A Pear-shaped Day

November 10, 2010

Yesterday I had a day. It wasn't a good day, but now I've decided it wasn't altogether a bad day. So it was just a day. I'm not sure if that's an adequate description, but it's hard to describe a feeling. Hmm, how 'bout this: it was a day that didn't make me smile too much, but didn't make me cry. It just made me think. A lot.

I found out a piece of news yesterday (my contract didn't get renewed, so as of Jan. 1 I'll be unemployed again in a country with 13.8% unemployment - eek!), and it's had my mind turning a million miles an hour ever since.

It is a blessing, because I feel I belong somewhere else, doing something I love. But what that is remains to be seen at the moment. So, I was looking around the interwebs for a little inspiration, or confirmation, and I found these two lovely poems that gave me just the pep talk I needed.



*If it's too teeny, click on it to enlarge.



Those two little bits perked me this morning and I'm feeling ready to take the world by storm, or sheer craftiness, as the case may be.

There's a funny saying here, something about things going pear-shaped, and it means when everything falls apart. So, when things start going pear-shaped, I like to do something I'm nearly certain is going to work out successfully. And I find baking is nearly always successful (let's be honest, it's not like I'm baking really complicated things!).

So I went looking in my bookmarked recipes for something fall-ish but not pumpkin. I've got to pace myself on the pumpkin or I'm not going to make it to Thanksgiving!



So we're moving on to cranberry! I found this cranberry bar recipe that looks so yummy. But it calls for fresh cranberries, so I'll need to do some searching around. If I can't find any, I'm making these instead!

I hope you all have an inspired day, filled with lovely things that make you come alive.

Images 1 and 3 are here and here. Image 2 I'm not sure - if you know where it came from let me know so I can give credit!

Wreaths and Comments

November 9, 2010

Good morning all,

I know it's a bit early for Christmas, but I'm thinking that since wreaths are one of the first things to go up in December, it's a good time to start thinking about them if you're going to make your own.

I'm partial to traditional wreaths made of the boughs from Christmas trees, but they're a little hard to come by in Ireland. So this year, I'm thinking of making a more funky, modern wreath.

So what do you think of this guy? I think in a brighter color or combination of colors it might be lovely. I'll just have to stock up on that soft, shiny ribbon when I'm in America (in 12 days!). It would cost you a fortune if you could even find it here.



Or what about this pretty lady?



The instructions for this one look fairly easy - all you need is a wire hanger, then you secure the tops of the ornaments with hot glue and string them on. And here you can see a whole bunch of other color combinations you could try.

This last one probably wouldn't work too well for an outdoor wreath, but it might be nice to put inside. Again, instructions sound really simple and you could substitute a different color if you weren't into the minimalist look.



And finally, a little note on the comments section of this blog. I haven't ironed out every kink in this little blog yet, so I know it might seem complicated to leave a comment. I'm working to figure out how to make it simple for you! But if you can make your way through the commenting sign-up questions, would you say hello?

It doesn't have to be long, but if you like what you see or have questions or ideas or a recipe you like, leave it here! I'd love to have all your input, ideas and thoughts. I really would enjoy hearing from you!

Hurricane Season

November 6, 2010

Remember last week when we had 6 days straight of rain? Well, this weekend, we saw blue sky for about 2 hours, and then got thumped with the tail end of a hurricane on Sunday night! So it was an indoor weekend, filled with lots of baking, friends and a quick basketball adventure to Belfast.

On Friday, I tried out this recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies. They were so good they were eaten so fast I forgot to take a photo. They were a little flatter than the gorgeous photo in the original recipe, but I think that's due to using real pumpkin, not canned, which was pretty wet. But they were moist and spicy, and overall so yummy. I did use half the amount of ground cloves, which I would recommend since a tablespoon is a LOT of ground cloves for any recipe.

I also made a quick loaf of banana bread with a couple of sad bananas on their way out.



