Photo reel from a 5 year old

Sometimes it’s nice to give your camera to a 5 year old and just watch what happens.  You might be  amazed.

(it was a 50mm lens, hence the close-ups)

Old to New

I LOVE finding old things that are just aching to have life again.  This window (glass removed in this photo) is on its way to a wall in our home.  This project has been super easy to make and I just finished hanging it up yesterday (*smiles ear to ear*)!  Stay tuned!

When life gives you lemons, make lemon bars.


Around our house, the kiddos some of us have a hard time waiting to pick the fruit when the time is right.  Seriously, who wouldn’t want to pick a bright yellow lemon or a deep red strawberry?  They almost beg a kid to pick them with their flamboyant garden attire. So, these lemons got picked and were thankfully a teeny tiny bit green and not half green.  I ran inside simultaneously explaining to my littlest man which color we are waiting for them to be and also scheming what I was going to make.  As kind of an informal tradition, I like to make lemon bars with the first batch of lemons I get just because they seem to have such a loving history with most people I tend to bake for, including my dad.

Zesty Lemon Bars

Measure dry ingredients, cube butter, and stare at the radiant lemons because it’s about to be gone.

Zest the lemons.

Add the crust dry ingredients to a food processor or a bowl for hand-blending.

Add the cubed butter and zest.  Pulse until mixture forms small beads.

Like this –^

Press into a 13×9  dish on the bottom and up half of the pan’s side.  Bake for 25 minutes.

While the crust bakes, wisk butter and eggs together.

It should look like this –^  Then, gentle stir in the lemon juice,  flour, and zest.

When the crust is done, turn the temperature down to 300, add the filling, and bake for about 30 minutes.

note: I was not patient and did not wait until it lowered all the way which is why the tops of my bars have the texture they do.  I knew this and almost wanted it :).

Enjoy!  I obviously did.  Make sure you share some with some friends and neighbors.

This recipe was adapted from the Serious Eat‘s “Zesty Lemon Bars”

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 lemon, zested

1 cup butter, cold (cut into 1/2 in cubes)

Lemon filling:

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 large lemons)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 lemon, zested


Beware

of

leg monkeys

and

snitchers.

Vanilla extract. You’ll never buy it from the spice aisle again.

I have wanted to make vanilla extract ever since my Grandma told me about how she used to get the “real deal”  from Mexico, as opposed to the imitation extract which I don’t think I have ever used knowingly in my own home.  Call me a vanilla snob…I can take it!  .  It even would come in a coke bottle, she said, which I think is awesome.  I figured it was easy as far as projects go and would only require time and patience, instead of just plain skill.  I had my game plan made until I found this amazing site called Vanilla Review, which does THE BEST job of explaining the process of creating this wonderful substance.    I decided to accept the advice of this wise vanilla extract maker and do his 8 beans to 1 cup vodka ratio.  I have complete confidence it will work out because Ian seems thorough and everything makes complete sense the way he explains it on his site.

Cute, right? The bottles should be brown, but I could only find these ones while I was shopping.

Owl cupcakes to celebrate 1 year!

 

Craziness!  It’s already been a year! 

The official time I started my blog was actually back in August of 2010, but I wanted to get things just right on the design end before posting.  It’s kind-of a joke when I think of it now because it was FAR from nice and my posts were pretty sad-looking.  I knew they were not awesome, but you have to start somewhere, right?  I did like my first real banner above, though.  I kind-of miss it.

It’s been a great year for this little space.  I started my first month of viewers with just a few of my closest buddies and some obliging family members.  Now, I am astonished at grateful at having over 15,000 people visiting in just a single month!!  Wow, people!  There must be something just a teeny tiny bit likeable goin’ on here.

*blush*

In honor of this special day, I am sharing a cupcake with you all.  Yeah, I kinda thought you would like it too.  My sister actually made these back in April for my Miss F’s birthday I just totally forgot to post them.  I guess it was meant to be.  I saw them on Pinterest and asked my sister to make them and since she’s awesome, she said yes.

Cuties.

I used my neighbor’s freshly cut olive wood firewood for their little perching area.

Thanks for your support and for hanging out with me in this little space.

The community here means a LOT to me.

Thank You, friends!

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