Here is an International Shout Out!

My son is six.  That being said, he LOVES geography.  He knows more about how to read a map and world geography than some of the eleven-year-olds that I taught.  One of his favorite things to do is to check the Stats on my blog and see that there has been a visit from a new country.

He has been delighted by South Africa (where his grandparents were when he was born), by Germany (where his other grandmother lived as a child),  by Brazil, Italy, and Russia, by Japan and the United Arab Emirates.  The list truly is endless.  Today we had a treat to get a new country - Mauritius!  Talk about excitement!  Let me officially give all of you international visitors a big SHOUT OUT!  Thanks for visiting.  Thanks for looking around.  Thanks for sharing.  In fact, Iceland is sharing right now.  Click HERE for the link. 

We love your visits, and feel free to come back again - anytime!

Let's Make A Statement (Ring)!

My three-year-old daughter is all girl.  Her dress-up trunk is full of frilly, sparkly, lacy things (along with the fire helmet, a pirate sword, etc.).  Last year I got an email from Etsy titled "Girl's Best Friend."  In it there was a link to a completely cool statement ring made out of white leather.  It was shaped like a diamond and embroidered with black cord.  Now, as I write this the ring has long since been sold so I don't have the original photo to show you, but trust me when I say it looked really neat.  I almost bought it for myself. 

Well, it immediately gave me an idea for some dress-up accessories for my daughter.  I used felt, embroidery floss, and little ponytail holders to make her some jewels of her own.  They were a big hit! 

She loves the bling!  (Notice the wings in the background.)

You can make some for  your little gal!  Here's the how-to...

The Materials

• Felt 
• Black Embroidery Floss
• Ponytail Holders & Elastic
• Needle and Coordinating Thread

Paper Patterns

You could use any sturdy type of material you want (such as leather), but felt is soft, readily available in lots of colors and patterns, and  very inexpensive.  The ponytail holders are the perfect size for little fingers.  Even I can slip one on without my hand getting too uncomfortable. This is a great project to do to use up felt scraps. 

Choose what type of jewel you want to make and pick the appropriate color of felt.  I went online and did some research about diamond cuts to get a basic idea about facets for different  styles.  I blew each of them up to approximately 2 inches across to make my patterns.

Cut two of each shape out of felt.  Using the thread, sew a ponytail holder to one of the felt pieces.
Use the embroidery floss to stitch facets into the other piece of felt.
Stitch the two pieces of felt together to make a ring. (You could also try using fabric glue to attach the two sides of the ring together.)

Stitching the facets.

 I did not try to transfer the facet pattern to the felt before I stitched.  I just eyed it.

The finished top of the ring.

A look at both sides of a ring.

Sometimes the ponytail holder matched the jewel color (like the topaz below), and other times I tried to pick something close.)

A close-up look at the collection.

Notice the "diamond" pictured above is much simpler than the one above.  I learned that it is best to keep the facet stitching as simple as possible.  

The entire collection!

There are diamonds, sapphires, amethysts, emeralds, topaz, rubies, and pearls.  The pearls in the necklace were stitched to a long elastic cord. 

She loves to wear her baby bling.  She eve went to church a few weeks ago wearing the "amethyst marquise" ring.  It really complemented her outfit! 

Here is one last look at the hardware!

COOL! THANKS, MOM!   (Even Pink Woobie thinks so!)

Have fun making your little one some bling of her own!

6-year Easter Eggs

O-K!  One of the reasons that I started this blog was to finish all of the projects that I had laying around.  (Believe me when I tell you there are A LOT.)  This particular project I began when I was staying home when I was home on maternity leave after my son was born.  He is six.  That's right, six.  SIGH!  I got the idea for this project from my Martha Stewart Magazine.  There was this completely cute arrangement of thread-wrapped carrots, bunnies, and eggs.  I knew that I could do that!  HERE is the link from Martha's website. (I still have the pages from the magazine that I pulled out for reference.)

I spent several days wrapping eggs - 40 of them.  Then, I moved on to another project before I could finish decorating them.  SIGH!  Fast forward several years.  I was finishing my old projects, trying new recipes, blogging about my efforts when I was pulled up short.  Decorating these eggs was on deck waiting to become my next accomplishment when I got strep throat.  Everything came to a crashing halt.  After that, it seemed pointless to finish an Easter craft after Easter so I put it off again.

Now,  I can finally say...HOORAY!  I finished another one!  Of course, I readily admit that I am about six years late with this project, but it is done and that is really all that matters right?  Right!

Eeek!  Huge thumb!

I don't have any photos of the wrapping of the eggs because I wasn't thinking about blogging then.  I will tell you the technique that I used to wrap the eggs.

