Off at 7am!

For the next week I will be in San Diego. I will try to find some time to post if I get to bake, sew or knit! I am so excited to get out of town for a mini vacation! See ya!

We are off to San Diego!



Tomorrow morning at 7am, John and I are off to San Diego. We will spend New Year's Eve with my best friend! I am so excited! This afternoon as I was cleaning up I decided to make a new bag for the drive. I also made a new makeup bag. This is the first time I have made a smaller shoulder bag so it was also an trial and error bag. I think it turned out pretty cute, not perfect. But, good enough for the drive down and to throw my wallet and lip gloss in!

Nosy neighbors are a good thing!



I live in a condo complex with many neighbors around me. My immediate neighbors are very nice. In my building I have three older ladies who are all very nice and friendly to my husband and I. We all look out for one another. To give them thanks at the end of the year I usually make them cookies. This year I decided to give them Russian Tea Cookies and Rocky Road candy. I think they will all enjoy it! Here is the recipe for the Russian Tea Cookies. I used a recipe from Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies Book. 

1 1/2 cups of nuts (I used walnuts)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons of butter, softened and in small chunks
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 large egg yolk (optional)
1/2 cup powdered  sugar
Pulse nuts in food processor. Half should be finely chopped, tranfer into a bowl and set aside. 
Wipe bowl of food processor of excess oil and add granulated sugar and mix until fine powder. Add flour and salt until blended together. Add butter, vanilla. Process until the mixture looks damp and clumps together. Add nuts until combined. Transfer mixture into bowl, cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. 

Preheat oven to 325. Scoop dough into 1 inch balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake fro 22-24 minutes. 
When cookies are cooled, sieve powered sugar over top of cookies. ENJOY! 

**I used 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup all purpose flour
** I did not add egg yolk

I have to note that I have had this book for so many years that the pages are starting to fall out. My mom and I have used this book over and over, notes on pages and cookie dough spills in the pages. This is an excellent book! 

Merry Christmas to all!


Merry Christmas! Hope everyone enjoys a day with family, love, joy and hope. Today I can reflect on many joyful things in my life...my family, my job, sewing, knitting and creating!

Sunday Dinner



Sunday typically we eat fish. When I went to the grocery store I found a good deal on 5oz pieces of mahi mahi. So, I bought it! About an hour before we started cooking I marinated the fish in a mixture of the following: 
low sodium soy sauce
sesame seed oil
rice wine vinegar 
garlic
s&P
I also made a brown rice stir fry with the following:
Brussels sprouts
onion
mushrooms
sesame seeds
parsnips 
garlic
This was a new stir fry mix for me, I had never cooked with parsnips. I love Brussels sprouts but never cook them for fear of stinking the house up. Instead of steaming the b.sprouts I shredded them and added to the stir-fry. 
I also made a really yummy salad:
lettuce
celery
radishes
avo
yellow beets (baked in oven for an hour)
g.onion
carrots

Sunday


I made a few lavender sachets for a few co-workers. I wanted to give them something on Monday since it will be there last day in the office. Check it out! They are so easy to make.

Neighbor Celebration


On Thursday night my neighbor invited us over for some holiday wine and treats. I brought her some gingersnap cookies. I love making these cookies during this time of the year. It makes the house smell so good with the Christmas tree in the background! I will post the recipe in a few days. If anyone wants it please let me know!

Saturday

This morning my husband and I went to 4th Street in Berkeley. I was able to go to one of my favorite stores, Paper Source and then have a wonderful meal at Tacubaya. This Mexican restaurant as such yummy food. When we got back to our house, John went to a motorcycle show so I was left at home. But, that was ok! Because I was able to make some fun things, I am making lavender sachets and also made gingerbread cookies. The cookies will be for some of the families I babysit for and lavender sachets will be for some co-workers. Here is a picture of the first sachet I made. It's hard to get the lavender in the sachet! More pictures to come! Link

It's cold outside!



