It's Friday....Seafood Anyone?

It's like tradition, almost anyone you call or visit on a friday in the south, they are either frying, grilling or going out to eat fish or seafood! (Well along with a card game too, lol.) I must admit that I love to cook,.... when I am not dog tired, lol. Blackened Catfish Opelousas is one of those en trees I love to get whenever I visit my local Pappadeaux's Seafood Restaurant. I've always wanted to try my hand at making this, and I finally got my hands on a pretty good recipe! My hubby loves pasta, and he must have seafood pasta salad served with this, along with dirty rice. Enjoy!




Blackened Catfish

  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp. each white & black pepper
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. each dried thyme & oregano
  • 1 tsp. each garlic & onion power
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. dry mustard
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter (melted)
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter (melted)
  • 6 (40z.) fillets (trout, catfish, etc.)

In a small bowl, mix all spices together. (tweak spices as preferred) Set aside. Heat a heavy cast iron skillet on high, add in 1/4 butter. (I suggest doing this on a grill outside, because the butter will smoke, if not please turn ur exhaust fan on high!!)
Pour 3/4 cup butter in a shallow dish. Dip each fillet into butter, and coat both sides. Sprinkle both sides of fish with spices, and pat the spice into fish.

Place fish into hot skillet, without overcrowding. Carefully spoon in about a teaspoon of butter on each fillet. Cook until fish has a charred appearance, bout 2 mins. Turn fish over, repeat with butter and cook until charred.


Pasta Seafood Salad

  • 16 oz. pkg. Rotini Pasta
  • 1/3 cup olive oil (optional: I sometimes use Italian dressing instead)
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 3 tablespoons chili pwdr, or to taste
  • 2 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp old bay seasoning (low sodium)
  • 1 can diced tomatoes (slightly drained)
  • 1 can whole kernel corn (drained)
  • 1 can black beans (drained)
  • 1/2 cup diced green bell peppers
  • 1/2 cup diced red bell peppers
  • 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
  • cooked cocktail shrimp (ur choice size and amount)
  • black olives, pitted (ur choice size and amount)
  • cubed pepper jack cheese (ur choice amount)

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta and cook 8-10 min. or al dente' drain.

In a bowl, combine oil, lime juice and all dry seasonings together, then pour over pasta, stir, set aside to cool to room temp, stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

Stir in corn, beans, peppers, tomatoes, cheese, olives etc. (I usually stir in a little more chili powder and old bay @ this time) Spoon into a pretty platter and garnish with any remaining cilantro leaves. Serve chilled.


Have a Happy Friday!!!
Seeya.

Fabric Store Visit ....

It's been a very long time since I've trekked downtown to one of my favorite fabric stores, "High Fashion Fabrics". My goodness, what took me so long to get back there? I believe it's been several years, eew! I admit, I have gotten a bit lazy when it comes to actually going, "fabric
shopping". Houston is pretty big and I try not to get tangled up in traffic venturing off my side of town, so I usually end up going to the nearest Hancock or Joann's for my fix. (fabric fondling,..don't act like you dont kno, lol) I'm always online, purchasing, wishing I could feel some of those gorgeous fabrics from some of my favorite online fabric sources, but I just place an order, wait and hope the color is true, texture is right, etc. But, there's nutin like seeing true designer fabrics in person, ya kno. I've been curious about the feel of bamboo for some time, an they have such a variety here. I've been fussin bout knits @Joann's and this


place has rows and rows and rooms. What should I pick solids, prints, 2way, 4way's, dang I need a..... Well, let's juz say I got a bit carried away, lol. This trip really helped kick my mojo back into check, unfortunately it also put a dent in my wallet. I must say I did enjoy my 4hours of fondling. Of course I did pick up a few things, but I'll post later! Here's some fabric porn...








Juz the idea's from this fabric draped on this manikin evolks naughty visions of sexiness, so I dare try not to purchase this fabric, on behalf of my sexy alter ego, lol. Well not this time anyway..



Directly across the street from High Fashion Fabric is ..



