The Poopers are a boy, a girl, and our two bunnies. We're usually working on fixing up our little ol' house, figuring out married life, and building our careers. This is a place for us to share our experiences. We like DIY, cooking and eating, and some nerdy things here and there. Come on in!

diy lazy modern wreath

by karen • Nov 26, 2012

This simple, modern wreath takes little more than some scrap fabric, wire, and safety pins. You don't even need to sew a single stitch! It can also be disassembled to reuse the materials after.

I'm not really the type to go all out on handmade holiday decorations, because every year I get sensory overload on all the commercial stuff out there already. All those colors...and the glitter...and the artificial scent of apple cinnamon...puke. But I still wanted to show holiday spirit. So I thought for a while about making a wreath that wasn't too fussy or tacky. I thought about everything from origami to light wire spirograph, but those were all too much work for such a temporary piece of decor. So I happened to find some stretch velvet in this luscious dark teal that I thought would make an interesting departure from the usual pine green. And what easier way to use it than to simply cut it into strips and braid it?

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Mr. Pooper does Keller-style

by karen • Nov 25, 2012

Although Thanksgiving is finally over, the gluttony was not over yet today! Mr. Pooper offered to cook a post-Thanksgiving meal for just the two of us. *gasp* And of course being him, he couldn't just pick any recipe... He decided to cook Thomas Keller's "Sea bass with sweet parsnips, arrowleaf spinach, and saffron-vanilla sauce," from The French Laundry Cookbook. I have no complaints.

After waking up super early and entertaining the family all day today, I was totally exhausted by evening time. So I was passed out on the couch the entire time Mr. Pooper was cooking. I even had dreams about the mystery meal, even though in my dream it wasn't even the same dish. It was kind of weird.

Mais là, c'est le plat. I could get used to this!

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more glass paint uses

by karen • Nov 6, 2012

I'm so not done with playing with glass paint. There are still plenty of ways to use Martha Stewart's Glass Paints to enliven your dishes, without directly putting it in contact with food. Such is the example of these lovely cappuccino cups from Crate & Barrel.

We got his & hers cups, even though we have like a hundred cups already. I asked Mr. Pooper what kind of design he wanted: first he said geometric, I complained it's too hard to draw perfectly straight lines for such patterns; then, he said something cutesy like a sketchy drawing of bunnies or us or a fox, I complained that's too detailed and sappy. SO, I compromised with something in between, I think? Or maybe I just ended up doing whatever I wanted, as usual.

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