Hurricane Sandy + Macarons + Ginger Tea

Hurricane Sandy is on it's way. I did buy some canned food, water, and other things in anticipating hurricane Sandy in case we will loose power. It said that it will hit our area Long Island, New York by Monday night. So today Monday morning is starting to rain and strong wind gust outside.

I am in the mood for a cup of Ginger Tea home made by me {here} and I still have macarons that I made a while a go {here}. I sat and relaxed while listening to my favorite artist Chris Botti and read some magazines.

This is a quick post, a moment in the act post ! I hope people of Long Island  like some of Steven's family whom are living on the Long Island shore will be safe.

Thank you for reading !

Classic Lemon Tarragon Chicken + Sweet Roasted Pepper {Recipe}

Steven "hubby" loves chicken dinner very much ! So I must come up with new chicken recipe for him all the time.

Here is my new yummy Classic Lemon Tarragon Chicken with Sweet Roasted Pepper.

Recipe

CLASSIC LEMON TARRAGON CHICKEN

~ 2 large lemon

~ 4 small (10 oz.) bone-in-chicken-breast halves with skin on, but any rib bones removed

~ 1 tsp each minced garlic and kosher salt

~ 4 sprigs fresh tarragon

~ 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

~ 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

~ 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

Chopped fresh tarragon for garnish

1. Heat oven to 400 Deg. F. Cut 1 lemon into very thin slices, juice the other lemon.

2. Loosen the skin of the chicken-breast halves. Rub flesh underneath with garlic and season with half the salt. Tuck a lemon slice and tarragon sprigs under the skin of each breast. Secure skin to breasts with tooth picks.

3. Place chicken in a shallow roasting dish. Drizzle breasts with olive oil and reserved lemon juice. Scatter remaining  lemon slices over chicken and season skin with remaining salt and the pepper. Pour broth around chicken in roasting dish.

4. Roast 40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through; remove from oven. Turn broiler to high. Broil chicken 1 to 2 minutes to crisp up skin. Remove toothpicks and garnish with chopped tarragon.

Makes 4 servings . Each serving; 405 cal, 21 gr fat, 50 g protein, 3 g carb.

SWEET ROASTED PEPPER

~ 3 large pepper {Red, Orange and Yellow}

~ 1 tbsp balsamic vinegraette

~ 2 tbsp olive oil

~ salt and pepper

1. Cut pepper in chunk pieces.

2. Cover cookies pan with aluminium foil and put pepper on the pan.

3. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegratte'

