When one is deciding on what kind of dessert to make, and the birthday girl for whom it is going to be designed for tells you… “Chocolate”… that gives you some latitude.
I also know that she likes cannolis & champagne and peanut butter… so I picked two and ran with it.
My only experience with a trifle… old black and white drawings of parfaits, cakes and trifles and that episode on Friends where Rachel makes a trifle with ground beef… mine did not have meat… I promise ;)
I started with a layer of champagne cake, followed by a layer of champagne custard…
Followed by a brownie layer then chocolate mousse… then some more champagne cake…
Then… cannoli cream and chocolate shavings
Not a traditional trifle… more like a parfait I suppose. I didn’t think fruit had any place in this creamy paradise ;)
About a gallon of trifle was made… after dishing it out to 7 of us, we had waaay more than half of it left. And, to my surprise, nobody wanted to take any home.
I got a similar reaction to my trifle that the folks on Friends gave Rachel… I know the thing tasted good (unless lies were told), but the 12 egg yolks, 4 cups of cream and umpteen tablespoons of butter made everyone’s head spin. Oh, and this was after a pre-Thanksgiving birthday meal which we consumed less than an hour beforehand.
The entire meal… 8-10 sticks of butter. Oh yeah. Rock on.
I think she enjoyed it, though :)
I know I was grinning from ear to ear… before promptly entering into a butter-haze. (Best mug ever… on a mug)
Here’s the reaction to Rachel’s trifle-gone-wrong on Friends…
Sadly, the end was cut off… but… at least the “it tastes like feet” bit was in there!
I am making a Pumpkin custard trifle/parfait for Thanksgiving… I shall report back! :)
Blogging used to be an obsession. I always had my camera ready and I would fiddle with paragraphs and story ideas in my head all day long… I loved it. I even own a shirt that says “I’m blogging this”. Every detail of life found its way onto the pages of this blog.
But… life happened. A third move in 18 months, a new business endeavor, I joined the time abyss known as Facebook (hehe) and really… I’ve just felt out of the creative loop for months and months now.
The exciting part is that this move will be the last one for a while. We bought our first place… stressful, exciting, overwhelming, exhausting… I had no idea the planning and emotional turmoil involved. But, we are so thankful…
First on the agenda was to paint the walls. For those of you who have been in my store you know how much I love color. Once I get unpacked, I’ll share pictures. 15 gallons of paint… oh yeah :)
My office… 8 colors. One wall is going to be covered in hand-painted flowers and some of the furniture got a fresh coat of paint and flowers, too!
Here’s my desk…
This was actually pretty easy to do… all those black lines were done with a sharpie… so it was almost like coloring. It was a lot of fun :)
I have SO much great Halloween stuff to show everyone… my goal is to have that up this week and start on Christmas the following week. Everything has been in a topsy turvy holding pattern… I can’t wait to get back into the swing of things, I’m not sure where to start!
I’ve missed being here, in this little blog editing box. I hope everyone has been well… and happy!!
There’s nothing like moving to test your patience and immune system. This last week we’ve been moving all of our possessions into a pod and into a smaller apartment that we are going to live in for 6 months. During this circus, N and I had a cold. Not a huge deal, but just when you need your lungs most… they aren’t too happy.
In the process, we have been researching real estate and found a lovely townhome that we want to call our own (And watching every episode of Property Virgins and My First Place on HGTV!!). So, we purchased one… but it’s not finished yet. The fun part is… we got to pick the flooring, cabinets, where all the computer cables run and in the meantime, I can pick out back splash tile and paint color to my heart’s content! So fun.
I went to Border’s yesterday and purchased some wonderful magazines and met a few other fellow bloggers… that was inspiration to get back on the blogwagon. (I *heart* puns, remember?).
So, here’s to a creative gorgeous spring weekend… hope you all feel inspired to enjoy and create!
I saw these two Top Pot lemon donuts sitting in a case at the local Borders bookstore’s coffee shop. They were so bright and cheerful. They had to come home with me. I told the barista I was going to take pictures of them and to please put them in a box. He seemed concerned.
After a brief photo shoot…
They were consumed with joy. Very lemony and fresh. We recommend them.
