It's official!

 

I am thrilled to announce bink & boo's first Pop-Up Shop exclusively at Bixby & Ball!  We will be debuting creations unique to this event as well as introducing our home collection.  Gather up your girlfriends and come join us for a drink, a treat, and a cheerful shopping event!  Visit our facebook event page to r.s.v.p.

someday

Like many designers, I dream of owning my own little shop.  I am pretty sure I romanticise the idea, but that's the beauty of day dreaming.  Any who,  I keep coming back to these images of the Trina Turk store in Palm Springs for inspiration.  Just my style.

image via sfgirlbybay.com

{veggie} patty perfection

Earlier this week I stumbled across this recipe for a quinoa burger, which I made for dinner last night.  I added a few extra veggies to make it my own and served it with fry sauce (1/2 mayo 1/2 kethcup), lettuce, and red onion inside a "sandwich round", with a side of tots...  The meal was so delicious, and the patties are so good I ate two for breakfast.  

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups water

3/4 cup shredded parmesan (or other variety, if you prefer--I love jack cheese with quinoa)

1/2 cup cottage cheese

2 medium carrots, finely grated

2 cups cooked kale, finely chopped

1 large onion, diced and caramelized

3 eggs

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour (maybe more if patties don't hold their shape well)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Olive oil for frying

In a medium saucepan bring the 2 cups water to a boil over high heat.  Add quinoa and reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 18-20 minutes, or until all water is absorbed and the seeds are tender.  Allow to cool for a few minutes.

In a large bowl combine the cooked quinoa, kale, onions, cheese, cottage cheese, carrots, eggs, flour,  pepper, cumin, salt, and garlic powder.

Heat a frying pan and a couple teaspoons olive oil over medium heat.  Measure 1/4 cup and form into patties about 1/2 inch thick  - mixture will be slightly sticky.  Fry until golden-brown, about 4 minutes on each side.   Makes approx. 10 burgers.

Per burger:  Calories 132; Protein 8 g; Fat 5 g; NET Carbs 12 g; Sugar 0 g; Sodium 200 mg

image and original recipe from eating well...living thin.

the couch

When I open shop this couch, the pillows, and pink poufs will be a must!  Actually I think it might be more fun to translate this room for a VW bus.  Hmmm, that gives me an idea.

image discovered at live like you blog

Too much!

Too much sugar and too much fun.  Let the sugar cleanse begin!  Actually...let the sugar cleanse begin tomorrow, I spy some peeps that need to be nibbled on.  Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Cheers to a fantastic week!

Good Friday

Today I will be celebrating both Good Friday and Earth Day.  I am kicking off Earth Day with a free cup of coffee from Starbucks (YAY!).  bink & boo is kicking off Earth Day with a promo for all our friends on Facebook.  And on a personal note, I will be kicking off Good Friday dying eggs with a friend, and heading to church this evening.  How about you?  Plans for either...or both?  Have a beautiful weekend lovelies!

image from wedding style guide blog

classic

Paul Newman, ruggedly handsome.  I am working on a collection that has me inspired by black & white photos.  I came across this one and had to share.  You're welcome...

image found via bright.bazaar at pinterest

Mom

 This is my mother.  She is one crazy bird.  (Where do you think I get it from?)  She is a huge source of inspiration and my biggest fan.  She is beautiful, she is kind, she's so stinkin' funny, and I couldn't be more blessed to have her as my mother and best girlfriend.  Happy Birthday mom!

Downtown

 Yesterday b and I tagged along with Roman to a meeting downtown.  It felt good to burst out of the 'burbs and out of our bubble.  Downtown San Diego has grown on me, but there is a stark contrast between old and new that is slightly jarring.  I chose to skip the "new" downtown and headed for the "old". 

color

How fun would it be to sit down and eat breakfast in this room.  It would definitely put a little pep in my step to start the day off in a space so filled with sunshine & cheer. 
I hope you all had a great weekend.  Cheers to a great week!

Enjoy...

This recipe for making fresh cream butter. 

Have a lovely weekend friends!

image and recipe found at momtastic

No time to blog. Busy creating.

So part of the reason why I am so crazed is that I am creating a few new collections and pieces for...wait for it...dramatic pause...A BINK & BOO POP-UP SHOP!!!  I am so darn excited I can't see straight.  I will give you more details very soon, but let me just say the amount of color and cuteness that is exploding from my "studio" is more than Southern California can hold.  We just might have to take this show shop on the road.  Something like this (minus the coke stuff & kfc) would be fun.

first image from leberpr.com via pinterest
second image from pinterest

I am feeling....

