Summer Earrings!!! Only for the Bold and the Daring

PLUM, Shepherdstown, West Virginia

Some of my goodies are now available at PLUM, a small boutique located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. So exciting!!!!!!!!!!

My Necklaces Featured in a Beautiful Book!!!

Back in October '10 I was approached by Amy Palanjian expressing her interest in my crochet necklaces and asked me if I'd like to participate in a book she was working on called "So Pretty! Crochet - Inspiration and Instructions for 24 Stylish Projects".

Of course I jumped to the opportunity of having MY work featured in her book, and today to my surprise I received my copy in the mail!!!

Congratulations Amy, your book is really fantastic and just overall beautiful. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. It's so exciting seeing my work featured in such a beautiful book!

Amy featured 2 of my necklaces in her book. You all can all pre-order your copy at Amazon :0)

 

My 2 necklaces that Amy featured in her book are these:

These are not for sale (I'm keeping them), but you can see all my other necklaces in my shop LavenderField

 

Daffodils

Daffodils in my garden are in full bloom now.  The smell is so alluring.  Whenever I bring some in the house the whole area is filled with its pungent aroma.

I have made a crochet Daffodil Necklace representing the beautiful flower, complete with water drops and all :0)

Russian Beauty Spot

Checking my GA yesterday for my LavenderField shop I noticed that there were a lot of visitors from Russia and Ukraine, so I decided to check out the website that was sending all these visitors to my shop and what a pleasant surprise to see that such a beautiful, softly-colored blog called Beauty Spot had featured a bunch of my necklaces.  If I could only understand Russian..... wish I could read all the comments that people were leaving there :0)

Sauteed Shrimp and Spinach

Bought some fresh spinach yesterday and wanted to have it today for lunch with something quick and easy, so I made this, and it was a hit:

Ingredients 

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons lemons, zest of
2 lb (1 kg) medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 bunches fresh spinach, washed and lightly steamed/wilted and chopped

Directions 

Stir together garlic, pepper, salt and lemon zest.
Blend in lemon juice and olive oil.
Set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the shrimp, and cook for 2-4 minutes until pink.
Stir in the spinach and cook just for a few more seconds.
Stir in the lemon-olive oil mixture.
Toss well.
Serve immediately.

(adapted from http://www.food.com/recipefullpage.do?rid=112371)

Recipe of the Day: Garlic Pork Steaks with Capers and Cream

I came up with this easy and delicious recipe the other day, and it was such a hit that I decided to share it here on my blog so that everyone can enjoy it:

Garlic Pork Steaks with Capers and Cream

1-2 tbs olive oil
4 pork steaks
2 garlic cloves
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup capers
1 cup fresh cream

Heat olive oil in a frying pan and cook pork steaks in medium high heat until done and no longer pink in the middle.  Press the garlic cloves into the pan with a garlic press, and stir until it is yellowish and aromatic.  Deglaze the pan with the lemon juice, scraping the pan with a spatula.  Toss the capers in and then the fresh cream and stir a little.  When cream is bubbly remove the pan from the heat.

That's it!  Enjoy!