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!

New Addition

We have a new addition to our tiny home and his name is Archer. He's my parent's cat and has spent the past 4 years happily becoming as fat as he possibly can in their home. My mom recently developed serious allergic reactions (requiring two hospitalizations) and the doctors told her that she would have to give up Archer as he is a serious contender for causing her anaphylaxis. Of course, he is now at my house indefinitely as we wait to see if the doctors will be able to narrow down what is causing my mom's allergies. This has been a bit of an adjustment as Darcy is a well behaved fellow who knows the house rules. Archer on the other hand, likes to tear food bags apart, shred toilet paper and knock things over. It's only been a week, though, and Archer and Darcy have become fast friends and they spend much of the day chasing eachother around. I know this is good for both of them and they can be pretty funny at times. God grant me patience, however, as I try to find Archer proof spaces to keep the cat food.

Weekly Theme: Family

My niece, Mara, playing with the Calico Critters family she received for Christmas.

Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year!

Weekly Theme: Family!

I thought that would be a fairly easy little challeneg over the Holidays. :)

Weekly Theme: Food - Candy Apple Pie

Today is the last day of work for the student worker in our office. She's been with us for over a year now and we've grown very fond of her. This afternoon we are throwing a small office going away party for her and I volunteered to bring the dessert. Hence, myself working in to the wee hours of the evening to bake the Candy Apple Pie I read about here. You are, by the way, looking at the entire available workspace in my kitchen. Needless to say, you have to plan out baking and cooking projects in stages.

This pie is quite decadent and also pretty simple to put together. Don't forget to add and entire layer of caramel over the chilled graham cracker crust.

My cat, Darcy, was convinced that I had something savory hiding up on the counter. He's good at begging and stopped once I showed him I was working with apples. Cats usually aren't overly fond of fruits and mine is no exception.

The best part was mixing together melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon...and then adding the apple slices. The smell was heaven!

Add another layer of cream cheese mixed with a little bit of lemon and sugar, top it with homemade whip cream and caramel and you have...

Apple Candy Pie!

Feather

I just really enjoy feathers. I'd have more around the house if my cat wasn't so intent on killing them.

Weekly Theme: Water

I took this picture some months ago, but it seemed to go with the theme well. This is the small pond in the front of my parent's house. You can see the little goldfish who live there.

Delayed Thanksgiving

Here are some of those Thanksgiving pictures I was talking about last week. My mom enjoys going "all out" for holiday meals and such.

My dad posing by the turkey. My sisters and I come by our decorating obsessions honestly.

Little Big Man

My nephew Joseph received a pair of Spiderman roller skates from his Aunt Caroline. Nothing is cuter than seeing him "skate" with his dad.