Author: Hilary

When life gives you a destroyed colour block cover-up, make a beautiful braided eternity scarf

~ Hilary ~ 2 Comments

I know this is kind of bad, but I’ve always taken washing instructions with a grain of salt.

You say hand wash? I say stuff it into one of those mesh bra bags and go crazy. You say wash with like colours? I say wash with towels and sweatpants.

You say do not iron? I say iron anyways.

And that’s where I got screwed over.

See that? It says “low iron as needed.” Instead, I plunged this piece of clothing into the inferno of hell.
I did this.

Goodbye beautiful Urban Outfitters colour-blocked cover-up. So much sadness. This was one of my favourite go-to summer cover-ups, and I’ve worn it everywhere from workplace functions to inside the Vatican. Yes, the Vatican modesty police approved.

But hey, when life gives you a piece of clothing with a tear in it, make a cool eternity scarf that you saw on Pinterest! A motto to live by.

The other night I searched the term “DIY eternity scarf” on the site, and, after mindlessly trolling page after page of photos, I saw this one. Please note that I am drawn to braids like a moth to a flame.

I clicked the link and was heartbroken to see that I needed viscose – a special type of fabric that was certainly too much of an effort for me to go out and buy. Sigh sigh sigh. In my viscose-induced depression, I decided to read the tag on my destroyed shrug.

Eighty-six per cent viscose. Score! That was enough for me.

I did the “I have viscose dance” around my bedroom.

And so, on the Sunday of the May long weekend, I cut up my favourite colour block sweater and turned it into my favourite new braided scarf. Completion partially delayed by the need to purchase a strip of lace, something that was resolved by a Saturday trip to Fabricland.

#winning

+

+

+

=

My high school bedroom {re-visited}

~ Hilary ~ 6 Comments

Moving back to Sudbury means that I again have to deal with life in my high school bedroom.

Unlike many people I know, my bedroom has (un)fortunately remained the same throughout my four years of university. What can I say? My house already has a guest room.

That means I was faced with pink, yellow and lime green walls. And a Happy Bunny poster and one of those “Have a Day” posters that every teeny-bopper in North America had. And a pink plastic IKEA chair that makes me feel as though I’m in the 1980’s. It was where I perched myself whilst taking self portraits in grade 11. Yes, those self portraits may have involved my band jacket. Just stop snickering, okay?

This obviously would not do. It would not do at all.

Since re-painting would involve far too much effort, I opted for two of its interior design siblings: re-arranging and re-decorating.

Much to the dismay of my 18-year-old brother, the re-arranging part started the Saturday evening that I got home – a half hour of him shifting my double bed upon my whim, and rolling his eyes as I tried, with no prevail, to help.

The end result is a bedroom that may be the same colour as before, but has been enhanced by all the things that have made me, me over the past few years. Buttons in mason jars. Art deco postcards. Gold swan bookends bought at the New Edinburgh garage sale. A working typewriter. The Amélie poster that I got in Montmartre and carried across Europe in a backpack. An ornate frame that I found in my Ottawa basement and re-painted last summer. Etcetera, etcetera.

It’s much more me. And that may just make living at home tolerable for the next few months. Fingers crossed.

Much-needed baking bliss: Lemon olive oil cookies and orange-raspberry muffins

~ Hilary ~ 4 Comments

As written on Thursday evening…

I was going to go to bed early tonight. I swore to myself that I was. Early these days is anything before 10:30 p.m., FYI, so that I can wake up at 6-something and listen to CBC’s morning show. I have failed to wake up before 7:20 a.m. three times this week. And tomorrow’s not looking too hot, either. Next week I’ll adapt to this full time work thing. Promise.

Anyways, how am I supposed to go to sleep when I had such an amazing evening of baking and creating things? I am on a DIY high, and no matter how tightly I shut my eyes, sleep will not come. I’ll blame the sugar – the mouthfuls of cookie batter and almond glaze that was transferred from mouth to belly this eve.

It seems as though Thursday has become my baking day. I’ve discovered that if I do not bake, I get really anxious and grumpy. Back in Ottawa I would bake at least three times a week, and it’s an activity that has been significantly cut down post-grad. No more running to the corner store in my sweatpants to buy icing sugar and cherry pie filling. Perhaps this is for the best… Anyways, my point is that baking relaxes me and makes me feel like my normal self again. Baking is something I know and am always sure of. It’s a chance to make something beautiful out of nothing, a principle that I’ll hopefully be able to apply to my journalism work over the next few months.

But enough of the personal ramble. Let’s talk food and flowers.

One half of the food-flowers super combo

I’ve wanted to make lemon cookies ever since Brittany made these delicious little cookie morsels that burst with lemony flavour. I still don’t know what recipe Britt used and, since I started making these cookies at 1 a.m. Paris time (remember? She’s on an exchange!), I figured I wouldn’t disrupt her slumber for the sake of my own personal cookie pleasure. Anywho, I used a Joy the Baker recipe because she is my favourite cookie recipe source ever. These were a little untraditional – lemon scented olive oil cookies with almond glaze. Yeah, you read that right. Olive oil. What the hell, right? Ah well, Joy knows what she’s talking about. And god knows the Greeks need me to use all the olive oil that I can.