Tuesday was really really cold! When I got home from work I had a plan to make chicken soup. But, because I did not have alot of veggies in the house I got creative! I cut up a butternut squash, onion, mushrooms and chicken then added lentils, garlic, ginger and parsley and there you have it a perfect cold night dinner. Of course you have to add some warm bread!

Bring Your Own Wine (BYOW) Part 2






So here is the completed wine tote for Christine. I used the same dimensions that I used for my practice tote and I think it turned out pretty good. I also made her a pencil case. This was the first time I put a "bottom" on the zippered pouches and I think it looks really cute! Check it out!











Bring Your Own Wine (BYOW)



For the holidays I am making a co worker some wine totes so she can give wine to her family. Here is the first attempt at making them. I don't have a pattern or any dimensions, just some fabric and a bottle of wine to measure! Any suggestions! Let me know! 

Patty's 30th!



On Tuesday I went out with a few girlfriends for a 30th birthday celebration. We went to Three Seasons Restaurant in San Francisco for some yummy Vietnamese Food. I made my friend Patty a chocolate fudge cake for her birthday. 

Holiday Traditions!

I thought it would be nice to share a holiday tradition that my husband and I started about four years back. Christmas Eve is spent with my in laws for a feast that my mother in law cooks and then we open presents and chit chat! Since my in laws live an hour away we usually don't drive back for Christmas day. About four years ago we started going to Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and getting fresh crab. Then we walk over to the famous Buena Vista Bar for a holiday cocktail. We get home and cover our dinning room table with newspaper and start our feast of crab, salad, bread and wine! Please share your holiday traditions go to sew mama sew blog for details! Or let me know!

Deck the Halls!


I'm not a huge Starbucks fan but the other  day I went in for a cup of tea and saw these amazing wreaths made out of yarn balls. I thought it was the cutest most creative wreath I have ever seen! Here is my version of the wreath! Although not as professionally made it suites my needs! I will say that the Styrofoam at Michael's is pretty pricey. If anyone has a better way let me know! 

And the winner is!

After reading all the comments I received, I had to choose Anya from Wellsboro, PA. Her favorite holiday treat is popcorn with jello! The reason I chose her is because she had the most unusual holiday treat. Good job!  

Give-Away Day!

It's here! Give away Day! I pledge to give a way a bag of home made marshmallows and coco mix to one random reader of my blog. Please comment on this post on the following:

1. What is your holiday treat
Also, I will ship anywhere in the United States and Canada. Sorry to all across the ponds!
I will choose a winner tonight at 8pm and ship out tomorrow morning. I will be in contact with you so please make sure I can contact you though your blog or email.

GOOD LUCK!

My winter treat is a cup of hot chocolate from Peets Coffee. Last night I wanted my fix of chocolate and remembered I had marshmallows left over from my craft show. This is what I enjoyed after dinner! YUM! You could be lucky and get to enjoy a cup in a few days!

Banana Bread


It seams like I bake banana bread quite often. In my household we go through so many bananas! I am always buying them! Sometimes they ripe too fast. What a great excuse to bake! Here is a new recipe I found in a book by Lou Seibert Pappas called "Coffee Cakes". I actually used a recipe that called for persimmons but inside I used banana. I think it turned out really good!


Here is my variation on the Persimmon-Ginger Cake(Banana- Ginger Cake):


1 cup of banana pulp

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 large egg

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/8 cup of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 tablespoon of melted butter

1 cup plus two tablespoons of whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup pecans

1/4 cup chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 and spray pan with cooking spray.
With over ripe bananas mash them until very liquidity (I used a blender). Add baking soda to banana mixture.
In large bowl beat egg and sugars together until blended. Sir in vanilla and banana mixture together add melter butter.
In another bowl add flour, baking soda, salt and spices into combined.
Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and bead until blended. Mix in nuts and chocolate. spread into pan evenly.
Bake for 35-45 minutes depending on oven, until cake tester comes out clean, insert in middle to test.
ENJOY.

My First Craft show!


