How to Get Seeds Out of a Pomegranate

 

Ok, now you can go to your favorite market and get a tiny little plastic thing of pomegranate seeds that costs $7 or more, OR you could buy a whole pomegranate for $3 and spend 15 minutes to get 10x the amount of seeds as that plastic thing. You can get 4 or 5 pomegranates, watch an episode of Game of Thrones while you peel them, and have enough pomegranate seeds to last you a month.

I think a lot of people are intimidated by pomegranates because they definitely look pretty crazy on the inside, but they are super easy to deconstruct. Easy easy easy, and so worth it!

Stuff You'll need:

Pomegranates

A cutting board

a good small knife

a bowl

NOTE: As easy as this is, it can get messy, and pomegranate juice WILL stain anything. So make sure you're wearing a shirt you don't care too much about when you do this and have some paper towels nearby. 

  

(1) X Marks the spot. 

Using your knife, cut an X into the top of the pomegranate. Only go in half an inch or so. And inch tops. This is just so you can start tearing it open. If you cut in any deeper, you'll start to cut the seeds open and ruin them.

 

(2) Peel Away!

Now on the inside of the pomegranate there are two things: This easy to rip spongy material and the seeds. You want the seeds (obviously) but you definitely don't want the spongy flesh. It tastes bitter so just throw it out as you go. 

Starting at the X you made, tear away part of the pomegranate. Believe me, it rips really easily. It's like tearing a stiff sponge or cardboard.

There's not much else to say here. You peel away the sponge, take out the seeds from their little compartments in the sponge, then tear some more until you're done! 

I like to have a trashbag on hand so I just throw the spongy stuff in there as I go. Put your seeds in the bowl as you work your way through. Also make sure you're not leaving little bits of the sponge attached to the seeds. It's edible, but very sour, so if you eat a bit on accident it's very unpleasant.  

Here's a side by side comparison of the seeds that came out of ONE pomegranate and another one whole. Isn't that amazing!!! Enjoy!

Filling and Fast Beef and Noodle Stir Fry

Time for a delicious quick Asian dinner recipe! Both filling and fast! What's great about this one is that you can really put anything you want into the mix to suit your preference. I'm a steak and snow peas sort of girl, but you can substitute in any sort of meat or veggies. Let's get started!

Stuff You'll need:
Rice Noodles (we use the frozen kind)
Beef (cut into bite sized chunks)
Snow peas
Yellow bell pepper (sliced into strips)
Roasted Sesame Seeds
Ground Ginger
Garlic Powder
Soy Sauce
Corn Starch
Olive Oil

Concerning amounts, it really depends on how many people you are and how much you like to eat. In all my photos, they amounts of ingredients shown end with up with enough dinner for two. 

First thing you'll want to do is get the noodles started. Now, using rice noodles you'll have to remember that they LOVE to stick to each other. So use a sizable pot to boil these in so they have room to swim around. That being said, get yourself a big pot of water, pop in however much noodles you want and let that start boiling. I'd say medium heat. 

 

 

 (2) Stir and Fry:
Take your veggies and meat and make sure they're chopped into bite size pieces. Get a nice big pan and add a small bit of olive oil and swirl it around. Now, add the veggies and meat to the pan and let it go on medium heat. Constantly stir it up! 

NOTE: Different veggies have different cook times. The bell pepper can go right in at the beginning with the meat because it takes forever to cook. Carrots can go in early too. Onions go in about halfway through. And the snow peas and things like scallions go in near the very end because they don't take much time to cook at all.

Spice up that Stir Fry! Add in a generous amount of garlic powder and ground ginger. You'll also add enough soy sauce to wet all the ingredients and keep the pan lubricated, but don't go crazy with it. soy sauce is very salty. 


(3) Thickening the Sauce. (When the meat and veggies are halfway cooked).
Now in a separate small bowl or cup, add about 4 teaspoons HOT water, 4 teaspoons HOT soy sauce, and 2 teaspoons corn starch. Make sure you add the cornstarch to hot liquid, or it will clump, and be useless. Mix all that up well, then poor it into the stir fry while you stir so it gets evenly distributed. Fry that all up until the meat and veggies are cooked. Lower your heat to very low.