And see that mug? Coffee? No, tea! I'm running out of coffee (I bring it back from America because I can't find flavored coffee here), and needed a cosy warm-me-up drink. So tea it was. Not so bad in the end, but I'm still counting the days until I can re-stock my supply of hazelnut and french vanilla coffee. (14 days!)

Here's the recipe for the banana bread. It's my favorite banana bread of the moment. No cinnamon, but the yogurt makes it really moist and you can actually taste the bananas.

Banana Bread (from this lovely site)
1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (131 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 overripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup (120 ml) plain low-fat yogurt or sour cream
1-1/2 cups (180 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter and sugar together using a mixer. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, bananas and yogurt. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Bake in a loaf tin at 350F/180C for 40-50 minutes until top is golden and toothpick inserted comes out clean.

And, just so you know I'm not making this studio business up, here's an "in progress" photo for you. It's nearly there, I swear! All we need is a space heater (on the way in the next few days!) and a table. If you have one you're looking to part with, let me know!



Did anyone do any baking this weekend? I'd love to hear all about it!
Hope you all have a lovely, dry Monday!

More Online Love and an Adventure

November 5, 2010

Hello everyone!

I've got a tiny bit of fun news! Yesterday, when I posted about the lovely Gifted online magazine on this blog, I sent a note to the editor that I had posted about it. And she included my blog on her press page! So exciting!

And yesterday I went on an adventure. To be fair, any time I have to go farther than the grocery store, it's a bit of an adventure. But really, this was an adventure to a place I'd never been before. I would have taken photos, but it was Day 4 of pouring rain, so you're out of luck.

I went to visit the lovely Mandi Cromer, of designbirdie fame. Mandi is a beautiful illustrator and creates the most clever cards, prints and other lovely bits for her Etsy shop and craft fairs in the Dublin area.



I drove out to her home in Kilcock yesterday (see, doesn't that name just scream adventure?), west of Dublin, past the cows into the country, and I made it without a single wrong turn! She was gracious enough to let me pick her brain about her experience with Etsy and making a business doing what you love. She has great insight and ideas about the Irish market, and I left feeling so inspired!

I just love the Christmas card above - it's called Festive Pile-Up! And this is the Mandi's description of the card -- "The elephant is determined, the cat is lazy, the bird is stuck and the crab is busy! Christmas is here!" Love it!

Doesn't the print below just crack you up and give you the shivers all at the same time?



Thanks, Mandi, for sharing your wisdom and for your lovely creations!

The End of an Era

November 3, 2010

Good morning!

Yesterday, since it rained and rained and kept on raining, I had lots of time to check out this lovely online magazine.



I usually have mixed feelings about online things - books, magazines, Kindle. I like having paper to hold, underline or tear out so I can look back at it later. But this online magazine might have me crossing over to the dark side. Or the pretty, cosy, holiday side, as the case may be.

This one is just so lovely and I loved being able to click on the links for products and see what else the designers might have come up with. I'm trying not to dive head first into Christmas, but it's getting tougher now that Halloween's over and there's no Thanksgiving over here!

Just roll your mouse over the image below and you'll be able to click to view it full screen. (Or click here)



So what do you think of online magazines and books? Anyone have a good site for saving online snippets? I've started using Tumblr, but I don't think I've quite got the hang of it yet.

In other news, I've got a confession to make. I made stew last night, but I kind of wung it (that's the past tense of winging it, which was and is my mom's specialty). I got home from work and looked at the recipe, but it just felt a little fussy. So here's what I did instead. It was great, not too thick and heavy, with loads of vegetables. And as I write this, I think I'm still full.

We'll call this new creation Bayside Beef Stew

Ingredients:
500 gram package of diced beef
2 chopped onions
4 chopped carrots (big ones)
3 chopped celery stalks
1 cup peas (I used petit pois, the teeny ones)
1 package button mushrooms
2 cups red wine (you could probably use a mixture of water and wine if 2 cups seems like a lot to you)
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 cup water
1 heaping tbsp flour

I used the biggest pot I have, turned up the heat to medium/high, and added in the package of beef and about 1/3 of the onions and carrots. I let this cook until the beef was brown all around. I didn't even use olive oil or anything - the beef's juices kept everything from burning to the bottom of the pot.

