Parties - Book Club Party

Just a few pics from the book club party I hosted last weekend. Lots of food, fun, and literary conversation (and crafts!) had by all.

Meatless Monday - Quick Garlic and Lime Shrimp

I know I just did a shrimp recipe a few weeks ago, but shrimp is just too yummy and quick to not eat often. This one has a ridiculously easy marinade and then just a few minutes in a hot skillet and dinner is ready. This would also be great served over pasta for a heavier meal. We ate it with a salad of blood oranges and red onions.

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deviened

Juice from 1 lime

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive bowl (glass or ceramic), and toss well to combine. Allow to marinate in fridge for an hour.

Remove shrimp from fridge. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and marinade to pan when pan is hot and cook until shrimp are opaque. Serve with pan juices.

Fri-DIY: Valentines (A few days late)

Sweet Straw Download from Papermash

Sorry for the late posting, I hosted a party on Friday evening and ran out of time to finish this post up prior to going in to full-on party mode. I'm planning on posting pics of the party sometime this week.


Truth be told, I am not a big Valentine's Day fan. All that mushy nonsense sentiment doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Have you read a Valentine's card recently? Sheesh!

However, I do like pink and hearts, so here are a few DIY projects from around the web that aren't too mushy-mushy! Like the sweet straw download from Papermash. Which is free, so generous!

Heart Garland from How About Orange

How About Orange strikes gold again with this super sweet heart garland. The hearts would also be fun taped to walls and windows or covering a wrapped package.

Unraveling a letter from Paper N Stitch

Everything about this letter project from Paper N Stitch is adorable. She used wooden spools made for crafts, but these would be wonderful on recycled spools leftover from sewing. This project could also be adapted and use paper for the 'letter' part, which would eliminate the need to stamp the message.

Heart Garland from Oh So Crafty

Another example of a sewn paper garland from Oh So Crafty, because you know I am a sucker for a sewn paper garland. RECYCLING BONUS - she uses magazine pages for the hearts.

Blowing Kiss Flip Book from Color Me Katie

How much fun is this homemade flip book from Color me Katie? So sweet and clever.

Happy Valentine's Day crafting!

Meatless Monday - Curried Salmon Salad

I turn thirty in a few short weeks, and it makes me realize that milestones usually sneak up and surprise me when I'm not paying proper attention. Like the fact that this is my 215th post on Modern Renaissance. Yay me and yay you for reading, thanks!!!

I have a real treat for this Meatless Monday. The husband has a new job which means we get to see each other on the weekends, sweet! However, I am used to only feeding myself lunch on the weekends and now that he expects food, too, I have fallen into a recipe rut. For the past three weekends, we have had tuna melts for lunch every Sunday! Every single one! Now, I love me some tuna melts, but it was getting ridiculous.

Did I do anything about it, though? OF COURSE NOT! I totally forgot about it until lunchtime Sunday rolled around. I didn't succumb, though, I looked through the pantry and came up with the following recipe as a riff on our normal tuna melts. And it was a major success.

Even though we ate it for lunch, with a green salad or nice bowl of soup, these open faced sandwiches would make an excellent light supper, too. Recipe below is for 2.

1 14-ounce can salmon OR 2 5-ounce cans. picked through and any bones removed
1/4 cup chopped celery
2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped apple
2 Tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon curry powder

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Chill until ready to serve. Serve in lettuce cups or pile it on some toasted bread, dust with cheese, and broil like I did.

Fri-DIY - Bunting Madness

The adorable bunting card How About Orange posted last week has set off another round of bunting madness around the internet. And why not? Bunting is inherently festive and adorable. It brings to mind fairs, carnivals, parties, and just plain old good times. There are a bajillion tutorials out there for how to make full size bunting, but I gathered together a few out of the ordinary tutorials here.


Who wouldn't want a bunting crayon roll? I'm a grown-up and want one. I can only imagine the kind of raptures this would inspire in a kid. Thanks to say yes to hoboken for sharing.


I love machine sewing on paper, so this mini paper bunting from Lavender and Limes had me at 'thread your sewing machine with colored thread.'


Finally, itty bitty bunting from ribbon strung on wire from scissor variations. I like the wire look because it would let you shape the bunting any way you wanted, instead of the traditional 'drooping' look.

Now, with all this inspiration, I need to find an unadorned nook in my house to make one of these into reality!

Meatless Monday - Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

I have noticed that portobellos are often touted as the vegetarian's steak. I have always failed to see the comparison, though. For me, portobellos are actually more interesting than most steaks. Dark, earthy, and juicy, they lend themselves well to many recipes. But if I happen upon some pretty portobellos, nine times out of ten I am going to stuff them.

The good thing about mushrooms is they taste good with a lot of other ingredients. I don't technically have a set recipe for stuffing them, I just go with what seems right that I have on hand. So feel free to adapt at will.

2 large portobello mushrooms, de-stemmed and de-gilled
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
zest from one lemon
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
1 Tablespoon olive oil, plus a little for brushing mushrooms

Preheat oven to 400. Brush mushrooms with a little oil and place on a foil lined baking sheet. In a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients to form the stuffing. Stuff each mushroom with 1/2 of the stuffing mixture, about 1/2 cup each. Bake in oven for 20 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and the stuffing is browned.

This recipe can be doubled to serve 4. I served these with a simple radish and celery salad garnished with lemon juice and cilantro.

Fri-DIY - The T-Shirt Restyle Issue

I keep hearing 'the worst of the recession is over.' So what? Does that mean we all have to run out immediately for some indiscriminate spending? Not this girl. I was thrifty prior to the recession and I plan on staying that way, no matter what the pundits say.

In that spirit, I've compiled some truly great T-Shirt restyle tutorials. All are fashionable, even pretty, and definitely a step up from the same old T-shirt-into-halter-top tutorials that seem to be the only ones google can find. There are some great inventive tutes out there shared by wonderfully creative generous women. Like the ladies at crafty stylish who show us how to make the tunic pictured above. I think it is so feminine and that green color just screams SPRING.


No real pics for this one, but this tute at Canadian living looks promising.


Make a T-shirt into an old-fashioned bed jacket? Yes, please.



Not for the novice sewer, but I love this idea of turning an old T-shirt plus skirt into a killer dress.


Finally, a killer don't mess with me kind of restyle, the chaos T-shirt. Just sounds like fun!