Turns Out, Salt Lake is a Little Awesome

I'm loving having a little place to live up here. It's still 100 degrees everyday, and my landlord hasn't put the air conditioning unit in the window yet, so it's been a bit toasty in my house. And, I was trying really really hard not to use the oven, but after a nice trip to the Salt Lake City Library, I just had to make some cookies. In fact, I'm eating them as I write this and drink my coffee.

Leslie Mackie, owner of Macrina Bakery in Seattle, wrote a lovely first book. But I think her second, which was recently published, but even be a little better.

Oatmeal Apricot Pecan Cookies 

recipe from More From Macrina

Cream together:

1/2 c. Butter (1 stick), at room temp

1/2 c. Brown sugar, packed

1/3 c. Sugar

When light and fluffy, beat in:

1 Egg

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

In a separate bowl, combine:

1 c. All Purpose Flour

1 1/4 c. Rolled Oats (not Quick Oats)

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/8 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Salt (I used a generous 1/4 tsp. hehe)

1/2 c. Pecans, toasted and chopped

1/2 c. Dried Apricots, chopped. 

Stir the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, and mix until just combined, making sure not to over mix, or the cookies will be tough. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or over night. Then, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Scoop cookies to desired size (I made 1"balls), and bake until lightly golden brown. If you take care not to over bake them, they will stay nice and soft inside, while remaining kind of crisp on the outside. Enjoy!

I found this recipe while perusing the Salt Lake City Library, which is officially my new favorite day off. Since my apartment is super toasty inside, I figured I would take a little bike ride down Capitol Hill to the public library, which is always nicely air conditioned. Little did I know, I would fall in love with this place -  I see many days off spent here in the future. 

The library is huge. Four stories high, and filled with isles and isles of cookbooks, food memoirs, and knitting books, this place is paradise. As you walk into the library, you are greeted with a sunny atrium, filled with trees! These are the things that make Salt Lake feel a little like Colorado...

The building across from the library...Salt Lake has some pretty gorgeous architecture. 

The big water structure outside of the library, in this big plaza. 

All the windows! Can't wait to spend lots of cold Salt Lake winter afternoons here, sitting in the sunshine, reading cookbooks and knitting books. Such a lovely place to be. 

Then, on my walk home from the library with my bike (I checked out too many books to fit in my backpack, Salt Lake got even cooler. I found The. Most. Delicious. Street. Tacos. Ever. It was this awesome little taco stand, and all the downtown business men were lined up on the wall of this park, sitting in the shade, enjoying their tacos. Before he fried the tortillas, the cook dipped them in a sort of enchilada sauce. They were to die for. And, the coolest part, is that to pay, you just put your cash in a little jar on the counter of his cart - the honor system is such a wonderful thing. And, things like this never happen in Northern California - people are too fast, too concerned with everything to just sit back, and trust people to pay for their delicious meal. Love Salt Lake!

He cooks on a little blue stool. So awesome. 

 All the wonderful things I got from the library.

Wrapped up the day by doing a little knitting, and a little playing house :) Because somebody's going to be an aunt! (This is the only picture you'll get too see - the farther along I get the more it will give it away!) Can't wait to keep on knitting for this little baby for many years to come. 

My favorite bike poster from a trip I took to London a few years ago, and a vintage flash card I found at a flea market. 

The little shelf in my kitchen that was just asking for cookbooks. 

My chair! I'm obsessed with this chair. And above it, I hung a little bit of pretty dark green yarn, and clothespinned the cards from my Snow&Graham calendar, as I go through the months. Soon enough all twelve will be up there. 

I've generally found one thing to be true - you've got to know what exactly it is that makes you happy. For me, its the best of friends, family, a job I love, and having a space on my wall where I can freely stick things that inspire me, are pretty to look at, and are significant in any way. 

And this chair in front of my big sunny window! Seriously obsessed. 

And this cute lone tile in my bathroom, above my yellow bathtub. 

Cheers. 

