Hat-Stache

The Townhousbaby MUST have this!

Baby Beardling

Fun for the whole family

Beardling

As seen at Trend de la Creme

Call Me

Christian Dior Black Mother of Pearl Phone

Listening To: The Black Keys

I just love these guys. Such a great bluesy sound and one heck of an original video!

Miss Lanvin

I'm more than a little obsessed with Lanvin. So of course I'm head over heals for these limited edition of Miss Lanvin dolls inspired from the Lanvin collection.

Happy Mother's Day? (hint hint)

This HAD to be modeled after the lovely Jill

here

It's A Sin

I found this posting sitting back in my archives. Not quite sure why I didn't post it...C'est la vie!

By Stephen Webster

Says Webster of the collection, “In the context of the 21st century, the seven deadly sins my not be admirable but are no longer considered punishable by death. And whilst everyone knows what each of the sins represent, not everyone knows the individual punishments administered in hell by the old devil himself…” 

Envy

 Pave set black and white diamonds, tsavorites and a green tourmaline center stone.
This ring is one my favorites in the collection. I do love my green and the setting is dreamy.
Eyelashes as prongs- brilliant.

Gluttony

 Pave set rubies, agate inlay and a fire opal center stone.
Could you just die for that fire opal? I could stare into it for hours.

Lust

Tanzanite

Lust is right! This is my all time favorite gemstone, and the stone in my engagement ring. The color of this one is absolutely exquisite I can almost see the faintest hint of the red flashing which is so hard to capture in photographs under the hand on the right.

Pride

 The ring itself is blue titanium with pink sapphires and a amethyst center stone

Sloth

 red enamel inlay and blue topaz. 

Wrath

white diamonds, rubies, black enameling and a red garnet center stone.

The deep blood red color of this almandine garnet is intoxicating. Don't you just love a ring that's wearing jewelry?

Greed

diamonds
This is where he loses me. 

This looks like a cheap 1980's hip-hop ring ring found in a Vegas pawn shop. I wish he'd tried a little harder with this one.

via

Get Sprung

See this? This is my backyard. I know what you thinking, "Backyard? What backyard? All I see is a big white snow drift.".

Let me assure you it is indeed a backyard as outlined by the rickety rustic fence that surrounds it. I can not wait until the spring when the snow thaws, the flowers start to bloom. I want to once again see...

this...

 

and this...

 

and these...

 

and I really love these...

 

and most especially this...

Mummy cat how'd you sneak in here?

In fact, I have some pretty big plans for this backyard. I've been looking at backyard swing sets for the Townhousebaby. I know, "A swing set? but that backyard is just a postage stamp." Well, yes and no. While it's only 17 feet wide, not uncommon for a row house in the city, our lot is considered extremely deep at 171 feet. At first I thought I'd either a)have to turn it sideways or b)have it custom made or c)scrap the idea and just keep going to the nearby park. Luckily, I discovered that those good folks over at CSN stores have a store that specializes in swingsets and has a pretty big variety of the smaller single and double swing kinds.

That said, I am super excited because they've offered me the opportunity to review a product from any one of their 200+ stores! Now, I'm a little bummed that given the insane freezing tundra situation that's currently going on at The Townhouse I won't be able to review a swing set but hey, I'm more than happy to peruse though their extensive selection of products and find something else. When I do I'll be sure to share with you all.

Bite Me!

I'm a pretty darn good cook. I'm not always a frou frou cook but I'd say  I have about a 93.74% approval rating. I use recipes sometimes but most of the time I just scan the contents of my veggie bins, pantry and fridge and make something on the fly.

Tonight's selection was a combination of the classic scalloped potato and a sheppard's pie. I had some ground beef, random veggies, a block of horseradish cheddar and a pile of potatoes.



I actually made this for the first time last week and it was quite fabu so this time I thought I'd take a few shots and blog it up. It's easy, it's cheap, and it makes a ton (for us at least) of leftovers. We're going to call it

The Scalloped Sheppard

Like I said, I don't have a real recipe so just follow along with the pics and you'll be able to recreate it, promise!

1- dice up some onions (1 medium), carrots (3 sticks), celery (2 stalks) and saute on medium in a pan with a little olive oil until they get just slightly softened. Add a few minced cloves of garlic right at the end along with salt, pepper and whatever other spices you like. I used- parsley, paprika, and a heaping Tbsp of my favorite curry of all time. I know, curry is one of those things you either like it or you don't so if you don't, just skip it.  If you do, I would highly recommend you source this one out:

The best! (thank you R E-B)

2- I don't know why I didn't photograph this but, next you brown the ground beef or turkey whatever you like (about 1- 1.5 lbs.) in the pan with the vegetables, I use a 95% lean G.B. so I don't need to drain it. If you have a fattier beef do it in a separate pan, drain it, then toss it in with the veggies so the flavors meld.

There it is! The browned ground beef lurking in the background.

3- Next prepare you pan. I butter it and then coat the sides with breadcrumbs. Same theory as buttering and flouring a cake pan (side note: I never flour a cake pan I butter and then use granular sugar instead of flour it looks prettier when it comes out of the pan).
The ideal pan for this would be a springform but I lost my good springform pan when we moved (how I don't know) and I've yet to replace it so I just improvised with this large Pyrex.

4- Shred a block of cheddar (the horseradish cheddar ROCKED b.t.w.) or whatever hard cheese you'd like to use.

5- Thinly slice ( 1/8th inch thick ) a bunch of potatoes. I just peel a few, keep them in a bowl with ice water (to stop them from browning) slicing each as I go this way I don't end up with a whole bunch of extra sliced potatoes at the end. Whole peeled will store for a few days if kept in an in an airtight container in the fridge. 

6- Layer in this order- potato, a dusting of sifted flour (to thicken the cheese sauce), sprinkle some cheese and a dash of pepper. When you add the next layer of potatoes gently press down on the lower levels just to pack it gently and make them lay more evenly.

Keep layering till you get to about to this point (see above). This is where you're going to put the layer of browned beef with the vege.  

BUT BEFORE YOU DO:

7- You MUST pour milk very gently over this layer until you fill the bowl (or pan) just up to the potatoes on this top layer. This is what makes your cheese sauce giving it that classic scalloped potato goodness.

8- Now add the browned ground beef leaving just enough room for one last layer of potatoes (what's with me not taking photos of the beef?!?!). Place the last layer of potatoes and then top with your remaining cheese. I had to use grated Parmesan for the top layer since I used up all the shredded cheese on the lower levels. No biggie- we're winging it remember?

see the milk level on those bottom layers?

9- Cook in a 350 degree oven, uncovered, for about an hour at which point I want you to check it by inserting a sharp knife down in though the center. It should go in nice and smooth like you were slicing a baked potato. If there is resistance then add another 15 minutes and check again. The one I did took 1.25 hours just so you have something to go off. 

 10- Done, but not quite because here's the hardest part. You want to let it sit for a half hour so that it gets a bit "solid". If you cut it too early it'll just fall apart. You want to be able to slice it and have it sorta keep it's wedge shape.

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock....DING!

 Not bad huh? Are you going to give it a try?

P.S. Thanks for not pointing out my oven and stovetop need a good scrubbing. I already know and besides, how rude would that be of you since I just shared my recipe?

I Friggin Gotta Ged Dese

Brooklynese

here