After the beef was all brown, I added the 2 cups of wine (just cabernet sauvignon I had open), the thyme, pepper and salt. I turned down the heat to a simmer and let it cook for about an hour. After about an hour, I added the rest of the carrots and onions, and the celery. I let that simmer for about another half hour.

Finally, I mixed the flour and the water together, then poured that in. And I added the mushrooms and the peas (still frozen!), and as soon as the mushrooms are cooked and the peas are no longer frozen, it's done!

When I write it all down like that it seems like it will take a while. But really, it's one of those recipes you can walk away, do some laundry, work out, or put away all the size 14 sneakers laying around, and then come back, add a few things and walk away again.

I nuked a few baby potatoes (they're my favorites because they don't come in a giant bag that grows eyes way before we're through with it), and served the stew over those with a little creme fraiche (sour cream will work). Very yum, I had thirds.

Hello Winter!

Today is the third day straight of rain, which means winter is officially on its way.



I love that the leaves are falling off the tops of the trees first.



The leaves in Dublin don't usually turn quite this bright in the fall. If these weren't soaking wet, I might think about raking them up and jumping in them! Or maybe a neighborhood kid to jump in them, since leaf piles aren't as soft for adults...

Since it's raw and cold and wet, I'm making stew tonight. It's not baking, but it's hopefully going to warm us up!

This recipe sounds perfect. The only slight problem is that I don't have a dutch oven...yet. I've got one on my Christmas list in this creamy color:

Since Santa is a few weeks away still, instead of baking the stew for an hour and a half, I'm going to leave it on the stove top on very low heat. Here's hoping it works!

Election Day and Little Baking!

November 1, 2010

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween and have come down off the sugar high! We had about 30 trick-or-treaters and got lots of compliments on our carved pumpkins. And then our street turned into a total fireworks party. Ireland celebrates Halloween with fireworks and bonfires - it made for a very smokey night around here!

Yesterday I began the process of moving all of my art and craft supplies out to the studio! Turns out I have a LOT of supplies. It's all painted, and we're just working on the electricity and looking for a space heater. By the end of the week I should be fully moved in! At which point I promise photos...

Between the moving and the sorting, I roasted those carved pumpkins so I can freeze them to use all winter long! So much pumpkin going on!

And I'm freezing them the smart way - in plastic bags squished flat so they can stack in our outside freezer. I haven't done this in the past, but it makes so much sense!



One of the bags of pumpkin isn't getting frozen, though. I baked it this morning!

I decided to try this recipe for pumpkin bars, but I added a teaspoon of cinnamon and a half teaspoon of nutmeg. I'm just not sure pumpkin has a strong enough flavor on its own. Would anyone recognize the pumpkin without those spices?? Now I'll never know...

Here's a photo pre-icing.



If I were going to make these again, I think I would puree the pumpkin beforehand so that it's a little closer to canned pumpkin consistency. They're not very sweet, so I think the icing will do the trick!

*Please excuse the dark and grainy photos...our kitchen has hardly any natural light and I haven't quite figured how to use my camera as well as I should!

On another topic altogether, it's Election Day in America today and I hope all of my American readers will get out there and vote!

My aunt asked me last week if I missed all the election buzz since leaving America (I used to do campaign work before I moved to Dublin). And the truth is, this year I'm just relieved. I'm relieved I don't have to worry about how absolutely crazy some of the candidates are, and how terrifyingly viable a lot of those crazies are. It's because now I really feel like an outsider. I'm not the one driving (or flying) around the country or state trying to get someone elected.

Instead, I'm reading the papers from thousands of miles away. And I'm hoping that Americans will be able to get past some of the fear that is making the Tea Party so popular.

Because I don't believe fear is going to get America, or any other country, out of the economic mess. And voting more crazy "grizzly mamas" into office isn't going to do it either. I hope the candidates who win today aren't the ones who are taking advantage of voters who are worried and tired and scared that the future is just as bleak as the present. I hope the ones who win are the positive, creative and strong candidates who will be able to get the country working again.

