I’m not sure there will ever come a day when baking isn’t magical to me. I still get giddy when I turn on the oven light, peek through the glass to see biscuits doubling in size. Or when a waif of baking banana bread skips through the house and under my little nose. Baking is my magic.
I love the trust and faith we must have in a recipe, in the ratio and in the ingredients. We trust that those ingredients will interact, react and transform into something so beautifully delicious.
Having just whispered all those sweet words of nothing, I’ll admit I’m not really a cake-maker-type girl. I’m not sure if a single layered-cake even lives on this blog. I’m pretty sure it has everything to do with me being an impatient person and thinking cake decorating is a little tedious. But when I want cake inspo, I turn to Sara from Matchbox Kitchen. She makes some insanely pretty cakes. One thing I LOVE about her cakes is how they’re all perfectly cylinder. The tops are completely flat. Flat cake tops are all the rage in the cake world.
Cake layers usually dome on us, rising right in the center and then cracking. I think doming on a quick bread is beautiful. I love it. My friend and baker, Hourie, wouldn’t think to serve a quick bread that didn’t dome. Cakes are different, though. But not to worry because baking flat cake layers couldn’t be easier!
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I am officially a crazy Spring cleaner. And I’m going to be honest, I’ve never really done Spring cleaning. I’ve always done Spring cleaning when I’ve moved from old apartment to new apartment, or when the disorganization got between me and finding something I wanted to wear.
Spring cleaning has never been something I’ve done in, well, Spring. But this year, oh this year! I’ve really impressed myself. I’m doing Spring cleaning. And it’s actually kinda nice. It’s making me feel more in control of my life, like I have it together or something. I’ve started with the part of my house that gives me the most anxiety: my pantry (that’s actually just a gigantic cabinet). In the back, in the far corners of this beast, I found oh I dunno like five or six bags of dark brown sugar. All of them hard as a rock.
Let me interrupt myself to say that I have no idea if you know how to soften brown sugar. You might be rolling your eyes when you see this post. I mean, does everyone know this is how you rehydrate brown sugar? Am I posting obvious advice? Is this going to be useful? Does everyone have a grandma who told them these things?
My grandmother never taught me to do this. I learned about this years ago from Google. I’m pretty sure I was baking at midnight (my favorite time to bake) and wanted to make cookies (obviously), only to find that the brown sugar was hard and looked like McDonald’s chicken nuggets.
If this isn’t obvious advice to you and you really would like to know how to save your brown sugar, continue…
If not, I’ll have some OMG-breakfast situation tomorrow.
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This holiday season I’m guessing you’ll need cheap and easy hostess gifts.
Let’s give our friends something useful: wooden kitchen spoons. And not just any wooden spoons, but super-cute color block wooden spoons that cost barely nothing and take about 30 minutes to make.
For this kitchen crafting adventure, you’ll need the following:
1. Wooden Spoons. 2. Paint. 3. Painter’s Tape. (Links to specific colors and supplies at the bottom of this post!)
Let’s go!
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Food break! Pardon me while I stop making appetizers, baking cookies and thinking about pie. Glitter is having its very deserved holiday moment in my world and I’d like to share.
This is actually a natural progression. You see, if you know me, you know that I’m passionate about three things: food, corgis and glitter. I’m a simple person, really.
Glitter has the ability to make anything look a tad-bit more exciting. In this particular scenario, glitter helps very boring and brown craft paper transform into super cute and fun (and inexpensive!) wrapping paper.
For this glitter adventure, you’ll need:
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There’s that very popular saying, “Don’t go to the grocery store hungry.” I personally LOVE going to the grocery store hungry. I act like a hunter in the wild. I’m focused, assertive and efficient. I want my food, I want it now, and then I wanna go home so I can cook it and eat it. Super simple. Life is easy. Now let’s watch some more Felicity.
But if I venture into the grocery store when I’m not hungry and have no where to be, OMG am I a mess. I mosey. Yes, I mosey. I inspect new-to-me products, check out the ingredients, read the stories of how they got their start, and many times get all emotionally involved, like, Aww they got their start making granola out of their barn in the back and look at them now! Cute!
I take food pics of fun produce I find. And sometimes I compare my nail polish color to seasonal produce and Instagram about it. This stuff just happens.
A few nights ago I went to the grocery store with no focus. At the end of hour one, I was there with an empty basket just staring blankly at the spice section. I spotted “apple pie spice” and “pumpkin pie spice.” And they were selling them for $6?! Yes, $6.
I don’t typically use pumpkin pie spice, though I do know a lot of recipes call for it. And if you’re making a pumpkin pie, throw it in the puree, it’s bound to be delicious!
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Holiday season means a few things: parties, presents, stress..and glitter. Yes, glitter. I’m pretty sure by now you know I love nail polish, and I love glitter nail polish even more. Soooo, I figured I’d show you a few ways to make your nails dazzle (a little more) this holiday season. Here are my three favorite ways:
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Fall is coming!! Did you know that?! Of course you did. Duh, you own a calendar. I’m being annoying.
Whenever a new season starts to approach, I feel the need to clean under my bed, scrub my oven and wash under my refrigerator. I gotta get my life together, you know?
I’ve been meaning to organize my spices for what seems forever. Look at this mess.
There’s multiple jars of the same spice, spices in brown bags, spices in plastic bags, spice bottles with missing caps…basically a gigantic pile of spice mess.
I decided to get it together…and make my whole cooking experience a little bit easier.
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