I Love Projects

Bathroom: Before and After

2011-12-05T11:45:00.003-05:00

Ugh. It's just so ugly before. Now we mostly hang out in the bathroom. Because it's awesome!

Bathroom is done!

2011-12-05T11:04:00.004-05:00

I have terrific, terrific news to report: THE BATHROOM IS DONE! And let me tell you, it is fabulous.

Here's how things went: We had someone prep the subfloor, and then Jake tiled the floor. And? That was really, really hard work. The patterned slate we chose did not make anything easier. And it took forever. And those people who said "tiling is fun and easy!" are terrible liars. In any event, Jake did a marvelous job, because our bathroom floor turned out beautifully.

We then had someone come grout it while we were away, at the same time that the tub reglazing people did their work. So we came home from Thanksgiving to a white tub, and beautifully grouted tile floor. Hooray! Things were looking up!

And then we waited, and then waited, and then the toilet was installed! And the vanity was installed! And then things were looking up. Way up.

And then, upon our contractor's faith and advice, Jake cut a hole in the wall to put in the new light fixture. That was intense. Cutting holes in your wall is intense.

But check it out! We installed a light fixture in a NEW place! Wowsers!

And then, after an SOS call to the contractor, and a hole in the wall, we had a properly hung medicine cabinet!

With a new towel hook, a new shower curtain, some paint touch ups, and new towels, our bathroom is done.

And? I love it! The colors are perfect - it is light and modern, and feels relaxing. It was aggravating. Really, really aggravating. Much more so than the kitchen. But as of yet, it is much more satisfying than the kitchen. The kitchen still needs a coat of paint and a tile backsplash. Stay tuned!

Full list of parts and full accounting to come. (Then we will actually know the price of aggravation. Ha!)

Bad news for the bathroom

2011-11-15T13:26:00.002-05:00

We're a little stuck in the bathroom. Jake heroically demo-ed the bathroom (including an ultra heroic change of the angle valve under the sink), but we found some bad plywood under the toilet. So we took it up. Do we have to take up more? It's not clear to us. Hopefully we'll sort it out with a contractor who is coming to hook up the kitchen plumbing. At this point for the bathroom, things can only get better...

Oh, and those holes in the wall are more unexpected bumps in the road.

Bathroom is proving trickier than kitchen...

Good news in the kitchen!

2011-11-15T13:10:00.002-05:00

We have big terrific kitchen news! We have counters! Yay! And they look great.

Kitchen punch list:

1. Get the plumbing reconnected (we will have a kitchen sink! Aces!) - on tap for this afternoon.

2. Paint touch ups (though now with the new color in the kitchen, it's
time to reevaluate keeping the red. I still like it...)

3. Move up the outlets a few inches (how do you do that?)

4. Tile the backsplash (with what tile?)

5. Install the range hood (after tiling...)

That'll do it!

Update! Cabinets are in!

2011-11-07T11:37:00.002-05:00

Oh happy day! The cabinets are in! A contractor installed the frames,
and Jake put on the doors, shelves and drawers. And? They look great!
Not quite as red toned as the pictures suggest. We're now strongly
considering keeping the walls red (the other option on the table is
brining the warm cream color from the living room into the kitchen).

So! Very exciting! They have a marvelous soft close feature, so there
will be no slamming closed of our kitchen cabinets or drawers. It's
quite luxurious, really.

Today the countertop people are coming to measure, and they'll install
it probably in one week. That will be exciting! Then the next day (I
hope!) we'll have the plumbing reconnected, which will leave us only
with the backsplash and painting.

Backsplash. Hmm. Maybe a gray? Black has been suggested, but that
seems too dark/harsh to me. It'll be easier to decide once the counter
is in.

In the meantime, it's time to start thinking about the bathroom... stay tuned!

Gus quite enjoyed hiding in the cabinet before shelves were put in...

Proud kitchen installer...

Update: sink gone, cabinets built

2011-11-02T11:24:00.003-04:00

Happily, someone took the sink. Still trying to find a home for those cabinets though...

Even better, we built the cabinet boxes last night - no drawers or doors, but the boxes are all built. They are waiting to be installed, which is scheduled to be tomorrow.

So, looking at the action plan, we're through step 4. Not bad...

1. First up: countertop demo. DONE

2. Hot on the heels of countertop demo, will be cabinet removal. DONE

3. Order and have Ikea deliver new cabinets. DONE

4. Assemble new cabinets. DONE

5. Have contractor install new cabinets.

6. Have countertop people come measure for granite countertop.

7. Wait. Sinkless. While they prep the counter. And, pick tile this week.

6. One week later, counter is installed. Phew.

7. Tile backsplash.

8. Paint.

9. Figure out a solution for the wall shelves. Suggestions most welcome.

Old Kitchen::New Kitchen

2011-10-31T14:52:00.004-04:00

Still hoping someone will take these cabinets away... one is gone, and
some knobs have been pilfered. It's Monday. They've been out there
since yesterday. The place I'd like to donate them to (Community
Forklift) is open on Wednesday. So if they're not gone by then (and our neighbors haven't ordered us evicted), we'll take them away Wednesday.

New kitchen status: boxed. Ready to be assembled. So, much, assembling. Contractor coming to install assembled cabinets on Thursday. Really can't wait for Thursday.

Cabinets are out!

2011-10-31T08:10:00.002-04:00

The cabinets are out! Well, mostly. The sink area sure is jerry-rigged,
and we hope it's not impossible to put things back again. Fingers crossed.

And the new cabinets have been ordered, and will be delivered today!

Update: counter demo done

2011-10-29T15:25:00.002-04:00

I'm told it wasn't hard. Nice.

Kitchen Remodel: The Plan

2011-10-28T07:39:00.002-04:00

The staff here at ILoveProjects is about to kick it up about 10 notches. This project starts with demolition. This is big time!

After 8 years of living in this apartment, we are FINALLY going to update the kitchen and bathroom! (Just in time to leave...)

So, I want to lay out our action plan as well as some before shots, with the kitchen pretty much as it is on a daily basis. New cabinets aren't going to help the clutter, but maybe with a beautiful countertop we'll be inspired to keep it uncovered, whereas I'm currently inspired to keep it all COVERED UP SO I CAN'T SEE IT.

So, here's the plan, and it starts tomorrow. T minus 12 hours:

1. First up: countertop demo. Jake will do it, with help. Help = sledgehammer (probably unnecessary, but also probably fun), crow bar, and a friend (he isn't one for publicity, so we'll keep him anonymous, and call him Scott). This is a small job, but it's also uncharted territory. Wish them luck.

2. Hot on the heels of countertop demo, will be cabinet removal. I have the idea that if I post them for free on Craigslist, someone will come get them and take them away, saving us that task. Do you think?

3. Have Ikea deliver new cabinets. Assemble new cabinets. Have contractor install new cabinets. Only change we're making is having taller wall cabinets go in. Not all the way up, but higher.

