Sunday, April 20, 2014

Retro Easter Crafts from Cheeseland

 A quick trip across the border (Wisconsin-not that other border...) lead to some great craft finds at Benjamin Franklin's and some lovely Easter decorations from the past. All of these can be found at Fox Antique Mall.
 
Freshly hatched chicks guard a pom pom ballerina bunny.

Swans? Ducks? Styrofoam and those weird pipe cleaner beaks just make for something on the
uncanny plane. 

Love, Love, Love these! Just take some plastic bunnies, affix to jar tops and spray paint
in bright Spring colors. Maybe fill with jelly beans....mmmmm

The peep massacre at the Bunny den......

Sad bunny? The carnage is just terrifying......

I always love antique/vintage holiday items, maybe that's why I fill my Etsy store with items inspired by them. 
  Currently I am into paper flowers-and I must say I found some awesome superhero tissue paper that I will be using to make some. I will be doing a blog post in May (May flowers-get it?!) so please let me know if you want any specific kind of flower made!

Happy Spring to all. 

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Ramen

    Oh, ramen, that staple of the collegiate or poor 20 something. I spent many a day slurping my way to a MSG overdose on chicken, beef and oriental "flavored" soup. I can still be transported back to those days whenever I pul out a packet and bash it with the back of a spoon. Serve with a Coke and some Chicken in a Biscut crackers and the meal is complete. Remember there used to be a "shrimp flavored" packet? Quick, easy and 25 cents a go you could buy an entire case of the stuff and have plenty left over for beer.
   Now, my grown up self still wants Ramen-real ramen-Food Network fine dining homemade noodles with miso, ponzu, mushrooms and uni ramen.
   So...I thought I was getting "Ivan Ramen" through inter library loan and instead I got "200 Ramen Noodle Dishes"....here's just some of the horror....

Tomato Noodle Soup

Combine I packet and ramen noodles and one can Campbells tomato soup, simmer 5 minutes.



Swedish Ramen

4 cups water
2 packets noodles
1 can of 7 ounce smoked Baltic herring

In a small sauce pan bring water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for 3 minutes. Drain, add herring and toss to coat.



Ramen Clam Chowder Pie

2 cups water
1 packet noodles
1 can of 10.75 ounce can of New England Clam Chowder
1 pre cooked pie crust (9 inch)
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
10 Ritz Cracker, crushed

Pre heat oven to 350. In a small saucepan, bring water to a boil and cook noodles for 3 minutes. Drain. Add clam chowder to noodles and toss to combine. Pour into pie crust, top with cheese and crackers. bake for 15 minutes or until visibly toasted.

Other recipes to haunt you include: Ramen Pizza (no crust!), Cheesy Ranch Ramen (ramen and a cup of ranch dressing with 2 cups of cheese), and Jiggly Ramen (the 60's are back with ramen suspended in Jello!).


Here's to checking out the right book and hopefully having some good Ramen by this time next week!