Everyone needs to start somewhere! A few months ago I found ad for a craft show at the San Bruno Senior Center. I thought this would be a great place for me to get my feet wet selling my crafts and seeing how others do it. I was at this Holiday Boutique from 10-4 on Saturday and had a nice time. Although I did not sell as much as I wanted to I think I did good for my first time! I hope to do more shows in 2009!

Stop the door!


Most nights I come home from work and my cat, Eli is dying to go outside and roam the front area of our house. The way we keep the door open is usally with a ugly dirty shoe! I think it looks so yucky! So I did a little searching and found a doorstop pattern at all it took....Here is a picture of what I made!

Pumpkin Muffins


Today at work we will have a potluck for lunch and close a bit early! I decided to make quinoa with spinach, mushrooms, corn and walnuts. I also decided to make some pumpkin muffins for breakfast for all at work. So last night I made the batter and made a couple. I needed to see if they were worthy of bringing into the office. I think they past my test! This morning I woke up a little earlier than ususal and started baking the muffins. The recipe I found I felt had too much sugar. Here is my adapation of the recipe from SmittenKitchen. I believe she found it in the Gourmet Magazine from 2006.


Pumpkin Muffins

Gourmet, November 2006



1½ cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 15-oz can of solid pumpkin

1/3 cup vegetable oil (a little less than 1/3)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice

3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon (heaping) I love Cinnamon!

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 cup walnuts

pumpkin seeds for topping


Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin-pie spice, 3/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Add walnuts

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.
Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Cookies!


On Sunday I was in the mood for chocolate. I am trying not to eat as much sugar because of health reasons. But, I still need that fix! The cookies are very similar to a recipe I have made before. The difference is I used whole wheat flour and took most of the sugar out and replaced with applesauce. then I added some flax seed just because! They came out really moist and soft. 

Apron


95 % of the time I never where aprons. Just because I forget to put it on! On my trip to New York  I went to purl and spent some time looking at the many colors and patterns of the fabric that they carry. I realized that I could not buy any fabric because I just did not have the room to bring it home. But, I did get to buy two fat quarters of some pre cut fabric. It turns out that these two pieces that I took home were just beautiful! This particular fabric that I used, I did not want to ruin the pattern because it had large flowers on such a small piece of fabric. I got the idea to make a apron with the fabric. I did not have a pattern to make this apron I just guessed how to put it together from how I would like it to look. This was so simple and very functional, I will just have to remember to wear it!

Twice the Fun!




Today I went to a baby shower for a friend that I have known since I was 12. A few months ago she found out that not only was she preggers but she was having twin girls! When I found out I was so excited and shocked! I wanted to make her something the  girls could use and also not go out of it so fast. I decided to make two matching baby blankets but with different colors. I found a very cute fabric with little elephants, the fabric was fleece so it was very soft. I didn't want to do the blankets with pink because I knew she would get everything in PINK! I used a pokadot purple and green cotton as the contracting fabric. I also made these blankets because they are so simple and fast to make. I have to admit that my ends are not 100% straight, but that is handmade, right? 

Dance Rosa Dance!





A colleague at my work loves to dance! She always talks about going out and kicking up her heels with salsa music! I thought it would be nice to make her a bag where she can put her ID, some money, and lipstick in so she can kick her heels up! I am trying to not bake for birthdays right now because the holidays are starting soon and my whole company are on a health kick. Happy Birthday Rosa!

The Cat's Meow



After making several tote bags I had the scraps of the corners left. I have been throwing them away, but tonight I got a cool idea! Eli, my cat loves to play with my sewing tools, he loves playing with bobbins, and spools of thread. With the extra fabric I made a little cat toy. Take a look! I just filled it will extra fabric and sewed it up! Quick and hours of endless fun for Eli!

Where am I?

Well! I have been on a little vacation to the East coast. I took my first trip to New York and Philly! I visited a friend in New York. I got to ride the subway and walk around the city. I spend two days there and then took the trian to Philly for John's family reunion. John's dad's side of the family all live in the Philly are so they decided to have a family reunion. I will post pictures of my travels soon. I have been back for a few days and my computer is having problems downloading pictures. So please be patient and I will be back! Also, go vote!

