Preserved Lemons

Hello!

Today I found two lemons in my fridge that were just lying around and needed to be put to use. I have wanted to try to make preserved lemons for a long time and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I have never even had a preserved lemon. I knew that it was lemons and salt. From there I kind of just winged it. In 30 days I will let you guys know how it turned out. It will be a surprise for both of us!

Here is what I did.

1. Get a clean jar
2. Put enough salt in the jar to cover the bottom
3. Quarter your lemons and sprinkle the flesh with salt
4. Smoosh the lemons into the jar, adding more salt and other flavorings (AKA bay leaf and peppercorns) as you go
5. Make sure jar is filled to the top and that the lemons are covered with juice, if they are not add extra lemon juice to the jar.
6. Wait 30 days

See you all on April 30^th to see how these turn out!

Talking Art + Bonus Recipe

Hello!

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”

This is a principle to live by but it is not as easy to do as it sounds. What ideas do you talk about with people you just met? One of my “go to” conversation topics is art. In each piece you can talk about the ideas present and how they are represented.

Last weekend I visited the modern wing in The Art Institute of Chicago. Below are some of the highlights. The one that I want to specifically talk about is the pile of candy in the bottom right hand corner. This is my all time favorite modern piece of art. It is “Untitled” by Felix Gonzalez- Torres. The artist had AIDS and weighed 175 pounds. He wanted to create a piece to represent his life with AIDS. The result was 175 pounds of candy. Each person that sees this pile of candy is supposed to take a piece of candy because dying with AIDS is like having everyone take a part of you.

I challenge you all to talk about art with the next person you meet or go to an art museum with some of your friends. It will expand your mind and, as a result, expand your life.

While exploring the art museum I saw this one painting and it inspired me to create a dish to go with it. The painting is “ Festival in Montmartre” by Gino Severini it reminds me of the circus: fried food, ice cream, bright colors, flashing lights, and craziness. So I developed a fun version of fired ice cream to go with the painting. It was creamy, crunchy, sweet, and utterly delicious.

“Festival” Fried Ice Cream

Ingredients

• Vanilla ice cream
• Frozen mixed berries
• Corn Flakes

1. Scoop vanilla ice cream
2.   Roughly smash the corn flakes
3. Roll the ice cream in the corn flakes until covered
4.  In a bowl, defrost the mixed berries
5.  Place the ice cream on top of the berries
6. ENJOY

See ya later!

Living Large While Sipping a Water Cocktail

Hello!

Water is something that everyone drinks everyday. It is simple and boring, yet a staple in our lives. What does that tell us about our lives?

Here, at Phant Company, we strive to make every single aspect of our lives extraordinary. The process starts with our water.

Nowadays, cocktails have different flavors and fancy garnishes. Why can’t our water be like that? We decided to add the fun of a cocktail to our water. The result was a quick, fruity, and fun way to hydrate! The possibilities are endless! 

Mango-Strawberry Water Cocktail

Ingredients

4-5 frozen strawberries*

4-5 cubes of frozen mango*

Roughly 1 cup of water

1. Put mango and strawberries in microwave and heat until soft (25 seconds).
2.   Put mango and strawberries in a cup (or cocktail shaker) and muddle.
3. Pour in water until cup is full.
4.  Stir until well combined.
5.  Strain and pour into serving glass.
6.  Enjoy :)

* Feel free to try out new fruit combos and to add herbs (pineapple-blueberry-mint). If you do try out some new flavors, tweet us a picture using #phantfam. We would LOVE to see what you guys come up with!

See ya later!

                     

What the Phant?

Hello!

So far Phant Company has experimented with many different types of blogging, in an attempt to find our niche. We realized that we were straying too far from our roots. We are called Phant Company for a reason. Phant is French for elephant. Elephants are large, wise, loyal, and happy animals. Our goal at Phant is to make people happy.

The best way to be happy is to live like an elephant; to live large. So, welcome to the new and improved Phant Company. Where we delve into the art of living large. Sometimes in a hectic world we drift too far from our roots. Phant Company never wants to do that. We are elephants 100%.

Below is a Phant Company elephant that explains what we are all about in a fun way. Print it out, hang it up, and use it to help you start living large in 2016. Happy New Year guys!!!

See Ya Later!

- The Phant Family

DIY: A Christmas Story

Hello!

Merry Christmas!!! As always the holidays came faster than expected. I meant to share this with you guys earlier, but hey, better late than never. Themes make everything more fun. So Christmas parties should absolutely have a theme. This year my theme was A Christmas Story. These bottles were a big hit, and not just because of what was inside of them ;). Here is how they were made.

1.  Cut the bottom off of a brown paper bag.

2. Cut off the excess so that it fits nicely around the bottle.

3. With the leftover pieces of brown paper bag cut two strips.

4.  Tape the strips on the bottom and top of the bag to add "wood box" details.

5. With a brown colored pencil draw lines on the bag to imitate boards and write fragile across the front.

6. Then, to add a fun detail, draw a diagonal line pattern on the foil around the beck of the bottle. This represents the leg lamp in a slightly more upscale fashion.

I hope that you guys had a great Christmas!!

See ya later!

PS If you want a conversation starter click on Store in our header and pick up some Phant Company stickers. I can guarantee that no one will know what Phant Company is... it is the perfect icebreaker :).

Be a Rhino

Hello! 

I have been feeling really motivated lately and wanted to share some things to help you get to where you want to be. The first thing is to get a Passion Planner. It is a planner from a new startup company. I call it a rubric for life. It not only helps you organize your day, but also allows you set goal and reflect. It is self-help and planning all tucked under one cover. The second thing is to be a rhino. People either laugh or look at me like I am crazy whenever I say that. The saying comes from an inspirational book called, Rhinoceros Success by Scott Alexander. It is a quick read and basically categorizes two people into two categories. Rhinos and cows. You do not want to be a cow. Cows are the lazy people. Rhinos are the people that charge at life. It is a really fun and interesting read. I highly recommend it for a quick pump up.

See ya later!

Favorite Things of Winter 2015

Hello anonymous people of the internet! The blistering cold Chicago winters are right around the corner. So I though it would be a good time to share my favorite things for winter.

First up is the My Favorite Color is Pastrami. I bought this t shirt because I thought the color was very pretty and I love the company who created it. The company is called Flavor Gallery. The make food inspired clothing designed by chefs. This shirt is from the Jeff Mauro collection. The shirt is super soft and just fun to where on those drab winter days.
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Next is my Herschel backpack. I love this backpack. It is extremely spacious and durable. I have not had it for too long so I'll see how it holds up, but so far it is very promising.

Now we have come to the sweatshirt. This sweatshirt is from Target and it is the warmest sweatshirt ever! It has a cowl neck which makes it instantly cozy and the gray-white pattern reminds me of winter snow storms :).

Winter is the best time to get some heavy reading done. Right now I am reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. It is super long and perfect for those cold days where you just want to snuggle up and read. I also like how it is deep and symbolic... I have found myself annotating it just for fun... I am such a nerd ;)

Now, Shoes!!! I have two pairs that I have been wearing constantly. The tope booties are from Old Navy. The heal is not high so I can wear them comfortably all day. Plus they look cute with cuffed jeans. I have also been wearing these duck boot from Sperry Top-sider. They have amazing traction in the snow and look super chill. I got them instead of the LL Bean boots because the LL Bean ones take were back ordered for months and not much cuter than the Sperry boots.

See ya later!