 

(3) Back to Noodles

 At this point your noodles should be nice and done. Strain them, and rinse with a little bit of cool water. Then pour them into your stir fry pan with everything else. Add the sesame seeds now! On low heat, mix it all together. The noodles should absorb all the juices from the stir fry.

Once its all mixed up nicely, you're done! Pour it onto your plates, and sprinkle a little bit of sesame seeds on top for a nice little effect. Enjoy!!!!

 

 
 

Salvaging Less Then Desirable Junk .

 
Here's a salvaged "less then desirable object" turned awesome project. I started off with a not so nice girly chalkboard, and with an easy paint job and some tape, made it a fun and trendy chalkboard. Go out and dumpster dive or yard sale and see what you can find. Don't be put off by first impressions. You can really salvage anything with some paint and tape.

What I used:
Acrylic Paint (a few colors)
Low Stick Tape (masking tape, artist tape, washi tape)
Silver Paint pen 
Black Sharpie Marker
Paintbrush
Some scrap paper (to keep the paint off my carpet)

First Bit: BASE COLOR

 

(1) Find something you want to paint. I found a chalkboard!
We're going to be painting, so put down some scrap paper so you don't mess up your carpet. Also, it's going to have to sit for several hours at a time to dry in between layers, so set up somewhere that will be left undisturbed. (Keep your cat from walking on wet paint.)

(2) Cover up the old and ugly.
If the surface you're working on isn't what you like, you'll have to cover it up. Apply your base color. I had to do white first, to cover up the doodle art on my chalkboard. After that completely dried (maybe 3 hours or so) I did a gradient green to lime paint base.

EASY PERFECTION TIP:
I didn't want to get the black writing part of my chalkboard painted on (and I don't trust myself to be 100% accurate), so I just taped it off. Make sure you cover with tape anything you don't want to accidentally get paint on.

Level Two: MASKING TAPE

(4) Masking off with Tape.

Make sure your base paint job is COMPLETELY 100% DRY before you apply any tape. 

The point of the tape is to mask off areas that you don't want to be effected by your 2nd layer of paint. I decided I wanted my 2nd layer to be silver, and the original green to show through once I removed the tape. 

Apply your tape in any design (striped, checkered, zigzags, etc) over the base paint layer.

TAPE TIP:
You don't want your tape to be too sticky. (It will rip the paint off your project when you remove it.) If you think your tape is too sticky, stick it to your jeans, or some other fabric, then apply it where you want it. It will have picked up some of the fuzzys and be about half as sticky.

(5) Paint Layer Two.
Now just paint right over everything. The tape will block off your new layer. Let this new layer dry for a few hours. I let it dry overnight at this point. 

(6) Remove the tape.
After the paint is TOTALLY WITHOUT A DOUBT dry, peel the tape off. (Be careful and slow doing this. You don't want to take off your base paint with the tape.) You'll now have a cool design! 
 

Final Round: THE LITTLE DETAILS

(6) Decorating with Pens.
Using a paint pen, draw on some details! Paint pens are amazing. They go on top of anything, and let you do details easily that would be a pain in the ass to do with a brush.

My second layer of paint was silver, and I drew on top of it with a silver paint pen.... Whaaaat?
Explanation: The acrylic paint isn't nearly as rich and saturated as the pen, so I drew on top of it and got a wonderful subtle contrast. You can try experimenting with different paint/paint-pen combinations. 

The paint pen doesn't need much time to dry. I added the last few details with a regular black sharpie. Now you're done! Go make some Pie in a Jar to celebrate!

What is Washi Tape and where to get it!

 

So what IS Washi Tape?  

Washi Tape is pretty much just Japanese paper tape. Because it's paper, it can have pretty much ANYTHING printed on it, from patterns to words to cartoons, really anything. Its amazing and lovely, and because its so unlimited in what it can have printed on it, you WILL find yourself a roll to compliment any project you're working on if you look.

