Canada Day Cupcakes

8 Jul

Ok folks, so I know it’s a week late, but I promise that doesn’t make these cupcakes any less yummy… or patriotic.

This year I decided to make some Canadian inspired cupcakes for Canada Day. I couldn’t decide on just one type though, so I decided to make both Red Velvet (red and white!) cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes with maple icing. Yum!!

I’ve decided that I can now only make cupcakes and cakes from scratch – anything from a mix just tastes wrong. To dress up these vanilla cupcakes I used maple icing (recipe can be found here). I put it in the fridge overnight (I’m a late night baker and ran out of time) and it got really grainy, I’m guessing because it was mostly sugar with little butter. I actually kind of liked the grainy texture, however if you’re after a smoother icing (as seen in bottom picture) I recommend making the icing right before you put it on the cupcakes.

I’ve never made Red Velvet cupcakes before, so naturally I went to the best. These cupcakes are from Martha Stewarts website (recipe can be found here) and were pretty tasty. Although I was disappointed with their lack of actual redness, I have been told that this is par for the course when it comes to red velvet cupcakes. After seeing the first batch I took out of the oven was lacking in the ‘red’ part of their namesake, I added more (and even a bit more) food colouring and it seemed to help. Regardless, Martha didn’t steer me wrong and they were delicious.

(the picture below is the result of adding pretty much a bottle of food colouring to the batter)

Oh! And thank you to Jen for helping me ice many of these cupcakes!

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Map of Canada Embroidery

1 Jul

Happy Canada Day!

Hmm perhaps I should have entitled this post ‘with glowing hearts’ embroidery…

I’ve been meaning to post about my very first embroidery attempt for quite a while now, but maybe I was just subconsciously waiting for the right time. And I personally can’t imagine a more fitting day to post about this embroidered map of Canada than on our nation’s birthday.

As I have mentioned before, this year I decided to only make presents for people. It’s turned out to be a lot tricker than I originally thought, but luckily I started this one in February before life got super hectic. I made this for a dear friend who was moving away to Australia for the year. Even though I’ve been cross-stitching for years, this was my first attempt at embroidering. I’m not sure if I chose the best thing to embroider for my first time – Canada is a very rugged (i.e. jagged and intricate) country! – nor the best method for something that required so many small stitches close together.

For this project I printed off a map outline I found online, I traced it on to transfer paper and then pinned the transfer to the fabric. I then just did a basic runner stitch along the traced outline. Then ripped away the transfer paper when I was done – using tweezers for the tiny spots.

I don’t think this method was perhaps the best choice. For the size I wanted it to be, it made everything really tiny and close together, so the transfer paper started to rip and made it really hard to continue – Nunavut nearly did me in. Needless to say, this is not a 100% geographically accurate representation of Canada… there’s probably a few bays and islands missing here and there. 

Does anyone have any tips for methods that might be easier for future embroidery projects? Please?

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june instagram fun

1 Jul

Finally! I have been meaning to do a monthly recap with some of my favourite instagram pictures for ages! Unfortunately by the time I get around to doing the post it’s always a week or two in to the next month, which is just too late in my humble opinion.

Anyways, I’m happy that I managed to get my act together this month.

a misty day for my first grouse grind hike of the season — british bunting for the Queen’s jubilee

I had a great time with my fave girl(s) when Jess and Evie came to Vancouver for the weekend.
I also had a great time at the Brick & Mortar opening, where my Little Wren line is being carried!

Me and Piper went to an amazing vintage fashion show with Ivan Sayers at the Roedde House Museum, followed by tea, champagne and delicious treats. A proper blog post will be coming soon.

I went to Santa Monica for a jewelry and bead show at the end of June – luckily I managed to squeeze in some time for fun as well. There will also be a blog post on this soon. 

ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier

walked the seawall and hung out at Kits beach with Jen

I also bought some vintage alarm clocks, had a spot of tea, wore one of my four (yes four) new pairs of shorts – which is a lot for this girl who doesn’t wear shorts! – and took a break.

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Zucchini Bread

28 Jun

Well I have certainly been a bad blogger recently! It’s been almost a month since I last did a post… tsk tsk!! As I’m sure it is with most bloggers who accidentally find themselves blog post free in almost a month, it hasn’t been for lack of things to blog about, but rather a huge lack of time.

