The Hazel Bloom

Thrift Store Candlesticks Made Happier

Hold up! Did you enter the $50 Sur La Table gift card giveaway? It ends tonight! Yes? Okay, great. I now return you to your regularly scheduled The Hazel Bloom.

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This month's thrift store travels have not only been few and far between, but a little lean. I've been searching for very specific stuff, because my current obsession is the dining room. We need curtains for the bay windows. We need special bay window curtain rods. We need to paint. I need to recover the dining room chairs. We need a nice big mirror. And I need... I need... a pair of cheery, chunky red candlesticks, or my dining room - heck, my life - wouldn't be complete.

Thank goodness for Value Village and red spray paint. I can't be going about life being all incomplete and stuff.

Last Sunday, I found these at said Village (pronounced "Vill-ajjj" of course). 

They're all find and dandy, but they lack oomph. They lack pizazz. They lack, you know, red.

So I painted them. And now they're cheery!

 
I totally did that makeover thing, didn't I? Where the photographer in the "before" picture tells the gal getting the makeover to take off all her makeup and look sad for the camera. And then she gets her hair cut and colored, removes the glasses, and has her makeup done, and smiles huge for the "after" shot.

I should have just made the before picture black and white while I was at it. Wah waaah.

Well, anyway. Cute, life-completing candlesticks: $13 for sticks and one can of spray paint.

It just goes to show that anything can be a blank canvas. Keep your eyes peeled for the right shape in the wrong color, and then make it perfect for you.

(Even if you have to paint at night, when it's going to start raining any second, because you have next to no patience.)

(Totally worth it!)

$50 Sur La Table Gift Card Giveaway

CONTEST HAS ENDED! (Winner)

Here at my fledgling little domestically-obsessed blog, The Hazel Bloom, I've reached a milestone! Today's post is my 50th.

Yup. I've been posting a story nearly every day since I started this thing all the way back in September. Woo hoo!

And so, to celebrate, and to thank those who have already been visiting and commenting, and also, frankly, to try enticing a few more folks to come and check it out, I'm giving away a $50 gift card for one of my favorite stores around, Sur La Table! Even if there's not one in your area to shop at in person (whimper - love it), they have a super web site.

To enter, just leave me a comment - with a way to contact you if you're the lucky gal/guy drawn - telling me what your favorite story here at The Hazel Bloom has been so far.

And for extra credit (and to help me get the word out, for which I thank you!) just link to this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, and let me know in your comment which of those you did, too. You'll get one extra entry for each - up to four total! (Note, for those of you awesome people who linked directly to the blog because I hadn't specified I meant a link to the giveaway, no worries, your entries are golden! Thank you!)

As far as the question goes, forgive me the market research study attempt, but I'd love to have a little more info about the topics that are more hit than miss. This way, perhaps I can focus a little more on the hits... though, admittedly, not always. Sometimes I'm just going to want to ramble on and on about owl teacups or felted strawberry-shaped pincushions or how cute my dog Lizzie is when we're grating cheese and she's poised at the edge of the kitchen, trying desperately to look nonchalant, when actually she's ready to strike as soon as that stray shred of cheddar hits the ground. And then she reminds me of a tennis ballboy. Swoop in, swoop out, resume position. If I lost you there, it's just as well, because all I've got left is the fine print. The winner will be selected randomly by drawing as is quite typical for blog giveaways, and probably out of a hat, unless we figure out how to use an automated random comment sorter thingy that counts additional entries for some folks (If this thing gets thousands of comments, I'm totally screwed. Good thing that's not likely!)

Sur La Table has no idea I exist or am doing this. I just love (love) that store and thought it was perfect for a gift card giveaway. Heck, I'm tempted to enter. Can I make that acceptable, what with it being my contest and all and I can set the rules? Hmmmm. (I won't, I won't!)

Contest ends at 9 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday, November 18, and the winner, provided I'll be able to verify in a timely manner, will be announced on Thursday, November 19. Oh, and my apologies, but this time around I need to restrict this to U.S. and Canada folks only.

That's it! Time to enter!

Butterscotch Pudding

Ever come across a food so divine, so scrumptious, so utterly sinful that, even while you're savoring every last bite, you're wishing you'd never discovered it? Because you know - you know - that this thing will be the subject of many low-willpower life moments to come?