4. Have countertop people come measure for granite countertop.

5. Wait. Sinkless. While they prep the counter. Waiting. Sinkless.

6. One week later, counter is installed. Phew.

7. Meanwhile, I will have figured out what tile we want for a backsplash. Either install that myself, or have tile guy do it (which we may do because we'll have to rip out the tile behind the stove which could get messy and challenging).

8. Paint over my lovely red kitchen which I still adore (and which I consider one of my greatest decorating successes) with the same beige-y yellow that the rest of the house is. How very neutral of us.

9. Figure out a solution for the wall shelves. Suggestions most welcome.

Carrot Cake Birthday Cupcakes

2011-10-22T15:39:00.002-04:00

Carrot cake... cream cheese frosting... need I say more? Made without
alteration from Smitten Kitchen. I also love Dorie Greenspan's carrot
cake, which I've made before. It makes a LOT of batter, and this made
just enough (i.e. enough for the party, and enough for leftovers to
nibble on at home for a day or two). Frosting called for 1/4 cup of
maple syrup, though I only had 2 tablespoons left, so it wasn't really
noticeable.

This was for a surprise birthday party. The surprise, the party, and
the cupcakes were all a success!

P.S. I made these the morning of the party. Started, toddler in tow,
at 7:15 am, and I walked out the door at 9:30. No room for error -- it
worked! I am very pleased with myself!

A First Fall Apple-Cranberry Pie

2011-10-22T15:34:00.002-04:00

Hooray for fall! And apple picking! I added cranberries to my normal
Bittman Applie Pie and pie crust (a la Martha Stewart this month) and
it was great! An egg wash on the top of the crust with egg yolk and
cream made for a gorgeously brown crust. Nice. This will probably
reappear at Thanksgiving. YUM!

A purse

2011-10-05T07:55:00.005-04:00

I made this purse. Fast. No planning to speak of. I found some red chintz that I had given a friend (let's call her Sarah) that was leftover from when my mom and I covered my dining chairs when I lived in Cambridge (way back when). I lined this little purse with that good old red chintz. And ordered handles. And? It's now my everyday bag! Love it.

First socks (in a really long time)

2011-10-05T07:55:00.004-04:00

I learned how to knit socks in fifth grade. That was a pretty long time ago! Needing a new knitting project, and loving the idea of making something practical, lovely, and not so big, socks it was!

And, they are lovely! And they weren't difficult at all! And they are so cozy!

Tarte aux Pommes!

2011-10-05T07:54:00.003-04:00

Fall! A Tarte Aux Pommes! Couldn't have been easier. And totally delicious. mmmmmmmm.

Ta da! A wedding cake for Emily and Sam!

2011-08-14T22:03:00.002-04:00

I was so flattered and excited when Emily and Sam asked me to make their wedding cake! A baking project! And an important one! I wanted to do what I did last time, which I loved because I used such a delicious cake recipe, though it didn't stand up great to handling -- it's really a shortcake recipe.

For such an important project, I had to go to a very trusted source, Smitten Kitchen. She totally has all the answers. And even though I didn't manage to practice any of the parts of the wedding cake, I trusted that SK wouldn't lead me astray. And I was right! (Right, but nervous here and there: would the layers be defrosted when the cake was cut??)

I opted to use SK's recipe for both cake and frosting, and I was already planning to fill it with raspberries and lemon curd, where she uses mango curd. I was even more confident because she wrote that she tried and rejected beloved Dorie Greenspan's perfect party cake because it was too dry. So did I, back when I tried and tried so many cake recipes to prepare for the last wedding cake project.

I have to say, although I was a little nervous (WOULD the layers be defrosted when the cake was cut??) this was actually pretty easy to pull off. This was mostly because I gave myself lots of time, and was very organized, and also because I froze the cake. I'm a cake-freezing convert now. More on this in a second.

I took the liberty of such an important project to finally buy myself magi-strips, which are velcro strips you saturate in water and strap around the outside of the cake pans, cooling the outer edges of the cake so they don't set as fast, and thus can rise more or less with the rest of the cake layer leaving a much more level cake. And they worked beautifully!

So, here was my strategy: Wednesday, plan and shop, make lemon curd. Thursday, bake and freeze layers. Friday make frosting and frost. Saturday assemble on site for wedding.

The lemon curd was from Shirley Corriher's bakewise (though I find most lemon curd recipes to be pretty much the same, save the whole lemon recipes that I've never tried, but am curious about). It was a tad runny, but delicious. Done.

With SK's yellow cake recipe in hand, Thursday morning I took out all the ingredients in the morning, bringing them all to room temperature. I used the recipe for a 3 layer 9" cake, turning the third layer into two 5" cakes, which worked beautifully. After the munchkin went off the park with his sitter, I did the mis en place and everything was ready. Then things were really, really easy. Easy like cake-mix easy. Interestingly, this wasn't a cream the butter and sugar first kind of recipe, but you mix the butter in at the end, a la Cake Goddess Rose Levy Beranbaum. Cool. And it worked. Cakes went into the oven with their fancy magistrips (and a homemade version for my little 5" pans too).

Cake prep was easy, though I mistakenly placed one cake too near to the oven wall, so the cake didn't bake quite level (though I think the photo I have up top accentuates this; it really wasn't noticeable). Not too bad, but oops. At least I won't make that mistake again!

With the cakes cooling on the counter, I found I had extra time, so I went ahead and made SK's frosting (doubling the amount for a regular 9" layer cake). No problem. Not only that, but I had saved the whites from making lemon curd (which is mostly egg yolks) and thus felt super economical about my ingredients. SK warns that it can take forever to come together once you put the butter into the eggwhite/sugar mixture. I couldn't bear the thought of putting in whole sticks, so put it in pieces at a time and had really no trouble. Yay! Popped it in the fridge. Easy! I flash froze the four cake layers (having previously made room in both the fridge and the freezer), wrapped them up several lawyers of plastic wrap, and called it a day!

On Saturday am, I took out the buttercream, intending to do a crumb coat early, and then bring the crumb coated cakes to the site. I forgot that buttercream is largely butter, and thus really takes some time to defrost. Oops. I arrived at the site a few hours later, bringing with me frozen cake layers, raspberries, lemon curd, frosting, and all my decorating tools.

Crumb cake was easy, though I did the individual layers instead of filling the cake and then doing the crumb coat, which seems like it could be more efficient. I used only a little bit of lemon curd, for fear it would all come oozing out of the side of the cake.

SK was (as usual) totally right in that frozen cakes are so much easier to handle and frost than fresh. But! As I was frosting the cake, my icing was freezing onto the cold cake! This was pretty much fine, though it kept me from spending silly amounts of time working and reworking the sides of the cake to get the icing perfectly flat and even. It was too cold for me to use my comb on it, so no little lines in the side. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who noticed.

I intended to use dowels in the cake, which I knew were unnecessary because the little 5" cake layer is truly little and doesn't need extra support, but I wanted to try them. Alas, because the cake was frozen when I was assembling it, there was no way to insert the dowels. Oh well, next time! (And if I don't have another opportunity to make a wedding cake, maybe I'll start making overly elaborate cakes for my friends' birthdays! maybe...)

