Easter Weekend Observations

Are you still enjoying a long weekend? It's been sunny and perfect, here in Vancouver. Full of chocolate rabbits? I'm officially done with hot cross buns and chocolate anything....for awhile at least.

This is a little of what I got up to this weekend...

Worked on pics of a shoot I did with Ami McKay, of Pure Design, and stylist Crystal Carson. That also happens to be one of my images turned into a light box. Love light boxes.

Played around with some Impossible Project film with my sx-70. A little tour of Vancouver, "polaroid" style. Have you tried this instant film? Not like the old style polaroid film that would develop within minutes....this takes about 45 minutes, depending on the temperature, camera, etc. Still love it though ;) 

My contribution to the family Easter dinner: cupcakes. I used the Wacky Cake recipe, but added a caramilk chocolate egg in the centre, and iced with butter icing and coconut. 

Easter always brings out a little pastel in me. 

What did you do this long weekend? Still enjoying it? 

Have a great day! Back soon.

Janis

Happy Long Weekend!

If you celebrate Easter, I hope you have a nice one! A couple of my sisters and I, are taking our mom to Las Vegas. Should be interesting. Wish me luck. What do you wear in Vegas?

I'm wrapping up a busy week, with some pastel colours from the week of shoots...

Have a great weekend! Back soon.

Janis

Sunday Observations

I've ended up working today, so I've spent most of the day in front of the computer. My brief outing is above. I have to say, it makes it easier to work when it's raining ;)

That's been my Sunday. I hope you all had the day off and ate lots of chocolate!
Back soon!
janis

Easter Brunch Table

We hosted a family Easter Brunch (for 18. Yikes) yesterday, so I thought I'd share a quick couple of pics of the table as I was setting up. Lots of wood boxes, vintage fruit baskets and a vintage table cloth to wrap it up. Simple, and springy. We served hot cross buns, cookies, pineapple and melon plate and corn fritters with roasted tomatoes and avocado. I found the table cloth and vintage fruit baskets at Blue Owl, here in Vancouver.

Have a great weekend! Back on Monday.
janis

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

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 ;)

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'!)