All Day Eat-a-thon

There are many, many things to love about autumn in Minnesota.  My favorite?  The cool weather urging me to bake and inspiring me to eat.

I had a hankering for some bagels, and none in the fridge, so I decided to try and make my own homemade version.

Happy to report they tasted pretty dang good, and the kids were impressed with them too.

Clucking Eggcited!

After months of anticipation, the Digital Art House family is back to eating delicious eggs from happy and healthy hens. No more “sweat shop” eggs from factory farms for us.

Here are the first dozen eggs from our “Baker’s Dozen” flock.

We don’t give our chickens antibiotics, and your risk of catching salmonella is next to nil with these eggs.  Unlike the huge chicken barns where thousands of cramped hens are kept in stacked cages, our ladies are free to roam, stretch, potter around, and eat greens, bugs, and things of their own choosing.

Our girls are allowed to be chickens.

These are the friendliest, happiest, and healthy chickens I think I’ve ever met.

Seriously.

Take a gander at a couple of my beautiful girls.

Soufflé:

Souffle is for sure Digital Art House’s Alpha Hen.  She gets the best treats and the highest roosting spot in the coop.  This is the chick who would actually leap onto my hand in order to socialize with us humans, and she is still extremely social allowing us to pet her and pick her up.

Meringue:

Meringue is the whitest, most beautiful hen I’ve ever seen.  I can’t believe how clean she keeps herself, as the life of a chicken ain’t exactly the tidiest.

She is most likely the most people friendly and she is always the first one to greet me when I venture away from my editing studio.

It was Violet’s idea to add Meringue, a Plymouth Rock hen, to the flock.

What a smart daughter I have.

どうもありがとう!

Yesterday the post worker left a HUGE cardboard package outside my door.

It was a special delivery from my brother and sister in-law currently living in Japan.

All of these goodies above were stealthily packed inside!  There is so much here I felt like I just won a Pachinko jackpot.

There truly was something for everyone here at Digital Art House-plushies, puzzles, snacks, tea, sake, toy robots, rubber stamps, bento boxes, books, a fancy red backpack, a Swimmer wallet, oh my!  What an amazingly thoughtful gift.

I especially liked the Sake “juice boxes.”

The “takoyaki” snack balls were actually pretty tasty and reminded me of the real thing…

And, I’ve already devoured my all time favorite Japanese junk food-chocolate covered macadamia nuts. (Sharon you know me so well.)

Violet said it best, “Arigato Sharon-san!”

Jennifer & Brian – Cancun, Mexico Part I

Well, it’s another frigid day in the great white tundra we call home.  There will be a high temperature of zero degrees Farenheit today.

I’m using my imagination today and pretending to be back on the white shores of the Caribbean.  You may remember, a few months ago I blogged about photographing Jennifer and Brian’s destination Cancun wedding.

Shooting a destination wedding has some obvious and not so obvious advantages, one of them being more time to hang out with the couple and attend events like the rehearsal and groom’s dinner.

Attending these events and spending time with a couple means getting more great photos and so, I am splitting this wedding event into a two part blog series.  Stay tuned for tomorrow’s wedding day entry!

I know, I know you can hardly stand the anticipation.  :)

Stay warm my fine feathered snow bird friends.

Adam and I scheduled some time with the lovely couple to interview them and take some quick casual shots of them on the beach.

Later, we met Jennifer and Brian along with their friends and family for a quick rehearsal and then headed to one of the couple’s favorite Cancun dining venues, Harry’s for an amazing lobster supper. Meanwhile, the dessert was most definitely a highlight of the evening, and brought out the kid in all of us.

See Amy. See Amy bake. Bake Amy bake.

For years I thought I was hopeless as a baker (cooking I can do, but one doesn’t always have to “measure” to be a great cook).

In my days of restaurant working yore, plenty of professional baking folks confirmed my suspicions by asking me how I could possibly screw up when the recipe, ingredients, and tools were within my reach?

My answer always, “I don’t bake.”

Well, that was then…

Thanks to SteamyKitchen I am baking artisan breads three times a week.

The proof is in the pudding, so here’s a picture of the yummy Flaxseed, Pumpkin seed and Sesame seed bread I made today-

You can find the recipe for this bread here, it is so easy!!!!!

And, yes, it really tastes as good as it looks.  :)

You Won’t Find an Angel Sculpture Made Entirely out of old Magazines at This Craft Fair

Although, that might be kind of cool…hmm…

This Saturday I plan on meeting my dearest friend Nancy and heading over to the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis to attend the No Coast Craft O Rama.

This will be my fourth year attending this Midwestern Mecca of Homemade goodness.

Not sure what to get that special man in your life?  How about conjoined sock monkey twins, or underwear made out of old t-shirts?  There is something for everyone at the No Coast Craft O Rama!  The fair opens Friday night and goes until five on Saturday.

See you there, or crochet a granny square.

Fattening Up Mrs. Claus

I love to cook.  Adam loves to bake.  We both like to eat!

This weekend Adam made cinnamon rolls and chocolate filed croissants from scratch!  Uff dah, that man has patience.  Violet could hardly wait to sample Daddy’s hard work.

The recipes for these homemade pastries can be found in Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery.