Decorating with Rope

Recently I shared my lamp makeover, which featured a rope-covered shade.  If you can ignore the fact that the lamp doesn't work (we're still taking care of that problem), you'll probably agree that it has a more current look than it did previously, thanks to the oil-rubbed bronze, and the rope.  

I've been seeing rope everywhere I turn.

Pottery Barn Rope Chandelier

Ballard Designs Hyannis Rope Mirror

Restoration Hardware Drapery Tieback

West Elm Rope Bowl

Anthropologie Coiled Rope Knob

And, I've seen many a blogger's creative DIY project using rope.

I was completely inspired yesterday when I saw this sisal rope table from Sparkle Pants Girl via Apartment Therapy.
 

At Under the Table and Dreaming, Stephanie walks through how she made a sisal rope basket.
 

How about Mrs. Lemons' rope vase?


Martha Stewart has a tutorial on how to make a rope lamp.

Martha Stewart

And, Nate Berkus has a tutorial on how to make a rope mirror.

The Nate Berkus Show

It seems all you need is rope, glue and some imagination, and the possibilities are endless.  I feel myself on the verge of another rope project.  Or two, or three. Is it possible to overdo it?  Probably.  Is it trendy? Or timeless?  I mean, rope has been around forever, and isn't going anywhere, right?  Either way, I like the rustic, textured, natural look of it, and I can't help but look at everything now and imagine it covered in rope.

Garlic Scapes

I had never tried a garlic scape, but I'd heard tales of their goodness, and had been looking forward to this first reward in our garlic-growing adventure.  Last week, these shoots (scapes) began to emerge from the garlic stalks.  They need to be snipped, I'm told, or they will flower, draining energy from the bulbs, and resulting in a smaller harvest.

Recipes for garlic scape pesto are ubiquitous via Google, but I wanted to try something to preserve the scapes, rather than pureeing them unrecognizable.  Raw, they have the texture of a fresh green bean, and have a strong onion/garlic flavor.  Cooked, they soften and sweeten.

I chopped four of them up and sauteed them in some olive oil while a pot of water was boiling for spaghetti.  I added some salt and pepper, but otherwise kept it simple, tossing the spaghetti with the scapes, parmesan, and some pine nuts. 

Delicious.  We have 12 more scapes to use, so I will try a couple more ways to prepare them and report back.  If you have the opportunity to pick some up at a farmer's market, I recommend the adventure.  Or, make plans to plant in the Fall so you can grow your own garlic next year.  In another month or so when the leaves start to yellow, we'll pull the garlic stalks and let the bulbs cure in the sun for a few weeks.  We haven't even seen these bulbs yet, but so far, I give garlic growing two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Blueberry Crumb Bars

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, which she found somewhere else and improved upon by adding lemon and butter.  I did absolutely nothing except follow the recipe, so all I have to add is to say, Yes, they are awesome. 

Blueberry Crumb Bars

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. (I started with two knives and then switched to a fork when the pieces got smaller.)

Dough will be crumbly. (And dry.  I was worried at first that I had mismeasured and added too much flour, but it all worked out.)

Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries.

Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust.

Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 5 minutes in my oven.) Cool completely before cutting into squares.

It was an easy recipe. The hardest part was cutting the butter into the flour mixture.  My arm got tired.  It might be easier with a pastry cutter; I'm not sure.  (Update: My mom suggested using a food processor.  Duh. That would probably save a lot of time and energy.  I will try that next time and report back.)  But it was worth the effort.  After they were baked and cooled, I put the pan in the refrigerator over night and then cut them cold the next day.  I think it's worth storing them in the fridge, too.  They're chewier cold, which I prefer. Either way, they are delicious, and I will make them again and again.  They are the perfect treat to bring to summer barbecues, even indoor ones, like the lunch we had yesterday.  (Thank you to our hosts!)  The weather was a bit raw at times, but good company and good food are always reliable.  I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!

The Lamp Makeover

Here's a funny story.  A couple of weeks ago we picked up this lamp for free at a yard sale.

It was kind of a sad lamp, but I thought with a little sprucing up it could be a great addition to our porch.  And it was FREE.   It would be a quick and fun project.

We spent much of last Saturday and Sunday scrubbing the porch free of mildew in preparation for next weekend's staining.  It was not a rewarding process.  We started out on with an eco-friendly solution and after lots of elbow grease, felt like we weren't getting anywhere.  So, we switched to OxyClean, per directions from This Old House, and scrubbed and rinsed and scrubbed and rinsed, and wound up with less mildew and fewer stains, but some over-bleached spots and worn wood- a very wet and splotchy looking porch.  And our porch furniture, which spent the weekend on the lawn, had accumulated a few bird droppings, which means in addition to staining, I'm adding cleaning of the cushions to the porch to-do list. 

