Website Relaunch: Tapas Trays

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Thursday, September 30, 2010

One of my very first large eCommerce projects when I began freelancing was to build an eCommerce site and design all the branding materials for Tapas Trays. It is still one of my favorites.

About a month ago, Amy, one of the artists behind these fab glass pieces, contacted me with the desire to upgrade her site from her WAHM hosting to Business Catalyst. I was thrilled.

When I joined BC and switched my own site over, Tapas Trays was one site that I knew would benefit most from an upgrade, so when Amy came to me with the same thought, I was afraid she could read my mind. But I was more than happy to help.

Over the past several days I have stayed up late into the night to transfer her site over. It was a long process, and many emails ping-ponged between us, but it's up and we're both in love.

Not only will the site now be much easier for the Tapas team to maintain, but the site now has customizations and upgraded functionality that just wasn't available with the old host. It's shiny and new, and oh-so-fabulous.

Now that I have gotten to stare at her goodies at length, I've picked out a few things that I'll be getting really soon, like this sushi tray and this appetizer tray. Since they're one of a kind pieces, I suggest you pick your own. :-D

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Butternut Squash and Sage - 3 Ways

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I recently found myself in possession of several butternut squashes, all caused by two very different weaknesses.

My first moment of weakness came while walking through the produce section of our local grocery store when I came across the first yummy specimens of autumn squashes. I love autumn squashes. So, naturally, I plucked the day's winner, a handsome butternut squash, and put it in my cart. Off we rolled.

Two days later, with that pretty butternut squash still perched on my counter, Lily and I took off to the farmer's market. Sitting in her usual spot was the sweet little old woman who reminds me of my grandmother, which is what I refer to her as when I'm talking to David about all the goodies that she has. I love my own grandmother dearly, and I project this to the sweet farmer's market lady by buying her out of produce. I don't know why, and I often re-buy things if she has some (like recently I bought okra down the way, then when I saw she had some, I bought more - don't worry, we ate them all). Well, she had butternut squashes: 3 baby ones. And I bought them all.

So, I get home and sit the baby ones on the counter with the daddy one and think they make a great little modern family. But now, what to cook?

First came this Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette from Smitten Kitchen (found via Kathleen) and it is easily one of the best things I have ever cooked, and quite possibly one of the best things I've ever eaten. I followed the recipe exactly, and it took forever, but was well worth it.

The next day I tried a recipe that drove me to buy the latest issue of Food Network Magazine. The front cover had a picture of soup-filled pumpkins (and I sure love pumpkins) and so I gave it a try.

In all honesty, it sucked. Ha! It even made Lily gag. I haven't seen her gag since trying to feed her pureed pasta from baby food jars. We both enjoyed the accompanying grilled cheeses though!

Finally came an old favorite, butternut squash risotto. It's a concoction of mine that is perfect for this chilling weather. I always make bunches, as it's perfect as leftovers.

Butternut Squash Risotto

1 T butter
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small butternut squash, chopped
1 tsp sage (I think I usually double - and maybe even triple - this as I love sage)
1 cup arborio rice
3 cups chicken broth, divided
4 slices swiss cheese
salt and pepper

In medium saucepan, melt butter and add in onions and squash. Cook until onion is tender and squash is almost tender. Add in sage.

Toss in rice, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes.

Add 1 cup of broth and bring to a boil. When liquid is absorbed, add in 1 cup more of broth. Again, when liquid is absorbed, add in the last cup of broth. Cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed.

Salt and pepper to taste. Add in swiss cheese, a little at a time, until it's yummily melted. Eat!!!

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David's Idaho

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Tuesday, September 28, 2010

David has completed the second half of his research trip out west. Thank goodness.

Traveling with one of his professors, and two other folks from UNC Greensboro, David went out to Idaho this time around to play in trees. His photos are few this time around (which I find appalling) but the ones he did take make me want to go.

Oh, that second image is lady bugs. I would have freaked out.

I'm glad he's back, and it seems he had a really good trip. Next trip we're taking together. To Seattle. Eek!

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Yadkin Valley Pumpkin Festival

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Monday, September 27, 2010

This past Saturday Lily and I went on an adventure. We piled in the car and went driving on some curvy mountain backroads to the little town of Elkin, NC in Yadkin Valley wine country. They had a pumpkin festival, and, well, I just love pumpkins.

We arrived to a little downtown area that was completely blocked off for the festival, which included lots of vendors, some bad-for-you but REALLY good carny food, and pumpkins. Oh, watermelons too.

