Monthly Archives: May 2012

Photo Books: Tips for Creating a Lasting Souvenir

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Katie | 4 Comments

My husband doesn’t share my love for home improvement projects, but there is a creative streak in him. Photography, especially sports photography, is his hobby — and he’s pretty darn good at it too. At our oldest son’s games (our youngest isn’t quite ready for teams yet), Mark’s always there on the sidelines, capturing every throw, pass, pitch, and score (and, of course, cheering as well).

Mark’s photos came in handy last month when the parents of Jack’s soccer teammates were discussing what sort of memento to give the kids to celebrate a job well done (trophy, medal, t-shirt). It was a turning point as well — for the past two seasons the Rhinos had been a co-ed team, but next season, the team would be split up, no longer girls and boys playing together.

Since Mark had photos of all the kids, he offered to make a photo book for each child, with action shots of them and their teammates. The other parents loved the idea, and Mark estimated the cost for each would be about the same as a custom-printed t-shirt.

Mark designed the pages and cover of the 20-page soft-cover book using an online service. Inside the front cover he listed the names of the players and coaches and each child got a full- and half-page photo.

At the end of the book, there were two pages left for a few group shots and one of the Rhinos’ fearless leader, Coach John.

Photo books can be quite pricey, but Mark did his homework to get the best quality book for a low price (about $13 each). Mark says finding a vendor with templates, layouts, book sizes, and prices to meet his needs was the biggest challenge to the project.

He took a gamble and went with Mixbook (a site he had never used) — their rates were good, he was pleased with the layout options, and with expedited processing and shipping he could get the books in time for the last game of the season. Mark handled all the ordering and collected money from parents after the books arrived.

The gamble paid off; the books were a success. And who knows, maybe some of the kids will be famous sports stars one day and their former teammates will flip through their photo books remembering how it all started on the Rhinos soccer team in the Spring of 2012.

Tips:

Make sure you use high-resolution photos — the site you use will tell you if the resolution of your photos is too low.
Make sure photos are cropped and sized to your liking before uploading.
When designing your book, be mindful of the number of pages allowed for your price point. Additional pages may cost more money and may impact your layout.
Don’t skimp on paper quality.
If possible, order one copy of your book to preview before printing a large batch.
There are lots sites for making photo books — many will let you try out their sites before making a financial commitment. Look for a service that lets you play around with layouts, can offer you a proof, and has competitive rates.
If you want to apply a custom layout (as opposed to letting the site pick your layout), be prepared to spend some time. Mark says he spent about six hours finagling layouts and designs to get the look he wanted.

Have you made a photo book? What site did you use? Any tips you want to share?

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Posted in Arts & Crafts, Living with Kids

Tagged book, kids, photo, soccer, sports

The Great Bagel Debate: Homemade or Store-Bought?

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Leslie | 2 Comments

Feeling emboldened by my recent successes with leavened whole grain and asiago pesto cheese breads, I decided to give myself a new bread-making challenge: homemade New York-style bagels. I thought my husband would be stoked, but instead we had the following email chat:

Me: do we have corn meal?
Matt: i think so, not sure
Me: ok, want to try making homemade bagels. what do you want on some….onion, garlic, salt
Matt: no
Me: some say to broil before boiling….some say let rest after kneading/forming and then go striaght to boil
Matt: no
Me: what? they’re supposed to be delicious!!!
Matt: i just don’t feel that bagels are things that should be cooked in the home. they should be bought at bagel stores and brought home in paper bags
Me: well, we’re going to experiment just this once and you can give your final assessment

And with that, my innocent bagel making venture turned into the great bagel debate in our household and marriage. Here’s how it unfolded:

I followed the recipe in the Williams-Sonoma Bread cookbook, with a few modifications, noted below.

1. Assemble the ingredients: 4 T of active dry yeast, 2 T of sugar, 2 T of canola oil, 1 T of salt, 5 1/3 cups of bread flour, 1 T of baking soda, 1 egg, sesame seeds. The recipe called for 2 T of vital wheat gluten and since I didn’t have any and other recipes I read online didn’t mention it, I decided not to use it.

2. Proof the yeast. Sprinkle yeast and a pinch of sugar over 1/2 cup of warm water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy.

3. Mix the dough. Combine 1 1/2 cup of water, 2 T of oil, 2 T sugar, 1 T of salt, 1 cups of flour (and 2 T of gluten which I left out) and blend until creamy. You can use a KitchenAid mixer and I thought about hauling mine up from the pantry, but I really like mixing and kneading bread dough by hand. Add yeast mixture, 1 cup of flour, and beat for 1 minute. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough pulls away from the sides.

