How to Remove Tarnish from Silver with No Chemicals!

Before and After

It is so easy to remove tarnish from silver jewelry without harsh chemicals,and it is fun! Who knew? All you need are a few simple household ingredients and a little bit of time and your tarnished jewelry will look like new.

Household Items  (Notice my cat's tail in the upper left). 

Household Items:

• Baking Soda
• Washcloth
• Old Toothbrush
• Iodized Salt
• Aluminum Foil
• Water
• Bowl
• Cat's Tail (optional) - :)

Steps:

There are two methods you can try and both work, however method one with baking soda is my favorite.

Method One - Baking Soda:

1. Scoop a couple tablespoons of baking soda onto a washcloth.
2. Pour a little bit of water onto the baking soda to make a paste. 
3. Place your tarnished piece of jewelry onto the baking soda paste. 
4. Use the paste and cloth to rub the tarnish off the jewelry. 
5. Repeat until all the tarnish is removed. 
6. Use and old toothbrush with the baking soda paste for hard to reach spots. 

Method Two - Water, Salt, and Aluminum Foil:

1. Place small piece (about 5 inches) of aluminum foil into the bottom of a bowl.
2. Pour about 2 tablespoons of salt on top of the aluminum foil.
3. Pour water over the salt and aluminum foil to cover it. 
4. Place the jewelry in the bowl.
5. Let stand for an hour. 
6. A chemical reaction between the ingredients will cause the tarnish to dissolve. 

Make your man take you out so you can wear your new shiny jewelry!

Downton Abbey

Image Credit: Carnival Film and Television Limited

I love love love Downton Abbey. Do you think Matthew gets hotter each episode? At the beginning, he was a little less refined, but now - mmm mmm mmm. What do you think will happen in the finale? Obviously, we all want Matthew and Mary to end up together (I did not believe that Lavinia plot for a second, although I thought they knocked her off quite abruptly), but there must be twist somewhere or it will be too easy. I have been thinking of the possibilities and here is what I have come up with:

1. The Obvious - Lady Mary dumps Sir Richard for Matthew. Sir Richard threatens to shame Lady Mary with her skeleton in the closet, but Carson kicks his ass so badly he never returns.

2. The Unfortunate - Lady Mary marries Sir Richard and Matthew is stuck with the middle sister Lady Edith.

3. The Flapper - Lady Mary gives up on men and becomes a flapper (ala the scene where someone mentions the new short hairdos in Paris and Lady Mary says she would consider it- I think it is foreshadowing).

4. The Twist - Lady Mary dumps Matthew and Sir Richard and goes slumming with Thomas the Footman - hey they are all doing it. I know he is gay, but it is the early 20th century and he does want to get ahead.

5. The Queen Elizabeth - Lady Mary dumps Matthew and Sir Richard and fights for her rights to become the next Earl of Grantham. Carson becomes her trusted adviser.

That is all I can come up with - use the Poll above to vote on a plot or Comment to let us know what you think will happen!

I HEART Myself

I am digging the necklaces I keep seeing on Pinterest that are words written with wire such as "love"and "ohm". Every time I see one I say to myself, "I need to make that!" So, I am getting off my butt and making one. If it was not for this blog I would still be scrolling through Pinterest envious of all the things others are doing while I sit on my ass admiring those things and drinking wine.

I already have the gear.

Gear:

• 26 Gauge Copper Wire
• 18 '' Sterling Silver Chain Link
• Sterling Silver Clasp
• Sterling Silver Jump Rings
• Wire Cutters
• Needle-Nose Pliers
• Round-Nose Pliers
• Hammer
• Block
• Measuring Tape
• YouTube Iron and Wine's Flightless Bird, American Mouth - my nice made me watch Twighlight Breaking Dawn this past weekend. :)

Choose a Word:

The word I am using for my necklace is "heart". The reason I have chosen "heart" is because my intent for the winter season is to follow my heart, hence the title of this post, "I HEART Myself". You will need to pick a word to represent yourself. I like to think of Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love when she finds her word - "Attraversiamo" - meaning "Let's cross over" in Italian. Beware, you may want to choose a word with fewer letters or the necklace will spread from shoulder to shoulder. I like dainty jewelry and the word "heart" is a bit large to me, but I am sticking with it because I need a constant reminder to follow my heart. I intend to find myself this winter - like Iron and Wine and Liz Gilbert. I better not make my spring intent "responsibility" or "compassion" or I will end up looking like the New Age Flava-Flav!

