Weekly Theme: Candy

This week's theme is Candy!

Weekly Theme: Electricity

Kinda embarassing, but without these cords and plugs I couldn't post to this blog. It's kind of crazy that it takes that many electrical cordes to power up my computer. I really should do something about cleaning that up!

Action Abstraction

I visited the St. Louis Art Museum over the holidays. It was the last few days of their exhibit Action Absraction dealing with the abstract expressionists, like Pollock, de Kooning and my personal favorite, Jasper Johns.

I can't say that I am a huge fan of Jackson Pollock, but I will say that it was quite the experience to stand in front of one. I had no idea his canvases were so huge. My sister, Leanne and I also enjoyed the last bit of the exhibit - which encouraged the viewers themselves to help create the art by writing poems and statements on chalkboards. As always, the visiting the museum was enjoyable and educational. I'm going to participate in one of their "Study days" in March, which is a free all day art history class focusing on the Court Arts of the Ming Dynasty, which will be their next touring exhibition.

Weekly Theme: Eyes

I was a bit stumped with this theme. I tried in vain to get my cat's eyes, since they are very pretty green - to no avail. After a particularly frustrating photo shoot, I happened to see my old friend Rabbity Allen hanging out in my closet. (I have a hard time getting rid of things, especially those things that have kept me company for a long time. I have no other stuffed animals from my childhood hiding out in my home and I think displaying them on an adult bed is creepy. So, while I couldn't stomach getting rid of her, I didn't really want her hanging out in my room - hence the closet.) Anyways, these are the eyes of Rabbity Allen my oldest stuffed toy, comforter during scary nights and star pupil when I played school. I think they're sweet eyes.

The Lemon Poppyseed Cake

As I mentioned in my last post, I volunteered to bake a couple of desserts for my parent's New Year's party. I decided to try out this Lemon Yogurt cake with poppyseeds as opposed to blue berries. You begin, of course, with two tablespoons of freshly zested lemon.

Don't forget to juice those lemons after you are through zesting.

I added 1/3 of a cup of poppy seeds and at first it felt like entirely too much. After it was baked I saw that is was entirely exactly right.

The yogurt makes this cake particularly moist and delicious. It's the kind you can pick up with the bottom of your fork or spoon.

After the cake is baked, but not before it had cooled, brush the outside with the freshly blended lemon juice and sugar glaze. This adds some serious zing to the cake.

And there you have it! Lemon Yogurt Poppy Cake!

p.s. I think I got a bit out of the habit of posting regularly on the blog over the holidays. I'm trying my best to get back in to the swing of things.

New Year's

We had New Year's at my parent's house this year. Of course this meant plenty o' baking for me as I will post about later. My mom was worried we wouldn't have enough food for everyone - as you can see above, we were fine (and that's just the desserts).

It was a great mix of old friends and new!


Elena appearing angelic - it's not much of a stretch for her!

It was lovely seeing everyone talking and having a good time.


iPhones and YouTube are just too fun...as we discovered with John's phone.


My nephew, Joe, was the first of the kids to wipe out. I couldn't resist.

The parents among us had to understandably leave before midnight. Ethan put up a good fight and outlasted a 5 year old by about an hour and a half! Katie and Matthew are going to have their hands full in about 18 years!


Happy New Year's to everyone and I hope that the coming year is full of blessings and love!