BRING ON THE HOLIDAYS!!

I love the holidays, it gives a direction to the creativity, you know? So recently, I have been become pretty busy with designing some parties and costumes for the upcoming October festivities. I would love to share some of these ideas and projects with you, buuuut they are top secret....yeah whatever here they are :) Its going to include some awesome projects like The Haunted MANsion, a spooky dish for the department potluck, a How To Train Your Dragon movie night menu, something called "St. Crispen's Day," some links to great ideas and some great costume endeavors by me and the hubby! I am so excited!!!

If this happened everytime I danced....

I would dance more often :)

Handmade Nation-A review of the documentary

I recently had the opportunity to watch "Handmade Nation" by Faythe Levine at the local art museum and was so encouraged by its message. This wonderful documentary highlights the unique qualities of today's crafting world. If you haven't already experienced or noticed the independent craft  movement, an uprising birthed from a merged variety of desires, you should give the documentary a look. It shows that world from the many perspectives and operations, from buyer to seller to designer.

While the crafting style focused on mainly is the indie punk, its message is universal to the current crafting universe: be yourself and go for it. Whether that means making a two headed deer plushie, or a hook rug with a rather pornographic image on it; its the expression that matters to the industry, not the preciseness of technique. It was plain that today's crafters are transforming grandma's hobbies into something all their own and yet that community of those more traditional ways are not against this movement at all. The response, according to one crafter interviewed, has been nothing but open and encouraging.

The change in process is not about the money, says Handmade Nation, it's about expression. It could be the desire to express your environmental consciousness, your political views, or a means of  breaking free from tradition or convention.

Many of those interviewed began their crafting out of a need to be artistic, something they had been encouraged to do in their youth but were now finding absent in their day to day grind. This is a feeling all to familiar to the viewer. And it is in that way that the documentary, though very handmade in its own style, is encouraging. It's not surprising that indie-punk is leading the way, since another reason for the increase of this means of crafting is it that it is a response to the commercialism so prevalent now. It is, in a sense, a rebellion against the waste made by our overindulgence, the disconnection of something purchased verus handmade, to the big box shops of the world, to the lack of creativity found in everyone wearing the same thing from the same store for the same reason.

It doesn't limit the artist to work within boundaries, Handmade Nation shows those boundaries being tested, eliminated and incorporated to accomplish a whole new art form. It is a concept which can be applied to crafting no matter the style. The artist's spirit is inherently longing to be unique, it only makes sense that eventually it would rebel against such constitutions. By the end the viewers can see that the land of Do-It-Yourself is a hotbed of creativity accessible to all who wish to visit or live there and it is, according to Handmade Nation, a very friendly, open and encouraging place to be.     

http://www.handmadenationmovie.com/

http://www.faythelevine.com/

Amanda Hudson's Contributor Profile - Associated Content

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Curried Butternut Dip: Spontaneous Cooking FTW

"Necessity breeds creativity" is probably something I should just tattoo on myself somewhere.

So about once a month my job has a potluck. We pick a theme, people bring a dish, TA DA. Half the time I forget about it and don't bring anything, which is never a problem because we always have way too much food anyway. But THIS time I did remember! Only I remembered about half way out to the car, which means I wasn't really that prepared. But it's ok, because I'm not afraid of the randomness. I embrace it.

The theme was "Fall." So I thought "Butternut Squash Soup" which would have been great if I had remembered to bring my slow cooker to work. Heating up that much soup for about twenty people is not easily done in a microwave. Thus, I had a dilemma and I headed to the nearest Trader Joe's to try and solve it.

The first thing that came to mind was this recipe my mom had used last Thanksgiving. It was a butternut squash soup and somehow cayenne pepper whipped cream was involved, and it was a big hit but I didn't remember much else about it. Still, it occurred to me that spicing it up could be good, so of course curry came to mind. And then it occurred to me that one way to have it cold would be to make it a nice thick dip to go with some pita chips.  And THAT is how the Curried Butternut Dip was born.

Yay for camera phones making this moment possible

So the end result was a whole 1/2 quart container of the Greek style plain yogurt, 1/3 a box of butternut squash soup, about a teaspoon of the curry powder and then cayenne pepper to taste.

The butternut flavor is pretty light, unless you add more of the soup and then the dip is then more liquid than cream.  I served it with some garlic naan bread and plain pita chips (wasn't sure which would go better). It went over great, people really liked it with the naan bread. Chalk another one up for creativity!

Winging It: Two meals made with...love and randomness?

The hubster and I are living small at the moment, until we hear from a couple of people about jobs. In the mean time we are spending as little money as possible, which means I am buying a lot of things in cans. As much as I love organic etc. its kinda expensive so we are taking a sabbatical and just trying to eat as healthy as canned goods allow.

