The Weekend Thrift.

Take a look at this beauty.
I picked up this Art Deco-esque shelving piece for three dollars at a charity yard sale last week. 3$!!
It's a little rickety, but after tightening all the screws, I think it will hold up just fine. Well I hope so. But I've already gotten three dollars of use out of it. (because, how long does that take?)

xo

Adventures with bleach

Inspired by these blogs (1,2) I've tried bleaching a few of my old things.

This was a t-shirt that my friend Amy gave me for my 16th birthday. (thanks amy.) Well, we could just say it isn't quite my style anymore. I still really liked the fit of the tee. So I thought to myself, "Hey, if I could make the whole tee be tan colored, then you wouldn't be able to read the words quite so much!"

Good thinking, self. 

 So I put it in a plastic bin and poured straight bleach over it. (I know you're supposed to use water too, but I didn't.) All the black seeped out and man it smelled horrible!

I left it in the bleach for a couple of hours. 

Washed it by hand in the sink. And hung it up in the shower to dry.

 This is the result! Holy smokes!

I love the new color.

According to this color chart, I think it's either "jasmine" or "Naples yellow." I'm good with that. they're both exotic! Just my style. 

What do you think? Would you ever try bleaching the crap out of something you own?

xo steph

Tomato Basil

I love the Tomato Basil soup at Zupas. (Who doesn't.)  But I really dislike tomatoes. I've tried a recipe before, but it came out to tomatoey for me. Tonight I tried to get as close as I could to the Zupas Recipe!

This is what I came up with:

Zupas Copy-Cat Tomato Basil Soup
4 diced tomatoes
4 cups tomato juice
3 cups water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
14 fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup orozo pasta
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1/2 a sick of butter
1/3 cup brown sugar.
(no judging)
Salt and pepper to taste.

Put tomatoes, juice, water and bouillon into a large stock pot. Simmer or Boil until mixture is thick. about 30 min.
Puree in blender with basil leaves.
Return to pot.
Add orozo, cream, butter and brown sugar and cook until pasta is tender. (Do not boil.)
Add salt and pepper as desired.
I served mine with bread crumbs to give it some texture.

It came out pretty darn close to the zupas original. I have noticed that theirs is very sweet and creamy.
If anyone out there tries this please let me know how it goes! I'd love to hear about any other ingredients used!