a hippie with a minivan

new look…

After two days of intense, muggy heat, today is cold and dreary and I am feeling the same… I have aches and the sniffles and I am just feeling under the weather completely… so I decided to spend the day on my big recliner with a hot water/lemon/honey/cayenne concoction and change the blog a bit…

It might not show too much as I was quite happy with the design I had before so I stayed pretty close to the same, but I made a new header that keeps the elements that I loved of the other one but a lot cleaner and more fresh.

The footer is gone as I thought it was just adding clutter and the items that were there were not getting enough attention and now everything is slightly clearer.

The biggest change is that it is a new theme altogether that make things easier to modify and update in the long run.

I would love your opinion! especially for those not using a Mac..

Two Tier Neapolitan Cake…

Colin’s birthday cake order was a big one this year…

He wanted my vanilla butter cookie cake with chocolate butter cream icing but then wanted a smaller cake on top of that one with strawberry icing.

I am also starting to think that I need to invest in a few cake decorating tools and air conditioning. It was hot yesterday, 37 C (99F) with the humidity and even though I let everything cool it didn’t take long for the icing to start melting off the cake as I tried to decorate it using an ill fitted spatula and butter knife, but the result looked way better than I would have imagined and it tasted even better than it looked…

The first thing I did was to make full recipe, plus a half recipe of my favourite Vanilla cake which is made with real vanilla, butter and coconut milk giving it a butter cookie taste that I can’t get enough of.

Vanilla Butter Cookie cake

(recipe for one two layer cake)

2¼ cups cake flour (I never have this so I use Joy the Baker’s substitute for cake flour)
1 cup coconut milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (¾ cup), at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¾ cups granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened but still cool

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare pan (grease and the flour)

2. Mix coconut milk, egg whites, and vanilla in a small bowl.

3. Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl or mixer bowl. Add butter and beat at slow speed (or use forks) until mixture resembles moist crumbs. (like when making pie dough)

4. Add all but ½ cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1½ minutes. Add remaining ½ cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.

5. Pour batter in prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes depending on size of the pan.

As I said, I made the full recipe plus a half recipe and poured 2/3 of the batter in my 9 inch round cake pan and then poured the rest into a 7 inch round pan and while it was in the oven I made the chocolate Butter cream frosting and then put aside and made a half recipe of strawberry icing, which was not only easy to make but the taste surpassed my expectations…

Those went straight into the fridge to use when the cake would be cool.

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

1/2 cup butter
2 2/3 cups icing sugar, sifted with
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 – 1/2 cup coconut milk or cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. cream the butter

2. sift together sugar and cocoa and add to butter and start mixing

3. add vanilla

4. while mixing, start adding the coconut milk or cream until you reach the desired consistency.

Beat with mixer for at least 2 min…

Strawberry Butter Cream Frosting

1/2 cup butter
2 2/3 cups icing sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup strawberry puree (I made it with fresh strawberries and my hand wand)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1. cream the butter

2. sift together sugar and cocoa and add to butter and start mixing

3. add vanilla

4. while mixing, start adding the strawberry puree until you reach the desired consistency.

Beat with mixer for at least 2 min…

I cut each of the two cakes into two layers and spread both chocolate and strawberry icing onto the first layer of the cake and added the top and iced it as if I just had one cake and then on a separate plate I iced the second tier (the smaller cake) as if was just a cake on its own also and then with one calculated swoop I placed the smaller cake on top of the larger one and added a bit more icing for good measure and then added a few fresh plump strawberry halves…

The Birthday boy was so happy!

Seven!

There is now a seven year old in the house. I can’t believe it! Seven years ago yesterday, Colin was born…

Colin is sensitive, loving, empathetic and is always the first to give something up to make another happy.

He is easy going, has a great sense of humour and is always wanting to make people laugh…

There are really not enough words to describe him, he is just an amazing kid.

This year, his birthday coincided with the big Not-Going-Back-to-School picnic in Montreal… he was so excited that not only be 7 but he would be hanging out with all of his friends and making new ones… (the turnout was about 250 people this year!)

In the morning we headed out for breakfast per his choice at a local breakfast restaurant and then headed to Montreal for the picnic…

We spent the day there… from 11am to 7pm the kids ran and played and just came to touch base once in a while but not for long… He didn’t mind at all that the cake and “birthday” was going to be the next day…

His birthday cake request this year was a bit more complicated then previous cakes I have made…

He wanted a vanilla cake with chocolate icing but he didn’t stop there… he wanted another smaller cake on top of that with strawberry icing. It turned out so much better then even I had expected…

I’ll be adding the recipe in the next post…

He put his Lego set together, played with his brothers and sister, made poutine, played a few party games and then had cake..

