The Watermelon House: A garland of tea bags, twinkle lights and chalk boards.

'Ello peeps!
Still testing the waters as to which day will be the numero uno best day to update.
Count on not Tuesday and Thursday.

Last night, the infamous Watermelon House (the house where I live down her in the SC) threw a party full of shenanigans and sangria.
And it was awesome.
Seeing that this is a blog, I should probably try to say something profound about it, but meh, that's for tween girls on tumblr to take care of.
Instead I will just say this:
Good friends aren't that hard to come by if you provide sangria and clementines.

This week's post is about decorating, kinda.
I live in a house full of beautifully artistic people.
And even though maybe some in here may dispute that,
each is wonderfully talented and creative in their own, sometimes unconventional, way.
The Watermelon House is a collective of the best and brightest and while it may not last more than a year, at least a year it shall stand and at least for a year, my housemates, friends and I will enjoy it.

Anyways...
Decorating.
This was actually another request after someone viewed a picture I put on instagram depicting our twinkle-lighted living room.
Our house is not fully decorated yet, but we're working on and I'm here to share the secrets and progress with you, dear reader.

TEA GARLAND

The tea garland! I made a post about this last year when I lived with just Courtney and Cedar and a lil' apartment on campus overlooking the redwoods and ocean and it's here. 

But, I will give a short and sweet explanation about it.

Steps:

Drink tea and save tea bags.

Nail strong string (hemp or the like) on the top sides of your walls.

Tie tea bags to string.

That's it. 

TWINKLE LIGHTS

I mean, they're twinkle lights. Two strands criss-crossed back and forth easily across our living room and I got the strands for a dollar each at a thrift store. A dolla' make me holla'. Or something. 

Whatever.

We used these things called staple tacks to adhere the lights to the wall. We also ran them alongside the tea bag garland. So now, our living room is illuminated by tea lights each night.

Tea lights. Get it? Ah!

DIY CHALKBOARD

Ok, so this is a little more in the DIY section.

Now, you could go out and buy a chalkboard, or...you could make one.

Making things is always more fun and satisfying.

Here's the lofi-lowdown:

Steps:

Gather: The largest piece of plywood you want and chalkboard paint.

We used chalkboard spray paint for a 3x5 piece of plywood and it worked just perfectly. If you want to go bigger, I recommend 2 cans of the spray paint or a quart of the paint. 

Basically, follow the directions on the can, but if you have trouble reading all those tiny letters, here:

Lay plywood in backyard.

Spray-paint 3 coats on plywood with housemates.

Let dry.

Hang up in house with tack nails.

Write on it.

That's it.

And now you can have your very own Watermelon House themed party!

Just don't forget the two-buck chuck sangria or clementines.

Love, 

          Neffie

P.S. - Excuse the house messiness in the pictures as we had a party last night. 

Rollin' in the Dough, Cinnamon Style (AKA: 1 hr Cinnamon Rolls)

Now with more Courtney and weirdness!
As requested, here's the recipe for cinnamon rolls!
I found this online here and those people found it online somewhere else.
While I'm very much into creating my own recipes, I haven't made cinnamon rolls before and since the process is pretty basic (dough, cinnamon-sugary syrup, frosting) I figured, meh, why not use a tried and true recipe and share it and whatnot?
I did change the filling a little, Courtney and I could not really entirely bring ourselves to create a 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup sugar filling and we halved it...while putting the filling in. If you want to do the whole everything, just double the filling except for the cinnamon.
Speaking of halving things...we didn't, but should have, halved the frosting. It's a healla'lot of frosting. But again, this is just our opinion! So, if you want the "real" frosting recipe, double everything for that minus the vanilla extract which we left the same.
So...maybe our cinnamon rolls turned out to be more like sweet rolls, we enjoyed them that way. But, if you want the full blown super buttery, sugary bombs cinnamon rolls are known for, then by all means, go big or go home. Really. I have a sweet tooth, but I have always found cinnamon rolls to be too much for me to handle both physically and emotionally, and since Courtney felt the same way, we toned it down.
We weren't hardcore enough.
I decided to try to find a "quick" recipe since I didn't want to spend 3-4 hours waiting for bread to rise and this recipe still used yeast (so the dough is nice and fluffy) instead of baking soda (might make them more like biscuits than rolls). However, the yeast used is quick rising yeast, which, well, makes your dough rise faster than traditional yeast.
If you multitask and work fast, these puppies can be done in about an hour. I timed Courtney and I and with photo taking/posing and everything, we had them rolled up, in and out of the oven in an hour and 22 minutes.
The "real" recipe for filling and frosting is in parentheses.
So,
Ready to give it a go?
Alright.

