DIY by someone else?

as much of a DIYer that i am, i just can't do everything myself. it is not realistic for me to make all (or even most) of my own clothing/accessories. but, i can support handmade/small-run businesses (other DIYers), especially if they have eco-friendly practices; and find beautiful unique items to add to my closet.

fiveseed is having a lovely giveaway. it's for a very pretty scarf from foulard threads. i am embracing the world of bloggy-giveaways and posting this entry earns me an extra entry into pretty prize potential.

see here:
http://fiveseed.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/giveaway-foulard-threads/#comment-210

funemployment over, already?!

i've been neglecting the blog this past week, mostly because reupholstering a couch is a lot of work, and has been taking up all my project time. i've finally got all the old fabric off the couch, and am going to sit down to cut out new pieces from the upholstery fabric i bought.

i imagine it will take a while. especially since i go back to work today. i've got a contract to take me until june 25 (and potentially until august 13). so, my time for blogging will be less. but i'm gonna try to keep up one crafty project per week. there's still lots of things i'd like to do that didn't get done during my 5 weeks off.

stay tuned.

DIY pain au chocolat

 last week, chris and i watched an episode of good eats, and i became convinced that making my own puff pastry was a bad idea - too much effort and poor results likely. according to alton brown, the store bought frozen puff pastry is made with big machines that can control the laminated pastry dough layers much more easily than the average amateur pastry chef can in their home kitchen.

but, the next day, i started reading a blog called dinner with julie, and she made it seem so easy! her recipe and blog entry really convinced me that i (an average person with no pastry-chef training) could do it. i threw caution (and all of alton brown's warnings) to the wind and got started on the dough.

things i learned:
- rolling out refrigerated dough is hard work. and requires significant upper body strength. i do not have much of this strength. chris was recruited to help at times.
- my oven is very temperamental, and cannot keep a consistent temperature (it wavers back and forth by 50 degrees). this results in dark-bottomed croissants if you don't watch carefully.
- alton brown was right, puff pastry is hard work. but, i'll probably try it again sometime when i have a few days to spare.

  overall, my first attempt at puff pastry was not too bad. there's definitely things i'll change when/if i attempt it again (mostly relating to technique rather than ingredients).

but, they were certainly edible - and disappeared quickly in the grad student office (although, that may not be the best way to judge their quality). they were even flaky, and i could see a few of the laminated layers.

the chocolate ganache centres were delicious (a modification i made to the original recipe). much better than using regular chocolate which hardens when the croissant returns to room temperature. the chocolate ganache centres stayed soft and creamy until the last croissant was gone.

yum.