so yes i've been missing but hey look at all the stuff i did

Ok so this feels a bit like a falsehood, to say I've been doing all of this stuff, because in all honesty this is stuff that was done over the course of one afternoon, but, there has been some time from my last post and I have done these things, so I think it's ok to imply at least in a blog title, that they were done over a span of time rather than over the course of six hours.

There was an ominous shadowy painting photo last time I was around. This is a continuation of that project. My roommate unearthed an old weird fake wood bookshelf from a corner of her room and we took it out into the sunshine on the porch to dust it off and revive it's awesomeness, and the only paint I had was these bright colors so I decided to paint it. And then after painting it yellow I decided that it would be cool to paint the outside green over that, and age it with, like sandpaper, or something, like I always see being done on furniture in Country Living type of magazines.

So I did. But I only had steel wool not sandpaper so I had to use that for the 'aging' process. Overall I would say it worked rather well, and we now have another place to put some of our alarming collection of books. Together I think we may be able to start a library....

There was also a fair amount of baking on sunday. A friends tree yields monsterous lemons so I must do something with them. Muffins, I think to myself?

Mini ones with hidden raspberry centers? Sounds like a good plan, especially as the market is still doing it's special prices on near-spoiled fruit, or stuff that's just a little squished but actually tastes best, and why not put them in the middle of a muffin?! Well I for one cannot think of a good reason not to do something like that, and so I did. Put raspberries in the middle of my lemon muffins that is.

Another think I did was make some plum-upside-down cakes. Mini ones again. cause I like to make things small and 'bite sized' so that eating multiples is more, um, justified. They were yummy but needed something more. Some lemons and raspberries cooked down together into a thick jewel-toned sauce? Check!

And this is what that lovely warm-day summery spread of dessert looked like in the end. I love checkered fabric and sunshine with my fruity baked goods. More soon.

bruised fruit and note-cards

A very good weekend it was, full of sun and pancakes. Pancakes with strawberrys.

I also made some greeting cards using ONLY materials that I already had.

All packaged up and ready to go for the holiday sale. In December. You can never start building up a stash of stuff for a craft sale too soon. I feel the need to stockpile crafts. Like a squirrel, a crafty squirrel.

I found the jackpot at Berkeley Bowl, tons of last minute fruit, all raspberries and plums and strawberries, so of course I scooped them all up.

And made some strange sort of mad-scientist crazy concoction of fruit with oaty-cake-batter-with-honey poured on top and then baked. And topped with vanilla bean ice cream. Yum and summer fruity yum.
And lastly an ominous picture of a current furniture painting project. What will it be, what are it's intentions? who are it's people? (hint, they are from the ikea family) stay tuned. Thank goodness it's sunny and nice and I have a porch to paint on as well. Many things to be thankful for.

can i say yum?!

Remember this empty shell I mentioned and said may be filled with something exciting?

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Here it is!

Cheesecake new york style. This was my first time constructing a crust in a spring form pan instead of a traditional pie dish, and I made a shortbread cookie dough and pressed it into the pan and pre-baked it then poured melted bittersweet chocolate over the whole mess and let it cool in the fridge for a spell before filling it with, well, the filling. A sort of simple cheesecake filling, with sour cream and beat egg whites and vanilla and almost no sugar. Very yummy when I taste-tested and fingers crossed, I threw that glorious pie of crazy into my oven and hoped for the best.

Unfortunately it did crack a bit in the middle, but the rest set so well that I just covered the whole thing is sliced strawberries and laughed it off. Plus then I tasted a slice and forgot about any cracked filling (what crack?) cause it was so darn delicious it was difficult to think anything else. I know it's bad form to say yum about your own food but hey this was fantastic so I said yum and I'll say it again.

YUM!

finishing a project and hints of things to come

Remember that lampshade that I started working on or rather spent about five minutes starting and then abandoned for a massively long amount of time? well I finished it! Very exciting to finish something that has been glaringly unfinished in the middle of my living room and now it is complete! check.

I cut out about a million leaf shapes out of tracing paper The same tracing paper I used for the globe lamp which is also in the living room. I thought it would be nice to have them feel similar in materials. And with the lamp on you can see the cut out leaf pattern on the inside of the lamp. Like a surprise.

Also, here is a crust, which will be filled with something. Or rather has been filled with something but is cooling and will be debuted later. Just you wait it's glorious and has chocolate!

what's been going on in my kitchen

Very pretty creamy pesto with honey-grilled carrots,

copious amounts of lemon zest muffins,

roasted mini-multi-color potatoes (with carrots, onions and peppers),

raspberry lemon-scone presents,

lots and lots of massive summer salads, with such fantastic colors and crunch,

and last but not least, a sneak peak at one of if not the most exciting thing to come out of my kitchen, possibly every: behold the glory that is the infamous so-intimidating-a-prospect-i-could-not-bring-myself-to-even-contemplate-making-it-for-almost-a-year bacon apple pie. That's right, this is an apple pie with bacon, in a lattice. And baked into the filling as well (just so you know)and maple syrup and little piggies around the edge (I can't believe how fortunate I was to find that cookie cutter in a drawer right before i undertook this epic project). I will leave you with this glorious image, and promises of things to come (bacon-y things) and more photos and projects. And I am going to go bask in the sunshine now!