Garage Sale Finds

   I found these gorgeous items a few weeks ago on a garage sale. These things were very cheap, I think I didn't even spend $10 total. Look at how cute this quiche pan is! I can't wait to bake and show you an awesome quiche recipe we love. That will be very soon so if you are enjoying the recipes, stay tuned.

   These glasses were a bit more expensive than the pan. There was an antiquarian helping with the sale and she told us that these were hand-painted Italian vintage glasses. Who knows? I mean, they were like $1.15 each and I fell in love with them so I bought all 6.

 

Do you like reading about thrifty finds? Visit Coastal Charm! You'll find links to these and many other thrifty finds on their Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Linky Party.

Delicious Dutch Baby - Recipe

   These last days we tried a few new recipes, one of them was the super yummy Dutch Baby that we found through Foodgawker on Sarah's Sweet and Savory Blog. Don't worry, we are not cannibals, that's just another name for German Pancake, a recipe originally made by German-Americans based in Seattle. This thing was so good and easy we had to make it the next day too. They say it is similar to Yorkshire Pudding but I've never tried that. I'd describe it as a lighter omelette, it's almost like preparing the batter for french toast and baking it on a pan without the bread. I think it's a little hard to explain its texture and taste. The only thing I know for sure is that this is a delicious food that is going to be making regular appearances on my breakfast from now on.

Ingredients

   -3 eggs
   -1/2 cup milk
   -1/2 cup flour
   -1/4 teaspoon salt
   -1 tablespoon butter

Topping - If desired

   -lemon
   -powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F
2. Add the butter to a 8x8 baking dish with at least 2" sides. Place into the oven. Once the butter has melted, remove the baking dish from the oven. Run butter all over the pan bottom and up the sides. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs with a wire whip until well aerated. Add milk and whip again. Add salt and flour and stir with a fork, until just blended.
4. Bake for 15 minutes or until the sides have peaked and browned.
5. To serve, drizzle with lemon and powdered sugar. As an alternative you might top it with your favorite fruit or fruit preserves.

 Enjoy!
If you make it, please take a picture and share.

Hurricane Irene

   I forgot to tell you on the last post (Sunday) that we were under hurricane warning waiting for Irene to strike. It was supposed to be a storm but when it passed through Puerto Rico it became a category 1 hurricane. It was a lot tougher on us than we thought, after all we hadn't had something as strong hit us since Hurricane George in 1998. I recorded  a few seconds through my window for all of you who haven't seen how a Hurricane looks like live. I recommend you lower the volume of your computers, otherwise you might wake up the entire family.

   This was taken while we still had electricity. After recording this, electrical power went off until last night. The worse part of the storm started after it left because the land was saturated and there were floods everywhere. Some dams had to let water escape to avoid a worse situation, there was chaos everywhere. This is what the hurricane looked like on the radars at 3am on monday. Scary right? Well get prepared because it's headed to the states.

Cell Phone Charms

   I've been making more things for my shop update, my latest creation were these cell phone charms. I love to make them, they're so colorful. <3

"Homegrown" Tomato Pincushion

   I've been browsing through Pinterest a lot, I find so many cool things there that it's inevitable. The other day I stumbled upon a pin for a Martha Stewart tutorial about these tomato pincushions. They reminded me about those days when I couldn't see the top of my grandmother's sewing table. She would stop sewing, then would take all of her pins off her tomato pincushion and give it to me to play with. I know they sell them in fabric shops but somehow I wasn't so attracted to those. Martha's pincushion tutorial was all I needed to revive such awesome days.

   I had the tab with the tutorial open for a couple of days and my partner finally told me last night that I should make one. I decided I didn't want solid red fabric so I chose this one with white polka dots and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Doesn't it looks juicy?

3 Ingredients Nutella Cuppy Cakes - Recipe

   I've been making more items for my shop update but you've seen many of those. Dessert is very necessary for me, so I have another dessert recipe that I discovered a few weeks ago. Nutella Cuppy Cakes, the original recipe calls for 1 more ingredient, that being chopped hazelnuts. We wanted soft texture, so we left those out. Also, the original recipe states that these are Nutella brownies, but they're not like brownies to me, the texture is more like moist cake. Don't get me wrong, these things are yummy and TOO easy to make. We have made them a few times and we never had to store any leftovers until last night. I saved one so I could take a picture and share it on the blog. The texture changed a lot, it wasn't that moist this morning, I'd say they were completely cake like. I think they are at their best when they're still warm from the oven.

Ingredients:

   -1/2 cup Nutella spread
   -1 large egg
   -5 tablespoons all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup mini muffin pan with paper or foil liners.
2. Put the Nutella and egg in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth and well blended. Add the flour and whisk until blended.
3. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins (about 3/4 full).
4. Bake until a pick comes out with wet, gooey crumbs, 11 to 12 minutes. Let them cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve immediately or cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Enjoy!

If you make them, please take a picture and share.

Budae Jjigae Inspired Ramen

   I don't know about you, but I have a Tumblr account which I love. It's a place where people share what they like and if you have tastes in common you can follow them and see their posts on your dashboard. That's how I found budae jjigae, (Korean for army base stew) on an Asian food blog called Mochi Desu. They call it like that because after the Korean War meat was very scarce and they would use what was left in army bases, like canned ham, hot dog and SPAM. They added their own touch to the soup and that's how budae jjigae was born.

   We saw it and felt the need to make it because it looked easy and yummy. We added some western ingredients combined with the essentials of budae jjigae, to a normal ramen soup. It might not look pretty but it was delicious.

