Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, 
dear readers!

Jackson Kitty - CA

 
Happy Valentine's day from the king of our hearts, sweet Jackson Kitty.
1995 - February 14, 2012

Jackbus




 
Miracle

We saw this old school bus painted in blue with a mustache & crown on the front tooling down the freeway! Janet had to take a picture. 

 
Then we saw on the back of the bus, Jack with a crown and a winking red light.
The name on the license plate said... Jack Bus.

93.1 Jack FM, Jack bus


 
A radio station bus named Jack!
A miracle!
Happy Valentine's day from us to you, dear readers...


 
Love,


 Peggy

To see your vision come to life, email us about our design services at Peggy Braswell Design.

International Fashion Diary - Escada

ESCADA

From the 1993 International Fashion Desk Diary 
by Shirley Kennedy.

A slinky harlequin check multi-color skirt 

is worn with a low-neck fuchsia form-fitting top.

Fancy jewels and a chiffon scarf finish the look.

Hearts and spadex: 

Eye catching colorful appliqués adorn a stand-out suede jacket 
topping long-length purple suede shorts.

Sun sighs:
Citrus-y lemon & lime tones
in a startling full coat over appliquéd & printed sheath
I could wear this today!

I adore this desk diary.
The drawings from various designers are unbelievable.

 What do you think, dear readers?

Love,


Peggy

To see your vision come to life, email us about our design services at Peggy Braswell Design.

Year of the Snake - Happy New Year!

It's time for Chinese New Year. 
In Chinatown Los Angeles, CA they celebrate with a parade on the weekend. If you want information, here's a link to the site.

Happy Chinese New Year - Year Of The Snake

The Introduction of 2013 Year of Snake
 
2013 is the year of the black Snake begins on February 10th shortly after the New moon in Aquarius, the humanitarian of the zodiac. This 2013 year of Snake is meant for steady progress and attention to detail. Focus and discipline will be necessary for you to achieve what you set out to create. The Snake is the sixth sign of the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 Animal Signs. It is the enigmatic, intuitive, introspective, refined and collected of the Animals Signs. Ancient Chinese wisdom says a Snake in the house is a good omen because it means that your family will not starve.

 I was walking down Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills after my hair appointment.
 There in Bottega Veneta I saw their purses hanging on sparkly snakes.
You can just see them through their windows.
They are celebrating the Year of the Snake! Boy was I surprised...

Happy Chinese New Year to Everyone!


Love,


Peggy

To see your vision come to life, email us about our design services at Peggy Braswell Design.

DIY- Getting Ready For Valentine's Day

Here are some DIY projects for Valentine's day. There's a little bit of everything, cooking, crafts and some useful heart templates! Enjoy!


Blackberry Pistachio Napoleons

Active time 15 minutes

Total time 30 minutes plus cooling

Makes 2 servings

 
Don't these blackberries look delicious?

1/2 sheet frozen puff pastry

(6" by 12"), partially thawed

3/4 c. ricotta cheese

3 Tbsp. confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Pinch grated orange or lemon peel

1/4 c. roasted salted pistachios, shelled and chopped(save
some whole nuts for the final)

1/2 pt. blackberries

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line small cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Cut pastry into four 3" by 6" rectangles; place on prepared cookie sheet, spacing 2" apart. With fork, pierce pastry all over. Cover with another sheet parchment paper and small cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes. Remove top cookie sheet and parchment paper. Bake 2 to 5 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack. Pastry can be kept uncovered at room temperature up to 3 hours.

3. While pastry bakes, in medium bowl, stir together ricotta, pistachios, 3 Tbsp. sugar, vanilla and orange or lemon peel; set aside. Ricotta mixture can be covered and refrigerated up to 1 hour ahead.

4. To assemble: Spread ricotta mixture on 2 rectangles pastry. Arrange blackberries in single layer on  ricotta mixture. Top with remaining 2 rectangles pastry. Dust tops with confectioners' sugar. 

I used lemons because I had them. You can also use oranges.

I use a pizza cutter to cut the puff pastry.

