Fat and Crafty.com

The snow in Seattle has stopped and we’re left with snowpacked slushy streets.  We weren’t able to get out grocery shopping this weekend, and have so far made do with what Aron and I can carry home.  Today I found our Christmas roast at Greenwood Market. Sure it’s 2 5lb cuts instead of 1 10lb cut that I had on order from Central Market, but its still the same quality and will be fabulous on Christmas day. While Aron and are are suffering from a little bit of sticker shock.  (smaller shopping trips are always more expensive then normal shopping trips.)

Anyway, the cooking starts tonight with desserts. Would you like a peek at my menu?
Appetizers
Stuffed Mushrooms
Cheese and Crackers
Artichooke dip
Shrimp Cocktail
Bacon Wrapped Dates

Dinner
Green Salad
Tomato Bisque

Roast Beef & Gravy
Yorkshire Pudding
Green Beans with garlic

Dessert
Fruit & Chocolate Tray
Pomegranate Chocolate Torte
Trifle (Traditional)

Beverages
Sparkling Cider

We’ve made a few adjustments. The greensalad was going to have goat cheese, but I’m not paying $12 for 11 ounces of safeway goat cheese.  There was going to be wine  and picked beets, but I’ve omitted them from the final dinner.And thanks to Jilli, I’m now craving sausage cheese balls to go with, but I think we’ll do fine without.

Menu for Hope V started today, and i proceeded over to Matt Bites to see what was offered from Seattle. 
Last year I was excited by the few Seattle packages offered, but wondered why there were no chef events. This year Seattle is represented by a blogger, but no special prizes, no Seattle Cookbooks, no Seattle vendors, nothing really Seattle. Makes me sad really. I envy those in other metro areas who have chefs who donate.

Do you hear that? Culinary Communion… Tom Douglas…. Matt of Matt’s in the Market.. The Staples (of Quinn’s and Zoe)…..

I’m hoping for a better prize that represents my beloved town.

I sit here with my pile of business cards and swag and am reflecting on what i liked and didnt like at Urban Craft Uprising. Lets be clear, I wasnt there to shop. We don’t do Christmas gifts in the house, and I’m not into buying stuff I dont need right now. I was there to get the free Swag Bag, and for the camaraderie of my fellow crafters. I was looking to see what was neat and new out there, and maybe to catch a little inspiration.

From Crafting

Waiting with My fellow crafters….

In the end as I’ve reflected on the sites that I have cards for I’m a little disappointed. I’ve picked through a number of the sites already and found that either the seller has a crappy web presence or has an empty storefront right now. Anyway, these are the ones I liked and why I liked them.

1. Frank the Pug.

Frank the Pug was not a crafter. He was a guest. He and his mom came to deliver coffee to two friends waiting in line. I was treated to a Oh Frank! Sticker, and got to give some belly skritches. He was adorable and made my morning.

2. Yarnia

Yarnia is a yarn shop in portland where they sell yarn by the ounce.They brought a selection up to the show and they were fun to chat with. I look forward to tackling their shop when I go to Portland next.

From Crafting

3.Felted Style.

I got this cute little lavender sachet in my swag bag, and its so fragarent. i picked up a business card for felted style because I thought the pillows were gorgeous and it was inspirational for the kind of felt crafting I’d like to do.

4.Cakespy

Cake Spy had fun art! I looked at her work and said, “You were featured on Bakerella or something” She grinned and told me how much fun she had working with Bakerella. Original Cupcake themed art. Where can you go wrong?

5.Kokoro Design.
Vintage Kimono fabric made into scarves and bags. Miss Thing would love a laptop bag like this.

6. Scentualnature.com
Sure it would kill Aron, but it smelled nice. This booth had the best potpurri I have ever seen, and some fabulous candle. Sadly their website is not up to date and the shopping cart doesn’t work.

7.Amphora Candles
Take a vintage wine bottle, cut it sandblast the edge and fill with unscented soy wax. It’s so classy though. I think that the soy wax would mean they are safe for Aron, and they will refill your candle for you. How cool is that?

8. Bread and Badger

Etched glass, with some great designs. from pint glasses to pendants they had a little of everything.

9. Dollhedz

I love the artwork these guys do. There is a surrealness to it, reminds me of the artwork seen in Amelie.

10. RedBarn Woodworks

Recycled wood, recycled fittings become a unique candle holder, perfect for the mantle.

11. Rivkas Mom

Ok, I don’t do steampunk. I also don’t wear much jewelry yet I want jewelry with vintage watch faces, and mechanisms.

12. Blonde Chicken Boutique
Tasty local yarn. Being spun on site. Very very cool
From Crafting

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13. Mishmash
i’m hesitant to include anything about this one. The vendor had some great vinyl bags, but half of them didn’t have prices and there isnt really anything in her etsy store. So why bother?
That said the bags were compelling….

Saturday i was lucky enough to make it out to Urban Craft Uprising . It’s the third year I’ve gone and i came home with a swag bag, some inspiration and a stackfull of business cards of places that I wanted to look into further.

As i weed through the cards I’ll share more information about the different vendors and who I liked and who I didn’t.  Overall it was a good show. Only one sock monster vendor, and I had a great time waiting in line. There is something about the camaraderie of a group standing in line like that.  (The gals behind me understood my hatred of the socktopus and had their own ire for those “unique” books where they comb bind an old text book with blank paper to make a journal.)

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One of the things i learned about at the Urban Craft Uprising was a new yarn store in North Seattle. Its called “A New Yarn” and runs on donations. It’s non-profit and has some great prices on yarn.
i look forward to weeding out my yarn closet and offering it to them, and usign some of my craft money there after the first of the year..

One of the trade offs of the new student budget i have is that I’ve gone on a magazine diet. I don’t buy magazines beyond the one subscription that i hold.
Martha is wooing me though. Her newest issue has some great pictures of cookies made using cookie molds from house on the hill.

I’ve know about House on the Hill for ages. Back in the day when I worked at Kinkos we copied and collated the house on the hill catalog. Sur La Table carries a small selection of their molds on the shelf. And I bet the Gode Cookys are made with their mods too.  With an interest in medieval german cooking, having a medieval german cookie mold would make a whole lot of sense right?

See its a slipper slope Martha. I didnt need to be reminded of these nifty molds. I didnt need to be reminded how cool they were and how a couple of them would be decorative wall hangings and make the neatest christmas cookies. Cookies that i know will be a pain in the ass because they have to be molded one by one. But I want them anyway, and Martha and her pretty magazine highligting them doesnt make it any easyier to resist.

Damn you Martha Stewart.