Heaven in Chocolate Sauce

That's right, profiteroles are tasty bites of heaven covered in chocolate sauce. These particular profiteroles are from the Bouchon cafe in the Time Warner Center in New York but they're fairly available if you keep a sharp eye out when browsing the dessert menu.



These are on my cooking to do list. I've got a tasty vanilla ice cream recipe and fudge sauce is super easy. The pate a choux recipe for the dough is fairly common in my cookbooks (I think I'm going with the Barefoot Contessa's) but I'm a little nervous with the pastry bag but this seems like an easy project to start.

My Mom used to make cream puffs with a similar dough recipe and then fill them with chocolate pudding. So yummy.

Faux Vintage

So I love me some vintage jewelry but truthfully, finding the good stuff at a reasonable price? Tricky. This is why it's important to snatch up the reasonable "synthetic" aquamarine beads in various sizes and save your 40% off at Michael's coupons. Add in being a pack rat and not throwing away the brass wire you bought years ago to practice wire wrapping and you've got greatness. Not that I brag or anything.

But, I am loving the faux vintage feel of this piece. The beads are actual stone so it's fairly weighty and looks pricey but for much more reasonable prices. The rose and crystal beads at $8 bucks each can bring the price tag up quickly. Enter the coupon and a very sweet husband willing to go through the line with you and you've got beads at a fraction of the original cost.





Now, I just need the perfect outfit to show this baby off!

Influenced by Jules Verne

Growing up we watched lots of adventure movies like Sinbad, Swiss Family Robinson, Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I think this last one inspired me to pick up these little beauties at the beadshow in Grapevine. I had to have the octopus in amber even if I had no idea what I'd do with it.

I took the simple approach with some gorgeous carved beads I got from the same vendor. Again, I used chain links I took apart from a separate chain to add links in between the beads. Love the texture and the bead stretching.





All this crafty goodness was made on Friday night when a group of us "crafty chicas" got together for some crafty goodness, cocktails (sparkling fruit juice for me) and girl talk. My friend Suzanne who moved to Austin came up for the event and brought her new dog Oliver who is super cute. Awesome Friday night.

Summer Reading

As I am a delicate flower and wilt in the sun I've decided to take this time to snuggle in the couch with tea and a favorite baked good with a stack of books that will get me through these next few scorching months. Over dramatic? Not a bit, I live in Texas... y'all (nope, still doesn't fit but I'll keep working on it).

I try to be fairly eclectic in my reading material but I've mostly been reading the urban fantasy or paranormal mysteries. In addition, I'm working in some awesome foodie favorites but those take a lot longer.

I have been a fan of Charlaine Harris since the beginning and the Southern Vampire series (aka True Blood books) are the perfect summer reading. I think I read this one last Saturday and am super excited True Blood starts again tomorrow. Go team Eric!



This series by Ilona Andrews is greatness. It's really original in it's approach and I love a chick who can kick ass with the best of them.



I've had this one on the shelf for a long time but just picked up recently. It's written by a great blogger Molly Wizenberg and in the fashion of blog posts. I haven't tried any of the recipes, which were fairly secondary for me in terms of priority, but the reviews have been mixed. The stories are yummy enough to stand up on their own. No, I really couldn't help it.



Juliet Blackwell has done a great job with a fun magical mystery series set in San Francisco. SF is on my list of places to visit, hopefully this year, so I love the background it provides. There's also lots of talk of vintage clothing which is fun in the book but in life I mostly want it new and sparkly.



I've also tackled the latest in the Dresden Files, loved the series and Syfy can suck it for dropping it for super gigantic killer centipede story lines, not that I'm bitter.

Also finished Victoria Laurie's latest in the Ghost Hunter series. Fellow Texan who is much more productive with her summer hours. I love her mysteries with Abby Cooper too.

Whew, clearly my day job is impacting how much more reading and baking I could be getting done! I'm simply going to be grateful for all the extra daylight to read by.

Note: links and picture size are not a sign of favoritism but more of laziness in fixing them.

Molly

My friend Molly, who is an awesome paper and fabric artist, is doing her first blog giveaway and the giveaway is incredible. I'm seriously advocating checking it out immediately! Here's a handy link and everything.

I met Molly last year at Silver Bella and am still grateful for having met her. She promotes artists work and is the biggest champion we artists could ever have. Serious greatness.

Tasty goodness

Rolland smoked a pork shoulder the other night and it was fabulous. In trying to be better about eating the leftovers, I checked out Serious Eats that had a yummy looking Cuban sandwich on the homepage and I wanted one immediately! I peeked in the freezer to find 2 baguettes that were thinking about getting a serious coating of protective ice (if you don't know what that's from go here and check it out) and I remembered we had some Jarlsberg that needed to be used up found the smoked ham deli meat in the fridge and we were good to go.

Rolland used the gas grill and a foil wrapped brick to press them flat. A few minutes later yummy goodness! I think these would be a perfect accompaniment to the recommendation above.



Although I wouldn't recommend the 7 mile bike ride for dessert. Seriously, ride first then sandwich and a movie.

Happy Wednesday!

