Jalapeno Bagels

I made bagels!

This is a first for me and I never would have attempted it had it not been for my oldest. The other day, while picking my son up from school, a teacher (not my son's teacher) came up to me and told me that my son had taken an interest to her Jalapeno bagel that she had baked. I'm still fuzzy on when, why, and how he came about her bagel (may have been rainy day schedule and she was the room teacher for the kids... I don't know...that's not the point), but he asked her all sorts of questions about it, tried it and liked it. My oldest then asked her to give the recipe to his mom and she did.

I had no idea how physically exhausting the bagel making process can be. The directions call for kneading the dough until it's tough. By the time the dough was tough enough, I was out of breath!

After the kneading workout, it all went smooth. I baked it to a perfect golden color. It smelled good. It looked good. And then I took a bite. YOWZA! Muy Caliente! Translation: Insane hot! Next time, I will decrease the Jalapeno peppers by 1/2 the amount. Although, with a lot of cream cheese and jelly it was worth the calories. Plus, my sinuses were all cleared up after eating the bagel.

Below is the recipe. If you like hot salsa or Tabasco sauce, you probably won't want to modify the recipe. However, if you are more of a mild salsa kind of person, then decrease the Jalapenos by about 1/2.

Jalapeno Bagels

• 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
• 1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 5 to 6 cups flour
• 1/3 cup jalapenos, chopped
• 1/4 cup dried red peppers

Mix water, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add flour and jalapenos and mix into a ball. Knead for 10 to 12 minutes, adding more flour if necessary, until dough is stiff. Add red peppers and knead for 3 minutes. Let dough rest 10 minutes, then cut into 12 pieces with a knife.

Roll each piece of dough on a table to form long tube-like shapes. Then, for each of the twelve pieces, connect the two ends by overlapping them about 3/4 of an inch and rolling the ends together to make a ring shape. Make sure each joint is secure or it will come apart while boiling.

Cover with a damp towel and let rise 1 to 2 hours in a warm spot. In a large pot, bring 1 to 2 gallons of water to a rolling boil. Place bagels in boiling water and boil until they float. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy if you dare!

I think I'll substitute the Jalapenos with blueberries next time.

Jamie

New Echino laminate fabric!

Hello.

I have something fun to show you. It's Echino fabric and it's...

LAMINATE!

Oh the things I want to do to you - the fabric that is. Everyday I look at it. Smell it. Pet it. And whisper sweet nothings to it. But I can't so much as take a little snip of it. At least not until my pattern is completed, which should be next week (eek!).

Do you remember that laminate corset apron I made a little while back? Here's the link in case you forgot. Well that fabric, Damask, is available in my shop too. Here the link to all of the new laminates.

Lastly, I have added new fabrics to the sale section, including Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet fabric collection (link to sale). The secret sale for Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks fabric will end this Saturday. To receive the 20% discount, enter the code ANNA (doesn't have to be caps).

Happy sewing!

Jamie

The adventure and mishaps of Shoog cont..

The Shoog is not holding up to her end of the truce. She has a major shoe addiction that Sour Apple cant help.

UGH! Do you know how hard it is to find cute black and white striped heels that don't look too Tim Burton-ish?

This one really hurt. So much so, that I can't bring myself to throw them away. I think I'm going to try black electrical tape to hide some of the inflictions. I'll let you know if it works.

Another Shoog story...

Last night, while watching Survivor, my youngest noticed the Shoog acting strange. "What Shooger doing?" he asked, and we all quickly turned to see what my 3 year old was talking about. Sure enough, it was strange alright. The Shoog was trying to... umm... lets see... how should I put this- BREASTFEED from my French Mastiff! Now, in the Shoog's defense, my mastiff's umm... lets see... how should I put this...udders... are abnormally large. Seriously! We've had kids come over to visit and wonder where the puppies are. When seeing Hanna (the mastiff) they've asked, "So why does your dog have udders?" I assume that the Shoog must have likewise noticed them and had a flash back to when she was with her mother. Instinct just kicked in. We had a good laugh, separated the two dogs, sprayed Sour Apple on the udders and went back to watching Survivor. Just joking about the Sour Apple, but it's not a bad idea.

Happy weekend!

Jamie

Hooded Scarf photo shoot

As previously mentioned, Sunday was the big shoot for the Hooded Scarf pattern. The weather was perfect for the mood I wanted the shoot to have. The natural lighting wasn't too harsh and not too dark. It didn't rain. At least not until the end, and that was only a light drizzle.

