April 3, 2009

A Modest Pear from Bent Objects

Have you seen this clever – dare I say, brilliant – site?  It’s called Bent Objects and I’ve never seen anything like it.

Carrots from Bent Objects

I have so much admiration for the kind of creativity it takes to look at a common household object or a piece of produce, and imagine what it could be.  I guess the thing that impresses me so much is that these pieces have SO much personality, and you can almost imagine what they’re thinking or saying.

I found out that a book is coming out soon from the creative mind behind this work, Terry Border.  It’s called Bent Objects: The Secret Life of Everyday Things and you can preorder it Amazon.  I think this would make an excellent gift for the person who has everything, and as a coffee table book for yourself.  Get one, and be inspired to see things in a fresh new way!

~BigSis

April 1, 2009

Remember when I went on and on about the cool OXO Good Grips Pop Containers that I used to organize my baking ingredients?  Well, guess who else is using them?  Food Network!  I’ve noticed the containers on episodes of Iron Chef America and on Chopped.  Pretty cool, huh?  I figure Food Network could choose any food storage system they wanted to, so if they opted for the Pop Containers, then it’s a pretty credible confirmation of my choice, me thinks.

I worked in advertising for a long time, so the concept of product placement is not lost on me.  For example, could Glad possibly feature their products any more than they do on Top Chef?  It seems like every other shot focuses on a box of Glad bags.  Perhaps OXO has a sponsorship deal with Food Network (aren’t we suspicious!), but I haven’t noticed any mention of it, and the Pop Containers’ appearances have been pretty subtle.  I just happened to notice them because I’m crazy mad for these things!

OXO Good Grips Pop Container

Keep your eyes peeled for these little beauties the next time you’re on the Food Network.  And watch for the Bed Bath & Beyond 20% off coupons so you can get your own!

~BigSis

March 30, 2009

I’m so mad at myself.  Livid and disgusted and sick, in fact.  Is there anything worse than being mad at yourself, for something you did or didn’t do?  It’s so much more satisfying to be mad at someone ELSE.  You can punish them and demand that they make things right.  Whatever those “things” are.

I can’t be mad at anyone else this time.  I’m responsible.  I killed my plants.  All of them.  All.  Of.  Them.  Every last one.  The curly hoya and the regular hoya I’ve had for close to 25 years.  The ficus that LilSis gave me when she moved to California, along with the other plant she gave me that I never knew the name of.  The gorgeous new hoya hanging basket I found last year.  And the dracaena  from our dad’s funeral.  They’re all dead.  I put them in trash bags and hauled them to the dumpster.

How did this happen?  How did I keep these living things alive…some from my very first apartment, to the condo, and then to the dark apartment building, only to kill them all here?  Last December 15, on the day of the SPCA Bake Sale, we had the mother of all sleet storms here in Dallas.  I had been baking non-stop for 3 weeks, and was punchy from a 14-hour day of raising money for one of my favorite charities.  By the time I got home and unpacked things and cleaned up my kitchen and fed my furkids and myself, I must have fallen into a coma because I didn’t give one thought to all of the literally freezing plants on my north-facing patio.

If I had even one working brain cell at that point, I would have just put a couple of sheets over the poor things to protect them from the sleet and temperatures in the teens.  But did I do that?  Nope.  And so they all died.  I’ve been watering and watering the little stumps, hoping to see one little green sprig, but none appeared.

I’m a little surprised at how upset I am that all of these living things are dead.  I’ve taken care of them, watered them, fertilized them, trimmed them, nursed them, moved them, enjoyed them and loved them for so many years.  And now I’m responsible for their deaths.  I know I can get new plants.  But they won’t be MY plants.  They’ll just be plants.

~BigSis

March 28, 2009

Did you know that Texas produces her own olive oil?  I didn’t!  Not until last year when I noticed that Dallas foodies were freaking out about this new olive oil from the Texas Olive Ranch southwest of San Antonio. They have 40,000 olive trees there, and produce the most delicious olive oil.

Texas Olive Ranch

It has a wonderful fresh olive flavor, but isn’t too sharp like some good olive oils are.  You know the ones…they make you cough after you taste them?  That isn’t desirable to me in olive oil, but we all have our own taste, right?

I hadn’t tried the Texas olive oil until Central Market was sampling it recently, and I got a taste and immediately grabbed a bottle, after I wiped away the oil dripping down my chin and licked my fingers!  At $13.99 for a 16.9 fl oz bottle, it’s definitely not pricey for a great olive oil.