The rest was easy, I piped little rosettes onto the upper and lower base, which was simple and looks so great. I then took forever in picking out which of the many fabulous flowers to finish off the cake with. The bride is crafty and fun, and she went to a pick your own wild flower place and had a friend put together the flowers, and they were just awesome. I'm a DIY wedding flower convert! Her friend had the idea of putting the green leaves on the cake, which I liked a lot.

And? The cake was beautifully defrosted, and totally scrumptious. Hooray! I'm a cake freezing convert!

This went so smoothly, that I would love to try a bigger cake -- I think I could handle a larger bottom layer with my new freezing technique and magi-strips.

Congratulations on such a beautiful day to my friends Emily and Sam. Thanks for the opportunity to participate in your wedding! xoxo

A first summer tarte!

2011-06-20T07:38:00.003-04:00

I think this was Dorie Greenspan's tarte dough, and then just some whipped cream and fruit on top. Not fancy, but fresh and easy. I think I actually made this in June. Time flies!

Two elephants!

2011-05-02T22:51:00.002-04:00

Elephants! For babies.

I'm an elephant knitting machine! Elephant number three is on the way
as we speak!

Challah!

2011-01-02T12:39:00.002-05:00

Challah! It is delicious! And as long as you're not in a hurry, it's easy to do! Even better on January 1, with a good friend and a very little helper.

I used an epicurious recipe, but as far as I could tell, there is very little variation between recipes.

First you get your yeast going in some warm water and sugar.

In the stand mixer, add oil, and about 7 cups of flour. (This was actually a little too much for my standard size kitchenaid mixer, and there is now challah dough everywhere. Now I know!)

Let it rise an hour. Punch it down, let it rise another half hour.

Braid it, let it rise another half hour (we're up to 2 hours of rising).

ohh that looks good!

Brushed with some egg wash, popped into a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, temp turned down to 350 for another 15 - 20 minutes, and you get this!

And? It was excellent. Maybe take it out two minutes earlier, but that's only because I like really dough-y challah.

An excellent way to start out the new year!

The THIRD ANNUAL COOKIE OLYMPICS

2010-12-21T07:38:00.002-05:00

Ok, now it's time to get serious. The Third Annual Cookie Olympics! Such a big deal!

Gus and I made dough, and then we had Sarah help us bake the cookies. Gus was very helpful in cutting out the shapes. Pretty amazing for a 10 month old! (His parents think he is very advanced...)

Pre-Cookie Olympics, there was a baby meeting. June set the agenda.

Then things got serious. There is Shannon, decorating her TWO finalist cookies!

That is not one of them, but i liked it. It's sort of a homey gnomey.

I think those are Scott's hands, going for precision.

Ursula loves the camera. And doggies!

Littlest-Decorator-Judah and Cousin Gus

Do you remember Gus's Halloween costume?

This is the tray of finalists!

Alex feeling good about his Landon Donovan US soccer player cookie.

Brian stoked about his cookie. Judah wondering what cookies taste like...

Two time champion Jen holding up her cookie. It is a raindeer. It has certain male appendages that have been frosted on.

Congratulations Jen, and thanks to everyone for participating in the Cookie Olympics! See you next year!

sewing projects! hooray!

2010-06-08T09:11:00.002-04:00

Also in June, 2010, my records have me sewing crinkly baby toys, and bibs! Funny, because I have literally NO MEMORY of this! Crazy! Gus does like the crinkly toys though, and there are pictures, so I guess it's true!

What, is that a... PROJECT?!?!?!

2010-06-08T08:56:00.002-04:00

This appears to be banana bread. I (apparently) made in June, 2010. They say time flies when you have a baby. I guess!

Getting ready for baby, and a changing pad cover

2010-02-14T16:19:00.005-05:00

Big improvements on the getting ready for baby front! Here is Jake putting together a dresser for kiddo:

Lucy is hoping all this fuss is for her...

And voila! I love it!

And I sewed the changing pad cover -- I know, I know, you can get them commercially easily, and this one isn't really unique at all (in such a small space I'm going pretty monochrome - yellow, white, and gray), but there you have it.

For the time being, the little critters hanging out there are: the red owl which my mom made for me and it was my favorite as a baby, the big bear, the little bear rattle, and the sleepy elephant which were all such lovely gifts.

Soon (oh please can it be soon) UPS will be back up and running after all this mid-Atlantic snow and a shelf will happily appear and we'll put a shelf and picture ledge up above the changing table. Then the animals will live on the shelf, and there will be space for baby on the dresser top. : )

Baby organizing?

2010-02-10T19:03:00.003-05:00

In a perhaps vain attempt to organize a small space for baby, I made a good old fashioned diaper stacker. Not sure what I'll put in there... I currently have pre-fold diapers I'll use as baby rags/burp cloths. I went with monochrome gray, as I'm trying to keep patterns to a minimum given how small our space is (a shame though, as I have a ton of cute patterns...). I pulled out the crib to show it, but it will normally sit right inbetween the crib and the changing table/dresser.

I made it based on this pattern, modifying the top obviously.

As an amateur sewer, as usual this took longer than it should have, but it worked pretty well. Someday easy projects will be easy... someday...

Baby sling

2010-02-10T18:57:00.004-05:00

I made an old school baby sling, based on this tutorial. It is yellow polka dots on the inside, with gray corduroy on the outside. Being an amateur sewer, this (of course) took way longer than it should have, but I'm preliminarily happy with the result -- just waiting a little while until I can test it out!

Here's some bad photography, but that's what they call a french hem, which is supposed to be especially strong. I'm sort of impressed with myself...

And what was going on outside while I was inside sewing? A blizzard leading to the snowiest winter on record in DC! And one very happy Lucy-the-Dog...

A bathroom project, in progress

2010-02-10T18:14:00.006-05:00

Preparing for a really big important project (aka baby) has gotten us to do some things we've been meaning to do for quite a while... like paint the bathroom. Let's be honest, the bathroom needs a lot more than a coat of paint, but that will keep us happy for a while. The new, lightest blue we could find: (suddenly, we're allergic to color - go figure). And? I love it... a new shower curtain is on the way, and when it's all put back together, I'll do an update...

Ah! Make it stop! The green we've been living with for far too long. the yellow in the mirror is not the color of the walls. They actually are that bright crazy green. New homeowners shouldn't be allowed to pick their own paint colors...
What did it look like outside while Jake was doing this fabulous paint job? It was snowpocalyse!

The 2009 Cookie Olympics!

2009-12-31T22:08:00.002-05:00

Here it is -- a recap of the 2009 cookie olympics!

First we have Sara working oh so hard on her Macy's Christmas tree display; there were several iterations of it along the way...

cookie icers...

Did I mention it was a SNOW DAY???

a selection of the contestants

Whittling them down...

The winners! Look at that Buffalo! And Hester Prynne! And the teenage mutant ninja turtle!

A Pre-Thanksgiving Pumpking Pie

2009-11-09T08:43:00.003-05:00

Well this is a good looking start to thanksgiving, is it not? It was a practice pie, which I gave to my brother for his "mansgiving."

