Monday, September 27, 2010

Yarny goodness


There is an awesome yarn giveaway on this lovely knitting blog. Go have a look and give it a go!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Last night my friend, Jamie, had a fundraiser for a program she heads up. Its called Kukua Pamoja - Programs for Social Change and is a program based both in Canada and Kenya. It creates safe spaces for men and women to learn about empowerment, sexual health, and social change. Jamie organized a martini and dessert party to raise money. I contributed a lovely dessert. They raised over $700! Yay Jamie!
I made a fresh plum Napoleon. It was layers of puff pastry, vanilla pastry cream and plum jam. It is based on this recipe from Epicurious.com, with my own changes.

Plum Napoleon

Plum Jam
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
12 oz. italian prune plums, halved, pitted and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 inch wide strip of orange zest

Combine sugar and water in saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves and syrup begins to thicken. Add plums and zest, reduce heat and cook until mixture is very thick and has reduced to about 3/4 c. Remove orange zest and cool completely.

Vanilla Pastry Cream
2c. whole milk
5 egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
6 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

Bring milk up to a boil then remove from heat.
Whisk yolks, sugar and flour together. Gradually whisk in hot milk. Return to saucepan and cook over medium heat until cream thickens and boils, whisking constantly, about 5 min. Whisk in butter then vanilla. Transfer to a bowl and press plastic wrap right onto the surface of the pastry cream. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

1 pkg. frozen puff pastry, about 350 g

Roll pastry into a rectangle about 18"x12" and place on ungreased cookie sheet of the same size. (My sheet pan was a little smaller - it turned out fine) Pierce the pastry all over with a fork and bake at 375 F for 25 min. or until golden brown. Cool completely on the sheet pan.

6 plums, halved, pitted and cut into 1/4" slices

Carefully remove puff pastry from sheet pan. Using a serrated knife, cut crosswise into thirds, trimming edges if necessary to make it square. Place one third of the pastry onto serving plate. Cover with a generous cup of pastry cream. Top with a second piece of puff pastry. Spread with 1/3 c. of plum jam, then arrange sliced plums over jam. Spread underside of the third piece of puff pastry with another 1/3 c. jam and place jam side down on top of the plums. Dust top with powdered sugar and decorate as desired.



Enjoy!
I had dinner guests last night so I doubled this recipe quite successfully. I have an entire pint of jam left over. Can you say Toast Time?! It was a delicious dessert. Perfectly sweet and slightly tart. Give it a try. Plums are in season right now and are everywhere.
Have a beautiful weekend! x

Monday, September 20, 2010

Lightning Fast

We went to Calgary on the weekend for a super fast trip. My cousin, Jordan, got married! He was so adorable - he looked a little nervous when we first saw him. Turned out he was. His wife looked absolutely stunning in her dress. His brother was his best man and his two sisters were bridesmaids. I wish we all lived closer because they are awesome people and I love them all dearly. But unfortunately we don't get to see each other very much. Congratulations, Jordan and Amber! Thanks for a wonderful evening!
I didn't get very many pictures - my camera was not liking the low light one bit. We got a few though.


The Wee Beast was all about the dancing. She danced with anyone who would dance with her. And that was mostly the flower girl . They were on the dance floor most of the night, tearing it up.






While we were in Calgary we took the Wee Beast to the zoo. She was so stoked!


And we couldn't drive past the huge dump truck without stopping to take a picture...

Monday, September 13, 2010

Artsy


I seriously love these paintings. The artist's name is Sylvia Ji and she is from L.A. Check out her work. It is awesome. I am kinda' in love with the painting called "Red Caribou".

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Vroom.



Yesterday was the Show and Shine. The whole main street in downtown is closed to traffic and is filled with people and gorgeous cars. The paint is shiny and the chrome just gleams in the sunshine. The Wee Beast is all about cars ( and pretty much anything with an engine ) and gets so amped about car gazing.

















The Wee Beast has this "old school" (her words, I swear!) pickup truck in bright pink, a '38 Ford. Our mission for the afternoon was to find the pink truck we had heard was cruising the streets the day before. We found it....


Not exactly the same, bit it'll do. x

Monday, September 6, 2010

Finished - lotsa' pictures.


I finished the panel I showed you the other day. It was so much fun! I always thought I hated hand sewing but have come to realized it is just the hemming and button sewing that I dislike. Something that is this gorgeous is a pleasure to stitch.


I decided to take the fabric and turn it into a clutch. The smocked panel is made from an amazing turquoise linen. The back is dark denim and is lined with a lovely cotton print. It has been interfaced with super hefty interfacing and the strap is detachable.



I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet. I am very tempted to keep it for myself. I may put it in my Etsy shop. We'll see....

Friday, September 3, 2010

I have been busy....


I canned some beautiful peaches. They are like sunshine in a jar....


And I just learned a new sewing technique! I am beyond stoked! This hand sewing technique creates a beautiful woven effect.


I think this is going to be an amazing effect on some purses and clutches. I will show you some finished work as soon as I can.
Back to sewing....