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So, after a month and a half of not really having any time to cook for pleasure, I was feeling a little adventurous on Friday (and also hungry for chocolate), so I tried a new dessert recipe from a cookbook I bought from a little bookstore in Boston. Nutella Cinnamon Almond Cake!
Yes, it's just as yummy as it sounds!
1. Mix a cup of brown caster sugar, three eggs, a cup of flour, 4-5 tbsp of milk, 3/4 cup of butter, baking powder, cocoa, and cinnamon in a large bowl until the batter is smooth.
2. Butter a cake pan and sprinkle with flour, so that the cake doesn't stick.
3. Pour 3/4 of the mixture in the pan. Add four large blobs of Nutella and pour the remaining batter on top. Swirl a few times with a skewer and add almonds or walnuts.
4. Bake until nicely browned and springy.
The result - pure deliciousness!
After a stormy night, I spent most of my day hanging out in my garden.
I guess you could say that I was gardening, even though on a scale of 1 to 10, the intensity of my gardening was probably like 3. Still, I did pull weeds, I did trim bushes, and I did clean up the garden, and I believe that all of these activities fit into the definition of gardening. I even managed to do all that while listening to some lovely quirky songs by Fanfarlo, a band that I just discovered last night. Talk about multitasking :)
It was a nice day to poke around in the garden - it wasn't too hot - and I finished right before it started raining again. The wind last night had scattered peony and rose petals everywhere, which was kind of lovely, but still chaotic enough for me to want to clean up, so I did just that. I also gathered up most of the fallen tiny quince fruits from under the quince tree. It's a pity that so many of them fell victim to the storm, since the fruits, when ripe, make for a lovely jam. Still, that tree actually grows a lot more fruit than I can ever make into jam, so I wasn't too disappointed.
But you know something interesting about gardening that I realized today? Even the trash looks pretty when you are gardening.
If I had to write down my top three earring designs, these orange lovelies would definitely make the cut :) They are so summery with their small coral elements that I can almost smell the island air, and I can almost feel the hot sun on my skin. I actually wish I had more orange clothes, just so I could make a pair of these for myself. Anyway, their lucky owner e-mailed me that she did, in fact, own a orange-coral colored top, so I guess the earrings have found their home:)
Check them out below:
I got an order for a set of earrings and pendant that were meant to be a birthday gift for someone from her co-workers. I was pleasantly surprised when, a day later, they sent me their company newsletter, which featured a photo of the birthday girl with the pendant that I made, along with a mention of Kose-Bose Creative Designs. Check it out below; it made my day!
It's spring, everything is green and blooming, and I guess the nice weather has gotten to me, because the earrings I made for a recent order definitely have a certain "springtime" feel.
By the way, I do realize that my posts lately have been mostly about jewelry, but, well, it's because that's what I've been doing...:) I promise that more variety is coming soon!
These were done as a gift for a friend's birthday...I bought the scarf first from this little shop downtown, and then I made the earrings to match. I think this turned out to be a nice little set, and I do hope that she'll wear it :D