The crust got a little dark, but it wasn't a big problem...

If only my real thanksgiving pies turned out so lovely!

Pumpkin Tarte!

2009-11-09T08:42:00.007-05:00

This made me happy. It is from Dorie Greenspan's book, and is a sourcream pumpkin pie with a tart crust. Yum! Only thing is it makes way too much filling, like 2 1/2 times too much, so what to do with it all?

Blondies

2009-11-09T08:42:00.005-05:00

Sigh... blondies. For Jake's birthday he wanted blondies. And so he shall have them!

They baked forever and... they still weren't done. I wonder in heaven's name went wrong. I feel like I've had this problem before. Could it be the pyrex? I may never find out... The ones on the edge were fine, but all in all far too problematic to tackle again. These were from my favorite, Dorie Greenspan. Sigh...

Jewish Apple Cake (x2)

2009-11-09T08:41:00.002-05:00

So I found this recipe for apple cake (also on Smitten Kitchen) and dare I say I love it. It comes together in no time, you can't add too many apples, and it. is. awesome.

The first time I did one layer of apples in the cake dough, and then another on top.

The second time I just mixed them all up -- I preferred it this way. Apples everywhere!

Sigh -- no pictures of the finished product, which was eaten just as fast as fast could be. Wouldn't change a thing...

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Apple Tarte!

2009-11-09T08:40:00.003-05:00

I saw this on Smitten Kitchen, and had to try!

It is simplest apple tarte, and it was lovely. Dough came together no problem, no problem at all:

Maybe I didn't roll it quite thin enough. (I'd like to take the opportunity to blame this on a lack of counterspace.) But the apples nestled in easily

She sprinkles only with sugar, but I just couldn't help myself and added cinnamon.

And? It was lovely! I wouldn't say the crust kept crisp two days later, but it was no matter -- it was delicious and so easy!

A practice baby bib

2009-08-19T10:02:00.006-04:00

Inspired by some very sweet handmade bibs that Baby Erik has, I decided to try one myself. I have a bevvy of adorable fabrics and flannels waiting to be made into baby projects (hmm, now why would that be? perhaps a really, really big project is coming up?), but I thought better than to dive in to the nice fabrics and decided to practice on something a little scrappy first. And good thing.

So, here are my thoughts:

My top stitching is not great! I think I can stitch together something straight well enough, but even these simple curves are testing me... On the other hand, I could coordinate the thread so it doesn't show as much and it would probably be fine. I think 1/4 inch is too much of a seam allowance. Hmmm.

Should one wash bib fabric before sewing it? It's something that will obviously be washed many times, so yes? I don't know the answer. Maybe a sewing guru can tell me...

And isn't it funny that the ends don't seem to meet? The pattern calls for a snap, but I'm thinking velcro is the way to go. In any event, shouldn't they meet up? I'm pretty sure I cut it properly...

Alora, a little more futzing before I go into full baby bib production, but i'm probably not too far away : )

First quilt is done : )

2009-08-19T10:02:00.005-04:00

I'm pleased and proud to annouce that my very first quilt is completed! It has come a long way...

It's a simple design, but I loved all the squares and I think they are highlighted nicely

The back is just a yellow and white stripe; I was worried any non-90-degree sewing would be obvious, but it's not. phew.

I wanted to machine quilt this, but I couldn't get my hands on a machine to do it (mine doesn't have a walking foot... i'm working on it). So I just went with yarn and knots. I hear babies like to play with tags and strings and such, so this should be good for Baby Erik!

And here are some shots of the munchkin enjoying. He did a good job for the camera. Thanks, kid.

(for the love of god why can't i rotate images in blogspot? ugh!)

So voila! What will the next quilt be???

Summer peach pop tart (aka slab pie)

2009-08-12T09:54:00.002-04:00

Summer day. Peaches. Three friends. What to make? A giant pop peach pop tart of course!

Carefully preparing the pie dough...

Carefully pressing the pie dough into the big pan...

Mixing up the farmer's market-fresh peaches...

Roll a second pie crust on top, put an egg wash on, and...

Voila!

Let it cool... put on a lemon glaze (it's always lemon, isn't it?)

And GO FOR IT!

Yes please, more please!

And we are baking prodigies...

Raspberry Buttermilk cake

2009-08-12T09:53:00.002-04:00

Inspired by Smitten Kitchen (and really, how could you not be?), I endeavored to make this lovely, simple, Raspberry Buttermilk cake. And? It's divine!

Not only that, but I now think that a small, elegant cake like this one is the perfect finish for a meal (excepting, of course, birthdays and important celebrations that call for things like candles and multi-tiered projects). Add some fresh whipped cream and maybe just maybe a raspberry for garnish, and dare I say this is a perfect end to a summer meal! Mmmm!

I followed Smitten Kitchen's raspberries right-side-up technique, as I like the holes in the cake.

This one I did with a little sugar sprinkled on top; the second one I did (yes, two in one weekend) did not have the sugar, and I think I liked it just as well. The top was a little browner and smoother.

I served it in my favorite tart dish from Les Terps, where my cousins have a beautiful french country home.

Campfire cornbread!

2009-07-22T16:41:00.002-04:00

Well folks, I know you've been waiting a long time for this, but hungry campers had to wait through one burned campfire cornbread, and then a second successful campfire cornbread.

First I brought the flour/cornmeal/salt etc pre-mixed from home in a bag

Add eggs

Milk

Oil

Heat your pan on a fire (note, not too hot!)

Add the lovely batter

Cook it with the lid on about 8 - 10 minutes or so (now, it's hard to smell if it's burning, as the fire is burning so the cornbread smell is masked. Very tricky baking...)

Et voila! No need to be pretty about it now folks, we're camping! Rip it up and pass it around. It was some fine campfire cornbread. Mmmmmm

Bill's blueberry cobbler

2009-07-20T08:03:00.003-04:00

This is Bill's blueberry cobbler from epicurious. It was very good. I think I like a cobbler with more crumble/crunch, but this was a cinch to put together and very good.

Melt butter

Mix up cobbler batter

With no stirring, add batter to butter, and berries to batter.

Bake. Eat. Enjoy. Perhaps add ice cream. Yum.

Carrot cake!

2009-05-30T08:11:00.003-04:00

Again, from Dorie Greenspan. This was awesome. Carrots, coconut, raisins. Moist cake. Delicious. Wouldn't change a thing.

They even turned my carrot-cake disliking husband into a carrot cake liker. Awesome.

Here are all the little cakes I baked up:

Frosted cupcakes, and cake slices:

Thanks, SB, for being the hand model!

My first quilt!

2009-05-25T07:36:00.001-04:00

Ok, now this is seriously exciting.

I'm a knitter. I've been a knitter for a very long time. Since first grade.

I've recently tried my hand at sewing, with little projects here and there.

When I lived in New York, I made a friend who is a seriously talented quilter, and I was interested...

