Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Have you tried one of those mock Oreo recipes before?  You know the ones with the "1 cake mix" in the ingredient list.  I don't know about you, but those don't taste like oreos to me.  Oreos aren't just any old chocolate sandwich cookie.  They have to be thin and crispy and with an intense chocolate taste.

Several years ago I found the perfect cookie make Oreo type sandwich cookies with.  It's a recipe from Martha Stewart that I adjusted to fit what I was looking for.

Intensely chocolate.  Crispy.  Perfect.  You can make yours into circles if you wish.  I was feeling lazy and a quick zip a few times with the pizza cutter worked great for squares.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies:
1/2 c butter
1/2 c sugar
1 large egg
1 cup cocoa powder  (yes.  1 full cup)
1/2 c + 2 T flour

Cream the butter and sugar.  Add in the egg.  Mix in the cocoa powder and flour.   Divide the dough in half and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate the dough for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using powdered sugar on the counter to prevent sticking, roll out dough to 1/8" thickness.  Cut with 2" cookie cutter and place 1/2" apart on cookie sheets.  Bake until you smell the chocolate, aprox. 12 minutes.

I do suggest you use parchment paper on your cookie sheets because these have a tendency to stick quite badly.

I used a basic American butter cream to frost the centers.  I have four rules for better butter cream:
1.  you should use at least twice as much butter as you do cream.  Meaning if you use 1/4 cup butter you should only use 2 T of heavy cream.
2.  Use lots of vanilla.  I like to use 2 t as a starting point.  I may add more later.
3.  Use salted butter or at least add a pinch of salt to your frosting.  You won't believe what a difference it makes.
4.  Beat the holy heck out of it.  I beat my butter cream for at least five minutes and as long as ten minutes.  This makes it fluffy and light and it makes sure the powdered sugar has time to dissolve so you don't get that raw taste.

You could also use a nice ganache (Martha used ganache with mint extract), or jam, or cream cheese frosting in your cookies.

A Photography Rant

Never use your flash. Right?   Wrong.


That single most used piece of photography advice available on the internet is garbage.  Any photographer who spouts it is an amateur.  If the photographer you've hired for family pictures uses it, you might want to rethink hiring them.

Have you ever seen a professional photographer at a wedding without a flash on their camera?  That's because they know something those amateurs do not.

Flash lighting exists for a reason and that reason is not every subject comes with perfect lighting. Sometimes you've got back lighting, or overly strong side lighting or just plain not enough lighting.  If you have to use a tripod because your shutter speed is that slow, chances are a human being in the photo isn't going to be able to hold still well enough either.  That's what flashes and strobes and hot lights are for.  They fill in and add enough light so you can take the picture.

This doesn't mean that I think we should all go back to the deer in the headlights straight on flash.   What you should do is learn to use it.   There are a ton of really great tutorials on the internet about flash photography.  Instead of telling yourself flash is evil, do some research.  Practice.  Figure it out.  Your camera flash can be one of your best tools if you know what you are doing with it.

For example, this is my sitting room.  This picture was taken without a flash using a tripod.  Notice how dark the chairs are.  There's no detail because of the high contrast from the back lighting.  I could mess with the contrast levels in photoshop and try to come up with something acceptable.  But why?

When I could just get my accessory flash and bounce it off the ceiling (with a Lightsphere attached) and get the lighting I need.   

Some of you may say you like the first photo.  Fine, but you have to admit that when my purpose of taking the photograph is to show the furniture and the room, the first photo doesn't cut it.

I'm not going to tell you I'm a flash expert.  I'm definitely not going to claim that all photography on this blog is fabulous. (The vast majority of is is far from not fabulous because I am fabulously lazy.) I will say this:  learn to use your flash.   Buy accessories for your flash so you can use it to best effect.  Then learn some more.

Anytime you lock yourself in the box of "never" doing something with your craft, you lose.  Don't say "never."  Say, "learn."  And for heaven's sake, check someone's credentials, including mine, before you follow their advice.

Mid-Project

Ok, I'm not done yet, so be gentle.

I told you the room was small.   I am pretty happy with how things are coming together over all.   I'm not so sure about the plant.  That one was my husband's idea.  I'm not a plant hater, I just don't like them in my house.  I kill the suckers, for one.  I've managed to kill a philodendron and a spider plant among many others.  When you kill a philodendron you know you shouldn't have plants in your home.   Reason two:  I haven't the slightest idea how to use plants in decorating.   Yes, I do intend to get the poor thing a real pot sometime before I kill it.

So here's the plan for what's coming up in the near future:

The squares on the left will be the handkerchief collection.  The one on the right is my landscape photo.  I have the large frame already for the right side of the room.  It's painted deep turquoise and waiting for me to get the matting done.  I've solved the cost issue with that so it should be done by next week.  (If money and time come together correctly.)   As you can see I also plan on new throw pillows for the couch.  I was originally going to do cushions for the chairs as well, but I love the hand caning so much I'm not ready to hide it yet.  

