Love This: Pinterest Selection

Yay!!  The weekend is almost here.

I am looking forward to it.  Here is a round up of photos I am loving from Pinterest that I thought you might enjoy.  I am particularly fond of the pie chart chocolate and green tea tins.  I wish I had them both in my house now.  How adorable are they?

Dried Cherry Corn Muffins

Good morning!!  I have a guest lecturer visiting my digital marketing class today and thought it would be nice to provide some breakfast-esque snacks to the bunch, so I made two types of corn muffins: Dried cherry corn muffins and a dried apricot lemon corn muffin.

I had a big bag of cornmeal sitting in my baking drawer and every time I look at the yellow grains, I ask what can I make with that?  I am returning to Toronto in just over a week and I am trying to use up some supplies so I can replenish at home and bring some missed baking items back.

While searching for a cornmeal recipe online, nothing was jumping at me so  I turned to an older, favourite cookbook of mine called Baking by Flavour (originally published in 2002 in hardcover and recently re-release in softcover).  Perhaps you’ve heard of it??  It is an excellent encyclopedia for baking recipes, tips and tricks.  Lisa Yockelson, the author of the book and graduate of the London Cordon Bleu, offers readers 260 baking recipes which are easy to follow and you learn something about combining flavours and what goes well with what.  The book is divided into flavours such as baking with blueberries, baking with almond, baking with cinnamon.  In Baking by Flavour the recipe below is called Baby Blueberry Corn Muffins and they are supposed to be baked in teacake size miniature muffin cups.  I had neither blueberries nor miniature muffin cups so I made larger muffins out of the dried fruit I had in my cupboard and the recipe turned out great.

I altered the flour in the original recipe.  The first batch I made with one cup all purpose flour and one cup whole wheat flour.  In the second batch I used two cups of whole wheat flour and added a generous splash of almond extract.

Dried Cherry Corn Muffins (Adapted from Baking By Flavor p 180.)

Use any muffin tin- In a 12 muffin tin, this recipe made 15 muffins.  I ended up making a batch and a half to get the yield I was looking for.

2 cups unsifted bleached all-purpose flour
1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
3 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup dried cherries (she called for fresh blueberries here)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup of melted butter (cooled)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Heat the oven to 400 C and butter or spray the inside of your muffin tin to prevent sticking and easy removal of the muffins.

Sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and granulated sugar into a large bowl.  Add the dried fruit and toss lightly.  In a new bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.  blend in the cooled, melted butter plus the vanilla and almond extracts whisking thoroughly.  Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to form a batter using a wooden spoon.  For puffy muffins, mix the batter lightly, making sure you mix in all the little flour pockets.  Here I used an ice cream scoop to transfer the batter from the bowl to the individual muffin tins which worked great.  Bake the muffins for 13-15 minutes or until they have risen and turn a golden colour on top.  Cool the muffins on a rack and then serve and enjoy!

Let me know if you try this recipe by leaving me a comment below or if you have another good corn muffin recipe in your repertoire.  I love to receive new recipe recommendations.

31 Bits

Hello blog readers.  I hope you had an exciting weekend full of sunshine.  It was 32 degrees with plenty of sun in Prague and the streets were rammed with tourists.  The city is in full bloom with the smell of lilac bushes.  Lots of exciting things are going on that I will share with you over the month of May including a series of photo shoots I am organizing for a new project which will launch in July.  My team and I had our first photo shoot this weekend at a friend’s house and it went off without a hitch and we all learned a few things to help us better prepare for the next one and feasted on a tasty vegetarian lunch.

I have been meaning to blog about social jewelry company,  31 Bits, as I think they are worth talking about.  I shared with you all earlier this month that my wedding clock is ticking away and we are soon approaching our wedding date in August. While most of the event pieces are falling in line nicely,  I currently have no dress, no shoes and no jewelry so my hunting efforts have kicked into overdrive.  I decided to start with jewelry and work backwards from there!

I can’t remember the first time 31 Bits crossed my path, as several terrific people have profiled them this pas year including 100 Layer Cake, glitter guide, and apartment 34 (to name a few).  However, when I checked out the 31 Bits website and read more about the brand’s story, I fell in love with their purpose, designs and more importantly, their recently launched bridal line.

31 Bits is a great company and is getting a lot of well deserved attention these days.   The company has a terrific entrepreneurial story and social community focus to their business.   They work directly with a community of women in Northern Uganda who specialize in making paper beads (the designers of the company).  If you are a bride or bridesmaid, it is perfect timing to have a company like this cross your radar as the festive wedding season has officially kicked off and I know how stressful the hunt for finding the latest and greatest can be to make sure you are primped and polished to the max before walking down the aisle.

I love their caramel dust look (below).  There is one more necklace I like but can’t find it right now for some reason.

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Love This: Braided bracelets

I love these braided bracelets that I found on Etsy!

They are fun, they are colourful, and they remind me a bit of the friendship bracelets I used to wear back in the day.  Of course the ones posted below are the “adult-way-more-stylish” version of the strings that hung around my wrist as a kid.

The first three are by Jurates Jewelry, followed by a bracelet by Rimon by Tamar, and the last one is by Bearandco.

Hope you are having a great Thursday.

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Milkmade

Isn’t it the best when you can combine work and pleasure?!  I think so.  Today as I was putting the finishing touches on my slide deck for class, I was searching for some extra examples to illustrate different e-commerce platforms that small businesses could use to get up and running fairly quickly.

I learned that one of the newer e-commerce solutions on the market that caught my eye was a company called Goodsie, (competitor to Shopify), whose site showcased several examples of small businesses that use its service.  Milkmade was one of them and I am now in love with this adorable ice cream company and happy that I found them.

Like every good entrepreneurial story, Milkmade was started by a girl named Diana in New York who was looking for better quality ice cream.  So she launched Milkmade the end of 2009 with an ice cream subscription model.  In return for the yearly subscription from customers, you get one or two pints of artisanal ice cream hand delivered to you in New York and Brooklyn.

With flavours like carrot cake, salted caramel, key lime pie, and pop tarts, Diana’s ice cream will certainly sound innovative and exciting.  I’m sure my taste buds would appreciate the local ingredients in her frozen treats.

What a fun treat one a month and something lovely to look forward to along with bills.  I wonder if she will do airmail to Prague!?

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Sansho

After seven months of living in Prague, I finally made it to Sansho on the weekend, one of the most highly regarded restaurants in the city.  This is one of the first restaurants you hear about in the expat community as the one not to miss.

On Friday evening, our group ordered the tasting menu between five people and feasted on Chef Paul Day’s mix of Asian dishes whose ingredients span several countries.

Overall, I think Sansho was the most flavourful meal I’ve had in Prague and certainly was some of the best Asian food I have eaten in the city in terms of authentic taste.  Sadly, the desserts were a departure from the rest of the Asian themed meal.

While our American and British style desserts were beautifully presented on the platter, I thought they were rather plain and unexciting.

The rest of the meal was worth it.

Sprinkles Ice Cream

For all you Sprinkles cupcake fans out there around the world, here is some exciting news.  You may already know this, I did not, which is why I am excitedly sharing this tidbit of information today: Next month Sprinkles is launching its first ice cream shop in Beverly Hills.  Just look at that shiny, new, white building with a brown ice cream logo just screaming for attention next to their cupcake shop. It’s saying, pay attention to me.  We are coming and it’s going to be amazing.

Photo Source: Sprinkles Facebook Page

If you haven’t heard of Sprinkles cupcakes, you must be living in a cave (I mean that in the nicest way possible).  Sprinkles was one of the pioneers that made cupcakes into a serious, big business for a lot of bakeshops and cupcake entrepreneurs.  If you are interested in learning more about the Sprinkles story, there is a great interview about Candace Nelson (the owner) here and a New York Time article on cupcakes + the Sprinkles story here.  Both very inspiring.

Just look at all the delectable flavours Sprinkles has (see below).  I can’t wait to see what they come up with for their ice cream shop.  Stay tuned!  I wish I could fly to Beverly Hills for the opening.

Photo Source: Sprinkles Facebook Page

Caramel Sweets

I am getting married in August and the “real” countdown to the event seems to be setting in these days.  The closer I get to the event, the faster I have to turn my ideas into reality.  One of the most incredible sources of inspiration for me has been the handmade items on Etsy.com.  I am purposely trying to purchase goods and services from smaller, less mainstream designers and vendors for decor and event details.  My secret goal is to create an environment entirely furnished by the hard work and amazing products of Etsy designers so I know my money is going to support small business enterprises.  Keep checking back throughout the summer as I reveal what I’ve chosen.

On a Skype call with my mother, who had just returned from a bridal lunch for her ex-colleague’s daughter-in-law to be, she excitedly showed me the bridal lunch favour she received: Two macarons bundled in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon.  Seeing how much I love macarons, if  macarons did not have to be eaten fresh, I think she would have saved them for me for a month until I returned for a visit to Toronto in May.

Our conversation got me thinking further on the topic of appropriate  favours and gifts to thank the people who have put in so much effort and time helping us plan from abroad.  How do you choose?  What is the protocol?  What is appropriate?  I’ve seen gifts and favours across the spectrum from “nothing” to “over the top” and it can be a confusing process narrowing down what to buy.  I have made some inroads on this topic and I a’m not about to go publicly disclose the gifts I have chosen and spoil the surprise for my bridal party, as some of them follow this blog however, I am happy to share some neat and interesting things that I have seen while browsing the web, that might also be of interest or inspiring for you!

First off- I love caramel anything. I tried making caramel once for a chocolate caramel tart a few years back which  I think I have to try again, but hats off to those talented caramel makers who are showcasing their goods on Etsy.

I am particularly fond of the caramels from Cheri’s Calabasas Candy Co.  Cheri, from Calabasas, California, is both an artist and a chef which is quite obvious from her amazing looking caramels below!!

Photo: Uncut Dark Chocolate Caramel

Photo: Fleur de Sel Caramel made with Madagascar vanilla

Photo: Uncut Vanilla Pecan Caramel

Photo: Lavender Fleur de Sel Caramel