Poundcake and True Blood!

I absolutely love to cook even though I don't know how. LOL! I'm slowly learning and one of my favorite websites is allrecipes.com for great recipes. Adrienne's pound cake looked so good so I had to try it. It was the best pound cake I ever had! I've made it twice so far and everyone loved it at my dinner party. I managed to take a picture of the second one before everyone sliced into it.

I've decided to pay it forward and post a recipe from Pattie Labelle's Lite Cuisine Cookbook. It is so juicy and delicious! I promise you guys will love it!


REALLY GOOD ROAST CHICKEN CAESAR


One 3 1/2 to 4 lb. chicken
1 lemon, pierced all over with a fork
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 cup lite Caesar dressing (not creamy)
2 tsp. rotisserie chicken seasoning
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes


Preheat oven to 450 degrees


Rinse chicken and cavity in cold water and pat dry.

Put the lemon and garlic inside chicken

In a small bowl, mix the Caesar dressing, seasonings, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Brush mixture all over chicken.


Place chicken side down on a rack in a roasting pan for 20 minutes.

Reduce heat to 350 degrees. Turn the chicken breast side up on the rack and brush all over with seasoning mixture. Roast, brushing with the mixture two more times, until a instant read thermometer reads 165 F when inserted to the thigh and juices run clear, 35 to 40 minutes more.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

So True Blood (my favorite show) season 2 starts tonight and I'm so excited! I'm assuming my favorite character Lafayette's fate will be shown tonight so I've been counting down for a few months now. Here is a clip of one my favorite scenes. VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED!!

Maxi Dress

I thought Mimi’s maxi dress was so cute! So I was especially excited when she posted a tutorial video of how to make one. This was my first project I made without a pattern, but it was surprisingly easy! Mimi’s directions were very easy to follow and pretty mistake-proof as well. My boyfriend found it pretty entertaining that I was pausing the video and going back and forth between my machine and the computer LOL! I made wider straps since most of my bras have wider straps for better support. Also, instead of using braided elastic, I used elastic thread which was soooo much easier for me. I could not get the braided elastic to work with me to save my life! I was so frustrated because I put holes in the fabric from doing the braided elastic over and over again. The first dress which was my “muslin”, fits perfect in the bust but was a little too big in the back and waist. After making a few adjustments, I made the pink one but forgot about the seam allowances! Which brings to advice #1: If you are tired, stop sewing or you can make a mistake. LOL! I got the fabric from G Street Fabrics at the $2.97/yd clearance table a few months ago. They had so many colors! By the way, they’re moving to a bigger location in Rockville. I can’t wait to wear my maxi dress! Thanks Mimi!

It's been a long time!

Hey Guys!!! I’ve been MIA for a while now and it’s been crazy these past few months but that’s for another blog ;-). Even though I haven’t done much sewing activity on my end, I still follow all of you talented bloggers on a regular basis. I realised that I love DIY stuff no matter what it is. So, I decided to dedicate the next few posts to a few of my favorite bloggers that have given advice, recipes,and tutorials over the past few months. DISCLAIMER: Please excuse the bad pics!

Ok, so I’ve been wanting a new sewing machine for a long time now. After searching extensively, I was tossed up between the Singer 7466 or the Brother CS6000I. I really wanted the Brother, because I currently own one but I’ve heard great reviews about Singer. Erica B. had a great post about sewing machines for beginners and lo and behold the machine I wanted was there!

Out with the old!

In with new!

I absolutely love my machine! It comes with everything and it's so quiet. I know my neighbors appreciate that because I usually sew at night. I highly recommend this machine!

Kreativ Blogger Award **GASP**

Wow! I was so shocked when I checked the comments that I was nominated by Aminat for the Kreativ Blogger Award. I'm truly at a lost for words. All of you ladies have been so nice by welcoming me in your circle. I wanna grow up to be just like you guys! :-)Thank you so much! I must say that there are a lot of blogs that I view daily that are truly inspiring.

The rules of accepting this award are:

1. Copy the award to your site.

2. Link to the person from whom you received the award.

3. Nominate 7 other bloggers.

4. Link to those on your blog.

5. Leave a message on the blogs you nominated.

I'm sure that the bloggers I'm listing have been nominated hundreds of times but they are well deserving.

http://adrienneslittleworld.typepad.com/

http://www.ericabunker.com/

http://myraida.blogspot.com/

http://missceliespants.wordpress.com/

http://www.thatssewlive.com/

http://peacockchic.wordpress.com/

http://kims-kouture.blogspot.com/

Thanks again Aminat!

Crocheting while sick

Hey Guys! I have not been feeling well lately and been getting only 4-5 hours of sleep a night for about several months now. It's starting to get to me now because I've been basically staying in the house on my off days to try to catch up on sleep. If I'm tired, I don't wanna sew and since I'm always tired, it feels like I'm never gonna finish this coat. Have you guys ever been in a sewing rut or started a garment and felt like it took FOREVER to finish?

Since I got my new computer, I've been catching up on my favorite bloggers and crafty websites and came across a cute crochet hat on Threadbanger. I use to crochet a looooong time ago when I was about 8 or 9 but I've completely forgot. So I figured now is good time to start learning again since I can create something out of my insomnia instead of watching infomercials and reruns all night. So I bought a learn-how-to-crochet book and got started! I decided on this regatta rolled brim hat that is basically a "sc" stitch all around. I had to do a chain of 78 stitches because my head is so big! LOL!! Initially, I thought "78 stitches can't be right" because I only knew one way to make a hat which was starting from the top. So, I took it upon myself to dismiss the beginning of the directions and start a chain of 10. Well 4 hours later, I realized that my hat was looking like ReRun's from Whats Happening! So I had to take it loose! I was so pissed at myself. Luckily, I only used a half a skein of yarn for this project. ***Paging all knitters*** If you guys could recommend some good crochet reference books, I would surely appreciate it. :-)

The book is titled Chicks with Sticks How to Crochet

It was difficult for me to find the next chain because the yarn was so thick. I can't even tell where there are errors.

I would definitely make this hat again in a solid color. With some more practice, I think it can look just like the illustration.