creating in the kitchen

When Paul and I were in San Francisco we visited Tartine Bakery and quickly understood why it was so crowded. Tartine is a small shop that sells pastries and sandwhiches. We ate lunch and for dessert decided to try something different than we would usually order. Paul had a coconut macaroon and I had an almond rocher that was so tasty I bought the cookbook because it had the recipe in it! It's a simple little cookie that while a little strange looking, is really tasty and actually pretty easy to make.
I made some of the rochers (a fancy french word pronounced ro-shares) for Kate's party and then decided to use the new tart pan I got for Christmas to try my very first tart--chocolate hazelnut, also from the Tartine cookbook. It was delicious and worth the effort of peeling the skins off the hazelnuts (although next time I'll try to buy ones that are already peeled!) So far I'm loving the cookbook and dreaming about becoming a pastry chef and opening a shop of my own. It sounds romantic, although being around delicious pastries all day probably isn't the best thing for the waistline.

Another Christmas gift I received was a fancy cookie cutter meant to be used to make edible bouquets--similar to the ones they charge $50 for! You can find a video here with instructions, it was surprisingly simple to make and comes together at the end. While making it I kept thinking I was just going to have to give up and throw everything together in a bowl for fruit salad, but in the end, it turned out ok. It's fun for kids to look at and I think Kate may have eaten more fruit than usual because it looked so "fancy".

Birthday Fun

We had a lot of fun celebrating Kate's first birthday. We tried to stay pretty minimal considering she is 1 and doesn’t really understand the concept of birthdays yet. She seemed happy at her little party and enjoyed eating the cake!

I saw this banner in a Pottery Barn Kids catalog and thought it was so cute. Until I saw that it was $40. A little ridiculous for a birthday banner. It looked easy to make and it was {much cheaper too!} I bought felt squares from Joann’s. Cut out letters using scrap fabric and hot glued them on. The only sewing involved was folding down the top of the felt square and doing a zigzag stitch. I used rickrack to string and hang the letters. It came together in one evening and was fun to do. Hopefully it will store well and we can use it in future years as our “birthday sign”. {We still need to get a special “birthday” plate or mug. I remember always looking forward to using that birthday mug on my birthday. Maybe for her 3rd or 4th birthday…}



Anyway, for kate’s little party I found this idea from Martha Stewart Kids for party hats and thought it would be a good use of my scrapbooking paper now that I’ve given that up! They were really easy and fun. We even tricked kate into wearing it for a little while--it lasted about 3 minutes. (Enough to get a picture at least!)