I got myself all set up. Got the tools, the inspiration, almost everything I needed. Then I was on a girls weekend in northern Minnesota on Lake Superior, and in the most unexpected place was the most beautiful little quilting shop. I was there with three of my oldest dearest friends, one of whom was just a few months from having her first baby (and the first among us), and I saw the charm pack and pounced. I told the store owner that this was a very ambitous project for me. She said to keep my seem allowances consistent and I'd be fine.

That was last August.

So all this time I've been waiting, eyeing, thinking, pondering the idea of making this quilt for my friend and her baby. And yesterday I totally went for it. I'm so pleased! I don't know what got into me, and quite frankly all this was above my skill level, but somehow I just plunged in and more excitingly, somehow it all worked out!

I did some math to figure out what dimensions everything should be (8 square by 5? 7 squares by 6?).

J and arranged the squares, so there weren't two patters next to eachother and the colors were sprinkled nicely:

I decided to do this in a top half and bottom half, so I peiced together the strips for both halfs, keeping everything labeled carefully.

And then I pieced them together with white, then the top to the bottom, and look!!!! It worked!!!

I'm a beginner sewer, so this felt like a very big accomplishment!

I added a 6 inch border, and then I got fancy and even mitered the corners!

I didn't pre-wash the fabric -- I've read about plenty of quilts that are washed after the fact, and then they get that puckered old look. I figured that might help absolve any errata in the quilt (though I have to say the whole thing is straighter than I thought I could do!)

And the top is done!

Next steps:

1. Plan the back (just white? Something fancy?)

2. Plan the quilting. I have no plan.

Here's the thing: I'm not very sure my machine (which I do love so much) can handle it. I'd have to buy a quilting foot, which isn't such a big deal, but I'm just unconvinced that it's small size can handle such a big job. I spend enough time cursing at the tangles as is, so I'm not sure it's a great idea. Other options: 1. go see my quilting friend, so first I can borrow her machine, and two she can show me what on earth to do. This has a lot of benefits, as she is super talented and it would be fun. It is also a four hour drive away... Or I could just knot-quilt it, like I did with that baby blanket I knitted a little while ago. I'm leaning towards that at the minute. Plus I know how to do it. Plus there are nice squares in the quilt already.

3. figure out the binding. let's just leave that for another day, shall we?

It's memorial day, so I have some time for more crafting. Maybe I'll venture to the fabric store and plan the back of this project. And maybe I'll get some yarn and knot quilt it. I'm anxious to keep working on it!

So fun!

Big crumb rhubarb coffee cake

2009-05-24T09:37:00.002-04:00

I've made this before (it's a NYT recipe from summer 2007) but it was before my blogging days, and a brunch invitation was the perfect opportunity to bring it back. Rhubarb is tart! This was very good (though it takes four bowls to prepare -- that's a lot!).

A few things I'd change for next time (and yes, there will be a next time!).

No skimping on rhubarb. I did one layer of rhubarb because that's what Smitten Kithchen did, and I wished I had more. Next time, the full four stalks.

The recipe says to reserve a half cup of batter and put that on top of the rhubarb. Why? It doesn't cover all the rhubarb, and the rhubarb sinks in baking anyway. Next time, I'm just doing cake, then rhubarb, then crumbs. And we'll see what happens...

Swedish visiting cake

2009-05-24T09:36:00.007-04:00

From your favorite and mine, Dorie Greenspan again, here is her Swedish Visiting Cake.

It was so great! A snap to put together, this little cake doesn't even have leavening!

Here it is just out of the oven. I popped it on a plate, and we gobbeled it up just as fast as we could. We had it in the evening, but this would be lovely for brunch as well. There will be more of this, I assure you...

Cinnamon rolls in the morning

2009-05-24T09:36:00.005-04:00

When I made brioche last week, I had half a recipe left over and made cinnamon rolls and popped them into the freezer. Today I took a roll out and sliced off two buns. Here they are fresh from the freezer:

After being put in the caramel and rising an hour and a half:

After baking. mmmmm...

And on the place.

I'm still working on this. I think we like the white frosing kind of cinnamon roll more, and this becam caramel roll less... it was still delicious, and it's nice to have a fresh pastry in the morning!

Stay tuned for more variations on this theme...

Common threads!

2009-05-15T09:50:00.002-04:00

I opened the fabrics and was so happy -- the reddish orange is my favorite color, and in fact was the theme for my wedding!

I also finally looked at a tutorial on how to make log cabin blocks (are you chuckling at me?) and dare i say these are the finest looking log cabins i've ever made!

and poor lucy fell asleep reading the craft books... (i didn't set this up, i swear.)

enjoy!

Quilting club

2009-05-11T11:46:00.002-04:00

Quilting club

2009-05-11T11:45:00.004-04:00

Have I not posted these yet? sheesh!

loved the colors for this "sad quilt"...

8 pictures for you

2009-05-11T11:44:00.005-04:00

Brioche! I had fun making it -- but it's sort of a lot of work compared to Challah, and not particularly different... maybe it's time for another Challah?

In other news, I used have of this recipe to make and freeze cinnamon rolls, so there should be something good happening in our kitchen this weekend... with no work at all! Now that's nice!

But they did turn out quite lovely, didn't they?

Blueberry Plain cake

2009-05-11T11:44:00.004-04:00

More Dorie Greenspan, and this was great too. I wish I had a picture of the inside. I guess we ate it too quickly!

It was for brunch when mom was here. It's a nice thing to serve to your mom...

Lemon Poppyseed muffins

2009-05-11T11:43:00.002-04:00

From my favorite, Dorie Greenspan, these were perfect! Wouldn't change a thing!

Passover macaroons

2009-04-11T15:39:00.002-04:00

macaroons are good. especially with chocolate. and i ate a lot of them. mmmmm.

Finally, the baby blanket is finished!

2009-03-30T09:12:00.003-04:00

I'm happy to report that I finally finished the baby blanket for EJS.
I'm very happy with it, even the back part which I struggled with for
the longest time. Voila!

A valentine's quilt block

2009-02-23T07:43:00.003-05:00

For common threads -- a valentine's theme. Took me a while to figure out how to do the hearts, but I like them!

No knead pizza -- a success!

2009-02-23T07:42:00.002-05:00

No knead pizza dough is easy (and happens to the same recipe as regular no knead sourdough).

Here is Jake, making the crust:

Mushrooms and mozzarella. Delicious!

Birthday chocolate chip cookies for a teenager

2009-02-16T18:52:00.002-05:00

More NYT chocolate chip cookies for my brother. My light brown sugar was hard, so I mostly used dark brown, which changed the flavor and color, but they still look and taste good.

I didn't let these sit for the optimum two days, though I did pop half the dough balls in the freezer, where perhaps the same effect will happen. Jake already made a batch after work this week from the freezer... and they were good...

Back to bread

2009-02-16T18:51:00.002-05:00

Mark Bittman and no-knead bread, but this time baked in a cloche instead of our le creuset.

I love a rising boule of dough...

Over baked perhaps, as the inside wasn't quite as moist and spongy as I'd like (though I did forget about it in the oven). The cloche was easy to use (used it right on top of our pizza stone), and I think the crust worked great!

