Make and Freeze Lemonade

Dear Theresa,
Here's an easy idea for when life gives you a lot of lemons: make and freeze lemonade.

It always seems silly to me to buy lemonade when I have so many sources for free lemons. But it is a hassle to squeeze a bunch of lemons and make syrup for each batch of lemonade. Here's how to do a big batch and keep the concentrate in the freezer.

1. Squeeze lemons and measure how many cups of juice they give you.
2. For each cup of juice make a simple syrup of one cup of sugar and 1 cup of water. Once the syrup has cooled, combine it with the lemon juice.
3. Freeze the concentrate in the freezer using ice cube trays or popsicle molds. Since I had so much I popped them out of their molds and filled a freezer bag full of the lemonade pops and ice cubes.
4. Whenever you want lemonade, take a scoop of the concentrated ice cubes/popsicles and mix with water.

How to Felt Sweaters

Dear Theresa,
Some of those moth holes mentioned in the previous post were too bad to work around, so I decided to felt another batch of sweaters and see what I could do with them. Felting is quite easy if you use wool sweaters (acrylic, cotton, etc. won't felt) and a traditional washer (the water-saving vertical washer I have at home is too gentle on the clothes to provide enough agitation).

1. Put the sweaters into pillowcases, preferably with a zipper top. If you don't have a zipper top pillowcase, you can tie the case closed with butchers twine. This step is necessary as felting releases a lot of fuzz that can clog your washer and drain. The pillowcases trap that fuzz.

2. Set the washer to the hottest setting and the longest agitation time. Throw the sweaters in (soap isn't necessary) and set a timer for 5 minutes.

3. After 5 minutes is up, check on the sweaters and see how they're felting up. Every fiber is different so some will felt before the others. I had to wait 20 minutes for most of these sweaters, setting the clock and resetting the washing machine so it wouldn't go into the rinse mode and waste water.

4. I pulled the sweaters out as they seemed felted enough. Cashmere took the longest.
5. For the final step, I threw the sweaters into the dryer for more felting, making sure to put them in the pillowcases again. Most of them shrunk and tightened up quite well (cashmere the least), and I pulled them out before they got too small. This is all at your own judgment. Choose how felted you want them to be.Notes: For one of my sweaters, I had some yarn that almost matched. Before felting, I stitched up all the moth holes. The felting process effectively hid where all the patches were. Now I can wear the sweater without any serious modifications. For some reason it didn't shrink much either! For the others, I'll have to get more creative in patching the holes or just use the wool for other projects.

Refashioning a Sweater

Dear Theresa,
I had a horrible wool-eating moth episode last summer which destroyed or marred most of our wool and cashmere sweaters. I'm not very good at darning and finding yarn to match a variety of sweaters is hard to near impossible, so I decided to refashion a couple around the moth holes.

This pullover was always too small, so I turned it into a cardigan. One of the moth holes is marked by the pin in the picture.The first step was opening up the collar. Next, I cut the sweater right down the middle of the front. Lastly, I tried it on and figured out where the button would go.
I'll probably wear this without the button on. The fall of the new collar completely hides the moth holes. Pretty easy!

Flowers for a Bridal Event

Dear Theresa,
Papyrus in Pasadena had a bridal event this spring and invited local vendors to attend. I had a good time yakking with Cathy from the Langham hotel, Songi of Songi Bridal and, of course, all the brides who attended (I also stuffed my face with samples from Mignon chocolates... love that pomegranate truffle).

The bill was orange (of course), and since it was spring, I was limited to the same sort of flowers I used in the previous flower-related post. This time I paired the orange with light green from dogwood blossoms and hellebores. At top, the large centerpiece contained tulips, roses, hellebores, ranunculus, cockscomb and pincushions.
Here's a scaled down version, consisting of green hellebores (I splurged and just had to use this expensive, yet stinky, blossom), tulips, roses and freesia. When you put this many flowers in a small vase, remember to refill it at least once a day.
The extravagant bridal bouquet is all texture with roses, ranunculus, hellebores, protea, orinthogalum, cockscomb and freesia. I wrapped the stems in a burnt orange piece of raw silk and twined light green aluminum wire over it for some pop. It would have looked stunning against a modern white dress.

Here's the tall piece (I filled the vase with water upon delivery). It features beautifully dainty dogwood branches, lots and lots of mokara orchids and that delicious yellow stock. This is over 4 feet high and a pain in the butt to deliver! For an event, these would be partially assembled on site, but since this was at a shop, there was no room for that option!

Orange Spring Flowers

Dear Theresa,
Here's some more flower catch-up! Orange is a delicious color... not too girly nor too masculine. I just love it, as evidenced by these flowers for Papyrus, the stationery shop.
Roses, ranunculus, mokaras, pincushions and cockscomb. A very sensual and romantic arrangement that manages to not feel stuffy.The rampant curly willow and simple (but deliciously spicy) flowers like stock create a country feel in this woven basket. Roses, ranunculus and leucadendron fill it out.
This is my favorite arrangement this year! Blown-open roses, buttery stock, tangerine mokaras and quince branches.

How to Alter Shirts

Dear Theresa,
It was fun seeing you, if only for a little bit this weekend. You weren't around to see all the doings (but thanks for giving feedback about our test recipes), especially our craft-fest on Saturday. Getting together like-minded friends to craft together makes projects finish themselves: in my case, sewing up a 40s dress and altering this shirt.

