I’m quite behind. November served to be a very busy month. Let me start catching up by starting with Halloween! I was a teacup with Bethany. Going off a sketch I drew up, we gathered local materials and brewed up these wild suits! I was black chai tea so I passed out pretzels and ginger snaps as my candy. It was actually quite comfy inside that suit.
I decided to follow the feather in hair trend. I’m a little late on it but I don’t dye or highlight my hair so I decided this could be something for me. I wanted it to be pretty seamless and natural so I got a caramel coloured feather that has a brownish mark in the center. I put it under my hair so it is only visible sometimes. In this picture I am at Gibralter Garden in Wilmington, DE. The other photo is over the pool on the garden grounds.
Justin and I spent Thursday in NYC. In the morning we met our good friend Greg Baumann. He took us to Stumptown for coffee. I must be out of the loop but this place is apparently a big deal. It had a dark sophisticated feel. The baristas were in ties, vests, glasses and hats. My coffee was strong but really good. In the afternoon we went to Brooklyn to visit the studio of domestic construction. Trish and Maureen met at SCAD and eventually started this collective after Trish finished working as a DC at Anthro on 5th Ave. They showed us the set of a rap music video they had done the day before. They also showed us their new lot and future garden. I gave them some home made granola and they gave us some letterpress posters Maureen’s sister made. They were so funky and cool and I’m sure we’ll see them again! ADC Young Guns 9 was that evening in Manhattan. Grand Army a collective from UD got a Young Gun title this year! Congrats guys! It was great to catch up with friends from my internship and people we met at Young Guns 8. We finished the night at our friend Claire’s drinking tea and catching up while a thunderstorm hit the city and rain poured onto the skylight of her adorable Chelsea apartment. Great trip!
Today was lunch at Deb (Marmie) Taylor’s. As my church plans their annual ladies Christmas tea, we are searching and praying about a speaker. Deb is someone we would love to have get involved. She is an incredible woman of multiple disciplines. Perhaps most apparent is her joy and energy! She uses it all to build her home, bake, write, concoct perfumes and grow abundant plants! She hosted us for an incredibly delicious lunch of Tomato Bisque, pear and golden beet salad, and oatmeal cake for dessert. I have so much to learn from this amazing woman!
My experiment. Squash Dessert tarts: We had some mashed up squash leftover from dinner so I decided to try throwing some simple things together to create a dessert for visiting friends last Thursday night. Below is my rough recipe if you want to try making them. Alter to your instinct.
Ingredients: 1 cup squash, cinnamon, ground cloves, brown & white sugar, baking powder, salt, 1 egg, wheat flour, butter, shortening, walnuts, almonds, oats
DOUGH: Combine 1 cup wheat flour, 1/4-1/2 cup of shortening and around 3/4 cup grated butter. Mix and break up pieces. Slowly add water while constantly mashing and mixing to form dough. Separate into about 8 pieces. Roll each one out and press it into a cupcake tray.
FILLING: Combine 1 cup squash, some cinnamon & ground cloves (to taste), 1 egg, 1/2 tsp baking powder and some brown & white sugar (to taste - I used about 1/4 cup of each) whisk until it is a batter-like consistency. spoon into crust bowls.
TOPPING: combine 1/4 cup of almonds and 1/4 cup of walnuts with some honey in a bowl until nuts are evenly coated. Melt 2 pats of butter in a pan then pour the nuts & honey mixture onto the pan, add a small handfuls of brown sugar and oats. Cook for just a few minutes to combine everything well. spoon topping onto each little tart.
BAKE: at 350 for 15-20 minutes, or until the topping is browned but not burnt.
Cool and eat them warm! or with some ice cream. Yum! I think next time I would try making them with white crust or putting raisins into the topping. It might also be good to drop some blackberry jam or apple butter in the bottom of each tart before adding the filling. The possibilities are endless!
My mom and I were at Ardmore Farmer’s Market this week so we brought our college student home some study snacks! Even the most simple adorments can make a package feel really special. I used a post-its, staples, and a leaf! Andrea got a fruit, nut, and grain bar and a banana chocolate chip scone! yum!
Last Friday I spent the night at my friend Bethany Taylor’s home. We started with a bonfire, s’mores, and Iron Hill’s Oktoberfest brew. Later we gathered inside to watch Justin do a yoyo performance and Abdul do a Kuwaiti belly dance performance. We fell asleep to a movie, all lined up in our sleeping bags and in the morning I woke to Bethany making us pancakes, bacon, and apples & cinnamon! The Taylor home is full of character and vintage charm and it was the perfect place to rest between double shifts at work. My parting gift from Bethany was these little mushrooms on a bed of moss!
Fall brings such comforting feelings to me. Communities gathering, the presence of the earth, spiced things. I spent a majority of my day sending letters. It takes time but snail mail is an important practice to me. This evening Dad and I picked lettuce, radishes, chives, parsley, and rosemary from our back garden. I used some of these ingredients in the potato oven fries I made for dinner.
In celebration of Grace’s 22nd we ate breakfast at our local old-fashioned counter top diner called the post house. I gave grace a handmade card and a bag with some vanilla cake inside. Happy Birthday G!
Check out this adorable gift I got from a dear friend Hannah Oliver! It is a notebook with illustrations by Aya Kakeda on the cover. I was so excited when I saw it because I went to one of Aya’s openings in Lancaster a while back and saw this illustration series at the show! In the package Justin included a free rap CD, and a postcard from a boutique in Williamsburg that we adore called In God We Trust. Thanks guys!