High Fashion Home. They have some of the oddest, and unique furniture pieces, not to mention Art. The upholstery fabric selection, is unbelievable, I even came across some Louie and Fendie fabric there. Now me wants to change my pillows on the sofa and try my hands at some of the beautiful sheers I spotted too! Well, until I can get to that fabulous fabric district in New York, I realize now that I'm not so limited in the fabrics, if I'm willing to travel a bit. Seeya!


Got an Award today, (yay)

A very talented stylist and fellow blogger, Faye nominated me for, "The Blogger Buddy Award"!


Thank you so much. It's very encouraging to know such a great stylist thought of me, so this indeed makes me want to be a better blogger and sewist to boot! Although I've never met most of you, it's like calling your friends up, and actually seeing what their up to everyday when I read your blogs. I am passing this love on, to other fellow bloggers whom blogs I frequent daily to get more motivation on my journey.

Studying your homework,.. yeah right

Guess who had me fooled? My dd had her homework propped up on a pillow in front of her, so every time I passed by her I thought she was studying, but nooo... she was sleeping.


Align Center
So, of course we had to get her back. While she was sleep-studying, we decided to get a couple of shots of hubby and son teasing, lol.





I think she's got the picture now, lol!

Studying,...hah

New Patterns,..well new to me anyway....

As I've mentioned before, I'm a 70's baby and I love anything from that era. I love long maxi's, jumpsuits, and bellbottoms! But of course with an updated spin, fabrics etc.
I was browsing Ebay and came across some great 70's patterns, that I just had to have!



The pink sleeveless jumper is just perfect for summer, and the maxi halter dresses are awesome, they are wrap dresses! I really like the ruffle around the neckline too! The last jumpers are cool, I love the fly collar. The change I will make on this baby is the placement of the zipper, it's in the back and it must be moved to the front.



More Mods......



Now, this one, I will be trying all views, lol. Love'em all!
Okay, I know some look pretty similar, but I just had to get them, lol.

My attempt at copying....and drafting

Although I've been M.I.A for a while, I've still managed to find time to work on a few projects. I've always wanted to duplicate some of my favorite RTW pieces, in different colors, fabrics and better fit. Because of my height, some tops fall too short on me, and of course the inseam of some pants are short too. I decided to conquer a top first.



Here's the top I'm copying, nothing fancy but I really like it.
Now, I've had this top for,.... lets say many sizes ago, lol. It's nothing fancy but I love the smocking/shirring details on it, and I've held onto it for quite some time, with hopes to one day duplicate it.
Since I have some new pattern tools, (yeah) a much needed new cutting table, and a big roll of masking paper (from Lowes), I guess I'm ready!




Here's a pic of my pieces all cut out with fabric pinned. I actually started off by lying the top down on my paper, pinning it to the paper to keep it straight and tracing around. After I traced, I added length and width where I needed, then added in my allowances.

Around the neckline and below the breast is this shirred band so I used elastic thread, hand wounded onto my bobbin to recreate the look. The funny thing is, when I attempted this on my computerized machine, it would not work, it just made, well straight stitches. So I had to pull out my Singer machine to get shirring, lol. With a long stitch and contrasting thread in my needle, it worked perfectly!







I used my serger to roll the edges on the band, before I shirred it. I also used it through-out the construction which made completing it a little faster. Here's a close-up of the top after I finished it.





The outcome was exactly what I wanted, with a much better fit!




Here's both tops




Me Lurv New Notions

I'm always excited when the Mailman or the UPS man leaves a package, especially if it's something sewing related. (or soap, make-up, hair related too,lol) Well guess what? I got some new tools and notions, on yesterday..... yeeeea!



Although it may be a while before I'll actually attempt making or drafting my own patterns, I desperately needed some tools that will assist me with adjusting and altering patterns for a better fit! I found the clear design ruler and the tailor's tacker @ sew-materialistic.com. I've always wanted the tailor's tack since I seen it in a sewing book years ago. From Vogue fabrics, I picked up, my double tracing wheel, graph ruler and another smaller design ruler ( great for armholes and necklines). From Joann's I got these great bias tape maker's.


R

I already have something in mind, that I wanted to draft, so I will be putting my new rulers to work very soon.

In Memorandum....

It's been a while since my last post and I haven't lost my sewing mojo or anything but, ... I've been taken it pretty slow.