Thursday, October 30, 2008

Blog a Day Giveaway!

New giveaway starts tomorrow....be on the lookout for info on this! Lots of really nice items you can win....keep watch at Sweet Figments!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Coasters!

I've been sitting here sewing these fabric coasters as promotional items for this show in NYC - the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade - at the Knitting Factory. These are kind of fun to make actually, and it's a useful item - much better than a boring old business card. You can sit at your computer desk, plop your cup of java on your cheery little coaster and shop online!

Anyhow - I've made a few extra ones and feel like just mailing them out to someone who'd like one and give it a good home. So the first four people that send me an email at avocadocreations@comcast.net will get a free coaster mailed to them! If you're one of the first four, I'll email you back to get your mailing address and it will show up in your mailbox PDQ!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The growing season is winding down...

We're getting down there on the fresh produce growing season. There are still four or five weeks left though on our deliveries of organic goodies. But some things are going to be gone for the winter and I'm sure we'll miss them. We've been up to our backside in fresh tomatoes - and it's been wonderful. But I'm kind of burnt out on them now. When the middle of winter is here, I shall probably crave a fresh, right off the vine tomato. But as of now we're trying to find new and different ways to use up the ones we've had. This tomato tart recipe came with our newsletter from Spiral Path - they've had some really good recipes every week.
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One 9 inch pie crust - whatever is your favorite
4-6 medium tomatoes cut into 1/2 inch slices
6-8 oz. of Gruyere cheese, cut into thin slices
1 T. fresh minced basil (or 1 t. dried)
1 t. fresh minced oregano (or 1/4 t. dried)
3 T. or more freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt, pepper to taste

Cut tomato slices in halves, place on paper towels to drain. Allow tomatoes to drain for about 45 minutes on paper towels, occasionally blot. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake pie crust and let cool. Top cooled crust with cheese slices, then arrange tomatoes on top, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with herbs and Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Bake until cheese is bubbly, about 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes before cutting into wedges.

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I made this a bit larger, using a 9X13 inch cake pan, then cut into squares. It turned out nicely - something a bit different with the tomatoes. And getting some good Gruyere cheese was a good excuse to run over to Wegmans to shop - I love their cheese department. Especially when they're handing out samples!

And just for fun, here's a lovely little bag for your makeup, eyeglasses and contacts, or whatever....in a lovely cheese print fabric!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Eyes!

So we went off to PennDOT for the youngest child to get his learner's permit. And lo and behold, after all the worrying about passing the exam...he didn't get that far because he didn't pass the eye exam. What the heck? Mind you, he passed the school eye exam just a few weeks ago. So we went right off to an eye doctor (time is of the essence here when you have a teenage boy who wants his learner's permit YESTERDAY) and had an exam done. Turns out he is nearsighted - and needs glasses to drive. The doctor couldn't believe that he didn't notice before that his distance vision was off. Off we went again to the eyeglass place to pick out glasses. Which was interesting - as he'd never worn them before. But we found a pair that looked good, waited an hour and then picked them up. And for the next hour or two, he was amazed at how everything looked through the new pair of glasses. Told me he never realized that his vision was crap - he thought things were supposed to look that way until it was actually corrected. And now is finally seeing everything like it should have been. Amazing, huh? So - the moral of my story here is even though you think your children can see fine, perhaps an eye exam once in a while is a good idea just in case - so they don't have to wait until the Department of Transportation tells them their eyesight sucks!