Jimmy Crack Corn

The Fourth of July is definitely my favorite holiday. There are no gifts or cards or other stressful obligations involved (other than those who cash in their 401k's to buy an armory's worth of commercial fireworks for their backyard show), just blissful relaxation and all the summer food you can handle, with the Fourth of July cable music station setting the mood...who knew there were so many songs about the good ole USA? I seriously have a nerdly obsession with all things marching band, so this was seen as a plus by me. For my niece who wore her iPod earbuds like armor, not so much.

This summer, I called dibbs on hosting this day well in advance this year, so my family made the trip over the mountains and through the woods. In exchange, we greeted them with fat cheeseburgers with all the fixins including hamburger buns by Dave's Killer Bread (yum!).

On the dessert front, I had planned to make the Corn on the Cob Cupcakes featured on Woman's Day this month, but spaced getting yellow jelly beans, so they'll have to wait for my friend's visit with her kiddos next weekend. When I was searching for the image of these, I found there were several recipes, including this one, but like that the other one has cornmeal in it and utilizes browned butter in the frosting to make it a more savory cupcake. (note to self: Add Hello, Cupcake! to Amazon wishlist)

(Photo: Moica Buck/Woman's Day)

We did, however, get to enjoy the deliciousness of my new favorite way to have real corn on the cob; Drop the husked ears in a pot of boiling water for just long enough that they're warmed through (about 2-3 minutes). Slather them in butter; I used the French butter La Baratte des Gourmets, which has salt crystals embedded throughout and can be found locally at Salumiere Cesario. It's so good, it's been dubbed 'crack butter' by some customers. After thoroughly slathering each ear, sprinkle with a mix of spices (mine had chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper). Devour. Wipe Chin. Floss.

Our Aunt Jackie's potato salad is one of those things that it just doesn't feel like a summer barbeque without. Thoroughly boiled potatoes, lots of hard-boiled eggs and even more seasoned mayo; Made just before you're ready to serve it, it's warm and creamy perfection.

For a little festive flair, I made white chocolate-covered strawberries with blue-sugared tips and printed star shapes out on colored paper to cut and string on a garland, as suggested by Our Humble A(Bowe)d  (I love this blog!).

To all this food, you just add some blissful vitamin D soakage, water-play fun for a bunch of giggling kids, and a heaping helping of patriotism by capping the day with a plateful of stars and stripes (read: star-shaped pbj and string cheese) for the kiddos.

Charlie was woken up by the abundance of large-scale fireworks visible from our back-yard at 10pm so we sat outside with his face peeking from the blanket, eyes wide in wonder. I couldn't help but wonder if he'll remember them.

And, yes, I finished painting the room the night before they came to town (and hadn't moved the furniture back when I snapped this photo with my phone). It's Goldilicious! I promise to take a crisp photo when all the decor is in.

Next up, the first all family tent-camping experience; should be good for a few laughs.

The (Hammered) Golden Arches

In just a few days, we will have lived in our house for a year, and what a year it has been! With new construction, I naively thought we'd just move our little family in and be done. Voila, right? Not so, my friend. Had we the money at the time, there are a number of projects that could have been completed prior to moving in, but we didn't. I have to say, I've had so much satisfaction from looking around the house and realizing how many little (and big) projects or finishing touches have been done with our four hands. Taking a few days in the sun to build the fence, and a long day to stain it a year later, are grueling in the moment but oh-so-delicious when you gaze out at your developing yard.

For the sitting room, I've agonized (maybe a little obsessively) over the perfect shade of golden yellow that will complement the Emmy rug that I bought on sale at Crate and Barrel just after moving in. It was the anchor of the entire room and I was not willing to swap it out for something else, so find that perfect shade I must. After about ten different swatches had been painted on each of the four walls in the room (to determine how it would look in every light, of course!) J finally quipped that if I kept up I wouldn't have to actually pick, it would just meld into a yellow crazy quilt. The pressure was on. 