Happy Birthday!

Sunday John and I went to his mother's house for dinner to celebrate his birthday. Don't get me wrong, I love Nancy, my mother in law but it takes SO much effort for me to be there! She never lets me help cook, clean or do anything. Then she will "complain" that she is tired and its too much work for her! Come on, let me just help out! After  two and half years of being married I have finally persuaded her to let me bring desserts. I made a chocolate peanut butter cake. I found the recipe in the "Holiday" book by Alice Medrich. 

Sew, Sew, Sew!




Thanksgiving weekend I am doing my first craft show! Yippee! But, with that there is a lot of work! I gotta get sewing! The first thing, gotta have a wide choice of merchandise to sell. Here is a sample of some farmer market totes. 

Health Kick!


Over the weekend I had the craving to bake some cookies. But, I wanted to not over do the fat and sugar intake, so I tried to modify a recipe found in Martha Stewart's Cookie book. I LOVE Carrot Cake, so it seemed only natural that I would like carrot cookies! In Martha's Cookie Book there is a recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies with the frosting in the inside of two cookies, YUM! Having the guilt kick in I decided to not but the frosting in the cookies and added a few "health" benefits! If you would like the real recipe go to Martha Stewart's Cookie Book, but here is what I did. 
1/2 a recipe:
1/2 cup butter at room temp
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
dash of salt
heaping of 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
heaping of 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
heaping of 1/2 teaspoon of ginger
1 cup of rolled oats
1 cup of grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoons of flax seed
Combine all dry ingredients and set a side
Add butter and sugars into mixer and beat until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes)
add egg and vanilla and beat on medium until well combined
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix just until blended
add carrots, flax seeds and oats. 
Chill four an hour

Preheat on 350 and bake cookies for 12-15 minutes until sides or crisp
ENJOY!!!

Ok! so they aren't the healthiest cookies! but its a start. 
I made sure to take a nice long walk after eating cookies! 

Pincushion!


Last night I went to Borders and bought a book on basic sewing techniques and patterns. I found a really helpful and cool book callled, "Sew Everything Workshop" By Diana Rupp. This book is put together very well. Colorful, easy to follow and wirebound it was a good purchase! I decided to make the simplest project in the book for my first project. I made a pincushion for my needles to store next to my sewing machine. It took me about 15 minutes and I could make so many more!

Debbie's Birthday


On Thursday night I made a batch of cookies for a co-workers birthday. I made her Chocolate cookies. The recipe was from the new book I received for my birthday. The Martha Stewart Cookie Book. I actually did not like the taste of these cookies, I thought they were pretty good just a little too sugary tasting. If you can have something that is too sugary!

Baby Addie Luna

The HopeLab family is growing! Baby Addie Luna was born on Monday morning, September 22nd! . Vero is at the hospital that down the street from our office so at lunch I walked to the hospital. I just met the most adorable baby girl that I have seen in a long time! Welcome Miss Addie Luna!

Lace Scarf Continued...Half way done!


Well, its been a few weeks since my first post about this lace scarf. I thought I would share with you my progess. This scarf pattern is very easy to follow, its my first lace with bead scarf, I was very intimated at first. Sure, I have some mistakes in it, but I don't think you can tell! It actually is a easy fast knit but takes long, because of all the detail. I am hoping to finish before November so I can start wearing it for the fall! I think I will try to make a second scarf for a holiday gift.

The Celebration continues


For my birthday I received some really nice gifts from my co workers. Nicole treated me to a nice pedicure and we went out to dinner. Chris a fellow baker got me the Martha Stewart Cookie book, which was on my wish list! My work got me a gift card to Jo-Anns crafts! I also got a gift card for the movie! As a thank you to Chris, over the weekend I made a cookie from the cookie book, Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies! Yum, I think they turned out pretty yummy. It felt nice to bake because I have not baked in a few weeks. This receipe was easy to follow and what shocked me was there are no eggs in this batter. This is the first time I have baked cookies that do not call for eggs. They turned out really yummy, give it a try! Here is the receipe:

Adapted from the book mentioned above:
11/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1 stick of butter
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons of boiling water
7 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 granulated sugar

In a bowl sift flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves nutmeg and cocoa.
In a bowl of a electric mixer with paddle attachment beat butter and fresh ginger four about 4 minutes. Add b.sugar until combined. Add molasses beat until combined.

