In case you find yourself twiddling your thumbs this weekend, I have an easy craft project to cure your Idlehands-itis.

I made this simple Lemon Green Tea Sugar Scrub in no time and with very little elbow grease. It smells fresh and rings in spring with citrusy goodness. Best of all, it isn’t gloopy like other sugar scrubs and is perfect as a homemade gift.

It’s adapted from Mark Montano’s Big-A** Book Of Crafts. (I don’t swear much, not even in writing! So you can just deal with the asterisks, haha!) It uses easy-to-find ingredients, most of which are probably already in your pantry. (In fact, this scrub is so natural it’s edible! If you’re stuck in your bathroom during a nuclear fallout you can probably eat this. But let’s just hope you use this for vanity’s sake, not survival!)

You’ll need:

1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons Epsom salt
10 teaspoons olive oil (I used one marked “Light” on the bottle so it wouldn’t have a strong smell)
2 teaspoons honey (the darker, the better!)
3 green tea bags
1 lemon to zest (organic preferred)

Zest your lemon and set aside.

Combine the sugar and Epsom salt in a large mixing bowl. Tear open your green tea bags and mix the now-loose tea right in. Add the olive oil, mix in, then add the honey. This is actually efficient because the sugar-salt-tea mixture is able to break down the thick honey, plus the leftover olive oil in your measuring spoon allows the honey to slide right out.

Somewhere in the middle of all this mixing and stirring, you have to laugh when you catch the honey bear and your zester exchanging pleasantries/flirting. Haha!

Add the lemon zest last.

What you get is this awesome, all-natural potion of good things that has exfoliating and moisturizing powers.

If you were to give this as a gift, take a beautiful container (mine has a matching small scoop)…

…and fill it with your homemade scrub. (By the way, I had to double the recipe above to make enough for my glass jar.)

Finish off with a handwritten label and some lovely baker’s twine. (I got mine from Odette and her pretty Etsy shop.)

Package in wrapping tissue as a sweet, homemade gift—this one went to E.’s mom for her birthday (though I liked it so much I’m making a batch for myself)!

Yay, Friday! Have a fun, crafty weekend, all.

—

Further Reading Into The Art Of Sugarscrubology (or other stuff to learn because, you know, learning is sexy)

Mark Montano’s Big A** Book of Crafts (with free links to other crafty ideas)

Sugar scrubs are cool. (And good for you!)

What is Epsom salt? (Because I sure as heck didn’t know!)

Why is darker honey better?

“I want to get a flirty zester like yours to keep my whisk company.”

“That glass jar is fabulous! Where did you get it?”

Martha Stewart pre-cut tags are cute beyond words. Because she’s a genius.

You need this Baker’s Twine from the Packages & Strings Etsy shop in your life. Trust me.

Dear Person Who I Don’t Know Who’s Going To Get My Scarf,

As I packed the red scarf I made for you through Craft Hope to be sent off to The Orphan Foundation, I was hopeful. Hopeful for you, because you’re going out into the world, and with something I made to warm you through the journey. When you’re in college learning about many things in life that matter, know that a lot of love went into the double-crochet stitches that make up this scarf.

I don’t know you, but I know you’re cool. Because the scarf you’re getting is magical. With it you can be and do anything.

Now go be awesome with your cool, new, magical red scarf.

Yours In Yarn,

J.

Exciting times in these parts!

Here’s two crafty, cook-y things you need to know today:

1) First Online Sample Sale Site For Cookware To Launch In April

Snappy Tuna promises to work in the same way online fashion sample-sale sites do, by offering top-name kitchen tools and gadgets at 70% off. When I heard about it from my boss at work, I hunted down the article on the NY Times website that alerted her to this cool, new thing on the net:

Snappy Tuna covers “the whole experience, from prepping a meal to getting it out the door,” said Marcus Greinke of his new Web site, the latest in a growing number built on the sample-sale model. Snappy Tuna specializes in well-known kitchenware and tabletop brands that are discounted up to 60 percent off retail prices, for three days only. Items for sale will include specialty foods, espresso machines and Le Creuset cookware…”

You can sign up on their site right now without an invite (you can go through my Snappy Tuna link HERE). After March 20 or so, the site will be invite-only. I’m SO excited for this!

