Hearts Wide Open - Adopting from Kyrgyzstan

I heard that Frida Kahlo was in town at SF MOMA and in an instant Suzannah and I decided that we HAD TO GO.  So, we made a day of it.  Frida Kahlo has a small connection to our heritage as my great aunt Suzanne Scheuer for whom Suzannah is named after, was friend and contemporary of Diego Rivera. I’m quite eager to share my love of San Francisco with my children, and also to share what I know of aunt Suzanne and also expose the girls to art of all kinds. After the exhibit, we sat down to talk about all the paintings over a lemonade and a cookie which Suzannah shared with Frida herself.

Then, we met up with my dear friend and teacher from my culinary school days. While eating soup, yes SOUP, she lost the other front tooth.

It was a great day.

I have been on a mission to find the holy grail of a pattern for a Kit Kittredge dress for Zannie.  There have been many that I’ve liked and Shea directed me to beautiful vintage dresses.  Anyway, here is a sample of patterns I’ve found that may help you out if you are in the same boat as I am; needing to make one of these dresses and not a clue where to start.  Here’s what I’ve found so far.  (By the way, a real seamstress could make a nice little chunk of change making these dresses and selling them on ebay…)

This is Project Runway’s line of patterns for Simplicity (#2986)  It starts at size AA 8 and goes up, but I think if you’re an experienced sewer, you can cut the pattern to fit a smaller size.  I particularly liked the detailing options on this pattern, particularly the sleeves and the trim at the neckline.  I think the feedsack and calico fabrics are going to look fabulous worked up in this pattern.  I think you could put in a faux belt if you wanted mid-way or you could do it drop waist also. 

This is Simplicity (#2878 ) and I bought it for the neckline detailing alone.  Those flaps, fastened down with black buttons were screaming out to me!  I think for 1930’s styling, the bodice is too nipped in, but the piping and the small print on the example here made me buy it.  (That and Simplicity patterns were 40% off right now) 

This is a very sweet and cute pattern, and I’m not sure I’ll use it, but I do like the sleeves on this and I think you could customize it all over the place.  I think it’s too pleated for 1930’s, but it’s all about what you like personally, right? 

I ended up buying more yardage as well because the fabric is irresistable to me.  Here are companies that are making reproduction feedsack fabrics and modern takes on vintage fabrics.  Enjoy!

http://www.robertkaufman.com/fabrics/designers/darlene_zimmerman/

http://www.fabricattic.com/newpage12.htm

http://www.fabricattic.com/aunt.htm

http://www.sewmamasew.com/ccp0-catshow/CLSWELL.html

Please, let me know how you all do and if you make a Kit inspired dress, please send me a photo!!

Tina

I wish you all could smell these - they’re incredibly fragrant and ready for eating. 

This will be put to work in a tangy pickle we make with plums, red onion and infused with star anise.  We serve it with grilled pork chops. 

A local farmer was selling blossoms from his hydrangea bush.  $5 for 5 stems!  I couldn’t pass these up; they always reminds me of old-lady bathing caps.  After the farmer’s market, we headed over to the flea market and I scored a Kelvin Chen tea pot for $1.

Not that it has been particularly hot here with all the fog we’ve had…but I made a quick and healthy dinner that was worth sharing here.  First, there was this wine…I’m not a fan of white zinfandel and don’t know the last time I drank it, but starting a few years ago, we became pretty interested in drinking very dry pinks during the summer months.  They go with everything and are generally very affordable (this one was $7.99) and quite refreshing if it’s hot out. 

This was so easy. This pasta was a variation on a traditional caprese type of pasta; the kind where you marinate tomatoes, mozzerella, garlic and oil and vinegar.  For whatever reason, I completely forgot to buy the basil.  So, I improvised with baby spinach.  It was really good, especially with hard, grated parmesan to finish the dish with.  I apologize for the weird color in this.  I served it in my screaming orange bowl that I love. 

So, if you want to make this dish for one pound of pasta, marinate the following in your serving bowl:

4 ripe tomatoes, medium size or equivalent amount in smaller sized tomatoes cut into 1/2 inch pieces with as many seeds gone as possible

4-5 oz. fresh mozzerella, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

3 cups fresh baby spinach

1/2 C. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 C. vinegar, balsamic or red wine or a combination…it’s up to you

marinate for about 1/2 hour or more.

After tossing with the steaming pasta, you’ll need to finish with about:

1/2 tsp. salt and some pepper to taste

a healthy sprinkling of parmesan

Drain the pasta and toss it right into the serving dish with the tomato mixture.  Serve immediately.

