La Jolla!

We enjoyed some beautiful weather this weekend!

The girls and I went tide pooling in La Jolla on Saturday!

It was warm! Near 80!

Ellie liked this little gorge!

Ellie playing in the gorge!

There were tons of hermit crabs and sea anemones.

More gorge playing!

Ellie is not always cooperative in taking photos, so Madeline mimicked her!

The green algae was just incredible.

We walked way out on these rocks.

Fortunately the algae wasn't as slippery as it might appear!

Hope you had a good weekend!

What inspires you? Pass it on!

Let me start by saying not sure why everything is being underlined. It is late and I can't figure out how to turn it off....oh well here we go!

Do you like to sew?

Would you like to learn to sew?

Wouldn't you want to shop in fabric stores like these?

City Craft, in Dallas, Texas

Not a box store like Joann's or Beverly's.

The Stitch Lab, Austin, Texas

But one of these unique stores or as they are sometimes referred to as boutique stores

with lots of charm!

The picture above is from Maisonette; this store is within driving distance!

It is actually owned by a mother and her two daughters each with their own specialty, art, sewing and photography.

I am going to go here. Soon.

This store above is called Whipstitch.

It is in Atlanta.

Probably won't be going here anytime soon.

But...

I am following her blog.

There are two entries of interest here....

First I signed up for a Sewing Buddy.

What is this you may ask?

It is a sewing pen pal.

I want to start sewing more this year!

You can read all about it here.

Maybe you would like to join too, she is still accepting applicants.

The second entry of interest can be found here.

It is about sewing with kids.

The connections that can be made when working on a project together.

She is going to start posting projects for kids.

I learned to sew when I was a kid.

I remember my mom sewing my clothes.

I remember my great-grandmother visiting

and I got to stitch by hand with a needle, thread and a paper bag.

Later I took home ec in middle school,

more sewing classes in high school,

I even squeezed a class in during college.

I worked at a fabric store one summer.

Talk about feeding a habit.

I took a quilting class when my husband was deployed (it kept me busy at night after the kids were in bed!)

Unfortunately here in California Home Ec has been lost in budget cuts.

Madeline wants to learn to sew.

I am going to try and teach her.

We are going to designate a day/afternoon.

We are going to start Friday.

First project a pillow.

I can't wait to see what the kid projects are from Whipstitch,

she said although they are geared for the young

she said she and some friends would enjoy doing them too.

So check it out maybe there is something you will want to try.

Maybe with your daughter?

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

So Madeline decided we should try the Red Velvet Cupcakes with the Cream Cheese Frosting from Ina Garten's new cookbook How Easy Is That?

(Remember my new cookbook I talked about yesterday?)

A tablespoon of red food coloring, ..... a block of cream cheese, and a stick and a half of butter equals another winner.

As many of you know I like to cook....but I really love baking even more.

I love making things with the kids.

Now that Madeline is older she can do it pretty much on her own.

And now she even helps teach Ellie to cook.

In fact today Madeline and Ellie made these all by themselves!

Ellie is an excellent taste tester!

They look a little browner than they were in real life.

The good stuff....cream cheese frosting!

Another Valentines Day idea?

Yum!

Recipe: Thanks Ina Garten!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 t. kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk, shaken

1 T. liquid red food coloring

1 t. white vinegar

1 t. vanilla extract

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 extra large eggs at room temperature

Preheat Oven to 350 and line muffin tin with paper liners (this recipe makes 15)

Sift together first 5 dry ingredients.

In a large measuring cup combine buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla.

In the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed for 1 minute, until light. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients alternately in 3 parts, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mix until combined. Stir with a rubber spatula to be sure the batter is mixed.

Scoop batter into lined muffin cups. Bake for 25- 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool completely. Frost with Red Velvet (Cream Cheese) Frosting.

Red Velvet Frosting

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 t. vanilla extract

3-1/2 cups sifted confectioners (powdered) sugar

Place the cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed just until combined.. Don't whip! Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

Christmas Gift!!

Yes, it has been months since I have posted something.

I have a many excuses....holidays, computer issues ....

The real reason is I like LOOKING at blogs.

I think of lots of things to post.