I also made some orange-raspberry muffins.

Then, in true Hilary fashion, I had a photo shoot in my bedroom, where the 8 p.m. sun shines the brightest and my cute desk decorations serve as the perfect backdrop.

I also made a paper flower out of nine paper muffin liners. Yes, it is looped around that bottle of Marsala that I still haven’t put away. Yes, I do plan on making my own muffin liner bouquet should I ever get married. Yes, I did give this flower to my mom as a corsage. Judge. Not.

These are accompanying me to work tomorrow and shall be gifted to my hardworking, well-deserving CBC colleagues. Apparently Hilary Makes Friday Treats is baaaaaack.

Happy Thursday (well Friday now) and cheers to DIY bliss.

Continue reading →

Mother’s Day chicken marsala

~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

</blog posts revolving around a special event>

(after the mother’s day dessert post, that is)

Now that we have that sorted out…

I have wanted to make chicken marsala since June 8, 2011. That was the day that I bought the nicely-labelled bottle of Marsala wine that you see below and used it in tiramisu cupcakes. And by “used it” I mean that I used 2 tablespoons of it.

So what does one do with a leftover bottle of Marsala wine? Given my tendency to spontaneously drink my cooking wine (#studentlife), I’m surprised this lasted through my fourth and final year of university. To be honest, I forgot about it, and it was left to rest by our collection of balsamic vinegars, sesame seed oils and a bag of mouth-burning “chilly pepper,” which doesn’t chill anything even a little bit.

I rediscovered the wine when I moved home a few weekends. I carefully wrapped the bottle in old newspaper and wedged it in my pink garbage can in the back of our moving van. My urge to make chicken marsala was re-ignited.

Note to all before I continue: My family is not the adventurous eating type. I present to you, our cast of characters…

Dad – meat and potatoes kind of guy. Grew up in Ireland, gets slightly intimidated by things that look a little unusual. Doesn’t eat chocolate. Puts ice cream on all desserts, even when you tell him not to.

Mom – dietician. Very practical with cooking. Doesn’t like buying a lot of fancy ingredients and usually sticks with her dozen or so go-to dinner recipes (which are, might I add, very good).

Younger brother Garrett – typical 18 boy. Will eat in silence even if he thinks something is good. Shrugs if it tastes nice, shrugs if it tastes bad. Likes mushrooms and plain pasta. Inherited the dislike-of-chocolate gene from my dad. Does not like lemon, but does not see the need to tell someone this until after they make a lemon tart (see next post).

It is hard to please everyone, but I decided that this minimal combination of mushrooms, chicken and pasta would pass. And it did. Thank heavens.

It was good, but I will make a few points. Do not eat this on the patio like we did. It is prone to getting cold easily (as is any food, I suppose), and is only half as tasty this way. As a food blogger/photographer I’m used to eating food cold (womp womp), but this was a little extreme. My point: serve warm. But I guess that’s a given. Moving on.

Reduce the sauce more! I got impatient. Will know for next time. Also: possibly use cilantro instead of parsley. If you swing that way.

DO NOT USE THE SODIUM-FREE CHICKEN BROTH THAT YOUR MOTHER BUYS. I get it, we have a sodium problem, but the lack of NaCl meant a lack of flavour.

There. Done.

Otherwise, it was good. Pounding chicken breasts into thin cutlets is fun, as is dredging them in flour. Ah life, it’s the simple pleasures.

PS: You want rustic-looking photos like the ones I took back in Ottawa? Well you’re not going to get ’em. Old fashioned red brick does not feature anywhere into my neighbourhood and, dear god, I think I would kill a man for a textured board of dark wood.

Continue reading →

Happy birthday dad! (kick-ass carrot cake)

~ Hilary ~ 5 Comments

This is the second part of my dad’s informal little family birthday party.

Who likes carrot cake? Dad likes carrot cake.

Birthday cakes are a big deal to me. I’ve made colourful cakes, mini cakes, Fourth of July cakes, ice cream cakes and fruitcakes. I think that a cake is the pinnacle of a party. There is nothing more beautiful than a cake done properly.

Achieving this beauty is something that I have failed at previously, and strived to get better at ever since. Need an illustration of said failure? Well, you asked!

Hilary Makes Cake, circa second-year university, approximately five months before I actually learned how to cook

Point is, I don’t take cake-making lightly. Which is why I wanted my dad’s birthday cake to be perfect. He requested carrot cake and so, off I went to browse the big ol’ World Wide Web for something worthy of my time, attention, and family. I found this. Simple and impressive.

There’s something about a tiered cake that really gets me going. It’s like the epic journey of cake making. This would make Odysseus proud. Carrot cake is also just about the most low maintenance, inexpensive desserts out there. Plus there’s vegetables in it. You know how I like cake vegetables.

A good cake layer reminds me of the perfect sandcastle base.

I don’t really have much else to say about this dessert, except for that it somehow managed to be both light and fluffy while also including so many delicious different textures, like pineapple, pecans and coarsely grated carrot. The cream cheese icing was so smoothly soft and was sweetened just so.

Dad liked.

Oh yes, and this recipe also made four little cupcakes. They have been hidden in the deep freeze, only to be snuck out at the most sugar desperate of times.

Continue reading →