New recipe

On Sunday night, Ryan and I made a tasty dinner from which we found a recipe from Fast Food Fresh by Cooking Light (I definitely recommend it if you are in need of new recipes). Anyways we made Asiago Crusted Porkchops with red mashed potatoes and broccli. Unfortunately I don’t have a good camera right now (just my phone and/or my web cam) so I’ll just post the picture that came in the book.

It’s super easy to make and doesn’t take much time at all!

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 9 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop)

Ingredients

• 4  (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops
• 1  egg white, lightly beaten
• 1/2  cup  panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1/4  cup  (1 ounce) grated Asiago cheese
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1  tablespoon  extra-virgin olive oil
• 4  lemon wedges
• 2  teaspoons  chopped fresh thyme

Preparation

1. Place pork between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound to an even thickness (about 1/4 inch) using a meat mallet or a small heavy skillet.

2. Place egg white in a shallow dish. Combine panko, cheese, salt, and pepper in a shallow dish. Dip pork in egg white; dredge in panko mixture, pressing gently with fingers to coat.

3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add pork; cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Squeeze 1 lemon wedge over each pork chop; sprinkle each evenly with thyme.

DIY Felted Soap

On Sunday, my friend Elizabeth and I had the urge to go to Anthropologie…one of the cutest stores I’ve ever been to. I really love the displays they have set up around the store. Anyways, besides the store set-up, they have really nice clothes, accessories, and stuff for the home: beds, sheets, lighting, decoration, and kitchen stuff. The only downside to this magnificent store is that it is really pricey. However, it is a great store for ideas on stuff to make. I always walk out of there with new ideas. On Sunday, I noticed they had these soap bars covered in fabric that shrinks as the soap shrinks and they were very cute in many different colors; however, these little bars of soap were $14!! I don’t know about you, but there is NO WAY I will pay that much for a bar of soap smaller than my hand.

Felted Soap by Fiat Luxe

So of course I said that I would make it myself, and that is what this blog is about! So I did a little research on how to felt soap and I found this great tutorial:How to felt over a bar of soap

I only had one little problem… I couldn’t find wool roving or batting (loose sheets of dyed wool), but then again I didn’t look around too hard. Instead, I bought 100% wool yarn from Michael’s (Patons Classic Wool, pink/brown/multicolor) and decided I could pick it apart. WARNING: DON’T CHEAP OUT AND DO THIS…BUY THE ROVING! Poor Ryan sat with me for almost an entire hour cutting the yarn and separating each strand and then “fuzzifying” it. Then on top of that I had to felt the wool!

The finished project came out pretty neat and I would definitely do it again… next time with the roving of course!

Enjoy!

I officially have the cutest boyfriend

I finally got ahold of these pictures! Ryan won an Oshkosh contest for the top picture:

Presents for Ryan

I made these for Ryan this past Christmas… fun and relatively easy!

The first are placemats with chopstick holders–courtesy of Lotta Jansdotter. I chose a medium/heavy weight fabric (I forget the name). Once I sewed the placemats, I created a design to stamp on it using linoleum block printing (luckily I have experience from high school). However, I didn’t have fabric paint, so I took some brown acrylic paint and mixed it with fabric medium so that it would adhere to the fabric better… though I haven’t washed it since it has been painted. Anyways this project is very simple and quick. I made about six placemats.

The website for directions for Lotta Jansdotter’s placemats is currently down, but I’ll post it as soon as it is back up!

This next project is a dopp bag or toiletry bag. I used multiple sources to make it (I kinda mixed and matched). This one is more complicated than the placemats, but it is definitely do-able. It actually only took me about an hour to make:

The main site I used as a tutorial for the dopp bag is Projects by Jane. The only thing I changed was not adding a handle on the bag… I also made it slightly larger than the measurements that she gave.

Lobster Pot Pie

First recipe post! Ryan and I like to cook and we always look for new recipes, so for valentine’s day we wanted to try something new. I found a recipe in my Cosmopolitan magazine for lobster pot pie. We bought two frozen lobster tails fromLee Lee’s Oriental Market and just steamed them. However, lobster can get quite pricey, so we’ll probably just use chicken the next time!

(By the way… if you want any sort of asian food, Lee Lee’s is the only place to go in Tucson!)

Here’s the recipe:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
½ cup frozen corn
½ cup frozen peas
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken broth
½ pound cooked lobster meat (can be bought at the seafood counter)
½ teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (keep refrigerated until ready to use)
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Set out two 2-cup individual ovenproof bowls. Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add diced onion and carrot. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add corn and peas. Stir in flour, and cook 1 more minute. Add milk and chicken broth, stirring constantly. Cook until the sauce begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Then remove from heat, add lobster and thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Remove the puff pastry from the refrigerator. Cut the dough in half, and reserve one half for another use. On a lightly floured surface, flatten out the pastry, using a floured rolling pin, to about 1⁄8-inch thickness. Using one of the bowls as a guide, cut the pastry into two circles. Spoon the filling into the bowls, and place one circle of dough on top of each potpie, pressing the edges to seal the pastry to the bowl. Cut a vent in the center so air and moisture can escape. Using a pastry brush, cover the entire surface of each pie with beaten egg. Place the potpies on a baking sheet. Bake until the pastry is puffed and becomes a dark golden brown shade, about 35 minutes.

Art Portfolio – 2008

Here is the majority of my AP art portfolio:

1st Entry

Hey everyone, thanks for taking a look at my blog! I guess I should start off and tell you about myself: My name is Krista Durr and I am a student at the University of Arizona studying to be a Speech Pathologist. Although I love science, I’ve always had a knack for art and crafts, so I’ll probably use this blog to archive my works! I have been taking art classes since I was a kid, but in high school I really grew to love it even more. In my senior year, I took AP Art and actually had to submit a portfolio. Now that I’m in college and focusing on my degree, I don’t have as much time. However, it is currently spring break so I am trying to complete some projects… including this blog!

First I’ll be posting things I have done in the past few years, but as soon as finish my new projects they’ll be up.