Rubber Stamps

I am in the market for some rubber stamps to use with my wedding invitations but don’t know which to choose! There are so many exciting designs, shapes, patterns and colours, I am not sure how I am going to make a choice.

I love that stamps have gotten so creative.  There are as many stamps as stationery choices.  Mind boggling really.  Fortunately Etsy makes it super easy to find someone to work with!!

Photos via Etsy 1, 2, 3, 4

New Trend: Dessert in a Jar

You heard it here first.  The trend is coming- desserts in a jar.

What’s not to love.  They are portable. They are filled with delicious goodness.  They are fun and they are attractive. Feast your eyes on these beauties below!!

On a non-dessert note, we had a delicious dinner tonight braised chicken with black olives, onions and tomatoes with roasted brussels sprouts and a mixed cabbage salad with cherries, apples and carrots.

adonde

Where are you? Where are you going? If you have ever studied Spanish in your lifetime, you are probably familiar with this word and its definition.  But, are you familiar with the ecologically minded, French design brand that goes by the same name?

The two designers behind adonde, Laurent Serin and Javier Gutierrez Carcache,  have created an impressive, natural, recyclable, locally produced, minimalist line of modular tabletop items that are both functional and stylish.  I found a nice quote on a European Consumer Choice website that gave this brand high marks for its products.  The quote was from one of the company’s designers who stated, “When an object is beautiful and useful, you don’t put it away.” I can’t agree more.

Adonde’s items are the type of things you would proudly display on your kitchen counter, table or shelf, not to be concealed behind doors.  While not massive, their product range is large enough to satisfy any entertaining needs.  Could you image having a set of 12 of their dishes?  They would look stunning against a rustic wood table.  Their colourful cardboard based organizational products are also neat.  They come in different geometric forms and you can store anything from paperclips, pens, pencils, markers, stickers and glue.  However, I am personally a big fan of their flower vases and teapots (see below).

If you are interested in learning more about the company, they have an excellent flickr stream and of course you can connect with them on their website. (Forgive my lack of question marks, especially the upside down question marks at the beginning of the word- I can’t make it happen on my keyboard!).

via apartment therapy

via fokal

via happy mundane

via wallpaper

via fitzsu

via pushing papers

via le blog desptisloulous

Art Sucre: Berlin

When I was in Berlin two weekends ago, I had the pleasure of meeting the creative, talented bakers behind Art Sucre, Berlin’s newest baking duo supplying the market with a much needed dose of macarons.  When I walked in, Nina, who trained in France, was focued on pipping out heart shaped macarons for a Valentine’s day order.

I spent an hour with them “talking shop”, getting a tour of their kitchen and got to sample some of their delicious macarons such as coconut, chocolate, pistachio, vanilla, cranberry-kirsh, lemon and cafe latte to name a few.  The macarons I tasted had the right balance between a crispy exterior and a soft, chewy interior and the ganache or middle fillings had a distinct, fresh and flavour not in the least bit artificial tasting that you get with an overly commercial operation.

From my own research in the city, outside of Galeries Lafayette Berlin, it’s pretty hard to find a good macaron, or any for that matter in Berlin. I mean, which city should be without a  trusted macaron shop to dazzle guests with trays of colourful macaron when throwing parties, or simply for your own personal macaron fix?  I know I am at a loss in Prague when I am craving macaron.  The commercial stuff you get from Paul just doesn’t cut it in comparison to something freshly made.

Back to Art Sucre, owners Frank and Nina have been in business for about a year and are moving towards becoming THE place for macarons in Berlin.   Something unique about their business is their savoury macarons.  In addition to the sweet flavours that are typical of a bake shop, Art Sucre also makes a line of savory macarons that are perfect with a glass of wine accompanying an aperitif for a cocktail party or after work drinks.  With flavours such as thyme and lemon, spicy parmesan, wasabi and beet and blue cheese and quince I am sure Art Sucre’s savory macarons will make it on every bride’s, hotel’s and hosts list of new and desirable items to serve to guests.