What to wear on a safari

I've collected all of these pieces parts. Some from the trip to Santa Fe, beadshows, internet purchases, etc but until they were all sitting in a pile in front of me on my desk I wasn't sure how to put it all together. Last post I talked about my love of layering and I think this really highlights that with the multiple strands around the focal elephant pendant. Also love the warm honey and earth tones.



Close up of the multiple strands and silver chain. These were all strung since I couldn't thread the wire through. Happy accident since I like the multiple techniques used.



Close up of the large stones that were linked via wire and the bali silver beads.



This is complete justification for leaving me desk a mess!

Lilac Necklace

I've been into doing a lot of assembly lately. Maybe because it already feels like a blast furnace outside and the idea of sitting in the garage with the soldering iron is extremely unappealing! I had a ton of pieces parts sitting around so it seemed like a great time to sit in the air conditioned studio re-watching Stargate (shut up, it's greatness!) and playing with wire and beads.

All pieces waiting to be assembled.



A few of the beads are shown where I've used the brass wire to start the chain. I decided to add some length and interest in the rosary style necklace by adding a link from a separate chain. It's a terrific way to stretch your supplies and add a bit of extra metal for interest. Also, I'm finding it helps the rosary style chains to lay flatter. The joining of the loops tend to get tangled when they don't have this extra link.

All put together with an additional chain added and the floral pendant looped onto the chain. I purposely added an extra inch to the second chain so it would lay a little below the beaded chain. It gives the look of layering, one of my favorite ways to wear necklaces, without having to actually wear multiple necklaces. I tend to have tangle issues with those. Not that this stops me but there you go.



A close up.

Never heard from again

My new obsession may keep me from ever being seen, or heard, again as I stare entranced with my latest obsession which is the cooking channel.



I love myself some Food TV but this is greatness. Rolland has informed me repeatedly that this is just hipster tv but I can't really help myself. Seriously, love it.

New Favorite: Baked

I've been on quite the cookbook kick lately and this has been a new favorite. I saw them on the on the food network then found a couple of recipes in a magazine and I couldn't resist trying the banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. They got rave reviews in the office so when we were having some folks over this weekend I tried them again along with the chocolate mayo cake. All were awesome.

I can't recommend this book enough. It's gorgeous to look at and the recipes are yummy.



These are the banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. Super easy.



Chocolate mayo cake where mayo replaces the usual oil. Incredibly moist and for all the mayo haters (I have trouble even acknowledging there could be such folk) you don't taste it at all. I promise.



I think this speaks to the yummy goodness that is chocolate cake.



I also made some homemade vanilla ice cream, Philadelphia style, and I have no idea what that means but also super easy and especially tasty with the cake.

Weekend Drive

This weekend we went for a drive in the country, which we come pretty close to living in anyway, but ventured further afield (HA!) and checked out some neighbors.

I'm loving this sign and am thinking of putting it under glass for a pendant.



These guys were super sweet. I got out of the car and it was incredibly quiet and peaceful. They just munched away on the grass and enjoyed breakfast. I don't think they minded us a bit.





In fact, I'm pretty sure Maya needs a reindeer!

Sunday in NYC

I was back in New York last week. I landed Sunday afternoon and came home on Weds. Since it was mostly work I didn't get a lot in but on Sunday I did walk down broadway to the end of the island at Battery Park which was a lovely. The walk was fantastic although slightly nervous since it was late afternoon/early evening walking through a fairly empty financial district. It was perfectly safe but it was odd to see so few people.

Along the way I saw Trinity church which was amazing and I'm completely in love with the graveyard and the folk stone etchings on the tombstones. I need to go back and visit when during open hours.











The street ended at the park and I walked to the end to check out the Statue of Liberty. It was gorgeous with the sun beaming through the clouds.





It was still cool but everything was blooming and lush. Perfect Sunday evening outing.

New Favorite

Lately I've been really loving the pottery from the 40's & 50's and been adding a few favorites to the collection.

This one was an etsy find and it's even more awesome in person.



This one I couldn't resist for reasons that I can't quite explain to the husband's satisfaction.



Mom and I picked up this guy at Canton. Seeing as how I'm an Aries and the living room has just gone pretty neutral he was a must have. I had been pricing him on ebay and etsy but picked him up for a few bucks plus shipping costs less. He's happily ensconced in the new bookcases in the living room.


Tonight I've been packing for another trip to NY and I'm trying a new approach of not over packing and not doing any serious shopping in the city. So far so good on the packing. I'll let you know how it goes on the shopping front when I get back on Weds!
Hubby and I did manage to get in a quick date night before I head out tomorrow. Iron Man 2 which totally rocked followed by sandwiches at home. Saturday greatness!

Charm

I have a friend at work who has a daughter that's quickly becoming a teenager. Turns out, her favorite (& only lest you start to get all judgmental and the like), is quite the francophile. I made this quick charm for her with a vintage anagram letter and text from a french dictionary on the back. I'm throwing it on a long ball chain with a couple of Eiffel Tower charms so she can have a little bit of France with her everywhere.

Random

A recent necklace that I made for my friend who's having a baby. The baby got lots of goodies so I thought it was only fair Mom did too.



Suzanne has finally headed to Austin which is awesome. Now, even more reasons to visit!



Edited to add that Suzanne is an excellent bear sitter should the need arise!