Psh. Not me. Nuh uh. Never.

Okay, fine, maybe a little. Maybe in the case of homemade Butterscotch Pudding.

It all started here: While perusing the dairy section at my local grocery store the other day, I couldn't resist this wonderful fresh heavy cream in the glass bottle from Golden Glen Creamery here in Washington state. But as it turned out, I hadn't found a use for it yet (I'm surprised at myself).

It's smaller then it looks in this photo! I'm not a total glutton!

Forgive me my defensiveness. It's the guilt talking.

So anyway, I innocently flipped through my trusty copy of Joy of Cooking, and landed on page 1019 - Butterscotch Pudding. "The real thing," it says, "made with dark brown sugar cooked in butter." Oh my. This can't be good. In fact, it's so not good, I thought, that it will probably be extremely good. 

This stuff is... I don't know... glop from the gods. I can't really say it's nectar - wrong consistency - so glop will have to do.

Anyway, here's my version of the recipe. Trust me, you want it! Either that, or, if you're prone to weak-willpowered moments, maybe just pretend you never saw this.

Oh, and it's pretty dang easy, too. (Dammit!)

Butterscotch Pudding

Adapted from Joy of Cooking
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar or 1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar + 1 teaspoon molasses
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup 2 percent milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt plus a pinch more
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.
2. Stir in the brown sugar, keeping the pan on low heat, and cook, stirring, until the brown sugar is melted and bubbling.
   
   
   
3. Stir in 1/2 cup of the heavy cream, and stir until the brown sugar and butter are dissolved.
4. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup of the heavy cream, all of the milk, and the salt.
   
   
   
5. Remove from heat, and let cool until lukewarm.
6. Mix together the cornstarch and water, and pour it into the pudding mixture.
7. Reheat over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture starts to thicken.
   
   
   We're stirring, we're stirring...
    
8. Turn heat to low, stirring vigorously, and bring back to a simmer. It should be nice and thick!
   
   
   
9. Cook for about a minute more.
10. Remove from heat.
11. Stir in the vanilla. Yummy!
    
    
    
12. Pour into four cups or ramekins. I like this in our Fiestaware teacups.
13. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing directly in the surface if you want to avoid a skin. Me, I never thought pudding skins were all that bad. In fact, they're really kind of good. Is it okay to admit that?
    
    
    
14. Chill for a couple of hours (or up to a couple of days).
15. Add a dollop of whipped cream, and curse me for turning you on to this recipe. Ooh, except maybe I talked it up SO much that you're a little disappointed. In that case, you're welcome!

PS: My guy gives this three grunts up, his highest rating yet.

The Powder Room Redesign

It's hard to meld styles when you come from very different perspectives. You know, like male and female. Bachelor and bachelorette.

I came to the table with a major girly beach cottage/shabby chic thing going on, and my guy had a, shall we say, "bachelor chic" look happening. We decided we'd be better off starting over together, but it's slow going - and coming up with something we'll both love is a challenge! So far we've finished the guest bedroom (I'll share that soon!), and we're slowly getting closer to finishing the craft office.

And then... there's the powder room! And no, because I'm an idiot (sorry), I don't have a "before" picture. Just imagine white. Lots and lots of white.

Our place is a newer construction, and came with white White WHITE walls. I think we've decided on a fairly tame, light, bright color for the entire downstairs - kitchen, dining area, living room - a color called Churchill Hotel Ivory. It should be warmer than white, definitely not white, but not dark, either. 

I'm totally digressing. Anyway, we also have a powder room - or a "downstairs bathroom" as a few people call it (and those people also think I'm crazy for calling it a powder room, I think) - and being as that it's a far smaller and thus less daunting room, we thought this would be an easy, inexpensive, and quick project. And it was!

"Go bold!" Web sites and magazines proclaimed. "The powder room is the room where you can be the most dramatic!" My guy's mom suggested an accent wall. I liked that idea. The ideas (and the paint chips) percolated.

So we went bold and dramatic - at least, in contrast with the rest of the planned downstairs - with a chocolate color on the main wall (with the mirror, pedastal sink, toilet, etc.), and a warm gold on the others. Two shades darker than Churchill Hotel Ivory on the same paint chip is a shade called Carolina Inn Brass - that was our warm gold. Bam! It'll be all tied in.