The Beginning of Salt Lake

Well, it was a pretty rough start, involving a 14 hour drive from San Jose over two days, a dust storm in Nevada, a major car accident in Tahoe, the stomach flu on my second day of work, and a very stressful week and a half trying to find a place to live. But! Now, I've got a place to live (and a super cute one at that!), an awesome chair to sit and knit in in the afternoons, a wonderful 4:30 a.m. bike ride to work past a very lit up capitol building and huge temple, and work is great now. So, here are some picture from my new little life here. Definitely a change of pace from California, but a nice change. It's good to be back where there isn't any traffic, where people are incredibly friendly (seriously, Salt Lake is the nicest place on Earth - I already have a little friend at the donut shop I get my coffee from at 4:30 in the morning), and where I can see mountains when I'm out for a ride.

My awesome kitchen floor.

My chair! And afghan from Mom. 

Scarves hanging by the front door. Can't wait for a Salt Lake fall. 

Scenes from my new favorite bike ride along the Jordan River. 

A Morning Bun from Tulie. Every day after work I go to the big city park down the street for a bit, and on Sundays, I let myself get a treat. 

These pictures aren't the greatest, because I took them really fast after I got the case finished, but each morning I do the tarts, and this morning when I got to work there was not a single one left over from yesterday, so all this is my handiwork :)

These are essentially ganache tarts. On the left, it is the Dulcey Tart, which is a new semi-white chocolate from Vahlrona. 

On the left, a Plum Frangipane Tart. So, so yummy. And on the right is the Clafoutis, which is cherry halves baked in a nice simple custard. We changed the look of both of these a few days ago, and they've been selling out every day since. 

Individual Key Lime Pies and Cheesecakes. 

Almond Croissant. 

From the left: Sticky Buns, Bouchons, Cupcakes (which are really nice because they have a good amount of frosting on them -- not too much), Sugar Cookies (my FAVORITE thing there), CHocolate Vanilla Sandwich Cookies, and Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies. 

Pain Au Chocolate and Morning Buns. 

From the Left: Fresh Fruit Tarts (Strawberry), Lemon Curd Tarts, and Banana Cream Tarts. 

Lemon Bars and Mini Tartlettes - Fresh Fruit, Lemon Curd and Chocolate Ganache.

Lemon Curd Tarts. 

Clafoutis. 

Plum Frangipane Tarts. 

Banana Cream Tarts. 

More pictures of my little home to come soon when I finish decorating on my days off this week!

Cheers. 

Carmel and Big Sur

We took a little day trip down to Big Sur and Carmel....

Sure am going to miss this gorgeous state. Here are some pictures from the drive.

These two are for you Mom and Dad - a campovan! Annnddd it has a bumper sticker that says Mountain Hugger :)

A great little garden shop in Carmel....

Cheers. 

Wedding Cakes!

The final creative project before the Final Exam project in school is to design and make a wedding cake. The class below us chooses the theme, and makes a whole wedding book, complete with pictures and descriptions of the setting, the couple, what the bride will be wearing, how the table will be set, what the flowers will be, what the colors of the wedding will be, etc.

Then, it's our job to take this "couple" and design for them the perfect wedding cake. In this particular case, the wedding took place in Hawaii, overlooking the beach, but very elegant and classy. They said an all white cake would be okay, and if it had any color, only to use pale yellow and pink. Orchids were the centerpieces of the tables.

Now given how school works (as opposed to a cake shop where lots more things are realistic for cake designs), we were fairly limited on time, so creating gum paste orchids was never going to be an option.  

So! I chose to use this technique called "brush embroidery" to put orchids on the cake (its all original design, and original drawings), and finished with a simple ribbon, and closed the seam with three little buttons.

And I'm quite happy with how it turned out!

I apologize for the lighting differences between all the pictures...but it really is just white.

And we only had less than 15 class hours to do everything! Bake the cakes, buttercream them, cover them in fondant, and stack and decorate it. It was madness! But it got done.. 

Cheers.