Monday, Monday

The weekend flew by in a flash and for those of you reading in North America, you’re lucky that you are still enjoying your long weekend today!  My weekend was great.  I went to see my first concert in Prague that was quite the unforgettable experience.  I tasted my first dessert with quark, (tvaroh in Czech), a fresh cheese that tastes like ricotta, cream cheese and sour cream mixed together.  Quark is a new discovery for this Canadian living in Prague, but quite popular around Central and Eastern Europe (it goes by different names depending on the country).  I am looking for recipes to test out a dessert in my kitchen some time soon, so stay tuned.  Made a delicious lamb tagine with rasins, almonds and honey from an Epicurious recipe, and tested out the Rose Bakery’s banana bread recipe.

Finally, I caught up on reading through my favourite blogs.  Last week was so hectic with work, my eyes and brain could not bare to be in front of the computer for one more instant, but I am back and recharged after a nice weekend.

First up, I love this cake.  It is covered in, what looks like to me, M&M’s without the m’s.  You could apply this technique to the outside of a cake with any candy really, like Skittles, or Smarties, but as far as I am concerned, this is a bit of monochromatic cake heaven.

via act on inspiration

Next up, as I was catching up on my blog reading this weekend, I stumbled upon some terrific new sites from around that world that I am loving right now.

Etsy:  Just Believe by Belinda Bracelets, DNTX Handlebar Bag in Blue and White Stripe and Just Potters porcelain tabletop platters and dishes

Blogs:

Paul and Paula’s adorable finds for kids.  I know when I return to Toronto in May there will be at least three new babies in the world and I am already scoping out potential gifts!  Have I mentioned how fabulous kids clothing is in Europe? Particularly Berlin?  Trust me, this is coming from someone without kids and I’m already melting looking at the stuff.

via Paul and Paula (noe & zoe line)

79 Ideas, a fellow Prague based blogger, has some beautiful photography and a great line up of home accessories and tabletop ideas on her site.

Get in touch with your inner Italian baker with Pane, Burro e Marmellata.  It’s going to take me a while to comb through this site of stunning food photography and baked goods, but I am determined to give one of the recipes a shot!

Anything and everything from Paper Eskimo, a stationery and partyware company from Australia, whose colour accessories are certain to liven up any party.

via Paper Eskimo

Finally, if vintage is your thing, I think you’ll really like Shabby Style, an online store and blog from Germany that carries charming accent pieces for the home.

Love This: Black and Yellow Teapots

It’s Wednesday and I have yet to have a good cup of tea.  Unheard of for a tea drinker like me!

I had the weirdest, most disrupted sleep last night.  The wind was howling outside my window and rattling my shutters all night.  I am pooped from mother nature.

It is 11pm and I am signing off from a full day of work.  Looking at the time, I realize it is too late for a caffeinated cup of tea, so I will just dream about brewing a fresh pot tomorrow and leave you with some of my favourite black and yellow tea accessories right now.  Any one have any recommendations for a nice herbal blend?

Tea at Chateau Mcely

On Sunday afternoon, my fiance and I took a quick, thirty minute drive out of Prague to go for tea at Chateau Mcely in the town of Mcely. The Chateau, located in a tiny village surrounded by forest,  reminded me of a villa that I visited in Florence back in October.  The property sits on a large piece of land with beautiful views of hills, trees and farmland.  It was very quiet this weekend, we were one of three tables in restaurant for tea.

The tea menu is quite large.  I sampled something called Sunshine Mate, which tasted like chocolate, caramel.  A nice tea on its own but when paired with a tea, I kind of wished I ordered a Jasmine tea instead to cut through the sugar.  The dining area is beautiful and large made up of three adjoining rooms plus a fourth enclosed “sun room” outback.  We sat in the first dining area that had a massive French-country-esque wall hutch which housed beautiful platters, tea, champagne and other trinkets.  The restaurant had a light and airy feel to it as all the furnishings were in the white/lavender/eggplant/grey and beige family with an accent of gold in some of the furniture. The dining room also had some impressive cameo wallpaper!

The tea itself was great and the desserts were not overly sweet.  I always think back to my tea at Moroco (in Toronto) which I deemed the best tea ever (in Toronto) but it is so sweet you go into a diabetic shock from the sugar levels in their delicious desserts.  The tea menu at Chateau Mcely had a nice mix of sweet and savoury and the sweet items were not too overpowering so you could actually enjoy them.

