The Letter B

Today (err- Saturday was) is brought to you by the letter B.

Birthdays

Buttery Croissants

Bunting

And Babies!

Happy Birthday to the Resident Photographer!

Saturday Bethany turned 19.  

We started the morning channeling our inner French, with warm buttery croissants and cafe au lait - might I add very sophisticated.

We decorated the dining room with our bunting and the cupcakes with pennants - which perhaps isn't so sophisticated, but definitely fun.

  We had a lazy day at home, just the way she likes it. To be honest we did a lot of decorating considering how small scale the party was - but I think that's part of what makes it special.

I get a lot of inspiration for things from blogs.  But lately, I've been trying to find simple fun ways to decorate.  The bunting was a good start but I know there are so many other ideas out there!

  If you're looking for some fun party inspiration you can check out Jordan Ferney's blog.  

Saturday Mornings: Leftover Paper

That's right, paper.

This week was a tad hectic.  

I haven't calculated the hours I was at the restaurant (have I mentioned I work at a restaurant - well, I do) because of V-day, but it was a lot.  While being an incredibly lucrative holiday for the restaurant it was also incredibly tiring.

I somehow managed to throw together a brunch Saturday morning but alas, no pictures.  It wasn't for us anyway but it involved some killer quiche lorraine and our orange muffins, which may have been even better the second time around.  We went out for cinnamon rolls and bought wool for felting while breakfast was enjoyed.

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But that's not what this is about.  

This is about what to do with leftover wrapping paper from Anthropologie and a few vintage Ladies Home Journals.

Make yourselves some bunting, of course.

I've been plotting some bunting for a while now but planned to make it out of fabric.  During Christmas I bought some beautiful hand made wrapping paper from Anthropologie. It's been lying around ever since and I didn't know exactly what to do with it until bunting came up again.

We just cut out triangles of both material, pasted them together and strung them on some yarn.

voila!

It has totally transformed our room into something festive and is going to be amazing for birthday parties. It is a slightly time consuming process but wound up being quite sturdy.  Try it out.

Oh, and if you're looking for something yummy to try for breakfast tomorrow we made these a couple of weeks ago.  We used our pizza dough recipe with some hard white wheat, well they were yummy.  

Tomorrow is the resident photographer's birthday - ack!  I am sadly unprepared - but there will be bunting!

Saturday Breakfast: Orange Muffins

Maddie and I have been working on a tradition.  We are the "early risers" at home - not counting parents, I mean - so on Saturday mornings we've been doing some sort of breakfast baking.  
Now, you may remember this breakfast from last year.  We hope to be doing some extravagant breakfast but lately we've just pondered the kitchen until we find something that sounds yummy and quick.


Last Saturday Maddie was craving orange muffins.  She wasn't fully clear on what she wanted them to taste like, except for orange.  A few internet searches later I determined most orange muffin recipes contain cranberries and nuts, which she did not want.  


So, we thought - hey we cook, let's just make something up.
And we did.

Now... here's the problem with making up recipes and blogging about them a week later... you might forget exactly how you did it but I'll do my best.



It goes something like this:


Orange Muffins


2 c. Wheat Flour
2 t. Baking Powder
1/4 t. Baking Soda
1/2 t. Salt
1 Stick Unsalted Butter, melted
2 Eggs
Zest of Two Oranges
1 c. Fresh Orange Juice
1/3 c. Sucanat
1/4 c. Honey
Coarse Sugar to sprinkle on top


Mix together dry ingredients with zest.  Blend butter, sucanat, honey and eggs.  Stir together flour mixture and orange juice.   Spoon into prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with coarse sugar.  Bake @ 350 for 20 minutes.


I can't exactly remember how long we baked these for... But I believe it was about 20 minutes :)  We will probably make them again soon since we still have an abundance of oranges around and the muffins were pretty easy to eat.

The muffins wound up with a hearty orange flavor.  Sucanat isn't a refined sugar and has a different flavor.  If we had used white flour I wouldn't have risked it.  As it was the wheat and orange flavor were just nicely sweetened by the sucanat. They were especially delicious warm but still good later.  I think you could add some yogurt to the recipe or granola for crunch, maybe even make an oat topping.  Yum :)


So, it's Saturday - go make a mess.


P.S. All Photos by the Resident Photographer

Musing

Oh, poor neglected little blog.  

I'm posting a few more Duluth pictures in celebration of finally (and I do mean finally) getting my computer fixed.  Unfortunately I'm still having a slight issue with my internet browser but iphoto is restored.

I went to Duluth back in October, I think.  I took somewhere around 60 photos but most of them are retakes as I found myself readjusting to my sad little camera - it's from 2004, which I think is "ancient" for digital technology and I didn't have the Resident Photographer.

And actually Amy may have taken this one...

...there, that's one thing I've been meaning to do for some time now!  Hah.  I wish I had taken more pictures but I found myself finding a hard time identifying as a "photographer."  I certainly didn't want to be a tourist and I felt awkward pulling out my little camera - it just doesn't look the same sitting around adjusting your settings when your camera looks a little outdated but isn't old enough to look cool vintage.  I must have succeeded somehow because I did get asked multiple times whilst near the lighthouse to take group photos :)

And one more...

Maybe I'm trying to much with the black and white setting (and I don't know the people in the picture) but I like the feel to be sure.  If you would like to see more pictures of Duluthishness and beyond you can look here.