Basket for your bike?

The accessories have arrived at riders and I have my eye on this basket. After being inspired by the Jane Birkin post and other basket posts at fieldguided, I knew a basket was the perfect shopping bag. This one will be ready for groceries wherever I ride.

{source}

Back in the day...

When I saw this posted over at The Foxy Robot, I was flooded with rad fluorescent memories.


Did you listen to New Kids on the Block? I remember the year that every ride at the Ex was blasting Hanging Tough, there was an important decision to be made at this moment, you either loved them or hated them and there was no turning back. I chose to hate them(seemed like the cooler choice at the time), I then had to hide the fact that I liked Step by Step.

Babysitters Club or Sweet Valley High books? Babysitters Club and then Sweet Valley High(I've always loved reading) I remember another series of Thriller Sweet Valley High books, I loved those scary ones.

Kids Incorporated or Mickey Mouse Club? didn't get these in Canada when I was growing up, although I remember meeting some kids from Mickey Mouse Club one year when I visited Florida

Did you want Dylan to end up with Brenda or Kelly? Kelly; Brenda was a whiner

Who would you rather have for a next door neighbor: Kimmy Gibler or Urkel? Kimmy!

Step by Step or Full House? Full House

Did you watch Double Dare? not in Canada

Who was your favorite character on Saved by the Bell? hmmmm... not sure

Who was hotter: Zack or Slater? Zack, couldn't get into Slater's curls

Care Bears or Smurfs? Smurfs, although I really enjoyed the Care Bear Stare

Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake? Strawberry Shortcake, they smelled so yummy!

Did you wear jelly shoes? yes

Did you own a Trapper Keeper? a what?

Did you ever end a sentence with the word "Psych"? yep

What's your favorite song by Prince? Alphabet St. (I remember dancing to this in Jazz class)

What lunchbox did you carry to school? Smurfs

Friendship pins or friendship bracelets? first the pins and then I really got into making the bracelets(I even sold them for $1 each)

Madonna or Cyndi Lauper? Cyndi Lauper was the first record(yes vinyl) I bought with my own money. Right after this we got a tape player. Once Cyndi dissappeared I fell for Madonna and still love her.

Do you know what happened to Baby Jessica? rescued?

Corey Haim or Corey Feldman? neither

Where were you when the Challenger exploded? I was home sick from school and watched it too many times.

Who was your favorite Facts of Life character? Jo

Pretty in Pink or Sixteen Candles? Sixteen Candles

Barbie or Jem? Jem is truly outrageous!

Did you watch After school Specials? rarely, but liked them when I saw them

Flashdance or Footloose? Footloose!! taped on VHS and watched and watched and watched

Tiffany or Debbie Gibson? Tiffany--we used to play it(and the Beastie Boys) on the classroom tape player during lunchtime

Can you name a member of the Brat Pack? Emilio Estevez?

Esprit or Forenza? Esprit

What was your favorite fashion fad? goomie bracelets

What was your favorite tv show? The Cosby Show

What was your favorite cartoon? The Smurfs and Spiderman

Kirk Reinert

I received this beautiful postcard from Germany. This beautiful painting is the creation of American artist Kirk Reinert. I adore faeries and have fallen in love with his artwork. My favourite is the painting below, it looks so much like a photograph, love it!!! According to his website he was a book cover artist for many fantasy, horror and science fiction novels. He now paints these fine art pieces. I think they're magical.

{Feathered Friends}

{Night Harvest}

{Night Light}

Worldwide Pincushion Swap

So way too long after the fact(there was still snow on the ground), I'm posting about Leigh-Ann's  Worldwide Pincushion Swap. The smurf house above is the pincushion I made using this tutorial. I'm so happy I made something, it was so fun and I learned some new embroidery stitches. You can't see the windows in my pic, but I gave them lace curtains. I also decided to get out my jewelry supplies and make some earrings for my new blog friend/swap partner Sasha from The Foxy Robot. It was so great getting to know Sasha and emailing back and forth. I love her new blog and will be borrowing some ideas soon(some retrofabulousness). 

Sasha sent me this beautiful quilted pincushion. I love it!!! I need to set up my studio to give this cushion a beautiful home. Hopefully I'll be back sooner than later....

Today I Saw

This week, I received this lovely postcard from Jill from Today I Saw. I love her blog, she draws watch she sees each day and then sends the postcard off to a lucky person somewhere in the world. So fun, check out her blog.

Yes it's true

Valentine(my hubby) and Coco have opened riders, their Bike shop/Cafe/Art Gallery. I'm so excited! They're having their first art opening on Saturday. Come one, come all, it's going to be fun! Check out their blog.

Veggie delight

Even though I know, I don't always do. I know I feel amazing when I only eat veggies, but I keep eating meat. Lately I don't feel like eating meat, so I decided to prepare a super veggie meal. We had my favourite salad, eggplant parmesan and some lychee nuts for dessert.
My favourite salad and dressing are from Natalia Rose's The Raw Food Detox Diet, as I've said before I love this book!!  Even though I'm not following the book as I hope to soon, I am trying to incorporate many raw foods and meals. Eating this way always give me a clean energy, as opposed to the jittery energy I get from coffee. Here are the recipes:



Ambrosia Salad(slightly modified, I leave out the beet because it turns the salad pink and it looks weird)


Makes 4 to 6 servings (we ate almost the whole thing with 2 people, but we like to eat alot)


1 bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, sliced into matchstick pieces
1 zucchini, sliced into matchstick pieces
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup apples, sliced into matchstick pieces
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 jalapeno diced
1/2 cup dried unsulfured cranberries
1/2 cup sliced sunchokes(Jerusalem artichokes) into matchstick pieces (I didn't have any of these this time and it was still delicious, but they definitely add a little something if you have them and if you've never tried them - you have to, they're so yummy and I also love them sliced and roasted)
1/4 cup packed fresh mint
1/2 cup packed fresh basil
1/2 bunch packed fresh cilantro


Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Top with:


Liquid Gold Elixir dressing


Makes 4 cups (I made 1/3 of this recipe since I only had a little ginger left and it was enough for the salad and I have dressing left for this week)


2 cups fresh lemon juice
3 whole cloves garlic
3 tablespoons minced ginger
3 tablespoons Nama Shoyu soy sauce (this is raw(unpasteurized) soy sauce, I'm sure you could use regular, this soy sauce is delicious though, it's kind of milder like the low sodium kind)
3 heaping tablespoons raw honey (or more if desired - use it to balance out tartness of lemon juice)
1 1/2 cups cold-pressed olive oil


Place all of the ingredients except the oil in blender. Begin blending at normal speed. As the mixture is blending, slowly add the oil until it's completely blended(I added the oil at once). This recipe should last over a week in the fridge.


That's it for the salad. Now on to the eggplant parmesan. 


Eggplant Parmesan


I originally saw this recipe made on The View to promote Alton Brown's book Good Eats. I don't have this book, but based on this deliciousness, I want to try more recipes. I found this fun video of the recipe, which shows how it only takes 1 minute to make. When Alton was on The View, he said that to prepare the eggplant; he peeled and sliced it and then salted the slices and laid them out on a cookie sheet for about 15 minutes - the perfect time for making the salad. The slices will sweat out the bitterness and then you just pat them dry and slice into noodles.






Time for some more Olympics! Let me know if you try any of these recipes :)
Sorry about the crappy layout, apparently blogger and my mac don't agree, it won't let me use the spacing or the font sizes that I tell it, do any of you have these problems or any solutions - maybe typepad?