Heading into labor day, we’re on a hunt for the best BBQ recipes – side dishes, main dishes, desserts, drinks, the works! Do you have a good recipe you want to share? Email us! Today’s recipe comes from one of our favorite blogs, Ramshackle Glam. In one of today’s posts Jordan Reid gives the recipe for her favorite potato salad – YUM. Potato salad is always a crowd pleaser!
Check out Jordan’s post here for the whole recipe.
Photo courtesy of Ramshackle Glam.
A few weeks ago, my BF and I packed our bags and headed to New Mexico to celebrate my good friend Steph’s wedding. I’d never been to New Mexico before, and the BF had only driven through it, so we decided to turn it into a vacation/adventure. We researched and researched, and came together with a very good itinerary that had something for us both: national parks for him, wine and fancy hotels (at a steal!) for me. We ventured to Santa Fe, the Petrified Forest National Park, spent a few days in Albuquerque and stayed in a hotel frequented by old Hollywood stars of the Wild West movies in a town called Gallup. This will be a two part post, filled with recommendations of what we enjoyed the most, and what you may also enjoy, if you’re planning a road trip, or long weekend to New Mexico.
The Bishop's Lodge
Day 1: Santa Fe:
Image courtesy of Liberated Movement
Okay, so maybe it’s not exactly crafty, and has nothing to do with food, but we believe in ladies who strive to create something different and we want to support innovation when we see it!
Tonight, I took a dance class at Liberated Movement in NYC – which is a donation-based dance studio in downtown Manhattan. (We were tipped off by the lovely ladies of 89th and Broke.) I love, love, love my donation-based yoga studio and so I wanted to do my part and try to help this idea on its way to success as well.
Me and two friends – the lovely and talented Alicia and the always spicy Mari of Calimari – tried our hand at hip-hop dance class. The choreography was fast, and we didn’t always get it right (okay, we didn’t get it right at all) but we broke a sweat and had some laughs — and there are certainly worse ways to spend an evening. Also – the staff was extremely friendly, moreso than those at the city’s more established dance studios, which can be incredibly intimidating for those just looking for fun and exercise. Best of all, there is no $15 fee or class cards – pay what you wish and dance when you can. Can’t beat that.
If you’re in the New York area, love to dance and want to support women making the arts accessible to all – we highly encourage you to go take a class! Tell them we sent you!
Much to my sweet BF’s dismay, I am a hoarder. Whether its leftovers, old magazines, clothes that are too small or too
big, or random items that I think I may refurbish….one day…I save it all. When he was moving recently, I “rescued” two large full-length mirrors that were headed straight to the trash can. Even though they were probably $9.99 at Wal-mart many years ago and their plain wood frames had seen better days, I knew I that years from now eventually get around to doing SOMETHING with them.
Enter in Country’s Living’s latest issue. How adorable is this idea? Using clothes pins to decorate a mirror? LOVE it. And more importantly, I love the functionality of it. You can use the pins to hang little notes of inspiration, or a few favorite photos or postcards along the mirror. I may try placing a few clothes pins the other direction, too, to hang things on both sides. Now I just have to find the perfect color….
To see Country Living’s other ideas of things to do with clothes pins, click here. Photo courtesy of Country Living.
The sunny Make Workshop. (Image courtesy of Make Workshop)
Two Christmases ago, Santa (aka Mamadukes) brought me a sewing machine. So excited to get it (I had asked for one), I carried all the way back to New York from Florida…then I moved, then I moved again. And then before I knew it, two years had come by and the poor thing hadn’t yet made it out of the box.
Until this weekend! I never learned to sew at my grandmother’s knee or anything like that, and my mom always patched our clothes by hand – so I had never actually used a sewing machine before even though I wanted one. I was terrified of breaking the machine because I didn’t know how to operate it so I signed up for the Intro to Sewing Machine Class at New York’s Make Workshop. There, it was promised I’d learn how to thread the machine and make a basic fabric wallet. I’m happy to report – that is exactly what happened! We learned all that and then some with Make’s co-founder, president (and author) Diana Rupp as our guide!
DIY In-N-Out Burger! At Home! For Real!
Categories : Delicious Eats, Eating & Drinking, Miscellaneous, Must-DosBy
Delicious hamburger photo courtesy of A Hamburger a Day.
Lia’s vegan for the next 25 days. I, very un-nicely sent her this link yesterday. It wasn’t on purpose. It’s just that I was so excited I forgot she was trying to be a vegan. Because, really, who can live without cheese and bacon?
I was never one for food – until recently. And now I eat it all.the.time. I can talk to you about the wonders of a McDonald’s chicken nugget, a taco bell bean burrito, or Sonic’s pepper poppers forever. But the one thing I still don’t eat from fast food places is burgers. Unless, of course, its an In-N-Out buger. Then there’s no question what I’m ordering.
