Welcome, Autumn!

During football season, Matt always cooks up something incredible for us to eat before the game. This week, he made smoked macaroni and cheese, which I can't even talk about standing up. I decided to make a fall treat to bring over to Dan & Bean's house tonight (where we will inevitably watch more football and snack).

I got this recipe out of All About Baking. It's pretty easy, especially if you have a stand mixer. It does take about an hour to bake, but it fills the house with all sort of autumn-y, cinnamon-y, warm smells. And when you're in the sun room drinking coffee, reading and waiting for the house to wake up, it's quite lovely. 

 

The recipe calls for an 8x8x2 pan, so that it's truly a cake, but I wanted more of a loaf/bread situation. It came out perfectly fluffy and soft. I think next time I'll make it in a cake pan, the height of the loaf pan was a bit much and it tends to fall apart. What can I say, the recipe knows what's best.

There's an entire chapter in this book about how when you bake, you need to use the right flour. It raves about Swans Down Cake Flour for cupcakes, cakes, etc. It's really affordable, available at any grocery store and made a huge difference in density and fluffiness. I'm use to baking with various gluten-free flours or all-purpose flour, which is fine, but this cake turned out light and delicate due to the cake flour and lots of sifting. I'm sold!

Spice Cake

2 cups sifted Swans Down Cake Flour (or flour of choice)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (make sure it's still active!)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 pinch nutmeg 
1/2 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 egg, well beaten
3/4 cup milk

-Sift the flour once, then measure (spoon carefully so it remains light). Add baking powder, salt and spices and sift together three times. Using a mixer, cream the butter until fluffy. Add sugar gradually and cream together thoroughly. Add the beaten egg and mix again. Alternate adding a bit of the dry mixture, beating it until smooth, and then adding milk, a small amount at a time. Beat after each addition. Bake in a greased 8x8x2 pan for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. If you're using a loaf pan, decrease to 325 and add an additional 15 minutes.

 Now, let's talk about the frosting. I wanted something that dried like a glaze but was thick like a frosting. Oh my goodness. Let's just say after I glazed the cake and was moving it to the breakfast bar to let it cool, I came back in the kitchen and all my housemates were gathered around the mixing bowl shamelessly licking it clean. It's amazing. I want to put it on everything. I found the recipe for it here.

Brown Butter Frosting:

4 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Once the cake has completely cooled, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. After about 5 minutes, the butter will get brown specs on the bottom of the pan and give off a nutty aroma. Pour the browned butter into a mixing bowl and whisk in the powdered sugar slowly. Add in the vanilla and stir. Add the water, a little at a time, until it's still thick, but pourable.

Place the cake on a wire rack with paper towels under it and drizzle the glaze over it.

Enjoy!

Ashby & Abram

After nearly four weeks of being back in the Pacific Northwest, I'm back in California. My suitcase is still in the corner, untouched and fully packed, as I find myself in denial that Ashby's wedding is already over! My trip home was incredibly productive, but also incredibly wonderful. I haven't been home that long since I moved down here and I found myself forgetting that I don't live there anymore!

My days were spent working on various wedding crafts (I'm officially obsessed with making flower crowns), watching Gilmore Girls and soaking up time with family and friends. Which in my book, translates to the ultimate vacation. Although I missed Matt terribly, I enjoyed every day that I was home.

So to ease my homesickness as I return back to my life down here, I thought I'd share the few pictures I have from the weekend, mostly taken with my iPhone (lugging the Canon around was tempting, but I figured it would get in the way of my MOH duties..)

Here's a shot of Ashby & Abram during the rehearsal dinner. It had rained terribly that day, making for a very soggy and muddy wedding site. Our good friend Bethany put on her Wedding Coordinator hat for the night and directed us around joyfully, wine glass in hand. After tiptoeing around the grass for a while, we headed back inside for an incredible dinner.

After saying good bye to his bride-to-be that night, Abram went out for brotherly-bonding time with Matt and my brother at the pub downstairs. Ashby, Bethany and I sipped coffee and picked through the left over desserts as the staff cleaned up around us. It felt so surreal to me that she was getting married the next day! I don't think my sister has ever been described as a "calm" person, but I know she never cracks under pressure and was especially relaxed for someone who was getting married in a mere 15 hours.

The next morning, after scarfing down a continental breakfast while simultaneously doing my hair and makeup, I headed over to Ashby's hotel. (Note to self: next time, have girls stay in your hotel too so that your poor husband doesn't have to answer frantic questions about eye liner and bobby pins while half-asleep.)

Ash let me do her make up that morning, which in wedding world is a pretty big privilege, but in Ashby's world it's an even BIGGER privilege because she doesn't normally wear make up. She looked absolutely gorgeous, and later, Abram told me he couldn't even tell she had make up on. (Success!)

