What's in the oven?

Cornbread. Baklava. And to balance that out, Kitchen Floor Salad. Recipes to follow.

This stop Insomniaville, population 1

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I can't decide if I'm awake very early or up very late. I hate when Dan isn't home at night. I have this super bizarre fear that I'm going to wake up with an axe murderer standing over me (seriously happened to someone we know), so I wake up every 3 minutes and peek out from under my sleeping mask to make sure no one is there. Yep. I know. Crazy. Of course my mind starts racing about a million other thoughts that go something like this:

I have to fall asleep because I have to be up at 7:45 to put out the garbage. I hate our early garbage men.
What was that noise?!
I'm going to be so tired tomorrow.
The printer never confirmed our meeting. I wonder if he'll cancel and I can nap during the day when it's safe in the house. 
What was that?!
Maybe I should just print the invitations myself. That printer I found on Etsy just uses her inkjet. I can use our inkjet. 
I have to go to the bank and deposit those cheques. 
Was that a raccoon?!
I should really get moving on my Etsy store. 
I have to find a real job after the wedding don't I?!
Was that someone on the stairs?!
What colour envelopes should we have?
I wonder what the caterer thought of the photo of the platters I've bought. 
It's really late. I'm going to be so tired.
Was that a cat or did some other small animal just run up the stairs?!
I wonder if Mom and Dad had fun at Stomp this afternoon. 
Why does it sound like someone grinding an axe in the backyard?!
How am I going to sew labels onto the envelopes? I have to look that up on Weddingbee... Maybe I'll just do that now.

Etc etc etc. Perhaps we could rename Insomniaville Crazytown because seriously, where is my head at?! No one is in my basement. Raccoons are outside the house. The fridge makes bumps and noises all night. Jeez louise lady, settle the heck down! Overactive imagination much?!

Anyone have any tips for settling an overactive imagination?? I swear I'm really a grown up ;)

Invitation Fail

Oh gosh. The last couple weeks have been crazy. Dan and I shot an episode of a tv show (it's top secret, but I'll give you the heads up prior to air date!) last week. I spent two weeks cleaning the house leading up to it, and now nearly a week trying to recover. Good heavens. I used to work in film and television, and man, I can't believe I worked those hours for years! Kudos to the ladies and gents who bring the good stuff to my tv every day, you guys are hard working people!!! 


Now that my life is reassembling itself, I decided it was time to tackle the invitations and stop avoiding doing my map. Don't ask me why, but I had a strong aversion to doing my map and it sat as a couple of blank lines on the page for a LONG time. I buckled down the other night and got'er done. 


Next step, test out the Yudu. I've used my Yudu many times and quite enjoy it. This time.... Not so much. My capillary sheets just refuse to expose. No exposed sheets=no silk screening=no handmade by Veronica invitations. After stepping back and realizing I also will need menus, programs, and potentially little welcome booklets for our out of town guests, I came to the conclusion that even if the Yudu did work, I would likely be spending the next 3 months standing in front of the stupid thing cursing myself for this "great idea".


You guessed it, I'm on the hunt for a printer! Wish me luck!

Pavlova with Homemade Caramel

Happy belated Easter everyone! I hope you all had a terrific long weekend and ate lots of yummy food! Around here, we had a pretty quiet weekend and took advantage of the great weather to do some gardening and stain the deck. Easter dinner was just Dan, myself, his mom and brother. 

 (A little Easter centrepiece. I got the birds, nests and eggs at a little shop in Chinatown for a great deal a couple years ago! I threw in some blue flowers that carpet our backyard, I wish I knew what they were.)

Last weekend I was supposed to make a big birthday dinner for Dan's mom, but I was sick so I had to cancel. BUT I made up for it this weekend! I was asked to make a pavlova, and it was my first, but I'm so proud of the results! Here it is: Birthday Pavlova with Homemade Caramel.

Homemade Caramel
(Recipe from Michael Smith at the Globe and Mail) 

 Makes two cups

1 cup water

2 cups white sugar

1 cup cream

A dribble or two of pure vanilla extract

A sprinkle or two of sea salt

 

1. Pour the water into a small saucepot. Pour the sugar in a small, tight pile into the pot. 

2. Begin heating over medium-high heat but don't stir. Stirring encourages crystallization with gritty results. The water and sugar will quickly dissolve together and form a simple syrup. As the heat increases the mixture will simmer and steam, the water will gradually evaporate allowing the steam to die down and the mixture's temperature to rise.