1 Hr Cinnamon Rolls!

Dough:

1 cup milk

¼ cup butter

3.5 cup flour divided

¼ sugar

½ tsp salt

1 envelope instant or “rapid rise” yeast

1 egg

Cinnamon-Sugar Filling: 

1/4 cup white sugar (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup brown sugar (1/2 cup)

3 ½ tbl cinnamon (3.5 tbl)
1/4 softened butter (1/2 cup)

Cream Cheese Icing:

1/4 cup softened butter (1/2 cup)

1/8 cup cream cheese, softened (1/4 cup)

3/4 cup powdered sugar (1.5 cup)

1-2 tbl milk if needed

¼ tsp vanilla

Makinz':

Start with making the dough first. Combine the sugar, 3 cups of flour, yeast and salt. Stir to mix up. 

Next, pour the milk in a heat proof container. Add the butter in there. Melt the butter and warm the milk in the microwave in 20-30 second intervals. Our microwave is janky and it took us about 3 minutes to melt the butter and warm the milk, but it takes us about 3 minutes to make just hot enough water for tea to give you an idea of its um, jankiness.

After the milk is warmed and butter melted and they're living together very happily in their heat proof container, pour it in the flour mix and crack the egg in there, too. 

If you're doing this by hand, mix up, add remaining flour, mix again until well combined and then knead for 5-8 minutes. It's finished once the dough is stretchy and stays in a nice doughy ball.

Dough attachment on the mighty mixer, Darth. Oh, and Courtney.

If you're mixing this by mixer, use the dough attachment and beat on medium while slowly adding the last 1/2 of flour. It's finished when the dough starts to form a large ball and pull away from the bowl. 

Place your dough in a bowl with a damp cloth over it and let it rise for 10-15 minutes in a warm area. Sticking it in the oven with the light on works well.

Courtney and cinnamon...

Now, start to make your filling. Mix the sugars and cinnamon together. Soften the butter in the microwave. 

After the dough has sat long enough, roll it out on a floured surface until it is about 9x14 inches.

measurin'

Using a fancy pastry knife or a good ole' college student accessible "dose this count as a knife?" 

implement, spread the softened butter over the dough. 

Then, evenly coat the dough with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Here's the really fun part: Using knife implement or pizza cutter, cut about 10-12 strips from your 9x14 oval--I mean square.

 Roll up the strips cinnamon roll style and place them in a cake tin or pie dish to bake. 

It's ok if they're all touching. They like that.

Bake these suckers in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 350 F or until the edges just start to brown. Take them out of the oven and let them cool for 15 minutes. 

While they're gettin' all good and baked, make the frosting. Soften your butter and cream cheese. Cream the cream cheese, butter and vanilla, then, slowly add in the powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add a few tablespoons of milk.

Pour the frosting over the rolls after you take em' out of the oven and they've cooled.

Then eat them.

Eat them, you greedy little piglet.


Love,

          Neffie

DIY Sock Animals: A Night of Wine and Hysterics

So...
Last week no update because it was my birthday week!
Happy 21st to me!
I'm so old and can buy alcohol and things now.
Life's about to get real serious.
And..this update is delayed due to driving back to dem mountains last night from Santa Cruz and being really tired.
This update is also a lil' "older"...or whatever.
It involves drinking a bit.
Sorry.
If this offends you, stop reading and just go to this 100% G-rated website to pass the time instead.

