A little wood, concrete and metal

Happy hump day! Wednesdays are turning out to be my fun days. I had another great morning with Stephanie and Joanna, from The Cross, shooting a bunch of their projects. I just wanted to share a snippet of Joanna's apartment with you....

Joanna, shot at the Cross.

Love her mix of concrete, wood, and metal. Her condo is pretty tiny (600 sf ft), but she manages to make it feel roomy. A great space to hang out in. She's working on a few bits, so I'm looking forward to sharing more with you soon. If you need design services, you can check out some of Joanna's work here.

That's it for today. Back soon!
Janis

Baked

Happy Thanksgiving Canada! Hope you've all had a great weekend.

We're in the middle setting up for our huge family dinner (19 people), and these tasty crackers are part of the cocktail snacks. Dead simple to make...perfect for a large dinner party. This was one quick recipe today! Love that.

Thyme Parmesan Crackers - makes about 4 dozen

2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1 cup whole milk
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375f. Place the flour, thyme, salt, parmesan cheese and sugar in a food processor and pulse until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. With processor running, add milk and mix until a dough form. Knead dough a few times, on a lightly floured surface, then break into 4 pieces, flatten and wrap separately. Chill for about 30 minutes, or until firm.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece of dough into a very thin rectangle, then transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Lightly score into strips or diamond shapes, then brush with egg white. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack then snap off individual crackers. Enjoy with with a cocktail!

Sunday Observations

Having a nice Sunday? What did you get up to today? If you're in Canada, you just may be eating turkey and stuffing ;)

I just got back from a meeting of fellow business owners on Union Street, in Chinatown/Strathcona. If you haven't been to the area in awhile, you have to visit soon. We're so excited to be part of this strip of Union Street (located on the same strip as the Jimi Hendrix shrine! Did you know he had a "shrine" here?) 

Click here, to check out their online shop!

For more, click here.

Website is up and at 'em. More info to come!

My giant family Thanksgiving dinner is tomorrow, but we are heading to a friend's for their Thanksgiving tonight so I made this....

(if you'd like the recipe, just ask me!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Back soon.

Janis

Long Weekends are lovely

Have a lovely weekend, and a long one if you're in Canada! It's our Thanksgiving on Monday. Can't wait.
(By the way, I love my friend's purple shoes.)

Back soon!
Janis

City Living

Have you had a good week so far? Hope so!

I shot a another city condo today, this time for Mark Pritchard - a very talented interior designer. I always marvel at the clever ways he works in storage space into condos. He's a magic man. Here are a few pics from the shoot. Wish I could show them all, but I can't...just yet. ;) Love the black side table, above. You can find it at Provide.

Loved the cushions, from Provide. A fantastic shop here in Vancouver. 

My dream dining table. Love the pops of colour in the trio of paintings. 

Perfectly organized kitchen, with pull out "counters" hidden amongst the cupboards.

The bedroom was so calming. Loved the dark wood panelled "wall" with the glow of light framing it.

I actually shot Mark's home, that he shares with his husband Daryl, a few years ago for Style At Home. You can check it out here. 

Have a good day! Back soon.

Janis

Baked

I'm having the laziest of lazy days. My first full day off in quite some time, so I'm catching up on emails, and doing a little baking. How's your Monday going (or gone!)?

This cake is so good, and perfect for the rainy day we're having here in Vancouver. The combo of the spice cake, pears and walnuts is perfect. I'm thinking of making this for Thanksgiving next week. Hmmm.

Pear Upside Down Spice Cake - serves about 8

For topping (or bottom, depending on how you look at it):

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, sliced in thin pieces

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 pears, cored and cut into thin slices

a handful of walnut halves

For spice cake:

2 3/4 cup whole spelt flour (you can use all purpose flour if you like!)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2/3 cup molasses

1/3 cup whole milk

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

To make the topping: Lightly spray a 9" cake pan with cooking spray. Layer bottom of pan with the 1/4 cup cold butter slices, then sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over top. Add the layer of pear slices and walnuts. 

To make the spice cake: Preheat oven to 350f. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice. In another bowl, beat the 1/2 cup softened butter, brown sugar, eggs, molasses, applesauce, and milk until well blended. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, into liquid mixture until well blended. Pour cake mixture over layered pears and walnuts, spreading out batter evenly. Bake for 20 minutes at 350f, then lower oven to 325f and bake for another 25 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted in centre of cake, comes out clean. Allow to cool for 30 minutes, before turning out onto a cake plate. Enjoy!!

That's it for today! Back soon.

Janis

Sunday Observations (and a couple from Saturday!)

How was your weekend? Hope you had a fun one! I spent a lot of time at the idsWest show, so thought I'd share some of it with you. It's a pretty long list of "observations", but it was a pretty great show, so it was hard to narrow down!

Must have a fatboy, one of these days. So comfortable! 

The fantastic team, Artsy!Dartsy! put together an amazing group of young designers. Pictured top left is ceramic art by Sarah Peloquin-Ladany, bottom left is nuum planter by Lavinia Chu. 

Inform Interiors is a beautiful modern furniture store located in the Gastown area of Vancouver. Loved those chairs (top left).

The Tom Dixon Pub. I think I need those copper pendant lights. They give off the most flattering light ;)

A very cute scene at the Montauk display.

Rubbish Rehab, from Seattle. This husband and wife team are pretty fantastic upholsterers. Wish I met them before a certain chair re-do. If you have a minute, check out their shop! I have my eye on a few of the mid-century style chairs. Love.

This is Barbara Hulanicki, of Biba fame. I've had a bit of an obsession with her for years, so there was no way I was going to miss her at the idsWest show. If you need a refresher on this incredibly talented and creative woman, click here. You will love her too ;)

Last but not least, a Saturday observation...

It was so nice to be asked to shoot the Design Sponge event last night. Great to meet Grace Bonney and Amy Azzarito. Always fun to hang out with Jan of Poppytalk and Denise Lui of Artsy!Dartsy! too. 

That's it for Sunday! Back soon.

Janis