Sunday Observations

Did you all have a nice weekend? Finding it hard to believe that's it's over? I am.

Today, I checked out Isabelle Dunlop's "pop-up" shop here in Vancouver. It's located on the corner of Kingsway and East 11th. She's a talented fashion designer and sings in a band called Sex With Strangers. Does her talent ever end, I wonder?

My husband did this painting of Isabelle, as a 12 year old, with her horse Hamish.

If you love a little modern vintage style, you have to have this book. I "observed" it here, and bought it immediately. Finally had a chance to look at it today. Emily Chalmers is such a great stylist. Love her shop Caravan, in London, as well.

Vintage baking and cooking gear is the best. These were given to me by Carol, owner of a beautiful condo that I shot for an upcoming issue of Anthology. Thanks Carol!

That's what I observed today. What did you get up to? 

Back soon!

janis

An update for you: I've posted a fun and easy Easter project, over at Poppytalk today. Seems some of you do want the recipe for those cookies so here it is!

Sugar cookies - makes about 24 (depending on size of cookie cutter, of course)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Glaze:
2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then beat in egg and vanilla. Whisk flour with baking powder then add to butter mixture and stir. Separate dough into two pieces, flatten each and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour.
Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to about 1/8 inch thickness. Cut out your shapes. In this case, I used a rather tall rabbit shape.
Place shapes on parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350f/180c for about 10 minutes, or until lightly golden on sides. Allow to cool on wire rack.
For glaze: Mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice. Add a little food colouring (I like the gel colours) to get the desired shade. The icing should be a little runny, so it's more of a glaze than icing.

That's it! Check out the entire project at Poppytalk. Thanks!

Tiki

I popped by the Waldorf Hotel here in Vancouver, to get a few shots for something else, but thought I'd share some with you. Let's just say, I now feel like a Mai Tai. Right now.

This hotel has been restored to it's original Tiki goodness. When you step into the Tiki Bar, you feel as though you've just stepped into a time tunnel straight back to the 50's. It's pretty much unchanged since then. Very "Blue Hawaii". I know it's kitsch, but it works and I'm glad it's still around.

I posted an iPhone pic of these chairs a couple of weeks ago. Here are some more images of Nuba. It's a great restaurant, located in the Waldorf as well. There are a number of elements I could see adding to our home. Love the chairs, the green chalkboard (I prefer green over black), the wood partitions, and cabinets.

These images are of the Leeteg room. It's named after Edgar Leeteg, the man that brought us modern velvet paintings. Velvet paintings make me smile. You can read more about him here. Again, everything is pretty much original, they've just added new chair cushions.

What do you think of the Waldorf Hotel? Can you embrace Tiki, or does it remind you of rumpus rooms of the past? I can say, it's a fun place to visit, good drinks and great food too. Check it out if you can.

Back soon!

Baked

How was your weekend? Hope you had a good one!

It's a dark and dreary day here in Vancouver, so it's a perfect day to try making Hot Cross Buns. I've eaten many over the years, but I've never actually attempted making them. I always have an Easter brunch for my family, so I wanted to give these a try now, in case they were a bust. I'm happy to say, they were not a bust, but I do have to work on the shape. ;) Definitely worth trying out.

Hot Cross Buns - makes about 8-10

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup warm water
8g package of active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup warmed milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins (I used currants)
1/4 cup chopped mixed candied peel chopped into small pieces (I haven't included the recipe for candied peel, but let me know if you'd like it. I had made some a little while back, so I used it in this recipe)

Glaze:
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water

Icing:
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Dissolve 1 tablespoon of the sugar in warm water, in a small bowl then sprinkle yeast over top. Let stand for about 10 minutes or until it starts to foam.
In a large bowl, blend together remaining sugar, flour, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the centre of dry mixture. Whisk together milk, egg, egg yolk and butter and pour into well. Add yeast mixture and stir all together with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for about 8 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl, and turn to lightly coat dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 75 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in peel and currants. Shape dough into a 12 inch log, and cut into 8-10 pieces with a serrated knife. Shape each piece into a ball, stretching a pinching dough underneath to form a smooth top. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet, about an inch apart. Cover with a tea towel and let rise for about 40 minutes or doubled in size. Bake at 400f/200c, in centre of oven, until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Glaze: in a small saucepan, stir sugar with water over medium heat, until dissolved. Brush over buns. Allow to cool on pan.

Icing: Stir icing sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Using a piping bag, with a round tip, pipe a cross over the top of each bun. If you're not into the cross, you could just spread a little icing over each bun instead.

Do you have anything special that you make for Easter? I'd love to know!

That's it for now. Back soon!
janis

Concrete Walls in Homes

How are you all? Hope you had a good week.  I had promised a Wednesday post but, obviously, that didn't happen. My apologies. I really have to get better at multi-tasking. It seems when I have a crazy shoot schedule, I can do little else. I will work on that!

Lately, I've been dreaming of renovating. I deeply dislike my fireplace, and I think my husband finally agrees. It reminds me of a certain chain of restaurants, here in Vancouver, and that's not good. I'm thinking about introducing a little concrete to our home, and this might be the spot. I've seen quite a few "feature" walls in homes that I've shot and it can look pretty. I would definitely want to mix it with wood and warm it up a bit, and keep it to a small area.  Hmmm. I'd love to know your thoughts.

janis
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Baked

This weekend I made some very simple lemon poppy seed muffins with my nephews. Actually, they really love lemon and poppy seed, but said they didn't like "muffins" so I told they they were cupcakes. They loved them ;)

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins - makes about 36 mini muffins

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup plain yogurt
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons lemon rind
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350f. Butter mini muffin tins or use paper liners.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Blend lemon juice and yogurt in a separate bowl. With an electric mixer, beat butter, lemon rind and sugar in a large bowl until just combined. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition until mixture is light and fluffy.

Beat in dry ingredients alternately with yogurt mixture. Mix until just combined. Fold in poppy seeds. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup.

Bake for about 15-18 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted in centre, comes out clean. Cool in pans for a few minutes, then remove muffins from pans to a wire rack.

Have a great day! Back on Wednesday.

janis

Sunday Observations

I made just a little set today, but I've got visions 

of a future garden party. 

Etsy shop I'm loving: ReStyle

I also observed that hanging out with my nephews, Owain and Liam, is a lot different than hanging out with my niece, Annika. Holy Crazy Boys. Minute one of arriving at our house, there was a knee and slate stair collision. Ouch. The day could only get better after that, and it did.

What did you observe today? I'd love to know! Back soon.

janis

Flowers for Friday

It's been a day of ironing out many computer issues with Jacqueline Queen of the Mac. I love her. She calmed me right down. I'm ending the week with a trio of flowers. Hope you all had a good week!

 

janis
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