How's it reading?

It has been a good winter. There have been lots of books. Some have been thrifted, others gifted, and some borrowed. Have I mentioned I like to read? Okay. Love to read?

I love it so much, in fact, that I make things for my books. I had some leftover scraps of felt from Reece's pillow, and they were quite handy for the making of bookmarks. I simply cut out different shapes and embroidered them on. They were so simple that I felt silly just explaining that. A bookmark made of felt is nothing new. Just new to me.

Some of my favorites of the winter:

*My Life in France by: Julia Child (I love you Julia! You are so great)

*Goose Girl by: Shannon Hale (this was actually a re-read. I first read it when I worked at a health food store that hardly ever got business. I would sit in the bag dispenser at the cash register and read it. The herb man always called me 'goose girl' after that. His name was Craig.)

*Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by: Dai Sijie and Ina Rilke (I really do love a good book about books)

* The Help by: Kathryn Stockett (alright. So I am not actually finished with this one yet. My mom lent it to me two days ago and I am halfway there. But. I like it a lot. Thanks mom.)

*Tisha: the story of a young teacher in the Alaska Wilderness by: Robert Specht and Anne Purdy (it's true. And so crazy interesting. Thanks Colette.)

What have you been reading?

A Fair Trade

So, I painted a big tree on Evan's brother's wall. Have you ever painted on someone else's wall? Oh my.

So now I am a muralist. Officially. I declare it. The owners of this tree are going to hang picture frames of many shapes and sizes filled with family photos on the tree branches. A "Family Tree" of sorts. And if you wanted to make fun of my painting outfit, you could. But I must point out that I did accidentally match the wall. And my apron matches the tree. Sooooo.....who's laughing now?

And the best part of all? They paid me in chocolate.

Lots and lots of deep dark chocolate. I am a very high-brow starving artist. A very fair trade indeed.

A Wedding gift

My good friend Reece is gettin' hitched. Since she is so super cool, she required a gift much more original than a toaster or crock pot (we received 5 crock pots at our wedding!). I also remember being a newlywed and not having much in the way of cool pillows to throw on our hand-me-down sofa. So.... I made her a pillow! I followed a tutorial over at The Purl Bee, and it was really exciting to watch the pillow "bloom".

Once I was finished with it, I walked out into the living room with a big, prideful grin on my face, hugging the pillow to show to Evan. He took one look at it (and my rather obvious love for the pillow) and said: "Oh no, now you are going to make one for us, aren't you?" (I should probably point out here that I have a bit of a pillow problem). I didn't make him any promises. Smart.

Social Butterfly

We had two cupcake parties at our house this weekend. To be fair, the second party consisted of leftover cupcakes from the first party. But still. Two parties! Also, I talked to someone besides Evan on the ski shuttle last week. Can anyone say social butterfly?

To cater to our guests' specific dietary needs (chocolate and non-chocolate), there were two types of cupcakes presented. A Holly interpretation of a Hostess cupcake. Topped with Ganache. I love Ganache.

And a vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting. And sprinkles. I love those too.

I found the recipe for these darling little cakes here.

For the Holly-Hostess cupcakes, I turned to my favorite chocolate cake recipe.

Chocolate Cake

from Better Homes and Gardens

3/4 c. butter

3 eggs

2 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. unsweetened dark cocoa powder

1 t. baking soda

3/4 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 c. sugar

2 t. vanilla

1 1/2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper cups. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, beating on medium speed until well combined. Scrape sides of bowl; beat two minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Beat on medium speed for 20 seconds. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 30-ish minutes until a wooden toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean. Let cool before ganache application.

Chocolate Ganache

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 c. heavy cream

Put the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until hot and steaming. Do not allow it to boil. Remove the pan from the heat, and pour the cream over the chocolate. Let sit for 1 minutes, then stir until smooth. Spoon the warm ganache over cupcakes.

Share with someone you love.

And if anyone is still reading this post, here is a little reward. Our friends brought their tiny little puppy to the party. His name is Bosco. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me what he is named after.