More Fleur de Sel caramels... can't get enough

2009-02-16T16:57:00.005-05:00

That's right. Can't get enough...

Yum!

Shirley's Chocolate Crinkles

2009-02-16T16:57:00.004-05:00

Shirley Corriher's chocolate crinkles. Loved these. This was her favorite cookie for the holiday season, and I was happy to finally try it. They don't contain any butter -- only oil. I was skeptical, but they are good.

Oil and sugar:

Melt chocolate.

Add chocolate to oil and sugar (and vanilla)

Dunk in granulated sugar, then powdered sugar.

Put in valentine's bags.

These are super, though they don't keep particularly well. I'm glad I froze some of the balls of dough, for a good afternoon coming soon...

Five-spice Asian Chocolate Cake

2009-02-16T16:54:00.002-05:00

Ugh. Another cake gone a little wrong. This is a flourless chocolate cake, with some savory spices thrown in.

Melt chocolate, add butter and eggs.

here's the cake pre-baking. looks good.

here the cake post-bake. totally fell apart. grr.

Hold the phone -- marshmallows???

2009-02-08T21:37:00.002-05:00

A friend and I got together this weekend with big plans -- marshmallows! From Dorie Greenspan's book, it goes like this: make a sugar syrup:

Let gelatin and water stand, then heat it so it is liquid:

Beat egg whites to shiny peaks, and add the sugar syrup with the mixer running:

Add the gelatin next:

Beat for a few more minutes, add a flavoring (here, raspberry first and peppermint in a second batch) and pour out into a cookie sheet prepared with parchment and potato starch:

We put red food coloring on the top and made swirls with toothpicks. Let them dry several hours, cut them up, dust them with more potato starch, and voila!

Now, truth be told, i thought that when i cut them up they looked a little, er, choppy. I was hoping for something smoother. Perhaps I overbeat the eggs? Still happy with them though. (Not entirely sure what to do with them all... s'mores?)

Fleur de Sel Caramels

2009-02-08T21:36:00.002-05:00

Now this is tried and true goodness. We've made it for a few years now. It's the recipe from Epicurious.com. I didn't get enough over Christmas (note to self, make double batch).

Make a simple syrup:

Add cream (we used soy cream this time), and let it get up to 248, watching closely:

Pour out into a pan prepared with parchment (don't shortcut with wax paper like i tried -- will only lead to sticky paper). A few minutes after it's done, sprinkle with fancy salt (I just use kosher salt, but surely fleur de sel would be fantastic).

wrap them up in little wax paper squares, you won't be disappointed...

Cookies for a bridal shower

2009-02-05T09:00:00.002-05:00

This is a project I'm mighty fond of. My sister-in-law is getting married (hooray!) and her bridal shower was this weekend. I made cookies to put in bags as shower favors. I made:

L cookies
B cookies
heart cookies
big wedding cake cookies
the state of Massachusetts cookies
XO cookies

They were assorted flavors, including chocolate, plain sugar, lemon, spice (aka gingerbread) and my new favorite, cinnamon).

I made the dough on Tuesday, baked them all on Wednesday (a total of maybe 3o0 cookies or so -- phew!), and frosted the Bs and Ls on Thursday, and packed them all up to delicately carry to Boston. Happily, the cookies made it unharmed.

She made darling little tags, we popped them in cellophane bags, and they made very nice little packets. Super fun!

A January birthday cake.

2009-02-05T08:59:00.002-05:00

Well, they can't ALL work...

I made a birthday cake for my dear brother and also my dear sister-in-law, who both have January birthdays.

And a friend offered me Shirley Corriher's new book, Bake Wise for my birthday. In it, she has an update to her basic yellow cake, which I have made several and which I love. The update basically adds whipped cream to the cake -- which she raves about.

Well, I didn't have cake flour, so I did a substitution. But also, I forgot to add the sugar until the very last minute (yes, even after i folded in the whipped cream).

The frosting was from Dorrie Greenspan (a malt frosting), which was great, though also very rich and sweet. Suffice it to say, the result was heavy and far too sweet.

I'll stick to my regular yellow cake with whipped cream as frosting, and perhaps I'll look for a more mild cake to go with the (very delicious frosting).

Fresh fettuccini

2009-01-15T08:26:00.003-05:00

I'm on a fresh pasta making kick. 3 cups of flour, make a well. Into the well, add 4 eggs, lightly beaten, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 2 tbsps water. Mix with a fork. Kneed with hands. throw into mixer. kneed a little more. Set aside (under plastic or a bowl) for an hour or so.

Roll out.

Slice.

Cook for 3 mins in lots of boiling salted water.

Add a vodka sauce, and mmmm!

Dinner is served! You'll see this again. Probably really soon. I can hardly wait...

French yogurt cake

2009-01-04T11:11:00.002-05:00

I made Dorrie Greenspan's french yogurt cake, which I've been wanting to do for a while.

Lemon zest + sugar:

Add eggs:

Add flour and oil:

bake 50 minutes until golden:

Use the lemon juice from the lemon you zested earlier, with confectioner's sugar and glaze it.

I don't love it, but I'm going to try again. Let me explain.

I completely understand using oil in cakes (I use oil in Shirley's cake), but I'm always afraid of the taste. Maybe the Whole Foods brand I buy is the problem. I can always taste the oil, and it tastes a little off (though I've tried buying a brand new bottle -- no change). Maybe I'm just strangely sensitive to the taste of oil? I'm determined to try another brand and see if the results are different. Also, I overbaked it by a few minutes (a surprise, as I usually have to bake Dorrie's things a few minutes extra).

Here's why i'll try again. So many people have raved about this recipe and how delicious it is, I want to enjoy too! Plus it's french (as I am), plus I remember my cousin making it when I was little. Oh, and next time I'll make the glaze a little thicker.

Voila!

Another (!) boozy pound cake, but this time with icing

2009-01-01T14:49:00.002-05:00

I know what you're thinking... I might as well name this the boozy
pound cake blog. For New Years, I made yet another boozy pound cake, but this time with
several substitutions. Most notebly, extra rum for missing brandy and
whisky. It was significantly less boozy. I guess that makes sense, as
brandy is stronger than rum.

Also, instead of sour cream, I used creme fraiche and yogurt, which
worked just fine.

And, I added lemon juice + confectioners sugar for icing, which was an
excellent addition, I think.

Happy New Year!

The Great Cookie Olympics of 2008

2008-12-21T00:35:00.010-05:00

Who knew the Great Cookie Olympics of 2008 would be so amazing? It certainly didn't start out as grand as it became; I just thought it would be fun to do a little cookie decorating. I wasn't totally sure people would come. And they came. And they decorated. And it was beautiful. And then I said the word prize, without thinking through the ramifications. And that's how the Great Cookie Olympics was born.

First things first, I must mention a non-Cookie Olympics bit of news. I made Fleur de Sel Caramels again this year -- they are delicious. And I have a new digital candy thermometer, which made the whole thing easy as could be. I change the recipe by sprinkling the poured caramel with sea salt. I was happy to have help to cut them into pieces, as the hardened caramels are really pretty hard to chop. Maybe I'll try to cut them before they're completely hardened next time (which may not be too far away...)