In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in the boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking soda mixture, add remaining flour mixture. Mix in chocolate. Place onto plastic wrap, into a 1 inch disc. Refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325, roll dough into balls and roll in sugar. Place on cookie with parchment paper in freezer for 20 minutes. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotate half way through. Bake until cookie tops crack. Let cool for 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack.

The recipe calls for balls to be 1 1/2 inches around, but I made mine smaller. I did not use cloves in this because I did not have any! Also, I used light brown sugar instead of dark. These cookies turned out fabulous!

Birthday wishes!


Sunday marked my 30th year in this world! I enjoyed a nice relaxing day driving home from Sacramento for a wedding. When I returned to my house I found a beautiful vase of flowers! My best friend who lives in San Diego sent them to me. I was so shocked because these flowers were so vibrant with different shades of pink. The next day when I got home I checked the mail I received two cards from San Diego! What a way to be thought of on my birthday!

Breakfast Bars

The challenge: My neice, Ava is going into kindergarten this week and my sister wanted me to help find a receipe for some kind of breakfast bar. I found the rasebarry breakfast bars on smitten kitchen and thought I struck gold! I wanted the bars to help my neice and come from me so I added a few tweaks and out comes my braeakfast bars. I brought about half to my work yersterday morning and by lunch time they were almost gone! Terika loved them so much that she ate more than one! I am sure the bars that are on smitten kitchen are much better but here is my version of yummy breakfast bars!

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen:
Here is the receipe with my changes if you want the original receipe go to Smitten Kitchen!

For the crust and crumb:
1 1/2 whole wheat flour
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 of peanut butter

For the raspberry filling:
2 tablespoons of white sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pound raspberries
2 heaping spoons of raspberry jam
fresh or frozen1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Make the crust and crumb: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up the two short sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
Put the flour, brown sugar, oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until combined. Add the peanut butter and pulse until combined.

Reserve 1 1/2 cup of the mixture and set aside. Pour the rest of the mixture into the prepared pan and use your hands to push the crust into an even layer at the bottom of the pan. The crust should touch the sides of the pan. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the crust cool. Keep the oven on while you make the raspberry filling.

Make the raspberry filling: In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and flour together. Add the raspberries, lemon juice toss until the raspberries are evenly coated.

Assemble and bake the bars: Spread the raspberry filling evenly on top of the cooled crust. Sprinkle the reserved crust mixture evenly on top of the filling.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, rotate pan half way through the baking process.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then cut into squares and serve. The bars can be store in the refridgerator in an airtight container for up to two days.

birthday

On Saturday night I went out with a few girlfriends to celebrate my 30th birthday. One of the girls I was with her birthday was the next day. So, I made her a small makeup zippered pouch. With my new fabric that I bought at Whizbang Fabrics! The night was fun, did a little dancing and got to hang out with some really cool ladies!


Labor Day Weekend


It's day two of the holiday weekend and I am enjoying my time alone. My husband went camping for a boys weekend away so I am left to craft alone! Saturday I met a friend and we went for an almost 3 hour hike in the San Bruno hills. It was amazing we just kept walking! The weather was perfect not too hot and not too foggy. When I returned home I received my weekly netflix movie, the last disc of season 3 of Weeds, the Showtime series. I turned it on to watch and let my feet rest. I did some blog searching on line and discovered this really easy tutorial on hand made cloth napkins by Charamichele. It turns out that in this tutorial I have the same fabric that was used. Here is my version of the cloth napkins. This would be a quick item to make for a holiday gift. In my version I used a pink thread as the edge of the napkin, I think it gives it a contrasting burst to the fabric.

