Eating at The Owlery

Hello to all my visitors from Kelly's Korner!  I guess I should start by explaining why our home is called The Owlery.  We actually live in a duplex, but it feels much more like a cottage:  you cross a wooden bridge to enter the top floor, the bridge and the trees around the bridge are covered in ivy, and there are three owl decoys on the side of our chimney watching over our house.  We felt The Owlery was a very whimsical, fun name--something out of Harry Potter, if you will--and so it stuck!

I LOVE our kitchen.  It is easily my favorite (or one of my favorite) part(s) in our home.  I spend a lot of time here.  (Zach's isn't much for cooking though he will help me.)  Some of my favorite things to cook include chicken pot pie with lots of veggies; cobbler; French toast; roast beef; red, white, and black bean chili; and Cadbury chip brown sugar cookies.  Right now, as I recover from my most recent Crohn's flare-up/surgeries, I am trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies into our diets by trying ones I have never had or liked, or cooking old stand-by's in new ways.  Enjoy a look around the heart of our home!

 We seriously have three or four times the amount of counter and cabinet space we had in our first apartment, which was a teeny-tiny three-room apartment in a dorm.  (Yes, a dorm!)

 looking into our dining area

 looking into the kitchen from the other side of the living room

I forgot to show that wreath last week; it's faux lavender and was on clearance several years ago at Target, where I buy a ton of stuff!

 Our table is an antique Duncan Phyfe dining table!  A couple from Zach's parents' church gave it to us when we got married because they were switching from two residences to one. It needs to be refinished, but it is just beautiful.  It seats six, but we keep one chair in our bedroom for sitting.  I love imagining all of the different meals shared at this table and all of the different people who have sat down at it.  Zach's Momo made the lace tablecloth several years ago and gave it to me for my birthday.  The vase in center was made by Zach's mom who is very into pottery.  All of the birdy items were gifts from my birthday week that Zach's mom organized this year since I was recovering from surgery during that time, and the ironwork napkin holder was a wedding gift (I don't remember from whom.)  The rug, which you really can't see, was purchased with wedding gift money.  And I'm a new seamstress!  Zach got me this sewing machine for Christmas last year!

 the original needlework on the dining chairs

We wish we had the money to restore them to their former glory, but we can't right now.  We are planning to cover them with some fabric to protect the needlework and better match our decor at some point.

 I keep cookbooks, photo albums, yearbooks, photo boxes, picture frames, and scrapbook clutter on this shelf.  It needs to be better organized.  Our Willow Tree collection that we received from my mama, Grandma Byrd, and aunts on my dad's side are on top of the shelf along with a decanter that has been in my family forever.  The Alice in Wonderland bag was a birthday gift from my friend Katie; I used it in grad school, but now it holds fabric scraps.

 This china cabinet belonged to one of Zach's great aunts and was given to us by his parents to use since they weren't using it.  It holds my teapot collection, including our Alice in Wonderland collection.  (Alice was one of the first books Zach and I bonded over when we met, and we had a Wonderland-themed wedding.)  The horse paintings were Zach's uncle's; he passed away before I met Zach.  :(  On top are some plants from my mom, a set of candleholders that were left in our first apartment, and the tiered serving dish that was a wedding gift from some ladies at Zach's parents' church.  Our kitties sleep on the ottoman to the right; we store coupons in the basket.

Oh, and our chandelier can be dimmed, so we have MOOD lighting!

 The barstools were a gift from my mama; I need to redo the cushions because they don't fit.  Do you see our vintage microwave?  This was Zach's Gigi's many moons ago that was passed to his parents and then to us because ours went out...and we would rather use an old one than buy a new one.  That is an Entergy sticker on the front; Zach's dad works for them, and I am guessing he took this to work at one time.  The cookbook holder on top actually came from one of my professors who teaches Women's Lit.  (Oh, the irony!)

Our counter is a little cluttered right now because I had to hand wash some dishes and we are eating our way through that tin of cookies and container of homemade 7-UP biscuits!  (We should put the chips away so I don't see them...and thus eat them!)  I love the brown ironwork Love-Hope-Dream plaques by the cabinet.

And yes, our bottle of brandy has a sweater on...

 our lovely stove, my KitchenAid mixer, LEGO timer and shakers, new toaster (Zach killed ours by trying to make a grilled cheese in it--don't believe everything on Pinterest), the fruit bowl made my his mom, and a lovely candle from my friend Emily

 our vintage fridge with invitations, "Thank You" notes, announcements, fun photos of family and friends, menus and coupons, and lots of LEGO and bottle cap magnets

 This is a peek into our laundry room.  I used that memo board when I lived at home and when I lived in college to hold photos of friends; now I use it to hold a few photos along with cards and invitations and recipe cards as well as a picture with my cooking idol, Linda Adams!  (She is Zach's dad's cousin and used to do cooking segments on local TV stations when I was growing up, and I always watched her, and my mama had her cookbooks.  She is an Arkansas gem and so sweet.  I couldn't BELIEVE it when I found out I was now related to her after we got married!  She sent me one of her cookbooks that is out of print as a wedding present.)