Things to know:

It's pretty damn strong for being made out of paper, but its not really intended for intense holding. It's more for decoration and crafting. It's not the most adhesive of tapes, but sticks just fine to paper, glass, and even painted surfaces. It feels and functions a lot like masking tape. I wouldn't say with any confidence that its waterproof. It's paper. It's not going to be waterproof. Lastly, it comes in just so many designs, it's impossible to not find something that will suit what you're working on.

Now, Washi tape is Japanese, but it's easily obtainable here as well. You can find it in most craft stores now, but its usually a small selection and overpriced. Here's some of my favorite places to get it with HUGE selections!

CuteTape - http://www.cutetape.com/shop/japanese-washi-masking-tape.html

Definitely the best selection out there. 

Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/people/pikwahchan 

There's a million people selling this stuff on Etsy. Shop around for tons of designs. I linked my favorite seller. The picture bellow is my latest order from her!

Real Ramen. Try it!

So, if you've ever been short on cash and hungry at the same time, I'm sure you've had instant ramen. It's less then a dollar, and fills you up pretty fast. I have nothing against instant ramen, but its not even in the same dimension as real, just made, actual food ramen. Real Ramen is like Magic Soup flavored with Amazing. You HAVE to try it. 

I can't stress enough how instant ramen and actual ramen are two completely different things. Its like trying to compare a mcdonalds hamburger with one you just cooked on the grill outside.

Now where can I get some of this soup magic?

Now, I'm from the east coast, and if I want to get ramen it's not actually that easy. It's incredibly hard and time consuming to make, so most restaurants that serve it, literally serve only that, and 90% of them are in New York. I've contemplated making it myself, but it's really an entire day, maybe even two days, intense complicated task. I won't show you how to make it, but I'll show you who can teach you, and where there are some great places that make it for you.

Where can I go out to eat some of this liquid gold?

MITSUWA - http://www.mitsuwa.com/english/
Ok, this place is both an amazing supermarket, and an amazing place to eat out. Aside from ramen they have a dozen other great mini restaurants, food court style. All of the pictures in this post I took of my own ramen bowls I've eaten there. The one I go to is in Edgewater NJ, and they have a bunch more locations you can look up on their website.

IPPUDO - http://www.ippudony.com/
This restaurant is so hip and cool, and their ramen is amazing. There's a bunch of really great ramen places in the city, but Ippudo is my personal favorite. 

What wizard can teach me to make this delicious potion?

I'd try and explain it here, but it's impressively complicated, and needs some real dedication and skill to make on your own. I'll instead refer you to a real authority on japanese cooking, not just for ramen, but for a bunch of great food tutorials. Dog. Here's my plug for "Cooking with Dog." Good luck!

 

Cooking With Dog -  Ramen

I'm going to just go on and recommend googling: "Ramen restaurant (your location)." My personal favorite? Miso Pork Ramen. ENJOY!

3 Panel Self Portrait

So this is how I made one of my recent art pieces. This tutorial is assuming you already know how to use adobe photoshop. Later I'll do an actual photoshop from scratch tutorial. Anyway, here's some inspiration! My 3 panel self portrait. It took 3 weeks to finish.

d.i.y. Mix & Match Friend Blocks

Get ready for a FREE PROJECT DOWNLOAD!!!! Say What?! 

Paper d.i.y. Mix & Match Friend Blocks! Illustrated and Designed by yours truly. Just download the pages, print (preferably on heavier weight paper) and glue where indicated for a cute kid's toy. Easy for kids to make themselves also. If you decide to post / relink / reference it anywhere, please just link back to this post. Enjoy!

< < < DOWNLOAD PDF > > >

 

Mixed Berry Pie & Raspberry Brownie Jars

I've been seeing Various Desserts in Jars all over the internet recently, and they looked so awesome, so I gave it a shot. Here's the results and a tutorial for you to try yourself! 
Yum!!! We're going to be making 2 types, Raspberry Brownie, and Mixed Berry Pie.

Stuff You'll need: Raspberry Brownie
Raspberries
Butter
Sugar
Flour
Brownie Mix - (and whatever that asks for)
Jars - (Heat safe! As is, a jar that withstand harsh temperature changes and not explode. Jam/Jelly Ball Jars are good for this.)