I had invited mi familia to join us at our house for Fourth of July, and I like for there to be some progress with each trek they make to the Walla. Home Depot's paint sale just happened to coincide with my goal, so I bought the paint for the master, and took the Emmy swatch to the trusty paint counter.

After careful consideration with my friends in Orange, I took home sample cans of Behr Premium in both Ground Cumin and Hammered Gold. I was so frustrated with going for the gold that I decided to go in a different direction and try a green for contrast. Here's what I had to decide between:

Both were beautiful, but I knew the Hammered Gold would have the impact I was going for. After cutting in along the baseboards (tonight I have to bite the bullet and get up on the dreaded ladder to cut in on the top) I'm so happy with my color choice. It looks so beautiful against the trim and floors.

I liked the Ground Cumin so much, though, that I may have that be the color for the living room/entryway. Although, after my bedroom, I'll be taking a little whole-room painting hiatus. Our ceilings are high!

The only wall that doesn't have an archway or windows will have a photo montage of all the places we've lived and the fun things we liked to do while living there; Chunky frames in black and white will hopefully pull it all together. I also found these cool state watercolors and bought one of each for Oregon and Massachusetts in the 5x7 size and Washington in 8x10 on etsy, which I'll frame in black and intersperse on the photo wall.

I've had the same black scroll sconces that I bought at a PartyLite party about 8 years ago and have included in all of my decorating schemes after each move. I've spray painted them ivory, and plan to put mason jars filled with corks that I've saved on them instead of candles, and candle wreaths with ivory berries and greens.

I'm going to attempt my very first mood board in Photoshop, but until then, here're some of my ideas to fill out the room. I'm making a run to IKEA in August when we go to visit my old posse from the Child Welfare days to pick up some white sheers and fun pillow covers for the sitting and living room. These will look mahvelous with the one splurge for the room: The white slip covered PB Comfort sofa with down-wrapped cushions. A lot of people say you can't have a white sofa with kids or pets, but it's actually the best to have due to one little household genius: bleach. It's the only color you can successfully bring back to it's original state with a toss in the wash and some helpful chemicals. Not super earth friendly, but fashion friendly trumps it in this case.

The 'reading nook' will be relocated to the kids' bedroom and playroom when I get my white couch, but this is the gallery wall for the sitting room. All photos of places we've lived along with the three heart state prints (MA, WA and OR) from poppy & pinecone on etsy.

I found these two chairs on overstock to anchor the window, but depending on how they fit with the couch in the room, they may sit on either side of the arch, with a gate leg table or something under the window instead.

 I love the fun print of these chairs, and the green has the perfect touch of olive/gold to complement the rug.

A new light fixture will be a must down the road (I love the old 'school' pendants), as well as a couple of lamps, with an emphasis on leaving the space with an open feel. Crisp colors, livability and an inviting place to chat, knit or read a book when you first step in my home; all the things I wanted from that room. I love that the new color is making it feel like its own space, even though the giant archways keep it open to the rest of the house. Next up (I swear) tile installation.

(I also am drooling over these for my little back porch seating area. I know it's off-topic, but had to include it.)

Life's a Beach BLT Pasta

This weekend we traipsed across the state in our swagger wagon to spend some time with my husband's family, and celebrate our Uncle's installation as Commander of the Oregon VFW, at the coast. In order to shore up the costs, we all signed up for a meal and we ate at the beach house instead of ordering out or going to restaurants. I was going to make my old stand-by of Inside Out Manicotti when I ran across a recipe for BLT Pasta. I can't find the original one that sparked my interest, but I found several others online and they were all pretty much the same. How much easier can you get? Boil a pound (or two in our case of feeding a lot of people) rigatoni or another curly or ridged pasta so the bacon drippings have something to stick to, drain and rinse with cold water then place in a large bowl.

In a skillet cook 12 slices of bacon until crispy, then remove the bacon to drain and spoon all of the drippings save for one tablespoon into a small bowl and set aside. Even though I doubled the amount of pasta, greens and tomatoes, I kept the amount of bacon the same.

