Some people hate valentine's day.
Not me.
Perhaps I don't agree with rushing out on one day
to buy a dozen roses,
a card and a heart shaped box of chocolates,
but an excuse to decorate in pinks and reds
with pom poms and polka dots
and have it only right
to put hearts on things, well,
I like that.
A lot.
We gave this rusty, paint chipped, old stainless steel sink frame a new purpose with some plywood and a piece of masonite, coated with some poly to seal it, and now it sits beneath the skylight next to the old locker that we found.
The rat tail cactus hangs down from the locker; friends have often referred to it as the dreadlock plant. A spotted prickly aloe sits in a pot next to the squirrels and the once amazing succulent wreath is now sun starved in this oh so rainy town.
I found the things that look like shavings from sharpening a giant pencil at a yard sale but I'm still not quite sure what I will do with them. The spools of thread had to be hidden underneath to keep the little miss from getting into trouble. Old wooden drawers store the rusty railroad nails that we picked up along the Hudson River. The mister found the red lantern light on his last trip to Hoffman's. A little upstate dumpster diving gave us the large wooden barn beam that is so lovely and textured.
Equivalent to 1400 regular sized gummy bears, this juicy fellow was a gift for the mister.
That's about 51 servings and most likely one big tummy ache.
Watch a video here.
You know what they say, "may your days be merry and bright!"
A little purple canvas bag with rainbow handles
made with love for the little miss.
Rainbow cupcakes.
A little something I was very excited to try out and no better excuse than for a nice friend's birthday.
They are so fun!
Knowing that layering colors of batter would be slightly labor intensive, I started with white cake mix and divided it into six bowls. Drops of food coloring made the rainbow colors.
Spoon a little of the colored batter into the cupcake cup and push to the edges. Repeat until your rainbow has been made. This is no easy task. I wasn't sure exactly how much to use and was slightly afraid that all six colors wouldn't fit. My cupcakes papers were VERY full. Next time I know to uses a little less.
I got a little lazy by the second tray and sort of left blobs of colors without actually spreading them to the sides. You know what? They actually came out just as pretty!
I frosted them with whipped white frosting and rainbow sugar.
Click on the photos below to see the process:
Warm, golden, flakiness, and oh so B-U-T-T-E-R-Y!
Saw this recipe in this month's food and wine.
Although it says hand pie, it uses puff pastry, which makes me call this more of a turnover.
Call it what you will.
I love the sweetness of the pears with the tartness of the cranberries and a hint of holiday spice.
Since you skip out on making crust these are super easy!
I didn't exactly follow directions. Poor measuring on my part made for 9 not-so-square sqaures.
My rushing a little also made for them to be not so perfectly sealed but in the end it all worked out deliciously.
