How To Make A Clementine Lantern

Did you know you can make a little lantern out of a clementine? It's really easy and a group of these makes a great table decoration, lasting about the length of a meal.

Steps:

1. Make an incision around the middle of the clementine. 

2. Carefully remove the peels both top and bottom taking care not to remove the center "wick".

3. Cut out an opening in the top, either with a small cookie cutter or free-hand with an x-acto knife. 

4. Fill the other half with olive oil 3/4 of the way up the wick but spread a little oil on that too.

5. Light the wick and put the top back on.

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How To Make a Dutch-Inspired Floral Arrangement

Rachel Ruysch, Floral Still Life, 1700

 Rachel Ruysch, The Still Life with Devil's Trumpet, Mid 1690's

A lot of floral designers are going Dutch lately, finding inspiration in Flemish floral still lifes. I love the wild and romantic mood, the flowers spilling out of their containers, the inclusion of fruit and branches and leaves. My usual M.O. with floral arrangements is to buy a bunch of tulips at Trader Joes or scavenge whatever I can find in the yard and stick everything in a vase. Making a Dutch still life-inspired floral arrangement does require more thought and work, but I was surprised by how easy it really was.

Below is my step by step guide. Since flower arranging was an entirely new process to me I watched this YouTube video first which helped get me started with some of the fundamentals...

A goblet or urn shaped vessel works well for cascading designs.

Here are the flowers I bought from the market along with some honeybush greens, camelias, and rosehips I collected from my yard. Total cost $23.

Floral foam I bought from The Dollar Tree. Soak until it floats.

I organized my flowers by type. The YouTube video advises odd numbers of everything which is probably a good idea but I ignored that without any disastrous results.

Start to build your arrangements in layers. I began with a base of eucalyptus branches.

I added all the flowers by type, sticking them into the foam randomly before moving on to the next flower. Here we have grapes, kale, and protea.

 
Camelias and honeybush folliage have been added. It's beginning to look like something!

Keep layering and keep turning the vase to avoid gaps until, voila! 

Things I learned:

1. You will likely need more materials (flowers, fruit, foliage, cacti) than you ever imagined.  
2. You will still save a lot of money by making your own bouquet and it only took me one side of Van Morisson's Astral Weeks to complete the whole project AND clean up.
3. The produce isle is a great place to gather materials. You can add things like artichokes, clementines, and lady apples by piercing them with a wooden skewer. 
4. Your yard (or neighbor's yard!) is also a great place to gather materials. I loved the cool glaucous mint leaves of the honeybush growing outside my entryway in this arrangement--something I would be unlikely to find at my local florist.
5. Embrace birth and death. The Dutch often incorporated memento mori into their arrangements and the flowers are often fully open, past their prime by modern standards, but looking all the more natural and luscious for it. 

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Pink Elderflower Cordial + Pink Fizz Elderflower Cocktail

Today I'm going to show you how to make the quintessential summer drink, a non-alcoholic English elderflower cordial (think syrup) which is tart and sweet, with lovely floral notes. It doesn't get more refreshing than a splash of this cordial over a glass of iced soda water. 

At the end of the post I also have a cocktail recipe using the cordial.

I've been curious about making an elderflower cordial using the pretty pink flowers from my "Black Lace" elderberry  (Would it taste good? Would it leave everyone shuffling off with tummy aches like a bunch of Bar-ba-Loots?) and this year did some digging around to find this recipe. I modified it just a bit and it's been a big hit. Nobody has died. I thought I would be giving bottles of the cordial away for Christmas but it will be long gone by then.

Here are my step by step instructions...

I also have a Snapguide available for those who would like a mobile version.

Ingredient List:

• 20 Elderflower heads
• 3 Lbs sugar
• 3 Pints water
• 2 Ounces citric acid
• 2 Lemons

Gather your materials and ingredients. You need a large stock pot and some bottles or jars to put your cordial in.

Pick your elderflower heads. I'm using the "Black Lace" variety but common elderflower with white flowers will also work perfectly. You just won't get the pink hue in the final product.
 

Remove as many flowers from their stems with a fork as you can. I've heard they can impart bitterness but I had a few stems remaining and didn't notice any ill effect, so I don't know how thorough you need to be.

Add your sugar and citric acid to the water, stirring over med heat until dissolved and clear. Add the zest of two lemons, then slice the lemons and throw those in the pot too.

