Napkins, Little Napkins

As you are about to see, I'm not the best sewer.

I love to sew, especially when all I have to do is, well, sew. I hate patterns and ironing, so I seek out projects that require neither. This project technically called for ironing, but I conveniently skipped over that step, and it turned out fine.

Anyway, I'm home alone tonight (Ike is working on the house) and after cooking some homemade tomato soup and pear cobbler for dinner tomorrow night (aren't you proud of me for not doing this post on food!!) while watching "Halloween" (I mentioned I was home alone right? Oh, and I've been reading Stephen King's "Carrie" all day!). Well, by the time "Halloween" ended and the soup had simmered, I decided to tackle this project....I'm making my own napkins.

Ike and I try to be as environmentally friendly as we can, recycling, not using a dryer (we hang our clothes to dry year round), reusing what we can (paper, zip lock bags, etc), trying to use the A/C and heater as little as possible, you get the point. So, when I saw a DIY project on how to make napkins out of old sheets and pillowcases I was super jazzed.

So, I got on Etsy.com, found a ton of sheet scraps, ordered them and tonight I put my (lacking) sewing skills to the test.

Ike has this great old sewing machine that belonged to his grandmother (mine is in storage, along with about everything I own expect my couch and clothes and a few odds and ends). I managed to figure it out, and after many broken threads (and Wilco & Co on Pandora as my soundtrack), this is what I came up with....

.....Tiny napkins (don't they look more like coasters?!). I think they are really cute (pay no attention to the crooked seams!), but I think I might need to rip apart some more sheets and make napkins (BIGGER napkins) that we can use with a little bit more ease.

So, when I invite you over to the new house for a dinner party, please be patient with my tiny, tiny napkins!

Sunday Dinner Thursday Night

Okay, so I'm back to food....again.

I can't help it. When I cook something delicious and simple, I love to share it. Do any of you use these recipes? I would love to know. Anyway, here is what I cooked for Ike and his dad for dinner tonight...

Steak! Not just steak, jumbo steak! (to all of you vegetarians, ignore this carnivorous part).

Every summer my parents buy a steer at the county fair (with another couple, or maybe two, because that's a lot of meat!). They have it butchered and are stocked with meat for probably the whole year. And It. Is. Good! It could probably stand on it's own, but I marinated it anyway. Here is the recipe for the marinade (thanks to the Pioneer Woman AGAIN).

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1/2 cup Cooking Sherry

3 Tablespoons Honey

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

2 Tablespoons minced Ginger

3 cloves minced Garlic

1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

You mix it all together. Put your steaks (we used two enormous steaks, and this was plenty) in big zip lock bags, pour the marinade over it, seal and let it set for 3-5 hours (I did it for 2 hours and it was still great).

After you're done you can strain all the garlic, etc out of the marinade, add 1/2 cup of water to it in a saucepan and boil for 10 minutes. It made a great dip for the meat.

(Somehow I had cooking sherry and sesame oil in the pantry. Who knows why?!)

Next, the roasted potatoes. Even easier.

I chopped up a bunch of red potatoes, put them in a bowl and tossed them with 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil and a package of dry ranch dip. I put them on a baking sheet and baked them for 35 minutes at 450 degrees.

And finally....the Peach Cobbler.

Here is a link to the recipe.

This meal reminded me of the dinners my mom cooked for us on Sundays growing up. Complete comfort food. Noticing a pattern?

However, I don't think she had a shot of whisky while she cooked....