Vegan Skip It Hoppin' John

Feeling nostalgic, I wanted to make something with my bag of black eyed peas. You don't grow up with Oklahoma Okies and Indians and an Idaho country girl without eating your share of Hoppin' John and lots of greens.
I don't do bacon, nor do I do meat....and all the substitutions didn't harm the stunningly delicious flavor....Yes, that's a White Russian......with dinner. A gal has got to keep up her spirits !

*****Vegan Hoppin' John*****
1 T Olive or canola oil
1C chopped onion
1/2 C chopped celery (I had to sub with chopped bok choy and cabbage)
1/2 C chopped bell pepper (I used 3 colors)
1 T minced garlic (I love my garlic mincer)
1 lb of Black Eye Peas
1 Qt stock or buillon (I used 2 vegie soup cubes and some left over kale water)
1/2 t each salt and pepper
1/2 t poultry seasoning
1/2 t liquid smoke
1/4 C maple syrup....(these last 2 ingredients were swapped out for the same measures of Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar) (be creative)


Cook the black eye peas in enough water to cover for about a half hour, in a big pot, and set aside.
Saute the onions, celery or vegetable subs, garlic and pepper in the oil, until soft and gently browned.
Add that to your big pot of cooked peas, the qt. of stock, s & p, seasonings (or the subs) and the syrup (brn sugar)
Bring to a boil, hold it there for a minute, and then simmer for about 45 mins until most of the stock has been absorbed.
Serve with hot (brown) rice and your favorite vegetables.........kale, hot potatoes, cabbage...whatev!

...the nasty snowy weather drove me batty....the only good thing about cold weather is cute sweaters!  When 7 layers of clothes didn't keep me warm enough...I turned on the stove...and baked dozens of cookies, and ate them, and then shoveled a lot of snow to work off all that cookie-fat.
I made a lot of yummy food. I stocked up the day before the snowstorm with lots of coffee, booze, baking supplies, dried beans and fresh vegetables....

right now it's sunny and warm at 50 degrees and the snow is melting....
these pics are from when it was 27 degrees and too damn much snow !! my bamboo was iced over...but he recovered when it melted..

I don't do fashion ...

I just like neat clothes. I like to make cute and nifty things. I like things to be well-made and last a long time.
This is why I've worn "old clothes" .....now called "Vintage !"

This is why I make a lot of things. I often can't find the things I like...so I make them....and I hope others like them too.
I was snowed out of my photography space...so cold in there...but Look ! the sun has come back...and a lot of the snow has melted. Sunday and Monday, new listings shall be listed!

Lots of shoes and boots, vintage Levis, some jewelry and other stuff I can't remember now.

I only lost one branch and my summer tent is destroyed....the yard looks like the shrubs had a war....Look, my gnome is peeking thru the snow-blanket.......so better days are ahead.

3 necklaces I just made and will list on Sunday the 22nd day of January 2012.



This one has a golden chain, with a simple geometry-inspired metal tube.
simple.

this necklace is a long pendant with a vintage skeleton key and an Alice in Wonderland theme with its teapot, blue heart and tiny Excelsior vintage key.

this little cutie uses a vintage chain, and a zipper head...that's all. The zipper pull says COED ....really.

Stop calling shirts with buttons "Button-down"

About 7 years ago* some moron on ebay started calling all shirts with ....buttons...down...the..front....a BUTTON DOWN SHIRT. No. it's. not.This ill-informed "fashion" editorial on Stylelist "The Classic White Button-Down: 5 Days/5 Ways", does not use a button-down shirt styled (?) 5 ways....they use a shirt that buttons down the front. Big Difference!
(not to mention, but I  will, Leggings as Pants)
(and people who say "think" when they mean "imagine" or "remember")

Since I love the Classics ! mis-naming mistakes made by People With A Job in the Fashion/Styling/Writing industries, that don't know wtf they are talking about...really -----  me.....and if that is an actual button-down, please, tell me that it is. She could be wearing the buttons undone....In any case, the distinction needs to be made.
A century ago, Brooks Brothers popularized  putting a button and buttonhole on the collar corner, and Viola! it's a button-down collar.
yeesh, even Wikipedia can supply you with the correct answer.  "Button-down" is sometimes used incorrectly to describe the front buttoning of a shirt; a "button-down" shirt refers to a shirt with an American "button-down" collar introduced by Brooks Brothers in 1896, discussed below.[1]

These are button-down shirts.

 *that was the first time I saw a moron misusing the style term.

I can only blame the herds of Quick Buck artists that decided 10 years ago, to sell crap on ebay, and the sudden influx of vintage clothing sellers that bred like rabbits over there too.....People who don't know the difference between a flat-felled seam and a waffle iron, are buying Forever21 crap, and selling it as "vintage". Beware!

hearts and moon and star.

"Love doesn't make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile." - Elizabeth Browning ....


Moon and star cosmic geometry necklace....

Wes Anderson's new movie,  Moonrise Kingdom as an etsy treasury....


new handmades in my "other" shop....
all here: thatyountvillegirl

angora sweater heart and Key !

girl you know it's true......

Ice white angora leaves, red cashmere little mitts....

....vintage Key, jade heart, faux suede....

Hearts and Love...

Big heart, little black dress....

so happy together....

Bruce rainbow love.....

and if it doesn't work out....well....

sunny winter day

sparkles on the water....tug moving logs around

vintage indigo selvedge denim scored in the wilds and will be turned into some of these utility aprons, and some of it will become a tote bag or 2 or 3. ..and new projects ....denim, military canvas, and feed bag tote bags.

old Navy (ha ha) military shirt, old WWII denim duffle bag, and some of the vintage selvedge denim....cut up, add straps, and snaps and buttons, line with quirky fabric = utility fabulousnesssss

and from old denim, some Fender guitar strap braid, is a little pouch with a vintage button....perfect size for an iPhone....