It started out as a classic boxy blouse bought at Geoffrey Bean 10 years ago. Obviously, it seriously lacked style, but was good enough for office work. When I ripped one of the sleeves, I decided to turn it into a short-sleeved version, slenderize it by adding darts, and spruce it up with some decorations.

I've been asked countless times how to alter a shirt, usually by making it more fitted. The process really is quite simple. I like to start with a shirt I already own that is well-fitted as an example.1. Turn your example shirt inside out and examine the darts. How long are they and where are they placed?
2. Turn you shirt to be altered inside out and replicate the darts on the example shirt. Pin the darts instead of sewing them.
3. Now, try the shirt on (still inside out). See where the darts need to be let out, or taken in. It helps to have a friend at hand to make sure everything's even (and adjust the darts back).
4. With your darts all set, sew them in place with a sewing machine (or by hand if you prefer). That's pretty much it for making a shirt form-fitted.
5. For this shirt, I saw a cute blouse at Anthropologie with pinwheels sewn on the front. With the leftover ripped sleeves (which I saved of course), I quickly made some and tacked them on.

Lilacs and Queen Anne's Lace

Dear Theresa,
Here's a lovely spring arrangement I never got around to showing you. Lilacs mixed with queen anne's lace and cherry blossoms is so easy to execute. I should have done a pictorial step-by-step, but here's the word-only version instead (a good brain exercise for you)

1. Start by crossing your cherry blossoms in the vase. The branches create a support for the other flowers.
2. Cut your lilacs to the correct height and intersperse them among the branches.
3. Lastly, add the queen anne's lace to fill and add a light touch.

The same can be done with any trio of flowers in the branch, bloom and filler categories.

Air Dry Those Clothes

Dear Theresa,
Just wanted to pat myself on the back and show you a pic of my improved laundry-drying system. Not one line of laundry, but two (whoa!) across the length of my balcony! Yes, I had to take down my indoor wall-hanging rack and didn't have enough space on a single line for all my clothes. Fortunately, I realized I had enough rope to double back... don't know why I didn't think of it before. The rope is held up by a flower-pot hanger on one end and two different eye hooks on the other. Nothing heavy duty and it works just fine. I just string the rope up whenever I do a load.
I know you don't have a convenient place to string up some rope, but I find apartment dwellers can get some pretty dry clothes from free-standing racks (like this one from IKEA). You'll need to get a couple to dry a full load of clothes, but air drying is easier on the environment (and on your jeans, which I know you tend to shrink on that high-heat cycle!) Depending on how much laundry you do, you'll recoup the cost of those racks pretty quickly (dryers eat up a lot of quarters).

Other fun things to do with drying equipment: Use these octopus-looking unmentionable dryers (also from IKEA) for plastic bags. I hung the green version above my kitchen sink and let all my pastry and ziploc bags drip dry. Highly recommend over slipping them on wine bottles like I used to do.

David Austen Roses

Dear Theresa,
It's raining... soft and gloomy gray. Even an ardent lover of sunny weather like myself (anything less than 85 degrees is sweater weather in my book), can appreciate the moisture-filled respite. I hauled my makeshift rain barrel (an extra recycling bin) to the gutter's downspout and picked a few roses to put on the table.

Even though making extravagant floral arrangements is fun (and more profitable!), my favorite floral statement is a few pretty blooms in a simple glass vase. I wish more people went this route for their events.... team up a long line of vases from around the house with lots and lots of candles in between. A pretty party.

B

P.S. I scavenged these David Austen roses from my ma's yard when she converted to all natives and cacti/succulents. Don't know which variety they are, but they smell intoxicating (guava and rose!) and grow wonderfully in a pot. They thrive mainly on a diet of dish water, too, so I don't feel guilty about keeping them in this (normally) dry climate.

Pasta with Leeks, Mushrooms and Bonito

When the hubby made this pasta dish the other day, I just couldn't get enough. It's hearty and comforting (and definitely not low-fat!). King trumpet mushrooms can be found at Asian markets. In this preparation, he fried them in an inch or two of oil till they were crisp and delectable. Other mushrooms don't fry as well, so saute them in batches if you can't find the king mushrooms. On a pasta note, old-school pasta made with bronze dies has a rough texture that is perfect for soaking up this fatty sauce. It's worth the extra expense.
Pasta with Leeks, Mushrooms and Bonito Flakes

1 ¼ lbs. conchiglioni pasta (that’s shell-shaped, but any large chunky pasta will do)
3 leeks
½ stick of butter
½ pound king trumpet mushrooms (criminis or wild mushrooms can substitute)
1 cup heavy cream
2 packets bonito flakes
salt & pepper
1/8 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg

Cut the rough, green parts off the leeks. Slice into them vertically to rinse the dirt from the layers. Slice into 1/8” half rounds.

Sweat the leeks in butter till soft, about 5 minutes, over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and let cook in their own steam for 5 minutes. Add cream and nutmeg and let simmer for 10 minutes.

In a separate pan, fry the sliced king trumpet mushrooms in neutral vegetable oil (will require several batches), seasoning them with salt and pepper first. King trumpets taste especially good fried till crispy! If you don’t have king trumpets, just sauté the criminis or wild mushrooms in oil.

Boil the pasta al dente in plenty of salted water (it should be as salty as seawater, don’t skimp!). Combine with leeks, mushrooms and bonito flakes. Check for seasoning before serving.