Rhena and Eric Plus One

First comes love.

Then comes marriage.

Then, after a year of trying, comes two pink lines on a stick.

16 weeks and counting down to mid December. Updates to follow...

Christmas in July Sale at Lars and Addie!

Lars and Addie is participating in the etsy-wide Christmas in July sale. I'm offering 10% off of all regularly priced items (priced as marked). I've got more fabric bowls listed and more in the hopper....

Stop on by now through July 22nd to enjoy these discounts and check back for daily additions during the weekdays of the sale!

To find other Etsy shops participating in the sale, search "christmas in july," "christmasinjuly," or "cij" on the front page of Etsy.

Thanks and enjoy!

Urban Eden Deodorant: Fresh and Citrusy

It's been quite some time since I've worn antiperspirant. While there are those out there who would only make such a drastic move based on scientific evidence proving that the chemicals that keep us from sweating cause cancer or Alzheimer's, I relied on a much more readily-accessible source of information to make this decision: my gut. What my gut told me was that the human body was made to sweat to keep us cool and, absent an excessive sweating issue, trying to keep the body from sweating seemed unnatural. Besides, my t-shirts were getting yellow pit stains from antiperspirant and, as my sister recently pointed out, antiperspirant always seems to leave a film on your pits that never washes off. Who wants a sticky film?

My aversion to antiperspirant, however, is only slightly stronger than my aversion to my own stank. My trip down the deodorant aisle was increasingly becoming an exercise in frustration. Is there a deodorant out there that not only smells good but keeps me smelling good for longer than three hours?

It was only when I saw a Tweet from a fellow etsian about a shop called "Urban Eden" that I realized that there were options beyond Toms of Maine and "The Rock." I ordered up some of her lemon myrtle deodorant.

The 1.65 oz container of yellowish, easy to rub on deodorant has a citrusy scent that verges on astringent. I mean that in the best way. I like slightly astringent deodorant because it makes me feel like it's working. "Astringent" means "clean" and is in direct opposition to "funk."

I have to admit that when I finally go to bed at the end of the day and I throw my arms over my head, even I still find the odor permeating from my pits pretty offensive. But I think I'm coming to accept that that has little to do with what deodorant I'm using and more to do with my own sweat stinkiness. I think I'm a twice a day rub under the pits kind of a girl. And that's fine by me -- as long as I can keep finding deodorants has easy and fragrant as those made by Urban Eden.

Make These Popsicles

I stumbled across this recipe on The Mama Dramalogues blog and after experimenting with it once or twice, combining it with another recipe I found in Bust magazine, they've quickly become a fav around here. When I say "fav," I mean I eat them everyday at least once a day and I don't feel TOO guilty about it as they have yogurt in them.

(Any)Berry Cream Pops
from Lorraine Starks

1 pint berries (about 12 oz)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup water
1/2 cup cream (heavy or light)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup vanilla yogurt
8 5-ounce waxy paper cups or 12 3-oz bathroom cups
popsicle sticks

(I those reusable popsicle containers)

In a saucepan, bring the berries, sugar, and water to a boil. Let simmer for 8 minutes or so (until the berries are soft and begin to break apart). The other recipes have you drain the berry juice, but I love berry seeds, so I left in all the goodness.

Layer the popsicle as follows. First: a few dollops of yogurt with a whole berry or two thrown in. Let freeze for about two hours. Second: Mix about 2/3 of the berry syrup with the cream and mix well. Pour a little over the frozen yogurt. Freeze for an hour or so. (I let it start to get solid, but not so solid that I can't poke the popsicle stick in place.) Third: Mix the remaining berry mixture with the lemon. Pour that on top. Stick the sticks in the popsicle. (If using paper cups, the Mama Dramalogues suggests using a tin foil cover to keep the stick from toppling over.) Freeze for two hours. I do the mixture backwards - the Mamas do it yogurt, berry-lemon, then berry-cream but I like having the most refreshing one at the bottom.