Stuff You'll need: Mixed Berry Pie
Mixed Berries - (really any berries work here)
Pie Crust - (I used normal pie crust, and also phyllo dough)
Butter
Sugar
Flour
Heavy Cream - (for whipped cream)
Jars - (Heat safe! As is, a jar that withstand harsh temperature changes and not explode. Jam/Jelly Ball Jars are good for this.)

NOTE: I'm not using specific measurements anywhere, because it really depends on how many / what size jars you're filling. I'll be using a lot of approximates. Don't worry, it'll work out.

(1) Berry Prep:
You'll want enough berries to fill half of a jar x however many jars you have.

Put your berries in a mixing bowl. Now coat with equal amounts sugar, flour, and melted butter. You don't want a lot of anything floating around, so just enough to coat the berries. (Some people like really sweet desserts. I always think just the taste of the berries, with a tiny bit of sugar is enough. That's why there's only enough sugar to just coat the berries. If the mixture at this point isn't sweet enough for you, you can always add more sugar to the mix.)

(2) Raspberry Brownie:
Easy bit. Make the brownie mix.

Now in equal amounts, add to your jar: brownie mix, then raspberries, then brownie mix, then raspberries, etc. Make sure the top layer is raspberries.
NOTE: The berries will compress a bit when it bakes, so pack those things down in there, or you'll only have half a jar full after baking.

(2) Mixed Berry Pie:
So you have some choices here for the dough. Pie crust is the default way to go. I also added some phyllo dough because its so thin and flaky it added a cool texture.
Also, when adding the layers of pie crust I just tore them into little squares and sprinkled them in there like a crumble. If you want yours more like "pie", you can use the lid of the jar to punch out circles and place those in there for the dough layers.

Now in equal amounts, add to your jar: Some dough (however you decide to do it), some mixed berries, then some dough, mixed berries, etc. 

Here you'll want your top layer to be the dough. I'm going be covering it in whipped cream, so I just topped it with some more dough squares and punched out dough hearts. If you're not adding whipped cream, you could do something a little cuter like a lattice.

NOTE: The berries will compress a bit when it bakes, so pack those things down in there, or you'll only have half a jar full after baking. 


(3) Baking! 
So now your jars are prepared, and you're ready to bake. Put your jars, lids off, on a baking pan. This is just in case some juices drip out, you wont have to clean your oven.

Now, depending on what you have going in your jars, and your oven (because everyone's oven bakes a little different) your bake time might vary. Here's an approximate. 

You don't actually want to pre-heat the oven. I'm always worried the jars will explode due to sudden heat, especially filled with cold ingredients. Put your pan with the jars into a cold oven, and turn up the temperature to 200 degrees F. Let that go for 10-15 minutes, then raise to 350 degrees F.

For the Mixed Berry Pie Jars, I found they took about 35 minutes after having raised the temperature to 350. The Raspberry brownie took a bit longer, at about 45 minutes, due the the brownie mix. Read your brownie mix instructions also, and see what it suggests to help you decide. Really just keep an eye on them after the first 30 minutes, and when the dough looks flaky or the brownie looks cooked, You're good to go. The berries should be juicy and bubbling, and have compressed a bit. 

When they come out of the oven, let them cool, then pup on your lids.
Raspberry Brownies are done!!

For the Mixed Berry Pie, whipped cream is next. 

(4) Whipped Cream
Pretty easy to make whipped cream. In a mixing bowl, add heavy cream (1 cup is good enough for covering 5 jars) and half a cup of sugar. Now, on high, beat it with an electric beater. Beat until fluffy and light.

Spoon the whipped cream into a sandwich bag, now seal tightly. Cut a tiny bit (very tiny) off one of the bottom corners of the bag. Now just squeeze the whipped cream out of the bag from the little hole right into your jars, and there you go! You can try and do cute whipped cream designs or make a swirl too. 

Mixed Berry Pie IS DONE!!! Cover with your lid, and ENJOY THAT YUM-A-SAURUS!

What's For Dinner? Made Easy

I've been seeing these around and they seemed like a great combo of lovely decoration and practicality. Very appealing. So here we go! The "Dinner Choice Frame!"