Now if only they had something similar for fabric…ok, well, let’s not go there. Money doesn’t grow on curls, you know!

2) The First-Ever Crafty Con

YES. You read that right.

Faythe Levine, author of Handmade Nation, tweeted about this. IF money grew on curls I would go in a heartbeat! Early-bird registration is currently $699, and increases by $100 the closer it gets to the show. Plus, it’s in Chicago—home of the Joffrey Ballet and a city I’d LOVE to revisit. Sigh. Can someone out there who plans to go just stuff me into their suitcase? I’ll bring my own snacks for the plane ride! Go HERE if you can take this trip for me!

What you see above is Chicken-Pork Adobo, stewing away in its fragrant marinade of soy sauce, vinegar, fresh-milled black pepper, garlic cloves and bay leaves. As I write this, I can smell its familiar peppery-garlic-tanginess wafting from the kitchen. It fights for my nose’s affection alongside the comforting fragrance of jasmine white rice steaming in a pot. All I can say is that it smells like heaven in here right now. Or, even better, it smells like home.

This is tonight’s dinner. I’ve been sick for the past week and a half, and whenever I’m tired and not feeling well, my body craves for classic Filipino comfort food like this. And not just any adobo—but my Lola’s adobo. I know that there are a million and one ways to prepare this dish, but the way my grandma made it is the one that fits my food memories like a glove. She was a purist about her adobo. Nothing was fancy about it, but its simple preparation and flavors always made the dish sing. I can’t wait to eat!

The thing I realized about Lola’s adobo was that it doesn’t ask for much. It’s the kind of dish that takes care of itself. You literally dump everything in a pot and trust that the chemistry between the ingredients works. And it does, every time. I think, in this way, my Lola’s adobo is “comfort food” in every sense: nonsense kitchen prep that frees you to sit back, relax and even write a blog post, and flavors that wrap you in a warm cloud of your childhood. Every mouthful is a kiss and a hug from Lola.

I hope this post finds you warm and comfy and loved.

I found these beautiful print-and-cut Valentine’ Day cards entirely by accident over at the Poets.org. (I love wasting online time on [legit] poetry sites.) I love these cards. I seriously want to do something with them, like tags for V Day treats or something. Aren’t they pretty? E. E. Cummings kills me.

Would you wipe your hands on this poetic Mr. Darcy proposal dishtowel? (I couldn’t. Maybe I’ll repurpose it into a pillow so I can stare at it longingly and lovingly hug it to sleep. If you’re creeped out by that visual, you OBVIOUSLY don’t know Mr. Darcy like I do. Kthanksbye.)

And wow, look! A heart-shaped cocotte from Staub. I love the black one even more! Le Creuset, I’m breaking up with you.

We are celebrating this weekend at this:

Granted, I realize stuffing my face in front of someone isn’t the most attractive/romantic thing to do, but LA’s most popular food  trucks are going to all be there. Even a GRILLED CHEESE TRUCK, c’mon now!

How are you celebrating Happy Hearts Day?

These ornate Korean decorative towers adorned the main table at a birthday party we attended just this afternoon. My friend Bona made them for her son Joshua’s first birthday. Traditionally, they’re made of stacked colorful “dduk” (rice cakes), though hers were meticulously handcrafted from candy. A Korean baby’s first birthday (or “dol”) is a celebrated in a grand way, as my friend Connie told me, because in the old days it was challenging to raise an infant even up to his/her first year. I love learning about cultures other than my own, and when there are food and craft traditions that go with them, it makes the learning that much more interesting.

EDIT: Here are more cute photos from the birthday party!

Bona even made these animal figures from fruit! Cute!

I always wanted to go to one of these as a kid. I thought getting invited to a Tupperware Party was the height of an exciting social life!

My childhood was filled with Tupperware. My grandmas and aunts used them to store flour, leftovers and rice, among other things, and I often took lunch to school in them. I even have memories of using one of the rectangular red containers with compartments inside and a white top as a sewing box for home ec in school. So my recent fascination with Tupperware from days of yore comes as no surprise. It combines two things I love: vintageness + domesticity!