3. When you see the first hints of colour (a pale golden brown), gently begin swirling the

pan to help the mixture colour evenly. Continue heating and swirling. The mixture's temperature will gradually rise and continue to darken reaching an even, deep golden brown. 

4. When it looks a nice caramel tone turn off the heat. This will slow but not stop the browning.

5. Carefully add the cream. It will sputter and hiss a bit. The much lower temperature of the cream will instantly drop the caramel's temperature out of the sugar-browning range preventing it from overbrowning. 

6. Turn the heat back on and stir or whisk until the caramel is smooth. 

7. Add the vanilla and salt - both will enhance flavour.

Pour the caramel into a jar and refrigerate it for several hours, until thickened. Keep refrigerated. You may rest the sauce at room temperature for an hour or so to warm it to a pourable consistency. If you're in a hurry, simply pulse and stir in your microwave.

*Veronica's Notes: I love love love this caramel. It's fairly simple to make. Inevitably though, about one out of four times I make it I screw it up and have to make another batch. Watch your pot carefully! It goes from caramel to burnt VERY quickly, so don't get greedy with the colour! I typically start swirling a bit early and my wrist is hurting by the end. Learn a lesson from me, don't do that. Last, when you're adding the cream, wear an oven mitt! The steam that comes off is SO hot! It's not all the much work and you'll get a lot of "Oh my gosh you MADE caramel?!" from you guests. Totally worth it ;)

 Pavlova
(Adapted from Allrecipes.com - Banoffee Pavlova)



1 cup castor or superfine sugar (also known as dissolving or beverage sugar) 
2 tsp cornstarch
1 pinch cream of tartar
4 egg whites
1 pinch salt
1 dash vanilla extract
1 tsp white wine vinegar (or white vinegar)
1 banana sliced
Homemade caramel
Lump of dark chocolate (for shavings)
Fresh whipped cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, and trace an 8 inch circle onto the surface.
2. In a small cup or bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and cream of tartar. In a large glass or metal bowl, whip the egg whites with salt, vanilla, and vinegar until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar mixture and continue to whip until stiff and shiny. Mound the mixture into the traced circle on the baking sheet. Flatten the top and smooth the sides using a metal spatula.
3. Place in the preheated oven, and immediately reduce the heat to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a pale golden brown. Turn off the oven, and leave the door slightly ajar with the pavlova inside until completely cooled.
4. Just before serving time, invert the cooled pavlova onto a serving plate, and top with slices of banana. Cover banana with caramel. Top that with whipped cream and sprinkle with grated chocolate. 

*Veronica's Notes: I drizzed with caramel again on top of the whipped cream because I'm a greedy girl and I love homemade caramel! Pavlova is also amazing topped with fresh berries and whipped cream. You really can't mess this up other than not letting it cool in the oven properly! The four of us devoured the entire pavlova minus one slice that the birthday girl got to bring home with her. 

   

Cuttlewhat? Cricutty thingy? Yudu? Who do?!

When you enter the brave world of wedding planning, you simply become obsessed with DIY projects: I can make my own invitations! I can grow flowers for the bouquets! I can make my own organic make up! Okay maybe not the last one (or two for me) but I'm positive there's a bride out there who has done it because, well, we're a little nutty. We're all trying to out do each other on who put more handmade touches into our weddings, and honestly, it's a sickness I enjoy. 

My own DIY projects include: 
- our invitation suite
- our guest favours (not posting what that is yet you sneaky monkeys!)
- cake toppers
- votive holders
- menus
- escort cards
- out of town bags
..... I know there's more but I'm drawing a blank. Anyways, you get the point!

Now to make all of said projects, you need some serious artillery here. My manufacturer of choice is Provocraft. I'm pretty sure I own one of everything they make. So let's chat about what each machine is and have a looksie at what you can accomplish with it. 


