Bedside Table : Shabby to Chic

I've been doing this thing lately where I find things to do that need to be done, except they don't need to be done as badly as the things I'm avoiding doing. Mostly I'm avoiding painting jobs. We really need to paint our newly refinished conservatory and our guest bedroom needs a bit of a paint job so all you people fancying a trip to London will have a nice place to stay. However, I've said in the past that Nick despises painting, and I currently don't have enough motivation to do two rooms on my own. So for now I'll just continue with my silly, but pleasing little jobs.

My project this weekend : turn our bedside table from shabby to chic. This is the bedside table I had to work with.... A cheap thing Nick thinks he bought at B&Q, for about £10-£15. In his favor it is real wood. This is great because it means I can paint and repaint it without much problem, if it was some Ikea junk then I wouldn't have that option. Not that I'm totally sipping hatorade on Ikea, my entire college bedroom was furnished by them, I just like things that you can change.

Since the wood was unfinished I didn't have to strip it, and I was too lazy to sand it. So I just took the drawers out and attacked it with Dark Oak Satin Varnish we got at Wickes for £7.33 - not bad.

I'm not an expert at furniture refinishing, but I do read directions. It said for the first coat to dilute the varnish with 10% water. So thats what I did. Then I did two more coats of just varnish. I learned that following the grain of the wood is important, because when I was lazy and didn't it looked bad, plus it says this on the directions. Other than that it was so easy. And here is the finished product:

Is it just me or does that lamp seriously remind you of the lamp from the brave little toaster? I think its really ugly but I can't throw away lampy...

Anyways I think it looks more expensive now... for some reason dark wood = expensive to me.

I even painted the inside. I wasn't going to, but then I thought I was being super lazy so I did in the end. I'm not sure if this means I'm not lazy or I'm just OCD. What do you think?

Vegetarian 3-Way

Cincinnati Chili is an institution in the Queen City.  Most of us Cincinnatians grow up on this stuff.  Even my family of food snobs appreciates a coney or a 3 way (or both) from Skyline.  Cincinnatians like an occasion to gorge ourselves on this stuff, especially after sporting events.  It was always great fun to get some Skyline after a summer swim meet.  (Note: I refer to Cincinnati Chili as Skyline because that's the chain I'll go to bat for, many an argument has occured in the Nati due to allegiance to various chili restaurants) 

You may be wondering, however, how my vegetarian self can eat this bowl of ground beef atop spagetti?  Well first of all I have a confession.  I tell people I went vegetarian in the 3rd grade.  This is mostly true.  I continued to indulge in Skyline for about 2 years till 5th grade when my morals got the best of me.  Whew!  Glad that's off my chest!  I will have you know that skyline does do a black bean chili which is vegetarian.  It's good, but its not as good as the real deal.

I ate black bean chili for years, feeling disappointed that it just wasn't totally up to par.  Until one fateful day when I was driving my friends back to school in Chicago from Cincinnati.  Liza's family had given her bags full of Cincinnati chili related products.... and she forgot them in the back of my car.  I meant to give them back to her, but we were both really busy, honestly, and they sat in my car for a long, long time.  And then one day it dawned on me - I could use vegetarian ground beef with the skyline chili packets and make it vegetarian!  So I stole Liza's Cincinnati Chili packets and went to work in the kitchen - and wouldn't you know it - this vegetarian chili is totally up to par with Skyline!  My meat eating taste testers claim they actually can't tell the difference.

Since I'm not as fancy as other bloggers, who come up with their own concoctions of ingredients for Cincinnati Chili I just make my mom send me packets of Cincinnati Recipe Chili mix.  If you don't have a native Cincinnatian willing to send you these then you can also get them on Amazon, here.

When I make this at home I use half a packet.

Put this in a pot with 3 oz of tomato paste.

Then add 3 cups of water to the pot, give it a good stir and turn the heat all the way up.  Add your "ground beef" - In America I was a big fan of Boca's veggie ground beef, but in England we use Quorn mince.  We use the whole 300g package.

Bring your chili to a boil and then turn the heat down and let it simmer until its at the right consistency.  This can be a bit of a personal preference.  I think it perfect when the water's boiled down to just above the top of the chili, but thats just me.  Nick likes it dryer.  Either way it'll take about 45 minutes.

When your chili is almost done throw some spaghetti in a pot.  We use whole wheat so we can pretend we're eating healthy.  Grate some mild cheddar cheese.  A (large) handful per 3 way is best.

Then to assemble, place spaghetti on the bottom, then chili, then cheese.

This makes enough for three 3-ways.  Serve with Tobasco and enjoy your meat free skyline!  Trick the meat-lovers and whip this up during a Who Dey game and see if anyone notices its veggie.  Chances are they won't!

Cincinnati

Please read this post in tune with Joni Mitchell's "California"

Sitting in a park in London, England
Lookin' around and it sure looks bad
They don't do interpretive dance
That was just a dream some of us had
Still a lot of lands to see
But I wouldn't want to stay here
It's too old and cold and settled in it's ways here
Oh, but Cincinnati
Cincinnati I'm coming home
I'm going to see the folks I dig
I'll even kiss a flying pig
Cincinnati I'm coming home



I met party animals in the South of Oz....