Advent adventure

I'm making an advent calender. I expect to have it ready by next Christmas, so that is why I am starting in February. I really wanted to make this one, and put candy in the pockets, but Evan didn't think it looked very fun. Also, he doesn't love candy as much as I do.

He remembered one from his younger days where you got to put an ornament on a Christmas tree each day. He convinced me it was waaaayyy funner than eating candy. So now I am making an advent calender with little embroidered ornaments, and then eventually I will make or sew or buy a tree to hang them on. Does this sound vague? It is. I'm really not into planning things out before hand. Evan was a sport and helped me brainstorm 25 Christmas-y things to embroider.

Holly and Evan List:

1. Tree

2. Cup of Cocoa

3. Stocking

4. Santa Hat

5. Poinsettia flower

6. Candle

7. Gingerbread man

8. Candy Cane

9. Star

10. Ski

11. Snowflake

12. Sprig of holly

13. Wreath

14. Present

15. Sleigh

16. Bell

17. Snowman

18. Dove (peace)

19. Mitten

20. Reindeer

21. Angel

22. Mistletoe

23. Gingerbread house

24. Orange

25. Baby Jesus

Evan only List:

1. Beard

2. Wal-Mart

3. Mashed potatoes

4. Angry shopper

5. ipod

6. Straw (from the manger...)

7. G.I. Joe

And I can still eat candy. For all 25 days. It was part of the compromise :)

What we do now

Did I mention that we are being ski bums?

Probably I haven't. But we are.

Some might think it's a little crazy to be spending savings that could have been put towards our first house. But personally, I think it's a really good investment. Pretty soon we'll have a mini-van full of little ones, a membership to a price club and a mortgage. Things are only going to get crazier. We'll be able to look back and remember this time when we did absolutely nothing but fun things together. We are investing in our future sanity.

Sometimes we eat fries. Evan likes his with a side of BBQ sauce. It is quite seriously his second favorite food.

Also ladies, if you can possibly help it, try to marry a handsome man with a beard. Totally worth it. Click here for more skiing photos, ya know, if you're into that kind of thing.

An early Valentine

I'm not really obsessed with Valentine's Day. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love speciality chocolate and people showering me with love notes, but that's only human. I guess I don't like holidays that put a lot of pressure on your loved ones to make you feel extra loved, when it's pretty obvious they love you everyday anyway. So I was a little hesitant to make my first Valentine's Day decoration. But I like to make things. And winter is hard. There is a lot of time spent indoors, twiddling thumbs, waiting for snow. And when it doesn't snow...I have no choice but to get crafty. So here we have a Valentine Garland. Don't judge me.

It all started with red felt. I couldn't help it. I cut out some different shapes of hearts and then traced them onto the red felt. And snip-snip they were cut out.

A cozy blanket stitch bound two hearts together (am I a poet?).

And here we have a heart.

I strung the hearts onto a piece of embroidery floss and hung them on the mantle. For everyone to see.

I like it. I'm looking forward to how it will bring some cheer into cold, dark February. Happy early Valentine's Day. And if you make one too, I won't judge.

Look who's having a baby!

What? Oh! Not me, the Elephant Ear plant.

And isn't she a pretty baby? We were worried the baby-having days were over for Mrs. Elephant Ear, so this is just great.

Way up!

We went ballooning. It was pretty amazing.




Since we don't live in an awesome small town that sponsors awesome activities such as balloon festivals, I'm really glad we know awesome people that do. Thanks you guys!

Ganache love

I love ganache. I love saying it. I love eating it. And coconut covered in ganache? It's pretty amazing.

We were headed down south to visit family for a few days, and I wanted to make something to bring along. I discovered the secret to being a good guest a while ago. It's so simple: Bring something sweet. People love baked goods, and once you walk in the door with a Pyrex dish full of goodies, it doesn't matter what else you do the rest of your stay. You can be a piggy at dinner and no one says anything. You can hog the baby and no one cares. You brought a treat. You are golden.

