a little culture...

I recently made a traditional Syrian dish, Labanee, for myself and some of my friends to enjoy.

People are often shocked to find out that I am 1/4 Syrian ( I guess the red hair and freckles don't scream Syrian)  But the truth is that my grandmother (my Sitto), my fathers mother, was the first of her Syrian family to be born in the US.  

I am quite proud of my syrian ancestry.  I adore my uni-browed cousins and dark-skinned aunts, who love any excuse to dance and pinch my cheeks and, of course COOK.  I have found that Syrians although not shy in their affection, love to show their love through food.  As a child my Sitto would come to stay with my family over the winter holiday, and the first thing she would do was make a large batch of talame (flat bread).  The rest of the winter was spent in a warm kitchen watching and helping her make anything from traditional foods, like fatayer and kibby, to snickerdoodle cookies.

In my more recent attempts to become a cook I have yet to try her recipes, they seem in my mind to take all day and require an amount of patience that I am sorely lacking.  So I undertook a recipe that turned out to be quite easy.   I had never seen my grandmother make Labanee (yogurt cheese), but I had seen my cousin, Amy do it.  

In the end it was really simple and a nice treat, that was enjoyed by all!

Here's how I made it:

-2 quarts yogurt (I used the plain greek kind)

-1/2 teaspoon salt

 optional...

-1/2 teaspoon cumin

-1/2 teaspoon red pepper

-chopped basil

-chopped thyme

  Let the yogurt strain through cheesecloth over a bowl, overnight.  Remove cheese the next day and add the salt and other seasoning as well.  I returned the cheese to the fridge for a couple of hours so that it could harden again after mixing it.  Spread on crackers or bread. Enjoy! 

a fort and a fella.

okokok, so I'm just going to pretend like I haven't been completely absent from the world of blogging all 

summer and I'm just going to jump right in, kapiche?

this past weekend I had one of the most fun friday nights I've had in awhile.  I'd planned on

 just reading all night (currently reading "o Pioneers!" by Willa Cather), but when my boyfriend got off work early our plans changed and we had a fabulous night.  

On a whim the two of us transformed our living room into a giant fort.  Neither of us had built one since we were young kids and we realized that the three-foot tall forts draped from chairs and couches would not work for us (as both of us are quite tall).  So we attached some of the numerous textiles that I've acquired over the years to the ceiling and 

created a giant fort/tent filled with pillows and blankets.  We spent the evening eating blueberries, drinking margaritas and playing cards.

I found some other beautiful 

tents, proving that you are never too old to have fun with forts!

a rodeo for my mountains.

For the past week or so I have been waking up every morning, real early, with this sort of yearning to go to the mountains.  I grew up in Denver, CO and am missing the smell of fresh dry air on an early summer morning.   When I was younger my mom and my dog and I used to drive up to the foothills and hike for a few hours amongst the pines and aspen trees.  And I miss that escape from the city and the heat.  

Well, we are sorely lacking in mountains here in Kansas City, but I found that there are other wholesome activities to be enjoyed in the fresh air and beautiful countryside of Kansas. Mainly, the RODEO! 

 I convinced my pal Lily to join me on a bit of a 'daycation'  this Saturday.   We drove out to Lawrence, KS for some vintage shopping (they have a great antique mall and several vintage boutiques) and dinner and then we were off to Tonganoxie for the Rodeo and carnival.  It was a small town affair, but we couldn't even find a seat, so we stood along the fence, like true cowboys, with our arms draped across the rails and the horses just feet away.

  The evening was beautiful and just the sort of escape I was craving. 

its always better down where its wetter...take it from me.

Well, like Sebastian (the singing lobster from The Little Mermaid) says, "its always better down where its wetter, take it from me! Under the sea!"  Unfortunately these little guys wont be getting wet anytime soon (if they do they may shrink, they are made of wool) 

 I put together this fun 3-d needle felting project recently.  I got the needle felting kit from Fancy Tiger, one of my favorite stores in Denver.  The project said it would yield two jellyfish, but I decided to make 3 different sized ones and stick them on a painted plaque with painted twigs, I think it gives them a little atmosphere.  And it kind of feels like they are like a trophy deer head, but way less sad!  Any ideas for other animals or creatures to needle felt?  I'm loving how satisfyingly quick this project was, and pretty cute to boot!

Balloons and beauties.

Balloons

Since Christmas they have lived with us, 
Guileless and clear, 
Oval soul-animals, 
Taking up half the space, 
Moving and rubbing on the silk 

Invisible air drifts, 
Giving a shriek and pop 
When attacked, then scooting to rest, barely trembling. Yellow cathead, blue fish-------- 
Such queer moons we live with 

Instead of dead furniture! Straw mats, white walls 
And these traveling 
Globes of thin air, red, green, Delighting 

The heart like wishes or free 
Peacocks blessing 
Old ground with a feather 
Beaten in starry metals. 
Your small 

Brother is making 
His balloon squeak like a cat. 
Seeming to see 
A funny pink world he might eat on the other side of it, He bites, Then sits Back, fat jug Contemplating a world clear as water. A red 
Shred in his little fist. 
5 February 1963

Sylvia Plath

I am sharing a beautiful poem and some beautiful images with you this beautiful Tuesday morning.

what a tulle.

heres an update on my day!  Im currently putting in some hours as a stitcher over at the Kansas City Ballet.  I usually help them out right befo

re their big shows, since they only have two wardrobe people on staff, they like to use my sewing skills to bust out some costumes. 

 I spent the day on the ruffler, a converted sewing machine that drives like a train (CA-CHUNK, CA-CHUNK) but makes ruffling a breeze.  I made miles and miles of tutus, okay, your right, it was only eleven tutus, but still, as you can tell from the photos by the end of the day we were feeling a little tulle-crazy....

....okay, okay, a LOT tulle-crazy!

...he's there, inside my mind!

no, joke, he really does haunt my mind!  awake or asleep all i hear is phantom medleys over and over!  

you may wonder why I am seeing a half-mutilated opera singer inside my mind?!  easy, thats because I am currently working on the broadway tour of Phantom of the Opera.  We are in the fourth week of a four week run!  I can smell the finish line! 

Because not everyone understands what happens when I work a show I thought I would take this chance to elaborate. When I "work a show" that means I work on the wardrobe crew.   I come in everyday for a 'sewing call' which means I do basic maitenance and repair sewing on the costumes.  Sometimes I do small builds, but mainly it is maintaining the integrity of the costumes, some of which are as old as 16 years, which means thats a lot of wear and tear on some pretty elaborate costumes.  I break for dinner and then it's show time!  During the show I dress two members of the male ensemble, each of which have about eight changes.  Sometimes this entails actually buttoning and dressing the performers (generally during 'quick changes') and sometimes it just means that I lay out their costumes on a chair.  No matter how long the hours (and weekends are really long, because we have four shows in two days), the adrenaline rush of the show is always there.  Once the show starts on stage another show starts backstage.  There are probably twice as many crew members as there are performers for any show and they all perform very coreographed functions backstage, from wire work, to props, to hair and makeup and of course wardrobe.  All of this activeity goes on without the audience ever knowing !  until now that is!  

Anyway, thats what I ve been up to for the past few weeks, there's been no time for anything else, but I have lots of fun stuff to blog about as soon as I get a chance to breath!