she & him

The count down is on - three weeks until my sister and I go see She & Him!

As excited as for the show, I'm more excited to go with my sister and for her to see them live. When I told her we were going for her birthday, her excitement was so painfully wonderful, I just can't forget it. I love She & Him, but my sister really loves them, so being able to go with her will be divine.

chris bonney

I'm really enamored with Chris Bonney's photography. His use of light, texture and color is unreal and his range of work is extremely impressive and very inspiring. To really top it off, he's a very nice and knowledgeable man that gave me some great advice for my art.

spring

I'm so thrilled spring is here. I welcome it with open arms - wonderful weather, the beginning of longer days, delicious fruit and gorgeous flowers.

boys

Kevin and Schoen at Gainey Ranch.

lavender madeleines

When I was a kid, I always hated the fact that I liked the taste of madeleine cookies and tried to hide the fact that I liked them at all. I think it was because I just had a hate for the name Madeline. My entire life, I've been called everything BUT Madison - Maggie (when I went by nothing but Maddie), Natalie, Marjorie, Maybellene (I've got that one maybe five times in my life and I always hoped people got it from the Chuck Berry song, rather than the makeup), Marissa, and the most common, Madeline. I don't know why it bothered me so much as a kid. Maybe because I thought my name was so unique, or maybe I thought people weren't listening. I'm not sure.

Anyway...I always hated that I liked madeleines, but now that I'm over my whole name crisis, I love love love them. I'm very excited, tonight I ordered some Lavender Honey to make the Lavender Madeleine recipe below. I think these will be so wonderful with a cup of earl grey tea. In the meantime, while I patiently wait for my honey to come, I will make some more regular old madeleines.

Madeleines with Lavender Honey

9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 cup almond flour or almond meal
1 tablespoon lavender honey

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter each madeleine mold in pan and dust with flour, tapping out excess. Melt 9 tablespoons unsalted butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Cook until butter turns golden brown, stirring often, 3 or 4 minutes. Set browned butter aside

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites, sugar, all purpose flour, and almond flour is medium bowl until mixture is blended and smooth. Place honey in small microwave-safe bowl. Heat just to warm, 5 - 10 seconds (I'll do this on the stove, I suppose, seeing that we're microwaveless). Beat honey into batter. Add browned butter; beat to blend. Spoon 1 tablespoon batter into each prepared madeleine mold.

Bake madeleines until tops are just dry and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Gently tap madeleines out of molds. Place on rack to cool slightly. Serve madeleines warm.

Recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine

recipe cards

I've been meaning to make over the recipe box that my Great Grandma gave me years ago for quite some time now. I'd like to paste all of her hand written family recipes on nice cards that won't fall apart like the current ones are doing and then actually write up all of my recipes, rather then just keeping a notebook full of paper clippings and print outs like I have now. I'm madly in love with these recipe cards, and think they have inspired me to finally take on this project.

dorthea lange

"Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still."

-Dorthea Lange

guinea

This kills me every time I look at it. I'm starting to think I should purchase a print.


By the unbelievably talented (seriously, take a look at his work) Corey Arnold

tea stick

I think this is just brilliant. A stick infuser for your loose leaf tea - you just fill it, close it up and steep. No mess, no bags, just lovely.


Can be purchased at the MoMA online store

spaceball

Perfectly goes along with the wonderful rainy weather we’ve had.


From flickr user ianton

dinked...

This blog will serve as a place for me to post all things I like – things I think are beautiful, funny, creative, inspiring, desirable, innovative and enjoyable. I will post ideas, current topics that I find of interest, art that I have created, as well as projects I am working on.

The purpose of this blog is to house the things I want in my life. The things I want to be able to look back on and bring back in to my life once they are forgotten. It will serve as a archive of some sorts for myself and will possibly be of some interest to those who share my interests.