Orange Cake

My old friend Taylor and I have been getting together every few weeks to make delicious meals and desserts. We used to do this back in high school and its been fun to reconnect and have foodie projects to work on together.
This week: orange cake. It was goooood. And pretty.

Jammers

I am not a great baker. But... I got inspired by grand central bakery, and their jammers. They are out of this world... Buttery, salty, perfect biscuits with a dollop of sweet jam in the middle. So when I saw the grand central baking cook book on my moms shelf, I decided to try and make a knock off batch. And they were pretty good!!

Scrap ABCs

Well, I stole another brilliant idea from Pinterest. So fun! I think I am more into these than Josie :). I am so pleased that i happened to have fabric that fit the alphabet: owls for the O, strawberries for the S, zigzags for Z etc. Only problem is that with only one of each letter we don't get far when we try to spell things! Next up, lower case letters.

Turkey broth

One turkey carcass, two GIANT pots of broth, featuring parsley and cabbage from my own little kitchen garden.

"Sun" dried tomatoes

What do you do when you have more tomatoes than you can eat?

Harvest

It's been so fun to have our own garden in our own little yard this year. Eric built me a raised bed in front of our new house in Portland. I planted lettuce, chard, carrots, beets, parsley, green beans and basil and we have been enjoying eating off of it all summer. I also did tomatoes in pots, and those have been doing super in the warm weather. We planted 2 blueberry bushes that we hope will produce in upcoming years. Recently planted are cabbage, leeks and Brussels sprouts. I have also been enjoying a neighborly relationship with my sister Maria, who has raspberry canes and mature pear and plum trees.
I already have big plans for next year...
Our own raspberry bushes and maybe more blueberries an currants in the backyard, and at least 2 fruit trees for the front, maybe another raised bed too! It will take a few years for them to get established, but we are finally living in a home we plan to stay in.
Now all I have to do is convince Eric that a chicken coop is a good idea, and we'll be a regular little urban farm!

Chai tea

Chai tea made from whole spices, cool! For under $5 from the bulk section I made 2 quarts of tea concentrate, one decaf with Rooibos and one full caffeine with Darjeeling. Mmmm! Perfect for a chilly fall morning.
http://www.cookusinterruptus.com/index.php?video_id=252