quick to make and easy. It required very little stitch counting and almost no sewing of little parts together, so when I was done I was done, unlike so many of the projects that I've made which can take upwards of 30 min or so of hand sewing fins or limbs or little tails to bodies once I've crocheted all the pieces.

I made this little pear over the course of two craft night sessions, but I really think it could come together in less than an hour if I was focusing all my attention on working on the pear and less time on chatting with friends (but who wants to do that? =))

Of course, as with all my little crochet projects, the big question is, "what's it for?" I'm not entirely sure but I suppose the real point of making these little creatures is that they are cute and cheerful and fun to make.

 

A picture post: happy spring

 Okay, so this post will just be a quick blast of photographs. All the fun and adorable things that have been keeping me so very busy in these recent months. So busy, but so happy!! =)

Tulips (c/o Jessica) to welcome spring

Such perfect bud vases, I need to make a serious effort to find some of my own (if for no other reason, then that I stop coveting Jessica's).

Valentine's day mushroom bouquet- What could be more romantic? Is it any wonder that Matthew loves me when I offer him such fabulous gifts :)

But really, why doesn't every card come packaged with such a perfect bow?

Carrot Cake Cupcakes- in anticipation of Easter. Somehow, I don't think there will be any left to offer the Easter bunny when he hops by on Sunday.

Sadly, for the sake of cuteness (but happily for the sake of my sanity), I did not use these tiny baby carrots in the cupcakes. These are so sweet and tender that I couldn't bear to do too much with them, just sauteed them in loads of butter and a sprinkling of fresh mint for the simplest and tastiest preparation.

And, last picture, because it's a little ugly compared to all the pretty little things in the photos above: this is my very first little baby lettuce shoot of the spring. I was so delighted to see it just a couple days after planting the seeds. Now the planter is full of baby lettuces. I really should take another photo to post. I love the freshness of seeing green lettuces growing right outside my front door.