After that, I zipped over to the venue to start setting everything up. It was quite the group effort and things went seamlessly, thanks to all the help from my family (and to the extra large iced latte my husband showed up with). Seriously family, thank you! As you can tell from our squinting eyes in the picture, it was SUNNY! 85 degrees, in fact. I set up as much as I could and then handed everything over to my Aunt Jackie before slipping on my bridesmaid dress and getting ready for pictures. This part was the most hilarious and most memorable. In new shoes that were digging into my ankles, (didn't break my shoes in beforehand, what an amateur), I ran back and forth from the alter to the parking lot in attempts to smuggle Ashby into her dressing room without Abram getting a peek at her. When she pulled into the parking lot, she was barefoot, brushing her teeth and holding her dress bag. Classic.

She stepped into her dress while I placed her flower crown on her head and waved the photographer in for a few shots of us tying the satin bow in the back. A few sniffling bridesmaids were crammed into the room with us and (thankfully) took a picture that captured the moment perfectly.

After a few hand signals and more sneaking, we got Ashby from the dressing room without Abram seeing her. We all stayed back (but of course secretly spied) as Ashby greeted her soon-to-be husband.

I somehow managed to keep a dry eye the whole day (I was focused), but almost lost it watching Ashby stop to take a deep breath before walking towards Abram. After years and years of attending other people's wedding, it was finally her turn. Her day to be the bride.

About an hour and a couple flower girl meltdowns later, it was time to watch Ashby walk down the aisle!

 

 

The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a blast. I was zipping around most of the day, but still managed to enjoy a drink with my friends, take pictures of the bride and groom, dance with Matt to "Sweet Home Alabama" and step up to the mic to make a quick toast.

I've never really been that involved in a wedding, besides my own, but I tried to do as much as possible for Ashby so she could simply enjoy. I've never seen her as happy as I did on Saturday. She even came out on the dance floor for a couple songs!

Ash, it was an honor to get to serve and help you! I rarely get chances to do so, as you are older, wiser and wildly independent. And live in Africa. That day was beautiful, fun and went by way too quickly. I love you!

I'm sure I won't be able to resist posting more pictures as they surface; but for now, that's a pretty quick version of what Saturday was like!

Congratulations, Ashby and Abram! 

2 years

I took this picture a few moments before saying to myself "I want to marry him".

It was April, just a few months after we started dating, and we were in Alabama for his Grandma's 80th birthday party. As soon as she walked into the room, she ran past the twenty or so other people who traveled out of town to see her, straight into Matt's arms. Throughout our visit that weekend, my preconceived notions of Matt were proven right: he's loyal, caring, thoughtful and honest. I saw how much his family adores him and listened as Grandma told me story after story about her wonderful grandson. (Good PR move, Matt...) This picture is particularly dear to me now, after spending a couple months living with Grandma this summer and falling very in love with her as well.

Today marks two years of being married to this incredible man, a mere drop in the bucket of this life together, I hope. We won't be together until Thursday evening when I tackle him at the airport, so I'm spending today re-watching this a lot and sending him sappy texts. 

I love you, Matt!

Some bridal showers.

This weekend I had the privilege of throwing my sister a bridal shower! Ashby is bright, beautiful and a lover of flowers and color, so I thought it would be fitting to smother her celebration in flowers and bright, cheerful shades (gray and white are my usual color palette, so this was good for me).

I love any excuse to craft, decorate and bake, but I knew I would need help executing all my ideas, so I brought in the big guns: my fabulous Aunt Jackie. This woman puts Martha Stewart to shame. She and my cousin Danielle came up for the weekend to lend me a hand. Danielle worked hard running errands with me and steaming table cloths while Aunt Jackie rescued the strawberry macaroons, baked up several batches of her famous chocolate chip cookies and helped me bring all my ideas to life. Not to mention the six or seven loads of dishes she did during her 72 hours stay as well. It was not only incredibly fun to have them around, it was also a life saver! They helped so much, worked so hard and made everything so enjoyable. Thanks again you two! I love you!

Aunt Jackie's cheesecakes stole the show. Bailey's Irish Cream and White Chocolate? It was hard to choose. So I just shamelessly piled a slice of each on my plate and endured the stomachache (worth it!).

Once we were all gathered around to watch Ashby open gifts from her generous friends, I had her share with the group how she met her fiance, Abram, and the story of their engagement. I got so emotional watching her eyes light up as she told the story of their love, the corners of her eyes crinkling from smiling so much. So many times, Ashby has been a guest at a party like that, sitting and listening to someone else's love story. It was so blissful to watch her share her own.

 A couple days later, I got to sit back and be a guest at Ashby's other bridal shower. Two of my mom's best friends (and practically our second mothers), Sally and Robin, hosted a beautiful bridal shower for Ashby in Robin's home. It was such an amazing party. Ashby is very loved! The room was full of women tearfully gushing about their relationship with Ashby and the joy they share with her as she enters into marriage. Even though the living room was overflowing with guests, the party still felt intimate and personal as we shared marriage suggestions and stories about the bride-to-be.

 

An additional treat to the afternoon was getting to spend time with the couple that introduced Ashby to her fiance! You gotta love a successful set-up story, right? Thanks again, Sharon and Al!

