News from the Garden: Freezing okra for the winter

There's only so much okra I can eat.

I finally googled a method to freeze the gazillion okra (and other vegetables, for that matter) from the garden to save for the winter.

I know my future self will look in retrospect and thank me, especially when I return from Singapore with a whole bunch of sambal belachan to fry the okra in!


Method:

1. Wash and clean okra and separate them into two piles - younger pods (4 inches and under) and larger pods.

2. Carefully slice off the heads of each okra, taking care not to expose the seed cells on the inside.

3. Prepare a big pot of boiling water at the same time, so when you're done slicing off the heads you can place the okra in the boiling water immediately.

4. Start either with the younger pods, or the larger pods first. Blanch younger pods for about 3-4 minutes and larger pods 4-5 minutes.

5. After blanching, dunk okra in another pot of ice cold water to cool okra immediately. Apparently this prevents overcooking. I leave them in the cold water for about 5 minutes while I blanch the next group of okra pods.

6. Drain cooled off okra in a strainer.

7. When okra is sufficiently drained, I divide okra into meal-sized portions. I place these portions in a Food Saver bag and vacuum seal them.



Now J and I found a FoodSaver for real cheap at Goodwill. We bought the FoodSaver + FoodSaver bags for a grand total of $6.99! What a steal! And we'd seen them in the stores going for at least $100! Just buying a roll of FoodSaver bags cost about $10, so yea, it's definitely a steal!

But if you don't have a FoodSaver, you can the more common Zip Loc bags. It doesn't ensure a proper vacuum seal, but I guess it's the next best option.

Guess I'll be doing this with my zucchini and squash soon!

Crafting: Reconstructed pillow case dress / top

So i bought a set of two striped pillow cases from Goodwill one day, because I was going to attempt the Little Dresses for Africa charity, after procrastinating for such a long time. I first read it on Nana Glo's blog, Glo Sews and it seemed like such a simple project to attempt.

When i finally sat myself down to make the dress, i realized i didn't get any bias tape and I so wasn't in a mood to make them...

So I did a little free hand reconstruction on the pillow case to make myself a top instead!

I used a pattern for a ladies apron to cut out the neckline and armholes. When I cut the pieces out, they looked pretty promising as a mini dress, especially when I loved the stripes so!



Alas, when i sewed the shoulder and side seams together, and tentatively tried it on, I looked like I was wearing a feed sack! I was so amused I had to take a picture of myself in it!



So i took in some fabric at the armholes (too big!) and sewed three darts on the back and trimmed off the bottom to make it a long top, instead of a short dress. Much more presentable.



Here is another way I would somehow wear it.



And so, I present yet another one of my ghetto snip-and-sew RTW piece.




And oh yes! Only four more days left in the Spreading Good Cheer Giveaway for a turquoise necklace! So if you haven't checked it out, do so now! You might just be the lucky winner!

Day trip: International Collectibles & Antiques Show

Yay! Flea market time!

This weekend we headed down to the monthly Collectibles & Antiques Show held at the Metrolina Tradeshow Expo in Charlotte. I haven't been to a flea market in a while, and I had a few things to get on my list:

1) Floor lamp
2) Sewing supplies
3) Fabric

and anything else that may tickle our fancy.


We are FOREVER searching for the right floor lamp for our living room. Given that our furniture is more old-world charm, we refused to get one of those utilitarian ones from IKEA and the likes.

There were lamps aplenty at the expo, but none caught my eye. But i did luck out on these fabulous binding strips and decorative ribbon, and a sizeable stack of gingham fabric! I think I might make a gingham quilt with them!









And then we found some lovely whiskey glasses and beer mugs at a dollar apiece! Fun!


The next one is at the end of the month. If you're in the area, swing by the Metrolina Tradeshow Expo at:

7100 Statesville Road ~ Charlotte, North Carolina 28269

Thrifting: Prints for the home!

Source: design-seeds.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Our walls are looking a tad plain. I think it's about time to dress them up.
Found the above image on designseeds.com, which by the way is a great site for color palette inspirations, go check it out!

My living room walls are a shade of forest green like the first color in the palette above, and the craft room is a pebble gray like the 3rd color.

I was hunting out frames for some pictures/ paintings/photos i already own and found this set at Goodwill today.



I think I love them on the green walls! And I love the gardening theme too! We got a seed catalogue in the mail and they have some lovely full page photos of fruits and vegetables that I might want to cut out, mount and frame. I'm keeping a look out for pictures/photos of birds / mushrooms / plants for the house. Here are some on the wishlist!






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Thrifting: 3 dollar specials!

I went Goodwill Hunting awhile ago, and because we moved, there's a new Goodwill in this area that was waiting to be pillaged checked out...

Here's a bunch of $3 (or less, before taxes) items I scored over the two weeks since I moved in! I really don't think I will pay full price anymore. (Although that remains to be seen because I'm antsy to check out the new H&M in Singapore.)


From Goodwill,


Tiny skirt that flounces really prettily, and i can wear cute tights under. Love the prints too!


Dress that I squeezed into and found in the kids' section. The elastic waistband cinches so tight it is hard to get into, but once that's done, it sits nicely on my frame. I guess having not much of a chest works. Sometimes.




A hat I found randomly stashed in the women's slacks section. And a few different expressions I think I can manage. Sorry for the cam-whoring. I actually don't do this very often, but I was packing my luggage and drinking coffee at the same time.


A very big but retro looking top that I thought I could pull off as an off shoulder thing. I'll be pairing it off with my jeans and some boots, but that's kinda like my staple getup, nothing too crazy!