• Start by putting a straight pin in one end of the egg (or sphere).  
• Brush around the pin with a thin layer of glue (I used white glue) about a half and inch or so.
• Leave a tail of thread about 2 inches long.  Brush it with glue to secure it to the side of the egg.
• Begin wrapping the thread around the pin.  The first few wraps are the most difficult.  
• Continue wrapping around the egg until you get to the middle.  
• Stop wrapping and begin again at the other end of the egg (or sphere).
• Finish the wrapping in the middle.

Make sure you keep the glue layer very thin.  While it does dry clear, too much glue will saturate the thread fibers and affect the sheen of the thread.  This cannot be fixed once it is done without removing the bad thread and starting over.  This would not be as much of a problem when using larger cord or yarn.  I used embroidery floss so it was a definitely something I had to think about. 

Once your eggs are dry (no need to wait 6 years)....DECORATE!

I used both white glue and hot glue to stick down the decorations.  I used various small ribbons, trims, and other embellishments to decorate the eggs.  Here are some photos...

Gluing on the decorations.  I got the above bag of tiny trims for $5!  Amazing!

I had some "help."

Lots of "help."

(I still haven't finished organizing my ribbons and things after all of this help.  :) I see a post in that mess somewhere!

Now...the moment you have all been waiting for...here are the finished eggs!

I cut the long ribbon of trim into individual daisies. 

I like the effect achieved by the flash off the corner of the glass.

More "help."

You can see darker spots on the upper blue and green eggs where the thread got too saturated by the glue.

Here is a favorite.

You want to use flexible trim to decorate the oblong shape of the eggs. 

You can add screw eyes to either the top or the bottom of the eggs to make them suitable for hanging.

I really like the look of this bow on the top of the egg,

Here I used a vintage button.

Well, that's it.  These are my eggs.  I am glad that they are done (finally), and I am pleased with the way they turned out!  I can now truly enjoy the fruits of my labor instead of feeling guilty about the bag full of undecorated eggs lurking in my craft closet year after year patiently waiting for me to get my act together. 


Finish a project that you have been putting off.  You'll be glad you did!  I know I am!

An EGG-cellent Sandwich!

I love, Love, LOVE a good egg salad salad sandwich!  I remember one outing I had with my husband to a little deli on Saturday.  I ordered the egg salad sandwich.  It looked soooo good, and I had a craving.  Well, imagine my disappointment when I took my first bite only to find the egg salad had NO FLAVOR AT ALL!  SIGH!!!!  I was so upset.  I couldn't even finish my food.

Well, when I make my own egg salad sandwiches - they are GREAT!  See...

DELICIOUS!

You want one of these right now, don't you?  (Nodding) I thought you did.  As promised, here is the recipe...

Tanya's EGG-cellent Egg Salad Club

Ingredients:

One recipe of egg salad (ingredients listed below)

• 6-10 hard cooked eggs (either BAKED or STEAMED)
• mayonnaise
• yellow mustard
• dill pickle relish
• salt 
• pepper
• celery salt

Throw a little bit of everything into a bowl and mix it up to your desired consistency.

• croissants
• bacon
• tomatoes
• leafy lettuce

DELICIOUS!

Here are a few photos!

Celery salt is especially delicious with eggs!

Grate the eggs for a nice consistency.

Slice your tomatoes, sprinkle them with salt, and let them sit on a paper towel for 10 minutes to draw out some of the moisture.

Bake your bacon!  I ALWAYS bake my bacon. 

This is uncured bacon from our local market, but any favorite bacon will do.  To bake your own bacon, Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and top it with a rack (this allows the fat to drip off the cooking bacon).  Bake your bacon for at least 20 minutes.  Keep an eye on it.  You don't want it to burn.  Baked bacon is less messy because you don't have the fat spatters all around your frying pan do deal with.  Baked bacon is easier because you can cook an entire package at once.  AND... Baked bacon is better because the smell of cooked bacon will only linger for a few hours instead of a few days.  Plus, you can't beat this clean-up...

Wad up the foil and throw it away!

 To assemble your EGG-cellent sandwich, slap all of your ingredients on a fresh croissant.  

These babies were mere hours old when the became dinner!

 Voila!  Dinner is served, or lunch, or breakfast if your feeling adventurous.  You really can't go wrong with egg salad!

Serve your sandwich with whatever sounds good to you!

Here is a close-up!

Here is another view...MMMMMMM!

Okay, now I'm hungry!  I'll get back to you later.  My kitchen is calling! 

I. Am. STEAMED!

Way back last year I made a big batch of potato salad for a family party.  I decided to write up a little post on my alternative (thanks to Alton Brown) method of cooking eggs.  I baked them.  I pinned my post to Pinterest HERE and went on my way.  Well...last week someone, or should I say, LOTS of someones began pinning and pinning and re-pinning my post.

Baking eggs is a marvelous way to cook LOTS of eggs.  For me, it is the ONLY way to cook lots of eggs.  However, there is another way to cook eggs that can accomplish the same result, perfect eggs, in half the time of baking.  (Also described by Alton Brown in his book I'm Just Here for the Food)  If you only need a few eggs cooked quickly...try STEAMING them!

