Wednesday, October 5, 2011

An Apple a Day


Like I'm sure many of you, we went apple picking last weekend. The weather was perfect, the orchard at Appleberry Farm was very nice and the apples were plentiful, just as long as you didn't want any McIntosh, those trees were picked clean! We brought home several varieties I'd never had before- NW Greening, Connell Red and Ida Red. We also purchased a few heirloom apples that were already picked. My favorite was the Harralson, which tasted like an apple mixed with an orange - so amazing! We baked a pie as soon as we got home (okay, I baked the pie), and it was one of the best pies I've ever made, according to Steve. We have 2 bags of apples left so I'm going to try making and freezing a couple more pies. Apparently they come out of the freezer and into the oven just fine, although I've never tried it before. I hope it works!

anyone got a bow and arrow?

this apple looks like a butt!

As a child, he was only allowed to pick MacIntosh apples...

of course, Evan ate off all the caramel and threw the apple in the trash!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Ruffles, again.

I know this seems a bit redundant, but I cannot get my mind off ruffles!


Friday, September 9, 2011

It's a girl!

A girl-y bag, that is. And I love it! It's my very favorite thing I've made, ever. It will be in the shop soon, as soon as my darn camera battery charges and I can finish taking it's picture!

Monday, September 5, 2011




I'm trying something new today.


I've been insanely jealous of Design Seeds and how she makes her breathtaking photos with matching palettes of color. I've searched the internet high and low and can find a few people who do something similar (but never as nice), but I was really having trouble finding out how to make one of these things.


I finally found one gal who says she uses Aviary to upload a photo and make her palette. So, I went to Aviary, uploaded my photo into the Toucan Color Editor, made my lovely palette and it was really fun and easy. But then I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get my photo and my palette together in such a nice way as they do. I was hoping it would just magically happen, that there would be a button at the bottom of my palette that said "put these two lovely things together and it will look great" but there wasn't.


So, I figured that it has something to do with my nemesis, Photoshop. I actually have never used Photoshop (haven't wanted to fork over all that money for it) so I've been trying to teach myself to use Gimp, which is like photoshop, only free. I gotta tell you, it's a struggle. I use it so infrequently that each time I try it, I have to relearn everything and it takes me forever.


As it happens, Aviary also has a free Photoshop thing called Pheonix, and my first impression is that it's a little easier than Gimp. That doesn't mean that it didn't take me, oh, about 4 hours to come up with that picture you see at the top. It's nowhere near as pretty as Jessica's pictures, but that's ok. It's the best I can do for now. I definitely owe a special thanks to my friend Kelly for her smarts! Once I finally got the hang of it I couldn't stop and I've been changing all of the main photos in my Etsy shop. Take a look and give me some feedback - Do you like them or not?

Sunday, September 4, 2011

New Day, New Bag

I've been toying with the idea of a bag with ruffles for some time. I want something flirty and feminine, without all the straight lines most of my bags have. This is my first attempt and I'm really happy with it. I just took the basic shape of the Meredith bag, added the ruffles and took out the stiff lining that gives the original bag it's structure. The result is a slouchy, casual bag with a girly attitude. I just might add ruffles to every bag I have!!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Can anything really be this good?



I grew up with Red Velvet Cake. It was THE birthday cake in our house. From Scratch. There was no such thing as boxed Red Velvet Cake when I was young. The recipe calls for two bottles of red food coloring - how decadent can you get? The cake actually plays with your head and your taste buds, because even though the cake is made with cocoa, your brain can't really wrap itself around the notion that the flavor of chocolate is coming from something so completely red.

Another lovely thing about scratch red velvet cake is the buttermilk. Hands down, there is no better cake of any kind than one that has buttermilk in the ingredients. The version in a box just misses the mark here - you don't get that yummy buttermilk smoothness and bit of tang out of the box. I really believe it's the key ingredient in a true red velvet cake. Well, except for the frosting, and I will go to my grave defending authentic Red Velvet Cake Frosting, and it IS NOT made with cream cheese.

Don't misunderstand me, I L-O-V-E cream cheese frosting - on cinnamon rolls and carrot cake, but it does not belong on red velvet cake. True southern recipes call for a delicious, slippery, subtle white frosting that must be cooked first, then beaten to the end of oblivion. That is what I'm talkin' about! I really find it almost impossible to enjoy a piece of red velvet if it has any other frosting.

There is one exception, however. That cake up there in the picture? That cake is frosted with whipped cream - and that's ok - because it is a "strawberry shortcake red velvet cake" and that is different. You put whipped cream on strawberry shortcake, so I'm in complete agreement that it goes perfectly with that breathtakingly gorgeous creation. I really want a piece of that cake. How do you even slice that cake? How would you get it to the plate in one piece? It really wouldn't matter, I'd eat that cake in whatever condition it was set in front of me. And I know I would love it, whipped cream and all.


Red Velvet Cake 
 (no, not like the one in the picture - you have to click here to get that recipe!)


Ingredients:

For the Cake:
2 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 ounces Red Food Coloring
1 cup Buttermilk
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
½ cup Shortening
1 ½ cups White Sugar
2 Eggs
2 ½ cups All-Purpose Floursifted
1 ½ tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp White Vinegar
For the Frosting:
1 cup Milk
5 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1 cup White Sugar
1 cup Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Directions:
1. Grease two 9 inch round pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Make a paste of cocoa and food coloring. Set aside.


2. Combine the buttermilk, salt and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and 1 ½ cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the cocoa mixture. Beat in the buttermilk mixture alternately with the flour, mixing just until incorporated. Stir together baking soda and vinegar, then gently fold into the cake batter.


3. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.


4. To Make Icing: In a saucepan, combine the milk and 5 tablespoons flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. Set aside to cool completely. Cream together butter, 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla until light and fluffy, then stir in the cooled milk and flour mixture, beating until icing reaches spreading consistency.


****If you want to get really fancy, slice each cake layer horizontally to create 4 layers, and put frosting on the top and between the layers only - not on the sides.