The rug is definitely too small.  My solution for that is to sew a dark brown 12" burlap border all the way around it making the rug a 5'x7', which should be about right for the room.

The funky circles in the corner is my attempt to somehow visually compensate for the off center window.  (And boy howdy, do I hate that off center window.  There is no earthly reason for that window to be off center.  None.  Nada.  No excuse.  Just another reason to be annoyed with the people who owned this house before us.  I could tell some stories . . . .) anyway, I'm thinking right now it would be fun to put brightly colored paper lanterns there, three or four to match the space.   I'm also hoping to get the window trimmed out with moulding.

The little tables will be painted but I haven't settled on the color.  Back when the walls were ugly beige I was sure I needed them to be a light color like white or golden yellow.  Now that the walls are all light and bright, I'm kind of liking the dark brown.  I think that will be the last decision I make in the room, because I just have no clue what to do with them.  They do have to be painted though.  The stain is pretty dated and scuffed and  my children thought it would be fun to practice their knife work in the top.   "Mr. Happy Face" just isn't something I want permanently on display in the room.

Farther into the future, we hope to lay down some kind of wood floor whether it be the real deal or laminate will be determined by budget.  We're also planning on putting in a 5' set of French doors on the left.  It would be positioned just out of the frame there.  Then there's the three piece base moulding to match the living room and the crown moulding . . . .

There's always so much to do, but I'm so happy we're doing something.   This project has got us talking about the rest of the house as well.  Maybe in a year I'll have this house so cute I won't want to move.

This is what happens when you let you children help

That's a dinosaur on my wall.  If you look carefully you can see he's a biped because he has very short upper arms.   That one is thanks to my Matthew.  

He painted a triceratops for us as well.

Yes, the beige paint was really that ugly. It had this undertone of pink that really looked awful in that room.  I disliked it from the moment I painted it on the walls.  And then I mixed up paint samples and painted it again.  Not kidding.  I lived with it because I didn't have anything else to do with it.

I love the blue.  It's very light, but very blue.  We did a light grey on the ceiling.

And this is how we cut in over the stairs:

That's a 2x12 carefully supported on each end suspended over the stairs.  I take no responsibly if you try it yourself and you fall.  However, it worked really well for us.

Budget update:
chairs               $20
rug                  $40
picture frame    $20
small tables      $30
light                  $10
paint                $120

Total so far:    $240

Anyone who says paint is cheap, isn't working with my budget.   I'm almost halfway to my budget ceiling and there is still a lot left to buy.  The rug is a 3x5 instead of a 5x8 so I need canvas or burlap to expand it out (the rug is woven not pile so it will work.)  I'm still stuck on how to properly frame the handkerchiefs.   I would love to be able to take them to a frame store with color samples for the room and say "make it pretty.  I'll be back in a week."   Unfortunately, that would take over $150 to do all three.   If anyone has any ideas for me I'm ready.

I also need to figure out how to add lamps to the room.  The couch is just too large to fit side tables next to it.  I could set the couch off center in the room, and add a table to one side.  There is the perfect lamp at Target ($20 for base another $20 for a shade, but shades are cheap at thrift stores.)   Still working on it.  I may try rearranging the furniture as well to see what can be done.

Progress pictures probably will be up tomorrow.

Chevron Clutch--the prototype

I haven't been posting as much lately because it seems that just when I'm going to finish a project something comes up.  I have about five things I want to post on my blog that I can't post because I haven't managed to do those finishing details yet.   We've found and painted a light for the new sitting room.  We've built a 6' DVD case that holds (almost) everything including Wii games.  We even punched through the wall in our family room to put in a component shelf under the TV so we could finally get rid of (what remained of) the entertainment center.  I love all the projects but we've managed to just live with them 95% done.   That is the fun of having a blog.  It makes me finish things I would otherwise just live with.

Just for fun though, I'm going to show you an in progress project.  I'm working on the pattern for a large clutch.  The prototype looks promising but there's a few things I'll be changing up in the final version.

I like the chevrons.  I like the size, 12"x6".  I even like the button.  I'm not too happy with the fabric, but it was free, so I'm not sweating that.  The thing that bugs me the most is the way the flap does not lay down smoothly on the sides.  That will have to be worked with.

The back side has two more chevron stripes.  I think the stripes are cute and I do like the way the fabric is fraying.  It made it super easy to sew the stripes on, as well, so bonus!