Driving home from work, my husband and I: 

"What do you want for dinner?" 

"I dunno, it's up to you." 

"No, I'd eat anything its your choice." 

"No. No. You choose." 

It's a real pain, making those tough life decisions, being an adult is hard. So, here's the solution! 

How it works:

There's a bunch of little paper strips with dinner options you might want at the bottom. Don't forget options like, "Restaurant", "Call for take-out", and "Try Something New." Sunday night, you pick out dinner for the week. Make "Monday" through "Sunday" clips, to display your decisions. Makes it easy for when you get home. No figuring out what to eat, you already did! Also, if you're actually really in the mood for something Wednesday night and its not what you had originally chosen, don't worry, just have what you want, the frame wont be offended. I promise. 

How to make it:
(1) You need a frame.
I used this nasty looking pink frame I found, painted it blue, and then did some designs in silver paint pen when the blue had dried. You could honestly use any frame. It really doesn't matter. Just keep in mind it can't be too small, you'll want to be able to fit all the paper strips. Also, not so colossally huge it doesn't fit it your kitchen. Anyway, it's all up to your aesthetic.  

(2) A back board and some stings.
Take out the backer board of your frame. Cover it up with decorative paper, paint, or otherwise decorate it. You'll be seeing it, so you want it to look nice.

Now you need some string. Something thick, that matches your frame and backer. I used yarn. You don't want anything that's going to break easily, or stretch out over time. Cut 3 lengths of it, a few inches longer then the diameter of the frame. One for the top, middle, and bottom.

(Look at the pictures for reference here)
Put your backer board back into the frame, but as you do, have the strings lay over it and pinch them into the sides. Make sure they're taut! When the frames all put back together, you can use some strong tape to secure the extra string in the back. You want the top sting to be very near the top of the frame (this string is for extra clips). The middle string needs to have the most room bellow it (for the paper strips). Bottom sting is for dinner options you're not using that week.

(3) Clips
I used some mini clothes pins, and I painted the tops. You'll need at least 8 but more is better. 7 for the days of the week, and some more for the unused options, as well as extra in case some break. Label 7 of them Mon-Sunday, and clip them to the middle string. Extra's either go on the top string as replacements, or the bottom string to hold unused dinner options for that week.

(4) Dinner Options
Cut out a bunch of strips of paper. You'll want to measure them so 7 fit comfortably next to each other for your week choices, and not so long as they run into the string bellow them. Then just write down any and all dinner options you might want! Make sure you leave extras for new recipes you discover as time goes by. I have all the extra blank pieces of paper stored in a little pocket I made on the back of the frame.
 
(5) Done!
At this point, you just have to hang it up, and arrange the strips and clips. Overview: Top string is for extra clips, middle string with your weekday marked clips are for your dinner choices for the week, and the bottom sting is for unused options. I face the unused options for the week backwards, to not be confused. Now just enjoy!

Loose Ideas

So before I started this blog I had some fun little projects I had done for the apartment. Of course, I hadn't taken process pictures. But they're cool, and maybe can give you a little inspiration!

I got these two prints when I went on vacation to England. They're from Portobello Road (where the riches of ages are sold) originally from the late 1800s. The handsome impressively mustached gentleman on the left is "Humbert King of Italy," and the ever so stylish bearded gentleman on the right is "M. Leon Gambetta." I have no idea who they are, but how could I not get these two stylish dudes? I had them framed in bright lime green frames. They look amazing in our hallway.

I took a mental health day a few months ago and ended up painting this awesome spice rack. The rack and most of the spices are from the Savory Spice Shop in Westfield NJ. (They have AMAZING spices and a few other stores in other locations. Check them out if you live hear one!) Painted it with cheap acrylic paint. The green stripes are washi tape. A fun practical addition to the kitchen! 

These guys are from over a year ago. Our (little) family in needlepoint portraits. Since making these we've grown a little (we have a cat now), and when I get around to making him I'll add a little tutorial. I love family portraits, and these little plastic needlepoint canvases were inexpensive, fast, and fun. A cute idea.