4. Knead the dough. This dough was tough to knead, but I kept at it for a good six minutes.

5. Let the dough rise for about an hour. Then, form the bagels. I wasn’t striving for perfection in the shapes, so the girls and I just relaxed and had fun stretching the dough and twisting it around our hands the way we saw it done on YouTube.

6. Cover the bagels and let stand for a second rising. We put the bagels on a sheet that I had sprinkled with corn meal (rather than using the cooking oil). I covered the sheet with plastic wrap and let the bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes.

7. Kettle (boil) the bagels. I brought the water to a boil, added a tablespoon of baking soda to the water, and then lowered the heat to maintain a gentle boil. I lowered the bagels into the water, where they promptly sank and then rose to the surface surrounded by foam. (The experts say that the malt in the baking soda reactivates the dormant yeast in the bagels.) I let them boil for 2 minutes on each side. Then, I used a slotted spatula to move the bagels to a bar mop to drain.

8. Arrange the boiled bagels on the baking sheet. Next, I brushed the boiled dough with a mixture of 1 egg white beaten with 1 T of water. The girls sprinkled toasted sesame seeds on some and salt on others. Some we left plain.

9. Bake at 425 degrees for about 18 minutes and let cool on drying racks.

10. Slice and taste with cream cheese.

Matt’s Review

“They’re good. But they’re not bagels. They taste like really good homemade bread.”

Right. I agree. They were delicious though. We gobbled them up happily. All the while, I reflected on what I could have done differently. I’m not willing to concede defeat and admit that it’s just not possible to replicate a store-bought bagel. So, I did some research. I now have a plan for trying again.

Future Experiments to Increase a Bagel’s Crispiness and Roundness

Add vital wheat gluten to bread flour with other dry ingredients, and as a consequence more water. Bagel flour is typically higher in gluten, some say increasing the protein content by 17%. Remember how I skipped that step? I think I shouldn’t have.
After forming the bagels, let them rest and then put them in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours. They need to rise again to properly ferment the yeast. I had only waited about 20 minutes at room temperature under plastic.
Broil the bagel before boiling? Some online say that’s a ridiculous notion, but others say it’s helpful. I think I’ll skip this step and try the others.
Kettling with malt syrup in the water helps put on a hard crust. I don’t know if this is true, since I’ve read that malt syrup just gives them a honey color and shine. Maybe I’ll try it though.
Turn them once in oven when they’re baking so they’re not flat on the bottom.

I found a recipe by Peter Reinhart from The Bread Maker’s Apprentice that this food blogger tried. He said the bagels were “chewy, crispy and tough on the outside and soft on the inside.” I think I’ll try his entire recipe. According to one reviewer, Reinhart’s were the closest to the reviewer’s memory of the original New York bagel from the 1940s.

His bagels take two days to make, but that’s a small sacrifice to make when, for me, what’s at stake is impressing my husband. My goal: Make a bagel so well that I can put them in a paper bag with store-bought bagels (okay, local not NY) and see if Matt can tell the difference. And he won’t.

And maybe he’ll even concede that homemade bagels do rival store-bought ones. Although on that score, I’m not sure I want to win. I do love a NYC bagel. I guess I just want to make ones that are close enough to tied us over until we can get the real deal. And you know what, they’re really fun to make too.

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Posted in Food/Drink

Tagged bagels, baking, homemade, yeast bread

Our Family-Friendly Beach Retreat

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Katie | Leave a comment

We took a break from Del Ray to visit my parents’ beach house in Bethany Beach, DE, an annual tradition for Memorial Day weekend. So in this special edition of DIY on location, here’s a little tour of the house.

The house (one of three rowhouses) was built in early 80s and my parents purchased it in the late 90s. The house came furnished, decked out with glorious 80s contemporary flair, but since then, my parents have made some changes to transform someone else’s house into our family retreat.

The first thing you notice when you walk inside is this cedar trunk which belonged to my great grandparents. We estimate that the trunk is at least 150 years old.

My mom rescued it from her mother’s basement, and at the time, it was covered with three layers of paint. You can see a little of the red paint in the right bottom corner. The trunk was stripped and stained and given new life.

I wish I had a before picture to show the kitchen in all its 80s glory, but this view is much better. My parents remodeled the kitchen last year.

Crisp white cabinets replaced the builder-grade cream cabinets with oak trim, and granite counter tops replaced the original laminate.

They chose this granite because its color and wavy, natural texture mimics sand at the bottom of the sea.

