The Portland Collection from Pendelton

There is some amazing textiles coming from the Portland Collection by Pendelton...I am so in love with their modern take on ethnic design...amazing, great, amazing!!

 

(via: Unruly Things)

Upside Down Plum Cake

I've been craving cakes...all kinds...anything bready and on the sweet side...So I made this the other day..

...Although maybe not the prettiest, it was a pretty perfect cake..you could add more sugar than I did if you like your cakes on the sweeter side...this recipe had more of a subtle sweetness and tart thing going for it..it was buttery and moist and paired perfectly with a little bit of greek yogurt at breakfast.  Or you could just eat a little slice everytime you pass by the kitchen..yum!


Upside-Down Plum Cake
adapted from The Kitchen Sink Recipes

11 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks aprox) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
8-10 medium plums, halved and pitted (I used a mix of regular and baby plums--the most important thing is that they fill the bottom of the pan)
1 1/2 cups spelt flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg**
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup yogurt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter your pan (I used a basic 9 x 12 cake pan, but most recipes call for a springform pan--I don't have one, but if you do, it will definitely make "the flip" that much easier. Melt 2 tablespoons butter; pour into pan. Using a sieve, sprinkle light-brown sugar evenly over the melted butter. Arrange plum halves cut side down on top of the brown sugar, squeezing in as many plums as possible to allow for shrinkage during baking. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (if you have one--you can also do this part by hand like I did!), cream the remaining 8 tablespoons butter and the sugar until light. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add half the flour mixture, and beat until combined. Beat in the yogurt. Beat in the remaining flour mixture.

Spoon cake batter on top of plums, spreading evenly with a small spatula. Transfer to the oven, and bake until a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, about 1 hour. Run a knife around edge of pan to loosen cake. Remove ring if using a springform pan, or just make ure the edges are loose and separated; invert onto a serving plate. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

35 Weeks..whoa how did that happen?

It's been a hot and sweaty August and my energy level is definitely suffering because of it...Lorenzo tripped over our fan the other day and literally ripped out the electrical connection.  We tried to take it apart and fix it, but there were like 3 wires that had no obvious entry point and we decided that it was probably a good idea to just buy another one...and I'm glad we did, because now we have a super industrial fan that works better than ever!!!!

As this little guy gets bigger, I feel his every jostle, readjustment and hiccup...it's sweet stuff I'm telling you..and I know I must sound like a broken record, but is it really possible that I am going to get BIGGER in the next 5 weeks??? Awestruck!

Sum sum summer time...

I've been back in my bad habits of procrastinating blog posts...but here's a few photos of what we've been up to the last few weeks...July felt more like April this year, but I can't say I can complain..although August has arrived with a bang and we've already had torrential rain showers, high humidity and LOTS of heat... ufff!

 

we made it to the beach despite the cool weather..

and I started swimming in the pool at the gym--how did I not discover this earlier in my pregnancy?? So loving it..

 

and we went out for lunch the other day at a local place next to the house..I wasn't in love with the food, but I do like that clock on the wall...below is the face I am lucky enough to wake up to every morning and kiss goodnight every evening....happiness is most definitely in the little things..

This week I've been craving cornflakes with whole milk and bananas, liquid yogurt and spanish croquetas...this little man in my belly has some pretty particular tastes, but I'm game to try whatever else he may want over the next few weeks...Ori we adore you already..xo

A Work in Progress

It's been awhile since I've posted here...I think I need to work on being a little more disciplined...I thought I would give you a peek at what I've been working on lately...I've actually been making this blanket since we found out we were expecting, but it's been slow going...it has luckily been on the cooler side here, since on really hot days knitting with wool has been a little bit of a torture.  Although time seems suddenly of the essence as I enter into my 32nd week tomorrow...must keep knitting! More belly pics to come...

And the weeks keep on a comin'...

Where does the time go? Week 29  has already begun...and I am starting to feel the weight creeping down my back and into my legs.  The heat is taking its toll as well...and as far as I keep hearing from everyone, this is just the beginning...it's hard to believe there are 11 weeks to go and thus that much more to grow...both the little squish and me included!

Bananaramalicious

So it's been a few weeks of ups and downs.  We had a little accident the babe and I.  I managed to cut the palm of my hand at work with a pair of scissors while trying to cut a button in half (long story) and ended up with 9 (painful) stitches, unbeknownst to me that when pregnant (at least in Spain) they don't give you any anestesia for these things..in my 31 years, I've never had so much as a broken finger and alas at 7 months pregnant I ended up with my first real gash.  As you can imagine it has been a bit of an upset in the house, since I am the one that usually does a lot of the cooking...but my Lor has been quite a huge help these days, cooking, cleaning, tying plastic bags on my hand so I can shower..
...and then yesterday, despite the bandage and the awkwardness, I broke down and made a banana bread..when desperate: MAKE BANANA BREAD! And apart from remedying my longing for the kitchen, it also came out delicious...though I burned the bottom just a tad...

This bread is great because it combines healthy flours and very little sugar.  It does have butter, but hey, we can't all be saints now can we... I usually substitute flaxmeal for a part of the flour mixure in most recipes and it always comes out great! So I hope you give it a try...the photo is a little bit terrible since it was late and my iphone was all I had handy...

Banana Bread

Yield: 2 medium loaves (or 1 big, 1 small as pictured)

1 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup flaxseed meal
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

125gr (1 stick + aprox 1 tblspn)  unsalted butter, room temperature


1/2 cup packed  brown cane sugar (if you like your bread more on the sweet side add another 1/4 cup--I don't think it really needs it with all the banana, but sugar is a personal choice in my book)
2 large eggs

3ripe bananas for batter + 2 or 3 more for layering on top (optional) 

125grms yogurt (about 1/2 cup) + 1/4 cup milk (reg milk/soy etc will all do)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 2 bread pans (I used butter, but to each his own..) In a bowl, whisk together flours, wheat germ, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy (I actually don't have a mixer and just do this manually--but of course, if you have a mixer, I highly reccomend using it.) Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, mash bananas with a fork (you should have about 3/4 to 1cup (aprox); stir in milk and vanilla.
With mixer on low (or stirring by hand), alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture to butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined. Fold in walnuts if using.
Divide batter among loaf pans and cut the remaining bananas in half, placing them on top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of each loaf comes out clean, 45 minutes (aprox), rotating pan halfway through. Let cool in pan 10 minutes; transfer loaves to a rack to cool at least 10 minutes more.