Before I share pics from the shoot, let me introduce you to the crew...

Pierre-olivier Briglio was the photographer. He totally caught the vision I wanted for the pattern. If we didn't have to leave by a certain time, he would have shot all day. He was very professional, yet approachable with other ideas. I really enjoyed working with him! Here is the link to his website.

Sellecca was the makeup artist. I told her I wanted a natural look and she nailed it! Her makeup was flawless.

This is Carmel. Carmel and I go way back. I've known her since she was 7. I grew up spending my summer weekends with her and her family at the beach. She was a natural in front of the camera.

This is Christi. She is a friend of my sister's and she's as sweet as they come. She was a total trooper, because it was pretty cold out there and she's just a little drink of water. We had her in a little dress with boots and she was trying so hard to not look cold.

There are a few more pics from the shoot on my flickr page (link).

We did the shoot at my sisters house, which has the charm of a doll house on a farm. I told her to never move, because I will need her house for future shoots.

Then there is my sister. I can't thank her enough for all that she did during the shoot. Not only did she provide the house, she's also my coordinator that linked everyone together that were involved with this shoot. She's awesomeness!

(She's probably going to hate this pic, but I love it. She didn't want me to take her picture, but being a typical big sister, I didn't listen.)

So back to working on the pattern, and putting it all together.

Cheers,

Jamie

Secret sale & new Alexander Henry fabric

New Willow fabrics by Alexander Henry fabrics. They all go together so nicely.

The last one is called Alamandas. Beautiful colors! Here is the link to the new fabrics.

***

Yes, I'm having a secret sale at Phat Fabric. I suppose that's what you call it when only people with the secret code can get the discount. However, I'm not sure it's such a secret being as I'm blogging about it. Anywho, the sale is for 20% off Anna Maria Horner's new fabric line Little Folks, including her voile solids. And the secret code is... anna. Bet you didn't see that one coming. Simply enter the code anna at checkout and the discount will be applied to your Anna Maria fabric order. The code will expire March 6th. Here is the link to Anna Maria Horner's fabrics.

Lastly, the photo shoot that took place on Sunday for the Hooded Scarf went great! The weather was perfect for the shoot - no rain, yet not too sunny. I'll share some pics later on this week. Until then, cheers!

Jamie

Photo shoot

Happy Friday everyone!

So right after I posted about my daughters brightness, she came out of her room with florescent rainbow striped knee highs on. The knee highs were accompanied with a black dress over cut off shorts. And I was totally cool with it. Growth!

This Sunday is the cover photo shoot for the hooded scarf. Yippee! Yippee not only because the pattern is almost finished, but because I'm not in the shoot AND I have a photographer for the shoot. So I get to be the director of the shoot. I think I'll wear a beret and drink coffee through out the shoot. I am so excited about it.

It's supposed to rain everyday except Sunday, so please pray the weather guy is right. I will take pics of the event and share them with you all next week.

Happy weekend!

Jamie

Her future is bright!

She almost left the house this way. When she emerged from her room early the other morning, my daughter was wearing the brightest knee highs I ever did see. The knee highs brought out the brightness of the Hawaiian print shirt too. That combined with the "a couple of sizes too small shorts" and worn out black shoes (buckle is broken on the side) were quite a shocker for me. Several thoughts ran through my mind within a 3 second period...

WOW! She's bright!

Who bought those socks for her?

I thought I donated that Hawaiian print shirt to a clothes drive.

How did she find her favorite shorts that I threw out awhile ago?

How do they still fit?

Should I make her change?

Should I encourage her independence and individuality?

Why doesn't she wear the clothes I make her?

What am I going to cook for dinner tonight?

As I said before, she almost left the house this way. I told her she needed to change her shorts because they were too small. So she did and emerged with a jean skirt instead. And off went my little Punky Brewter to school.

Up until this point, I have always thought of myself as a mom who encouraged her kids to be unique and to express their individuality, but now I question that. I had to fight myself from making her change everything. I tried to justify it by thinking to myself that possibly the brightness could cause another child to have seizures and I was only concerned for the safety of others. But the reality was that I was worried about other kids making fun of her at school. Yet, when she came home from school I asked her if anyone mentioned her socks and she looked down at her feet as if she had forgotten she was wearing them and said, "no."

Hmmm! What do I know?

Jamie