I am especially proud of the collage I am putting together above our trash and recycling cans.  I was frustrated by the thermostat because you couldn't hang anything above or below it without it being too high or low respectively or without the thermostat looking awkward in the middle.  I found the idea for the frame around it on Pinterest and did it back in the fall before I was getting really sick.  I did the yarn "P" right after I had my first surgery.  I found the black frame at Hobby Lobby on clearance; it had an "American's Heros" mat in it--it was military-themed--so I removed it and mounted this picture that I love of us from our first married Valentine's Day on scrapbook paper.  We finally added these two pieces this week.  I can't wait to finish it!

I hope you enjoyed a further peek into our home!  Sorry I am so long-winded and kudos to you if you made it this far.  :)  See you soon!

Menu Monday: SEASHELL SHORTBREAD COOKIES (and LOTS of pictures!)

Last month my sister-in-law Erin and her boyfriend of one year Josh got married on the beach in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was a beautiful wedding, and I was asked to be her matron-of-honor. When we were in Kansas City for my birthday at the beginning of May, I found some sand dollar and starfish cookie cutters at Sur La Table, and she asked me to pick them up. They were looking to serve finger foods, and I had suggested that perhaps they could give cookies as party favors. Later Erin asked me to make some cookies for the reception itself:

Rather than worry about icing melting in the heat or cracking on the drive down, I decided to dye the cookie dough itself. I used a family sugar cookie recipe from Linda Adams. Maybe you Arkansans remember her from Arkansas Today with Beth Ward and B. J. Sams? Anyway, she is a cousin of my father-in-law, and she released two cookbooks in the 1990s. We tried out her recipe at Christmas after our cookies the year before failed. They worked well, but I used icing on them, so they were sweeter. Unfortunately (in my opinion) these needed a bit more sweetness, and they were also rather cakey. I imagine that is because they were so thick and large I couldn't bake them for too long at once without browning them to bits. Zach liked them perfectly well, but I would have liked to approve on the recipe (which I did for my cousin's shower).

I used brown sugar as beach sand. It was sooo cute!

Here I am walking with the Best Man, Josh's son Sayer, who also happens to be our nephew now. Not everyone can say they almost carried their escort down the aisle!

my father-in-law Bobby escorting his baby girl

the wedding party and the presentation of the bride

Josh and Erin during the ceremony cousin Santa Alan performed

(He married us, too!)

The Dotson Family :)

Erin and her bridesmaids: Whitney, Genis (our former boss ;), and me

The Pharr Side of the family

an epic photo of the bride and groom

When I made the cookies for their wedding and posted them on facebook, my cousin Erin's best friend Laken saw them while she was in the middle of a movie and texted Erin about them. Erin's little sister Kristen is expecting a baby boy in August, and she is naming him Zachary. Confused now? *lol* Anyway, they were throwing Kristen a beach baby bash, and they asked me to make some more SEASHELL COOKIES. I still had some sugar cookies in the freezer, so I pulled those out, baked them for a bit until they were crunchier, and added a slight glaze of lemon juice and powdered sugar (and pearl dust) to make them sweeter. They were quite improved. :)

I also made some SEASHELL SHORTBREAD COOKIES, a recipe I used for New Year's Eve when Brian and Whitney visited. For that occasion, I added some caramel icing for a little pizazz. They were AWESOME with or without the icing. Fortunately for me, the recipe comes in two versions, almond and vanilla. This time I tried the vanilla, which uses brown sugar in place of regular granulated sugar.

-Start with 3/4 cup of softened butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar.

-Combine until creamy.

-Add 1 and 3/4 cup all-purpose flour.

-Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until well blended. If the mixture is crumbly, add one or two more Tbsp. of butter to cause the form to stick to itself.

-Divide the dough evenly among separate bowls based on how many colors you are creating. (I was making four colors of cookies, so I used four bowls.) To make the cookies extra bright, add several drops of food coloring and mix until desired color is reached. It was much harder to do this with the sugar cookie dough because it was so thick and I used gel coloring rather than liquid. Do what is easiest for you. (I don't recommend using your KitchenAid or equivalent because you will have to clean it between colors, and I imagine it could dye your mixing paddle.)

-Once your dough is dyed, cover the counter with wax paper and flour. Also flour your rolling pin well, and roll your dough across the surface to pick up some flour. (I also sprinkle a bit on the dough.)