However, In-N-Out burger hates the East coast. So what’s a girl to do? Follow “A Hamburger a Day’s” instruction’s from their food lab and recreate a perfect burger in your own home, of course! AMAZING!!! This will be my new favorite DIY project. Check out the instructions and commentary at A Hamburger a Day’s Burger Lab.
This isn't technically my soup. But my version is its fraternal twin.
Well, my month of veganism continues. I won’t lie – this is the most difficult thing I’ve ever done and that includes stand-up comedy. What’s interesting about this challenge is that physically I’m full — it’s the mental cravings that are driving me crazy! But it’s a revelation to see how much I eat because my mind wants to – not my body. And as these are the types of things I wanted to find out from this challenge, I haven’t’ given up, but boy is it hard.
One thing making it slightly easier, though, is to find recipes for things I already enjoy and learn how to make them the vegan way. Take potatoes for example! Normally I enjoy them with a meat, but obviously that’s out of the question. So, I turned to the Internet to find some alternatives and stumbled upon something I used to enjoy regularly but haven’t had in years – potato and leek soup.
After the jump, the very simple, very quick, very tasty recipe.
Hanging Frames – Light Enough to Hang Anywhere
Categories : Crafts, Miscellaneous, Room DecorationsBy
Posted by Erin…
Earlier this year I moved into a new apartment where my bedroom is in a second floor loft space, overlooking the family room. Due to a combination of my claustrophobia and sheer laziness, we decided to hang a curtain to separate the rooms instead of having one of Manhattan’s famous prefab walls built – the same walls that turn every two-bedroom Upper East Side apartment into a convertible three-bedroom. I’m a sound sleeper, so not having a wall doesn’t bother me at all. ..except for the fact that it makes hanging things on the walls nearly impossible. My very handy, sweet boyfriend hung the curtains from the ceiling for me, but warned me that rods definitely couldn’t support that much weight. With a lack of wall space, I found that I had very little surface area to hang picture frames, vintage posters, or the decorative hooks that I used for my faux pearls and grandmother’s purses. After thinking about this situation for a short while, I found the perfect solution to combat the photo problem and help give my room more personality.
I love the look of picture frames that hang in a row, like these from Target, but knew that they would be way too heavy. Eyeing some Grosgrain ribbon, I was determined to recreate the look of the frames, minus the weight. Checking out my finished project, I think I did a good job!
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Vegan and tasty! Two words I wasn't sure went together.
I recently realized a few things about myself.
One, I eat cheese like it’s going out of style. Two, I make myself some type of steak-based dish no less than three times a week. Finally, I don’t think I have ever met an egg I didn’t like. And while those are certainly not bad things, lately I’ve found myself wondering more and more often why I’m down to one pair of pants that fit, one skirt I like and why all my dresses tend to be on the billow-y side. I had to come to a harsh truth – my diet stinks. So I wanted to reboot and start fresh. Starting August 1, I began to forgo meats, cheeses and other animal products that I love. For the next 27 days, I’m a vegan.
Needless to say, the last three days have been difficult at best. But that’s because I didn’t go about it the right way at first. I thought it would be really easy to just eat salads, as well as nut- and bean-based dishes but it’s not. When that didn’t go well, I turned to a neighborhood vegan place but hated what I ordered. (And it wasn’t cheap.) So I took control of the situation a little better.
I borrowed three cookbooks from the library and turned to Google to find recipes based on things I already like. Sure enough, things have turned around. Last night, I made this delicious and 100 percent vegan coconut-milk based soup in about 20 minutes. It’s missing a protein, so I’ll be having fruit or almonds for a snack later, but it’s very tasty and makes a great summer appetizer. Here’s what you’ll need:
I’m sure this comes as no shock to anyone, but I love a good summer cocktail. One that’s a bit fruity, goes down easy, and makes you want to sit on a deck and drink them all day long. So obviously, I was super excited when Southern Comfort sent us a bottle of their Southern Comfort Lemonade. My little head was reeling with recipe ideas when it arrived – particularly since I’ve been slightly obsessed the summer with the lemonade mint cocktail I made last month. I named our two original drinks the: Lemon Pomegranate Surprise and the Spiked Arnold Palmer. Here they are, Pomegranate on the left, Arnold Palmer on the right, more details after the jump!
Just a few days ago, I posted on the first shoots of thyme rising through the dirt of the planter. Well, the sage (all the way on the left) must have been a bit jealous of the attention because not two days later, they broke through with a vengeance and then some! Ladies and gentlemen, we got ourselves a competition.
For those who might be interested in growing herbs at home, here are a few tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way:
Sage and Thyme Shoots
