Pretty Darn Great

Definitely Ambrosia

I hadn't had Ambrosia Salad in forever. I could remember that sweet semi-solid salad of marshmallow and canned fruit from my childhood (in school lunches? from family potlucks?) but couldn't tell you when the last time I'd had it been. And I'd certainly never made it as an adult.

But a while back I wanted to make a not-too-difficult From-the-South dessert and looking through The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook found a recipe for the stuff and decided to give it a go. It was ridiculous easy.

(Above) First you add the fruit

(Above) Then you add the marshmallows and coconut

Add in the sour cream and put it in the fridge for a while the viola - its done. And completely delicious, as well as thoroughly unhealthy (canned fruit not-withstanding). But totally worth it.

(Above) Ambrosia - done and delicious!

 

Interested in trying your own hand at it?

Recipe: Ambrosia Fruit Salad from the The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook (ISBN-13: 978-0-8203-3275-8) 

Notes: The pineapple chunks were pretty big, out of the can, so I did chop them into quarters so they were about te same size as the cherries and mandarin oranges.

Tote-ing It

Lesson two in the Red Velvet Sewing Class I'm taking?  Reversible Tote Bags.


(Above) Two totes in bad lighting - showing printed side out and in

While I eventually figured these out I encountered a few problems along the way. I was so grateful that I made and royally messed a plain muslin version before I worked with pretty fabric because I could make the following mistakes on scrap:

• I had issues cutting the material the right size  - my lines were uneven, eventually just made a paper pattern and used it to mark and cut the fabric;
• I had some sort of mental block about sewing the correct sides of the bag together. For some reason kept sewing a right to a wrong size - had to undo it three times; and 
• I kept putting the handles on the outside rather than the inside of the bag. Once I figured out how to do it right I wondered how I missed it earlier, but it took a good twenty minutes of puzzling and one hilariously mistaken effort to get there.

But after all of that I l-o-v-e these things. They take about a half yard of fabric each so two one yard pieces yield two identical bags - one for me and one to give away. They don't take too long to make up, they're super-cute and a good size for toting a small project or a mid-week grocery run. I like using them as a way to wrap presents - the cost about the same as a fancy gift bag and are more useful.


(Above) Currently holding my stash yarn

 

Interested in trying your own hand at it?

Materials: 1 yard patterned, I yard plain quilting fabric; Matching thread; Super-sharp scissors

Class Information:  D.I.Y Dress Up E-Course at http://shopredvelvet.com/collections/e-course/products/d-i-y-dress-up-e-course

Warnings: I really do recommend making a muslin version first. Sure you want to get to the sewing straight away but its worth the practice time to get a product that looks as awesome as you imagined.