I do love the interior of this clutch.  The great big zipper pocket was easy to put in.  I have just ID/credit/membership card pockets on the other side.  Of course, these days I'm not sure if 9 pockets is enough.   Between the library card, the zoo card, the museum card, the grocery store loyalty cards, the clothing store loyalty cards. . . there may actually not be any space left for my driver's licence or debit card.  hey! This clutch saves money!  Obviously I can't drive anywhere or spend money when using it.   It's the budget clutch!

I'm going to work up a final version of this one soon.  Hopefully I can figure out how to make digital patterns as well.   From the numbers on my blog, an Etsy store with just the ruffle bag patterns in it would do pretty well.  I'd put other stuff in it too, of course.  Two products would just look silly.

Finding my style

It's been interesting planning my living room redo.  (Which by the way I've decided to call my sitting room.  It's just sounds cozier and since the room is small and cozy, sitting room works for me.)  Anyway, the interesting part is getting to bring new stuff into my decor in a planned way.  Previously most of my decorating involved more serendipity than planning.  I found something I liked or I dug something out of box and then found a place for it.   Things happened in a very slow way and no room in my home has ever been fully decorated, at least decorated in a way that made me happy.

This time I'm planning.  I've got my inspiration board on Pintrest and I have a vision in my head of what the room will look like.  It's exciting and fun.  It's also been very revealing.  I've looked through a lot of inspiration photos both online and in print.  There's so many beautiful rooms out there. I love the look of the random plate collections and the milk glass and empty frames, however, none of those things will every be in my house.  I like the white rooms too, they look so tranquil, but they won't ever be in my home either.

I've discovered two things:  1.  I love color.    The color thing is obvious.  I am a woman who owns a red couch.  I full intend at this point to own a red couch for the rest of my life.  I love how cheerful colored walls look.   You won't find me sewing white slipcovers and painting the walls "soft bone" or "winter chill."

2.  My decor must be meaningful.  Not so much the furniture, partly because, quite frankly, both my husband and I come from a long line of families with lots of children and very little heirloom quality furniture.   The wall decor and the knick knacks need to mean something to me.  I have a small home.  I have purged a lot of stuff over the years that I don't love.  I discovered that for me to love and want to keep something it has to have a memory or at least an emotion associated with it.  Pretty alone doesn't cut it.  I love decorating with photos of my family, with the small heirlooms I do have.  Not just things.

I want to hang my walls with memories.

So as I start collecting the things that go in that room, there might be one or two just things, but just about every item will have a memory associated with it.  I'm really going to love having a little piece of my grandmother's talents, and a memory of a family vacation, and all the little things we love and cherish right there.

What has a decorating project taught you about yourself?  Do you go for collections?  Do you like busy full rooms, or clean, clutter free rooms?  Which way are you leaning on the great white trend of the 'teens?  How do you choose what to decorate with?

My Handkerchiefs

Isn't it lovely?  Ok, so its' not the best photograph.  I need to work on that.  Semi translucent handwork is not the easiest thing to take photographs of.  I think I do a better job with two year olds.  At least I have more practice at it.  

This is my favorite of the three.  It's English silk and was a gift to my great great grandmother (I got the greats wrong on a previous post) from her sister.  Aunt Louisa lived in England and did not emigrate when my great great grandmother did.  Louisa still kept in touch with her sister and came out to visit on more than one occasion bringing lovely handkerchiefs with her as a gift.  

 Here's a slightly better look at the detail.  This particular handkerchief is all machine made, but I really think it's still lovely and I love the story of the sisters who didn't let thousands of miles separate them.  Imagine how difficult it was for Louisa to come out west with trains barely coming through and having to cross the ocean in a steamer ship?  It must have taken weeks.

 This is my grandmother's tatting work.  She liked to purchase premade hankies and put lace edging on them. They were designed for this with tiny little squares all around the edge of the hankie so the lace maker could work the lace directly onto the handkerchief.

 As you can see this particular hankie is Irish linen.   Get a gander at that tatting.   Can you imagine tying that many knots?  My grandmother loved to tat and she did beautiful work.

 This hankie was purchased with the flower machine embroidered already on it.  Grandma used colored thread for the lace for the contrast.  It worked well didn't it?  It's a striking hankie.   This one is a polyester blend.

 As you can see the lace here is crochet and mixes white thread and red together to form the design.  My mom said that when she was a girl they would often make a special trip into the next town to a sewing store there.  That particular store carried a good variety of colored crochet thread and my grandma loved to work in color.

My mom had so many of these.  It was so hard to choose just three.   I can't wait to get them framed and hanging on my wall.  They'll all be framed on a colored mounting cloth.  I'm thinking velvet or velveteen.  The frames will give me fits because I need at least 14" square frames.  We'll see what I can get figured out.  I do know that if I make my own I can have glass cut for them quite cheaply at the glass stores in the next town over.    They will be framed with their stories attached.  The story is what makes them more than just a pretty piece of fabric.