Remove and enjoy!

We've tried both blackberry and raspberry to great success. They hubby has put in a request for strawberry and I'd like to see if we can make blueberry work so those will be the next two flavors. I'll let you know if they're an utter disaster!

Fence Building 101

Our poor pup has suffered in our fenceless yard long enough. We (and when I say "we" I mean my husband and his family) are building a fence and she will be able to run free through the crab grass, dig holes in the black earth of our garden, hunt bunnies, squirrels, and cats, and generally wreak havoc in every corner of our yard.

The first steps? Dig up the old chain link and centuries old wooden posts and put in new holes. I wish I had pictures of my father-in-law pulling up the old posts with the Bobcat that his work recently (and conveniently) bought. It was truly a vision of machine versus nature (or at least machine versus urban lot). Of course, we missed most of it because we had various wedding and parties to attend while Eric's father toiled away. It would not be unfair to compare us to Cinderella's stepsisters -- except for the fact that Eric's father pretty much has a huge grin on his face the entire time he's working heavy machinery.

Next, the menfolk had to dig 25 post holes using a rented auger. Getting the auger, the posts, and the flats of 80 pound bags of cement into our yard was enough of a feat. The digging was a whole other story. Turns out that repeatedly pulling this giant metal screw four feet out of the ground is hard work. Not that I'd know -- mostly I just took pictures and found any excuse to stay inside the air conditioned house. I am a delicate flower.

Eric insists that the pictures don't do justice to the amount of effort it took to lift that thing around. Lest you think Dane (in the blue shirt) did even less than I did -- he was waiting for hole to be drilled so he could pour gravel into the bottom: not the most romantic job, but necessary nonetheless. We're currently working on getting the poles straight and level and setting them with concrete. More pics to come...

Etsy Sellers: Make a Light Box! Go! Now!

After one too many cloudy days or late evenings meant I had to put off shooting items for my etsy site, I finally relented and decided to make myself a light box. I followed the directions from the strobist blog. Two afternoons later (I ran out of "scrounged" up tissue paper), I had a light box.

So far, it's so good. In fact, it's awesome to have. I don't have to wait for sunny days to take photographs and it looks like I'll spend less time editing in photoshop. The first pictures turned out pretty well.  (I used the wide angle lens for the first few just 'cause that's what was on my camera at the time.) 

I switched to the macros lens for the next two shots. 

Other than resizing to make it easier to download here, I didn't edit these photos at all. I still have to get at least one and maybe two more desk lamps so that I can have the option of  having light on one (as on this picture where you can see the shadows under the sachet), two, or three (to create that "floating" effect) sides.  I'm also really looking forward to playing around with different backgrounds.

I had to make this one pretty big so that I can shoot my bags, but I think I'm going to make another smaller one and remove the bottom of the box so that I can shoot on different surfaces. I'll post here once I make that one. 

Weekend Project

The old man kindly installed a retractable clothesline in our backyard and laundry has now become one of my favorite things to do. OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but hanging clothes out does remind me of when I lived in Thailand. Except for that then we didn't have any electricity or running water so we washed our clothes by hand and hung them to dry because there was no other choice, not for the fresh smell and to save a few bucks a month. Still, there's something deeply satisfying about hanging out clothes to dry. 

I feel like I should have a big wicker basket, wear a "housedress" and tie my hair up with a scarf to fully inhabit the quaint vision. The only down side is that we miss out on the extra benefit of the lint trap on the dryer: somehow it sucks up all the little white hairs that cover our clothes (the source of which can be seen in the lower left hand corner of the second picture -- sort of like that photo of Elvis where he's sitting inside the screen door of his house at his own funeral).

I'd Taken a Long Break, but I'm Feelin' the Love

I'd taken a little break from etsy this winter and have gradually gotten back into the swing of all of the creating, posting, listing, and commenting that is etsy. It feels good to be back and feels extra good when other etsians choose your items to be featured in treasuries, blogs, and front pages.