I found the recipe for these coconut macaroons with chocolate ganache in this book. It is such a lovely book. It had me laughing, crying, and really hungry the whole time. I love books about food.

Coconut Macaroons with Chocolate Ganache

From A Homemade Life

Macaroons:

3 c. lightly packed sweeted shredded coconut

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. egg whites (from about 5 large eggs)

1 1/2 t. vanilla extract

Ganache:

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 c. heavy cream

Place the coconut, sugar, and egg whites in a heavy saucepan and stir well. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, 10 to 15 minutes. The mixture will look very creamy as it heats, and then it will slowly get a bit drier, with individual flakes of coconut becoming discernable. Stop cooking when it no longer looks creamy but is still quite sticky and moist, not dry. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Scrape the mixture into a pie plate or small baking sheet, spread it out a bit to allow it to cool quickly, and refrigerate until cold, about thirty minutes. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using your hands or a small ice cream scoop, scoop and firmly pack the coconut mixture into small domes. Space them evenly on the baking sheet.

Bake the macaroons until evenly golden, about 30 minutes. Cool completely on the pan on the wire rack.

Put the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until it is hot and steaming. Do not allow it to boil. Remove the pan from the heat, and pour the cream over the chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth. Spoon the warm ganache generously over the macaroons.

Refrigerate the macaroons on the rack until the ganache sets, at least 2 hours.

Makes 14-18 macaroons

His present

For Christmas, Evan got his own personal desert garden. From the top: Prickly Pear, Claret Cup, and Fish Hook Cactus Flowers. I was able to keep it a secret for six months and worked on it little by little in my beloved (and much missed) farmhouse studio.

Choco-LOT!

These cookies are so good they will keep you awake at night. (I'm actually speaking from experience. That is a lot of chocolate to eat after 8 pm, even for me) I have been saving this recipe snatched from a magazine (Sunset?) for quite a while. Waiting for what...I don't know. But they were made last night--and they are amazing. They taste like perfectly-done brownie sandwich awesomeness.

Triple-Threat Chocolate Cookies

from The Sugar Cube

Cookies:

10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/4 c. unsalted butter

3 large eggs

1 c. plus 2 T. sugar

2 t. vanilla extract

6 T. flour

3/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1 1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

Ganache:

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

3/4 c. heavy whipping cream

To make cookies put chopped chocolates and butter in a medium metal bowl and set bowl over a pan of simmering water. Cook, stirring until melted, them remove from heat and let cool slightly. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla into chocolate mixture. In another bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir into chocolate mixture until evenly mixed, then stir in chocolate chips. Wrap dough airtight and chill until firm enough to hold its shape, 50-60 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the ganache. Put chopped chocolate and cream in a medium metal bowl and set bowl over a pan of simmering water. Cook, stirring, until melted, then let cool. Cover and chill, stirring occassionally, until firm enough to spread, about 1 3/4 hours and up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop 2 T. portions of dough onto sheets, spaced one inch apart. Press dough to flatten into even 1/2 inch thick rounds. Bake about 10 minutes and let cookies cool.

Generously spread flat sides of cookies with ganache and top with remaining cookies.

Makes about 16 sandwiches.

enjoy!

Sack Lunch

Did you know that flour still came in a sack?

I didn't. But it does. And isn't this an awesome bag? During our time at the farmhouse, we went through two 20 lb. bags of flour. If I'm not mistaken, that's 40 lbs. of flour. In six months. For two people. Oh boy. Anyway, now I have a couple of flour sacks hanging around the house.

I decided to use one to make a new lunch sack. The one we had been using before was one of those crocheted-hemp-fruit bag things, and Evan hated it. It kind of got caught on everything, and things fell out because of the holes...it wasn't ideal. It finally started to break, so Evan gets his wish--a new lunch sack.

Also, my mom made this. She is a knitting wizard.

And here we have a new lunch sack.

I'm sure everyone in the lodge will be so jealous! They'll be sitting at tables eating greasy ski lodge food and we'll saunter past with a true sack lunch.