With farms just a few miles away, on any given day, it’s not unlikely that you will see fresh-picked fruit on the counter ripe for a morning snack.

My parents made a few changes in the living room as well. Sand-colored sofas replaced a dingy white sectional that in the last 20 years had its fair share of visitors, a few spills, and a lot of sandy toes. The coral accent wall over the fireplace is new too. The color is echoed in the throw pillows my mom and I made last summer with remnants of upholstery fabric.

And since it’s a beach house, you may find beach treasures here and there. Like these shells woven into a wreath…

Or flanking a vintage pitcher….

And even some driftwood, peacefully gathered in this basket in the corner.

Though there’s plenty of sand outside, my mom keeps a collection of sand from beaches around the world, gifted by well-travelled friends.

Upstairs, there are three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master bath is another recent reno project.

The beach-friendly makeover included new cabinets and tile floors, minty green paint, and a soothing and relaxing river rock shower.

I love how my parents have kept (and still use) this relic from the 80s, a push button phone, which when compared to modern phones looks more like a child’s toy.

My mom is an artist, and in a small room off the master bedroom, you’ll find her studio. Her masterpieces are displayed in practically every room of the house, but here she stores her supplies, works-in-process, and inspirational pieces.

A walk outside leads to some pretty interesting discoveries. I found several of these mysterious palm plants with curly white hairs.

These ultra vivid purple flowers are a popular choice for landscaping in our beach community.

And a little ways down the street, some neighbors made a sculpture out of inverted empty wine bottles.

But when at the beach, it’s best to be outside, running, splashing, and enjoying the surprises and joys of the shore. Jack’s excitement sums up how we all feel — so thankful to have this peaceful retreat to gather with our family.

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Posted in House Tours

Tagged beach house, bethany beach, delaware, vacation

Creating a Hideaway Office in a Shared Girls Bedroom

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Leslie | 2 Comments

I know it seems crazy to sacrifice one of our precious row house closets, but I had a vision of creating an office for my 8-year-old daughter Ana, and, like so many DIY ideas, I just couldn’t shake it. Plus, she had been asking for her own workspace and she clearly wanted privacy, other than under her bed where I often find her sprawled out on blankets reading and writing in the semi-dark.

There had to be a way. Ana shares a small 8 x 10 foot room with her little sister, Nadja, and we have arranged the room in the best way we can imagine. We have twin beds side by side and each girl gets to decorate their side as they wish, with a shelf for each to display their treasures.

So, it made the most sense to make an office in the closet. Let’s start with the reveal:

Now, how it unfolded. First, make way and get everything out of the closet:

I purged about 50% of Nadja’s too-small and non-seasonal clothes and arranged the rest in baskets under her bed. Lucky for us, she likes keeping her clothes there. Ana uses another small dresser.
We moved Nadja’s dresser out of the closet and onto the curb (where it vanished in seconds flat).
We hung the dresses on the back of the main door. I store non-seasonal ones in bins and so we only need to hang a few dresses per girl. Perfect. Empty closet, check!

Katie and I installed two shelves, one a bit wider to serve as the desk, and one to serve as a second shelf. (To give credit where credit’s due, Katie did ALL of the drilling and hard labor in general, on a very humid day when the A/C was out of commission. She’s a rockstar!) I had bought the wood cut to size at Lowe’s and primed it first. We attached side supports on the walls using liquid nails and screws, and let the desk and shelf pieces lay on top. Future homeowners can easily convert the office back to a closet. (We kept the hanging rod in there as well.)

Next up: I painted the entire interior with a blue as close to the sky blue we used for the ceiling. Then, I hung a bulletin board, magnetic board, and a pretty padded bulletin board criss-crossed with ribbons. Ana arranged her books and her grandmother gave her some fun coordinated bins as an “office-warming” gift. (I plan to rig up the clip-on lamp a little more discreetly.)

Finally, the chair. Now this was a great find. I took home one of these two totally hip, but fairly worn and muddy, chairs that beckoned to me from the side of the road.

I sanded the back and seat and then Ana primed and together with her sister painted the chair a cool minty color.

I tightened the screws on the legs and then we chose some decals from an Etsy vendor. We put some birds on it (with a nod to this hilarious skit on Portlandia) and Ana gave her new desk chair and office a whirl. (Total cost of project: under $100.)

Ana is so happy to have her own hideaway. She does her homework in her “private office” in the afternoons, and in the evening, we’ve hung a curtain so she can sneak away from her doting little sister and, for a few delirious minutes at a time, draw, write, and dream in peace and quiet.