Here is a picture of some elves wrapping them up:

OK. Now, it's time to discuss the Great Cookie Olympics. I made four kinds of cookies: chocolate mint (the wafers from these cookies I made last week), gingerbread, sugar and lemon sugar (the last two from Dorrie Greenspan). I was pleased with each recipe, and wouldn't make changes.

It started simply, with one veteran decorator going at it full force.

and then there were three:

one person has decided to eat dough scraps instead of decorate. I believe he ate the entire hunk of dough.

decorating mania... this is a picture of the liberty bell, which you'll see again later.

decorating mania...

pour lucy loses all her desire to party at around 11pm. it's her bedtime...

and the liberty bell is done!

this is a cookie painted with toothpicks, modeled after nacho libre.

This is an example of the gnome series one decorator was pursuing. it consists of a hat, with a pointy tip.

Yes, those are the cookies we made. The Great Cookie Olympics was on!

On the right, note the headless and bleeding man.

From this stunning collection, together we chose the finalists (about four cookies per tray).

Here are the chosen finalists for the Great Cookie Olympics of 2008!

The aftermath...

One decorating and his cookie oeuvre.

A close up.

Now: for the finale! From the finalist cookies, every decorator chose a first, second, and third place finisher by secret ballot, which were tallied up in secret.

The red carpet is being prepared while the judge tabulates the results:

One by one, cookies were taken out of the running. Armless man and "angst" were the first two to go.

Soon the broken liberty bell joined their crowd:

Followed by the puffy candy cane, the all American heart, and one from the gnome series.

The last five cookies wait anxiously to see who will be awarded the gold medal.

It will not be the classic gingerbread man, or the snowflake of over consumption.

In third place, is the light bulb! (Note the glimmer on the side, as well as the curled threads at the base.)

In second place, for the silver medal, is the reindeer with paws!

And in first place, with the gold medal, is the nacho libre cookie, done entirely in toothpick.

This decorator was very pleased with his cookie, snowflake over consumption, which earned fourth place at the Cookie Olympics.

A very successful event, sure to be repeated next year.

Thanks for joining us for the Great Cookie Olympics of 2008! Come again next year!

Cranberry vanilla coffee cake

2008-12-21T00:30:00.002-05:00

I loved this cake. I got it from Smitten Kitchen, and it is a keeper!

A thick batter (hard to work with, oh well), infused with vanilla. And then my favorite part, which is layer of cranberries tucked in there. Mmmm!

As with my raspberry shortcake cakes, this one is best with a thicker layer at the bottom so the cranberries stay high and dry. I'll definitely make this again.

It baked beautifully, and cut beautifully (I don't have any slice pictures, which is a shame...).

Next time I would

Dorrie's holiday cake - yet another bundt

2008-12-21T00:29:00.002-05:00

I made Dorrie's holiday bundt to bring to my little brother's holiday party last week.

I liked it; it was essentially a pumpkin bundt, with grated apple (yum), and cranberries and walnuts. I'd probably choose something a little different next time -- this had an awful lot going on. I love pumpkin bread, and I'd find something that focused more on that flavor.

This picture is of the unglazed cake; it was good looking with the maple glaze.

Sunday morning muffins

2008-12-14T18:33:00.002-05:00

This morning, I made Dorrie Greenspan's orange blueberry muffins. And they are delicious! I baked about half the batter into a ring mold I have, and the other half as muffins. Next time, I might just make the entire thing in a bundt and see what happens. (I love my bundt!)

This recipe has you rub the orange zest into the sugar, which has leaves me with memories of testing wedding cakes, but I forgot that it's actually a pretty pleasurable experience.

Here is my ring mold (about 6 muffins worth of batter):

And here it is towards the end of the morning:

The muffins were good too...

Another winner from Dorrie!

Baking with Lucy

2008-12-13T16:59:00.002-05:00

Lucy was baking with me today, and we made a dog cookie. The doggie cookie cutter was from a friend (shout out to friend!) for my birthday, and Lucy just really loves it.

Now, before I get hate mail for feeding Lucy real cookies, that was just a poser shot, and I replaced it with a dog treat. And so:

Lucy is not known for her catching abilities. Here she is, about to miss the cookie:

There it goes!

She pounced on it. And ate it. In half a second flat.

And on the second toss, she got it!

Happy Lucy!

Christmas Cookies Part 2

2008-12-13T16:58:00.001-05:00

For the first time, I saw the Cookie of the Month in the back of Martha Stewart Living (December 2008), and wanted to make them. Here's the Martha picture:

Shockingly, I did not manage to match her food stylists' beautiful cookies, but Jake has munched on several of them, and tells me they're good.

I gave up dunking the entire things in white chocolate (which, by the way, is more creamy colored than white, don't you think? How did the MS people get it so white?)

They're good, and they're festive, and I feel that I've successfully made Christmas cookies. I especially like the candycane sprinkles, and I think the cookie part is pretty excellent -- it's similar to the oreo's I made this summer. (Though, looking back at the oreos, I think these little wafers are more beautiful and they were certainly easier to work with.)

A(nother) chocolate Bundt.

2008-12-11T08:37:00.004-05:00

Well, this isn't the first time I've made CakeLove's chocolate bundt, but I'm getting pretty good at it, and it's pretty darned delicious, and it has a good presentation.

Here it is, with a cherry glaze, served at our Thanksgiving table. MMMmmmmmm!

A weekend in the woods

2008-12-11T08:29:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, we got together with some friends for a weekend in the woods. It included (to my surprise!) a seven mile hike through the snow. Lucy and her natural pluck got her through. I shoved my hands in my pockets. It was grand though - really. And we played a murder mystery with our friends. And that was lots of fun. Turns out Jake was the murderer. Scary!

So, after our hike, we enjoyed Shirley Corriher's applesauce cake. It was pretty good. Not as good as the apple cake (made with apple butter, not apple sauce) that I made from Dorrie Greenspan's book a week or two ago (which I apparently didn't take any photos of, but it was really excellent).

Also during the weekend in the woods, I pulled out a frozen pie crust (Mark Bittman's recipe), and made a pumpkin pie. It's been a long time since I've made a pie. I've really taken to liking apple crisp more than apple pie, but I can certainly appreciate a beautiful and well constructed pie.

And? Failure! Look!

I wish I had taken a picture before I put it in the oven, as I had beautifully crimped the crust, and was quite pleased with myself. And then this is what came out. Ugh!

It's ok; failures are good times for learning. I think I had two main issues. First, I insufficiently froze the crust before blind baking it. Second, I didn't use pie weights. I just saw a Julia Child show where she used pie weights, and she filled the whole pie! I never really understood that -- I'd only ever put in enough to nicely cover the bottom of the shell. Well lesson learned!

Here's the filled pie pre-baking -- i salvaged the crust a little.

And the good news? My pumpkin pie recipe rocks. Really. If you want good stuff, try this epicurious recipe. Mmmmmm!