Anyways, here is a little bit more about the mini chocolate zucchini bread loaves I made for the picnic with the BFC girls last month…

This is a recipe that my family has been enjoying for many years. We normally make it in two standard loaf pans, but I thought it would be fun to try out the new ‘mini loaf’ pan I recently bought.

I wrapped the little loaves in wax paper and then a thick strip of craft paper, before finishing it off with a kitchen string bow. I love the cute, crafty and homemade look of packaging the little loaves this way. They would make great party or shower favours! 

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

-  3 eggs
-  2 cups sugar
-  1 cup oil
-  1 tsp vanilla
-  2 cups grated zucchini
-  2 rounded tablespoons cocoa powder
-  3 cups flour
-  1 tsp cinnamon
-  1.5 tsp baking powder
-  1 tsp baking soda
-  semi sweet chocolate chips (I just keep adding them until it feels right…)
-  optional: 1 cup almonds (whole, sliced, chopped… however you like)
 

Beat eggs; add oil and sugar and beat well. Add vanilla, zucchini, and chocolate powder; beat well.

Mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and then slowly add to the wet mixture.

Add in chocolate chips and nuts if you so desire. Mix well.

Bake in two greased standard loaf pans, or mini loaf pans at 350 F.

The recipe book says to bake for 40-60 mins depending on the size of the loaves. However, I found that the size of mini loaf pans can really vary, the ones I bought made about 16 little loaves and only required about 20 mins in the oven.

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Oh and in keeping with the nostalgia kick I also mentioned before… here is a picture of me at age 5 or 6 making ‘Z bread’* as it is affectionately known in my family.

*Side note: it’s a lot catchier if you’re Canadian and say ‘zed’ not ‘zee’ 

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picnic with the BFC girls

2 Jun

I am so very fortunate to work with a wonderful group of girls at Barefoot Contessa and even more fortunate that we have lots of fun parties together!

We all got together for a picnic last weekend to say goodbye to Julia and Evelyn who have left the BFC family for new fun adventures. We decided two days beforehand that we wanted to make it look pretty and decorate (well me and Piper did anyways, and then made the rest of the girls go along with it haha). 

Anyways, like I said, the Barefoot girls are pretty great and all contributed to ensuring that the evening was not only pretty, but full of yummy eats and lots of laughs. Here are a few pictures I managed to capture before digging in to the food and helping myself to a few glasses of wine. 

We decided that ‘the colours’ would be pale yellow and white. I found some scraps of white and yellow floral fabric which we turned in to make-shift garland (or bunting? banner?) with kitchen string. The ‘table cloth’ was actually a twin bed skirt that I found at a thrift store (and washed thoroughly!) and Kim (our lovely hostess) provided a pale yellow table runner. Piper brought some big mason jars to use as vases for the flowers which came courtesy of the buttercup patch in Kim’s backyard.

We also used some mini mason jars as glasses. As you can see above, I wrapped them with craft paper (double sided tape helped with this) and used some of the remaining fabric to make little bows. Pretty cute no?

Even the potato and macaroni salad were made pretty with mini bunting!

(You can also see some of the mini zucchini bread loaves I made in the picture above – a blog post on those will be coming soon!)

Ooh and not only did Kim host, she also made a super yummy dessert – a Scottish specialty called Cranachan. It’s basically whip cream, raspberries, toasted oats, honey and whiskey. Delicious!

Here are a few more pictures of the entire spread…

Thanks again to all the wonderful BFC ladies for making it a fabulous night! 

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my favourite chocolate chip cookies of all time

23 May

I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic lately after going through all our old family photo albums a few weeks ago in search of a cute picture of me and my mom for Barefoot Contessa’s Mother’s Day blog post.

*you can see my mom and ‘her Eltons’ – i.e. glasses – bringing me home from the hospital, along with the other BFC girls and their moms  here*

All this nostalgia has made me hungry. You see there are about five recipes that I can recall enjoying many times over my lifetime and always seem to take me back to a happy childhood place (well, at least in my heart… and stomach). One of these recipes is the super yummy chocolate cake I made into cupcakes here… another favourite are these chocolate chip cookies.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I feel I should tell you that my most favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe is from the back of the Hershey Chipits bag. But although it is not perhaps the most fancy or exclusive recipe, it still makes the best cookies I’ve ever tasted by far. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s so good they haven’t changed it in over 25 years.