I just want to fair warn you...this update and DIY project is a legit (in the words of my friend Kayla) s**t show. Really.
Do not expect any real instructions or detailed pictures.
The pictures were taken while slightly intoxicated from cheap wine and sugar from the failed Meyer Lemon Lavender Meringue Pie that was supposed to be this week's update.
I know, DIY sock animals minus real instructions and pictures is a let down compared to another original pie recipe from yours truly.
I am also disappointed, so don't feel so alone.
The pie was just not meant to be this week, but I promise, cross my heart and hope to die pinky swear promise, that I will do an update sometime in the future, after the sting of pie failure fades, regarding the masterful lemon meringue pie in a perfect, not messed up form.

IN CONCLUSION:
-sorry for no pie,
-sorry for no pictures, no real instructions, and a seemingly half-assed DIY project
-sorry for possible offendingness
-there will be pie in the future
-if you want to stop reading this and wasting your time, I understand. If you want to continue, then read away dear ones.

DIY SOCK ANIMALS:

Needs:

• socks to make into animals
• thread (dental floss can work, too)
• fabric scraps
• sewing needle
• wine + failed pastry
• stuffing (can be actual stuffed animal stuffing or fabric scraps, plastic bags etc.)
• optional: googly eyes + glue, buttons, embroidery thread + needle, beans, yarn and other craft materials

Sorta-Instructions

Gather materials.

Sit at the kitchen table with your best friend and open the bottle of wine.

Drink some wine.

Decide on what animal you want to make into a cushy sock form.

Text everyone on your phone because you're a little drunk and are having a slight existential crisis about the fact that you're 21, making sock animals for your blog and getting wine drunk with your best friend on a Wednesday night.

Visualize your masterpiece and cut pieces.

Giggle hysterically as you visualize said masterpiece.

When sewing body, head and other appendages, turn sock inside out and sew until theres a hole big enough for you to stick your thumb in.

Eat failed pie.

Turn sock inside out and stuff to desired squishy or stiffness, then close hole.

Invite people over.

You can add beans in the body of your buddy if you want him/her (we're staying gender neutral here) to be able to sit up. That's what I did, Courtney opted out of that arena.

Giggle more about the absurdness of your night.

Attach appendages.

Decide to make popcorn.

Embellish your lil' friend with fabric scraps, buttons, embroidery floss, whatever you've got sitting around.

Watch Avatar the Last Airbender while sewing.

My Aye-Aye and Courtney's Tarsier 

Finish embellishing your buddy and giggle some more.

Tarsier

That's it.

Aye Aye

I hope this was enlightening for you.

Heads up: I will be changing the update time from Thursday (and sometimes Friday...) to another day of the week once school starts up, so...after the 26th of September, maybe even a little before that.

It's looking like it's going to be Monday, Wednesday or Sunday evening right now, but only time will tell.

 I have a packed quarter and I will really try hard to do some sort of recipe or DIY each week, but it's also not completely plausible for me to do something in that realm every week, but I will still try to update with something. 

That 'something' may be musings, amusing anecdotes, hipster reviews about coffee and ice cream shops in Santa Cruz, pictures I have taken or scanned pieces of my art. I know that's not very impressive or fun, but hey, at least it's something.

Exciting news:

I got a real-life blog request for a recipe on cinnamon rolls! 

So, expect that next week! I'm working on a vegan and non-vegan one for fun! 

I enjoy requests, so if anyone else out there has something they want to see up here, feel free to email me or facebook me or whatever, you know, dude...send me a messenger hawk. 

(Catch that ATLA reference? Eh?)

Alright.

That actually sums up this eclectic mess of an update.

I can only hope you enjoyed it.

Have a good Friday the 13th everyone!

Love,

          Neffie