Nail Art Tutorial: Nautical Nails

Alrighty! It’s been a long time since my last nail art tutorial… I’m sorry! I’ve been having doubts about my nail art abilities.

They’re subpar, and I know it. But it’s fun, and I like to do it. So bite me LOL.

Anyways! Here’s the tutorial for some awesome summery nail art!

HEre’s the supplies you’ll need: You’ll need a few polishes. I’m using a white and black from FingerPaints. I’m also using three shades from OPI; one that I frankened and called My Boyfriend Scales Blue Walls, Samoan Sand and Moscow Red. You could use any kind of beachy colors. You mainly need a brown or tan for the sand and a blue for the water. I also used a couple other polishes not shown, an Ella + Milla polish and Co-Bolt Blue from Sally Hansen. You’ll also need a few makeup sponges, a dotting tool and blue painters tape to make stripes out of.

Make horizontal cuts with an Xacto knife on your roll of painters tape. You’ll need enough for two accent nails for both hands.

Paint your nails with a base of white. It doesn’t really matter if it’s a little patchy in spots, or if it’s incredibly nasty all over your fingers. That’s what cleanup is for. Make sure you let this dry completely before you go on to the next steps.

Starting off with the tan, build up a little patch of “sand” on one of your nails.

Taking your blue painters tape strips, lay out the strips the way you want them. Preferably not like this. Because it’s all crooked. And weird looking.

Take your red (or blue) polish and paint over the white and tape. Let it dry just a bit, then pull it off. If you have any messups, cover them up with a little white.

Do the same with the blue.

Add a couple more layers of tan.

Then add your light blue, then a little bit of dark blue

Then take a coral pink polish and doodle on a little starfish and a little shell or something.

Add a few little waves with some tacky white polish and your dotting tool.

Then on your thumb, or whatever other nail you have that you can’t figure out what to do with, sponge on a little blue and dark blue and then use your dotting tool to draw on a little sail boat. Then add some waves with white and blue.

And then on your red striped fingernail, draw on a little anchor.

Topcoat with your favorite topcoat and go!

 

Also attempt to do a crappy looking chevron pattern on your pinkie nail.

A Proper British Meal

All things British really appealed to me as a kid… I mean, we had Monty Python… The Beatles… The Stones…  All the pithy British sitcoms on PBS like Are You Being Served?, Keeping Up Appearances, and then the Vicar of Dibley and of course, the veritable Doctor Who (My grandparents had a Doctor Who coloring book that I am pretty sure was prehistoric, that I colored in for years… Now I kick myself thinking about how collectable it would be now).
But for the longest time, us Americans made fun of the Brits. Hell, I made fun of Brits for a long time. Until my dad met and married a wonderful lady from across the pond and I got a whole new extended British family including two step sisters, a new grandma and grandpa and aunts, uncles and cousins that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Now everything British is cool again. Doctor Who has made an awesome resurgence, British TV is taking over America and everyone is accepting and embracing all things British. People really should have taken my cue and did this years ago.
Why? Because… Their traditions are awesome and while everyone says that English food has no taste is smoking crack.
Today I have a proper British dinner on the blog, complete with Yorkshire Puddings!

To start off, you want a good thick roast. You ideally want something a bit larger than the 2.5lb roast I cooked. I didn’t realize it was this small LOL. Oh well, it still made for awesome food.

In a dutch oven, or roaster pan, melt three tablespoons of butter over medium heat.

While it’s melting, season your roast with salt and pepper on both sides. When the butter is melted, place the roast in it to sear. Sear the roast on both sides and then stand it up on the other sides to sear evenly.

Yummmm.

Turn off the heat, place peeled cut up carrots, onion and some garlic in there. Sprinkle on some more salt and pepper. Cover and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 2-3 hours depending on how done you want. Medium Rare would be about 2 hours; well done would be about 3. I cooked my small little roast for 2 1/2 hours and it was perfect. Don’t forget to put about a cup of water in the bottom of the pan before you pop it in. Cover and let it cook until it reaches a roasty goodness that melts in your mouth.

Now onto the Yorkshire Puddings. This is the tricky spot. The recipe will be at the end of the pictorial. Get your ingredients ready! And find your popover pan. Or just a regular non-stick muffin pan will work as well. I just like my fancy pans you don’t use for anything but that one certain thing LOL.

Get your eggs in a bowl. Because you can’t whisk eggs on a plate. Well I guess you could, but it would be really messy.