Original Chipits Cookies

 - Cream together 1 cup shortening or softened butter (I use butter), 1 cup packed brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar. Beat in 2 eggs and 1-1/2 tsp vanilla.

- Combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. Gradually blend in to creamed mixture.

- Stir in one package (350 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

- Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto un-greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 F (190 C) for 10-12 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

(My secret is that I add twice the vanilla, no nuts and a few extra handfuls of chocolate chips… so good)

As I said, I’ve been making these cookies since I was little, and here is the proof. This is a picture of 3 year old me and my mom following the very recipe I’ve outlined above – you can even see the tell-tale Chipits bag in my mom’s hands.

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Brick and Mortar Living

21 May

I’m excited to announce that a selection of my earrings, hairpins, rings and teacup candles will be available at the soon-to-open Brick and Mortar Living in New Westminster! 

I was fortunate enough to pop by to see the space today and am happy to report it looks fantastic so far! I can’t wait to see the finished product.

This is just a little peek at some of the wonderful vintage wares that Brick and Mortar will be selling (along with some Little Wren earrings of course). I am seriously lusting after some of the mason jars they have – especially the blue glass ones (not pictured)

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summer dreaming…

15 May

This past weekend all of us in Vancouver were treated to our first real taste of summer, and it was, without a doubt, absolutely wonderful.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Vancouver, it rains a lot here. And I mean a lot. Fall is grey and rainy. Winter is grey, rainy and sometimes snowy. And spring? Well it’s rainy too. Although we’re fortunate enough to be surrounded by vast amounts of natural beauty, if you add enough rain and grey and grossness it’s enough to drive anyone crazy. However, summer is when Vancouver really shines (no pun intended).

Summer in Vancouver is what makes enduring months of rain and the astronomical rents all worthwhile. The beach, the mountains, the parks, the seawall… every summer I fall in love with my city all over again.

I experienced this overwhelming sense of gratitude and city love this weekend. Here are a few instagram pictures I snapped during a walk along the seawall in False Creek. Can you see why I love it?

I also did something this weekend that I very rarely do – I spent a bit of time relaxing. Yes, it’s true, although it’s a bit of a foreign concept to me, I actually relaxed… and it was amazing! Subsequently I started thinking about why it had been so long since I actually took a break to relax and recharge… and how every year without fail I’m filled with regret by the time September rolls around that I haven’t really enjoyed the summer as much as I could have.

Not this year friends.

This year I pledge to take time to enjoy the summer. Expect many more pictures of local (and not so local) scenery, craft projects, new products, yummy treats and fancy drinks.

relaxing in the backyard with a book and glass of wine

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cute new earrings

13 May

I’m just loving these adorable little earrings I made this weekend! They were a fun change from the flowers that have become a signature of mine. While florals will always be a part of my line, it’s always nice to switch it up a bit – especially when polka dots, plaid and little red riding hood cartoons are involved!

(They will soon be available at the Barefoot Contessa shops)

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Everly is three!

8 May

I had a little getaway in Victoria this weekend to visit one of my best friends Jess and her wonderful family. It’s a trip I have made many, many times before… I have been going over pretty much once a month since my god daughter Everly was 6 months old… and this week she turns three – three!

I can’t believe how fast the time has gone! She is turning in to quite the little lady. It’s amazing that I’ve been able to watch her grow, yet scary at the same time. I can remember her when she was just learning to walk and talk… heck I can remember her when she was learning to sit up, and was convinced she was a genius that could say ‘hi’ at three months (I still maintain she’s a genius, even though she may or may not have actually been saying hi)

Anyways, not only is Everly lucky enough to have a dedicated Auntie Ren who makes the long trek to Victoria from Vancouver once a month (on public transit no less!) she also has a super talented and creative mom who threw her the fanciest party I think I’ve ever been to.

the full spread

Jess is an amazing photographer; you can check out all of her work at Little Pickle Photography, along with lots of photos of Everly and the new addition to the god-baby block Matthew. Not only is Jess a highly skilled photographer, but she is also hugely talented when it comes to planning and throwing parties.

Here are few pictures from Everly’s ‘Rise and Climb’ party. I just took them with my iPhone (and instagram helped out on a few) but to see photos that actually do the party justice, check out the Little Pickle Photography blog

(can you spot Jess hard at work?)

pancake and waffle bar

the most impressive birthday cake I’ve ever seen! Made by the lovely Beth-Ann

mmm… yogurt parfait (made by me!)

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