The Busiest of Bees

Today we finally got started on our wedding invitations! Several months ago, Marshalls had an abundance of Martha Stewart craft supplies so I picked up a few boxes of these very cute invitations.

 

We went to Michaels and bought special pens to address what seemed like hundreds of envelopes.

I quite like the way they turned out. Do-it-yourself invites certainly have come a long way.

These should be in the mail by the middle of next week, yahoo!

A Bit of Inspiration

I've been going through old photos and I came across this one of my most favorite tree. It even has a name; Samson. There is a Delilah too, but she is in Hawaii.

I plan on visiting this tree very soon.

Garage Sale!

Ok, I've realized that as of late I've only been posting about vintage goodies that I've been finding, but I can't help it! For some reason I had this past Saturday off from work so dearest D. and I went out on the hunt for garage sales. We checked the paper and craigslist for local sales and away we went! We found a street where many of the neighbors were hosting yard sales and as we were walking toward one house dearest D. thought it looked very familiar. It turned out to be his friend's house from high school and we did indeed hit the mother load there. I was looking all around the driveway while D. was catching up with his pal.

I saw one of these Amish pattern pyrex dishes on a blog I follow, and I thought it would be fun to find one, and I did!

                                      

It turns out that the friend's grandma was quite the embroiderer, there were such beautiful pieces.

It is as though this doily was meant to be made into a peacock.

I've had my eye on snack plates on eBay and I found a complete set of six in perfect condition.

                                              

Milk glass vases in the $ 0.10 bin!

                                                

This was purchased from a different garage sale for only $3, I thought it would look super cute with a glass knob from Anthropologie. (The knob will most likely cost more than table)

Flea Market Finds

This past Sunday dearest D. and I hit up the local flea market once again in search of some vintage goodies; we were not disappointed. Now, I have this particular phobia of eating off of yellow dishes, but when the vendor offered these seven little dishes to me for $1, well it was just an offer I couldn't refuse.

The dishes aren't marked so I don't know who made them, I guess hunting for more on eBay is futile. I am trying to figure out what to use the dishes for, and I am a bit curious as to why the larger ones have handle like projections.

D. scored the most from our little outing, he added to his book collection with vintage copies of Pollyanna, Ivanhoe, Pilgrim's Progress and a peculiar book called Little Lives of the Saints for Children.

The book bindings are so pretty, why doesn't such care go into books that are published now?

(Why did Harry Fletcher write his name twice in Ivanhoe?)

                                              

He wanted to buy Pollyanna even after I told him it was a children's book, he said he was thinking about the future...

Steamed Lemon Pudding

The other night I was in the mood for a lemon flavored dessert, it seemed the perfect thing to eat on a hot summer day. I found this scrumptious recipe on www.nymag.com  (via google) and made a few modifications to it; the lemon pudding turned out wonderfully. The pudding also called for a berry compote which was perfect since there were two pints of berries in the fridge just waiting to be eaten. I made the desserts in my little Fire King ramekins that I bought at the market a month ago, and I am glad to say that they held up to the test and did not crack in the oven.

Steamed Lemon Pudding With Berry Compote

Pudding
Softened butter for ramekins
3/4 cup granulated sugar plus additional for ramekins
1 cup buttermilk (I did not have buttermilk; I substituted plain yogurt)
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of 2 lemons, finely chopped (I used zest of one lemon)

Berry Compote
2 cups blueberries
2 cups raspberries (I used strawberries)
1/4 cup sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Pudding
Grease the insides of eight 4-ounce ramekins with butter and coat with granulated sugar. Combine in a mixing bowl the buttermilk, lemon juice, and the egg yolks. Mix the flour, remaining sugar, salt, and lemon zest in another bowl. Whip the egg whites in a third bowl until soft peaks form. Whisk the dry ingredients with the buttermilk mixture, and fold in the egg whites gently, a third at a time. Ladle the batter into the prepared ramekins, filling them almost to the top. Place the puddings in a roasting pan, and pour warm water around them until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover with foil, and bake for 18 minutes or until puddings begin to rise slightly. Remove the foil, rotate the pan front-to-back, and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, until pudding is golden and springs back when touched.

Compote
While the pudding is baking, place the blueberries in a saucepan with the sugar and cook over medium heat until berries just start to burst. Remove from heat and fold in raspberries. Serve puddings at room temperature, or reheat in a warm-water bath before inverting onto plates and surrounding with compote.

The recipe says that it yields four, but I was able to fill five ramekins.

I will definitely be making this recipe again, they were good the next day too; cold out of the fridge.

Rosemary and Potato Pizza

The other day while driving back from work, I concocted a recipe for a rosemary potato pizza with goat cheese and caramelized onions, and to my delight it turned out delicious! Some people might think that potatoes on pizza is a little strange, but trust me it is wonderful!

Rosemary Potato Pizza

4 8'' Boboli Whole Wheat Pizza Crusts
4 oz. Goat Cheese
3 Red Potatoes
2 tsp. Rosemary
1 Large Red Onion
Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Scrub potatoes, cut into 1/4'' slices, lightly coat with olive oil and toss with one teaspoon of dried rosemary. Place potato slices on cookie sheet and bake until tender, about fifteen minutes, flip slices once during baking. Drizzle olive oil in a pan and slice red onions into rings; cook over medium heat until soft. Spread 1 oz. of goat cheese on each pizza crust. Sprinkle remaining rosemary equally on four pizza crusts. Top pizzas with potatoes and onions. Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Serves four.

I put fresh rosemary on the pizzas, in addition to the dried. Next time I want to try to make my own pizza crust, but I was pleased with the way it turned out on the Boboli crusts.

Mission Accomplished!

I embarked on a little project over a year ago to make a growth chart for my nephew's first birthday, well I am happy to announce that a year later I have finished! (Better late than never, right?) This project reminds me of a time that I begged my mom to buy me a Christmas themed latch hook rug kit and I assured her I would have it done by Christmas. She bought it for me before Thanksgiving and it was not done until the following year, my grandma came out to visit and finished it for me. Thanks grandma! Needless to say, that was my first and last latch hook project.

The growth chart pattern came out of this cute book "Baby Stuff".

All finished and wrapped up, I just need to get it in the mail before July 5th! Yeah, I know that it looks like a diploma, my ribbon collection is becoming rather pitiful. I would like to get some baker's twine to add to my little stash, I found a giant roll of it on Amazon. Maybe soon...