-Flour, flour, FLOUR EVERYTHING! I keep a plate next to my floured surface with flour in which I dip the cookie cutters between cutting and the spatula between moving the cut cookies to the cookie sheet. It's also import to use a metal spatula because plastic ones typically end up bunching or distorting the dough either on the surface, on the spatula, or on the cookie sheet.

-For cut cookies, roll the dough out about 1/4-inch thin and use a cookie cutter dipped in flour to cut out shapes. Use your metal spatula to transfer cut dough to an ungreased cookie sheet. (The recipe upon which I based my directions said to roll them out 1/2-inch thick and bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees. But the recipe also stated it produced two dozen cookies, but I haven't found that to be so when they are rolled 1/2-inch thick.)

-Bake for 6-8 minutes at 375 degrees. WATCH THEM CLOSELY. It may take more or less time depended on your oven. Smaller cookies take less time, larger more. They burn quickly, so be constant. (I browned my first batch a bit much, which is part of the reason I pulled the leftover sugar cookies out of the oven because I didn't think I would have time to make more.)

-Cool them on wire racks. I mixed some Wilton pearl dust with lemon juice--you can also use a clear alcohol like vodka or rum--and painted the cookies for some shine. I used gold on the starfish and silver with white on the sand dollars. (When I made these for Erin's wedding, I didn't realize how much pearl dust it took to make the cookies shine, so I ended up pasting it on--and using a WHOLE bottle of gold before I realized that a little goes a long way with lots of lemon juice. *lol*)

YOU'RE DONE!!!

I had a blast seeing so many of my relatives and friends at Kristen's shower. I know she is going to be the cutest little mama, and it just cracks me up she is naming her baby Zachary. Good choice, eh? Here are some pictures from the day:

my SEASHELL SHORTBREAD and sugar cookies in the "sand"

the cake with peanut butter filling Laken stayed up until 5 a.m. making

(She used brown sugar as sand, too. :)

Grandpa and Grandma Byrd's tiki deck where the shower was supposed to take place

It was far too hot, so they moved it inside. I think we were all thankful, and the interior was just as cute as the exterior. :)

It is so weird that my Aunt Donna and Uncle Ronnie are now Grandma and Grandpa Byrd. WEIRD.

See? I told you it was CUTE! And look at those yummy fruit kabobs in the watermelon. My cuz-cuz Erin is so talented when it comes to party-planning. She helping with our wedding and reception and has thrown numerous parties, showers, and weddings/receptions over the years. They are always FABULOUS!

Kristen holding the present my mama (her Aunt Gracie), Zach, and I got her

I used ribbon from our wedding and was proud of how it looked. :) She was blessed with so many cute things for her baby boy Zach. He is going to be well-dressed! (We, however, wanted to make sure he was well-fed, so we got bowls, cups, and spoons. *haha*)

Byrds of a feather flock together!

with Rosey Posey, one of my former roomies

She (Ro-Ro), Erin (Er-Er), our friend Emily (Em-Em), and I (Ash-Ash) lived together for two years and came up with a (not so) secret sorority. *lol*

Rose said we are now Omicron alums and shouldn't do these things in public anymore. We definitely got the attention of EVERYONE in the room!!!

a sweet picture of the OOO's (We missed Em-Em, though!)

cousins :)

Sweets for the Sweet, OR How Baking Taught Me to Love Christmas

Until Zach and I celebrated our first Christmas together, I used to loathe the holiday. That's not to say I didn't look forward to Christmas: I love the lights and decorated trees, music and treats, Santa and the Nativity, peace on earth and goodwill toward men. But when the day arrived, I was left feeling glum and sad and lonely. I would be dying to get outside...but everything would be closed. Except for Walgreen's. I remember buying a two-liter of Coca-Cola there one Christmas Day Eve. The place was packed.

This is not to say I never had a happy, blessed holiday before a few years ago. I have had many a season of joy with family and friends in the twenty-five Christmases I have celebrated. But Christmas Day always came as a disappointment. I suppose I felt that way because there was too much pressure leading up to the day. I know that several brides suffer a period of depression following their weddings, so I suppose the Christmas Blues is somehow akin to that effect. When you start hearing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and seeing It's A Wonderful Life weeks (or months) before, you start to feel overwhelmed. (By the way, we're actually watching that film now. It's so sweet. ;) Just like Clark Griswold, I wanted a fun, old-fashioned, family Christmas (as pictured on a vintage postcard because I have a thing for vintage decorations). Then everything would seem to go wrong.