Cricut
This is probably a bride's best friend. Basically it's a paper cutting machine about the size of a printer. You can buy cartridges preloaded with a font and a few shapes that you plug into the machine, insert your paper, hit the button, and voila, it cuts out whatever shape you just pushed. What I don't like about this is that the Cricut cartridges are about $90 each. Ouch!!! Silver lining though, Sure Cuts A Lot is a program that works with any font as well as with Adobe Illustrator. What does this mean to you? You can download TONS of free fonts (just google "free fonts") and free vector graphics (again, google), do up your design in Illustrator, import it into SCAL and cut it with your Cricut without spending $90/cartridge. Score!!!


So if you buy a Cricut, here's an example of what it can do:

This was a Valentine's Day card I made this year using a dingbats font that was Spanish tile inspired, and some sort of floral dingbat font for the flower.

This was part of a "Welcome home" banner for my friend's baby. I made the shapes on Illustrator and then overlaid the font. I scaled the circle shape up a bit and cut it in a graphic paper, and then cut the smaller size with the font on it out of the blue. I then threaded the whole thing onto some coordinating green ribbon. Super cute!


Cuttlebug
This machine is non-computer related, it's all you! Basically you buy the Cuttlebug (about the size of a loaf of bread), and some embossing folders or die cuts. I use the embossing folders since I have the Cricut to do my fancy cutting. You take your piece of paper, stick it in the folder, turn the crank to feed it through the machine and voila! Embossed paper! 

I love embossing, it just gives such a great depth to your project. What I don't like about the Cuttlebug is that it's size limited. The folders are about 5"x7". I also don't like that you're limited to the folders that Provocraft and other manufacturers create. I haven't been able to find anyone to make custom folders, but if you know of one please let me know! What I do love is adding texture to my projects. The Provocraft folders are really reasonably priced (about $7-$10 each) and the Cuttlebug itself takes all different brands of folders. 


Yudu
I mentioned in a previous post about Yudu, so I'll try to keep this short and sweet. A Yudu is basically a table top silk screener. Come up with an image, print it on an overhead, expose it onto your emulsion film, cover with ink, squeegee, done. It's fairly simple but somewhat time consuming. I love mine but haven't had the opportunity to use it to its full potential just yet. I hope to start in on Yudu-ing my invitations soon!

This is an exposed screen with a design I drew for a tank top. I've just rinsed the emulsion off and am about to put it in the drying rack. Below is my tank top in place ready to be printed on!

Does anyone else have a machine I'm missing in my collection?? Are you dying to learn a new DIY technique for your wedding or just for fun?

Dreaming in Anxiety-Laced Technicolour

Here's a little something no one tells you about when you get engaged: You start to have wedding anxiety dreams. Lots of them. And they're really really vivid. Mine started before we got engaged actually.

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One of my first anxiety wedding dreams was that Dan and my mom surprised me with a wedding. They picked my dress, the venue, everything. Our wedding was in a bar complete with football motif tiled bar height tables, plastic flowers, and some sort of god awful arch covered in tulle, twinkle lights, and more plastic flowers. I remember waking up and thinking, "Wow, that was strange..." Clearly I don't trust Dan or my mom to create the wedding of my dreams. That and I'm a control freak and readily admit to it.

Lately I've been having one recurring theme in my dreams: we keep forgetting wedding bands. And not just "we forgot them at home", it's "we couldn't be bothered to buy them". Whoopsies! So obviously I've been harassing Dan to no end to meet with the jeweler and order my band, as well as get himself sized so we can order his from Etsy!

Other themes I'm apparently paranoid about: Plastic flowers or my flowers being ugly (which I know is clearly not going to happen since our florist is amazing), the wrong music being played during the processional, and forgetting to do our photos and first look before the ceremony. For some reason this stuff doesn't bother me in my dreams and I always just roll with it and enjoy the wedding. Perhaps this is my anal-retentive side and my "I know things are going to go wrong but all that matters is that Dan, the officiant and myself show up"-rationality duking it out.

However, when your subconscious gives you lemons, make lemonade. I usually itemize all the things that "went wrong" in my dreams to create a list. Happy day!

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So if in my dream my caterer forgot the dessert and we were trying to figure out how to split 60 cupcakes amongst 150 guests, I realize that I need to get working on more ideas for the dessert buffet. Forgot the first look and pre-ceremony photos? Start working on my time line for the day!

I know that as time goes by, I'll have more and more of these dreams, but it's just that. A dream. Fictional. Not reality. I know that things are going to go wrong on our day but I know that I'm most likely going to be the only one who notices. We have amazing vendors and friends who are not going to let us down. Because of that, we'll have an amazing day that's perfect for us.

