Picklin', preservin', jammin'

Now that I have a functional kitchen in San Diego, I've started getting around to projects I've not had the opportunity to launch, such as:  pickling stuff, preserving stuff, infusing stuff, and making jam out of stuff. 

Here are a few of my latest endeavors...

Pickles:

 

 

  

Preserved Meyer lemons:

Jalapeno infused tequila margaritas:

Big Butt Rocket Pants

Yet again more Big Butt Baby Pants, this time rocketships with a contrasting striped butt and pockets, fabric care of Chuck via Amy and Adam (thanks, guys!).  

This pair is for baby Alex...pockets are the tiny pocket from the Tiny Pocket Tank, but I figured they'd be useful on the pants for holding tiny things.

S'mores Cookies-The City S'more

In honor of Labor Day and end of summer, Tony and I had some friends over for dinner.  We made the Real Martha's pulled pork and potato salad.  I was looking for an easy, yet summer-y dessert.  I found this recipe on Pinterest (my new obsession).

Quite delicious, but next time I would add more marshmallows for more gooeyness.

UPDATE:  This is Meg.  I tried out Chuck's recipe this weekend- good stuff!  All the chocolatey/marshmallowy goodness of s'mores, but in a pre-made cookie package.  I took Chuck's advice and added much more marshmallow.  I only have large marshmallows, so I cut them up with scissors and wedged probably one and a half between the cookie dough and the graham cracker.  They tried to flop over in the oven, but once you smoosh the whole thing down with the Hershey's, it's all good.

Ricotta-Stuffed Pumpkin Muffins

While in Sydney, we stayed with Adam's very generous family for most of the week.  Tim and I tried to earn our keep by bringing some tasty Indonesian coffee, doing lots of dishes, and making these pumpkin muffins one morning for breakfast.  Amy had spied a can of pumpkin in the cabinet that she was sure dated back to the time she lived there, so we put it to good use. 

 I used this basic muffin recipe, but made it my own by dropping a dollop (a heaping tablespoon, approximately) of ricotta into the batter after I had poured it in the muffin tins.  Then,  for some crunch,  I topped each muffin with a sprinkle of a raw sugar and ground cinnamon mixture before baking.  Excellent.

Layered Necklaces

Amy called me and asked me to bring her a necklace that she can wear to her brother-in-law's upcoming wedding.  She needed a colorful statement necklace to wear with her simple black cross front dress.... after my success with Chuck's multi-layered bead and chain necklace from a couple years ago (I've seen her wearing it at least twice!), I drafted up this cheerful number for Amy in the same style:

While pouring over my beads to find some for Amy's necklace, I stumbled on this necklace I had made before I left DC, also in a similar style.  It must have gotten lost in the moving shuffle, but I was excited to rediscover it.  I like how the black chain contrasts the super bright beads:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ice Cream

I can't believe I haven't posted this ice cream flavor before... it's the first recipe I made from David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop" cookbook way back when I got it, and it's my quick go-to, crowd-pleasing, and easily-made-because-it-doesn't-involve-tempering-egg-yolks ice cream.
 

Chocolate and peanut butter, so you can't go wrong.  Creamy, rich and delicious.... the peanut butter gives it a bit of a mousse texture.  Even more indulgent if you add Reese's peanut butter cups, but we don't get many of those in Indonesia (wah wah).  It calls for half and half, but I used half heavy cream, half milk and it worked quite well.

Heart Pullover

I whipped up this little orange pullover toddler t-shirt for Baby Izzy's first birthday, loosely based on this pattern, and it came out pretty cute:

However, it was missing something, so, using scrap yarn, I crocheted a little heart (using the medium version from this site, switching colors for the second round) and sewed it on the chest (crookedly).