In reality, my Christmases were normal--full of ups and downs. One year we were iced in, and another I reveled in the snow. Four years ago I got locked in the bathroom at my aunt's house and cried while her neighbor busted the lock. In high school, I spent the day with Stephanie's family, and I climbed Pinnacle Mountain in a skirt and wedges as far as I could go, which wasn't very far because I am not athletic and somewhat afraid of heights. When I was in elementary school, I received a baby doll from Santa I still have at my mama's house.

But I would have a picture in my mind of how things were supposed to go, and it never quite met my expectations. So I wrote off Christmas.

Over the past few years, I've learned to let a lot of things go, though it is a constant struggle for me. I'm a idealistic perfectionist--or a perfectionist idealist--who always plans too much and never delegates tasks and has control issues. (I'm a joy to live with. Seriously.) For example, we are supposed to have a special meal, drink cocoa while watching all of the cartoon specials, exchange presents, build our Lego Winter Bakery, make this year's ornament, and attend a service on Christmas Eve. After we drop off some more goodies all over NWA. And we. will. do. it. I promise. Last year I remember having a minor meltdown over "Our First Christmas" ornament, but, looking at it this minute, I can say it turned out beautifully. Before Thanksgiving, I made a Christmas collage of photos from our past two Christmases together that showcases the fun and destruction we had decorating our tree, making a gingerbread house after the holidays were over, and baking bad cookies. Even though things were not perfect, I have picture-perfect memories (and some damn good photos, too).

This year, I had a meltdown over our sugar cookies. Again. For the second year in a row. I don't know if it's because the cookie cutters' nooks and crannies are just that, nooks and crannies, or that we always seem to use the wrong kind of sugar cookie...but we can never seem to get our A Christmas Story cookie cutters to work properly.

But this time, after squealing about the dough tearing and sticking to my fingers, I took a breath, laughed..and shook my flour-and-cookie-coated hands at Zach.

For your viewing pleasure:

This sugar cookie dough sat in the fridge overnight, and, as it was Linda Adams' recipe, I felt confident in it. Upon rolling it out, it seemed to live up to my expectations...

...and then tearing and sticking began.
This is a reenactment of me having a meltdown.

I finally had to admit the cookie cutters were not going to work. But I improvised, and rolled the dough into ornament balls. :)

Zach helps. When we cook together at Christmas, I let him wear this apron, and I wear my everyday floral one. The rest of the time I don it!

traditional cookie-baking photo

Zach helped to frost some of the backgrounds and then he went to bed.
I really need to get some red and green gel food coloring. The usual bottles in the baking aisle creates these pastel shades of Christmas, which was part of my childhood baking. But I have become a more advanced decorator. Part of my problem lied in the fact I used most of the red food coloring in my dark velvet bites. When I ran out while dying the buttercream frosting, I tried to add neon purple and neon blue to darken it, but those colors only turned the icing a violet shade. So I had to add neon pink to make it into a "dusty rose." I think it turned out pretty after all. ;)

I decided to try to incorporate the A Christmas Story cookie cutters somehow. The result: deranged icing images of the infamous leg lamp, bunny suit, turkey (or Peking duck), and the family's house. (That last one is kind of lame.)

They also included a star cookie cutter, which is also lame and the only one that comes close to working.

After baking all day, I needed a glass of wine. However, I stayed so busy decorating what I baked, I didn't drink it!

red rosebuds livened things up

The next day I packaged everything, which spelled another L-O-N-G day in the kitchen.

goodies, goodies everywhere, and only a star to eat:

(This is the sugar cookie I saved for myself. Zach got the house.)

Our microwave does not glow like that, although, by this time, I was so worn out that it probably looked as if a nuclear bomb had gone off.

My homemade peppermint marshmallows were a smash hit!

wrapping up a dark velvet bite

dark velvet bites--Zach's office loved them!

Thursday I baked, and Friday I wrapped up the goodies. And I spent a good chunk of Friday morning making tags to attach to the sweets. I even used the Frosty font I have! It's so wintry. :) As a page designer, I tweaked it until it was just so. Then I went to print it on Zach's computer. Guess who doesn't have the Frosty font? Yep. Zach (well, his computer doesn't). So I spent another good hour or so redesigning my tag. I couldn't include what we actually sent on here because it is a .doc file, not a .jpg one. So I copied the text into Photoshop and saved it as a .jpg to give you an idea. There was a little love note from Hobie, Zach, and I after the marshmallows' listing...along with a warning from Santa, or a disclaimer from me. This is also missing the candy cane border I used, but, since I printed them on green paper, I had to make the background green at least. C'est la vie.

Tonight I burned out the motor in the mixer making cookies, and we started another holiday movie we didn't finish, and Zach is only starting to wrap his presents. There is a chance for frozen precipitation tomorrow, which means we may not be able to get out after all. What-e-ver will we do?! ;)

What kind of Christmas goodies do you and your family make each year?
Did you try anything new in 2010?