A bit overwhelmed.  So much to do and so little time.  But, complaining about it won't get it done any sooner.  So that being said...I am off to get things done!

I hope you all are having a good week so far.  Have a great day!

image via Jami Goldsmith's pinterest

Fiesta by the Sea

This weekend Melissa and I gathered "The Creatives" for a little fiesta.  Melissa so graciously opened her home to myself and 9 other ladies for a cooking class taught by me!  On the menu...

For starters we had salsa & salsa verde, served with homemade chips and guacamole.  I made my mother's limeade with vodka, which was nothing compared to the margarita's Melissa made--the best I have ever had (sorry mom).  Dinner was simple, it was all about me teaching the basic staples that I had grown up with: rice, beans, and handmade flour tortillas.

I was more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, but I pulled it off!  The meal was as if my grandmother made it herself.  Oh and to top it off Brandi made the most delicious tres leches cake.  I pretty much rolled myself home from the party.

...And by the way, we gave that adorable little bull (pictured above) one heck of a beat down.  What fell to the ground wasn't candy.  I had stuffed that bull full of a different kind of treat.

How fun is that?!  The site of grown ladies screaming and rushing in to grab these little treasures was a site I will never forget.

Melissa, thank you for opening your beautiful home to all of us.  And ladies, thank you for being the most creative bunch of beauties a girl could surround herself with.

Be sure to visit Fern & Feather for her take (and lovely photos) on the party.  Grace I am sure will have something to say about it...y'all ;) And thank you Nicole for supplying me with a couple of food photos.

Recipes below.  These are family recipes. Please adjust them, make them your own BUT what ever you do, DO NOT try to substitute brown rice in the spanish rice.  Trust me, it doesn't work.  White rice won't kill you. ;)
Traditional Pinto Beans
1lb dry pinto beans
1 large onion
garlic salt
2 Tbs olive oil
4 cups water
*1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Wash and rinse beans (no need to soak overnight...that's for gringos), and place in crock pot.  Add onion and olive oil. Stir well. Season to taste with garlic salt, cover the pot, and cook on high until beans are very tender, about 5 hours.  Roughly mash beans--this gives you a slightly refried bean consistency, at this point you can eat as is or stir in 1-2 cups of cheese for a little extra goodness ;)

Spanish Rice
1-2 Tbs olive oil
1.5 cups long grain rice
1/2 large onion finely chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2-8oz cans tomato sauce
1 cup water
1.5 Tbs cumin
salt + pepper to taste
1 cup cilantro leaves

Heat oil in a medium sauce pan.  Saute rice, onion, and garlic until rice is browned and onions are tender.  Stir in tomato sauce and water.  Season with salt, pepper, and cumin.  Let ingredients come to a boil.  Add cilantro leaves, cover, and simmer for  30 minutes, or until rice is cooked and liquid is absorbed.

Flour Tortillas

3 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp.  salt
4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or lard
about 1 1/4 cups warm water

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Add vegetable shortening or lard. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening or just do it the old fashioned way and use your hands.

Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. You do not need very hot water.

Knead the dough for a few minutes. Pull of 12-14 pieces of dough and roll into small balls,  let them rest for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like.

Lightly flour your rolling area, and roll each ball with a rolling pin to about 1/8" thickness.  

Place each tortilla on a medium hot cast iron skillet.  Cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side, or until the tortilla does not look doughy and there are little brown specks on both sides.  If you have any left over, let them cool completely before storing in a ziplock bag in the fridge.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE VEGETARIANS OR DON'T LIKE USING SHORTENING BELOW IS A RECIPE I FOUND ONLINE USING VEGETABLE OIL.

3 cups flour 

1 tsp. salt 

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

1 cup warm water

Combine all the flour, salt, vegetable oil, and water until it forms a dough.

Roll the dough into a big ball and take about an 1 to 2 inch pieces off. Pat the dough flat with your hands or take a rolling pin and roll into circles.

Put the dough on a flat pan on the stove and let the sides cook until there are little brown specks on both sides like you would see on other tortillas.

Wishing you...

A weekend filled with sunshine & cheer! 

image found here

DIY: Wood frame + fabric wall art

I had a few requests to share how I made the wood frame for my tea towel wall art.  Rather than spend a good amount of money ($60+) on a custom frame I decided to just make my own frame, and wrap my tea towel around it. This project is very simple and only takes about 30 minutes.   