Here are a couple of treasuries that made it to the front page. The first was designed by Birribe, a Swedish etsian with a very electic mix of charming items including jewelry, shawls, and mossbrushes in her shop. The second plum themed one was by Ear Candy Arts who makes bright beaded earrings. I think the last might have been an admin front page...




The next two are currently in the treasury. The first is by Beadin' By the Sea, a Washington State based jeweler with gorgeous pictures of her work.


This one is by beezmiller who creates hilarious, colorful sock creatures in Chicago.


Lastly, Angie of Handmade by Angie, featured Lars and Addie on her blog as part of her regular Friday Feature of etsy sellers. Apparently her muse appreciates the power of alliteration more than mine does!


Thanks, all!

Ultimate Minnesota Comfort Food

The recent plague of unusually cold and grey days have begged the question, "Is it June in Minnesota or October in London?" When you spend a few weeks out of every year in subzero temperatures in a state where snow on the ground six months out of the year is a very real possibility, summer is sacred. A few days of mid-June cloud cover is enough to send even the most stoic soul into conniptive fears that an ironic Mother Nature is punishing us for global warming by taking away our summers. This calls for heavy doses of warm milky tea and a serving of serious comfort food. "Hot Dish", which is our fancy phrase for casserole in Minnesota, is just what's needed to cure the grey day doldrums.

The marvels of Hot Dish have been documented by local artist Adam Turman...

... and also on postcards and dish towels over at Keep the Faye.
But even these feats of visual artistry cannot convey the powers of a good hot dish; it really is something you must try yourself. And so I give you my mother-in-law's recipe for Tater Tot Hot Dish, perhaps the most popular hot dish in Minnesota or at least in our neck of the woods because, really, who doesn't like tater tots? It's a recipe that's so easy even a bachelor can handle it (the recipe card that we follow is from my husband's single days when this dish was a welcome break from a steady diet of frozen pizzas). Still, like a (tasty) blank canvas, it can be varied enough to meet anyone's preferences -- you can skip the meat and use another can of cream of celery instead of the cream of chicken to make a vegetarian version, add some sprinkles of truffle oil if you want to go a little bourgie, or use spicy Italian sausage or chorizo in place of or alongside the plain hamburger if you want to go ethnic.

Tater Tot Hot Dish


1.5 lbs ground beef (we use ground turkey to great results)
1 small onion diced
1 bell pepper diced (we don't always include this because my husband doesn't love them)
1 package frozen mixed vegetables
1 package tater tots (because you'll be throwing the whole thing in the oven for a while, it works out fine for the tots and the veggies to both be still pretty frozen)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 can of milk


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While browning the meat, onions, and peppers, line the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan with a single layer of tater tots (save a handful for the top). Add the can of cream of chicken soup, the can of cream of celery soup, vegetables, and 1/2 can of milk to the browned meat. Mix well. Pour the mixture into the pan and place the remaining tater tots on top.


Place in the oven for about 45 minutes. After the check-out guy at our local market recommended it, we started adding grated cheddar cheese to the top for the last five minutes or so. It's a great addition because, hey, everyone likes cheese and because we've got to somehow make up for the animal fat that we've lost by using turkey instead of beef.

Eric eats his with just a little black pepper on top. I like mine with ketchup (because you know what I say: you can never get too many vegetables) and some hot sauce (because my favorite comfort foods all have a little spice to 'em). It's tasty when warmed up too!



Enjoy! And thanks, Lu, for the recipe.

Right as Rain Creations: Aptly Named.

Months and months ago, I started what I called "Friday Feature" wherein the goal was for me to feature an etsy product every Friday. Well, I've come to realize that regular blog themes based on alliteration and days of the week just doesn't work for me. My muses don't follow a seven day pattern.

So I've opted to feature when the muse strikes... and boy, the muse bopped me over the head a good one.

