Following Rabbits Blog — make it

The more I blog recipes, the more I see how much I use coconut... however, this is a really tasty recipe for summer! I prefer baking chicken in almost all circumstances (I hate when things are greasy) but to make this chicken crispy, I pan fry it with a little bit of oil. This time I got a little crazy and poured some pina colada mix into the pan-- enough to coat the bottom. (My apartment smelled ahmaaazing!)

If you're lookin' for some greens, check out the salad I talk about here-- it definitely adds to the tropical flavors of the coconut and pineapple!

Sun tea is the epitome of summer for me. Now that I have a sweet makeshift veranda (i.e. my fire escape) I've been brewing batches in the afternoons while I kick around my apartment. 

I can't begin to count how many batches of sun tea we made in my nana's backyard back in the day. My nana is British, and I grew up drinking cups and cups of tea with her at the kitchen table. In the summer though, it was too hot to sit around inside drinking hot tea and eating cookies. We would move everything outdoors and make sugary sweet batches of sun tea, patiently waiting for it to brew in the blazing Cape Cod sun. Just like my nana always had cookies in the cookie jar, my grandad always had a box of ice cream cones and at least 3 flavors of ice cream. Grandad would scoop ice cream for all of us, and we'd keep checking on the tea. In the meantime we'd steal sugar cubes from the bowl on the table to give to the neighbor's horses that came running when we whistled.

When the tea was finally ready, we'd divide it up among at least half a dozen glasses, washing down our melting strawberry and mint ice cream. Such good times I had with my family, and this is great tea that still brings me back to those days. Miss you guys!

Clockwise from top left: 42nd St. by Kenneth Kudulis, Floating by Claire Waters Marcus, So Many Hours to Live by Natalie Mammone, Looking South by Diego A. Heckadon

Want a piece of your artwork displayed for sale in a NYC gallery? With $20 and some artistic skill, you totally can! The 6x6 project displays a new collection of artwork each month at Charmingwall- their gallery on West 4th St. To participate, you need to pick up a gallery submission package (here's where your $20 comes in) which includes a 6"x6" canvas for you to use. Dress up your canvas any way you see fit, then return it to the gallery. Your artwork will be featured in the next month's show at Charmingwall, and will also be featured in their online gallery for 3 months. You set the price of your artwork, and if it sells, you get an 80% cut of the selling price! I'm definitely tempted to give it a try myself... as soon as I pull together a good idea, I'm going for it! (I'm thinking a screenprinted, mixed-medium collage print... like newspaper clips, black screenprinting over it, with a gritty urban vibe.) Send me a link or photo of your submitted artwork and I'll feature it here on FR! And if you're not the artsy type, you can still go down to Charmingwall any day of the week, 12-7p, to check out the gallery and support up-and-coming artists.

I was shopping downtown yesterday at the City Quilter and saw this book that I had to have. I often shop for fabric and end up buying a yard or two of a print that I love but have no plans for. I have piles of stray yards and leftovers all around my sewing table. This book has 101 different sewing projects, all made with 1 yard or less of fabric. Brilliant! It provides detailed instructions, an envelope of patterns, lots of photos, and a huge range of projects from handbags to home decor, and clothes for you and baby. Lately I've been left to my own devices, and have found myself frequently burrowing into my new studio space to whip up some creativity. Can't wait to dive into this book and my stacks of fabric and see what I come up with.

Do you sew? What are your favorite things to do with leftover fabric? Any fun projects you'd recommend that use fat quarters or quilting squares? I want to hear from you!

I have a really weird kitchen set-up. My refrigerator stands alone in the middle of a raised tile floor. It's kind of an eyesore... I found this how-to on Martha Stewart Crafts and decided my fridge could use a little accessorizing. I bought different sized flat glass marbles at the dollar store, hit up Michael's Crafts on the UWS for Sobo glue and craft magnets, and sat in front of the TV tonight watching Lost and cutting little circles from my stack of magazines.

I alternated between cutting out numbers, zodiac signs, and mini Lady Gaga's and cursing the artist-formerly-known-as-John-Locke traipsing across my TV screen. (What a life I lead, huh?) They came out pretty cute!