Materials
fabric (tea towel, scarf, any textile you would want to frame)
wood slats
staple gun
push pins

I buy my wood pieces (1.5" x 48") from Lowe's and they cost about $1.5/piece.  Depending on the size of your frame you might only need two pieces.  I have them cut to size for me at the store--makes the project that much easier.  As my grandfather used to say, measure twice cut once.  Be sure to allow enough room for your fabric to wrap around to the back and be stapled.  (hint, hint I didn't on this particular project.)

Layout the frame

Staple all pieces together.  BE SURE TO STAPLE BOTH SIDES OF THE FRAME, FRONT AND BACK, this will ensure the frame is sturdy.  Notice the rough edges? If you are using a delicate fabric, such as  a scarf, you might want to sand these edges down.  I am not worried about it because my tea towel is a sturdy linen.  Once you have stapled all four corners of the frame--front and back--you are ready to lay your fabric over the frame.

Be sure your pattern is centered and laid out to your liking.  Once you have the pattern where you would like it, insert push pins into the edges of the frame. 

This helps secure your fabric so you can easily flip it over to staple in place.  This also allows you to make sure everything is centered.

When you are happy with how everything looks, flip frame over, pull fabric taught and go crazy stapling it to the back of the frame.  Remove push pins.  Hang and enjoy.

 Yes, I have changed my corner once again.  I went back to the black and white and I love it!  I also decided to keep my first tea towel art that I created.  I fancy the colors and the graphics.

I hope this was helpful!  This is only my second tutorial, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to email me.

Fried rice

Last night I had plans to make a very simple fried rice for dinner.  I was just winging it with a few vegetables, some brown rice, and no recipe...as usual.  Well my simple fried rice turned into a sensational dinner. 

Fried Rice: Thai Style with chili garlic sauce
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 red bell peppers
1.5 cups cooked peas
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 med. onion roughly diced
4 carrots (cut length wise, then diced)
5-8 green onions (cut on the diagnal in 2" pieces)
2 tbs oil (I use olive oil for everything)
8-10 large basil leaves chopped

The sauce
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
3 tbs chili garlic sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Add 1 tbs oil to large pan and cook carrots for about 3 minutes (you don't want any of the vegetables to get soft, they still need to have a slight crunch to them), then add the diced onion, bell pepper, and a dash of salt, and cook for another 2 minutes.  Then add green onion, and mushrooms, and cook for another 2 minutes while stirring constantly.  Remove vegetable mix from pan and set aside in a large bowl.
Add the remaining oil to the same pan and let it get very hot, then add your cooked brown rice. Spread evenly across the pan so you get some nice crusty bits as the rice heats up.  Let rice sit for a few minutes, then stir and let sit again for another few minutes (at this point you are just trying to get yummy crisp rice pieces).  Do this until you are satisfied with your ratio of crisp rice to cooked rice.  While rice is heating up make your sauce by combining all the ingredients into a medium bowl.  Once satisfied with rice, add your vegetables--don't forget the peas--and sauce to the pan and mix all ingredients together.  At the last minute add your basil leaves and give it one last toss together, and enjoy.

I am sorry if this recipe is confusing, but I rarely use recipes...I just fly by the seat of my pants in the kitchen.  This is the vegan version, but of course you can add egg and chicken (which I added for my husband, but really this dish was so satisfying without chicken I didn't include it in the recipe).

Belli Beautiful

 I am so excited to finally announce that bink & boo is a proud sponsor of the Belli Beautiful Contest! What a creative opportunity to celebrate the beauty of a baby bump, the irresistible smoochable cuteness of a baby's belly, and the amazing discipline of a mom who is able to shed the pounds and turn her post baby bump into a tight and toned belly. (I lack the discipline to do the later.)

Starting today you can upload your picture or video and enter for a chance to win one heck of a prize package.  Winner will be announced Mother's Day - May 8th.

Not familiar with Belli Skincare?  Belli supports expectant and new mothers through this changing time by providing soothing, balanced skin products that pamper and protect. Their collections - Belli Pregnancy, Belli Motherhood, and Belli Baby -  address the specific needs of each stage, with thoughtful attention to the safest formulations.

Visit the Belli website to learn more about their philosophy and their skincare lines.

Sugar High

 

My eyes are still a little glossy and my speech slightly slurred...I am just starting to wake from my sugar induced coma that I slipped into yesterday morning as a result of a nutella party hosted by the lovely Alexis.  The morning was filled with ridiculous amounts of smiling and laughter, and an absurd amount of sugar.

Thank you Alexis, Michele, Jennie, Karin, Brandi, Grace, Greta, Amber, and Alexandra for a very memorable morning.