peanut butter cookies

Made these today. Adapted from a smittenkitchen recipe. She says it perfectly; "They’re crisp on the outside, and almost cakey on the inside. Bake a batch and then hide the results in the furthest and most forgettable reaches of your kitchen."

I actually printed this one off to keep it is that good!

yummy

lots of yummy

Asparagus

 Baked for 15 mins in olive oil with salt and pepper. SO good!

Jane Dixon-Desert Bloom

I LOVE fabric! I love to collect it, fold it, organize it, stack it in pretty colors, and then stack it again! This is sure to be the first of many posts about fabric that I like. Hawthorne Threads is one of my favorite places to browse fabric, they have a great modern collection. You should check them out if you love fabric too.

Desert Bloom by Jane Dixon

Manufacturer: Andover (A-5238-N)




Image courtesy of Hawthorn Threads

   LOVE these colors!

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds



photo of the Gettle family by David La Spina



What a great company! Baker Creek is the place to get great heirloom seeds. I just recieved my packet of seeds that I ordered from them in the mail. The first time they sent it the order didn't make it due to an oversight at the post office. Baker Creek was so great, they pulled all my seeds again and resent the order simply based on my email to them. What great cutomer service! I can't wait to get planting.

Some of what I got today: 

Blacktail Mountian Watermelon





 


Red Wonder Wild Strawberries

 



 

Prescott Fond Blanc Melon

 

Thai Khew Dok Beans



Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes

My parents are in the cupcake business and I often wish I lived closer to them so I could eat my fill of rich butter cream topped cupcakes. Instead I just have to make do with my own creations. Yesterday it was Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes with Cherry Sour Cream frosting.

 I just used any old sour cream chocolate cake recipe (I just think the sour cream in cake is delicious) and then dumped in a bunch of jarred cherries that I have from my Mother-in-law and some chocolate chips to the batter. I had enough for a dozen cupcakes and a sheet cake. The frosting is butter cream with some sour cream and cherry juice added for flavour and color; pretty.





This is how I eat the cake: dip the fork in the frosting and then dig into the cake a bite at a time.





The best is when you get a bite with the a squishy cherry AND a chocolate chip!

PRINTEMPS

Amazing Printemps. I miss you.



Lovely, as always! See more of their window displays here, awesome! I especially love the elephant sized snail covered in pink roses.



Nisperos, My Favorite Chilean Fruit

My last post about fruit got me thinking about nisperos. I ate them when I was a missionary in Chile. I liked them so much I would ask anyone who had a tree in their yard if I could have some. Those wonderful people were so obliging and happy to share these sunny globes of sweetness with me.
Oh beloved nisperos how I wish I could eat you now!

Eating the Alphabet

The paintings in the book by Lois Ehlert (she is from Wisconsin, like my dad) are so delicious. I have been looking for a place that sells just the artwork because I would love to have them up in my home.

My favorite spread in the book is the letter Pp, with peaches, pineapples, pears, papayas, persimmons, plums, and pomegranates-gorgeous!

Fruit is good and pretty, especially at fruit stands like these at Pike Place Market in Seattle and a market in Istanbul.

    LCBGlenn / Glenn Dettwiler on Flickr.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vassil_tzvetanov/2128268471/

Wordplay

 Wordplay is a documentary of sorts about Will Shortz.

 

He is the editor of The New York Times crossword puzzle. He made up a degree in college: enigmatology, the study of puzzles. It has apparently severed him well.

The movie follows some pretty nerdy people as they prepare for the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. These people are good, as in fast. They can complete the puzzles in a matter of mere minutes. Amazing!

This film brought back memories of sitting "The Wilk" trying to finish the crossword in the student paper, the Universe. Anyway, I liked the movie, it was interesting. I printed off a few crossword puzzles afterwards to have a go at them, I am defiantly a Monday/Tuesday level solver. 

A cool place to check (or cheat) on your answers is at Rex Parker's blog. He gives you tons of info about those obscure clues too, like a 6 letter word meaning headgear for medieval soldiers: ARMETS.

Who Knew?

Community Gardens

Or call them P- Patches or havens for Urban Farmers. I love them.
I used to walk through this P-Patch below on my lunch when I worked in Seattle back in the 90's, that is where my love of these places started. Cant wait to get started in my new little plot at Kopple Farms!

In 2008 a documentry was made about the South Central Farm in LA. It was even nominated for an Oscar: Best Documentary Feature.

"The Garden: The Life & Death of a Community Garden in LA"

Get more info on community gardens around the world at City Farmer News.

Also I love these cute rubber boots from Viking Footwear. They would be great garden boots! I am just not sure I could muddy them up.



Alphonse Mucha

I like the work of Alphonse Mucha.
Art Nouveau, beautiful colors and he was very proud of his Slavic heratige. I would have loved to have a portrait done by him.


"Summer"



Stained-Glass Window in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague

"The Coronation of the Serbian Tsar Stepan Dusan as East Roman Emperor"