And so we painted.

And we love it.

These white shelves are above the toilet. Can't let the poor men using the room look at a plain wall, after all! I guess I should consider adopting the term "downstairs bathroom." I just realized it feels kind of mean to make some of the more macho men out there use the delicate-sounding "powder room." (White shelves: Target, about $7 on sale.)

I think the shelves look terrific against the chocolate wall (Behr's Chocolate Sprinkle). Up until about a month ago, I loved picking flowers out of my garden (especially the green ones) to plop in a vase against that wall. I miss summer!

And the frame - a $3 Target clearance special (this is as close as I can find) - holds a photo of a sunset over the Puget Sound, a memento of the beachy cottage where I lived before moving here. It's got a super cool magnetic cover. I'm thinking I could swap photos out for various holidays, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

This "art," on the wall opposite the accent wall, is a photo my guy took when we were in Sonoma.

He took this particular picture of the vineyards at Ferrari Carano. May I just say that Sonoma, and particularly Dry Creek Valley, is a phenomenal place to take a vacation? I can't wait to go back. Anyway, I blew this great photo up to 8x10, and placed it in this thrift store frame - and now we've got perfect powder room art for under $10 - plus, it makes me feel good every time I see it. (Have I mentioned Sonoma rocks?)

I love this room now. I'll make a special trip and any excuse just to wash my hands. Is that weird? Please don't answer that.

I think the dining room is next - along with painting the rest of the downstairs. Woo hoo!

Oh, and here's Lizzie, who thinks she should be in every photo, so she plopped herself on the powder room rug and wouldn't leave.

Can you see the guilt on her face here? See that?! I'm pretty sure it's because she'd just... shall we say... tooted. Doggy tooted. Those of you with dogs know exactly what I'm talking about, and why there are no more photos in this very small, enclosed room. I love you Lizzie, but dang!

Gingerbread Pancakes

It's Friday! We're so close to the weekend, we can practically touch it. Not that it would be possible to physically touch a weekend. That's actually kind of weird.

But weekends rock, anyway. No more work for two whole days! No alarm clocks for two whole days! Two whole lazy mornings with lots of time for fun breakfasts!

How about some pancakes with a little holiday twist? Please don't fret, by "holiday" I only mean fall, harvest, Thanksgiving time.

That's not to say these wouldn't be perfect for Christmas time, too - especially with some red and green sprinkles.

Sorry! Sorry! I know it's early yet. I'm not ready either. Just pretend the sprinkles didn't happen.

Anyway, here's the recipe. Oh, and these are great with syrup, but we also love them with the harvest peach jam I made all the way back in August. Oh summer, I miss you.

But holiday time - and especially the weekends - are nice in their very own way, too.

Gingerbread Pancakes

Makes 7-8 four-inch pancakes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour plus 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or just use 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons dark molasses
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

1. Mix the dry ingredients - flours, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, and spices - together in a large bowl.
2. In a separate medium bowl, beat together the wet ingredients - milk, molasses, eggs, and vanilla. Helpful hint: Spray your measuring spoon with a quick hit of nonstick cooking spray before measuring out the molasses. It'll slip right out of the spoon, instead of clinging for dear life.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour the wet into the dry. Mix just until the wet and dry are incorporated. I know, awfully brown for pancake batter, isn't it? I love it.
   
   
   
4. Heat your griddle to 350 degrees (or medium heat). You know it's ready for pancakes when you sprinkle a drop of water on the surface and it jumps around.
5. Add some butter or nonstick cooking spray to your griddle to ensure the pancakes don't stick.
6. Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup (or 1/2 cup measuring cup for slightly bigger pancakes), pour scoops of batter onto the hot griddle.
7. They're ready to turn over when the sides start looking dry and bubbly, and you can easily slip your spatula underneath and see that they're getting brown.
8. Flip and cook the other side until brown.
   
   
   
9. I tend to flip them back over and cook 'em a little more on each side for good measure, but that's probably overkill.
10. Top with butter, syrup or jam, and (very important!) a dollop of whipped cream. Sprinkle a little cinnamon over all for a fancier (and yummier) look.

Jalapeno Ouch Rolls

Perfect for football game day or any day you're craving something easy with a little kick, Jalapeno Ouch Rolls were named by my cute guy after a particularly delicious burny bite (and a request to come up with a name).

