Baked on Monday

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I'm starting a new thing today. Each Monday I'm going to post a recipe of a baked treat. I bake a few times a week, and eat most of it myself while sitting at the computer. It's got to slow down. Now, I'm going to bake on Mondays and spread out the cookies, cake, scones throughout the week.....and I may share some too. I find cookies, cupcakes, etc., pretty photogenic as well. Maybe that's what attracts me to baking. Hmm.

Lemon Cakes - makes 12

125g (1/2 cup) butter

1 cup extra fine sugar (we call it berry sugar here in Canada)
plus 1/4 cup extra (for lemon syrup)

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

1/4 almond meal (finely ground almonds)

Grated rind and juice of 1 large lemon

Preheat oven to 350F (about 180C). In a bowl cream butter well. Add 1 cup sugar and beat again.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add sifted flour and salt. Add almond meal, lemon rind and milk and mix together.

Grease a 12 hole cupcake tin and spoon an even amount of batter in each hole. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer, inserted into cakes, comes out clean.

Combine lemon juice and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a sauce pan and heat until sugar dissolves. Pour syrup over cakes while cakes are hot. When cool, dust with icing sugar.

Try to wait until they cool down a bit before eating otherwise, ouch. Enjoy!

Shipwreck

I've had a week filled with photoshop, which is good as it means I'm working. Having said that, on major computer days, I often don't leave the house. Last night I decided to go to Kits Beach, which is only about 4 kms from our house, and meet up with my sister-in-law and nieces. It's so beautiful down there! Why don't I go more often?

These boats have been washed up on shore since the Easter weekend wind storm. They look kind of chaotic, but calming at the same time. My poor bleeding eyes thoroughly enjoyed them.

What do you do after a long, sunny, work day? I just may go to the beach again.

Friends

Mystery solved. Last Friday, during my family Easter brunch, my friend Sarah secretly dropped off a bunch of beautiful flowers for us. She was on her way out-of-town with Arvi, and decided to just give us some flowers. So incredibly sweet, but that's Sarah. My niece, the bunny , thought they must have come from my secret admirer. Ahh, to be 6 years old again.

Naturally, I had to photograph them a bazillion times, right up until they were pretty much finished. I thought they still looked beautiful even with shriveled petals.

Do you have a friend like Sarah? Someone that just does incredibly nice things all the time? I'd love to hear about them ;)

Good day, Sunshine

It was a pretty dreary day, here in Vancouver, until I was given the Sunshine Award from the Pink Panthress . Thank you Pink Panthress! Bloggers are just all shades of sweet.


I thought I'd post some random sunshiny pics to celebrate. Bring on the the sun!

Ok, so this isn't a "sunshiny" shot but I love the chair, and it will soon be sitting in the sun in our back yard. This fantastic deck chair is by Gallant & Jones . Thanks Tamra and Gwyn!

I would like to pass on this award to a few other bloggers that are all very different from each other and are just doing their own thing. So I pass the Sunshine Award on to:

A Day in the Country 

Little Pheasant 

Tamara Modern Mommy 

Flourish Design and Style 

RedhedGingerbread 

The Zhush 

Head Over Heels 
Now you should pass this award on to a few bloggers of your choice, and don't forget to give them the heads up!

Too Windy for A Bunny

Going for a neighbourhood walk with a little rain and a strong wind proved to be a little much for my niece, the bunny. I hope you all have a fabulous long weekend, and a happy Easter (if that's your 'thing'!)

My new hobby almost killed me

Well maybe not killed, but if I had fallen down the stairs, after I got tangled in a ball of yarn, I would have probably broken a bone. I didn't know knitting could be so dangerous. See reenactment above.

It's been a very busy couple of weeks. I'm working on a new project, trying to get my etsy shop set up again, and our garage is being turned into a screen printing workshop for my husband. I can't believe it's been 10 days since my last post!

Back to my hazardous hobby. After my near death experience, because of a ball of yarn, I decided to get a fraction more organized. I picked up a very cute 50's suitcase at Stepback - they have heaps. Now I've got all my yarn, needles, scissors, crochet hooks, etc., in one spot. I feel very grown up. Any other ideas, knitters, as to how to store knitting accessories?

 Bad storage of yarn.

Better storage of yarn. Cuter too.

Now I'd like to get all my dvds of images all sorted out. I have hundreds of them.  I would love to have these drawers that I saw at Stepback as well, in my office. So much better than how I currently store them.

 These dvds (left), would be better off stored in these drawers....and they'd look great in my office.

Finally had my old chair reupholstered. It's in a very happy blue fabric from Maharam . It looks perfect in our living/dining room area, sitting beside the china cabinet and a painting by my husband, Rob.

Before, ratty gold. After, happy blue.

On the knitting theme, I spotted this festooned stop sign near my gym (which I hardly ever visit). I've heard about "urban knitting" before, but I've never seen it in person. I love how someone decided that the stop sign should have a little scarf, went home, made one, came back and wrapped it around the stop sign.

Turning Japanese

It's cherry blossom festival time, here in Vancouver. I love spring. This year spring started in February, just in time for the Winter Olympics. Oh well, the city is in bloom and it looks beautiful.

The Nitobe Memorial Garden is located at U.B.C., and each April  they hold an Ohanami (cherry blossom viewing). This year it takes place on April 10th. Click here for more details.  Last year, I took part in a traditional tea ceremony, as well.  It was really lovely to watch, and so quiet and gentle.

Is your city in bloom yet? Happy Spring everyone!