Megan at Right as Rain Creations makes luscious lotions that I cannot say enough about. Minnesota winters are cold and dry. Really, really dry. But even in the middle of winter, with chapping and chaffing at its worst my husband (who washes his hand often at his job in a research lab) and I only had to reapply once every few days. When the skin on my knees and thighs got red, itchy, and flaky, I put on some of Right as Rain's lotion and -- I kid you not -- the next morning I saw a marked improvement. After a few days, my skin was as soft and silky as a newborn baby. (OK, maybe not that much, but did you really expect a miracle?)

After we finally used up our first 4 oz, I was ready to place an order for a larger bottle. My first bottle was "April Showers." I liked the scent well enough, but wanted something new. I e-mailed Megan and asked her for advice on a gender neutral scent since both my husband and I were hooked. She responded promptly with a few suggestions and I decided on Green Tea and Cucumber. When it arrived, I feared it was a little too feminine for my husband, but I didn't say anything and let him smell it for himself. He asked if it was too masculine for me. Needless to say, I was impressed with Megan's olfactory insights.

It's probably a little pricier than what you might pick up at CVS or Walgreens, but we have to use it so infrequently that we can't afford NOT to buy it. Our four ounce bottle lasted both of us through the winter. Besides, it's well worth it for the personalized service and the comfort of knowing that there's a person behind the product working to make sure ingredients are as natural as possible. ... Oh, and with our 8 oz purchase she included a sample of her "Chai Tea" body cream -- thick and sweet enough to eat!

When you have to eat crow... eat cod instead.

I have to admit that when my mom gave me and Eric The Everything Cooking for Two cookbook by David Poran, I was dubious. The food snob in me would not allow that a good recipe could come from a cookbook that did not have glossy, full color photos or was not a tradition-laden tome like The Joy of Cooking or the magazine Cooks. Two years later, after countless meals from this handy little, now grease-stained book, I stand corrected. I stand so corrected, that I'm posting two recipes from the book: one for flavorful, light cod cakes topped with a refreshing papaya salsa and the other for basmati rice with peas and cumin. Together, these recipes make a relatively easy summer meal and, just as the title of the book promises, they provide exactly enough sustenance for two. Enjoy!

Caribbean-Style Cod Cakes


3/4 pound cod fillet 1 T grated fresh gingerroot
1 1/4 cups plain breadcrumbs 1 T fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup mayonnaise 1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 egg lightly beaten 1/4 ground allspice
juice of 2 limes 1 c peeled and small-diced papaya (mango works too)
6 scallions, thinly sliced 2 T chopped fresh cilantro

1. Simmer the cod in salted water until it begins to break apart. Drain in a colander and break apart well. Let cool.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

3. When the fish is cool, mix together the fish, bread crumbs, mayonnaise, egg, half the lime juice, half the scallions, the ginger, thyme, allspice, cayanne, and salt and pepper to taste. Form into 4 equal patties and place on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, make the salsa by mixing together the papaya, the rest of the lime juice and scallions, the cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. (I let the salsa sit for at least a few minutes for the juices to work their magic.) Serve the salsa on top of the fish.



Cumin and Sweet Pea Basmati Rice


1 cup basmati rice
2 T butter, divided
1 small white onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 t cumin seeds
1/2 c frozen peas (he recommends defrosted, but I use them frozen with fine results)
1 1/2 c chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear. Soak the rice in cold water for 30 minutes.

2. In a small saucepot, heat 1 T of the butter on medium and saute the onion, garlic, and cumin seeds for about 3 minutes or until the onions are lightly golden.

3. Drain the rice, add it to the pan, stir well. Add the peas and broth, and bring to a simmer. Immediately reduce the heat to the lowest setting, and cover the pot.

4. Cook for exactly 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and add the remaining butter and sale and pepper. Stir gently to avoid breaking the grains of rice. Serve immediately.



Thanks, mom! And thanks David Poran.