Where do Marshmallows come from?


I have always wondered how marshmallows are made, because they seem so simple. Most of my memories of marshmallows was eating them while camping with chocolate and gram crackers or out of the bag! I did some searching and found a really easy and good recipe from Mccauliflower of Brownie Points blog. I just recently discovered her blog, she is based in Portland, Oregon. After reading the receipe it sounded pretty simple so I tried it! It actually was really easy and simple, her instructions are excellent. Here is her what she recommends:
2 packs of gelatin
1/4 + 2T of water
1 1/2tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 +2T of water
1/2 +2T of corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt

rice flour
confectioners sugar

Line a 9x13' pan with parchement paper and spray with vegetable oil.
Fit a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, combine 1/2 +2T water and sprinkle gelatain on top. Bring to a boil with the lid on and with out stirring. Remove lid and continue to cook until it reaches 234-240'.

Add the sugar, salt and corn syrup and reaming water to a saucepan.
With the mixer on medium speed add the syrup mixer, very slowly. Once all blended together, turn mixer up to full speed and mix for 8-10 minutes. Pour mixture into pan and let sit a room temp for 10-12 hours.
In a separate bowl add equal parts of rice flour and confectioners sugar, cut marshmallows into desired size and shape and coat with the rice flour mixture.
Keep in air tight container

ENJOY!

My tweeks:

Instead of rice flour I used corn starch, this is for a 1/2 recipe. For full recipe and PDF print out go to Brownie Points Blog

House Warming


My good friend just moved back to the bay area from Portland, Oregon. She was able to buy a brand new house in the San Bruno area and she had me over for dinner on Saturday. I wanted to bring her something as a thank you for having me over and a congrats for purchasing her first home. I decided to make her lemon cake. I also brought her a nice bottle of wine and a bottle of lavender soap. The recipe I used was from Ina Garten's book Barefoot Contessa Parties.  Dinner was unbelievable! She made cooked salmon, potatoes and two yummy salads. One red onion and strawberry salad and a tomato, avocado, mozzarella salad. Here is the recipe for the Lemon Cake:
1/2 lb of unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1/3 cup grated lemon zest
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 
3/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups confectioners sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350, Grease two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2x 2 1/2 inch loaf pans. 
Cream butter and 2 cups of sugar in electric mixer bowl with paddle attachement for about 5 minutes. With mixer on medium speed, add one egg at a time and then lemon zest. 
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a  bowl.  In another bowl add buttermilk and vanilla and 1/4 cup lemon juice.  Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to batter starting with flour and ending with flour.  
Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.  Bake for 45 - 60 minutes. 
With cake is baking...
combine 1/2 cup g. sugar and 1/2 cup lemon juice in small saucepan until sugar is devolved to make syrup. After cakes are done take out of pans and set on rack to cool. Add syrup to cakes. 
For the glaze combine confectioner's sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and mix with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over cakes. 
What I did a bit differently:
Instead of buttermilk I added Creme Fresh 
After reading recipe I realized I did not add 1/2 cup of lemon juice to batter but it turned out GREAT! 
Did not put glaze 

LeRoi Moore

I am so sad today. I have heard the news about LeRoi Moore, saxophonist for The Dave Matthews Band. He was my favorite musican in the band and he will be missed. He was an amazing musican who helped the band become what it is today. I have many good memories of hearing the band at different concerts since 1995 and from the first time I heard a song I was instantly hooked! Leroi was a very important part of the band and it will never be the same. Leroi will be missed. xoxoxo

Lace Scarf


Wow I am finally making progress starting my lace scarf. On my JOY Day I went to my favorite yarn shop in the area, Nine Rubies. I got two scains of 100% Merino Wool by Art Yarns. One of the ladies who was working in the store was making a scarf that had lace and beads and it was just beautiful. I had to find the pattern! She directed me to knitty.com and I found the pattern by Rosemary Hill. I am making the Delta Queen version of the scarf. This is week one of knitting this pattern. I have been so busy with baking I have been neglecting my other passions!