Most Amazing Orzo Salad

I had this Orzo Salad a few times at my friend's parties so when I was having a girlfriend over for dinner I asked him for the recipe. I have to share this link to the best Orzo salad you will ever have. I paired it with salmon in a lime butter sauce and some sugar snap peas. It was a perfect, fresh summer supper.

http://www.bakespace.com/recipes/detail/Orzo-Salad---Giada-De-Laurentis/22793/

Fresh Cut Flowers

I just love cutting some fresh flowers in my garden and putting them in a pretty vase. Here are a couple of examples of arrangements I created.

With a wood stemmed flower is best to mash the ends of the cut stem. This helps the flower to absorb water more efficiently. Adding a teaspoon of sugar will also help the flowers to keep longer.

Last Minute Gift Bag

I am getting ready to go to a play date with my son this morning and I wanted to bring some of the jam that I made as a little gift for the hostess. I created this quaint gift bag from some brown paper lunch bags.

To dress the jam jar I used a 4'x4' square of yellow gingham and used a pinking shears to finish the edges.

I layered two brown paper sandwich bags because double-bagging makes it look more substantial and you get less wrinkles as you work with the bag. I had some bright pink ribbon in my sewing store and I used the shears to trim the edge of the bag and ribbon. I pulled the ribbon through and fold the bag down.

I really like the contrast of the brown paper and bright ribbon, hopefully my lovely hostess does too!

Bathroom Makeover

The other day I noticed that a tile was loose on our bathroom floor. I have to be honest, I don't like our bathroom decor. The tile is old and brown and although we replaced the sink, vanity and toilet, the tile and bath remain. So, when I saw that a tile was coming loose I may have helped it along......slightly. Imagine my delight when I discovered the original 1946 tile that was underneath!

So, I continued on and it started to look promising. Ignoring my intuition that it was crazy to do this, I imagined a pristine black and white tile floor with a retro feel. My newly renovated bathroom would be so cool! But, it wasn't long before I hit a snag....

When I came across the 1 inch gap that is between the edge of the wall and the floor I knew that I was in trouble.

A trip to Home Depot and a discussion with a very nice lady confirmed I have bitten off far more than I can chew. Levelling, a new base floor, grouting???? Why don't they just have stick on tiles?

So now half my floor is up and my options are fading. I bought two samples of plastic adhesive tiles which is far from my original vision. However, I have now decided to paint over the old wall tile and to paint the wall too. I have two weeks to complete this project so I will keep updating!

Homemade Blackberry Jam

Making Blackberry Jam (without a canner, without sugar and without enough blackberries)

Almost four years ago my Dad planted a blackberry bush in our backyard. This summer brought a bumper crop of blackberries so I need to come up with different ways of using them. My first try was to make some blackberry jam. Here is a little how-to for the improvisers among us. Eat your heart out Bonne Mamon. I plan to give a couple of these away as gifts - there is only so much jam one girl can eat!

1. You really need about 3 pints of fruit for the recipe I used. I had 6 cups of blackberries from our garden but you need to mush up the fruit and then have at least 3 cups as a result. My 6 cups of blackberries were not enough so I had to improvise and added a pint of blueberries that I had in my fridge.


2. I don't have a canner so I boiled the jars in a big pot to sterilize them.

3. I put the mushed fruit and 3/4 cup of water in a medium pot. I wasn't sure which brand of pectin to buy at the store but ended up with SURE-JELL Lower Sugar. This means you can use Splenda in your recipe. I added the whole packet gradually to the fruit.

4. I then brought it to a rolling boil (doesn't stop boiling even when stirred). I kept it boiling for 1 minute and then removed it from heat.

5. Only then do you add the Splenda (1/2 cup)......and your done! Almost.



6. I poured the jam into four jars I had. I don't have a canner but the canning instructions said to put the filled jars back into the canner and boil for 10 mins ensuring that there is 1-2 inches of water above the jar. I figured I could do this in my large pot.

7. To experiment I only boiled 2 jars and put the other two in the fridge. The test to see if the jar has been sealed is to press the top with your finger and see if the metal pops back. Amazingly it seems to have worked. The two in the fridge pop back but the ones I boiled do not. Presumably this means they will keep much longer....or poison the people I gift them to......

I would love to know if anyone that reads this post tries to make the jam or maybe comes up with some cool ways to decorate the jars.