How to Write Your Word Using Wire:

Bending wire to create a word is not as easy as it looks - for me anyway. Here are some tutorials I have followed to help me figure it out. It has taken me several tries to get to a point where I am satisfied with the result. Some of the examples are very beautiful and I think with practice are attainable.

Video:



On Paper:

1. Write down the word in cursive on a piece of paper to create a template.
2. Begin shaping the wire over the word you have written down.
3. Bend the wire with your fingers or with your pliers.
4. Tape the beginning end of the wire to the paper if you want to hold it in place.
5. Feel free to pick up the wire and bend it if it is not co-operating. Do not be afraid to man-handle it to get it to do what you want!
6. When the word is complete, harden the wire.

• 
  

How to Construct the Necklace:

1. Measure your sterling silver chain link and cut it in half with the wire cutters.
2. Add a jump ring to both ends of one of the chain links.
3. Repeat step 2 on the other chain link.
4. Connect a jump ring on one of the chain links to the "h" in the word heart.
5. Connect a jump ring on the other chain link to the "t" in the word heart.
6. Connect the clasp to one of the remaining jump rings.
7. Make sure that the way you attach the clasp will allow you to easily put on the necklace.

Yay! I HEART my new necklace!

Steamed Chinese Dumplings

When we lived in Atlanta, my husband, Chad and I used to go to this international grocery store right on the perimeter off 85. A little old man used to make fresh steamed dumplings and they were excellent. We had them eaten in the parking lot before we made it to the car! One day I asked myself, "Why don't I try to make these?" And so I did!

This is the recipe I found on about.com and it came out nicely.

http://thaifood.about.com/od/vegetarianthairecipes/r/vegdumplings.htm

How to make Vegetarian Dumplings:

Start out chopping the filling ingredients and then processing them in the food processor as requested:

Filling:

• 3 cups sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms
• 1 cup cubed medium-firm tofu (about 2/3 package)
• 1 thumb-size piece galangal OR ginger, sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves and stems, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. chili sauce (or more if you want them spicy)
• 1/4 cup vegetarian simulated chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
  
  

Directions:

Prepare a steamer (I used a bamboo steamer) lining the bottom of each section with enough lettuce leaves to cover the entire surface. Take a shallow pan and fill it with about 3 inches of water. Place the pan on a flame until the water boils (without bamboo steamer). The image below shows how to add the filling into the wonton wrapper.

In the meantime, take one wonton wrapper and place about half a tablespoon of filling onto the center of the wonton. Do not add too much filling or it will squirt out of the sides of the wonton. Dip your finger in water and run the water on to the outside perimeter of the entire wonton wrapper. Fold the wonton wrapper once and pinch the edges together so no filling squirts out and place it on a lightly floured surface or on the lettuce in the prepared bamboo steamer. The image below shows the Pre-Cooked Dumpling.

Once you have enough dumplings prepared, place them on the lettuce in the bamboo steamer making sure they do not touch or they will stick together. Place the bamboo steamer directly on the water in the pan. Steam for 10 minutes or until fully cooked. Be careful to watch the water level in the pan. It may steam out and then you will have to add water to the bottom of the pan so that the bamboo steamer is not sitting directly on a hot pan.

Sauce for Dipping:

I whip up my own dipping sauce:

• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce.
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil.
• a little bit of scallions sliced.

Serve and enjoy!

Make your husband do the dishes!

Gluttony in New York

Fresh new year, fresh new bank of vacation days - yay. Southwest's cheap flights made it easy for us to decide our first weekend trip - New York City. It never fails, each time my husband and I take a trip it revolves around lots of walking, lots of food, and lots of drink. I did fit in some girly shopping time with minimum torture for my husband.