Since we weren’t starving, combined a half portion and full portion tea and shared the two.  Tea came with four good sized sandwich halves (cucumber, salmon and a misc. meat I did not try).  On the sweet side there were scones, a homemade marmalade which was topped with mint, mascarpone cheese and fresh butter, two lemon macaron that were a bit overdone, four adorably mini pop-in-your-mouth tarts and two triangles of a brownie/dense chocolate walnut cake.

I would like to go back to Chateau Mcely to try their lunch or dinner one time.  This place would certainly be a beautiful spot to host an event or escape for a weekend of quiet.  The grounds (although snow covered) were beautiful and you feel like you are in another country, only 30 minutes out of the city.  I love this place!

Guest Post: Sweet Heart Pancakes from Norene Gilletz

The making behind today’s post, kept my fiance and I busy for a couple of hours on Saturday morning between the prepping, making, photographing, eating and cleaning.

I had the pleasure of testing out a great Valentine’s day pancake recipe from Norene Gilletz, who I asked to write a guest post for Valentine’s day.  Norene is a Toronto based leading author of kosher cookbooks in Canada. She a real going concern in the food industry and splits her time between being a food writer, culinary consultant, spokesperson, cooking instructor, lecturer and editor.  She also developed an amazing chocolate-chocolate chip pancake recipe, which my fiance and I got to eat on Saturday and that I am going to share with you today. We were truly stuffed after we made them and I would recommend sharing this recipe among friends.

Norene included a lovely introduction about her pancake recipe when we corresponded that I included below.

“Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a heart-healthy breakfast and enjoy these scrumptious chocolate pancakes. You can mix up the batter the night before, then cook them up quickly for a special breakfast treat for your loved one(s). They also reheat in moments in the microwave.

Children (and grown-ups!) love it when you ‘write’ their initials with pancake batter! Pour the batter into the hot skillet to form the desired letters of the alphabet.  For Valentine’s Day, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter and trace the outline onto a piece of waxed paper to form a heart-shaped template. Place the template onto each pancake and sprinkle with icing sugar through a fine sieve. How sweet it is!”

CHOCOLATE PANCAKES

Adapted from Norene’s Healthy Kitchen by Norene Gilletz (Whitecap)

These pancakes taste like brownies – yum!

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch salt
2 large eggs
1 cup skim, 1 per cent or soy milk
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Fresh or frozen raspberries or strawberries, for garnish
Vanilla yogurt, for garnish

Icing sugar, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS

In a large mixing bowl or a food processor fitted with the steel blade, combine the flours, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Add the eggs, milk water, oil and vanilla. Whisk together, or process for 8 to 10 seconds, until just smooth and blended. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.

Spray a large non-stick frying pan with cooking spray and heat over medium heat for 2 minutes or until a drop of water skips on the surface. Drop the batter, using a scant 1/4 cup for each pancake, into the frying pan. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until bubbles appear on the top. Turn pancakes with a spatula and lightly brown the other side for 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer the cooked pancakes to a plate and keep warm in a 200-degree F oven. Repeat with the remaining batter, spraying the pan between batches. Because chocolate chips tend to sink to the bottom of the bowl, stir batter often.

Serve pancakes warm with berries, yogurt and or icing sugar.

Makes about 16 3-inch pancakes

My notes:  We found we had to add almost another full cup of flour to Norene’s recipe to get the batter to a thicker consistency.  Flour, when measuring by volume, can fluctuate which is why measuring by weight (in grams) can sometimes help you avoid undesirable consistencies or outcomes in baking.  We also didn’t have any whole wheat flour in our pantry in Prague, so we just used 1 cup of all purpose flour.  I cut the heart out of paper and decided to use the negative and positive space of the cookie cut out to get variation on our pancakes.

The pancakes were filling, delicious and tasted great with raspberry yogurt, maple syrup, chocolate chips, and frozen raspberries!  Your Valentine will be happy to wake up to a batch of these tomorrow.  Or, just give them a shot instead of your regular pancake routine.  Chocolate, chocolate chip is decadent but a nice treat. Thank you to Norene for supplying a new pancake recipe topped with an icing sugar hearts.  If you want to see what else I have made of Norene’s, her chocolate chip cookie recipe is another staple of mine.