Now with your silly whisk that really doesn’t serve a purpose other than to look cute and get stuff stuck in it, whisk your eggs.

Sift your flour. We can’t find our regular flour sifter, so we use this fine mesh strainer. It works well!

Plus it looks REALLY cool when you take a picture at the right time.

Mix your flour with your eggs.

Then start mixing your milk in slowly, making sure all the lumps are gone.

And you wind up with this! Now carefully pour your mix into a measuring cup as it will be easier to pour from there than it would be to ladle from the bowl to the pan.
Take the roast out of the oven…

UGH! It looks so damned good. Let it sit while the puddings are cooking. Drain some of the juices off into a bowl…

A little drizzle from the skies of flavor town
Take the drippings and put about a tablespoon each into the tin you’re going to use for the puddings. I forgot to picture that part. Put the pan into the warm oven and let it warm up for about 3 minutes. You’ll hear the sizzle.
Take it out and carefully pour the batter into the pans about 2/3 full.

Put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes. 20 minutes was about the right time for mine. DO NOT OPEN YOUR OVEN until the timer goes off! It will cause the puddings to fall!!!

You will be rewarded with these gorgeous, airy, yummy little confections that are just begging to be eaten.

I mean, can’t you hear it?! Eaaaat meeeee!!! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaat meeeeeeee!!!

Plate your roast along with the carrots and onions and drizzle the pan drippings on top of the roast.

Then plate and enjoy! And believe me….

You’ll enjoy it!
Now onto the recipe!
Yorkshire Puddings
1 1/4 c. flour
4 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Beat flour into eggs until smooth and gradually add milk until lump free. Season with salt and pepper.
Place grease into tins. Heat in oven until hot (3 minutes or so).
Pour batter into tins to about 2/3 full. Place into oven for 20-25 minutes. DO NOT OPEN OVEN!!! Serve immediately.
This yields about six good sized Yorkshire Puddings.
PS.... I'd like to credit this recipe to my wonderful Auntie Lorna!

Tutorial Thursday: Santa Hat French Tips

In the spirit of Christmas, I bring you awesomely festive and SUPER EASY Santa Hat French Tips!

Supplies You’ll Need: A good red polish, I used butterLONDON’s Knees Up; a white polish, I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White and a great fast drying topcoat. I’m using my heavily guarded and rationed Hong Kong Girl from Glisten & Glow. I was going to put a belt buckle on one of my nails, but when I got into it I completely forgot to do it, so the West End Wonderland and Raven are optional lol. You’ll also need a pallet and your trusty mechanical pencil!

Step One: Using your mechanical pencil, dip it in the red and create a faux french tip with a little tornado like appendage hanging down. That gives me an idea for spring nails……. Hmmm….. Repeat this process on each nail, and switch up the direction that the hat hangs down if you’d like.

This is what it’ll look like when you’re all done. I’ve switched directions and gave them gaunty angles and what not.

Step Two: Take your mechanical pencil and dip into the white and then lightly press onto the nail creating the fuzz around the brim of the hat and the end of the hat.

Step Three: Give yourself a good layer of topcoat and voila! You’re done! How easy is that?!

Recipe Corner: Oh So Good Pie

This recipe was given to my mom a few years ago and has since became a quick family favorite. It’s quick, easy and as the title says: Oh So Good!

In a metal mixing bowl, beat your egg whites until they turn foamy.

After they turn foamy, add your sugar and mix until stiff peaks form.

Looks kinda like this.

Add your vanilla and mix a bit more.

Then add your Ritz crackers (yes, I said Ritz!) and fold in gently. Don’t stir like normal, you don’t want to beat out all the air in the meringue.

Then fold in your pecans. Yummmmm

Pour into an ungreased pie plate and put into the oven.

Lick the spoon, you know you want to.

This is what it looks like when it comes out of the oven. Top with cool whip and a sprinkling of pecans if you’d like.

And voila! A wonderfully sweet and salty holiday snack!

 

Oh So Good Pie

3 egg whites

3/4 c sugar

24 Ritz (a tube) crushed with a rolling pin until crushed fine

3/4 c pecans

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 carton Cool Whip for later.

Beat egg whites until stiff.

Add sugar and baking powder a little at a time while the mixer is going. Add your vanilla.

Fold in cracker crumbs and pecans. Heap into center of pie pan, it will spread out as it bakes.

Bake at 325 for 25 minutes and let pie cool completely. Add cool whip to top and sprinkle with pecans.

If any is left over, store it in the fridge.