This old-school obsession actually started with seeing this pic of E. when he was younger.

Yes, that is a Smurf Cake, which he decorated himself! (Happy Smurf Day, lol!) My eyes widened when I saw the cake carrier underneath it. I remembered one like it EXACTLY from a neighborhood kid’s birthday party when I was little. I couldn’t type the words “vintage Tupperware” into Google fast enough!

I’ve been feeding my old-school obsession at a steady pace for several weeks now. The Internet is great for foraging for these vintage gems and has lots of devoted collector groups, some of which are over on Flickr. (How things from when I was growing up are now considered “vintage” is subject to another day’s discussion!)

Rummage through the kitchen cupboards from your childhood with me! Remember these?

* Canisters with center buttons that you had to “pop” for freshness

* Classic orange jug—always filled with ice-cold Tang!

* Yellow-and-cream food containers with that little swirly insigna

(Photos via **tWo pInK pOSsuMs**.)

eBay also has lots of excellent finds. Naaliw naman ako!

* Stackable lunch carriers

(Via mykraft.)

* Hours of endless fun with the Shape Sorter toy!

(Via froggrrll.)

And look, I found the exact kind of red case I used in home ec class in 6th Grade!

(Via sutton459.)

The biggest collection of vintage Tupperware ads, catalogs and posters is hosted over on the amazing Tupper Diva site. I’m obsessed with looking through it.

And, oh, yes Tupperware is apparently still alive and thriving. Here’s their website, along with their now-modern designs, like these awesome food keepers for chilis, avocado halves, onions and garlic.

I don’t have the space to start my own collection, but I’d like to find some of these as storage bins for my craft area. I think it would be great if I could organize all my stuff in all these retro cases. I’m really hoping to scour the next Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market for them!

I’ll be blogging about my old-school domestic obsessions every once in a while. It’s a growing list! (Next up: Good ol’ Pyrex!)

In a perfect world, I would have the chance to cook (and eat) every imaginable pasta shape out there. I’ve been thinking about pasta a lot recently, and this may be because I’m trying not to eat too much of it. Last night, in fact, I dreamt about making rigatoni with sausage and peppers. With homemade marinara sauce from ripe, plump Roma tomatoes, made bold with healthy servings of garlic, fresh basil and thyme, finished off with a hunk of warm, crusty bread.

In my hankering for all things pasta, I’ve unearthed these photos from one of the more memorable pasta meals I’ve made. It’s a no-holds-barred Chicken Alfredo (modified from this recipe), the kind you only make once every two years or so for fear that you’ll keel over after the last bite. The kind of pasta dish you hold in your memory—for the joy in making it as much as the joy in eating it!

I remember making this after discovering the pasta Shapes Library (yes, there is such a thing) over at the National Pasta Association website. I was looking through all the shapes and realized I’d never worked with Cavatappi before, so I promptly set about to remedy the situation by declaring dinner as an excuse to test-run this particular pasta shape.

There’s so much more out there to try! How about these interesting-looking ones for your next meal? I think learning to pair which pasta shape to what sauce is an unexplored culinary art form, and I’m hoping to get several chances this year to uhm, “enrich my studies” (read: Cook and eat more of these things!). Look, there’s even a pasta shape for a curlyhead like me!

If YOU dreamt of pasta, what kind of dish would it be?

Pardon me.

Contrary to what you may be thinking, I’m not flipping you off!

I burned three fingers on my right hand yesterday. And what you see above is my hand with burn cream on it. The stuff was supposed to sit in a thick layer on the burns for a good half hour. Which resulted in my weird (and kind of obscene) crab hand. If I wasn’t careful, I’d get the cream on everything, so I had to hold up my hand and fingers like that. Fun times.

Well, not really. I burned my fingers on a bowl from a microwave, out of all things. I heated up some food, the bowl got super heated and I picked it up without thinking. I couldn’t imagine a supposedly microwavable bowl would get that hot, but it did. It got SEARING hot, and it gave me the NASTIEST burns I’ve ever had (and I’ve been burned in the kitchen A LOT). They were so painful I had to focus all my energy into not going into shock. My brother’s girlfriend said that it probably hurt that much because fingers have a lot of nerve endings, because we use them to touch and feel surfaces, temperatures, etc.