This is what the pastry looks like in the oven.

With lemon zest, ricotta, pistachios & sugar.

 
Here is the ricotta mixture.

All golden brown & ready to come out of the oven.

Ready to be spread.

Here they are ready to eat. They were really delicious!

YUMMY! Anything with puff pastry is grand (I think)...

DIY - Valentine's Rock + Folding Heart

Here is a previous Valentine's post I did. 
It shows how to make a Valentine's rock (like below) and a folding heart. 
Take a peek here.

 
One Valentine's Day, I sent these to all my friends. This is the one I made for my godfather. 
These are heavy to mail, I forgot about that!

One of my favorite Valentines involves using wax seal!


DIY - Gift Wrapping

Pile of  Valentine's Day gifts ready to be wrapped!

Why not use bow tie pasta for one of your packages?

 Print your own wrapping paper, use whatever suits you but make it special!

Use brooches on the top of the wrapping. It makes them much more intimate.
I got these at a flea market. Keep your eye peeled for good ones.

Use part of the gift on the outside.

I thought this zipper tape was so clever!

 Use bow tie pasta as a bow + use a page from an old book as wrapping paper.

Here they are ready for Heart Day :)

 Heart Templates

Here are some heart templates. I thought they might be helpful.

I adore Valentine's Day. Can you tell?

Dear readers, which one did you like best?
Let me know!




Love,


Peggy

To see your vision come to life, email us about our design services at Peggy Braswell Design.

Artichoke Soup

Artichoke Soup Recipe

It was raining here in Los Angeles, and I felt like making soup since I had artichokes - they were going bad soon.

INGREDIENTS
The hearts from 5 large artichokes
7 Tbsp butter
1 medium size leek, white-and-light green part, sliced and rinsed
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup chopped shallots (or yellow onion, if shallots aren’t available) I used a mix of shallots & onions!
8 oz of Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
12 cups of vegetable or chicken stock (if cooking gluten-free, use gluten-free stock)
1/2 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
4 sprigs of parsley
1/4 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
1/2 cup of cream
Salt to taste

METHOD
1 Prepare the artichoke hearts. Cut the artichokes lengthwise into quarters. With a small knife, remove the thistley choke part and discard. Cut away the leaves from the artichoke heart and reserve for steaming and eating later if desired (why waste perfectly good artichoke leaves?). Cut or peel away the tough outside skin of the stems and discard. When I made this dish I left an inch to two inches of stem with each of the hearts with no problem. Slice the hearts or chop to a quarter inch thickness.
2 In a large pot, melt half of the butter and cook the artichoke hearts, leek, garlic, and shallots on medium heat until tender but not brown. Add the potatoes and stock. Tie up the bay leaf, thyme, parsley, and peppercorns in cheesecloth and add to the pot. Increase heat to bring to a simmer, then lower heat and continue to simmer uncovered, 1 hour.
3 Remove and discard the herbs. Purée the soup and pass it through a fine strainer. When ready to serve, heat the soup and whisk in the remaining butter and the cream. Season with salt (I found none was needed) and serve.
Serves 8.




Click here to learn how to trim an artichoke 

I had all the ingredients the recipe called for.
I love that painting of onions & garlic.

Butter heating in the pan.

Leeks, shallots & onion cut up, before they go in the pan. 

Butter melted in my grandmother's pan - this is the pan I make soup in.

Shallots, onions, leeks & artichoke hearts getting cooked until they are tender not browned. 

Here is what shallots, onions, leeks & artichoke hearts look like while cooking.

 I made my own bags out of cheesecloth  for the herbs.

 
Here is the bag of herbs in the cooking process.

I used my handy hand mixer in the pot to puree the entire soup.

 Butter & cream

Artichoke in one of my bowls with parsley around it instead of flowers which I did not have. Be creative!

 
Here is the finished artichoke soup.
The soup was wonderful and great on a rainy cold day in Los Angeles.
Let me know how you liked the artichoke soup, dear readers.

Have a wonderful weekend!



Love,


Peggy




To see your vision come to life, email us about our design services at Peggy Braswell Design.