Lily and I got there in just enough time to see them weighing the pumpkins, which were HUGE! This years winner weighed 1,210 lbs. That is ridiculous, but didn't quite meet the state record of 1,258 lbs which was weighed at the festival last year. Of course, the first thing that I thought about was how many pumpkin spice muffins I could squeeze out of one of those monsters.

Lily also go her picture taken next to the world record-breaking watermelon, weighing in at 291 lbs. I wanted to bite it.

It was a lot of fun, and a perfect end to our week together before David got in from Idaho. More on that soon.

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Website Launch: Lisalu Jewels

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Sunday, September 26, 2010

Another project that launched this weekend (on Friday) was Lisalu Jewels.

Lisa contacted me recently to brand her new jewelry business. She had a very successful bridal jewelry company in the past, and wanted to kick up some fun by going into fashion jewelry. We built her brand from the ground up, starting with a logo and website, and taking it into coordinating print products.

We loaded her site into Business Catalyst, giving her a full solution for running her new business, and at a cheaper price (half the price!) than her old platform.

I had a really fun time with this design! It's fresh and fun, just like Lisa.

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Website Launch: Chicago Swim School

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Sunday, September 26, 2010

Eee! One of my many projects over the last few weeks has been this little number: a website redesign for Chicago Swim School.

They're old site was outdated and crammed with information. When they asked me to update their site, I knew I wanted to do something really fun and bold, as it would reflect their business (teaching important water skills to kids) as well as the folks who run it. I worked with the owners, Rob and Buffy, to make this fun new website using their pre-existing logo, and I'm quite in love with it.

We streamlined their information into clearly-defined pages, used typography to break up those pages into sections, and loaded all into the Business Catalyst platform, so that they can maintain it themselves.

So, hop on over and see their fancy-pants new website. It's quite pretty, if I must say so myself.

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Saving Wine

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Friday, September 24, 2010

There have been a handful of times in my life when, shockingly, I've tried a wine that I just couldn't drink. I recall one such event while having a dinner party. David thought he would bargain shop for wine, and the results were disgusting. Three college kids (and one of our professors) continued to pour the bottle right down the drain.

Like I said, it's only happened a handful of times, but it has definitely happened. Another example is our first batch of homemade wine. Equally, if not more so, disgusting. It's drinkable, especially if you've burnt off your taste buds recently, but it's really not good.

So, we're stuck with about a case or so of really icky homemade Merlot. (It's a case b/c we gave a lot away. Suckers. :-D)

I hate seeing wine just sit there, so I had a thought. I wonder if it would taste better mulled. And ya know what, it does!

Yesterday, I decided to formally greet fall with mulled homemade wine.

I poured about a cup less (I'll get to that cup in a minute) of a bottle of this Merlot into a sauce pan along with some mulling spices that I picked up from the cheese store recently. I heated it on medium-low until it was warm enough to drink, not letting it get hot enough to boil, as then all the alcohol would disappear. And we surely don't want that.

Heating the wine with those mulling spices made the wine drinkable, and quite yummy! And this is exactly how I'll be using the rest of those bottles of wine.

That cup I left out of the saucepan earlier was reserved to make these: wine poached pears. This is the first time I've ever made them, and it was easy AND one of the best things I've ever made. So good.

Wine Poached Pears

3 small to medium pears, cut into chuncks
1/3 cup sugar (I used some organic raw sugar, but I imagine brown sugar would be amazing as well)
1 cup red wine (and apparently it can be some gross wine)
1 cinnamon stick

Put pear pieces into an oven-safe dish with a lid or that can be covered with aluminum foil. Pour sugar on top. Pour wine on top of that. Throw in cinnamon stick.

Put in 300 degree oven and let it hang out for 60-75 minutes, stirring at least once half way.

Take out and eat warm.

See. Easy! And I was really shocked at how really good they were. Such a yummy fall food.

And both of things were done using some icky wine that I just haven't had the heart to throw away. I'm glad I didn't!

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Fall Food

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Thursday, September 23, 2010

I love autumn. It is my hands-down favorite time of year. Here in the mountains it is already well under way. I'm waking to foggy weather in the 50s and the leaves are already changing colors. Rapidly. I'm in my own personal heaven.

Not only is the weather fabulous, but so is the food. The farmer's market is full of fall squashes (I have a line of butternut squash recipes that I'll be making over the next couple of days), pumpkins and apples. Cooking at this time of year makes pulling through hot summers worth it. Chilis and stews and soups are on the menu. Rice pudding and pumpkin trifle. Oh my, I want to go eat right now. I hope you get the picture.

