Saturday, September 27, 2008
Birthdays Week
Whew, what a week!
On Tuesday, my pal Knit-Whit came over for her birthday lunch. She requested coconut shrimp, and I just happened to have an easy recipe up my sleeve that I knew would be yummy.
I served them up salad style, with the spicy pineapple salsa and some cooked and cooled brown rice topping a bed of greens. For extra kick, I dressed the greens in my favorite sweet and spicy homemade vinagrette. We both agreed it was delicious!
For dessert, something banana was the guide, and I tried this banana cake recipe from Epicurious.com. It was simple and homey, sort of like banana bread (minus the cinnamon) topped off with yummy cream cheese frosting. Not the most beautiful cake I've ever baked, but easy enough to whip out on a whim:
Behind is the special, custom monogrammed Moleskine cover I made for one of her gifts. I think it's adorable enough to warrant making a few more, so look for them to make an appearance in my shop shortly.
Then it was on to birthdays for my two favorite boys...Boy and PupCake! PupCake got some extra lovin' up and treats...he turned five which officially puts him over the hill in greyhound terms. Five is the age of mandatory retirement from racing but he threw in the towel at two, having heard there was a great mom and dad waiting with a home to spoil him rotten, I guess :)
Boy got a custom made black leather and robot fabric wallet that was an experiment in what it would take for me to be able to offer a men's wallet in my product lineup:
For a first attempt, I think it turned out fairly well. I wanted to use a thicker leather than what you'd typically find in a wallet because he has the tendency to wear through them quickly. I'm not 100% happy with the execution, but I think if it were minus the third side, flip-out feature, it would be do able. I'm going to let him test drive it for a bit before I give it a final evaluation.
Today we're off to "our" CSA farm for a Fall harvest day and potluck. I've baked cookies using the beet molasses from the "making sugar at home" adventure, and beet bread with the leftover cooked beet pieces, so full report to come on those!
Enjoy your weekend!
On Tuesday, my pal Knit-Whit came over for her birthday lunch. She requested coconut shrimp, and I just happened to have an easy recipe up my sleeve that I knew would be yummy.
I served them up salad style, with the spicy pineapple salsa and some cooked and cooled brown rice topping a bed of greens. For extra kick, I dressed the greens in my favorite sweet and spicy homemade vinagrette. We both agreed it was delicious!
For dessert, something banana was the guide, and I tried this banana cake recipe from Epicurious.com. It was simple and homey, sort of like banana bread (minus the cinnamon) topped off with yummy cream cheese frosting. Not the most beautiful cake I've ever baked, but easy enough to whip out on a whim:
Behind is the special, custom monogrammed Moleskine cover I made for one of her gifts. I think it's adorable enough to warrant making a few more, so look for them to make an appearance in my shop shortly.
Then it was on to birthdays for my two favorite boys...Boy and PupCake! PupCake got some extra lovin' up and treats...he turned five which officially puts him over the hill in greyhound terms. Five is the age of mandatory retirement from racing but he threw in the towel at two, having heard there was a great mom and dad waiting with a home to spoil him rotten, I guess :)
Boy got a custom made black leather and robot fabric wallet that was an experiment in what it would take for me to be able to offer a men's wallet in my product lineup:
For a first attempt, I think it turned out fairly well. I wanted to use a thicker leather than what you'd typically find in a wallet because he has the tendency to wear through them quickly. I'm not 100% happy with the execution, but I think if it were minus the third side, flip-out feature, it would be do able. I'm going to let him test drive it for a bit before I give it a final evaluation.
Today we're off to "our" CSA farm for a Fall harvest day and potluck. I've baked cookies using the beet molasses from the "making sugar at home" adventure, and beet bread with the leftover cooked beet pieces, so full report to come on those!
Enjoy your weekend!