Alton Brown's Steamed Eggs

Prep time: 5 min.
Total time: 17 min.

Ingredients:  less than a dozen eggs - do not overcrowd your pan

Special Equipment: A saucepan with a metal steamer basket and a snug lid. 

Directions:
1.  Fill a saucepan with 1" of water.
2.  Place the steamer basket into the pan.
3.  Bring the water to a boil over high heat.
4.  Place the eggs in the steamer basket.
5.  Cover the pan and lower the heat to medium-high.
6.  Cook the eggs for 12 minutes.
7.  Use tongs to remove the cooked eggs from the steamer basket.
8.  Place the eggs in a bowl of ice water.
9.  Peel the eggs when they are cool enough to handle. 

Here are the steps  - in pictures!

You need three things:  A saucepan, a metal steamer basket, and a lid.  These pieces are all part of the same set, but I have used a vegetable steamer basket to steam eggs in the past.  You just need a snug fitting lid for the saucepan. 

1" of water in the bottom of the pan.

Bring the water to a rolling boil.  This takes approximately five minutes.

I made eight eggs.  I have a stockpot with a larger steamer basket that holds more, but if I need more than a few eggs I bake them.  Again, this process is best for cooking a few eggs.

Place the eggs over the boiling water.

Cover the pan, lower the heat to medium-high, and steam for 12 minutes.

Remove the eggs from the pan with tongs and place in ice water.  Peel them as soon as they are cool enough to handle. 

You don't need to stir the eggs, but I had a helper that wanted a job. 

Now it is time to PEEL the eggs...

This is VERY hard to see, but crack the egg on both ends and roll it around to put little cracks all over the shell.  This will help the shell to come off in a long roll like an orange peel.

Like this...

Steamed eggs are faster to prepare and easier to peel than the Baked Eggs, but there are a few trade-offs.  The yolks of steamed eggs are not as creamy and delectable as their baked counterparts.  Also, steamed eggs give off a more sulferous odor than baked eggs.  However, both Baked and Steamed eggs are vast improvements over improperly boiled eggs.   

Once you have your eggs you can slice them up over chef salad, eat them with a little salt and pepper as a snack, or whip up a to-die-for egg salad sandwich.  Like this one...

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

 Check back in a few days for the recipe. 

In other news:  I just received the April 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine today in the mail.  To my amazement Alton Brown was featured on the cover with his guide for cooking...you guessed it...EGGS! ( To find his recipes that are included in this issue, type "Alton Brown" in the search box.)  In it he gives a new third way to prepare hard cooked eggs!  Pick up your copy today!

OH WOW!

I have been on blogger hiatus for the last several months.  I have been crazy busy helping my husband as he has opened his own law practice.  (I am learning more about being an office manager than I ever thought possible.) It is going well.  Every once in a while I have a spare five minutes or so, and I think, "I have a pile of projects, I should get one out and get working."  Then the next mini-crisis arises.

Periodically I check in here at Greetings From the Asylum to clear out the spam in the comments folder and smile at some of my favorite posts and comments.  Last week something amazing happened!  (Thank you Pinterest!!)  One of my blog posts from last year Got EGGS? started getting pinned - A LOT!  I have had several thousand hits a day!  I am getting new followers both here and on Pinterest.  All I can say is WOW, THANK YOU!

If you are looking for some other fun recipes check out my Food tab.  Click HERE or on the link at the top of the page.  OR if Easter fun is what you are looking for...Check out my large-scale PEEP decorations.  HERE is the link to my Bunny To-PEEP-aries.  They are super fun and super cute!

Again,  thank you so much for your visits and support!  I am looking forward to finding some time to get back to blogging regularly in the next few weeks!

UPDATE:  My baked egg post was referenced on lifehacker.com!  Click HERE to read the story!

Now the story from Lifehacker was picked up by KOMO News in Seattle, WA.  HERE is the link.

I'm Baaaaack! (Kinda)

Whew!  We have been so busy lately getting the business up and running. I have lost 15 pounds on the "Harrison Law Diet."  I realize that it is time to go pick up my son from Kindergarten and I have been so busy that I have missed lunch completely.

In more somber news, my father passed away on Labor Day.  It was unexpected but not surprising.  He'd been in and out of the hospital several times in August, and it was just his time to go "home."  His services were very nice and now my son thinks that every funeral includes a bagpiper.  :)

Here is some happy news...My husband's website is up and running.  Click HERE or on the logo below for a look.  Tell me what you think...(but I LOVE it)!  Our graphic designer did a wonderful job!  I especially love our logo!

It is awesome, right?  I absolutely LOVE how the two "R's" are turned into the scales of justice.  COMPLETELY COOL!

Have no fear.  I am still making yo-yos, I am still cooking, and I am still working on crafts.  I hope to soon have some time blog about it all.

Have a great day!