welcome monday

www.petuniaz.etsy.com

goodness...feels as if i'm going to blow away today! it's a good day to stay indoors and catch up on a couple of projects. the weekend was busy as usual, and had us scrambling to get to hubby's biathalon, a saturday night bbq, and putting up a shed... a very productive weekend, it was.

i'm looking forward to a little peace and quiet today to regroup and tackle some creative endeavors.

cheers,
dawnie

friday alliteration

the mr. brought home a mystery package yesterday.

curious?

when i looked inside, it made me say, mmmmmmmmmmmm.

and yum...

and hooray!

because you can only get this scrumptious treat once a year

and only if you beat everyone else to the punch.

people trespass to find them.

get in rock 'em sock 'em robot fights

to win out.

what could cause such a reaction?

morel mushrooms...that's what.

i've had them before, but never prepared them. my wheels were turning and my creative juices were flowing with ideas: mushroom panini, mushroom soup, mushroom bechemel sauce...

but we were pressed for time, so we resorted towards simple and easy. lana's spring sing was last night and in a rush to get to school and in a rush to use up the morels whilst they were fresh, we chopped them up. sauteed them in butter. threw in some crackers. scrambled some eggs. and tossed in a little seasoning.

ta da! scrambled eggs a la super dee duper!

(sorry there's no pic of the scrambled eggs. i mentioned that we were

in a hurry last night, right?).

it wasn't fancy, but it sure was yummy.

and if it seems a travesty to waste such specialness on something as common and simple as scrambled eggs, all is not lost. my husband's coworker (who so graciously shared his mushroom treasure with us) is morel hunting this weekend, so i may have a second chance at culinary redemption. you can imagine the serious butt-kissing going on...

mr., mystery, mmmmmm, morel mushrooms.

it's a wrap.

and it's friday friends! amen.

have a fabulous weekend.

dawnie

news alert

baby birds in the house!!! yes, the babies have hatched- two of 'em to be exact. we're still waiting on the third and final one to make his debut. the kids were relieved, excited and beyond happy at their arrival.

it happened so fast... just this morning i checked on the little buggers and they were still nestled in their cozy little eggs. and the next moment, it's the p.m. and the kids are tumbling off the bus, peepin' for progress. and there they are! two little brand new babies, mouths turned up and calling for mama robin for a little something to snack on.

they are so fresh and new. some might say not the, uh...cutest things in the world. still pink and featherless and their eyes have yet to be developed. but we will rival that they are the most adorable little baby robins because they're "ours" (you know how it is). now that they've made their way into the world, it's only proper to name them now. it will be interesting to see what the kids pick out...

we are happy to have them here, alive and well after all the drama last weekend. round one, over...(ding). now for round two...fingers crossed that the neighborhood kitty stays away.

to spring, baby birds and all that's new,

dawnie

lesson learned

a week ago the kids and i made a wonderful discovery that was hiding right under our noses. a mama robin had made her nest and laid four of the most magnificent blue-hued eggs under our back porch. each day we would roll the grill off to the side and mama bird would flee from her nest and into the neighboring maple tree and watch us as we peered through the cracks of our deck at the four little birdy eggs.

over the weekend a sad thing happened. after telling the kids to only look at the nest and eggs and not to disturb them, a friend convinced them that birds can't sense humans and therefore they could handle the eggs. so as my daughter scooped a tiny egg out ready to pass it on to my son, it slipped before he could catch it. it fell to the ground and cracked...

two stricken children ran into the house, tears streaming their faces. to their credit they told the truth, all of it. elena cupped the little egg in her hands and found a box to nestle it in. keith grabbed the shovel and we headed out to "the" corner. after it was done, and after some heartfelt "sorrys" were expressed, she laid a flower on top.

at bedtime there were more tears, hugs and prayers that baby bird was in heaven and that mama robin would come back to sit on the rest of her eggs. we talked about mistakes and and what we learned from it all. another of life's lessons on forgiveness, and respect for life and nature all rolled up into one.

i promised lana before i went to bed that i would walk down the steps of our back porch to see if mama bird returned. if she was there and she heard me, she would fly away. if not, there would be nothing. i opened the door quietly so as not to scare her off before i had a chance to spot her, but then walked halfway noisily down the steps. and mama bird was there. i was happy to report to the kiddos that she flew away like a banshee into our maple tree and chewed me out whole-heartedly with a "TWEET TWEET TWEET!!!". relief all around.