 These cupcakes were totally copied inspired from a Martha Stewart magazine.  They couldn’t be simpler.  The key to their appeal was the dipping of cupcakes into a bowl of sprinkles and covering the frosting completely.  Suzannah and I took sour patch strips and cut them into leaf shapes and, Bob’s your Uncle, stick a lollipop in and you’ve got some very fun cupcakes.

Suzannah has become interested in the American Girl dolls, especially since we saw the Kit Kittredge movie.  And, because she is Suzannah, wearer of dresses, she wants to wear the calico and feedsack dresses of the depression era.  Can love for certain kinds of fabric be genetic?  I remember long talks with M. about what colors of fabric we liked.  We liked very similar things when we’d go to antique shops.  We liked shabby stuff before it was chic to like shabby stuff.  We liked orange and robin’s egg blue.  So, after the movie, when Suzannah mentioned wanting about ‘100 dresses like Kit and her friends’ I had a real sense of continutity between us three generations of girls.  It’s all come together over fabric of all things. 

So, now I’m on the hunt for patterns to make Suzannah dresses like this.  It’s funny, I thouht it would be a simple task.  I’d find something on ebay or at one of the many cool online fabric shops I drool over.  But, nothing yet.  But I have the fabric all ready to go…she wanted the first one to be aqua…

…the last one on the right.  My personal faves are the two orange ones. 

If anyone knows how to get ahold of patterns for dresses like these…please let me know!  They don’t have to be authentically vintage.

Zannie asked her, “Can I have a hug?”

and she came right over, laid down and gave

her a hug.  Then, she just stayed there and it was

quiet for a long time.  It was so incredibly sweet and I

don’t think I’ll ever forget this moment.

Me, sometime last year making my famous pilaf.  This is more cleavage than I usually post, but I’m living dangerously lately!

This, from the ever-lovely Margie at Third Mom is inviting others to do a one word meme.  I edited it a bit to add in my four parents and I hope that was alright to do. So…here goes…

1. Where is your cell phone? Car
2. Your significant other? Snoring
3. Your hair? Auburn
4. Your mother? Gone
5. Your father? Stuck

4a.Other Mother? Hiding

5a. Other Father? Connected
6. Your favorite time of day? Night
7. Your dream last night? Cooking
8. Your favorite drink? Tea
9. Your dream goal? Acceptance
10. The room you’re in? Dining
11. Your ex? Mean
12. Your fear? Loss
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
14. What you are not? Lazy
15. Your Favorite meal? Chez Panisse
16. One of your wish list items? Serger
17. The last thing you did? Clean
18. Where you grew up? California
19. What are you wearing? Jeans
20. Your TV is? Stupid
21. Your pets? Fish
22. Your computer? Inviting
23. Your life? Tapestry
24. Your mood? Keen

25. Missing someone? Horribly
26. Your car? Zippy
27. Something you’re not wearing? Tattoo
28. Favorite store? Oilily
29. Your summer? Smoky
30. Your favorite color? Green
31. When is the last time you laughed? Morning
32. When is the last time you cried? Morning
33. Your health? Robust
34. Your children? Heartwarming
35. Your future? Opportunities
36. Your beliefs? Strong
37. Young or old? Pffffft
38. Your image? Changing
39. Your appearance? Momish
40. Would you live your life over again knowing what you know? Yes

Giving credit where credit is due…the title of this post is lifted from Suzanne, over at Straight Down the Mountain, who waits for M. to come home from Kyrgyzstan.  Anyway, today was a marathon change from what used to be the Pink Room into the more mature, more 7 year-old and ready for second grade Suzannah room.

Purple with aqua. 

I made the quilt and pillows myself.  Above the bed is a little decoupage Flower Fairy thingy that I made.  Suzannah knows lots of flowers’ names thanks to the flower fairies.  Curtain from recent shopping trip to Target….

I stole from the bathroom the aqua beach glass cups.  I took food coloring and painted a white shade purple, then took out the ol’ glue gun and put on the daisies.  Ribbon may follow…not sure yet.

On Suzannah’s book shelf I found myself remembering when I bought the little porcelin sleeping baby girl in Ireland in 1999 when we decided to start trying to have a baby.  Suzannah was born 3 years later.  Next to it is one of my favorite pictures of the two of us, she is about 2 months old there.  Then there is what Suzannah believes to be the most beautiful Matryoshka doll evah.  We bought that in Bishkek or Moscow…memory fails me.  This picture represents a lot of how hard things have been in the waiting for us to be a family, and the joys of now being a mother to my daughters.  

Now here’s something you’ll really like…noodle sisters…

Isabel’s favorite food group is the Noodle group.  Suzannah is seen here offering noodles from her own soup and Isabel is refusing them.  This is a first.