Showing posts with label caprese salad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label caprese salad. Show all posts

Friday, August 17, 2018

Morse Code Bracelets


Morse Code Jewelry is my new favorite thing to make. I'm obsessed. How fun is this? Do you know that morse code is short and long sounds (represented in print as dots and dashes) assigned to each letter of the alphabet and sent over a telegraph system so someone listening can understand (if you know the code) the message being sent? Yes it's much more detailed than that, but that's all we need to know to make these bracelets!

Using a code chart I found online, I made these bracelets for my sister spelling out secret words and messages that are special between us - most are from silly old stories we have that by just saying the catchphrase of the story brings back the memory of the event. For instance - we were all at one of Dave's pro/celebrity races where celebrities and drivers are all hanging out together in a big tent waiting, just sitting around. Minnie Driver was sitting at a table all by herself, not doing a thing - not on her phone, not reading a book, just sitting there. My sister and nieces approached her and asked for an autograph and Minnie looks at them and goes "later. definitely later". Seriously? If not then, when? Good grief. We haven't liked that actress since then! Anyway - anytime someone says "later" we answer "definitely later", so that is something I beaded onto the bracelet.


I ended up making 10 strands because I was having so much fun and kept thinking of other
funny or sentimental things to bead. Small round beads represent the dots, and long narrow beads represent the dashes - so going by the chart I laid out the beads to spell my messages, then strung them onto stretchy cord. My first thought was to put a clasp on each one of them individually, but when I realized I had 10 of them that seemed a little awkward to put on. So I attached them all together to a big jump ring, then attached a clasp to that - now all 10 are together with one clasp. It's a little big but I love that the entire thing is made up of messages to her. 


Because we aren't going to remember what each bracelet says without a cheat sheet, I typed up what each bracelet says and looks like with the morse code symbol underneath...as long as she has that she'll know which bracelet is which.


Do you love this as much as I do? I keep thinking who else I can make a morse code bracelet with a secret message on it for - maybe even for myself with positive affirmations and all that. Obsessed.

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one year ago: caprese salad (tomato mozzarella salad)
two years ago: chocolate peanut butter layered dessert






Sunday, July 1, 2018

Caprese Salad with a Twist (tomato, mozzarella, blueberry salad)

This is one of my favorite summer salads, and it's the perfect salad to make this first week of July (very patriotic red, white, and blue!) - just add blueberries to some halved cherry tomatoes and small bites of fresh mozzarella (I found some very small bite-sized balls at the grocery store, if you can't find those you can cut up a larger ball), drizzle with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper. A traditional Caprese salad has fresh basil but I didn't have any on hand and we didn't miss it. Yum, love this dish!

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Caprese Salad

This is a pretty traditional caprese salad - slices of mozzarella and tomatoes layered with basil, drizzled with balsamic syrup and olive oil, sprinkled with coarse salt. I saw someone stand the slices up in a square dish and liked how that looked - I tried it using a deep dish round pie plate and love the result. I will say the only negative is that the bottom of the layers didn't get much dressing and I thought it was a little dry but everyone else gobbled it up and loved it. Next time I will separate the layers a bit so the oil and vinegar will cover more of the tomatoes. Otherwise this is delicious - perfect summer salad...and it's gorgeous!

oops, forgot to take a picture after
drizzling with oil and vinegar! 

Balsamic syrup is simple to make - put a cup of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan, turn on medium and let it reduce until it's thick like syrup and there's about 1/3 cup reduced vinegar remaining. I drizzle this on my wedge salad too - it's SO good! Different than plain old balsamic for sure.
















one year ago today: the chocolate peanut butter dessert I made for my sissy's birthday.