4. Sprinkle salt and pepper

5 Using two hands; mix them until all peppers cover with olive oil and balsamic vinegraette

6. Turn oven to 350 deg F and bake for about 20 minutes until pepper are tender and a little bruises.

~~~o0o~~~

Thank you for reading !

Saturday {Home Decor} Color Inspiration

Have you ever wondered what would happen if colors are not exist. I can only imagine that life would be very dull and will not be exciting. I love colors. Colors known for effected people's mood. It can cheer you up makes you happy, it can calms you down in peace and harmony, it can triggers anger and emotion. It is obvious for me as an artist that I love colors.

I am in the middle of sprucing up our living room just a little bit. Since this apartment never get to be sold; I decided to give a new look. Of course with colors. We  {Steven 'The Husband'  & I} agreed that I should give it a try that after a while we both need a little change in our living room. Well, it's about time.

While I am in the middle of doing this project; today I am posting images and talk a little bit about interior and colors.

Take a look at these images, you might not like them because some are really loud in colors but on the other hand you might like it. As for me, to be honest I love it as long as I don't live in it.  I personally like splash of colors pop up in a room contrast with neutral colors. 

Well you decide !

 I can see that the owner of this home is an artist Isabelle Tuchband  and I love her studio.

Sources; http://www.cocokelley.com/2012/08/spice-up-your-life/

When looking at this image of a room carefully and although the wall covered with patterns (wall paper obviously) it does not have the feeling of 'busy' and ''crowd'  when mixed with the patterns of cushions and the table lamp. I got the feeling of harmony in this room.

Source: http://www.absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com/

I got the same mood and feeling with this room as well.

Source; http://southernpiphi.tumblr.com/post/16916773543

And this bedroom too !

Source; http://beachbungalow8.blogspot.com/

Source; http://beachbungalow8.blogspot.com/

 

 Source; http://la-belle-vie.tumblr.com/page/22

Ohh...I am running out of words to describe this dining room but 'I love it!'

Source; http://www.horchow.com/store/catalog/templates/HP3.jhtml?itemId=cat14040735&parentId=cat7970731&masterId=cat7910735&cmCat=&page=&view=all&filter1Type=&filter1Value=&filter2Type=&filter2Value=&filterOverride=&sort=&navid=viewall

Hello.............!!

Source; http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-02-08/features/bs-hm-decor-predictions-20120207_1_decorating-hot-items-trends

Bright color night stand ? Why not !

Source; http://www.styleathome.com/homes/interiors/interiors-a-modern-victorian-rowhouse/a/41488/7

Based on my observation on the above; there is no rules as to what colors you want to put in your room as long as the color is harmonious together. To learn about color click here. I love them all ! I understand why people afraid of color because I think it is like a personality; if you are a quiet or shy type of  person; you do not want to be recognize as a noisy person and same with color. It speaks about your personality. 

Color can be put on anything; wall paper, cushions pillows, rugs, paintings, console table, night stand, head board, to name a few ! I am in a mission of creating my living room color palette. I do not know what the result is going to be. But I want to try it out ! Hey, if it's not working just start all over again and change the color.

What is your colorful decor project lately ?

Thank you for reading and have a nice week end You All !

Fresh Healthy Soothing Ginger Tea

My father has been drinking this tea two cups a day for many years now. I noticed that my father gets lots of compliments of how young and healthy he looks. In the past I never interested in trying this tea. I do love ginger though ! My mother always jokes that whenever they go; for example when go to a family gathering for a few days she has to make this tea for my father. The joke was my mother said "I have been grated this ginger for your father wherever we go!" I do not mean that she has to do this when they are going overseas but she did bring the grater with her and fresh  ginger root when they go locally for a few days.

2 months a go they came to visit us here in New York for 3 weeks. I witnessed my mother grated the ginger every 4 days or so to make this delicious tea {later when they left I was curious to try it out} and I liked it !

Ginger is known for it's many properties to promote health  or to prevent illness in the far east especially China. More info here. Well, my parents got know this remedy from a youthful healthy 85 years old neighbor.

Here is the step by step.

Cut and peel ginger.

 Grated all the ginger pieces. I must admit it is a lot of work to grate the ginger. But if you take a good amount of fresh ginger and grate them all at once; it will last for 4 or 5 days.

 Put the grated ginger in a container so it can be used in the future.

 Take a good amount of water and boil it.  And take tea bag of your choice. I love black tea because it robusts and I just love the taste of it.

Take a cup put the tea bag, sugar {if you like} and spoonful of grated ginger and some boiling water in. Let it stay for a minute or two. 

When you get the strength of tea you like, take the tea bag out.You can put milk if you like.

Using a strainer, transfer the whole tea to another cup. When the strainer catches the ginger fiber use the back of spoon and press to  let the liquid drop in the tea.

This tea is so soothing and warm your throat. Sit back, relax and enjoy this ginger tea with biscuits. I am looking forward to have this tea during cold winter month. I will have this tea every day.

I would like to know if someone knows how to make this tea in an effective way; especially the grated part.

Thank you for reading !

Re-packaging Guest Bath Soaps {DIY}

I seem  can not get enough with fresh lovely fragrance soaps. I always buy them from Home Goods. They are inexpensive and pretty to put in a jar to decorate  bathrooms.

We were having a couple guests staying in our condo for a few days in Florida and often I do no have bath soaps for them. If I do have; it is already used. So I came up with a solution that I re-packaging the pretty soaps myself. Since our guests often stay in our condo for about 3 or 4 days the use of a regular soap bar will be wasted. And I think the next guest will not want to use a used soap bar.

So here is the DIY of my new version of soap bar for guest bathroom.

What you need.

~ Varieties of craft papers with different motifs available at Michaels

~ Soap bars of your choice, mine from Home Goods

~ Decorative ribbon, or embroidery threat, or cords, available at Michaels

~ Invisible tape

~ Scissor

~ Martha Stewart Craft Label available at Michaels

Cut the soap in half. By cutting the soap in half; the size will be perfect to use for a few days and can be discarded after.

Wrap the half soap with craft paper, tie and label it.

Put them in a glass bowl to decorate guest bathroom. Not only it is now a perfect size but also pretty to decorate bathroom.

What kind of soap do you put in your guest bathroom ? I think a liquid soap can be handy too but I did not think about this before.

Thank you for stopping by !

Fell in Love with Trumeau Mirror

Many moons ago I saw this mirror called 'trumeau' somewhere in a magazine, in a museums, trip to Paris and fell in love with the motifs that painted on the top panel of the mirror. I am sure you may have saw them before too ! 

To learn more about trumeau mirror, click here !

 Source:http://www.crownandcolony.com/mirrors.php

 

 Source; http://www.frenchinteriors.com/trumeau.htm

Source : http://www.frenchinteriors.com/trumeau.htm

http://www.frenchinteriors.com/trumeau.htm

Patricia our 'home service cleaning lady' share the same passion as I do; flea markets, vintage china, sewing, home decor, etc. So when she comes to our home we always talk about these things. One day she came and showed me a magazine that has a store advertisement selling decorative items that she wants to buy. Since she does not have computer she asked me to open it up and look what are in the store. Here. She bought and ordered a few things. Patricia has been working for my husband Steven since he was a single man until now for more than 10 years. So I was more than happy helped and ordered them for her. But then I thought about making the trumeau mirror out of these decorative items. So I saved the website address in my computer for one day when I am ready to DIY the mirror I will have it handy. The problem is I need space to do it and have been waiting for our home to be sold and move into a bigger home but it has not happened yet {well it is another story!}

Meanwhile I saw a few beautiful DIY trumeau mirrors on Pinterest,  DIYed by these creative ladies. I could not believe that someone had the same idea as I do. Except I have not made mine yet. So here are some of the lovely trumeau mirrors made by these ladies.

Source; http://www.mattersofstyleblog.com/2010/03/and-winner-of-diy-challenge-is.html

Source: http://www.susieharrisblog.com/2010/02/diy-trumeau.html

Source: http://meridianroad.blogspot.com/2010/11/trumeau-mirror.html

Then one day when we were started to decorate our condo in Delray  Florida, I saw this mirror in a store and I just got to have it. Especially it was only USD 45.00. It is now sitting on top of a dresser in our guest bedroom. I am thinking to put a new look on this trumeau mirror but I have not got my hands on it yet. I am planning to stay in Florida for 2 weeks and just do a make over furniture that we  bought {it is still a plan but definitely a must in the near future}.

Well, that is the story of how I fell in love with this elegance, classic french trumeau mirror.

Thank you so much for reading !

Giveaway Announcement

From the bottom of my heart; thank you so much to all of you who participated 'The 1st Anniversary of CuriositaEllya Blog Giveaway' contest.

Now that you are CuriositaEllya Blog follower, I do hope that you will enjoy reading my future blog posts and I would like to get to know you more.

Once again, thank you so much !

Now I am going to announce the winner.......!

Congratulations to cupcake mama ! I will contact you by email shortly !