Turkey

I'm not one of those folks who'll only eat turkey at Thanksgiving. I like it at other times of the year, and we also used to have it at Christmas when I was a kid. However, who wants to make a whole bird, especially living alone like I do?

I found this great turkey breast recipe on the Food Network site. It was so simple and easy, I just had to share. It makes "just enough," and takes turkey out of the special occasion category. You can easily make this on the weekend while sewing as it doesn't require a lot of fussing over.

Herbed Roasted Turkey Breast from the Food Network
(Recipe courtesy Juan-Carlos Cruz)

2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried sage
2 tablespoons dried poultry seasoning
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (canola or olive)
1 (7 pound) turkey breast, bone in
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
4 medium carrots, roughly chopped
4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
14 ounces chicken broth

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix spices and garlic with oil. Rub seasoning mixture all over the turkey breast. Place onion, carrots, and celery on the bottom of a roasting pan (note: I used a large Pyrex casserole dish) and top with turkey breast. Pour broth over vegetables.

Roast for 3 hours, or until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 160 degrees. Mine only took a couple of hours, but was a little smaller. Baste as needed. Discard vegetables. Let turkey stand for 5 minutes and then remove skin before eating.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend has been great so far. I spent Thanksgiving Day with my friends Fran and Steve, and managed a reasonable pig out. I went to the office yesterday since officially, we were open. But things were fairly slow and relaxed.

After work, I did some sewing-related shopping at JoAnn's and Hancock's. No fabric purchases. After the last internet purchase, I'm wondering where everything's going to go! I picked up a bunch of patterns--Vogues and Simplicitys. It seems like I can always make room for more of them. Here are the Vogues:

1020 is a nice wardrobe collection. I especially like the top, dress, and skirt.

1022, another Issey Miyake.

1023, what a neat coat! The short length is great for the climate here in Albuquerque.

8451, my favorite view is C, the cream top, although the puffed sleeves are beginning to grow on me.

8454, Marci Tilton. I love her designs.

8462 appealed to me because of the cowl tops and the simple jacket.

And here are the Simplicitys. Hancocks had these on sale 5 for $5, and since JoAnn's didn't have any special on this brand, another stop was needed:

3536 has a nice selection of knit tops. I especially like the draped neck version (the one without the shoulder cut outs), the short sleeved t with the ruching, and the sleeveless with the embellishments at the neck. I'm generally not a fan of the empire style as tops, but they'd make cute dresses if lengthened.

3562, I like that houndstooth jacket.

3796, this one's a repeat. But the last time I bought it, I cut out the pants in a larger size. At $1 per pattern, I punted and just got another copy.

4044, this one seems to be a popular vintage pattern, judging from the chatter on sewing boards and blogs. Although it's a 1940s style, I don't think it would be too costumey when made up.

7015, a very simple skirt design that I selected to perhaps work my way through some of the backlog of my fabric collection.



Once again, it's a holiday, so we had snow Thanksgiving night and yesterday. The trend continues! It's all melted though, and it's sunny and bright today.

I'm on my own for the rest of the weekend, so I'm hoping to do some sewing. I have some kitchen smocks (aka "Aunt Sook" aprons) cut out for my sister and her friend, which will be easy to make up even if my sewing mojo wanes again. We've nicknamed them after our great aunt, who always wore these when working in her kitchen or doing housework. I'll post more about them later in a separate post, so stay tuned.

Since I didn't cook on Thanksgiving and I'm home, I'm roasting my own turkey breast today. Mmmm, mmmm!

Enabled!

Thanks to Carolyn at diaryofasewingfanatic and Shannon at Hungry Zombie Couture, I have succumbed to the siren call of Fabric Mart! I placed my first order today. Like Shannon, I couldn't resist the Anna Sui silks--what a great idea to use them as linings. I also bought an Anna Sui wool blend, some spruce wool gabardine, and some silk jacquard (originally designed for ties). I'm not going to say how much I spent, but it's a massive order and the cost adds up even at low, low prices. Sigh...I don't mind really, but I'm building up quite the fabric inventory these days and need to get to making some of it into garments.

Speaking of garments, I received an unexpected incentive on Friday. My boss announced that Casual Fridays have been eliminated. The 2 major executives for New Mexico recently toured several of the branch offices and were appalled by what people were wearing (note: one executive is a late 50-ish man and the other is a mid-30's woman). Time to look like bankers again--frankly, I'm kind of happy about it. I'm so tired of skin tight pants, belly shirts, and massive amounts of cleavage at the workplace. At the risk of sounding old lady-ish, it's a bank, not a nightclub. The message was clear: Business Banking will step up, lead the way, and look sharp.

So...now I need more traditionally business apparel, tailored things, in other words. I have a lot of items that will work already, but any excuse for more clothes! And remember, this is New Mexico, so business apparel is still much more relaxed than the east coast. We can wear color!

No Lasik for Now

I haven't blogged about it, but my eyes have been driving me nuts for a while and it's been really frustrating trying to sew or read. I do monovision contacts, but couldn't see well enough up close. I've resorted to wearing readers, etc., which really defeats the purpose of monovision.