Home is where the art is

when I wasn't being sick over the xmas weeks, I was cleaning out my house. I pity my poor kids...if I died tomorrow, they would have to sift thru 55 years of crap valuable things to list on ebay.
One of the home projects I've decided to complete after laying dormant for only 14 months...my dining chair seats! I've completed one ! I only have one left to do!
 here's the after....and then the before....and then the easy-peasy step by step...

(before) 

 Choose a sturdy fabric like...upholstery fabric or duck or sailcloth or denim.

1st, Unscrew the seat cushion (turn the chair upside down, and look underneath at the 4 corners for the screws), remove the wood and foam and fabric sandwich from the chair frame and disassemble. Toss the old fabric away. I reused my foam, but if yours is flat after years of butt, go buy new. Like at Joann's or a local foam shop. It's in the yellow pages, ie...411. or ask Google or Siri. 
Then lay the foam on your new fabric, and cut your chair fabric about 3 - 4 inches larger than the foam and wood seat. Yes, save and reuse the wood under the foam. (don't lose those screws!)

2nd ... Be sure to lay the foam on the Wrong Side of the fabric first, evenly with 3 -4 inches all around. Lay the board on top of that, fold an edge of fabric about an inch and gently pull it up to the wood ...start on any edge of the wood, about 1.5" in....and staple. Put a staple about every 2".  I love my new yellow Staple Gun!

3rd...Go all the way around the seat. Start on one side...go to the other side, then the 3rd side, and finish the fourth side. Pull and smooth as you go. You want the foam slightly compressed....but not tight, or the staples will pull out when you sit down. Bad. You can always pull the staples out and start over if you aren't happy when you turn it over and check it.

4th.... the corners are a bit tricky. Pinch the fabric together and artfully fold the corners flat and staple. It is OK to chop a bit of fabric away....but be careful! don't take too much. Be sure you have about 3 - 4 inches to fold over and staple. This is tricky, but you can do it!

Check it out !!
lastly, put it back on the chair, and screw the screws back into the 4 corners underneath the chair. You may have to unscrew the screws a bit so they don't poke you when you sit down. As long as they bite and go thru the wood under the seat, you'll be fine.

elvis

My first 2 wheel bike* was an old 50s model with fat tires, fenders, a big saddle seat, and a wire basket. I got it in 4th grade, in 1963, just after I turned 9. Tom Roe painted it green, sparkle green, in his Auto Body Shop in Yountville, down Washington St, near the Catholic Church. As a special treat, my dad let me choose the color and I asked him to ask Tom to paint "Elvis" on the front fender.
Yeah, that's right.
I do love Elvis but not in the mindless white trash way. That's my Elvis tapestry, that's my Elvis tshirt Annie gave me (awesome!), and that's my Elvis watch. No really, I love  Elvis, but not like that....
Happy Birthday !
*first full size 2 wheeler,that is.
similar to this:

Elvis Aaron Presley was born January 8, 1935 and is a cultural icon.
Last weekend Mark and I went to dinner with his dad and Sally to celebrate Dick's 70th birthday! As we passed the theater in the mega-mega-huge Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn (which is an acid trip without the drugs)...an Elvis impersonator, Steve Sogura, was singing.

My first Elvis album was Acapulco. I still know all the words by heart to "No Room to Rhumba in Sports car"...



Oh No! Elvis joins the Army ! He entered the United States Army at Memphis, Tennessee, on March 24, 1958, because Selective Service told him to do so....




Army clothes! yes. Love the clothes hate the war. I am a flower child after all.

The AAF, The Army Air Forces began on June 20, 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor.
>U.S. Army personnel have traditionally been assigned to branches and so
air services were in the Army long before that and their names changed over time.
1907 - Aeronautical Section of the Signal Corps.
1914 - Aviation Section (Signal Corps).
1918 - United States Army Air Service
1926 - United States Army Air Corps
1941 - United States Army Air Forces
1947 - United States Air Force ....left the Army and became their own service branch.

and the ladies? yes, Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Jacqueline Cochran, one of the most well-known aviators of that time, tried to interest the Army Air Corps in women pilots who would be trained to fly military aircraft within the United States. On Sept. 10, 1942, Nancy Harkness Love, with the support of the U.S. Air Transport Command, organized 25 women pilots into the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS).
The purpose of the WAFS was to deliver planes from the factory to military bases. On Aug. 5, 1943, the WAFS and WFTD (Women’s Flying Training Detachment ) merged into the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). The history of the WASP

Early 40s Army Air Force shirt, AAF patch on the shoulder soldier.
Dark Olive wool officer uniform shirt is early 40s, World War Two, with a felt embroidered AAF patch.
The AAF patch dates to 1942, and the felt is the first in the series of these patches issued.

40s WWII US Army HBT Trousers

WWII Planes B17 B29 with Nose Art casual print Mens Shirt
What a great tribute to the fighting men and women of World War II  !

Fun print of many Boeing planes..B17 Flying Fortress, B29 Superfortress, B25 Mitchell, B24 Liberator, B26 Marauder.

50s Field Trousers M 1951 Olive Drab US Army HBT

There's certainly many wonderful sad and evocative songs from the Big Band era, and the years of World War 2....but this one by Vera Lynn never fails to make me tear up....just a bit...after all these years...every time I hear it....Lynn's song in the final scene of Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove, and was also used in the closing scenes of the 1986 BBC television serial The Singing Detective....and I love that series and Michael Gambon. oh yes. Songs by the Ink Spots were in it too...songs of my little childhood.