Sunday Night Reflections

Strength does not come from physical capacity,

It comes from an indomitable will.

Mahatma Gandi

Eating For Your Future/The Secret Is In The Sauce!

Why is it that we eat hearty meals when it's cold out, and light meals when it's warm? Especially when the result of eating hearty meals in the winter means that we spend the summer trying to get off the extra pounds that we put on while eating the hearty food??? Just a funny thought that popped in my head :) 

So, if you are trying to eat a little lighter, or you just like eating a lighter meal during the warm summer months, this salad is delicious, but the secret is truly in the sauce. I found it on Design Sponge, such a great resource. The original recipe includes chicken, so if you enjoy chicken, by all meals add it in. You can find the recipe for Christina Ha's Vietnamese Chicken Salad HERE.  

This is not a vegetarian dish, even if you leave out the chicken as the dressing includes fish sauce. If you do follow a vegetarian diet, but don't mind a little fish from time to time, this dish is a must try. I made the salad without the chicken, but of course included the fish sauce for the ginger vinaigrette dressing. 

When I stopped at the store, they had just gotten in the most beautiful fresh cabbages. I was SO happy!

The recipe calls for fresh basil, mint and cilantro. I wish you could have been in my kitchen when I cut up the herbs. The fragrance was intoxicating! 

So as I said, the salad is quite light. After making the salad the first time, I have decided that the next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I am going to boil rice noodles, allow them to cool and then add them to the salad. The addition of the rice noodles will make the salad a little heartier and more satisfying as a main dish.

The only changes I made to the recipe were of course, the deletion of the chicken. I toasted slivered almonds rather than peanuts, and I did not top the salad with the fried shallots. Didn't really need them, but if you really like fried shallots, by all means add away! Personally, I felt that the fried shallots would take away from the fresh aromatic aspect of the herbs. But, my opinion :)

Hope you enjoy the salad if you give it a try.
Happy Eating Light!
Rhonda

The Wednesday Showcase

Have you ever had a dream where you dream about something and think it's real, only to wake up and be disappointed that it was a dream?  I had that happen last night. I dreamed that I had this lovely garden room and in it were the loveliest hanging glass ornament/sculptures. Then I awoke and found out that this beautiful place only lived in my mind :( Now if someone could interpret my dream!!!, I would love to know what it meant as the dream was so beautiful. At the very least, it's nice to dream of beautiful things :)

I haven't done a Wednesday Showcase post for a few weeks, so we are due. As always, I have some wonderfully talented ladies to introduce to you. 

First up is Zoubi Zoubisou (cute), and you can find her blog HERE. She is French, but is currently living in Vancouver, B.C. She loves vintage, especially the 1940's-60's. And a little side note, she posts fabulous pictures.

She has truly found a style that works perfectly for her as everything she makes looks just so cute on her.

Just had to include her wedding picture. Of course she made the dress. Here's wishing them many, many happy years together.

This is a Burda Style dress. I just might have to give this one a try. 

And as you all know, I'm just a sucker for a picture of a girl and her dog :) Not only is the dog adorable, the dress is super sweet as well. Be sure to pop over and check out Zoubi Zoubisou's other makes. I think you'll enjoy seeing what she does.

Next up is Iris and she lives in Sweden. She loves to sew and she too has a love of vintage clothing. In fact, she has taken the 2016 vintage pledge. You can find her blog HERE.

As I scrolled through Iris' blog, I immediately fell in love with this skirt. Love everything about it.

 It's from Burda and here's the inspiration picture.

The blouse below is from a pattern company that I had never heard of, Record. I love how something so vintage can look so now. 

Another Burda pattern. Love the pants. And get this, she basically just made them and slipped them on. I call those magic pants!!! 

And finally, I just had to include this sweet picture. The pattern matching deserves to be celebrated. Such a beautiful job.

Well, I think these two ladies are sending us off dreaming of wonderful projects to make :) 

Have a wonderful day!

Rhonda

Creative Swimsuit Cover-ups/Soma Swimsuit Sew Along Begins

My first sew along post for the Soma Swimsuit from Papercut Patterns is up on the Sew News blog and you can find it HERE. I took a few liberties with the pattern, but it all worked out great in the end. So if you are thinking that you might like to make a suit this summer, be sure to check out the posts.

Have you ever found yourself at a hotel wanting to go to the pool and yet you have nothing to throw over your suit? I have! Even as a child, I was uncomfortable walking to the pool in nothing but my suit. I've borrowed a t-shirt from my husband, wrapped a towel around me, used the bathrobe provided by the hotel. They all do the job, but none provide the lovely, well put together look that I strive for. So since we are talking swimsuits over the next few weeks with the Soma Swimsuit sew along, I thought we would also talk about some fun cover-ups. 

