Chanterelle, my belle

I adore mushrooms, champignon, xiang gu! Oh, my lovely little fungi. So woodsy and rich, yet so delicate of texture. Musk of the earth. I so rarely get to indulge because my husband can't stand them--can't be in the house with them. So tonight while he works late, I've sauteed up a whole plate for myself. Just a little butter, salt, pepper, and fresh sage from the garden. Divine.

Study for a wedding cake

The perfect solution for a groom who wants dark chocolate and a bride that wants a traditional cake is a dual filling layer. A tiny layer of rich bittersweet chocolate ganache under each fluffy layer of Meringue buttercream looks so elegant when it is sliced and served. The chocolate would be way to dark and rich on its own. Here we have a lovely contrast and balance. The perfect marriage.


I couldn't resist using the tasting as an opportunity to try out a few purple sugar orchids.

Real chess cookies

I admit that I was extremely disappointed when I realized that you can't actually play a game of chess with a package of Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies. Like most kids, I pondered the point of it all. Unlike most kids I calculated how many bags it would take to have enough pieces. Then, I needed to take into account the probability of getting the right pieces. Nevermind that the cookies are all white! Luckily, that nerd-child grew up and realized that it's far easier to bake your own. There is a real satisfaction in devouring your opponent's captured pieces. Just don't eat the Queen so fast, you never know when a pawn will make it all the way across to the other side and demand a promotion.

Library Tote

We are constantly paying library fines around here. The good thing is that we go to the library often, check out lots of books, and read them all over the house. The bad thing is the around the house part--we can never find them all when it's time to head back to the library. The solution is


a dedicated library tote that permanently resides on Boo's bedroom doorknob. We can be off to the library with all books ready at a moments notice and the kids can carry their own books! You will need a paper cutting system. I have a relatively inexpensive Slice machine because I craft, yes, but I do not scrapbook. (Confession: scrapbookers scare me. But that's a whole other story). You simply cut letters out of freezer paper and iron them shiny side down in place. Fabric paint and then peel the stencil off! We added an iron-on owl embellishment. Boo loved this craft and it's so useful too!

More berry tarts

This one for my sister's birthday.

A berry good day...

Cristina's Wrap

We had our annual knitting group's gift swap and I made this wrap for my friend, Cristina. We usually have a few months to complete a gift for the swap and I had originally planned a fern green ruffle scarf made will skillions of short rows. It was a disaster and I bound it off and gave the length of knots to my daughter to play with. This was, of course, only a few days before the swap and I was in a panic. Salvation lies in the form of size 19 needles and a quick Twinkle knit. I finished this in less than two days. Just in time!