EAT Fast Food: Peppercorn Steak w/ Heirloom Tomato & Summer Corn Salad

There's nothing like eating summer when it's summer. 

This is a quick little ditty I whipped up last night in 25 minutes flat. 

Go!

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For a video tutorial on cooking this 

peppercorn steak with the cuuute 

Ali Wentworth and Jessica Seinfeld, 

click here.

Ingredients List:

1 NY Strip Steak (1" thick)
1-2 large heirloom tomatoes
1 ear of corn
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
Handful of arugula
1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro (substitute basil for you cilantro soap-tasters)
1/2 a lime
1/2 tbsp. black peppercorns, crushed (not ground)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. canola oil
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Tip: Use a heavy bottom sautee pan to crush your peppercorns. Make sure they're all "popped" or else somebody's gonna lose a tooth.

Total prep & cook time: About 30 minutes  |  Serves 2

1. Start boiling the ear of corn in salted water. 
2. Trim the steak of the hard fat, and pat dry with a paper towel.
3. Use the canola oil, crushed peppercorns and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt evenly over both sides of the steak. 
4. Bring a heavy bottom pan (cast-iron or stainless steel) to heat at med-high. No need to add any extra oil - the steak has all the oil needed. 
5. Once the pan is hot, put the steak on. This is going to make a crunchy, flavorful crust. It's also going to get a little smoky in the kitchen, so open a window.
6. For medium-rare, cook about 4-6 minutes on each side, about 125-130 degrees on an instant read thermometer.
7. While the steak is on the first side, large chop the tomato(es) and cilantro. Put them in a salad bowl and add the arugula and about 3/4 cup black beans. Add as much of any of these ingredients as you like. 
8. Flip the steak.
9. Squeeze 1/2 lime over the salad. Add a pinch of salt & pepper. (If you use pure citrus as a salad dressing, you HAVE to salt it in order to marry the flavor. Otherwise it will taste like a lime salad, which I guess isn't such a bad thing.)
10. Remove the ear of corn and let cool a little.
11. Check the steak's temperature. Remove and tent with foil when done. 
12. Cut the corn off the cob and add toss in the salad.

Divide the salad onto two plates. Cut the steak in about 1/2" slices against the grain and lay over the salad. Drizzle any juices onto the steak.

Savor the flavor, y'all!!

DIY: Easy No-Zipper Pillows

This is how it usually goes:
Ooooh! I love this fabric. Well... I'll just get a yard, that's all. Just enough for a pillow, no harm here! Oh, and maybe just a yard of this one, too. And some contrasting fabric, that's all. Just a yard of this, a yard of this one and this one, too. See, it's not that much and out of all of this, we'll have all new pillows.

Pillows! Pillows for every room in the house new PILLOWS! Pillows Pillows Pillows I love PILLOWS! I'll sew them all!

Cut to:
Piles and piles and boxes and closets filled with Just A Yard Of This and Just A Yard Of That. And nary a pillow to be found.

Wanna know why? I flippin' hate sewing zippers. Hate 'em like the day is long. I know, it's not that hard, but it's literally the only thing that keeps me from sewing all those pillows. I just hate it.


So, be still my beating heart, I came across this post for envelope-back pillows. Duh! How many times have I seen these and not thought to do it myself!

I have been staring at my cute Pink Pig fabric for about a year, it taunting me day by day by day. 

Soooooome Pig!! It would say. 

Finally yesterday I took care of business and made my Pink Pig Pillow.

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Sewing 101: Envelope Back Pillows

You'll Need:

Pillow form - I used a 21" pillow, so the measurements below are based on that.
Measuring tape or large ruler
Straight edge - you can use the large ruler or anything else that has a straight edge.
Rotary cutter or scissors
Fabric pencil
Sewing machine & thread
3 Pieces of fabric cut to the measurements below - you can use a contrasting fabric on the back.
        *Note: If you have a closet full of fabric, ahem, you can dig around and piece together scraps that are the
         measurements needed. No need to buy more.
        **Second Note: Use any old fabric you have that measures up - t-shirts, old curtains, throws, skirts, etc.

1. Measure and cut 3 pieces of fabric based on the size of your pillow. Use contrasting fabric on the back pieces if you want. You can also "railroad" the same fabric to make contrast if you don't have two fabrics. Simply turn the fabric sideways and cut your back pieces across the pattern. That's what I did.
        For my 21" Pillow:
            - Front piece = 22" x 22"
            - One back piece = 11.5" x 22"
            - Second back piece = 14.5" x 22"

2. Back pieces:  Press a hem 1/2" on one edge of each piece, then fold and press another 1/2".

Pin the hems.

3.  Sew the pinned hems.

4.  Overlap the two back pieces about 2", making sure that the total width equals 22" once overlapped.

5.  Pin & sew the overlap.

6.  Lay the front and back pieces on top of each other with the patterns facing each other.

7.  Pin the pieces and sew around all four sides with at least a 1/2" hem, double locking the corners. You can do a 1" hem or more if you want the pillow to be tighter.

8. Trim the corners and turn it right side in. Use a chopstick or bone folder to poke out the corners.

9.  Put a pillow in it!

10.  Take pictures and stare at it for at least 7 minutes.

Sooooooooome Pig!!

DIY: Easy Blackout Curtains

I had taken to nightly whining fits. 10pm. 11pm. 2am. 6am.

There's a lampost right outside our bedroom window that's on all night, so it's not just the morning sun that pokes through our curtains and slaps me like I'd been dancing on bar tops all night long, when I know for certain that I had not been. I'm not 30 anymore.

So what's a girl to do with her cute, store bought, thinly veiled curtains?

Source: West Elm Ikat Ogee Linen Curtains

You dream of hotels, that's what you do! Like the one you stayed in the night you got engaged. 

Bar dancing hussy turns into bed jumping monkey
at the stroke of a sapphire.

I digress.

Hotels get it right every time. With their thick, fluffy duvets, remote control tv's, bathrooms 3 feet from the bed and, my personal favorite, curtains so dark that you could live there for 10 days and forget that the earth revolves around the sun.

We're staying here when we go to London next month. 
It's going to be so dark!!!
Source: Base2Stay.com

So back to the problem at hand: my super thin curtains and my lazy solution for night fits. This is the easiest sewing project you'll ever do, I promise. I did this yesterday in about an hour, and boy did I SLEEP last night!

The most awesome thing about blackout fabric is that it cuts like butter and doesn't need to be hemmed!

1.  First buy your curtains.

These are nice.
Source: Urban Outfitters 

You could make your own, which I've done plenty of in my lifetime. But sometimes the thought of measuring, cutting, folding, pressing, pinning and hemming 36 yards in circumference is a little too much for a Tuesday, so you buy them readymade.

2.  Get some blackout fabric. I usually use white or cream, depending on the fabric color.

3. Roll out the blackout fabric and lay your curtain on top of it. Trim all around the edges just outside the curtain. Cut it like you cut wrapping paper. Wheeee!

**Save yourself some cutting by scooting the curtain over to one side of the b.o. fabric and making the top of the curtain flush with the top edge.

Yes, those are my haircutting shears. 

4.  Sew it! And guess what, you don't even need to pin it. I'm a renegade, so I don't play by no stinkin' rules. If you have a steady hand and focused eye, you can just hold the fabrics in place as you feed them through the machine.

Sew all around the edges - you can skip the bottoms like I did.

5.  At the top of your curtain, sew the b.o. fabric just below the panel where the rod goes. I just followed along the existing seam. Trim off the excess.

And voila! You have blackout curtains!!

Ginger couldn't be bothered with celebrating my handiwork.

Sleep well, my friends.