Celebrate Earth Day 2015 | Love the Earth


"Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others,
Hate tyrants, argue not concerning God,
Have patience and indulgence toward the people,
Take off your hat to nothing known or unknown
or to any man or number of men,
Go freely with powerful uneducated persons
and with the young and with the mothers of families,
Read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life,
Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book,
Dismiss whatever insults your own soul,
and your very flesh shall be a great poem and
Have the richest fluency not only in its words
but in the silent lines of its lips and face
and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

-Walt Whitman

Amaretti di Saronno - Italian Almond Cookies | RECIPE

Amaretti means Italian almond-flavored cookies. Amaretti di Saronno refer to an amaretto macaron that is traditional to Saronno, a comune of Lombardy, Italy. These cookies fall into the same family as French macarons and macaroons. So if you like those and just love almonds, give this recipe a try.

I used this soft (morbidi) amaretti cookie recipe by Love and Olive Oil but I think my cookies came out looking more like this not so soft looking amaretti di saronno cookie recipe by Garrett McCord. Either way, they are delicious little morsels of rich almond flavor.


The original recipe is in grams so I converted it to cups.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cups Almond Flour or very finely ground almonds (I used Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour)
  • 1 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
  • 2 large Egg Whites
  • Pinch Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Almond Extract
  • Confectioners' Sugar, as needed

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, sift together almond flour, sugar, and flour.

In a bowl, whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are foamy and fall into soft mounds (not quite soft peaks). Whisk in almond extract. Add to bowl with dry ingredients and stir until it comes together to form a sticky dough.

Lightly dust your hands with powdered sugar, scoop out pieces of dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Place on parchment or silicon-lined baking sheets, leaving 1 inch of space between cookies.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F, letting cookies sit out and dry in the meantime for about 15 to 20 minutes.

When oven is preheated, bake cookies for 20 to 22 minutes or until tops are cracked and bottoms are just barely golden. Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies will keep, sealed in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.

If you prefer a chewier cookie, just under bake them a little bit. I think my oven heats up more than you set it to so my cookies came out cracked, like they should though, on the outside but still very soft inside. Luckily I caught them before they really browned or worse, burnt.

Enjoy!

Refashion | Extend the Life of your Jeans! DIY Pants into Capris or Shorts



So your pants are tore up from the floor up? And I mean that literally and not all the way up, more like the hems are frayed, the knees are faded and no you didn't buy them like that. What are you to do? Donate? Maybe but it's spring, next is summer, time for shorts. Turn those old pants into new shorts and keep wearing them out! Here's how...


Last week I altered a couple jeans like this for a friend. Her mom saw them and decided she wanted some too. I used one of the first pairs I did as the length sample since her mom wanted the same. You can take a pair of your own that you like the length of or measure your leg directly. Always line them up together by the crotch and inseam since rises vary.

I know it's not that noticeable in the photo but to the sample shorts she also asked to have the holes patched up with black stretch lace underneath.


Take your desired inseam length and add on a couple inches for the cuff. I added 2.25" for this cuff. You can do more or less depending on how long and thick a cuff you want. Although I must say thicker is tougher and uncomfortable even if it is stretch denim it'll be tighter. I would've done less actually but I wanted to make sure the fold inside wouldn't show ever. Cut it once you've decided on the length.


Serge the ends to seal off the new length. This is sort of optional, I mean you don't have to but I do because it just makes for a cleaner finish.


Pin your cuffs in place. I folded it to where a 1.25" cuff would show.



Now you'll straight stitch with your machine, only the inseams and outer side seams, not the middles of the cuff. I like to go over a couple times but that's because I used regular thread and not the thick thread for denim.


Now you'll hand sew a short blind stitch to secure the middle of the cuff. Again this is optional because once the shorts are on you the cuff should stay in place by being stretched out but in case that doesn't happen, stitching it keeps it from unfolding.


You really shouldn't see where you stitched the middle of the cuff. It should just look as if though it were nicely folded shut.



There you have it. Turn old pants into new shorts. Also I think this works best with stretch denim. Regular denim tends to make a tighter cuff but you'll be the judge of that.