AfricanKelli

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Media loves of late:

I have the LOST needle in my arm and am officially a junkie. I just cannot get over the twists and turns. This truly is the only television show I sit down for each week and I’m hooked to the point of being upset when things go awry. And on LOST, things go awry often.
{If you watched last night and want to talk about the episode, I’d love to hear your take on the closing scene. AY! The suspense!}

The new Modest Mouse. Love. Must buy. Also, my new musical crush — Robert Glasper. His interview on All Things Considered this week made me want to run out an buy everything he’s ever touched. Rarely do I feel so inspired — and never before by jazz. Oddly, his music reminds me of Radiohead. Anyone else?

Country Living subscriptions for $12.

Country Home subscriptions for $5.

A bookshelf threatening to topple with recommended reads. I’m currently reading that book at Starbuck’s with the kid from Sierra Leone. His writing style is starkly different from Janet Finch’s, but he is African and has a great story to tell. I’m being patient.

The April issue of Real Simple. SO good. Great articles, great design, nice photography. This magazine leads the pack month to month. Bravo RS!

Media misses:
The Easter issue of MSL. Oh Martie. That feathered egg tree? Awful. And your editor in chief is begging for a new photo. That head shot is awkward, odd and over used at this point. Get one of your crafty web designers to spruce her up a bit. They did a fantastic job with your new site.

The April issue of Country Living. Blah. You can, in fact, have way too many slip covers. I don’t care if you live in the south and have a plantation home. That doesn’t mean you should wrap the entire building in white canvas with teeny pleats at the corners and a giant bow on the back. Slipcovers are like fattening foods — best in moderation.

If this doesn’t make you a: laugh or b: want to become a vegetarian, there is a little bit of our soul missing.

C’est tout. A wonderful day to all!
~K

My friend Caroline is South African by birth, Dutch by heritage and American by citizenship. She is a sweet blend of European beauty and African fun. I used the March In Stitches project to fuel my creativity for a gift for her birthday this week.

After a bit of research, I found out the Dutch were responsible for turning the common carrot orange. Carrots used to be purple and red and all sorts of different colors. In honor of the House of Orange (and in all fairness, this is where my knowledge of Dutch history gets a bit shaky), some crafty Dutch dudes changed the color of the common vegetable so all Europeans would think Dutch and orange when getting their beta carotene. And this all happened in the 1700s. Go figure.

I’d wondered why Dutch soccer stadiums are always full of orange crazies. Now I kind of get it. One of Caroline’s favorite sweets is carrot cake. Do you see the theme brewing?

A Dutch-inspired clutch, mini tulip carrot cakes and an orange Dutch/African card.

I had been saving this soft orange floral fabric for just the right project. I love the way the clutch seems so demure…

When really it is just hiding a loud, happy African party inside. I bought this navy/red/orange print in Mozambique. Makes for a perfect lining.

To fit with the In Stitches theme for March, my adaptation to the pattern is this wrist strap, embroidered with Caroline’s initials.

Mmm…

The bag is Dutch on the outside, African on the inside. Just like Caroline.

~K

Do you ever want to pinch yourself because you just feel so blessed? Lucky. Alive. I’m known for being a glass half-full sort, and lately that glass has been overflowing. {Maybe I’m channeling Dharma.} Joy is arriving in waves — not lapping, but of the tsunami variety. Giant, rolling surges of happiness that catch me off guard and make me a bit dizzy.
And even better? I love to swim. So, when I’m not blowing bubbles at schools of brightly colored fish as they swish and swirl through their nautical kingdom, I’m backstroking, watching the color of the sky change as the sun moves slowly overhead. A great place to be to watch for falling stars and consider how lucky you already are.

In childhood, I was the kid who dreamed of seeing the seven seas, carrying a passport thick with stamps and shopping in open-air markets for the catch of the day. I’ve gotten to see so much of the world already, with the possibility of adding several more countries to my list this year. I’m the world traveler who still lives 10 miles from my childhood home.

I was also the girl who dreamed of living like Nancy Drew, with a closet full of clothes just right for the task at hand, the girlfriends who were always there in a pinch, the little speedy car with the air blowing through my hair. Not to mention outwitting the bad guys. I’m so thankful for minimal villains.

I couldn’t have ever imagined the joy I’d find in a daily routine. I never thought I’d be an athlete. I never thought my brother would be one of my best friends. I never thought I’d find happiness living two states away from my parents. I never thought I’d consider taking a day off of work to spend the time at home, knee deep in cookbooks. Or jump for joy at the redesigned Martha site. Again with the aprons and pearls. Who’d have thought?

Ultimately, I’m learning joy is all around us. It is just a matter of inviting her in with a welcoming, deserving, grateful smile. {And perhaps a cup of tea and a cookie.}

Chocolate Banana Oat Cookies:
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons milk
2 large eggs
3 Cups old-fashioned oats

(Or one pre-mixed bag of oatmeal cookies from Betty Crocker.)

To this, add:
2 more cups of old-fashioned oats
2 bananas (the riper, the better)
1 bag of chocolate chips

Directions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two baking sheets. Mix all ingredients in a deep, large bowl. Watch the consistency. If the cookies are too runny, add more oats. Too dry? Add a bit of soy milk. Scoop out your cookies and cook for 12-15 minutes. This should make 2-3 dozen. These are like those chocolate covered bananas at Disneyland, but oaty.

~K

P.S Wish of the week: to attend this class. I’d make this bag in chocolate brown and pink, with a tiny passport pocket inside. In New York City. With a stop afterward at the Magnolia Bakery. What are you wishing for?

A Spring bag & CAOK gift. Amy Butler’s Downtown Madison pattern.

I finished White Oleander this weekend — having read much of the last 100 pages by the pool Saturday. {Oh, the weather we are having! Let me gloat. We will quickly enter the 110-plus season that threatens to last five months.}

The themes tie so well into Spring — brushing off the cold, craggy darkness for a new, fresh beginning. Janet Fitch drew me into this novel, her writing hypnotic at times. I found myself consistently late last week — trying to fit in just a few more pages at stop lights, lunch breaks, standing in line for my morning coffee.

Favorite excerpts:

“I liked it when my mother tried to teach me things, when she paid attention. So often when I was with her, she was unreachable. Whenever she turned her steep focus to me, I felt the warmth that flowers must feel when they bloom through the snow, under the first concentrated rays of the sun.”

~
“Who am I? I am who I say I am and tomorrow someone else entirely. You are too nostalgic, you want memory to secure you, console you. The past is a bore. What matters is only oneself and what one creates from what one has learned. Imagination uses what it needs and discards the rest — where you want to erect a museum. Don’t hoard the past. Don’t cherish anything. Burn it. The artist is the phoenix who burns to emerge.”

~
“What was a weed, anyway. A plant nobody planted? A seed escaped from a traveler’s coat, something that didn’t belong? Was it something that grew better than what should have been there? Wasn’t it just a word, weed, trailing its judgments. Useless, without value. Unwanted.”

Four out of five bananas, absoloodle.

~K

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

If you are looking for an easy green treat to feed your loved ones today, try these pistachio cookies. They’ll take 20 minutes including clean up time and be gone in no time flat.

{Cute new spatula was a spring gift from my friend John. Chirp!}

Ireland is one of the prettiest places I’ve ever visited. I’d love to return and spend more time in Galway and Cork in particular. In the meantime, it’s green Ace Pear Cider and cookies for all!

~Kelli