So I went to see my new optometrist on Friday; he prescribed different contacts and gave me a sample Rx for some eyedrops that help with allergies. Being the cheapskate that I am sometimes, I proceeded to wear my old contacts all weekend, even though the near vision is not right on them (I know, I know...) . Anyway, I was so surprised at the new Rx that I even called his office to confirm that I had the correct lenses.

I can see better with the new Rx, good vision is restored, and I can avoid the laser for the time being! I'll call and place my order tomorrow for contacts and drops, then see how I do during the next round of hayfever in the spring before making any further decisions.

ASG Annual Meeting

11/10/07: Edited to correct a few descriptive errors.

Last night was my ASG chapter's annual meeting and silent auction. It seems like our chapter is struggling a bit, having lost some members during the last year. But the new slate of officers seems good and hopefully, they can build some momentum for 2008. I don't participate in Guild activities as much as I used to, but I've made some long term friends and I'm supportive of any organization that promotes sewing.

I bid like wild at the silent auction and came away with lots of goodies. Unfortunately, I missed out on the set of cowboy china (service for 8), but whatever. The other things I won sure do make up for it! I carried home two bags:

And here's what was in them. First, the fabric.

Starting from left: the cream and beige fabric was described as an upholstery weight knit, and it's actually a jacquard woven fabric. It'll be good for a casual jacket. The small piece of print fabric is cotton that I'm planning to make some napkins from. The black border print is faux suede. You can't really tell from the photo, but it has self-fringe at the edge. It's going to be a western skirt, and I've already promised my friend Kim K. whatever's left so she can make one, too. The blue is a nice stripe cotton shirting, which is always useful. And the houndstooth, let me tell you, it's the prize of the evening! Silk suiting, 60" wide! 6 yards of it!!

OK, this picture has the small goodies, plus a book and some binding I won. The small items were laid out on tables and priced, so they weren't part of the actual auction. I thought this was a good solution to keep the auction from becoming overwhelming. The book is "Quick and Easy Vests and Jackets" by Kate Mathews, which cost all of $2.00. I was the only bidder. The dark green and plum binding is from a bag of felt binding, which is used for Pendleton coats. That was $1.00 and I was also the only bidder on this item. And the good thing is, the green matches the double faced taffeta I bought last month. The pink, lavender, and aqua items in the middle are varieties of picot edge elastic. The aqua is a little weak and may need to be pitched, but the other colors are fine. I also got a zipper, a spool of thread, 2 spools of floral ribbon, a marking wheel with a wooden handle, and a "snagnabbit" for knits.

Best of all, the whole lot was $26. I'm happy with my haul and the proceeds went to a good cause, chapter programs.

I've Been Remiss

I'm a regular reader of the blog, the Budget Fashionista. It's a good one, with ideas I've put to use (good call on the Dr. Scholl's pumice creme, BTW).


Anyway, she posted an offer a while back. Request the book, How to Be a Budget Fashionista, by Kathryn Finney, and she'll send it to you. All that's required is a review of the book on your blog. Well, I requested one. And until now, I haven't done my review. Bad girl!!!


I hope to make amends with this post. Nice book! One of the things I especially liked was Step One: Know Your Budget. I'm a financial professional and really, this is important. You don't want to bankrupt yourself to look good. I realize this may seem boring to some, but so many fashion and wardrobe books leave this out even while presenting very expensive options to wear.



Step 2: Know Your Style: I might have placed this section first, but no matter. If you're on a budget, you'd best get the most bang for your buck. So you need to make those clothes work for you! This is where the author brings in the concept of reality dressing. This includes concepts like knowing your measurements, something that all of us sewists (should) know about. But having shopped with a lot of my girlfriends, a lot of them have no clue. Fear, denial, lack of a tape measure? Yes, all of the above. Get. Over. It. No one needs to know but you.



Step 3: Know Your Bargains: I bet you thought this is where she'd start from. This part is full of tips on how to "game" the RTW system. It includes how to shop department stores, outlets, online, even thrift and consignment.



Remember, budget does not necessarily mean cheap, so if you get this book thinking that the content will tell you how to buy $5 Gucci, this is not for you. And the author does advocate buying used sometimes, I know that can be a yuck factor for some. But don't knock it till you've tried it.



One thing the book doesn't have in it is a discussion of sewing your own. But really, is that really budget? I know it can be if you already have a machine, iron, and tools. But isn't this a major gripe of sewists, that people think you sew because you're cheap?? We all know that's not the case. I think sewists can take away tips from this book too even if if "making your own" is not specifically addressed. After all, I can't deny words of wisdom like:

• Never buy something just because it's on sale.


• Always buy the best-quality items you can get on sale.


• Fit is more important than size.


• Focus on complete outfits.


• Try EVERYTHING on (well sewers can't do this but our corollary is to make a mock up before committing to good fabric)


• Always wear good undergarments when shopping. It affects how garments will look on your body.


• And last, LOVE what you buy (or sew) and only BUY (or sew) what you LOVE.

I think I was already a Budget Fashionista before buying this book, but I enjoyed reading it, and I took away some good tips. So yes, I'd recommend it!



And do go visit the companion site, the Budget Fashionista!