Posts from September 2014

Eight Months

September 24, 2014

They say time speeds up once you have a baby and that has been undeniably true for me. Sure, the days can be long. Sometimes it can feel so repetitive it’s almost like watching the same movie over and over, but then the calendar ticks over to the 24th and I realize Greta is one month older. It goes by too fast. My heart aches when I realize her days of being a baby are coming to an end.

The most important thing motherhood has taught me is to slow down and to be present. Watching her discover something as simple as a raindrop landing on her forehead is so magical. She is endlessly amazed by the world and I am so surprised by how complete I feel watching her grow and become her own little self.

The Mist

September 23, 2014

The smell of salty sea mist always makes me homesick. I grew up in Arcata, a few hours south of the Oregon border on the California coastline. It’s always funny when I tell people I’m from California and they immediately remark on how nice it must have been to grow up in the constant sunshine. Humboldt County is a different kind of California. It’s a rugged and rocky coastline that is almost always blanketed in a thick fog, rarely inching above 65 degrees. It’s the most beautiful mixture of ocean and forest, the Oregon coast comes close but nothing can top the majestic redwoods perched above the ocean like you see down there.

We took a trip back home to visit our families a few weeks ago and were greeted with the typical Humboldt fog. I used to think it was completely oppressive (oh teenage angst) but now it just seems painfully romantic. I love the seasons we have here in Portland but I do miss that misty ocean grey.

Do you miss where you grew up? Did you take it for granted? I love going back there but I think Portland is a better fit for us right now. Maybe we’ll move back someday when we’re old and grey.

Banana Zucchini Spice Bread

September 17, 2014

I am very particular about my bananas. I don’t fancy myself a picky person in general but when it comes to bananas, definitely. I like them to be uniformly yellow, perhaps the slightest tinge of green on the ridge or one or two spots but that’s it. Anything more and they go into the freezer for smoothies or mashed up and baked into muffins or bread.

While browsing the late summer vegetables at my local farm stand I noticed a sign stating zucchini were 4 for $1. These weren’t your average zucchini, they were as big as my forearm. Never one to pass up a deal I loaded up my basket and headed home. I grilled them and sauteed them but after a few days I still hadn’t made much of a dent. I looked over at the sad brown speckled bananas and the sugar receptors in my brain sparked! Everyone knows if you add a vegetable to a sweet it becomes “healthy”, right?

In an effort to keep this on the breakfast side of things rather than dessert I decreased the sugar and substituted coconut oil for the usual canola. The addition of pumpkin pie spice adds delicious fall flavor – I just love the blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice and clove. This is the best slightly toasted and slathered with butter.

Ingredients

Makes two loaves

3 eggs

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

2/3 cup coconut oil, melted

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas, mashed

2 cups shredded zucchini, pressed and strained

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp salt

1 cup walnuts, chopped.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast walnuts until just fragrant. Grease two loaf pans and set aside.

Combine the eggs, brown sugar and white sugar until thoroughly mixed. Add coconut oil and vanilla and blend. Mix in the mashed bananas and zucchini.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet in stages, mixing as you go until just combined. Mix in the toasted walnuts and distribute the batter between the two pans. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Share a loaf with a lucky friend or freeze for to enjoy later.

To You

September 14, 2014

Happy Birthday to my Dad, who always made sure my car was washed and cooked up the best burger in the universe.

Anna Joyce

September 12, 2014

I had the pleasure of styling the Anna Joyce fall collection and I gotta say, it was pretty easy to make these amazing hand-painted bags and scarves look good! My favorites are the splatter print clutch and cotton ikat print scarf but everything is so beautiful it’s hard to choose.

Anna is such an inspiring woman, I have been a fan of her gorgeous accessories for a while now but find an even deeper admiration for her since becoming a mother myself. She is a mom to two girl and manages to juggle her business and home life so gracefully. She’s an incredible artist and I always look forward to seeing her bright prints pop up. Head over to her shop to see the rest of the collection!

Photos by Lisa Warninger / Model Kara Jean Caldwell / Styling by Megan Hart

Peach Lavender Galette

September 11, 2014

A few weeks ago my friend Jen and I headed out to Sauvie Island to spend an idyllic day picking dahlias and fresh peaches from the trees. It was a scorcher around these parts with the temperature hovering around 90 but we slathered on as much sunblock as possible and took our ex-goth selves out into the fields. We ended up with a large bucket of dahlias and headed across the street to the peach orchard. Unfortunately the farm we went to was very picked over but luckily we managed to gather enough for one perfect summer dessert.

I thought about making a pie but my laziness got the best of me. Something about rolling out the crusts to perfectly stretch over the pie plate, crimping and weighting and blind-baking just felt like too much. Perhaps my pre-baby self would have been more ambitious but I needed quick and easy. I needed a galette.

I’ll save pies for blackberries and pumpkins. I am now convinced that a galette is the only way to go with stone fruit. You simply make a basic crust, roll it out, stuff it with fruit and fold over the edges. I started arranging the fruit in a beautiful fan pattern but quickly dismantled it and tossed them into the crust haphazardly. That’s the beauty of this simple dessert, the more rustic the better.

Ingredients

For the crust:

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons sugar

pinch of salt

1 stick butter, chilled and cubed

3 tablespoons ice water

For the filling:

4 ripe peaches, sliced with skin

1 small lemon, zested and juiced

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons lavender

1 tablespoon butter, dotted

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Add cubed butter and pulse until a small crumb forms. Slowly drizzle in the ice water while processing to combine until just formed. Form the dough into a ball, press into a disk and refrigerate for an hour.

In a large bowl combine the peaches, lemon zest + juice, flour, sugar and lavender. Roll out the dough into a circle 1/4″ thick. Pour the peaches into the center of the crust and gather the edges up around the filling, slightly overlapping and crimping as you go. Dot with butter and bake at 450 degrees for 25-30 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when your house smells incredible and the crust is golden brown. Let cool before slicing and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Little Love

September 7, 2014

greta-sheep-3

I’ve been meaning to start a journal to document life with this sweet little girl since she was born. I knew becoming a mother would be a huge adjustment but I didn’t realize how my world would change so vastly. I feel like I’ve been re-learning how to live and that has included slowing down a lot to connect with her and enjoy a simpler kind of life. We’ve finally gotten into a (somewhat) predictable routine so I can carve out a little time to get this blog up and going, something I’ve been looking forward to doing for so long! So welcome Greta Bardeaux, you truly are my moon and stars and I am so honored to spend my life with you.

Bardeaux

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