Inspired by the jalapeno poppers everyone knows and loves, Jalapeno Ouch Rolls are similar to their popper cousins in that they're far from culinarily advanced, nor are they remotely healthy. They are junk food. But they are proof that several wrongs (Velveeta in particular) can, indeed, make a right.

You basically just stuff refrigerated crescent roll dough with cream cheese, Velveeta, and hot diced jalapeno peppers from a can, and bake. Serve with some hot jalapeno pepper jelly for an extra kick.

Two grunts up, the guys say, especially with an icy beer to cool the burn. (I agree.)

Jalapeno Ouch Rolls

Serves 3 - 4

Ingredients:

• One tube refrigerated crescent roll dough
• One can diced hot jalapeno peppers (you'll only use a few, but they keep refrigerated for a long time!)
• About a one-inch slice of Velveeta cheese
• 2 ounces (1/4 block) of cream cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut the cream cheese and Velveeta cheese into 8 chunks each.
3. Lay the crescent roll dough on a cutting board or another place you like to do this stuff, separating the dough into the eight pre-cut pieces as you go.
4. Place a chunk of the cream cheese and a chunk of the Velveeta in the middle of each roll piece, at the wide end.
5. Sprinkle about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of the diced jalapenos over the cheeses.
   
   
   
6. Roll the roll! Fold up the sides, kind of like a burrito...
   
   
   
7. And roll the dough all the way over, then pinch the ends to help seal in all the soon-to-be melty goodness.
   
   
   (I really really really want a nice SLR camera. Someday!)


8. Roll the rest of the way. You end up with sort of a fat, badly-shaped crescent roll. Do not expect to see greatness, here. They're not pretty. But that's okay! At least, that's what I had to tell myself, especially when I saw this picture.
   
   
   
9. Place on a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 11 - 13 minutes, until the rolls begin turning brown. One or two may have a little leakage, but don't worry about that, it's all good!
   
   
   
10. Let cool for at least 7 minutes. This is important - the insides are very melty and hot.
11. Remove from the cookie sheet and serve with jalapeno jelly. Trust me on the jelly - it totally seals the deal.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

I just love when two great things go great together. In this case: Chocolate and pumpkin.

Wonder Twin Powers, activate! Form of...

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread!

In this moist, tasty quick bread, the bite of the spices goes perfectly with the sweet creaminess of the chocolate. I highly recommend wrapping this up and saving it for a day before you eat it, so the flavors really develop. I know, I know, easier said than done.

Here's the recipe!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from the Joy of Cooking Pumpkin Bread recipe

Makes one large loaf in a 9 1/4" x 5 1/4 inch pan, or one loaf in a 8" x 4" pan plus a mini loaf (I like this route)

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin is fine, just don't use the canned pumpkin pie filling!)
• 1/3 milk (you can substitute water)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease your loaf pan(s) (I'm a Pam girl, usually)
2. Beat the butter until creamy (approx. 30 seconds).
3. Add the sugars, and beat 3 - 4 minutes until light and creamy.
4. Add eggs one at a time.
5. Add pumpkin puree, blending on low speed just until combined.
6. Mix the milk and vanilla together in a separate bowl.
7. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices over the pumpkin mixture.
8. Mix the flour and pumpkin mixtures together, gradually pouring in the milk and vanilla. Mix just until well blended, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
9. Stir in the chocolate chips.
   
   
10. Spread batter into pan(s).
    
    
    
    
11. Large loaves take about 60 minutes to bake. I find the mini loaves take about 45. I suggest starting the checking for little loaves at around 35. They're done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 
    
    
12. Enjoy!

(Packages very well for gifts, too!)

Thrift Store Finds for October

Thrift stores rock. Yes, they're usually pretty filthy. And yes, they smell terrible, absolutely. But I so totally don't care. I'm there to treasure hunt.

I wasn't able to make it too many in October, but here are my favorite finds from the couple of visits I did make.

Fantastic 70's clock

This thing is huge, and hugely awesome. I want to put a different clock in there, or a mirror, or something else, and spray paint the whole thing green. Or red. But probably green. $5!