My Mommy's Birthday Gift

   Last week was my mother's birthday. I will see her tomorrow because I couldn't go last week. I didn't want to go empty handed  so I bought her a few make-up items, which I'm sure she will love. Then made her a super cute Zip Clutch to carry everything together. I bought this pattern a few months ago but since I've not been sewing much lately it had to wait until now. The fabric has been in my stash for a long time, I got it from my local fabric shop and the lining is solid purple.

   I loved the process, it was VERY easy but at the same time I learned a few new tricks. That's one of the best things about Keyka Lou's patterns.

   As soon as I started to pick fabrics and zipper I noticed that I seriously need to buy more zippers. This baby pink was the closest match :S. I also added purple ribbon to the zipper pull after I took this pictures.

   These would be the make-up items that I'm going to give my mom as a birthday present, glittery nail-polish, super hardcore mascara and a lipstick.

Cream Cheese Rippled Banana Bread - Recipe

   At home there's always someone craving for dessert so we have turned into amateur bakers for the sake of health and economy. One of those desserts that appear often in our fridge is this AWESOME banana bread. This bread has been our friend for more than a year and has suffered many changes in the way. The most noticeable would be the cream cheese ripple which the original recipe didn't have; it was added in our most recent batch of the recipe. Another change would be some of the methods. Since we don't have any mixing equipment, we use our arm power to shake, mix, fluff and smooth everything out. This yummy bread can be served hot, fresh out of the oven, warm or cold from the fridge. After this last step it would turn into a delicious bread pudding texture and it can be stored in the fridge or freezer in case you have leftovers.

 

Ingredients:

    Cream Cheese Filling
    -4 ounces (114g) of cream cheese at room temperature
    -1/4 cup granulated white sugar
    -1 large egg
    -2 1/4 teaspoons all purpose flour

    Banana Bread
    -1/2 cup butter
    -1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
    -3/4 cup white sugar
    -2 eggs, beaten'
    -1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
    -1 cup all purpose flour
    -1 cup quick cooking oats
    -1 teaspoon baking soda
    -1/2 teaspoon salt
    -1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    -1 1/2 cup ripe mashed bananas
    -1/4 cup milk

    Cinnamon Sugar Garnish
    -1 tablespoon granulated white sugar mixed with 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
   

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (170 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Sprinkle the bottom and sides of the pan with some of the cinnamon sugar garnish. Set aside.
2. To prepare the cream cheese filling mix the cream cheese and the sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the egg, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in the flour. Set aside.
3. Cream together the butter and the sugar. Add applesauce, eggs and vanilla. Beat until fluffy.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
5. Add the wet ingredients, the bananas and the milk to the flour mixture. Mix until blended.
6. Pour half the batter into the greased pan.
7. Add the cream cheese filling and smooth using the back of a spoon.
8. Add the rest of the batter and smooth it as before.
9. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar garnish on top of the batter.
10. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from oven and cover with a wet paper towel for 10 minutes.


Note: It's very important to not overprocess the cream cheese filling. If you do, it will liquefy and will be absorbed into the batter. This won't ruin your banana bread, but you won't see the cream cheese layer.

Enjoy! If you take any pictures I'd love to see!

Secret Project Revealed! - Woodland Owl Embroidery Pattern

   I don't think I can tell with words how excited I am today :D. I finished my secret project last night and couldn't wait any longer to blog about it. I wanted all my readers to be the first to know the big news. Remember when I told you I was thinking of selling embroidery patterns in my shop? Well I finished the first one and I love how it turned out!

   I present you Woodland Owl, my first PDF embroidery pattern for sale. This will be available in the shop in a couple of weeks but I wanted to give my readers the chance to buy him first. The pattern includes standard and reversed template of the owl and a color and stitch guide provided in case you need a little reference or want to make yours similar to mine. It took me many hours to develop this pattern and make it just the way I wanted it to be. If you're interested in purchasing a copy of this pattern, please visit my Etsy shop.

Assorted Ice Cream Flavors

   I'm still making things for the shop. Last thing I finished was these ice cream cones that are going to be hair clips or brooches, I have yet to decide. Don't they look delicious?

   Don't despair, I know I'd been tickling your brains with pictures of that project I hadn't show. I can assure you I'm working on it right now. ;D Hopefully and with no further problems it should be ready by tomorrow or Tuesday. Wish me luck!

Another Sneak Peek

   I've been very busy creating new items for my shop's HUGE update. I decided to keep tickling your brains with more sneak peek pictures of one of my new projects. Here you go:

   I can't wait to be done with this so I can show you full pictures. :D

A Sneak Peek

   This is a sneak peek of something I've been working on these last days. 

   I hope I can come back soon since we are under a tropical storm warning, electrical power could be off for a couple of days in the worst case scenario. Wish luck for us Caribbeans.

Garage Sale Finds

   One minute away from my house there is a place with a Garage Sale sign. I'd never found it open until yesterday. I almost crash my car when I saw these cute little eyes sitting on a table outside. I had to go see everything they had.

   I know this one is not particularly in mint condition but it is exactly the kind of figurines I've been looking for and was SUPER cheap. It was marked as antique. I hope a good bath does the trick though. I also found this cute little chest, there were others but this one really caught my attention. I don't know, it could be the flowers, the dark wood, the lock or the metallic trim with decorative nails. I don't know.

    Do you like reading about thrifty finds? Visit Coastal Charm! You'll find links to these and many other thrifty finds on their Nifty Thrifty Tuesday Linky Party.

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In other news...

   I was playing with my new Ipod and downloaded an application that reads QR Codes. It was a lot of fun, so I searched a little bit about those codes and found out that I could make my own. I made one using this blog url. If you scan this image with that application your device will redirect you to the mobile version of this blog. Isn't that awesome?