Who did the shark shuffle very well

They gave me back my smile
But left me with a cow-milking smell
Oh the Toole, Tom O'Toole
He baked good pies and cakes
And I might have stayed on with S2C there
But my heart cried out for you, Cincinnati
Oh Cincinnati I'm coming home
Oh make me feel good Queen City land
I'm your biggest fan
Cincinnati, I'm coming home

CHORUS:

Oh it gets so lonely
When you're walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
Just gives you the blues
Just gives you the blues

So I bought me a ticket
I caught a plane to Namibia
Went to a party down a red dirt road
There were lots of pretty people there

They're saving cheetahs, collecting poo
They said, "How long can you hang around?"
I said "a month, maybe two,
Just until my dyke spike grows out..
Then I'm going home to Cincinnati"
Cincinnati I'm coming home
Oh will you take me as I am
Even if I don't eat ham? 
Cincinnati I'm coming home

CHORUS:

Oh it gets so lonely
When you're walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
More about the war
And the bloody changes
Oh will you take me as l am?
Will you take me as l am?
Will you?

We're coming home Dec 14th - 29th.  Hope to see everyone then!

Things I Want to Do Before I Leave London

I decided to start a list of things I wanted to do before we left London.  We don't have plans to leave London, but I had one of these lists going senior year at Loyola, and I never completed anything.  

My top two activities on that list were...

1. Get wasted at Hamiltons (the bar near campus.  I never had a single drink there - but I did have a quesadilla one night)  
2. Go to a cubs game

It seems those things would be so easy to do.  I don't know why I never did them.  Lame.

So here's my London list.  I've included things I've already done mostly just because it makes me feel better about myself to have things crossed out on my To Do lists.  Please note this is a work in progress and will probably change as things get added so anyone who has been here and has suggestions of things I really need to do then I may add them if I actually like them and want to do them.  Oh and they're in no particular order. 

Things I want To Do Before I Leave London 

1. Get a puppy and give it a very English name (like Harry or Charles, but I'd call it Charlie) - oh and I want it to be an English puppy - like an English Setter, or Pointer, or Bulldog.  
2. Take a trip to Paris with Nick
3. Visit relatives in France (may or may not be in conjunction with trip to Paris)
4. Go to a comedy show
5. Go to a night club and rage
6. Go on a boat tour down the Thames
7. Go to a Stich 'n' Bitch night
8. Go to Ireland
9. Go to Scotland and catch Nessi (OK we didn't catch Nessi, but we did go to Inverness)
10. Go to Stonehenge (Does anyone know if this is as boring as it looks?  I feel like I should go... but it looks so boring)
11. Go to Bath
12. Buy something antique at Portobello Road Market
13. Get a job 
14. Visit London Zoo
15. Visit Museums
1. Victoria and Albert
2. Natural History Museum
3. National Gallery
4. National Portrait Gallery (My personal favorite)
5. Tower of London (Crown Jewel's are here - her majesty is so BLING)
16. Take Aerial Level 1 Circus Arts classes at Circus Space
17. Finish fixing up the house
18. See Big Ben and Parliament
19. Take Pictures of the Guards
20. Visit Borough Market
21. Ride the London Eye
22. Go to a Musical
1. We Will Rock You
2. Billy Elliot
3. Little Shop of Horrors
4. The Lion King
5. Lord of the Rings (Most boring musical ever DO NOT SEE THIS)
6. Thriller
23. See a major concert at the O2 
24. Go shopping at Harrods and Selfridges

In the Mood for Pizza?

Sometimes you just want a pizza.  Everyone likes pizza, and everyone also has their own opinions about it.  Besides the thin crust versus thick crust debate, you can probably debate on hundreds of other issues.  Meat lovers or veggies?  White sauce, red sauce, pesto sauce - hell I've even heard a case for no sauce!  I do have a soft spot in my heart for no-frills, cheap, Papa John's cheese pizza - but last night I was in the mood for something a bit fancier and perhaps not quite so bad for you.

I made my own pizza dough from Martha Stewart's recipe from Everyday Food.  I don't actually own this book but I found it online here.  I'd like to know if this is legal?  Publishing peoples recipes for all to see on the internet without paying for them... Maybe this will be the next of the big internet copyright issues... like Napster for foodies.  Anyways until I hear otherwise this is what I did....

How to Make Martha's whole wheat pizza crust:
In a large bowl, combine 1.5 cups warm water with 2 packets of yeast.  Let it stand for about 5 minutes, then add 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 cup of olive oil - whisking it together.  Then slowly add 2 cups of whole wheat flour, and 2 cups All-purpose flour.  Wow you just made dough!  But its not ready yet - let it sit for an hour.  The recipe suggests transferring your dough to a bowl greased with olive oil, and then greasing the top of your dough as well - I did follow this step but I have a feeling it just created an extra dish to wash.

After your dough has doubled in size knead it on a well floured surface for a minute until smooth.  I then used a rolling pin and rolled it to fit a baking sheet.

Then you get to the fun part - putting on your fave toppings!  We made a half and half pizza.  On the first half we put some store bought pesto, sliced tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.   Then on the second half we put tomato paste (I know totally generic - should've made my own sauce), shredded cheddar and mushrooms.

Then we baked it at 400 F or 200 C, for approximately 13 minutes.  And we got this...

Yum.  The dough was pretty thick so if you fight for the thin crust team then you could obviously just use two baking sheets and roll it out to your desired thickness (and cut baking time down a bit).  Making your own pizza is easy and fun and best of all you can make it exactly the way you want it.  What's not to love?