Gimme the gun lady!

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My married friends have often expounded the joys of creating your registry. Given that we have a house, I thought, sure it's fun for you, but what do we need?! I was wrong. You hear that? I admit to being wrong! Creating our registry was the most fun I have ever had shopping. I got to create the ultimate wish list and didn't have to pay for anything. I think I could do that every day for the rest of my life. Why doesn't every store have a registry?! Can I register for Shrove Tuesday? Halloween? The second Tuesday of July?! 

So what do two people with a house need? I've purposefully left gaps in what we have figuring that *hopefully* one day we'd get to register. New flatware is a definite. Ours is a mishmash of non-matching stuff from university, my parents, and a set from Ikea. New dishes! Dollar store plates are great, but we've realized they come from the dollar store for a reason, they stain. Thankfully they're cheap enough to replace, but maybe being grown ups and having non-staining Gordon Ramsay plates is a better idea. Matching glassware, ooohhh ahhhhh. A four slot toaster! Oh my gosh! We can make our bagels at the SAME TIME! Last but not least, a new KitchenAid 600 Pro Series mixer. *drool* This is definitely pricey, but with the completion discount after our wedding, I don't mind buying it myself later.

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First we went to Crate & Barrel. The drawbacks of registering here are:
a) There are only C&B stores at Yorkdale Mall, and one in Calgary. A new one is opening in the Distillery District in Toronto soon, which seems like an odd location choice to me. 
b) People can download and print my registry online, but they can't shop online and have it delivered to us. Boo! Why do the Americans get all the good stuff?!

The pros of registering at C&B:
a) Their stuff is beautiful. This place is kid in a candy store fun for me. I want EVERYTHING!
b) They have a great price range in their items. I have items from $1.50 up to $140. 
c) The completion program is 10% off the remaining items. It's not a ton, but every penny helps. I'll take it!
d) They gave us a free gift for registering with them! I have no idea what we're going to do with it yet, but I'm sure you'll see it at our wedding somewhere. 

Next we popped over to The Bay. We met with our consultant who decided she'd rather tell me eight different ways of how I can return or exchange what we receive while Dan's eyes glossed over and my fingers itched to get my hands on the SKU gun. After what seemed to be an eternity, we got our gun and went to town! It turns out we're Gordon Ramsay whores and registered for both his pots and dishes from Royal Doulton. So pretty.

Pros of registering at The Bay:
a) Really wide selection of items from board games, to dishware, to linens, to small appliances. 
b)  There's a Bay store near just about everyone. 
c) Great price ranges and great range of product lines.
d) Really great completion bonuses. If we register for luggage for instance, we get 50% off afterwards if we buy it ourselves. Score! 
e) It's Canadian!

Cons:
a) You can't add or subtract items from your registry online. You can change quantities, but that's it. You have to go to the store to update properly and add new items. 
b) No online shopping. Seriously, why can't we do this in Canada?!
c) It took me two days to access my registry online. There were "technical difficulties" with the website. 
d) No photos of the items on the registry list like on the Crate & Barrel site. It's a bit tough to decode their shorthand for the different items (I can remember trying to shop for another girlfriend off her registry list at The Bay and ended up making some saleswoman there escort me around and decode all the items one by one). Photos would also be helpful for when I go online to update quantities, etc, I need the visual cue to remember what some of the items are. 

Secrets to registry success: Give yourself lots of time. An hour at Crate & Barrel was adequate, but I'll probably go back again and add a few more items. Two hours at The Bay was not enough time given that we spent 45 minutes talking about the joys of exchanges, returns, and completion bonuses. 

Make a list! I'm really happy I made one because after we left The Bay I realized we had only crossed about four items off of our list. I'll go back another day this week and try to finish up (sans fiance who hates to shop). 

Which brings me to: Bring snacks. Men generally hate to shop. If you can sprinkle a few treats in his direction you'll all end up happier at the end of the day!

And one last note. I felt like I was beeping just about every SKU in the store, but when I went online and revisited what we had, it really doesn't look like much! It's better to register for a lot and have the completion bonus to go back and get the left over items at a good discount, than to register for too little and leave your guests frustrated that there's not much for them to choose from for your showers and wedding gifts.

Happy shopping!