 

 

I had so much fun celebrating you, Ash! I can't believe we're both in the same country, let alone the same house. 

Only ten more days until you marry your love! 

A note on muffin tops:

I've been baking a lot recently, mostly because I have delicious jam in the fridge and need to come up with things to smother it on. I've been doing a lot of lemon & poppy seed combinations (my fav) and made around four batches of lemon poppy seed muffins last week (I gave at least half of them away) trying to perfect the recipe. It hasn't happened yet, but they were still really, really good. Coconut oil to keep them moist and extra-lemony icing drizzled on top. They were just a mere step away from being cupcakes. Anyway, in the meanwhile, I learned some tricks to get great muffin tops and I thought I'd share them. 

5 tricks to get fluffy, high-domed muffins:

1. Spoon your flour carefully. Baking isn't forgiving at all, so the right amount of flour makes or breaks your recipe. Scooping your measuring cup right into the bag of flour might pack too much in and you'll get dense, flat muffins. Instead, use a spoon and scoop the flour into your measuring cup and then level with a butter knife (unless the recipe calls for one "mounted" scoop). I learned this tip from my favorite baking blog.

2. Sift your dry ingredients. This helps the muffins get nice and fluffy once they're baking. I sift the flour into a mixing bowl and then sift all the dry ingredients together once more (twice, if I'm using gluten-free ingredients). I use a sieve, but a traditional sifter would probably work even better.

3. Fill your baking cups completely full. Up to the rim. 

4. If the recipe calls for buttermilk, use buttermilk. If it doesn't call for buttermilk, improvise. For example, in one of my batches of lemon muffins, it didn't call for buttermilk, but I used the lemon juice that it did call for to sour the milk before I added it and ended up with really fluffy muffins. I shared a tip for buttermilk replacements in my pancake recipe. Something about the bubbles or something-something sciency. Whatever it is, it's great. Buttermilk is your friend in the baking world! Try not to use plain milk if you can help it.

5. Preheat the oven 100 degrees higher than your baking time. As soon as you put the muffin tins in, turn the heat down to what the recipe calls for. The blast of heat in the beginning is really what gives the muffin a high, fluffy top and is the most important tip.  

I was pretty excited when I combined all those tricks and finally got fluffy muffins with a top that could pop right off. It's so obviously the best part of the muffin. Seinfeld, anyone? 

 

Bits & Pieces of August

August has been going by pretty slow, which has been nice as we transition back to our lives in California after our time in the south. This last weekend, we celebrated alongside our friend Josh as he got married! A while ago, Josh had asked Matt to cook up something southernly-delicious for his rehearsal dinner. He chose his highly-coveted pulled-pork sandwiches, his grandmother's macaroni and cheese recipe and good ole' baked beans. Pork has only been in my life for about a year, but if it means anything, he makes the best pulled-pork sandwiches I've ever had. And I've been bouncing around multiple states in the south, people. He's absolutely perfected his recipe, making the rub and the barbecue sauce from scratch, so this was by far the best batch of pork he's ever barbecued. I always forget how much I love Matt's cooking until I have it.

Things were a little crazy around here last week, but when we were all sitting around outside under strung bulb lights drinking basil strawberry lemonade and feasting on a plate of southern cooking, it was all worth it. I love hearing people rave about Matt's food. Of course I think it's good, but hearing person after person tell him it's the best pulled-pork sandwich they've ever had, it makes smelling like barbecue sauce for a week all seem worth it.

Their wedding on Saturday was absolutely beautiful. The ceremony and reception were held in someone's incredible backyard, facing the hills on the most perfectly clear and warm day. Because our husbands were both groomsmen, Bean and I got to enjoy our usual routine of being each others dates and keeping each other company on the dance floor. It was a really fun night of catching up with friends and celebrating the Lewis'. We are so excited for Josh and can't wait to get to know Courtney!

Speaking of weddings, I get to go home tomorrow and spend three weeks in beautiful, summery Oregon helping my sister with her wedding! This trip is such a gift and part of the many, uncountable blessings-in-disguise we experienced when we went to the south this summer. Before we went to Alabama, I had arranged to get three days off for Ashby's wedding. Now, because of how everything ironed out with my boss, I get three weeks off to go home and start work again the day I get back. I would've missed out on so much only being there for three days. First of all, I haven't even seen my sister in a year! Secondly, I haven't met her Canadian love of her life yet and thirdly, I love Oregon and it's filled with all sorts of friends and family I need to see. Including several pregnant friends with bellies to rub and talk to. (Am I allowed to do that if I ask first?)

I've been keeping myself busy with her bridal shower, another huge thing I would've missed, and having way too much fun on Pinterest. (Thank God there wasn't Pinterest around when I got married, I was already a pretty indecisive bride..) But mostly I'm just really, really excited to see her get married. I will feel much better sending her back to Kenya as a married and well-loved woman! 

See you tomorrow, beautiful Northwest.