(he is very proud to have built it himself, with a bit of help from Simon)

It is amazing how much of a party you can have with a family of six, even with no invited guests…

It was a great day, for a great kid!

Happy Birthday Colin!!

My new messenger bag/purse…

The last bag/purse I had made for myself was in Feb 09…

I was due for a new one…

Years ago I had picked up an beautiful thick orange linen tablecloth in a thrift store and for years I vowed to make a skirt from it… and didn’t. I still have plans to do so but when I was looking for the perfect cloth to make a new purse out of, I had to use it. So I cut off a safe amount that I could use for a skirt and had just enough to make the perfect bag.

My requirements for the bag was to have a place for everything. My birthday gift this year was an ipad, so I wanted a safe place to be able to put it. I also wanted place for the cell phone, keys and a few extra pockets to keep things contained and organized. As usual, I didn’t have a pattern or any exact measurements so after I cut out enough fabric for the strap and the sides I went with what was left to determine how big the bag was actually going to be using the ipad as the minimum…

My idea grew as the bag came together and fabric that was left over became extra pockets or little details or finishing touches that I had not thought about… and I LOVE the result.

The inside has a large pocket in back that the ipad can fit into and I added some batting to the back to add a bit of extra stiffness and protection and to keep the batting in place and to add extra detail I tried my hand at some free-motion embroidery…

Just on the outside part of that separation are some small pockets for various other things such as my phone, Ipod and pen and keys etc…

On the opposite side I added a zippered pocket on the inside and another larger pocket on the outside and again added batting between the layers for extra thickness and stability. The sides, top and strap also have batting and I quilted them to help the bag keep its shape…

And finally the flap also has batting and a beautiful dresden flower made from some of my favourite fabrics…

I am going to be working on a pattern and tutorial for this one… it is definitely one of my favourite sewing projects to date…

Stuffed Buns…

I have always enjoyed dumplings, wontons and well pretty much any type of dough with something hidden inside… they are like little packages with a surprise…

I remember when I was young a friend of mine and I would go to China town in Montreal and buy these amazing steamed bbq buns and I loved them… and I bet I would still love them if they didn’t have a ton of red food colouring in them…

Last winter, I had a bit of pork left over from a batch of pulled pork I had made and after having eating leftovers, I decided to change things up a bit and added some hoisin and garlic black bean sauce and chinese five spice… it was such a delicious mix! I made my dough for buns and was about to make a normal batch of hamburger buns when I go the idea to stuff them with the mix…

What I ended up with was such a treat!!

These are absolutely amazing! They are easy and pretty quick to make, they are fun to eat and the kids love them and they are great to bring with you the next day for a lunch and can even be eaten cold..

First make the insides of the buns… this can be anything… bbq pork? shredded chicken? the meat mixture from my meat and sweet potato pie? curried potatoes?

My favourite?

1 lb of either ground pork or ground beef
1 finely chopped onion
1/3 cup hoisin
3 tbsp garlic black bean paste
1 tsp chinese five spice mix
1 tsp garlic powder

Sauté the onions in a bit of oil and then add and brown the meat. Drain and then add the spices and the hoisin and bean paste. Adjust seasonings if needed. Set aside and let cool.

For the dough (I use the same dough for hamburgers and hotdog buns):

1 1/4 cup of warm water + 1/4 cup of warm water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oil
2 1/4 tsp yeast
3 1/2 – 4 cups of flour
1 Tbsp kosher salt

First, proof the yeast in 1/4 cup of warm water.

In a large bowl (can be by hand, on food processor or stand mixer), add the water, the brown sugar, the oil and the proofed yeast and mix. Add 3 1/2 cups of flour mixing in the salt with the flour at the same time and then start mixing. add flour until the dough comes together and then either knead by hand for 10 min, mix in the mixer for 5min or process for 45 sec.

Cut the dough into 16 equal pieces.

Flatten a piece of the dough and place it in the palm of your hand.

Place two spoonfuls of the mixture in the dough and then fold over and starting at one end start pinching the sides to close it.

Pinch it closed and turn over and place on a lined cookie sheet.