Besides Central Market, in the Dallas area you can find the Texas Olive Ranch olive oil at Tom Spicer’s and Flavors from Afar.  You can also buy it in person in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.  The web site says online ordering is coming soon, so all of you outside of Texas can order this scrumptious olive oil.  This is my oil of choice now for hummus, pesto, salads, you name it.  If you have the opportunity to try it, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised that a great olive oil can come from Texas, not just from Spain or Italy!

~BigSis

March 26, 2009

I’m literally making a batch of hummus every week. I didn’t make one last week though, and guess what? I was a little bit low in energy and my workouts weren’t 100%. I don’t think that hummus is a miracle food – although it is really healthy – but I think it gives me a great boost of protein that I need. Last week I guess I was on more of a salad kick and didn’t have good balanced meals at night, so back to the hummus I go!

I used my usual Healthy Hummus recipe, and tweaked it a touch. I had some dill and chives left over from last week’s Potato Ho Down Dilled Potato Pie, so they went into the hummus, giving it the great green color. I used 5 cloves of garlic, crushed and sauteed as always, and the juice of 2-1/2 lemons. I clearly like my hummus really lemony and garlicky. I also like to use a great flavorful olive oil in it, even though it doesn’t take much. My favorite right now is Texas Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I’ll talk more about that incredible product next time.

Dill Chive Hummus with Green Dippers

All this green hummus needs is some lovely green veggies to scoop it up with.  Besides my hummus addiction, I’m still nursing my asparagus obsession, and probably will until it gets too expensive.  I found great asparagus at Central Market for $1.50 a pound, and also got some fresh sugar snap peas.  I blanched them separately for just 3 minutes, and shocked them in salty ice water before draining and drying them off for a week of tasty dipping!

~BigSis

March 25, 2009

LilSis and I have talked about our dream trip to Italy; the only delay is the lack of funds to make this dream come true!  Well, here is a potential solution to that little problem.  I had Food Network on Saturday while I was doing weekend cleaning, and in a commercial break during  Barefoot Contessa I saw an ad for a sweepstakes to win a trip to Italy, courtesy of Olive Garden!   I just entered and wanted to share the details with you so you can enter too!

Olive Garden Italian Sweepstakes

• 4 grand prizes will be awarded, with a value of $7000 each
• Winners get to take a guest, and spend 8 days in Rome, Florence and Tuscany on a guided tour
• The contest is open to residents of the US and Canada who are at least 21 years old
• You can enter once a day until April 12th
• Check out the official rules, and enter Olive Garden’s Sweepstakes to win a trip to Italy.  You can’t win if you don’t enter!

~BigSis

March 23, 2009

I’m not a huge fan of all of the folks on the Food Network because I feel like lots of them are just television personalities, not real live chefs or even great cooks.  You know who you are!  I do like Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) because her food always looks easy to do, and anything I’ve made of hers has worked.  And we know that Bobby Flay is a great chef, has been since he was a very young man, and his Goat Cheese Enchiladas are on my Cooking Bucket List.  I also have had good luck with a few of Giada De Laurentiis’ recipes.  I just wish we didn’t have to see so much cleavage when she’s cooking!  I’m sure she’s a lovely woman, I just think the prosciutto ravioli or nutella bruschetta would come out just as well if the “girls” were covered up a tad.  That’s just my opinion; I’m sure the guys out in TV Land disagree!

Anyway.  I don’t need to get off on a rant.  I had Food Network on over the last weekend while I was cleaning, and happened to hear Giada talking about this fried olive recipe.  Since I have a deep love for all things olive, I dropped my vacuum cleaner and ran to the TV.  This recipe for Italian Fried Olives looks scrumptious and I would SO make them ASAP if I didn’t know that I would eat every last ding dang one of them as soon as they came out of the hot oil.

Giada's Italian Fried Olives

Green olives are filled with a mixture of gorgonzola and ricotta cheeses, thyme and lemon zest. They are then tossed in flour, rolled in egg and then rolled around in bread crumbs before being briefly fried.  How good does that sound!!??   Oh my gravy.  These are on my “must try” list, even though I had to tolerate eyefuls of cleavage to see how they were made!

Hey, Giada!  Thanks for the awesome appetizer recipe!  Now how ’bout breaking out a turtleneck, sister?

~BigSis

March 21, 2009

Happy Caturday, friends!  I hope you had a great week, as I did.  We had St. Patrick’s Day and the first day of spring; all in one week.  Plus we’ve had great weather all week here in Big D, AND SisMama and I booked tickets to go see LilSis and her boyz soon!