I've done a number of Fabulous Free Pattern Friday pieces that are perfect for cover-ups.

The Magic Jacket
This piece is nothing but a big rectangle, and the pattern works well with border prints. You can find the instructions HERE.

The Flutter Top

This is made with 2 simple rectangles. The tie adds a little interest around the waistline and gives it a little more shape. Make it a little longer and it will take you from the pool to drinks at the bar, or a casual dinner. You can find the instructions HERE. 

The Easy Breezy Top

If you have a fun border print that would coordinate with your suit, this piece would be fun. The open sleeves help keep you cool and add interest. You can find the instructions HERE. 

Caught In A Wave

Wear it with or without a belt, either way you'll look super cute. You can find the tutorial HERE.

The Magic Rectangle Dress

Whether you take it a step further and do the ruching on the shoulders, or just leave it plain, the Magic Rectangle Dress is easy to slip on and will always look cute over any suit. See the tutorial HERE.

Hope that helps to get your creative ideas flowing!

Rhonda

Monday Morning Fun,We Have a Winner!!!

Well, I could have used a swimsuit yesterday afternoon. I had a few errands to run, so I was out for a while. When I arrived back home, I parked the car and as I was walking back to the house, I got a whiff of something rather foul. Living on the river, you just never know what you might encounter, but rather than look for whatever it was, I decided to go in and get my dinner started. 

My dog Gracie came running up to greet me as she always does and OH MY GOODNESS did she ever smell. Whatever I smelled outside, she had rolled in it!!! Of course my husband was just sitting there oblivious to it all. I asked, "didn't you smell her???" My thought was, how could you not? He said that he did, but he thought it was outside. I told him to scoop her  up and take her down to the walk-in shower where I could quickly bathe her. Whatever it was that she rolled in was so strong that it made me choke while trying to wash it off. In the end, the dog was clean and I and my dress were soaking wet. 

Once finished, I looked at my husband and said, "I really hope that I out live all of you as this house will otherwise be a stinking free for all!!!" He hung his head and said, "we are all happy to have you." At least it's nice to be appreciated :)

Now to the task at hand, the announcement of the Papercut Soma Swimsuit Pattern!

And the winner is...

Congratulations Angie!!!

Please email me with your mailing info as I also have a magazine to send out to you. The pattern will be a PDF pattern that will be sent directly to you from Katie of Papercut Patterns.

For those of you who did not win, if you would like to make up the suit, you can find the pattern HERE on the Sew News site. You can also purchase the pattern directly from Papercut. You'll find the PDF version HERE, and the beautifully packaged version HERE. Although the packaged version is a little more, they ship for FREE worldwide!!! The experience of the packaged version is well worth the few extra dollars. 

I'm really looking forward to the sew along. 

Happy Swimming!!!

Rhonda

Sunday Night Reflections

Be weird.
Be random.
Be who you are.
Because you never know who may love the person you hide.
C.S. Lewis

Eating For Your Future/Summer Farro Salad

The last month has been one of those, "oh great, what now?," kind of months. It began when I blew a tire while landing the airplane and ever since, it has been one thing after another. Just a few days ago we found that we were lucky that our house didn't burn down, truly. My husband had gone upstairs to find that 2 rooms were without electricity. The electrician came and found that 2 wires had actually caught fire in the wall. Thankfully, that's all that was burned, but even the electrician said that it was a miracle that the house didn't catch fire. As upsetting as all the events have been, the best way to look at it all is....we're still here :) 

I have the BEST salad recipe to share with you. It's not just a salad, but a meal in a bowl. One of the key ingredients is Farro. It's typically grown in the northern regions of Italy. Farro is an ancient grain, a type of wheat, so while not gluten free, it contains large amounts of fiber, magnesium, and is rich in vitamins A, B, C and E.

I found the salad posted on Design Sponge this past Friday and I could not wait to make it. Neither of us were disappointed. Not only does it taste great, it looks just so pretty! This is Allison Hooper's Farro Salad and you can find the recipe HERE.

The changes I made;

*The recipe calls for fresh goat cheese, I used fresh feta.  

*Rather than peas, I used Edamame.

*I did not zest the lemon for the salad dressing, in fact, I was super lazy. Rather than mix the salad ingredients, I simply squeezed a lemon over the prepared salad and then sprinkled the olive oil over the salad. I then tossed the salad and served it. And as I said, we loved it! 

I did toast slivered almonds as a topping and I'm so glad that I did, Added a great toasty touch.

You can cook the farro ahead of time and then quickly mix up the salad for a week night meal. 

By all means, give this recipe a try. If you like the ingredients seperately, you'll love them all mixed together!

Happy Sunday!
Rhonda