A plum colored maxi skirt that was maybe four sizes too big, but before i fix the problem, i'm making do with belts. And it was the prints that sold me! Reminds me of the shoot-the-aliens games in the early Microsoft computer days. OMG, i think that just inadvertently revealed my age.


Two very new belts @ $0.99 apiece! SSSSSCORE!!!! And the dark blue (it looks black in the picture) matches very well with most of my dark colored outfits. And the yellow is just fun!! I'm in love with skinny belts at the mo'.


Speaking of widths. My eye caught sight of this wide elastic belt with a big bow in the middle. There has to be a name for belts like this one, but I'm fashion-technical-term un-savvy like that. So sue me.


And because it's getting colder, i spotted this lilac knitted sweater in just the right size, and spun from the prettiest yarn.

From another trip to Target.


A cute little clutch purse on sale for $3!

And they say, all good things come in 3s!!

Anyone else has got good thrifts to share?

Crafting: Halloween goodies and the Wonders of the Dollar Store!

Source: lilsugar.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Source: crafteecrafters.blogspot.com via chuiying on Pinterest

I wanted to give out some Halloween goodies this year for my friends at work. But i am useless in the kitchen and at baking. So the simple candy crafts will have to do to! And I found these simple ideas on Pinterest! Too cute!

So i went to the Dollar Store and got some:

1) Lollipops and mints
2) White and black plastic table coverings
3) Fuzzy pipecleaners
4) Googly eyes
5) Glue gun

A $5 dollar craft? Hell, yeah!


Cut out squares of plastic table covering. For the spiders i cut out 3"x3" squares, and for the ghosts i cut out 6"x6" squares, and cut all my pipecleaners half in length.



Wrap the plastic squares around the lollipops like so.



I don't even tape them up, I just wrap them tight with the pipecleaners. I use white for the ghosts, and 3 black half-lengths for the spider legs. I made a spider with 8 legs, but it looked too cluttered. The spider looked better with 6 legs, so maybe I'm just going to call them ants.



Use a sharpie to draw on features for the ghosts.

Voila, spiders and ghosts all done!

But waitaminute! There's more! I'd seen these mints at the dollar store and thought if i added some googly eyes on them, maybe i can turn them into bloodshot eyeball candies? So i whipped out my glue gun and stuck eyes on the mints. I'm going to add a sign that says "Have a ball!" *sniggers*



You guys have a ball this weekend! Happy Halloween!!!

Thrifting: Martha's Vineyard Community Yard Sale

In case we decided to go on a shopping spree, we limited our yard sale budget to $20.

We spent every dime of it, but in return we got


Another fabric stash! *YAY*


Hitachi Rice cooker!

And a juicer that i forgot to take a picture of.
Oh! And the Chime-o-Matic Rice Cooker makes a sound *diiing!* when it's ready! Too cute! I love it!

Butwe both got everything we needed, so money well spent!

Thrifting: Goodwill Hunting 2 (Fabric Hoarding)

This post is long overdue, but i never found the time to sit down and take pictures of my finds. But now, here they are:




Airplane fabric! A great fabric for making a kid's backpack (ha! as if i know how) or cute zippered pencil cases! I bought this fabric because i have something similar


I bought this off Etsy. Someday, i will know what to do with them... You clever people got any suggestions?


The label says 100% polyester, and i'm thinking it was a shower curtain before. It has a slight coat of water proofing texture to it. Very tricky to cut, took me insane number of minutes trying to cut a square 20" by 20" for my gardening apron project. But it turned out so lovely.


My favourite! *nostalgic* So excited when i spotted this. Maybe i can make another apron with this material, this time for kids, like a painting smock. What do you think?

Thrifting: Goodwill Hunting

I persuaded the J-man to take me to Goodwill one Monday. I had wanted to go to the one nearest our home, but J surprised me by taking me to a bigger store in Mooresville. Well actually, he had also wanted to go to this Indian restaurant, Mint for lunch, which was why he so graciously suggested the Goodwill around the corner. And I'm not complaining!

For $25,

HER:


2 comfy pairs of jeans


1 lovely floral skirt to twirl around in

HIM:





2 hilarious tees (love the forrest gump quote)

US:


3 hardback classics


SCORE!


Goodwill
214 Williamson Road
Mooresville, NC 28117
(704) 696-0033

And apparently the Goodwill in Cornelius is EVEN better! *hyperventilates*

Happy Earth Day!

Here are some ways to love our Mother Earth!

In addition to reusing egg cartons, try fruit peels! So cute!



Via Readymade

Buy handmade!



This lady lives in NC and is living the life I aspire towards! She is planning to start an organic farm, and has an etsy store making handmade soap that are beautifully packaged! Check out her Etsy store Belle Terre

Shop 2nd hand!

Use yard sales, flea markets and thrift stores as a shopping haven to redecorate your house. You don't have to pay loads to have a stylish pad!



Paul's Artistically Scavenged Apartment via Apartment Therapy


Unplug electrical appliances when not in use. Did you know that power is still consumed when your electronics are plugged in even though they are turned off?

Line dry your clothes instead of using the dryer! We've hung up a line at our workplace to dry the water table aprons, instead of using the dryer, especially now that the weather is so nice and warm!

Take public transportation or ride a bicycle if possible! Leave your car at home!

Spend your money on companies and products that work towards sustainability.

And that is also why I've taken the pledge. Please do it today too!

Do you have good ideas to go green?