[photo by joseph hollick]

fingers crossed and maybe a few more prayers for good measure, and hopefully we'll have some of these cuties to show you soon...we certainly hope so.

(to be continued...)

mother's day VIIII

mother's day love...

snuggling

morning movie

sushi

flowering everything

poem

the lady i owe my thanks to... thanks mom!
(you too dad!)

the man who started it all...

and the little ones who make my life worthwhile.

(more snuggling tonight).

xoxo,

dawnie

part deux- hello cupcake

phew! for a moment i thought i had lost my cupcake-making mojo. good thing it came back, because today i made some petite-sized mother's day cuppies that go perfectly with the cake platter i made yesterday. sweet success...

can you tell they are a bouquet of carnations and begonias? hmmmmm...me either.

but i think they look pretty nonetheless.

and here's another cake platter that i made with another porcelain bowl. another lucky find at goodwill. i like how the lavender cuppies look all grouped together.















i thought about giving them away...









...but then the kids and i ate them. we couldn't resist.





luckily they can be made in a snap.
here's my favorite recipe for chocolate cake below.
it has never let me down...

lennie's deep dark chocolate cake
from recipezaar.com

2 c. white sugar
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. canola oil (or melted butter)
2 t. vanilla extract
1 c. brewed coffee

preheat oven to 350 degrees. line mini-muffin or muffin tin with liners. in a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. add the eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla. mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer. stir the coffee in by hand. the batter will look a tad soupy, but do not fear, they will puff up and round out evenly when they bake. next, pour evenly into the liners about halfway. bake for 15-20 minutes for minis or 20-25 minutes for regular cupcakes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely.

buttercream frosting

2 sticks of butter, softened

4 c. confectioner's sugar, sifted

2 t. vanilla

pinch of salt

1/4 c. milk

cream butter until light and fluffy. beat in sugar, vanilla and salt. add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting has a smooth consistency.

then click on this link...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9qtZwHHmx4

and it will take you to a video tutorial on you tube that shows how to frost the cupcakes into begonias and carnations. do not fear: a lovely lady named allison will walk you step by step through the process.

i won't show you the cupcakes from yesterday because, frankly, they had the face that only a mother could love... they tasted good anyway:)

so if your mom loves:

chocolate + flowers + cupcakes +handmade

this is a winner.

(and the cake stand is a bonus).

happy, sweet mother's day to all the moms out there!

dawnie

part un: mother's day cake platter

oy. so the best laid plans don't always work out as i found out today. at least half of my project worked out, and tomorrow is a new day. so here is the half that did work out. i've been wanting to build a cake platter for some time now and finally found some suitable dishes to make one.

here are the materials that you need to do the job...q-tips and napkins for cleaning up the goopy glue spillover, a ruler to center your pieces together, a washable crayola marker and some good bonding glue. i used e-6000 that i bought at jo-ann's that dries transparent and is supposed to be washable.

i found two porcelain dishes at goodwill for 3 buckaroos total. the container is a shabby chic piece that someone originally bought at target (i thought it'd make an equally cute pencil/pen cup but decided to sacrifice it) and a white plate. you can also find bowls, plates and cups at your local target, kmart, walmart, and so on that would work too.

you can use a ruler to measure exactly where to center your bottom piece, but i just plopped my bottom piece down the center of the plate and marked the circumference with one of my kiddies crayola markers.

then i squeezed a ring of glue around the edge of the top of my cake base and glued the sucker down. **note about the glue**: it is super stinky so best to use it outside or near a window (or else pass out from the smell). then i used my q-tips and napkins to clean up where the glue squished out and wet another q-tip to erase my marker dots. i let my cake platter dry for a couple of days; you can put some weight on the top of the plate to hold it down if you like.

voila! cake platter!!!

i think it turned out pretty cute. ahhh...too bad my other "project" is not so lovely, but i will repost "part deux" of this mother's day gift tomorrow.

i'll give you a hint: petit gateau!

until then,

oh and happy friday!

dawnie