Christmas Cookies, Part I

2008-12-11T08:26:00.002-05:00

Tis the season! I finally got in gear, and on a lovely afternoon with my little brother, we made cookies!

We first went for some very fancy, and very delicious oversized ginger spice cookies. They were divine. Big. Chewy on the inside. Crispy around the edges. Mmmmmm.

The recipe is from the ever-inspiring Dorrie Greenspan in her book Baking: From My Home to Yours. And it always makes me think all nice things about my former colleagues who so sweetly offered it to me when I left the big city. I miss them and their cheery ways. So, here's a shout out to MEO and all the KL folks!

I'll make these again

I really wish I took more beautiful pictures. Maybe I should learn how to use my camera properly. I'll put that on the to-do list for the new year.

Baby bumpers - watch out!

2008-11-17T08:43:00.006-05:00

Ok, so this is one of my best projects in a while. It's a sewing project, that I did together with a dear friend who is expecting a little one.

She has a beautiful crib that her mother made for her when she was a little tyke, and now she'll use it for her own baby. Only thing is that the crib isn't a standard issue size, so it needs specially-designed baby bumpers. And that's where a love of projects comes in... and guess what! I love projects!

We took a prefab baby mattress and just chopped off the extra length, like so:

There it is, in the crib. So far so good!

Yours truly measuring out the fabric:

The fabric is so perfect! Fun, but not baby-crazy for in the living room...

We sewed the mattress cover with a pocket, to slip the fabric out if need be. Next: bumpers!

We cut the bumper foam down to size. 2 trapezoids for the short sides, and two long rectangles for the long sides.

We sewed the bumpers up, with red ribbon ties, and then hand-sewed the last few inches closed (no pockets on the bumpers).

And voila! Doesn't it look great? I'm thrilled with the finished product! Hooray!

Two more quilt blocks (hooray!)

2008-10-19T18:20:00.004-04:00

I've been (incredibly) remiss in my Common Threads blocks. New city, new job, sometimes it all just catches up to you, you know? Not to worry though, I'm back, and making strides!

This block is for Liz. I loved the monochrom fabrics, and I love the modern pallet of the colors. As a (brand) new quilter, I decided to make this block an exercise in precision (something I working on) and went for a 4 x 4 square.

And? I'm pretty happy with it! I had fun coming up with the final arrangement, and I hope Liz likes it!

Ok, part II. This is for Carissa. She's making a car quilt (for her car), and sent out some really gorgeous fabric. Simple, interesting, very cool. I'm not the only one who thought to use the lined chalkboard fabric as roads, but I do love the idea.

Mine is meant to be an aerial view of a highway; the colored dots represent houses (it's crowded!). It's a simple square, but truth be told I quite like it. I hope Carrisa does too!

It's an apple crisp!

2008-10-19T18:19:00.002-04:00

I love Mark Bittman.

Lesson #1: I used to use his pie crust recipe. Easy. Simple. Worked. Tasted good. And then I veered towards other recipes, in the hopes of making something more sophisticated. Huge mistake. 2007 was not a good year for pies, and I've been scared off of them in 2008. October 2008, went back to Bittman. Phew (close call for my pies).

I used his apple crisp recipe. Easy. Simple. Worked. Tasted good. And then I veered towards other recipes, in the hopes of making something more sophisticated. Huge mistake. Weird topping, too buttery, didn't cook, overcooked. Myriad of problems. Great news: I've made three Bittman apple crisps in the last two weeks. And they're splendid.

Here is one before I popped it in the oven. Yum.

My appologies: no after-pictures. We gobbled it up too quickly!

Another (yummy!) raspberry cake...

2008-10-19T18:17:00.002-04:00

Well, there's hardly anything I love more than a raspberry shortcake, as you know. Here is another incarnation of it, with whipped cream only on top and in the middle -- making for a more casual look than frosting it (with whipped cream) all over.

I can admit that is not exactly the most beautiful cake in the world like this, but heavens, it tastes good! I wonder if there's anything I can do to keep the sides from coming disheveled. Maybe not. Truth be told, I don't really care. This is my favorite cake. MMMmmmmmmmm!

Cookie monday -- NYT chocolate chip!

2008-10-06T23:06:00.003-04:00

Hi there,

It was cookie monday again this week -- and I went for tried and true, NYT chocolate chip. I've made them before, and mmmmmmm they're as good as ever. A loyal taste tester (and consumer, dare I say) said they were soft enough. And we have a difference of opinion. I like a crunchy cookie. I thought the malted cookies from last Monday were far to soft. LTT likes them soft. And there you have it. I've met a soft cookie lover.

No complaints about these cookies -- and now I have a scale to do it all just right, which makes me love my scale.

I made one cookie, and then a tower of cookies!

Big crafting weekend coming up... fabric, sewing, watch out!

Cookie monday

2008-09-30T07:50:00.004-04:00

I have a beautiful new baking book, which I had been coveting for a long time (and, [sheepishly] borrowing and renewing from the library again and again and again). It is the famous Dorie Greenspan's Baking, From My Home to Yours, and it is even more special as it is courtesy of my New York friends, and I made some very good, and rather unique, i think, cookies! They are the Chocolate Malted Whopper cookies, and the stash I brought to work is gone!

The secret ingredients are whoppers and ovaltine (which you cannot find a Whole Foods, but you can find at Safeway). Per the recipe, I used my sifter again. Don't know how I lived without it for so long!

In they go wet, and out they come baked!

They weren't as beautiful as the picture (which had shards of chocolate sticking up); maybe I over smashed the whoppers (which I did with my grandmothers meat mallet, happily).

They're very tasty, and a fun thing to bake! I'm already looking forward to the next Cookie Monday.

An un-fun project

2008-09-06T16:49:00.001-04:00

We are unpacking. It is not fun. If you turn your head to the right, you can see that Lucy the Dog is not happy. Iloveprojects hopes to be back onto happier projects shortly. Thank you.

Good Bye New York!

2008-08-22T16:35:00.002-04:00

Leaving New York...

... for D.C.!

I think I will do a lot of projects in D.C.

Birdie Block for Melissa

2008-08-14T07:10:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty happy with this! It's my second quilt block. Took forever, but I like the bird fabric a lot! Thanks as always for your guidance, LundenDesigns!

Another project... sigh...

2008-08-06T08:28:00.004-04:00

So, J and and I are moving back to our nation's capital. And we're packing the kitchen. It's hard work. There's J, packing up what is currently kitchen chaos.

And here's the dog: she wants no part of all this change. She's sleeping with her head on the wall. So strange...

A summer cobbler

2008-08-06T08:28:00.003-04:00

Cobblers are one of my favorite summer desserts... fresh ripe summer fruit, with some beuatiful topping -- yum! Here is a nectarine and blueberry cobbler from the weekend... it was good, especially warm with vanilla ice cream.

Time to confess: i was a little critical of the top, but cobblers are not pies, they are cobblers, and not meant to be fussy. How to Cook Everything's recipe left the top a bit flat for me, so next time I'll use a more biscuit-like recipe. Still, no complaints here!