 

Vaseline glass plates

Awesome in all their chartreuse lime green-ness, I wasn't completely sure these were truly vaseline glass, but a test under a black light was proof positive (they glow bright bright green if they're authentic, thanks to containing 2% uranium). I got a set of six for $10, and I have no idea where we will keep them or what we will use them for (we have plenty of our awesome new Fiestaware). I have a serious weakness for vintage glassware. Serious.

Little birdie egg cups

How cute are these? I'm thinking next Easter, I'll grow some grass out of some half eggshells, right in their heads. Goofy-haired birdie egg cups!

Weird liqueur bottle or vase that says "COD LIVER LIQUEUR." Umm, gross.

I got home and googled "Cod Liver Liqueur" and got no results. Now there will be one.

Regardless, it makes a cute vase in our beach-themed guest bedroom. The thing was like 50 cents.

Very tall cabinet 

Not only was this wonderful, solid piece of furniture only $20, it is a perfect excuse to hit Anthropologie for knobs! We'll fix this up and it'll probably live in the hallway. Not sure whether to repaint it white, just go with it and distress it further, or go with some other wacky color.

 

Little table

I love the brass (I guess that's brass) detailing around the edge. This guy is only probably two and a half feet tall, if that. A little clean-up and paint and something new with the top, and we've got a great little table for only $5.

Milk Glass Cups

I love the semi-opaque white of milk glass. These matching cups will work equally well as votive candle holders or little vases, and were only a buck each!

At least three future projects in this bunch - can't wait!

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto

Whoever named butternut squash was one smart cookie. Butter? Yum. Nut? Yum. Butter and nuts together? Yum yum.

Of course, butternut squash doesn't taste remotely nutty or buttery. In fact, it's just pretty squashy. But it is a delicious squash in its own right. 

Two of my favorite fall dishes are Butternut Squash Soup and Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto. We recently enjoyed the latter, and I thought you should have the recipe.

Because it's yummy.

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto

Serves about 6

Ingredients:

• One medium butternut squash, seeded, peeled, and cubed
• 1 tablespoon plus 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 16 oz. Arborio rice
• 4-5 cups vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups white wine
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese plus a little more for topping
•  Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Toss the cubed butternut squash on a cookie sheet with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
   
   Such a pretty color! I couldn't resist adding a touch of black pepper.
   
2. Roast at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, then turn. Roast for another 15-20 minutes until nice and soft, and some of the pieces are brownish.
   
   
3. Remove squash from the oven and set aside.
4. Add the 3 remaining tablespoons of olive oil to a roomy pan, and saute the onion on medium for 8 minutes or so, until it's soft and starts to become translucent
5. Toss in the rice and stir constantly for about five minutes. Make sure it's all coated with the oil.
6. (Steps 6 - 8 take 20-30 minutes.) Add the broth about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently. Each time the rice has absorbed the liquid, add the next 1/2 cup. Keep at a temperature where the broth is simmering, but not full-on boiling.
   
   
7. After the third cup of broth, add the wine 1/2 cup at a time.
8. Add one to two remaining cups of broth, again 1/2 cup at a time, until the rice is plump and creamy, and it won't absorb any more liquid.
9. Add the parmesan and the roasted butternut squash, and stir.
   
   
10. Cook for an additional five minutes or so.
11. Add black pepper to taste, and salt if necessary. Check first, though! Your veggie broth may have been plenty salty enough.
12. Scoop into serving dishes, and top with a little more parmesan.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes I just don't know what to do to express a sentiment, other than bake someone something.

In this case, a friend and coworker of mine is moving out of the state. I think it's going to be such a great thing for her and her family, but doggone it, I'm going to miss her!

So I made her these cookies. I know it doesn't even begin to show, well, much of anything, but I figured they may need some sustenance on their long drive to their new home, and if nothing else, I'm good for providing sustenance!

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from the Ocean Spray web site (they have lots of good looking cranberry recipes on there!)
Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup (six ounces) dried cranberries
• 2/3 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Beat butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy.
3. Add eggs and mix well.
4. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt over the butter mixture.
5. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined, then mix the oatmeal in until just mixed.
6. Mix in the cranberries and white chocolate chips.
   
   
   (Oh, apple green Kitchenaid mixer, I don't know how I lived without you.)
    
7. Drop spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until they start to brown.
   
   
   
9. Cool on a wire rack.