Ring in Spring with a donut ;)
Also, I would call this art journal #39 & #40 since the donuts were placed in front of my 2 recent art journal entries :)
Cary Starbucks brews up ‘burning’ love
Starbucks wedding
Posted: Today at 2:30 p.m. Wral news
Cary, N.C. — It was love at first scald when a woman spilled hot coffee on a man at a Starbucks restaurant in Cary. One Valentine’s Day later, the accident-prone customers tied the knot in the same store.
Laura Strain came to the Starbucks, at 1217 Kildaire Farm Road, in March 2008 to treat herself to her first cup of coffee from the chain. Instead, she ended up spilling the coffee on a stranger, Allan Tortorice.
“He’s wearing my coffee, and I’m having a fit, because I was very concerned that hurt somebody, first of all,” Strain said. “He was all dressed up, and it (coffee) was everywhere. His jacket was open on his shirt, and he was sort of holding it so it didn’t burn him.”
The accidental encounter, though, started a romance between the two.
Strain gave her phone number to Tortorice, so he could contact her about dry cleaning and medical bills. Instead, Tortorice asked her out to dinner, and the romance steamed up from there.
“It’s what they call burning love,” Strain said.
On Feb. 14, a pastor married Strain and Tortorice at the same Starbucks store.
The bride wore a knee-length, white and pink dress and a hot pink shawl – for Valentine’s Day.
About 25 guests attended. Meanwhile, the store stayed open, customers ordered double mocha lattes, and the scent of brewing Colombian coffee filled the air.
That was a lot of puns… we do the drive-thru at that Starbucks all the time. Love it! Sweet story, too. In order to completely exhaust all puns, they should have changed his name to Joe.
Happy Heart Day! We celebrated with ice cream sundaes :)
Those of you with ice makers attached to your refrigerator… Is your ice maker LOUD?
At 1:00 am, 3:00 am and 5:20 am every night, our ice maker makes a loud THUD followed by an insanely loud BOOM which makes me jump every time. It sounds like a bowling ball being dropped from the second story. Well, at least I think it does.
My usual definitive sense of style is hiding from me. I used to think I was locked into a shabby-chic-beach-cottage-vintage-kitsch vortex but as of recently I’m gravitating towards more modern and sleek furniture with scary elements of the 60’s and 70’s oozing out. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching the Brady Bunch before bedtime? I think this started with my collection of acrylic grapes. My grandmother, Bobby, had them all over their lake house and I used to sit in the corner and fondle them when I was a kid. A week ago we had a two year old in our living room who was just as fascinated with the drift wood laden acrylic balls and I told her father, “Yep, in about 25 years she’ll be looking for these on Ebay… just like I did. We now have a new fan”. I need to point out, these handmade gems go for at least twenty bucks at thrift stores now. Ugh. Are we all products of our grandmothers’ taste? ;) And like many of you 30-somethings, I’d naturally pick up a magazine from the 60’s and fall in love with every over-the-top representation of pattern, color and gelatin product.
House and Garden, May 1965
I like the modern twist on the 60’s that we’re seeing a lot of these days. Very similar, but taken down a few notches. The moment I stepped into the Viceroy Hotel in Palm Springs, I wanted to live there. The trifecta of yellow, black and white was unusually comforting in my little blue/green-centric head. They call the style “a modern interpretation of the Hollywood Regency style”. Love it. (And ohmigosh you can buy chic hotel interior stuff from the Viceroy and other hotels on Kor Hotel Group’s website! Only $300 for three rolls of wallpaper!)
And take a look at the similar style at the Santa Monica Viceroy location (below)… too cool.
And all the color in design these days… the deep blue hues, rich pooling draperies… so neat… this calls for a montage.
In the past, more than one customer has come into the store with several decorating elements very seriously wanting to know the decorating style they are trying to achieve. “Is this French Country, English Country or Farmhouse?” Ohmigosh. I have no idea. Toile curtains, blue walls, ocean elements and white wood and you live in a 1930’s California ranch house bungalow. Ummmm… Catalina French?? I dunno! Makes me so nervous to put a label on such things. But it’s all sorts of entertaining.
With that said, would you say the above is this Rococo modern with elements of Victorian, Georgian and a twist of Minimalist chic? ;) In my house we call this “eclectic”… I was quoted in the local paper as saying my store was a baby nursery meets Fantasyland at Disneyland meets… was it…. a Tim Burton film? Wow. How very out of touch of me :)
So, I will continue to obsess on design… and hope to evolve with it :) Or, with my incredibly short attention span, I’ll be onto the history of sod tomorrow. Never can tell.