The other good thing about this week was that my friend Mojo Jojo had a birthday on Friday.  I’ve been looking for an occasion to try out the Irish Cream Bundt Cake ever since LilSis reported seeing it on RecipeGirl, and then Noble Pig made her version.  It looked so delicious and easy and moist that I had to try it.  With all this buzz around one cake, it just had to be good, right?

Only one problem…I’m not a huge fan of Bailey’s Irish Cream so I don’t have it and didn’t really want to buy any.  I do have a bottle of Kahlua from my last trip to Mexico a long time ago; bought in the airport because the bottle was really cool!

Kahlua Bundt Cake

I used Noble Pig’s recipe, but just substituted milk for half of the liqueur in the batter and Kahlua for the other half.  I reduced the amount of liqueur in the glaze by a tablespoon or so and added a touch of milk.  The substitutions came out great, and we all liked the cake.  It truly was moist and tasty, with a beautiful brown crust.  The Kahlua flavor didn’t scream “This cake is full of booze!”.  It just added a depth of flavor to the vanilla cake, and the pecans were perfect in it.  Will I make this again?  Oh, yeah!

After the attack of the knife and forks at the office!

Thanks for the recipe RecipeGirl, LilSis and Noble Pig!  And happy birthday, Mojo Jojo!

~BigSis

March 18, 2009

Hello, everyone!  I hope you had a good St. Patrick’s Day, but not so good that you’re feeling a little green today due to the cocktail flu!

It seems like we were just gushing on and on about the MAC Hello Kitty Collection that purred into town and was gone before we could scoop the litterbox!  Well, MAC has come out with another new collection already. It’s called Sugarsweet and it’s precious!  Here is MAC’s description of it:

This spring, M·A·C is all temptation… frostings, finishes, fillings. Each of them whipped, creamy, deliciously stylish, as inspired by the world’s most popular sugar-sweet desserts. Never has a season looked so eat-me-up gorgeous!

Sounds tasty, doesn’t it?  The colors are pretty much pink and green with an accent of beigey/pewter/gold.  These shades definitely say SPRING to me!  My favorite product from the collection is this cool layered Tricolour Lipglass in Just Dessert.

MAC Sugarsweet Lipglass

I’ve never seen anything like this, and even though I’m not a huge lipglass fan because of the stickiness, I’m so tempted to order this, especially with free shipping on any purchase unil March 22.  Just use promo code SUGARSWEET.

And before I go, let me leave you with a reminder that the Hello Kitty Sweepstakes is still going on til March 31.  You still have a chance to win some of the goodies that sold out before we could “scoop” them up!

~BigSis

March 16, 2009

We hope you all had a good weekend!  One of the things that LilSis and I talked about over the weekend was a list of ideas for potential revisions to BigSisLilSis.  We’ve been posting for almost 6 months already and have close to 200 posts published now, so it seems like a good time to evaluate where we’ve been and where we want to go.

What would be really helpful for us is to know what our readers are thinking.  We can see from our stats that we do have some readers (hallelujah), and that the number is increasing every month.  We’re very excited about that, and want to send a big THANK YOU to everyone who is reading what we’re writing!

When we started BigSisLilSis at the end of September, we had NO CLUE about what we were doing, and we’ve learned a lot.  We’ve also had a ton of fun, but we realize it isn’t all about us.  Everything that we do on BigSisLilSis is for our readers.

While we can see that we have some readers, we would love it if you could send us some feedback.  Here’s what you could do to help us determine if we’re on the right track:

• Leave a comment on a post
• Send us an email
• Subscribe to our feed via RSS or email

We want our content to be interesting and relevant, and we want to post on things that you want to read about and know about.  That’s where your input comes in.  Your comments, emails and subscriptions are the only way we have of knowing what you want.

So, if you have a few seconds to educate us, encourage us, reprimand us, or redirect us, we would greatly appreciate it!  What are we doing that you’d like to see more of?  What do we talk TOO much about that you don’t enjoy?  What could we do overall to make BigSisLilSis a better experience that is worth your time to read?  More recipes?  More cats in hats?  More product reviews?  More personal experiences?  More Sawyer photos?  I vote yes to that last one. 😀

Seriously, we thank you all so much for reading us, and for the input we’ve gotten.  It has been amazing to be part of this incredibly supportive blogging community!  Please stay with us, and help us make BigSisLilSis better!  We’d love to hear from you!  Have a good week, and don’t drink too much green beer!

~BigSis