Another Big Apple Treasure and their paper

The other place my darling daughter went (for me) in the Big Apple was the Magnolia Bakery.  It's a dream of mine to walk through their doors.  I have all their cookbooks == this was their first.

I have made so many fabulous recipes from this cookbook.  I almost always make birthday cakes for our family.  We really don't like most bakery cakes and it's always fun to pick a new kind of cake (except for the year angel food cake was chosen and it wasn't quite the decadent choice we preferred).  I made this recipe this weekend for the Super Bowl party and Bible study.

It was very labor intensive and there are 3 1/2 sticks of butter in the recipe, it took 4 bowls, 3 different layers and 2 steps in the oven.  But they were heavenly.

These are the goodies that came from the bakery:

The red velvet cupcake didn't last for the picture!  There's a pistachio, devil's food and their famous white cake too.  She even brought me a bag that will never be used, of course!  I can't wait to go this summer.

Mood -- of Project Runway fame!

 

My daughter just got home from a work trip to New York City.  She was very busy during the work part of the trip but decided to stay a couple extra days.  She had a great time with friends touring the city.  She just loves big cities and can't get enough of them whether it's NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, London or Dublin.  Well, the fabric bug her mom has rubbed off on her a little.  They stopped into Mood, of Project Runway fame to look around.  She ended up buying a couple of fabrics.  The black and white print is to recover her kitchen chairs.  She bought the other fabric to make a scarf.  She's very good with using scarves in her wardrobe -- I could learn a thing or two from her!  I'm sure I'll be helping her with these projects and can't wait.  I also can't wait to hit Mood when we visit the Big Apple this summer!

Making Vanilla

I really love to bake and none of that mix stuff for me!  I like to use the purest, freshest ingredients when I take the time to bake -- real freshly grated zest, butter, fresh eggs, grated chocolate, and pure vanilla -- none of those imitation extracts for me.  I honestly believe people can taste the difference.

  But real vanilla is expensive and in my college days I could only afford the imitation vanilla.  Now it really isn't an issue for me but $10+ a bottle is too much money.  So I started making my own vanilla a couple of years ago.  It's very simple, easy, and makes a great gift. 

I have lined up the ingredients in the above photo -- vanilla beans (these are the pricey part of the equation.  I've found Fresh and Easy has the best price in my area -- $2.49-5.49 for two beans.  The price is different each time I shop there.  I usually buy 10 bottles of beans when I make vanilla.  Then you need vodka, rum or brandy.  I use vodka -- no real reason, just what I chose.  I buy the cheap stuff for this (although seeing the bottle makes many vodka drinkers cringe) -- it's the vanilla bean that really matters.  You need some nice bottles with a narrow neck.  I ordered 3 or 4 ounce pharmacy bottles from beanilla.com a couple of  years ago.  I bought 36 of them.  You also need a cutting board and funnel.  I split two vanilla beans.

Then they get stuffed into the bottle.

Insert the funnel and fill the bottle with vodka (or rum or brandy).

Put the lid on the bottle and let it sit for 30 days.

Add a pretty label.  Mine is from the Martha Stewart collection and I wrote vanilla in cursive with a black felt tip pen.  Add a note card with a ribbon and you have a sweet little gift for a friend.  You can include a favorite recipe if you'd like, even the recipe for making vanilla.  And the best part is you never run out of vanilla, you can just keep adding your choice of liquor to the bottle to replenish your supply.  And, if your recipe calls for fresh vanilla bean, you can snip some off and add it. 

Baby Blocks

My awesome sewing group began a tradition a few years ago -- we make baby quilts for all our new grandchildren.  Of course, it should be many years before any come into my family, but you never know.  We have used a log cabin hearts pattern in the past.  But one daughter is having her second baby so we needed a new idea.  We designed our own pattern with everyone's input and ideas and one quilter used EQ to make our pattern.  We used alphabet blocks for the border and machine embroidered designs for the inside blocks
(6 /12).  Each of us worked on the paper pieced alphabet blocks.  We used pastel Aunt Grace fabrics for one quilt and primary colors for the other.  Here's pictures of the blocks I made.  The quilts are at the longarm quilter now so I can't show a finished picture yet.

Another great book

Seems the glare on this book is something awful.  I should have resolved to take better blog pictures -- don't know if I have that in me!  Anyways, the title is Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman.  It's a great book about 12 year old CeeCee who has had an absolutely dreadful life up til now caring for her mentally ill mother while her father is mostly drunk, traveling or with his girlfriend.  Her mother dies and she goes to live with her great aunt in Savannah, Georgia.  This is a fabulous book, more sweet and funny than depressing.  This is Beth Hoffman's first book and I can't wait for her to publish another novel.

Road to California

My sewing group went to the Road to California Quilt Show in Ontario, CA this past weekend.  It was a super road trip and we did it all in a day.  We met bright and early at 6 a.m. and made the 3 1/2 hour drive easily.  Of course, we had plenty of snacks, coffee, water and reading materials (quilt magazines) to keep us focused and able to assist our driver!  We found a parking space easily and wandered across the street in a light rain.  We spent about 4 hours there looking at fabulous quilts and vendors.  The lunch lines were unbelievably long so we walked across the street to Marie Callendar's.  I can honestly say it's been years since I've eaten there.  Then it was back to the show to see the last big room of vendors.  I found several patterns and treasures.  Our friend found herself a Koala sewing cabinet at 20% off, free delivery and free chair!  We can't wait to see it in her sewing room.  I can say this was the best $10 ticket I've bought in ages.  This show is highly recommended. I took my selvage purse so I would look like a quilter.  Our next planned road trip is to the Houston Quilt Show in early November.

A Great book -- deep though

This was a really GREAT book, but definitely not a light read.  It's nonfiction and there's lots of science and DNA in it.  It's about Henrietta Lacks who was treated at John Hopkins Hospital for cervical cancer in the 1950's.  Her cells were grown in culture, multiplied by billions, sold, given away and used to develop the polio vaccine among many cutting edge discoveries in the world of medicine.  The HeLa cells are still alive today.  They were used without Henrietta's or her families' knowledge.  I have truly loved this book.  It would be a great book club selections.