Of course, the relief that I'm not worrying about American elections is quickly replaced by uncertainty about wacky Irish politics. But that's another topic for another day.

Happy Election Day, everyone! Vote early and often!

Pumpkin Seeds, Sweet and Savory

October 31, 2010

We carved pumpkins tonight with Michael's brother, Isaac, and his lovely wife, Angie. Angie shared with me her family's way of roasting pumpkin seeds.


I'm really hoping this recipe will reach you just in time to try it out!

Hanson Family Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp melted butter

Since our pumpkin seeds were pretty wet already, I skipped the melted butter part. But I'm sure it would make these even yummier!

If you've got dry-ish pumpkin seeds, melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Dump in the pumpkin seeds and mix them around so they're coated with butter. In another bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon, then dump that onto the pumpkin seeds. Mix them all around so they are all coated in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Line a baking tray with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray. Spread them out on the baking tray in a single layer. Roast at 350F/180C until they're golden and crispy, about 20 minutes.

Once you take them out of the oven, let them cool for a minute. Then you should be able to peel the layer off and break it into chunks. Then just munch away!

They're a fantastic combination of crispy, nutty, and cinnamon-sugary.

Way to go, Hanson family!

And I roasted about half the seeds the way my family always did - spread them out on a tray and shake a bunch of coarse salt all over. Roast until they're golden and toasted. Equally yum!

And here's a picture of our carved pumpkins - fairly traditional in the end. But not a bad showing from Michael and Isaac, who say they've never carved pumpkins before!



Happy Halloween, friends!

Substitutions and Pumpkin Carving

October 28, 2010

When I moved to Ireland I didn't think too much about the move. In retrospect, it's weird that I didn't anticipate all of the things that would be so different.

In my baking, it was clear from week one that I would have to find alternatives to some of the staples.

One of the biggest problems I faced right away was that you can't get chocolate chips in Ireland. Well, that's not quite true. They sell chocolate chips in teeny tiny packets at a price that doesn't make it worth it to ever use them for baking.

So I picked up a package of Wonderbar at Tesco, in the dark chocolate flavor. I'm certain it's actual chocolate, somehow, but it does not have the same effect if you pop a square in your mouth. Which is probably making me a healthier person, somehow.

But for chocolate chip cookies or muffins, it works great. I chop it into chunks and use it as a substitute for anything that doesn't involve melting the chocolate chips.

The other missing ingredient on Irish shelves (well, at least for this post), is canned pumpkin. I never used canned pumpkin too much in America, but I've been on a pumpkin kick lately, so I've been improvising.


Instead of pumpkin, I use butternut squash, chopped in half, roasted, and spooned out of the shells. It works great, and I'm told it's even better than using roasted pumpkin because it tends to be watery.

When the flavoring is pumpkin-y, with cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger, it all seems to work out to a cosy fall flavor no matter what!

And speaking of pumpkins, we have two just waiting to be carved.

What do you think of these options? I really like the last one, but I don't have gray pumpkins or the patience!









Hope you all have a lovely weekend and a spooky Halloween!

1, 2, 3 and 4.

Baking Try-outs: Pumpkin Edition

October 27, 2010

Hello Everyone!

With the schools on midterm break this week, I haven't been baking for my little stand every morning, since my clients aren't walking by to drop their kids to school. So I've got to wait until next week to get back to baking. It's probably a good thing because there was a whole lot of carrot cake consumed by yours truly over the weekend. I'm often my own best customer!

With the week off, I've been checking out new recipes I want to try for next week. Here are just a few that I've got to try. But you'll have to stop by my stand to see which ones make the cut!



Buttermilk Pumpkin Bars (I'm a sucker for bars - they're great for wrapping up like little presents!)

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Just there to the right. Yum, huh?

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Which one would you choose? I'm leaning toward the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies - did you know they're a New England treat?



In other news, Coco has been practicing for Halloween. I think he's getting it!