Well, fall cooking is well under way. The past week has brought some old favorites to the table that always seem too heavy for the summer heat.

Last week David asked me to make Shrimp and Grits for him before he left for Idaho. I will share this recipe soon, as it is one of our favorite meals, and is a dinner party staple, especially when Lauren and Brent come to visit.

The night before he left, I made chicken stew and my grandmother's apple pie. I have tried apple pie one other time in my life, shortly after going off to college, and it was a horrible flop. The apples never softened, and if I remember correctly, it went straight into the garbage. This time, I did it!

I made a thin pie in my tart pan, as I remembered at the last minute that I don't have a pie pan (I seriously don't bake), but it turned out wonderfully.

Then, last night, I made the best french onion soup I think I have ever had. French onion soup is something that I make every now and again, as I simply love the stuff. However, it's rarely as good as I would like it to be, until last night. I think I've finally perfected it. Yum!

French Onion Soup

1 T butter
1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced
Couple of dashes of soy sauce
Couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1 T sugar
1 T flour
1/2 cup dry white wine (last night I actually used Reisling, as that's what I was sipping on, so "dry" isn't as necessary as just a good white wine)
1 can beef broth (I used "50% less sodium" Swanson broth)
Crostini and sliced swiss for topping

In a saucepan melt butter over medium-low heat. Once melted, at onions. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until onions are tender and translucent.

Add soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and sugar, cooking uncovered for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden to medium brown.

Raise heat to medium-high. Put in flour and stir constantly for one minute.

Pour in wine, stirring to mix thoroughly, and cook until the strong smell of alcohol has dissipated.

Pour in beef broth and bring to a boil.

At this point it's all about preference. Taste the soup, and if you'd like it to be more flavorful, leave it to simmer at medium-high until it's reduced to a flavor you like. If you'd like it less robust, add a bit of water until the flavor is to your liking. I personally let mine simmer for about 15 minutes.

Once you've reached a flavor you like, pour into a bowl, top with crostini (or day old bread, or croutons: whatever you've got) and swiss cheese.

This recipe makes 2 bowls of soup.

Measurements are approximate, as I don't measure anything. Which is why I can't bake.

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Curly vs. Straight

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Wednesday, September 22, 2010

It's time I start thinking about my hair. Actually, I'm so vain, I spend most days thinking about my hair, but that's beside the point.

I have always had a crazy head of hair. It's very fine, but I have a lot of it, which is weird. Usually, when people have fine hair, it's also very thin. Not me. Lots of it.

It's also kind of curly, but really kind of not. I always just called it nasty. I have never been able to just let my hair "go". Do it's own thing. Because a lot like me, it can never make up it's mine. If I want it to be curly, I have to MAKE it curly. If I want it to be straight, I have to MAKE it straight. The middle ground is just, well, nasty.

I also have to wash it every day. If I don't I look homeless, and I definitely have a home. And a shower.

When we moved to the mountains, I decided to kick the straightener and brought out the curl by getting a perm. I could just shower at night, let it air dry, and wake up and walk out the door. Perfection. I could also go a day or two, or three when I knew I wouldn't see anyone, without washing it. It was sort of fabulous. But I also never knew how fab, or seriously not fab, my bed head would look. In essence, this control freak had no control.

Then there's the straight hairs. I've opted for straight most of my life, except for summers of beach hair and that weird stint in the third grade. I know that I can get up, shower, and straighten it, and it's straight. Period. But it's also an hour+ of dedication every morning, and honestly, the perm has spoiled me. I liked being low maintenance.

So, now that the perm has grown out enough that I look homeless regardless of my most recent cleaning, I have to straighten it to look presentable, and I'm debating. Straight or curly?

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Viva's New Tattoo... Invitations

Emily Thompson - Follow @emmariedesigns - Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I was doing my dailies the other day, when I took a visit to my web friend Viva's blog and found that she's been one busy chica. Not only is she making over mid-century furniture, drooling over pumpkins, and redecorating her adorable son's room, but she's also pumping out some fabulous wedding invitations.

Her most recent creations were these custom wedding invites that have me wanting to make an appointment at the local tattoo parlor (I actually don't even think I have a local tattoo parlor).

These are so gorgeous, and what get's me is the richness of the color palette. Lovely.

And the photography is fantastic. I'm drooling, Viva!

Ok, I'm off to look for the closest parlor. Or maybe I'll just go jump a barb-wire fence. There are plenty of those around here.

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