Stardust

This past week has been a bit tiring. Lois was out of school for half term and Andrew and Ellie have been ill most of the week. Lois has two speeds: high and off, so between her energy level and their colds, it was not the easiest of weeks! We did make our ice cream sandwiches on Monday, though, which was (mostly) fun. We made this recipe again. They are quite tasty and really cute too! 

Pistachio and Rosewater Meringues

Earlier this week I decided I wanted to make meringues. Inspired by a few ideas Beatrice has for our upcoming food styling and photography workshop, I thought I'd make some for practice and just for fun. I love meringues but I had never actually made them before. I decided to turn to a meringue pro for the recipe.

Making Time

It always seems hard to make time to do everything I want and need to do (I'm sure I'm not alone here in feeling this way). I'm a fairly productive person but I still often feel like a rat running on a wheel, leaving me frustrated at the end of the day for not having gotten more done. It puts me in a panic sometimes feeling time slip away! I'm glad that yesterday I decided to stop and smell the roses, or rather document the daffs and granola, as it were. It's been a while since I pulled out our macro lens. It's really fun to use. Ah, I love it! I should use it more often. I also used our 50mm 1.2 lens, which is wonderful as well. Much more lens for me really, but I'm very grateful to have it. Lately we've been eating lots of granola. Yum! I love homemade granola. I've been using the recipe in La Tartine Gourmande, which is delicious, but Beatrice also has a version here online. Though that one is a bit different and includes millet puffs, rice puffs and chocolate, everything else is about the same but also the one in the book includes pecans and walnuts. I like the idea of the puffs for cereal though, so I might have to try that one. I often eat quickly in the morning and usually just standing at the counter as I'm cleaning at the same time. Always busy, busy in the morning it seems. And messiness kind of makes me feel crazy so I'm pretty much constantly cleaning. But it's nice to look out the window and see the little daffodils blooming while I eat, even if I am standing and eating quickly. The last few times I made granola and stared out the window I thought, "I really should be taking a picture of this pretty sight!" But then it's rush, rush, rush and I don't get to it. So yesterday while Ellie napped I made afternoon granola and took time to take photos of it as well as flowers in the garden. Then I took some photos of Miss Ellie after she woke up. She's also long overdue for some proper photos. It reminded me of my blueberry breakfast with Lois when she was about the same age. How time flies! Here's a bit from our granola afternoon in bloom...

A Healthy Appetite

We've had some ups and downs the last two weeks with a round of colds and tummy bugs, which affected the little ones. But for the most part everyone's managed to keep a good appetite, especially for sweets. The kitchen has smelled pretty good lately. I love cooking smells. It's one of my best memories growing up, that is, lying in bed smelling my mom's cooking, which would lure me downstairs. It was usually onions or bacon I could detect first. But just about all food cooking smells would make me pop out of bed. Maybe that was my mom's tactic to get a teenager out of bed. Lois is up before us 99% of the time, but every now and then either I or Andrew will get up first and start making something. I made crepes the other morning before Lois woke up, and she walked downstairs and said, "ooh, what are you cooking? it smells lovely!" So cute.

Birthday Baking

Last week Lois had her 5th birthday. I can't believe she's already five! I think everyone who has children can't believe how fast their children grow up and remark on that as they get older, but time does fly. We had a really fun party over the weekend. As soon as I get the party photos on my computer, I'll do a party post. But before the party we had to bake a few things.

Sunday Stack

This weekend we made some yummy pancakes. Lemon poppyseed buttermilk pancakes to be specific! Sounds good, don't you think? And they are gluten free, and so light and fluffy and you don't get that puffy, "dang I ate too much!" feeling after having a stack of them. These are from La Tartine Gourmande, a great cookbook that is especially good for anyone who needs (or just wants) to eat gluten free. Gluten aggravates the hubbers so we try go do gluten free when possible. We've made these a number of times and love them each time. You can find lots of gluten free recipes on the La Tartine Gourmande blog. This recipe is not on her blog, but I found it here. But you should just get the cookbook! You won't be disappointed. Hmm, I couldn't decide which photo I liked more, the one above or below. What really matters, though, is the pancakes! So good. 

Tasty Bakes

That book cover is adorable, isn't it? It reminds me of Lois helping in the kitchen. I found the image on pinterest of course and put it on my "because it makes me happy" board. I think it's fun to cook when I have a recipe. I get really excited to try new recipes. Without a recipe though I'm totally clueless, and I find cooking frustrating. It's sort of like understanding the words of a language but not how to string them together to make sensible sentences. I can cook a few things without a recipe, but not much! I'm not creative at all when it comes to cooking. Andrew, on the other hand, is very creative in the kitchen and can whip up something delicious out of practically nothing. He's spontaneous and intuitive when it comes to cooking so he does especially well with savory dishes. I like structure and specific instructions, so I'm more suited towards baking, and I do love to bake!

The Perfect Scoop?

If I had an ice cream shop, I'd have to have a display like this one above! Only mine would read "ice cream" of course. Ice cream and fabric? Yes, please! A perfect scoop indeed. (It appears those are scarves to me, but I'd be happy just to ball up some fabric). And of course my ice cream dress would be the uniform. I wonder if I could have a few made in different colors? Because at the rate I'm churning it out, I'd need a number of different styles. And then we'd need ice cream cups... I think Lois would agree these would complement our cart.