Thursday, September 15, 2011

Staci’s Bake-N-Blog Part 2

It’s here – Staci’s Bake-N-Blog Part 2! This time around, we’re baking cookies from a great foodie website, Tastespotting. With 169 pages of decadent & delicious cookies, it was practically impossible to choose just one. I already have three kinds of cookies, four cupcakes, chocolate cake, and pumpkin bread in the freezer, so I really didn’t need more sugar! I came across a recipe for Herb & Cheese Savoury Cookies with Balsamic Vinegar, and I had a winner!

2. Greed Herb & Cheese2

The ingredients are pretty simple, and I had everything on hand except the fresh rosemary (I’m sure you could use dried rosemary, just add less of it).

ingredients

Cookies
1 cup of flour
2 tbsp of fresh rosemary
1/4 cup of butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of sour cream
Salt and pepper

Balsamic Syrup
1 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoons of light flavoured honey

They’re really easy to make – all the cookie ingredients go into a food processor. First, put in the flour, rosemary, and butter and pulse until combined.

dry ingredients in mixer

Add the parmesan and sour cream. My favourite parmesan is Reggiano, but use whichever kind you like :-)

mixer parm sour cream

Pulse until the dough comes together (more or less).

all mixed

The dough was pretty sticky. Not sure if it was me or the recipe – I probably should have added a bit more flour, but I like to stick to the recipe the first time I try a new one.

dough on counter

Roll the dough into a log.

dough in log

Wrap it in cling wrap and put it in the fridge for at least an hour. Because the dough was so sticky, I put some olive oil on the cling wrap to keep the dough from sticking to it.

log wrapped

I made the balsamic syrup, but I cooked it too long and it went hard when it cooled. I was serving the cookies with BBQ ribs, so I decided to forego the syrup – already enough sticky sauce on the ribs. But here’s the sauce, bubbling away in the pot (just ‘cause the picture is kinda cool).

balsamic

The next day, I brought the dough with me to the cottage and baked the cookies there. I forgot to take a picture of the cookies before they were baked, but I cut the log into slices about 1/4” thick. I probably got about 2 dozen cookies out of the dough. Here’s the final product, ready to go out to the deck for supper:

cookies

The verdict? Everyone gave the cookies the thumbs up :-) They look crispy, but they actually came out soft. Not sure if that’s because the dough was sticky or if they’re supposed to be soft. Either way, the taste was great, and the whole plate of cookies was gone by the end of supper.

This is a really versatile recipe – you could probably use any herb(s) that you want, and I’m sure dried herbs would work fine if you don’t have fresh. And lots of cheeses would work – cheddar, monterey jack, swiss… any shredable hard cheese. Next time I make them, I’m going to try replacing some of the white flour with whole wheat flour, and the sour cream with Greek yoghurt.

If you’re looking for an easy and yummy recipe for a savoury cookie, try this one out :-) And if you’re looking for an ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookie (or pretty much any kind of cookie!), head over to Staci’s blog and check out what all the Bake-N-Blog participants have been busy baking.

sig turquoise

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Bringing the outdoors in - or is it the indoors out?

The ultimate indoor/outdoor room by Cutler Anderson Architects:

Tanglewood 2

It’s just like being outside, but without the pesky mosquitoes biting you and the rude wasps landing in your cottage cheese.

sig turquoise

Friday, September 9, 2011

Fab Furniture Friday with Jack

Union Jack, that is! I love Canada and I love our maple leaf flag, but let’s face it – the Union Jack is UBER-cool. And as you can see from these dressers, it looks pretty darn good as furniture. Miss Mustard Seed started a furniture makeover revolution when she unveiled this Union Jack dresser earlier this year:

union jack dresser

Fiona at Lilyfield Life made one…

Union jack dresser lilyfield life

This one is by Rachael at Lovely Crafty Home:

Union-Jack-Dresser LOVELY CRAFTY HOME

And Julie at Inspired By You did an amazing job transforming an old dresser into this beauty, complete with brass lion head pulls – perfection!

