Poor Man's Hummus Recipe

Poor Man's Hummus...now, you might ask, why does it have such a name?
Well. I will tell you. I substitute the tahini with cumin!!
And let me also tell you, I don't really miss it.
You also make twice the amount that you would normally buy, only for a fraction of the price!
Great for entertaining on a budget.
Count me in!

Poor Man's Hummus Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 can Chickpeas/garbonzo beans (whatever you call them works for me.)
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp cumin
  
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper
• about a cup of water, give or take
  
• **I also put in a bit of mixed herb goat cheese this time around because I had it in the fridge, but I normally wouldn't add this.
  

Additional Supplies:

• Blender
• A teasoon.
  

Directions:

1. Drain one can of ready to serve chickpeas/garbonzo beans. Put them into your blender.
2. Plop 3 to 4 peeled and diced cloves of garlic into the blender, along with cumin, slat, pepper, and enough water for it to blend up. Usually around 1 cup of water, give or take, will do.
3. Once it is blended to the consistency you prefer, top it with a dash of cumin and pepper.
4. Done!
   

Yay J! / Guest / April House Show Preview

Firstly, Jason's music project, el-tin fun, was featured in The Isthmus this week. I am so proud of him for all of his hard work.
Click here to read the article.

Secondly, J and I have been blessed to have the company of an old friend of his from Oklahoma the past few days. It has been really lovely having another body in our home. I mean, it's not rare for us to have guests for the night since we host shows in our home for people far from home, but living with another person few a few days, for just a taste is divine.

And next week my sister and her boyfriend will be joining us. Hopefully we won't kill each other or light the house on fire.


If we did, then we couldn't have this show.....

I'm creatively alive....I promise.

Lately I've been feeling like I have been updating about my life more than my crafting life, mainly because my day-to-daylife has had a sudden surge of change within the past few weeks.
But!
I'm still trying to get my creativity flowing, I swear.

A little of this.

A little of that.

Just letting you know I'm not dead.

The first day.

Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Today was my first day of student teaching. It was a lot of fun, and I'm really happy to be heading down this road. It feels natural.


Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

In the future, I won't have to spend $500 everytime I have an asthma attack.

Dear President Obama,

1. Thank you.
   
2. Let the haters hate. They probably have health insurance.
   

Love,
Connie

Girls Rock! Madison!

This summer Madison is starting it's first Rock and Roll Camp for Girls.

Girls Rock Camp -- Madison.

I'm so totally pumped to be a part of it!

Take in your top!! tutorial

Have you ever been thrifting and stumbled upon a shirt you would love to buy, but it's way to big?
Me too. This will never be a problem for you again, because you are about to learn that size doesn't matter!
Here is how you can fix the problem in 1o mins or less!
And you can do it on just about any kind of top.
Sweaters, t-shrts, cardigans, whatever!

Take in your Top! Tutorial

Materials:

• Oversized shirt
• Needle and thread
• Sewing machine (optional)
• Pins (optional)

Tutorial:

1.) Put on your shirt, inside-out. (Jason's is not inside-out, but we will forgive him. Mostly forgive me because I forgot to tell him to do so.)
2.) Measure the amount needed to be taken in with your fingers. Make sure that you do both sides. (ex: 2 inches on both sides to take in 4 inches.)

3.) Remove your shirt (make sure it's still inside-out) and measure with your fingers where you will need to sew. If you would like, you can place pins where you will need to sew. Begin to hand or machine sew.

4.) Try it on and repeat the process if you feel your shirt needs to be resized again.

In other news: Jason shaved his beard off today and I don't even KNOW him anymore! What is happening to my life?!

Traditional Irish Drinking Songs.

It's no secret that I like folk music. Real folk music.
St. Patrick's day is the one day of the year full of amazing traditional folk music everywhere you go. Amazing.
Here are my favorite Traditional Irish Drinking Songs:

The Wild Rover

Paddy on the Railway

Whiskey in the Jar

March House Show

We ate.
We laughed.
We listened.

Billy Mack Collector

Slow Loris

el-tin fun



Coney Island


Let's take a quick moment to say that the forever-wonderful Matt Ando was there all the way from the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania as an added bonus!!
....JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT!!

When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, L-U-V!

March House Show Preview!

Tonight!

My place!

Be there!

Monday Knitting Circle @ Indie Coffee

New Monday Night Knitting Circle at Indie Coffee from 6-8PM!
Starts tonight!

The Knifty Knitter. = The Bane of My Existance.

I'm not a snob about anything, really....except knitting.
I don't care if you use acrylic or only alpaca wool yarn.
I don't care if you are a life-long scarf knitter or if you knit sweaters in a day, as long as you do it the right way....with needles.


But when I see the Knifty Knitter, this is what goes off in my head:

"____________!"

Flashback Friday

Sarah was the best friend in high school. We met during my sophomore and her freshman year of high school through our mutual friend, Carolina.
She never sang in chorus class, she never wore pants, and she ate pineapple even though she was allergic to it.
She was my partner in crime for three years of my life.

She helped me get to know my button press, and I taught her how to knit.
I cut her hair and she cut mine.
We were as thick as the soles on a pair of Chucks, basically.
But like the black rubber ring that's attached to the sole of my favorite sneakers, things eventually fell apart.
I left for college, she became more serious with her steady beau, and we drifted.
I mourned the loss of our friendship for years.


I found out that Sarah died the day before I left for my first tour. Her boyfriend, Mark, came to my parents house while I was packing, to tell me. It wasn't until I was on the road that it hit me that it was real, and it wasn't until I returned home that I came to terms with the fact that she was actually gone.
I've been so blessed to have warm friendships with beautiful, lovely people, but none of them have ever been like Sarah, and I don't think that any other could ever be like Sarah.
She was such a redwood.

Things are happening.

This is the calm before the storm...

...and boy, does the calm feel good.




In other news, I taught the little one how to spell "Cat" and "Dog" today.
And we're about to get some pie with our friends, Stephen and Colleen.

So yeah, things are happening.

February House Show!!

We were joined by the sweet and ever-endearing, Bisonheart and Hearth on their spring break tour on Saturday night!!
We ate breakfast at 7PM!
We drank Italian Soda and giggled like kids!
We sang and clapped along to a Bruce Springsteen cover song (swoon!!)

Mostly, we just had tons of fun!

Bisonheart

HEARTH


And I even played a little....
Coney IslandI also did a duet with my ultra-cute and talented friend, Liz Singer. ^^
What a fitting last name, eh?