Hence the Meatloaf and the Chorizo Quiche.

Last week, we were living off taco salad so my husband got a four pound discount thing of ground beef. We didn't use it all so I was looking at using up about two pounds fast. Why not make a dish I have never made before?! Sure, sounds great. Oh and lets go to store without looking at a recipe first! Totally the right thing to do.

So yeah, I called my mom, she lists off some usual ingredients for a meatloaf and I ask for some general quantities and we go from there. In other words, I winged it. Turns out we don't have a loaf pan at home either (we are staying with my parents for a month so i am totally reliant on mom's kitchen things). So i used a nine inch round cake pan. Turned out fine! Looks like a meat bundt cake....but it's edible! The only thing is, I dunno if it's "good" as far at meatloaf goes. I wasn't really raised on it, it gave both my parents heart burn, i guess. Tastes fine to me! Needs ketchup though... but that's normal right?

In that same shopping trip I bought some breakfast stuff, the Man of the House (MOTH? hmmm i need a nickname for him.... MOTH is....well it's weird) had asked for Chorizo. Another thing I have never made ever. Seemed pretty easy though! Which is why I decided to make it complicated:

• Right side of my Brain: You can make quiche in the oven too, right?
• Left side of my Brain: Well yeah but you don't even know what goes in quiche, its been like six years since you made it last. 
• Right side of my Brain: Whats your point? I'm sure it will be fine, just buy a whole lot of eggs, what could go wrong?
• Left side of my Brain: Can't we look up a recipe? 
• Right side of my Brain: Sure! (looks up about four recipes) Ok, I think i have the general idea, lets do this!

That's about how most of my cooking projects go actually....Anyway, I winged it. I put a whole thing of chorizo, six eggs, some cheese and some beans all mixed together and then poured it into the other cake pan. I didn't use a crust because I don't generally do gluten. The only thing that went wrong was the chorizo got greasy and dripped so the oven got a little smokey towards the end. Other than that, looks great. The plan is to take that mixture, heat it up and put it into some corn crunchy taco shells. TA DA! Breakfast Tacos. nom :)

I R Special!

I got tagged with this:

and I feel all kinds of sunshiny happiness from it so I am going to do as requested.  It's a blogger award, I dunno that I actually earned it yet though...i was a little confused... so this is what Mama says:

In order to post this on my blog I have to answer ten questions and then have six of you do the same. Then you have to answer the questions...tag...etc...etc....
Here goes nothing....


1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?
I am actually still just starting and so still just anonymous, which makes me kinda giggle that I am even doing this right now :) I am still on the fence about it.


2. Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side.
Yeah I wouldn't call it "inner"....more like "obvious"... How about my time and how I insist on having it to myself on a regular basis. /rawr 



3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?
Someone finally getting around to being themselves and really enjoying the feeling.


4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?
 Strawberry Lemonade, light on the sugar



5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?
 I like to write or draw or create somehow.


6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?
 Oh man! What don't I want to do?! Travel to a myriad of places, have kids, raise them in a happy little home with my happy hubby who is working in a job he loves, getting to write and craft and create, help the millions of children suffering all over the globe...And yet I am pretty happy doing whatever I am doing now. I think the Lord gave me all these dreams for a reason, even if I don't accomplish them all, something good will come of me trying. That thought helps me enjoy the journey.


7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the class shy person, or always ditching school?
 I was a shy nerd and pretty socially awkward until my senior year. Not much has changed really.... I am just ok with it now! lol! Ironically, that kinda helps me be a little less shy too.  


8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what do you see?
Standing with my family to get our pictures taken at my wedding. Everyone is actually happy.  


9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?
Yes and No. I think because I have suppressed so much for so long and really, really wanted to write that its just kind of all spilling out right now, some of it has nothing to do with my feelings and some of it does. I dunno that I am bearing my entire soul, per say, there's just a lot of things I am interested in and some of them are so close to my heart you cannot help but say as much.


10. If you had the choice to sit and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?
Depends on my mood, how drained I am and who I am talking to. If it's my cousins or my family in Georgia, I can talk for HOURS because I never see them and they are so much fun, its invigorating to talk to them. Otherwise, I usually have to have a purpose. I am a get-to-the-point type. I rather suck as small talk, at least on the phone. Remember that socially awkward thing? yeah......



Ok so this should be interesting since I am still not "out" in the blogging world yet. So I am going to tag people I think you all should check out:

Lilac Berries
Stamp Away With Me
Tangarang
So Many Veggies, So Little Time
CraftyPod
Embellish Magazine Blog