Add your flowers to the pot, stir and leave to cool. Cover with a kitchen towel and leave to sit for 48 hours.

After a day or two (some recipes call for 24 hours, some for 48 hours) you will see that the lemons and flowers have broken down a bit. You are now ready to strain through cheesecloth and then bottle in sterilized bottles.

The cordial will keep in the fridge for a few months or in the freezer for longer. The cordial is very concentrated and you need just a dash to liven up sparkling water.

Pink Fizz Elderflower Cocktail

1 shot English gin 

1 shot St Germain

1 dash of pink elderflower cordial

Method: Shake ingredients with ice, strain into ice-filled glass, and top with soda water

Garnish: Lemon zest twist or sprig of elderflower

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How To Make A Tabletop Herb Garden

Today I'm going to show you how to make an herb garden in a container. These mini herb gardens are so handy to keep on your door step or outdoor table, if you're lucky enough to have a place to eat outside when it's warm. They also make great gifts--this one was actually for my Mom for Mother's Day.  I love the idea of giving these as an unexpected hostess gift.

The total cost of this project was: $12

Materials needed:

• Basket, planting pot, or other container
• Soil
• Moisture crystals (optional)
• An assortment of herbs
• Landscape fabric or water-permeable shopping bag

You will need an assortment of herbs. I am using flat leaf parsley, tarragon, variegated thyme, and purple sage. These herbs are intensely flavored so you often need just a pinch which makes them well-suited to a small herb garden. If you use a ton of basil or mint, you will likely want to have those potted separately.

For my container I'm using this pretty little basket from the Dollar Tree. It's a good tabletop size but you can easily make your garden larger and and choose a wooden wine crate, ceramic pot, or larger basket for planting. 

 If you're using a basket you will want to line it with landscape fabric so the soil doesn't wash out OR you can cut up a water-permeable shopping tote and use that as a liner like I've done here.

 

It's a good idea to choose a potting soil with coco fiber which helps with water-retention.

You can also add a small amount of water crystals to the soil (I like Quench which is made of food-safe cornstarch) which swell with water and release it back into the soil slowly over time allowing you to skip waterings.

Once you've prepared your soil and filled your container half way up, you can put your plants into position before topping off with a final layer of soil.

And voila! Give it a good drink and you're done. These herbs like sun, so make sure it gets a bright spot for its home. It would be fun to add some cute little plant tags too, especially if you're giving it away as a gift.

You can see I have my mint planted in the pot behind--it has a tendency to be invasive so I don't plant it in the ground and it's nice to have a good-sized pot always at the ready for Thai salads, mojitos, and iced tea.

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I've created a Snapguide for this project which you can find here. If you've enjoyed this post you might also like the guide on making a tiny garden. You can find the Snapguide for that project here.

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How To Make A Tiny Garden

My tiny garden in a style I like to think of as deconstructed (code for lazy woman's) Bonsai

They had me at "tiny". My Mom and I recently attended a class at Garden Fever called Tiny Gardens taught by miniature garden design experts Nancy Goldman and Genevieve Layman. I really didn't know what to expect but I have enjoyed making topiaries and I imagined this would be somewhat similar. 

As a mobile option, I've created a Snapguide for this project which you can find here: http://snp.gd/eap3zw

This is a really fun project whether your tastes are whimsical (you might want to add some furniture for the fairy visitors) or sophisticated (let rocks, sand, gravels, and bark be part of your natural palette) and I will walk you through the six steps needed to make a charming, wee garden.

Supplies List:

• 1 small container
• Potting soil
• An array of small plants
• Rock, bark, moss, or any other decorative items that suit your fancy

  
  

Instructions:

1. Gather your materials. Your garden can use moisture loving plants like ferns, mosses, and grasses, or xeric plants like succulents and cacti. Add moss, bark, gravel, stones, shells--you are the artist!

2. Partly fill your container with either regular potting soil or a cacti blend for succulents and cacti.

3. Trim your plants to your liking and to fit your container. Some root trimming might be needed to get everything to fit.

4. Begin "building" your garden, layering and rearranging until you are happy with the composition.

5. Don't be afraid to divide plants into smaller segments by pulling apart their roots. Remember that in nature things often grow in clusters or groups.

6. Once planting is done feel free to add rocks or moss, figurines, or tiny structures. Make a nice spot for the little fairies who might visit. And once you're done, give everything a good watering, of course.

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