Most people would call it a weekend and make a martini, but first I had to do something SATISFYING.  So, I decided to give the lamp its makeover.

I used my trusty oil rubbed bronze spray paint on the base, and thought I'd try covering the old shade with some manila rope I picked up at Home Depot.  I used Gorilla Glue and some clamps to hold the rope in place while I slowly worked my way around, applying a thin layer of glue, adhering the rope. 

And then I let it dry overnight. 

Yesterday, I put all the pieces together to photograph the new and improved lamp for its big reveal.  It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Not bad, right?  But there's one problem.  (Yep, you guessed it.)  I screwed in a lightbulb and plugged it in... expectantly.  It doesn't work.  How could I not have tested it before going to all that trouble??  The women at the yard sale said it worked and I took their word for it.  I can't really complain because it was free and all, but I have learned my lesson: Quit and have a martini even if you're not satisfied with a job not-so-well done.  Oh, and see if the lamp works before you give it a makeover.  I suppose I'm going to look into how much it costs to have the lamp rewired now that it looks nice, which was probably the safe thing to do in the first place.

Quick Dinner: Spicy Ginger Pork

We're all about quick dinners and this is a favorite in our house. I tend to add more of certain things because I like them (garlic, ginger, sweet chile sauce, cilantro), but the recipe is probably perfect as is.  It's relatively healthy (no carbs, lots of fresh ingredients), only requires one pan, and is delicious.  Every time we make it we wonder why we don't make it more often. 

Spicy Ginger Pork in Lettuce Leaves
from Food and Wine

3/4 pound ground pork (we've used ground chicken, too, but pork is more flavorful)

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 garlic clove, minced (or more)

1 T ginger, minced (or more)

1 T Thai sweet chile sauce (or more)

1 T Asian fish sauce

1 t Asian sesame oil

1 T plus 1 t olive oil (the recipe calls for grapeseed oil)

1 8-ounce can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced

2 scallions, thinly sliced

2 T oyster sauce

2 T chopped cilantro (definitely more)

1 head Boston lettuce

Combine the ground pork, bell pepper, garlic, ginger, chile sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.


Heat the remaining teaspoon of olive oil until shimmering. Add the pork mixture and stir-fry over high heat, breaking it up, until it is cooked through and starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and add the water chestnuts, scallions, oyster sauce and cilantro.

Spoon the pork into bowls. Stack the lettuce leaves on plates. Spoon the pork onto the lettuce leaves, roll up and eat.

So good.  Some day I will learn how to take pictures that do the food justice. 

Weekend To-Do List

A quick walk around the yard is all I need to formulate my to do list for the weekend. 

The hosta are looking pretty, but I should get some anti-slug stuff and apply it before it's too late. 

That reminds me that I need to spray around the pee gee hydrangea to make sure the deer don't eat them again this year.



The tomatoes have tripled in size overnight, so it's probably time to read up again on how to care for them so we don't have a repeat of Tomato Failure 2010.

I'd swear I could see the zucchini and butternut squash growing as I stood there.  I planted three seeds to a spot (for the cucumbers, too), but I've got to figure out when I trim them down to just one plant.  My book says with the "first true leaf," but I'm not sure if that means these leaves, or the big squash leaves.  I think I'm supposed to wait.

Something's eating the arugula (a bug), and I'd like to figure out if there's anything I can do about that before we lose the younger plants, too.  These aren't going in any salad I'm going to eat.

The good news is that it looks like 8-10 of the 28 edamame plants survived the May monsoons.

And, the garlic is still the star of the vegetable garden.  (Those are shallots in front of the garlic.)

If you're wondering what happened to last weekend's to-do list:
1. Negotiate a deal on the sofa I'm stalking. Wait for summer sale; I fell on my negotiating face.
2. I decided to go with the seagrass shades for the living room.
3. I have the supplies for the floor lamp makeover, which is now on this weekend's list.
4. I have no idea when I'm going to get to washing the inside of all the windows.  Fall?
5. Scrubbing the porch was bumped for spreading mulch last weekend after I wasn't able to take Friday off, so this weekend we scrub, and next weekend (time and weather permitting) we stain.

The last thing I'll add to this weekend's list is finding balance with a little relaxation, which shouldn't be the biggest challenge, but sometimes it is.  We're kicking things off with a game at Fenway Park tonight.

Happy weekend!

Irises!

And some eager daylilies.