I had to grip a bag of fake ice as we half-frantically dashed in the rain to the nearest pharmacy where I found this Burn Jel stuff. There was a whole bunch of other burn remedies on the shelf, but between you and me I picked this one out because it has a picture of a baking lady on it. Hee.

I didn’t get it on the burn immediately, so it took about an hour to really work. It has lidocaine in it and some aloe vera.  I had to use it for a long time before it finally worked—some cushy gauze helped. I had to wince my way through a stirfry and the simplest things, like turning the key in a lock or zipping up my jeans.

Today my fingers are doing better, but I had to wrap them for  a good part of the day because I kept hitting the sore parts. But the Burn Jel has really helped—as I write this I have no blisters and the pain is almost all gone.

I’m writing about this because I realized last night if I had damaged my fingers beyond repair, I wouldn’t be able to cook or craft. It’s my cautionary tale to you—PLEASE don’t be a klutz like me in the kitchen (well, anywhere for that matter)! Believe me—you need your fingers!

I’m writing this post today because it’s my grandaunt’s birthday.

Ma. Luz Pura Ykalina Fuentes was simply Lola Luz to me. Having never married, she lived with us up until her death several years ago. I had other talented grandmothers who introduced me to the crafts I’ve grown to love and practice today. But it was only Lola Luz who taught me ganchillo, which is the Spanish word for crochet.

She was a schoolteacher and so had the skill and patience to teach an overly anxious, impatient little kid like me how to sit still and be quiet with some thread and a crochet hook. My first attempts at it were disastrous. Angsty even at eight years old, my first projects were granny squares so tight they curled up into tight little wads of jumbled thread. And I was a perfectionist even then, so I would throw my projects on the floor with a frustrated wail and with hot, fat tears rolling down my cheeks, I’d dramatically declare: “I’m NEVEEEERRR going to be good at this!”

Lola Luz loved us with her own brand of stern. So when my would-be doilies ended up on the floor, she didn’t coax me back to them with a gentle voice. She would knit her brows, purse her lips and with a harrumph say something she often repeated to me as I faced the challenges of growing up, “Indi ka mag siling indi! Kabalo ka gid lang pro!” (“Don’t say ‘never!’ You KNOW how to do it!”) The confidence in her voice often snapped me back to my own. And I would somehow sniffle my way to a semblance of calm as she sat there quietly working on her own project, patiently waiting for me to come around. I would eventually, though pouting the whole time, reach for the yarn to try again. It took several tries, I actually think it even took years, before I really learned to do it correctly—with the right thread tension, the right way to hold the hook, the right way to crochet, just like Lola Luz.

This is one of my own crochet projects from last year.

It’s going to be a Babette Blanket, a crocheted throw made of different-sized granny squares joined together. (Like the one you see below, from The Purl Bee. If you’re interested in the pattern, you can purchase and download it from the Interweave online store, HERE.)

I had to abandon it because I still tend to be much like the impatient little kid when I was eight. It’s somewhat of a large undertaking. I have to crochet more than 60 granny squares, some of them very large, some of them tiny. I was off to a good start, as you’ll see. But I was soon overwhelmed by the enormity of it. And the longer I spent away from it, the more I couldn’t bring myself to go back to it. (If you crochet, you’ll understand that your tension changes when you’re not working on a specific project anymore.)

But I’m looking at these pictures, all my beautiful thread colors and remembering Lola Luz, I HAVE to go back to it, don’t I? If I said I’m going back to it to honor my grandma’s memory, I don’t think she’d like that very much. That was her way. I think if she were alive she would say, “Do it because I KNOW you can.” Her confidence in me then is something that I have, in the dregs of crafting or through the anxieties of everyday life, learned to unlock from the rooms of my mind.

And so maybe this weekend, in a little spot of sun somewhere, in a tiny patch of quiet, I’ll loop yarn through my fingers the way she taught me and crochet again. With confidence.

Happy birthday, Lola Luz. Thank you for everything you taught me. And like you always used to tell me, ten cuidado, wherever you are.

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Thank you to Tito Boy and Tita Edwina for all those awesome, old-school Fuentes photos from days of yore.