Toasted Oak Grill - Novi, MI

I'm embarrassed to say that I visited Toasted Oak way back in August. It was right before school started and I was shopping in Novi and wanted lunch at someplace different. I used my iPhone to locate restaurants, and this one was new to me, so I decided to check it out!

Toasted Oak Grill is located at the Hotel Baronette, right off Novi Road by the mall. There are a couple rooms in the restaurant as well as a market that sells food and drink items. Nice contemporary decor.

I ordered the Fig Salad and added grilled chicken to it. The plating for the salad was very attractive. I liked the vinaigrette and mushrooms/figs and the greens were very fresh.

The grilled chicken was pretty blah and flavorless - I added salt to it, and I NEVER salt things at restaurants. The pastry at the side with caramelized onions was good, but was totally limp. Just a few seconds under the oven might have restored some of the crunch to the puff pastry. I wished the salad had some goat cheese or feta - it seemed to need something to balance out the acid from the vinaigrette (oooh, I sound like a judge from Top Chef, been watching too much reality cooking contests!) Service was pleasant and I had a nice relaxing meal. I thought prices were a bit high for lunch. So it was ok, but not someplace I would be anxious to try again.

Zipper and Vintage Earring Flower Pin Tutorial

After finding a few red zippers with metal teeth at the resale store, I decided to try making a zipper flower pin. Here are the steps:

MATERIALS NEEDED: Zipper, vintage earring, felt circle about 2 inches across (I used felted wool), pin backing, hot glue

STEP ONE: Cut the zipper into 3.5 inch pieces. Overlap the ends and hot glue together.

STEP 2: Glue the petals onto the felt circle, overlapping. Tuck the last petal under the first petal.

STEP 3: Glue the earring into the center. (Remove the clip on backing first by twisting it forward with a needle nosed pliers and then snipping it off with a wire clipper.) Then glue the backing onto the back. Put the backing towards the top, not the center.

Tada! That's it! Pin onto a sweater for total cuteness!

Necklace Making with Andrea

Some of you may remember me telling about my dear friend Andrea who had a massive stroke about a year and a half ago. She has weathered major surgeries and multiple health conditions, but has been left paralyzed on her right side and unable to speak, although she is very mentally aware. Over the summer we started a jewelry making project that would allow her to use her creative side and provide her generous spirit with Christmas gifts to share with her friends and with the staff at the residence where she now lives.

I set up a box with compartments with different types of beads and a block of styrofoam. Andrea would stick a headpin into the styrofoam and could stack the beads with one hand as she designed each necklace. When done, I would use pliers to twist a loop on the top. Then she would select a charm that I would attach to the bottom.

We worked on the necklaces over several months and she completed over 30 of them. As Christmas approached, we worked together to string them on chains, make tags, and to put them in small fabric bags.

Here they all are - they looked like candy! Each one pretty and unique!

Right before Christmas, we had fun wheeling around her residence, so she could pass them out! It was a great blessing to be creative together with my friend!

Ear - Ringing in the New Year

A few little earrings I made over vacation. Photos via the Istagram app.


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