Sabon

Walking through Soho, we came across an adorable soap shop called Sabon. I was attracted by the French country decor in the window display. Every X chromosome in my body begged me to go in. A cutey blonde girl greeted me and walked me through a nice hand scrub at a large stone carved sink to sample various yummy smelling salts, soaps, and lotions. The experience was perfectly girly in every way. I searched the store for the Frenchiest souvenir for my soap obsessed niece. I found two guest soaps imprinted with a tin ceiling tile sort of design - sold! And, they wrapped them in the cutest bag complete with a burgundy and cream ribbon.

Bosie

Sticking to the French theme, we strolled over to the West Village for brunch at Bosie. The space was quaint - including real tin ceiling tiles - I can never get enough of them. The service was impeccable - another cute girl befitting of the restaurant's vibe, complete with simple neutral clothing and a classic fedora to pull together her look. And the menu completed the package. The tea list was so appealing that I wanted to order one of each, but I took the plunge and went with the the Matcha Green Tea Latte. My husband ordered the same and I did not argue that he order something different for variety's sake. The Matcha Green Tea Latte looked too good to pass up - and was.

It was impossible to leave without trying a French Macaron. There were so many flavors to choose from but we narrowed it down to four: rose (I smoked a rose water flavored hookah once and had to try it in cookie form), salted caramel (our server's favorite), pistachio, and chestnut. Yummy.

Fu Sushi

Switching it up over in the East Village, yes we walked it - had to burn off all the wine I have not mentioned - hehehe. We stopped at Fu Sushi, a restaurant my husband read about in a Huffington Post article about 'Eater X'. Loved it (the article and the restaurant). The owner, Fu, was a slightly frazzled, young, down to earth Asian guy with a New York accent. Fu made us feel at home while delivering non-stop tasters of different dishes. The food was fresh and flavorful and the service was spectacular.

Momofuku Noodle Bar

Next stop Momofuku Noodle Bar for buns. The place was packed. A light an airy space - a bit of a Scandinavian feel, clean lines, simplistic. Chopsticks in a box on the counter tops and tables.

We got a seat at the bar in front of the kitchen. Score. We had a blast watching the guys (who seemed to be enjoying themselves, stress-free) mechanically bust out dishes of joy while thirty mouths watered about one feet away from them each hoping the next batch would be his. We had been dreaming about these buns ever since my husband read about them online. They arrived clam-shaped and cute saying, "Eat me!'. Our dreams came true when we sunk our teeth into those palm sized shitake buns from the lunch menu - caramelized shitake mushrooms on a hand made steamed bun (secret pork fat in the dough - aw yeah!) with fresh scallions and cucumber. At that point, we wished we had ordered only buns of all three flavors.

The Village Scandal

I always wanted a hat, damn it. Where better to have bought one that NYC? Fedoras seem to be all the rage these days, a la Jason Mraz, but I always wanted a cloche to make up for the fact that I was supposed to be born a flapper in 1920's Paris. In the past decade, each time I traveled to New York, I always ended up perusing the lovely little hat shoppe called The Village Scandal, and this time was no different. Never mind the amazing hats, the place smelled amazing too. Whatever scent they were pumping in the air made me go back for more. But this time, I vowed to leave with a hat, defying the voice in my head telling me I could not pull it off. As soon as I walked in the door, a gentleman (in a hat) immediately started putting hats on my head: pageboys and fedoras, but none that struck my fancy. I almost made it out the door hat-free yet again when I spotted a cloche displayed handsomely in the window. I asked to try it on and I was sold immediately. I walked the rest of the way back to the hotel beaming in my new hat - and I was pulling it off just fine.

Wild Ginger

Our last meal in New York was at a vegan restaurant in Soho called Wild Ginger that my husband surprised me with. We went for lunch. The 'Open' sign hanging by a string on the front door was made of hollow wood and sounded like a bamboo wind chime each time anybody entered creating good chi from the start. The atmosphere was spa-like with sage green decor and heavy curtains in the front windows blocking any street debris from entering the space. The music playing was a nice easy acoustic guitar not too country, not too folksy. There was even moss creeping up the exposed brick wall. Did I mention my love for moss? I love moss! The service was nice, relaxed and not rushed. We ordered a pot of hot tea, two types of steamed dumplings, fried scallion cakes, seitan skewers, and summer rolls. Divine!