But, tend to go back to browsing at

all the fun things other people are

sewing,

cooking,

crafting,

organizing.

Now I just need to join the fun more regularly and POST.

So here it goes the first post of 2011!

I will give a disclaimer here.

For those of you starting your New Years Resolution with

exercise

eat healthy

or

lose weight

You may want to quick go to another page!

OR

Save this for Valentine's Day when you

are ready to treat yourself for

all your hard work with your healthy resolution.

I got a new cookbook!

Did I need a new cookbook?

Probably not! But... I think maybe I am becoming a cookbook collector.

Not because I planned to be a cookbook collector but because I seem to have

accumulated many cookbooks and there are many more on my wish list.

So the newest one is How Easy is That by Ina Garten the wonderful Barefoot Contessa!

(I have 4 of her 6 books...maybe I need to complete the set! )

So for New Years Eve I tried two recipes from the book the French Mussel Bisque (which quite frankly did not turn out well....there was too much wine. I will try it again substituting chicken broth for wine.)

What was sensational!!?

The Mocha Chocolate Icebox Cake

you can get the recipe along with many other recipes direct from her website here.

I substituted regular coffee grounds for the espresso powder in making this mocha filling.

Yum!

I used a tub of little store bought chocolate cookies purchased from Trader Joe's.

Any thin crisp chocolate cookie will do.

This is sooo easy!!

Whip up the mocha cream. Layer of cookies in springform pan,

Layer of Mocha Cream. Repeat....5 times!

I had cookie helpers!

Pop it in the refrigerator for 6 hours!

Delicious! Reminded me a bit of tiramisu!

This is the photo from Ina Garten's site.....I would have taken my own but we were too anxious to cut into it!!

Enjoy!

Italian Fries - from Mad Hungry

Remember when I posted about Mad Hungry the new tv show spinoff from Martha Stewart?
Have you tried any of the recipes?

I tried her Italian Oven Fries.

YUM!!

The kids loved them!

These take a little time (mainly oven time), but they are easy and worth the wait.

What was the best tip?

She soaks the fries in cold water, then dries them a bit before putting them on the baking sheet. This helps them crisp up well, by extracting the starch.
She also sprinkles italian cheese, coats with olive oil and dabs with butter....mmm!

Of course she has a blog with links to all her recipes check it out here!

Blogs

Have you heard of a book-azine?

I first heard about Matthew Mead

and his Holiday Book-azine on the

Mary Englebriet blog.

I love Mary Englebriet!

Big Fan!

Wish the Magazine would come back but it looks like that will not happen.

She mentioned this holiday book-azine, and

Mary Englebriet has something featured in it!

It is only sold on-line and I am very tempted to purchase it!

Mary Englebriet also mentioned something else I had never heard of an "e-zine".

Basically it is a magazine on the computer.

Amy Powers has issued an e-zine called Inspired Ideas.

Her blog is called inspire co. and can be found here.

Here is the cover of her fall e-zine. You can look at it page by page here.

The Christmas edition just came out too! You can view it here.

This issue is over 130 pages! It has contributions from other craft bloggers,

and projects for the holidays. The pictures are great! And there

is probably at least one craft idea you will come away with.

A "book-azine" an "e-zine" who knew!

Fall -- Apple Cider Recipe!

Look what I picked from my garden just yesterday!

Not bad for the end of October! Fall is here!

And it seems that this time of year is always busy.

School is in full swing.

We are getting ready for the holidays!

(I would have uploaded more pictures but I am having some technical difficulties.)

I would like to share a recipe for Apple Cider.

It is a family favorite this time of year.

It makes the house smell great!

And it warms you up.

Perfect for Halloween night after trick-or-treating.

Hot Apple Cider

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 quarts apple juice

1 t. whole allspice

1-1/2 t. whole cloves

2 sticks cinnamon sticks

Put brown sugar and apple juice in crock pot (if you don't have a crock pot just put it in a pot on your stovetop.) Add spices, if desired wrap whole spices in a cheescloth. Cover and cook on low 2 to 8 hours in crock pot. On stove top bring to a simmer and it will be ready in approx 45 min.

I reuse the dried spices....you can just keep adding more juice and brown sugar as needed.

Happy Fall!