Friday, February 18, 2011

Deliquent Habits-Tres Deliquentes

the kiddies are in bed and the beer and taquitos are here....its an albertos kind of dinner night.... so i needed some fun music....come on you know it makes you what to dance!

Late Lunch

really im just trying to show off my new plate and cup from anthropologie....

but my lunch was great...it was a lamb chop sandwich with caramelized onions and rosemary with greek yogurt on a toasted ciabatta bread and a glass of petit sirah.....yes the whole blog today is pretty and delicious....

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

What NO Cake?

well all my birthday plans for today and tomorrow magically fell through....bummer days and oh well....so i got lazy....i didnt bake the cake i was gonna bake and i have been planning on baking it for quite sometime now as cake...good cake is my favorite dessert ever....i didnt eat at umami burger in hollywood....there will be no sashimi or salted salmon onigiri tomorrow....but there was a trip to anthropology and purchases....i ate some northern style chinese ribs with a 5 spice salt and some yummy vegetable lo mein....and there was a trip to the sweet shop which is the photo above....almond roca green apple....dark chocolate seafoam...and some crazy peanut buttery white chocolate rice crispy and marshmallow chocolate chip thing....i guess it wasnt so bad....aye?

Monday, February 14, 2011

Best Day Of The Year

homemade sugar cookies and frosting....thank you martha stewart!

here are my paper garlands.....

because you have to decorate for valentines....

its a tradition for me because i have always loved this holiday ever since i was a wee little one and its fun....besides who wants to go out and wait two hours for a meal....instead we had friends over for an early dinner....rack of lamb for the adults and homemade meatballs for the kids.... the girls also put the sprinkles on the cookies....can you say yum?

fragrant lilies and....

coral roses from my mom.....

and my best valentine ever sophie louise....we had a great time with our friends that came over in the early evening and i forgot to get pictures of that of course....poor daniel had to work late but we saved him some leftovers....i am officially tired but there is some milk and lemon diner cake in the fridge from the little birthday party my grandmother threw for me sunday night that are calling my name currently....yes and a date with one of my favorite shows the fullmetal alchemist....cant wait until the kiddies are asleep!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Contacting Me

you probably dont need or want to but in case you do....contact me through my etsy shop....you see someone had to transfer my .com and i had to use a different service and everything is all screwed up and confusing and well i just thought i would let you know....hey do you like my barbie anime babe i colored with sophie....bitches with purple hair rule!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Blue Valentine

so today i baked again but also for some early valentines gifts for my aunt and father....

this is a half loaf all tied up with watercolor hearts.....

its called almond blueberry lemon loaf....actually i baked one last year but i tweaked it more this time....

here are the loaves out of the oven....it was a lovely scent in the house today....

here is the batter split in half....

big plump blueberries from chile....normally i dont buy chilean fruit because it never tastes right to me but they were discounted so here they are....

almonds....

buttered and floured loaf pans.....

butter....

here is jack jamming cake in his mouth....there was crying and yelling and even slapping and he was the one doing it....he couldnt get enough and when i cut him off....the you know what hit the fan....so this is a kind of recipe that came once again from pinecone camp....have you gone there yet? well the original is hazelnut and lemon....so i basically doubled the recipe and added 1 teaspoon of almond extract as well....i folded the blueberries in the batter at the end....i used almonds and the zest of six lemons....it made enough batter to fill mid way in 2 9x5in loaf pans....
recipe adapted from pinecone camp(click link for original recipe)
250g unsalted butter
2cups superfine sugar
4 eggs
3 cups flour
1tsp salt
1tsp almond extract
1 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 pint of blueberries
zest of six small and medium meyer lemons
preheat oven to 350 degrees and i buttered and floured 2 9x5 inch loaf pans
cream sugar and butter then add almond extract and eggs....then in a large bowl mix flour and salt....then alternatively add the flour and salt mixture and milk....you know dry wet dry wet dry etc.....when you are done with that add nuts and zest....then fold in 1 pint of blueberries.....divide mixture into pans....i baked both of these for one hour but check at the 40 to 45 minute mark....the tops should be solid and turning brown and pulling a little bit away from the sides of the pan....let cool in pans on racks....i used an offset spatula to pull the loaves away from the pans....also you can brush with a lemon syrup....i kind of just poured it all over so it would soak in but thats just me....lemon syrup.... the juice of one lemon 1\4 cup water and sugar....heat until dissolved...let cool....you can do this while the loaves are baking.....enjoy!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Lemon Scented Couscous

what to do with the surplus of lemons....create your own hord'oeuvres....

i used one cup of couscous...six slices of bacon.... about a cup of Parmesan cheese....lemon zest and 2 tablespoons of chopped capers....

delicious....i also imagine drinking shots of cold lemony vodka with this....wanna come over?

i cut a small portion of the bottom of the lemon off so they could stand on their own....

i juiced my lemons to create the cups....if you dont have a juicer you can use a reamer and gently pull as much pulp as you can out....

i also zested two small lemons and mixed the dry couscous with it in a mixing bowl....then you add one and a quarter cup of boiling water and cover bowl with a plate for five minutes....when it was done i added some olive oil (you could use butter as well) touch of salt and poured my plate of ingredients in the bowl and mixed....be sure to taste....you could also use chopped up moroccan preserved lemons too....that sounds super good too....remember im calling this scented....so the flavor is not super lemony but rather aromatic....oh yeah chopped parsley would be good in this too!
all done....yummy....if i was going to serve this to guests i would use caviar spoons especially since my lemons are small....i used six small lemons as serving cups and there was plenty left over....i could have probably filled at least between 12 and 14 lemon cups....so if you have big lemons it will be a different story....you could also use use small ramekins or bowls too....enjoy i did!

Lemon Blossoms

i was out picking more lemons....

so i thought id bring in some branches....

they smell heavenly....

Self Portrait #2

how hard can it be....

taking picture of yourself in the mirror can be really hard at least for me....i thought i would document myself a week before my birthday....yeah i know im dork....

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

these are good....
even better when you add some bacon....

in the frying pan....

lemon zest....

i told you i have a butt load of lemons...right?

i tried buckwheat flour this time as well....

egg whites....i forgot to take a picture of them whipped....

ricotta....yummy!

well they seemed a little denser this time but my memory may not be serving me well as i made these about five months ago....it could also be from using the buckwheat? really i dont know....the flavor was also a little earthier too so i wasnt sure if sophie would like them but she asked for more so i guess they were a hit....oh yeah little jack liked them too....this recipe doesnt make a lot but thats perfect....right? the mixture may seem a little thick and chunky but dont worry just dollop a spoonful in the pan which holds about four little ones....here is a link to the recipe
so if you give them a whirl let me know what you think!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Aqueous Transmission

here is a dreamy one by incubus from the album morning view for your monday evening....enjoy.........................

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Strange and Beautiful - Aqualung

i LOVE this song....oh it makes my heart feel all angsty and stuff....the art work is apparently by japanese artist suehiro Maruo....he is so cool....his work is very graphic sexual horror freakish kind of graphic...

Little Sparkly

last night i made a little corsage with a rhinestone spray and echeveria pulv-oliver succulent flowers....

a little arrangement of succulents and succulent flowers my husband arranged....

so i wore the little sparkly....

all day....

i was even stabbed by the corsage pin at one point....


look it was throwing its reflection on my bedroom wall this evening....i also do flowers if you didnt know already....its not cheap but they will be pretty....shoot me an email if you live locally and might be interested....just go to my profile and you will find my email...

Done

these pretty little things....

are finally in the shop....