Friday, March 30, 2012

A Very Happy Office for Friday

It's been a busy week, and I'm looking forward to the weekend! What do you have planned for the weekend?

I thought I'd wrap up the week with the lovely Shereen de Rousseau's home office, designed by Nancy Riesco.  I shot it for Style At Home magazine's May issue. I'm sure she never has a bad day in this perky space...if she does, she can just curl up on that cute day bed.





Have a fantastic weekend! Back soon.
Janis

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Baked

Hope your week is off to a good start! I've got heaps of photo editing to do, and deadlines looming. Oh well, nothing a cupcake can't help.


Chocolate Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream - makes 12 cupcakes

150g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar (I used raw cane sugar)
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup all purpose or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

To make cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Lightly spray a 12 cup muffin tin with vegetable oil, or line with paper liners (I didn't seem to have any of those kicking around).
Beat butter and sugar, with an electric mixer, until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well combined.


Pour in milk and almond meal, and blend. Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt, and mix together until well combined.


Scoop batter into cups evenly and bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer, inserted in centre, comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.


Coconut Buttercream
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons coconut extract
2 tablespoons coconut milk
unsweetened coconut to sprinkle on tops


To make buttercream: Beat the butter, with an electric mixer, until smooth and creamy. With mixer on low speed, slowly add the icing sugar, a little at a time, then coconut extract, and coconut milk. If it's too thick, add a little more coconut milk. Spread over top of cupcake, then sprinkle with coconut. Enjoy!


Have a great day! Back soon.
Janis

PS
I've done a "behind-the-scenes" of a photo shoot for The Cross, over at Poppytalk today. It was so much fun!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Weekend Observations

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! Here's a little of mine...

Nerissa Goco is the designer of these beautiful bags. Check out their shop here

See more of the Cross here.

This fun "guerilla gardening" workshop was put on by Aloe Designs. Guest speaker was author and blogger, Andrea Bellamy. Hands in this pic belong to Aynsley Tanner, my partner in seed bomb making. I can't wait to start tossing these randomly throughout the city. 

This book is so helpful if you have just a tiny space to work with. I've shot Andrea in her tiny garden for Sunset magazine - it's incredible how many edibles she grows. 


What did you get up to this weekend? Hope it was a fun one!

Back soon,
Janis




Friday, March 23, 2012

Happy, Sunshiny Friday!

Well, it's sunshiny here today. Hope it is for you too!


Back soon,
janis

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Baked


Happy hump day! Hope your week is going smoothly.

I made a pot pie over the weekend, but added a biscuit topping as I'm not huge on the usual pie crust topping. To each his own, I guess. ;) You can pretty much use any combo of vegetables.

Vegetable Pot Pie - makes 4 small pies

1 small onion, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
1 large fennel bulb, finely chopped
1 lb white mushrooms, chopped
1 medium potato, diced small
1 cup frozen or fresh peas
1/4 cup scallions, finely sliced
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup milk


Preheat oven to 400f. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, fennel, carrots, and cook until just soft, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and potato and season with salt and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes. Sprinkle arrowroot powder or cornstarch over vegetables, stir to coat, and cook for 3 more minutes. Add broth and milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Bring to a simmer and cook for another 5 minutes until mixture has thickened.  
Remove from heat and add peas, parsley and scallions, stir to coat. Spoon mixture into 4 ramekins. Top with biscuit dough (see below).



Biscuit topping

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and chopped
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup chives, chopped

To make biscuits:
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cut in chopped butter with a pastry cutter until mixture is like a coarse meal. Mix in parmesan, then add milk and chives.


Knead dough in bowl, for a few minutes. Pat out onto work surface and cut out shapes using a 2.5 inch biscuit cutter. Top each ramekin with biscuit dough. Bake for about 25 minutes, until biscuit is golden brown. 


Really easy, and sooo good. It's kind of a staple around here. If you try it out, let me know.

Have a great day!

Back soon,
janis

Monday, March 19, 2012

Weekend Observations

I hope none of you are suffering from  St. Patrick's Day "festivities"! We had a quiet one around here. It was nice, as this week is shaping up to be an busy one.

Here's a bit of my weekend....



While eating some of that chocolate, I watched this short film about the writer of this book, John Roderick an AP journalist, and his beautiful farmhouse. If you have 15 minutes, you should watch it. I loved it. Thanks to Walter, at Old Faithful, for telling me about it.

Minka from Birdling Films on Vimeo.




What did you get up to this weekend? Have a great day! Back soon.
Janis

Friday, March 16, 2012

Shamrocks for Friday

We've had rain, a hail storm, a little sun, and a bit of a rainbow - perfect way to wrap up the week. 


Who plans on becoming Irish for the weekend? Guinness anyone? I would go for Guinness cake, myself.
Whatever you do, have fun!

Back soon,
Janis