union jack dresser inspired by you

union jack dresser pull

What do you think of this one with a French provincial twist by Meranda Snyder at The French Provincial Furniture?Union-Jack-French-DresserByMerandaSnyder1Another French Provincial style dresser – this one sold for $1,095 on Etsy. Hmmmm, I think I need to get into the Union jack dresser painting business!

union jack etsy 1 union jack etsy 2

I don’t know who painted this Union Jack dresser or if it’s even an old-piece-made-new, but it looks pretty great so I’m including it here. L.A.-based designer Betsy Burnham incorporated it into her teenage daughter’s bedroom.

union jack betsy burnham

And here’s a fun spin on the Union Jack by Sheridan French – pink and orange!

union jack sheridan french 1 union jack sheridan french 2

I’ll be participating in Staci’s Bake-N-Blog cookie party next Thursday, and then I’ll be off to Maine for a week. So Fab Furniture Friday will be on hold for a few weeks. In the meantime, let me know if you have a piece of furniture that you’d like me to feature.

Happy weekend!

sig turquoise

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

You light up my life

arcoI’m in the midst of a decorating project, and I’ve got it in my head that it won’t be complete until I find an Arco-style floor lamp. The original Arco floor lamp was designed by Achille Castiglioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglionii for Flos in 1962. The great feature about this lamp is that it allows you to direct light down to pretty much any area you want, without having to mess around with adding a junction box to your ceiling. The curved shaft is adjustable to three different heights, making it even more versatile. The Italian Carrara marble base comes in white or black, and ensures that the lamp will stay put. Unless you have a large group of muscular men living in your house who will lift it up and move it around for you whenever the mood strikes ;-) Actually, it’s not THAT heavy – about 143 pounds.

The Arco floor lamp can be found in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and in stylish rooms around the world, like these…

LR houzz marie burgos designDesign by Maris Burgos Design, image via Houzz

LR ziger snead architects houzzDesign by Ziger/Snead Architects, image via Houzz

LR emerald cidade Image via Emerald Cidade

LR emily elizabeth interior design houzzDesign by Emily Elizabeth Interiors Design, image via Houzz

LR kia designs houzzDesign by Kia Designs, image via Houzz

LR william hefner architecture interiors and landscape houzzDesign by William Hefner Architecture Interiors and Landscape, image via Houzz

LR cococozyImage via Cococozy

 

dining stardust comImage via Stardust

kitchen neahuas design architecture houzzDesign by Neuhaus Design Architecture P.C., image via Houzz

dining room stacy begg photo michael graydon HHDesigned by Stacy Begg | Photo by Michael Graydon | Image via House and Home

Of course, great style comes at a price – one of these babies will set you back close to $3,000.00 CDN. Yikes! Which is why I’m looking for an Arco-STYLE floor lamp!

bedroom omaha trendsImage via Comfortable Home Design

LR decorpadImage via Decorpad

LR mix and chicImage via Mix and Chic

I’ve had pretty decent luck finding good stuff on Kijiji – hopefully there’s a floor lamp out there with my name on it!

sig turquoise

Friday, September 2, 2011

Fab Furniture Friday with Switch Studio

My friend Staci at {inspired by life} recently started a new business called Switch Studio. She refinishes and reupholsters pieces of furniture and gives them a brand new & fresh lease on life.

Check out these {not so great} Befores & {awesome} Afters, starting with a cute little stool.

staci stool before staci stool after

I’m coveting this amazing chair!

staci chair before staci chair after

From granny…

staci chairs before

…to gorgeous!

staci chairs after

Seriously, are you kidding me? How did this schlumpy sofa…

staci sofa before

Turn into this?!

staci sofa after 1 staci sofa after 2

And a couple of pretty fantastic headboards…

staci head 2 staci head 1

When Staci isn’t giving old furniture new life, she just might be in the kitchen whipping up some cupcakes or a batch of cookies. And on September 15th, Staci is hosting the second annual Bake-N-Blog party. Click the button below for all the details. Don’t miss out on the baking fun!

Bake Blog This is what I’ll be baking:

Herb & Cheese2

Happy weekend!

sig turquoise