I just finished making these “Maple Sugar Ragamuffins”, and they’re really amazing. It’s a rolled up little biscuit with caramelized maple sugar all over, a bit salty and not too sweet. I found maple sugar at store the other day and have been trying to figure out something to do with it.
The recipe is from Gourmet Today, the cookbook put out by Gourmet magazine just before it was cancelled. These were easier to make than scones, are great with a cup of tea, and look a really impressive.
We recently finished a custom media cabinet for some lovely clients, and wanted to share a few pictures. They needed something to fit a very particular space in their recently renovated living room. I drew up some sketches for them, based on my Bucks Coffee Table, which they liked.
We decided on dimensions, and I started building. We were initially going to go with little knobs for the doors, but ended up doing little cut out birds to use as finger pulls instead. I think they turned out pretty cute, and they were a lot of fun to make.
I had a few hours yesterday with which to do something purely recreational, so I made this. Feathers have been a theme in my work for years, and I was itching to do some needlework, which I haven’t done in quite some time. I used some taupe handkerchief weight linen and powder blue embroidery floss. I just did a simple running stitch first to make the spine of the feather, and then filled in the fluffy part freestyle, trying to mimic the way the hairs lie on a real feather. Pretty pleased with the outcome.
Roasted root vegetables on top of baby spinach with honey goat cheese. Super yummy.
baby spinach
4 medium beets
8 fingerling potatoes
4 oz. goat cheese with honey
toasted almonds
dried cranberries
Olive oil
balsamic vinegar
maple syrup
salt & pepper to taste
Scrub beets and potatoes, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread in single layer in roasting pan and roast for 40 mins @ 425 degrees. Rinse spinach and distribute between two plates. Top with almonds, cranberries, and crumbled goat cheese. Once beets are cool, slice and distribute between salads. Distribute potatoes between salads. Mix olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup, salt and pepper with a whisk, drizzle over salads. Serves two.
Happy Valentine’s Day. I don’t usually go in for holiday’s, but I got a bit inspired this time, and decided to make blueberry pancakes before dawn this morning, as a surprise for my lovely husband, who is a dear.
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 egg
1 cup of well shaken buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon Dominican vanilla
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
Cinnamon to taste
Blueberries, fresh or frozen
Thoroughly mix all ingredients in a large bowl, folding in blueberries at last gently. Add 1 tablespoon butter to skillet over medium heat. Drop batter into pan in 1/4 cup increments. Turn once bubbles on top of pancakes pop, about 4 minutes. Keep pancakes warm in 200 degree oven. Cut butter pats into heart shapes for pancake topper and serve with powdered sugar and maple syrup.
My Aunt flew in last week from France, and she brought with her a great new product that I wanted to share. My Cousin, Serge, has started a pasta making outfit, L’epicerie locavore, with a few friends in Paris, the goal being to make fine pasta from ingredients sourced in and around his own Paris neighborhood. The local food movement is not as big in France as it is here, but the interest in local sustainable food is growing rapidly. Isn’t the label the cutest? Their website is pretty sweet too. I love the direction they’re going in.
We had a delivery recently that took us down to Washington D.C., and while we were down there we made a pit stop at Montpelier Mansion, a historic colonial home that is open for visitors.
The inside of the house was not so impressive, but the actual building and the grounds were really charming. I took a few pictures of the highlights. I liked the fox ashtray and the oversized doorknobs the best.
The New Center City Console
We’ve just wrapped up building our newest piece, the Center City Media Console. This was started as a custom project for a client who liked our Center City Bookcase, but needed a place to put electronics as well. The construction of this piece is a bit different from the book case, in that it has a solid wood top, which meant that I had to figure out the best way to let the wood expand and contract inside the face frames of the console, which was a bit tricky. The door is slatted to allow remote control operation with the door shut, and there is no door pull, just a magnetic push latch at the bottom, to keep things looking as simple and clean as possible. There is a cut-out in the back to allow for the cords to stay tidy.
We built it out of mahogany solid wood and veneered plywood. I’m pretty psyched about how this turned out, it’s always really amazing to compare the finished product with the original drawing. It’s my favorite part of making things.
