Tea Party

Happy Wednesday! 

I'm back, after a bit of a break, with some pictures from a shoot I did for Western Living magazine recently. We shot this Mother's Day Tea Party at The Cross. They kindly let us set up shop for the day, while we propped and primped some fabulous treats and flowers. It was pretty handy to have a shop full of the perfect props too. 

Naomi and Lawren set up the food, while Elizabeth and Sylvie get ready for their close-ups. 

This is just a sample of the food we shot that day. You can find all the recipes, of several tea party essentials, in the new issue of Western Living, or online here. 

Our "studio" for the shoot, in a pretty area of The Cross. They were very sweet to hang a light fixtures for us as well.

So much more, from this shoot, featured in the May issue of Western Living. Just in time for Mother's Day! 

Have a great day! 

janis

Baked

Hello all! Hope you've had a good week. Any exciting plans for the long weekend?

This week has been mostly spent in front of my computer, catching up on editing a few shoots. I wanted to make some kind of a loaf/bread the other day, to help ease the pain of editing, but had no bananas. I did have dates, walnuts and coconut though, so tossed them all in a basic bread mix.
Since there are a lot of dates in this recipe, it's already super sweet, so I didn't add sugar. If you want to add sugar, I wouldn't add more than half a cup.

Date Walnut and Coconut Bread - makes one 9"x5" loaf (I couldn't find my large loaf tin, so I used my old Hovis tin, which is smaller. The result was just taller bread!)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup milk
1 cup pitted dates, soaked in hot water
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup large flake coconut
a little raw sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Line loaf tin with parchment paper, and set aside. In a small bowl, cover chopped dates with 1/2 cup of hot water. Cover and allow to sit for 30 minutes.
Beat the butter, in a large bowl, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add dry mixture to creamed butter, a little at a time, alternating with the milk. Drain water from dates, and fold into batter along with walnuts and coconut. Spoon batter into loaf tin and sprinkle raw sugar on top. Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer, inserted in centre, comes out clean.

If you try out this recipe, I'd love to know what you think!

Have a lovely long weekend!

janis

Seven Things

A very big thank you to these lovely bloggers for passing along the "Stylish Blogger" award to me.
These women have beautiful blogs, so be sure to check them out.
White Cabana
Nesting the Journal
A Home in the Making

In order to accept this award, I must do the following:

• Link back to the blogger that awarded you. Check
• Share 7 things about myself, kind of scary, but done.
• Award a few more bloggers out there, and let them know. Done and done.

Seven things about me (I'll try to make this painless!):

1. My husband calls me the "eccentric queen of impracticality". This is not a good thing.
2. I can't seem to stop watching Young and the Restless. A deeply guilty pleasure. Damn that Victor!
3. I'm a bird nerd. I love seeing a variety of birds hanging out in our back yard.
4. Writing about myself makes me a little uncomfortable, to tell you the truth.
5. I make almost all my own house cleaning products. It's cheap, easy, non-toxic and smells great.
6. I have a new sponsor child through Plancanada. Her name is Nadjiba and she's 10 years old.
7. I love a good refund policy. It's crucial for someone like me. See #1.

I'm passing the Stylish Blogger award to the following pretty blogs:
Nest
The Diversion Project
The Southern Hostess
Eat Live Shop
Flourish Design + Style

I hope you all have a lovely rest of the weekend! Back soon.

janis

Baked on Monday - Cinnamon Teacake

It's Victoria Day here in Canada, so it's a holiday Monday. Hope you're all having, or had, a great weekend!

I had planned on sharing this recipe with you last Monday, but that didn't quite pan out due to the serious illness of my computer while in NY.

My niece came by the day I made this cake, so she joined me in an impromptu tea party. I'm always up for one of those. It's a pretty delicious, spongy cake. Hope you enjoy it too!

Cinnamon Teacake (This is a Donna Hay recipe)

2 eggs, separated
1 cup berry sugar (a.k.a. caster sugar/superfine)
1 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder, sifted
60g unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the cinnamon topping:
25g unsalted butter, melted
2 tblspn brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 320f (160c). Place egg whites in a bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Slowly beat in the sugar until thick and glossy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well to combine. Gradually add the milk, then flour, baking powder, butter and vanilla and beat until smooth. Line two 6" cake tins* with parchment paper and grease sides of pans with a little butter. Divide batter evenly and pour into cake tins. Bake for about 35 minutes or until baked when a skewer comes out clean. Turn out onto wire racks. While the cakes are hot, brush with melted butter and dust with combined brown sugar and cinnamon. Have a piece while still warm - delicious!!

* I didn't have two 6" tins, so I used my 8" tin and the extra batter made a few cupcakes.

Enjoy your day!