In that same skillet, place two heaping handfuls of chopped arugula, chard or another crisp and sturdy green and wilt it. Some have suggested spinach, but spinach has such a distinct flavor that's not a pepper green that I think it would make it a whole other dish and not the same as a BLT.

Remove greens from skillet and add to the pasta bowl. Then, reusing the same skillet, add one to two pints of cherry or grape tomatoes (it said to quarter them, but I left them whole and cooked them until they burst a little bit) along with a tablespoon of the reserved drippings. Toss the heated tomatoes into the pasta bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper, adding enough of the bacon drippings that the pasta isn't dry. In my case, with two pounds of pasta, I used almost all of the rendered fat.

For the first time making it, it was fine. I think next time I'd use more pepper, maybe a little bit of fresh basil, and definitely would crumble some feta or chevre over the top, or you could even add in some little pearls of mozzarella, but I think the salty creaminess of feta or chevre would be better.

For an easy, summer evening dinner that's a classic with a twist, you should give this a shot. It's definitely one of those that you make to recipe the first time, then tweak it to make it your own. I just wanted to keep it as close to the simplicity of a BLT as possible, but without the creaminess of mayo on you bread, the cheese may just be the ticket to making it closer to the flavor and texture balance.

It's another MotherTalk review! Click over to Knitty Reviews to read about Beside Still Waters by Tricia Goyer.

Oregon Coast Cupcakes

It's 10:54pm and I'm sitting at the breakfast bar typing and watching Dexter.  Now that I've called it that, I'm realizing that we never actually eat breakfast at it because it's too high and always covered in superfluous mail, a pile of books and whatever knitting project bag I've got going in addition to my laptop. But, back to the task at hand. Why am I perched on a barstool when I should be sleeping so that I can get more than four hours of sleep before my sweet little children awake pre-5am? Because I'm waiting for the last batch of cupcakes to come out of the oven so I can then wait for them to cool enough to take them out of the pan.

In the morning we're packing up the party barge and heading to the coast for a weekend of fun with my husband's family, and to celebrate the huge honor of our uncle being installed as the Commander of the Oregon VFW. Since so much of the family was able to make it, it's also morphed into a reunion of sorts with a huge bbq on Sunday afternoon, and the celebration of summer birthdays.

I love to make cupcakes. This weekend, I'm making two of my favorites; Magnolia's Vanilla Vanilla and a Chocolate Stout Cupcake that I made for Jared's birthday last year. The thing I love about family get together's is the time spent just chatting and relaxing; basking in the company of each other. I'm sure with the amount of people staying in the beach house, there will be at least one incident of hilarity and awkward tension, but that's part of the fun, right? Right?

In hopes of enjoying as much open time as possible, I decided to bake the large batch of chocolate cupcakes tonight and take them along.  On Sunday morning, I'll inject them with whipped cream (my first attempt, so I may only do it with a few) and ice them with a simple ganache. Basically, they'll be sophisticated ding dongs. Yum!

If you need a no-fail chocolate cake that's sure to wow (and gets better with each day as the flavors mellow) this is the one. With over four hundred reviews on epicurious, you're also bound to get a ton of great tips. It does make over 4 dozen cupcakes (I discarded the extra, as I didn't want more than 48 cupcakes!) so you can easily cut the recipe in half and have plenty. A quick tip for filling cupcake tins without a lot of mess is to fill a gallon sized freezer bag and snip the corner (or large pastry bag) and pipe it into the paper cups.

Neither of these cupcake recipes would be classified as 'healthy', but I did use fat-free greek yogurt instead of sour cream in the chocolate, so...

Chocolate Stout Cake By Barrington Brewery

Cake

• 2 cups stout (such as Guinness)
• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream

Icing

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. Butter paper. Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely. (I made four dozen cupcakes, baked for 18 minutes).

For icing:
Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.

Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with second cake layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake.