Ahi Appetizer

I love being inspired to try new things in my kitchen after a great meal out. My husband and I went to dinner a couple of weeks ago and had a delicious Ahi appetizer. I think it was called "Ahi Poke?" It looked like a miniature layered dessert. I decided to recreate it at home. Some of my "experimentation" doesn't always work, but this one did. I didn't have a recipe and was kicking myself that I didn't get ingredient info. from our food server. That being said, this is my version of what we ate that night.




What I Used

Fresh sushi grade Ahi. Cut it into half inch cubes.

In a small bowl mix the following ingredients together. Adjust heat to your taste.

1/2 teaspoon of Wasabi Powder or Wasabi paste. I used the paste.

1/2 teaspoon of Colman's Mustard. The paste, powder, and mustard can be purchased at Ralph's

1/2 cup of Soy Sauce.

Mix cubed Ahi with enough soy mixture to lightly coat. Save the rest to drizzle on top if necessary.

Guacamole- I'm not going to explain how to make the guac. Just make a basic guacamole with 2 avocados and some, garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper, lemon juice, onion, and tomatoes.

For garnish - Top with some mixed greens or peeled cucumbers sliced into julienne strips.
wanton skins or flour tortillas. Cut into thin strips and fry until crispy.

Assembly

I used a round cookie cutter and started with the guacamole on the bottom.
Next I layered the Ahi mixture.
I topped it with the cucumbers, but will use the greens next time and crispy wanton skins.

Lastly I drizzled a Hoison/Soy mixture around the edge of the plate and served the remainder of the soy mixture for added flavor.

It was delicious!

Thanks for checking it out.

How to Re-Finish Furniture Quick and Easy

This is my first Craig's List purchase. I have browsed Craig's List for years, but never purchased anything for myself. I've gone on buying trips with my friend Rita, but never made the effort to go and look at something for me. I've been looking for dressers for Cami and Casey's rooms, but haven't been able to find what I want yet. This one caught my eye for my family room. I bought this dresser this weekend. It was advertised for $75, but the lady let me have it for $50. She is moving and I think she just wanted it out of the house, just one less thing to deal with. It took me two days to re-finish it while the girls were at school.


This is what it looked like when I bought it. It has good bones, just needed some TLC.

You know those people with the perfectly organized garages?

I'm not one of those kind of people.

It had quite a few scratches and would have required a lot of sanding to get the wood looking like it did originally. Sanding is my least favorite part of re-finishing a wood piece. That's why I like painting and distressing. It's so much easier and faster! And you don't need to worry about more scratches from use. You won't be able to tell.




You won't notice the damage on the legs once the piece is complete.

This was my inspiration picture. This is a Habersham Kitchen. I like the french gray color of the cabinets, but I didn't want to go as heavy on the distressing.




DAY 1/STEP 1: Take off all the hardware. Number the drawers and the hardware with a piece of painters tape and a sharpie. Some of these old pieces where made by hand. The drawers are not universal to each slot and it's a guessing game getting them back in the right one. I have learned this trick the hard way.

I love this handy little battery operated Ryobi drill my parents gave me for Christmas last year. Perfect for small jobs like this one. It packs a lot of power, it's light weight, and fits perfectly in a woman's hand.

DAY 1/STEP 2: Lightly sand the whole piece. I used 150 grit (because that's what I had) just to get the sheen off. I hate sanding so I don't do a great job at it. Saw dust makes me cough. You don't need to be meticulous with this painting technique.

See what I mean? I didn't do a very thorough sanding job.

Wipe the whole piece down to remove dust.

DAY 1/STEP 3: Combine priming and painting into one step by tinting your primer the desired color. If you don't feel you can do this step, have the paint store tint the primer for you. My favorite primer is made by Zinsser. I paint a lot. Over the years I have purchased Universal Paint Tints. I often mix my own colors for a project like this because it saves me a trip to the store and I am able to use up left over paint. Other than the cost of the dresser, I had everything else in my garage. This can of primer was half way full so I decided to mix the color in the can.

I added about a teaspoon (I'm guessing, I don't measure) of Lamp Black Universal Tint and about the same amount of Burnt Umber Universal Tint. Add the tints sparingly and mix well. You can always add more to achieve a darker color but make sure you have thoroughly mixed before adding more tint. Or just buy the desired color at the paint store.


(Apply two coats and let the piece dry over night before the next sanding.)

DAY 2/STEP 4: Sand the corners and edges. I try to picture where the piece of furniture would have received the most wear and tear? Corners, raised detail, legs, edges, knob pulls. Go lightly on this step. It's easy to over do it. You can always go back and sand more if you need to.

DAY 2/STEP 5: I added another thin coat of glaze at this point to add depth. The glaze is a little lighter than the french gray base coat. It's optional. I made the glaze with 1 part glaze, 1 part water, one part tinted primer left over from the first day, and a little extra white paint. I did a dry brush technique and went back and wiped some of the glaze off.


DAY 2/STEP 6: You are almost done! I borrowed one of my husbands shoe polishes in brown and a soft brush to apply the polish to all the detailed areas of the wood. I used an old tooth brush to get the polish into the recessed areas. Sand off most of the polish residue with steel wool. You can use a brown glaze or furniture wax instead of shoe polish. It's just what I had on hand and I ran out of glazing liquid. The wax gives the top a light protective coat. Wear gloves or your cuticles will turn brown.

DAY 2/STEP 7: Put the pulls and hinges back on and you are done!

Detail of the edge.



I cut wrapping paper for the inside of the drawers. More storage, Yeah!




Optional: I added a little gold gilding cream to some of the detail.

Not bad for $50.



I now have a pretty place to store my stuff since I lost my office to my girls.

Columns, Urns, and Capitals

I use urns, columns, and capitals everywhere inside and out of my home and garden. I put anything from shells, to succulents, to Christmas Trees in urns. I developed an admiration for them on my travels to Italy. My dad was stationed there while in the Navy. I was already out of the house by the time my parents moved there, but I was lucky enough to spend two extended vacations with them. I fell in love with the architecture, the gardens, the food, the art, and the country side. My design tastes are still influenced by those vacation experiences 20 years ago.

I use urns to display my sea shells and elevate them on columns. Even though I don't live at the beach. I'm a beach girl at heart and go about 2-3 times a week to play volleyball. I love my shells and incorporate them in all of my decor.

I plant succulents in urns, another love of mine.

I use urns as Christmas Tree stands. I made these about ten years ago, so I don't have any pictures of the process, but it's very easy. I have helped several friends make them. You can buy them already made these days, but ten years ago I had to make my own.

You can use any container for this project. It doesn't have to be an urn. I started with a light weight urn. Cut a piece of PVC pipe just long enough to fit below the interior edge of the urn rim. Fill the urn with about 1/3 full with fast drying cement like Quikrete. Add water to the cement and mix it in the urn. It will dry in about 24 hours. Make sure your pipe is straight or you'll end up with a crooked tree. You might need to anchor it in place with some tape until the cement is set. Don't fill the cement all the way to the top or your urn or it will be to heavy to move.

This urn doubles as an umbrella stand in the summer. I plant seasonal flowers around the center pipe to hide the cement.

Roscoe gives it the sniff of approval.

Here is my Thanksgiving Tree in one of my urn tree stands.

This urn is used as a side table when not being used for a tree stand. I fill it with sea shells and add a piece of glass to the top.

I use columns to add height to my garden. This column is light weight and can be easily moved. I bought 4 of them on clearance several years ago at Target. I miss Target's garden center, they had the best end of season sales.

I use them inside too. Your garden should reflect your interior. I frequently change objects from the outside to inside and inside to outside. This column is supporting a giant clam shell with succulents.



I move them around and use them for Halloween and other holidays.

I plant dwarf citrus trees in urns.


I put seasonal flowers in urns and elevate them on columns. These are flowering fruit branches I had out in the Spring. I purchased the urn at Marshals and the column from Big Lots.

More succulents

I make flower arrangements in urns. This is an arrangement I made for my Mom's birthday dinner this past August.

On a side note about the arrangement, the pears, sun flowers, and blue daisy's were bought at Costco. The succulents, hydrangeas, and trailing vinca came form my yard. After using the succulent cuttings for this arrangement I just stuck them in the ground and they re-rooted to make a new plant. We ate the pears.



I make lamps out of urns. This is an urn I purchased at Ross. I painted it white and bought a light kit and a lamp shade. I filled the top of the urn with shells and it sits on my master bedroom dresser.


I use them for my holiday decor. This is the sea shell urn with Christmas mixed in. Check out my Halloween blog and my Terrarium blog for more urn displays.


More pumpkins

This is a painting I did in a niche over my fireplace.

My subject...an urn.

Capitals are great for adding height to any object. I put them under candlesticks, terrariums, any object I want to elevate. Here is one under a lamp that used to be my Grandmothers.

Under a finial.

Adds height under an arrangement.


You will see many different uses for these in my previous blogs.

Thanks for checking it out.