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Elderflower Water

Has anyone tried this? “The delicate taste of hand-picked elderflowers blended with our sparkling Cotswolds spring water. Serve simply over ice or use as an alternative to tonic when enjoying botanical gin.”

Ryan tried it when we stopped by Grounded Coffeehouse yesterday. I had a sip, was quite jealous, and have been craving it ever since. It’s just so delicate and reminds me of… something. I can’t figure it out.
So if you see this,  try it. And then help me figure it out.

They also have a ginger & lemongrass one. Mmm.

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Sandwich Time

During the renovations, we didn’t eat well at all. We frequented A&W (it’s one of the only fast food places here), which is a very sad thing. No one should frequent A&W. Mostly we would grab a bacon and n’ egger (on a wheat bun, with tomato) in the morning. One morning, shortly after we had moved in, I was rushing around to get ready and grumbling about how I wasn’t going to have time for breakfast and I was craving a bacon n’ egger.
Ryan surprised me with a delicious toasted sandwich with a fried egg and tomato. It was so good.
Since then, we have perfected the breakfast sandwich. In our minds, anyway.
We buy kalamata olive bread. At first we could only get it at Safeway but the other stores must have missed our business because they soon started to offer olive breads too. When toasted, it has the best crunch to it. We spread a smidge of mayo (real mayo - don’t give me any of that “salad dressing”) and then layer on a fried egg, two slices of calabrese salami (good and spicy) and a couple thin slices of tomato. And a little salt and pepper.
Best. Breakfast. Ever.
We had it this morning for the first time in a while (thus the passionate description). I decided that I would make a second one and take a picture to post here.
But, um, a dog took it.

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Tiramisu!

The onesies that we made for Paul and Gen went over quite well at the shower, especially the tiramisu one. So I made up a few more and listed them on etsy (See link in sidebar).

In honor of this new listing, I want to present the tiramisu recipe that inspired the onesie.
This recipe is from the Surreal Gourmet show on the Food Network. He layers it into a tea cup and melts chocolate on top and lets it harden in the fridge to make it look like a cup of coffee. Our coffee cups are very, um, utilitarian and not conducive to delicious looking dessert presentation so I made mine in martini glasses and chose to sprinkle the top with cocoa instead of the melted chocolate. One less pot to clean, you know? Anyway, Ryan said it was the best tiramisu he ever had. And it was ridiculously easy so I will definitely make it again. The mascarpone and kahlua made it a little pricey, but worth it.

Cup O’ Tiramisu

• 3/4 cups espresso
• 1/4 cup Kahlua
• 16 x ladyfingers
• 3 x egg yolks
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 lb. dark chocolate, chopped into tiny bits

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix espresso and Kahlua. Dip ladyfingers in the liquid, hold for 5 seconds, then reserve on a plate
2. In a mixmaster, or with a whisk, beat egg yolks, sugar and vanilla until ribbons form. Fold in mascarpone. Reserve.
3. In each of 4 coffee cups place 2 soaked ladyfingers in the bottom. Then add 2 tablespoons of mascarpone mixture. Add 2 more ladyfingers and another layer of mascarpone. The last layer should be approximately 1/2 inch below the rim of the cup. Smooth the top layer with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
4. In a bowl over simmering water, melt chocolate. Pour a 1/8-inch layer of chocolate over the top layer of the mascarpone mixture and return to refrigerator for another hour so that the chocolate hardens.

(from the Surreal Gourmet)

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Alpacas

This morning I was taken to meet these lovely alpacas. I loved their big eyes and long eyelashes. These ones had just been shorn so they had a poof of hair on the top of their head and feet, like big awkward poodle-llamas.

The one below is named Black Beauty:

And this little one is Gracie:

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Onesies

Our friends Paul and Gen just had a baby boy. They named him Dario (Rio for short), isn’t that cute? Paul and Gen are Italian so we decided to make some Italian-inspired onesies for Dario. We had all the supplies from the time we experimented with freezer paper stencils. We brainstormed a bit and came up with these coffee-centric designs. I think they turned out well. It helps to have a husband who thinks in fonts.

Gen makes really delicious tiramisu, which literally means “pick me up”:

Espresso Corto (short):

And finally, a family of espresso cups with a little demitasse cup:

There you have it: onsies threesies.

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Safe & Secure

To keep intruders out. And family in.

Defendius door chain. 

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Admiration

I really have trouble focusing on one thing at a time and dividing my time properly. There are just too many interesting ideas out there. So, today, I wanted to present some artists who I admire for their determination and stick-to-itiveness that they show in each and every one of their works.

Eno Henze:

Juan Francisco Casas:

Jen Stark:

Jill Bliss:

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Cravings

I’m torn.
Do I risk invalidating my authenticity by telling you squabblers that I haven’t been posting because I’m doing a cleanse? Yup, I’m on day 4 of a ten-day cleanse/fast. But in my defense, it isn’t a fad - it’s been around for 60 years. And it’s not a diet. I was just sick of feeling sick. It’s supposed to rejuvenate you and make you clear-headed.
The first day I was craving poutine from that place in Calgary where they make the Montreal smoked meat sandwiches so bad that I couldn’t think about anything else.
Day 2 I just wanted a big old greek salad, which I normally eat pretty much every single day.
Day 3 I occasionally thought about how nice it would be to have a cup of broth.
And today, I’m really not hungry. Although I was watching last night’s episode of 30 Rock online today and when Liz picked up that piece of pizza, I salivated a little. So today, I’m feeling more on the road to a clear mind.
It’s funny because I just read Kafka’s “The Hunger Artist” a couple of weeks ago and I keep thinking that there is some remote chance that I too will want to continue fasting after the 10 days.
But I really can’t see that happening.
Anyway, I find it fascinating to see what has happened to our lives. First of all, the days are sooo long. Yesterday, instead of preparing/eating/cleaning dinner, we watched a cheezy 80’s movie and it took the same amount of time.
And the kitchen stays so clean.
And what do you do socially with people if you don’t eat? All we humans do together is eat and drink.
Apparently once your tongue goes back to pink, you’re done. So we’re pushing for that. Maybe not a full 10 days. I mean, we’re young and healthy - how toxic could we be? It would be nice to eat - not even for the food but because of the sheer boredom!

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Supermarket

Supermarket: my new favorite web-place. Everything that I saw on this site was gorgeous, and I perused for quite some time. Check out this perfect market bag, and this adorable planter, and everything by this designer.
Delightful.
Seriously, get clickin’.

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Cocoa Pasta

So this is what we had last night for dinner. We bought the pasta at Culinary Conspiracy a while back but I have been looking for the perfect recipe for it. There are lots of dessert recipes but I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. So I decided to just use the sauce recipe on the package, which calls for mascarpone cheese (which we just happened to have for the first time ever - my mom gave it to us), walnuts, garlic, milk and parmesan. We had all of those things so I just had to pick up the parsley and pine nuts.
It was… interesting. First of all, it looked gorgeous. Those pictures don’t do it justice. The pasta was almost black and looked so rich. The overall taste was rich, creamy and very earthy but sort of subtle (we are, however, non-tasters so “subtle” to us may be overpowering to you). We added salt and cracked pepper and that helped to bring out the flavors. It did leave that almost powdery feel to my mouth, like after eating a dark, 85% cocoa chocolate bar. We both thought that it needed something to liven it up, maybe orange zest or something. I would love to experiment with it some more. The package and several sites said it tastes good with game, but I’m still a recovering vegetarian and not quite ready for that.