Mellow Yellow

The sunny sunflowers growing outside the front of my house got my creative ideas going and I cut them this morning. I love sunflowers and I like how they look plopped in a clear vase with their heads nodding.

 Something so simple, yet full of statement about sunflowers. These grew from what had fallen from the bird feeder ~ so the birds have sown these flowers seeds. ;)

They did a pretty good job, right?

Got *me* inspired, that's for sure.

River's birthday is this weekend and we are going to have a party for him. I'm off to put together a menu and list ~ Barefoot Contessa recipes never seem to fail me for entertaining. I'm going to be making his cake - double chocolate.

Hope you have a great week!



Lavender Savon de Marseille

I like to or shall I say I "try" to keep our bathrooms simple and uncluttered. I like organized and to the bare minimum. Minimalistic almost. What I like to focus in on is the quality of the details ~ all white or fawn toned fluffy towels, a simple glass bud vase with a few stems, and a nice bottle of liquid soap at the vanity counter.

I recently ordered this Savon de Marseille lavender and olive oil soap. I've had my eye on it for a long time! I am glad I went with it because it is wonderful! A real delight. And the olive oil adds great hydration. A very nice clean and fresh natural scent. And the bottle is sturdy glass, so I can refill it once it runs out.

I went ahead and trimmed some of my lavender stems today. Technically, they should be cut weeks before. They are kind of dry.

My little niece was over at our house yesterday.

 All three kids had a ball together. She is such a doll!



Well, it is Friday! Time to put your feet up and ease into the weekend. Saturday will be very busy for us, but I am hoping to kick back with an easy, no plans Sunday.

Have a great weekend!



New Haircut

Here it is - my new haircut. A graduated layer bob. I am happy with the result and it feels like I have a big weight lifted off my shoulders now. It is nice to have a fresh haircut, so I got the nerve to share here.

After doing the main cutting of my hair, {yes, there was a lot of it on the salon floor} the stylist went in with a couple different types of scizzors - one using a technique where she twisted little strands of my hair and used a razor on them. Pretty neat. It was a nice treat and so convenient to have done at the Ulta store salon where I could choose a few beauty goodies. I came home with Mario Badescu skincare products. I am very pleased with this line - great quality, nice smell, and at a good price. I washed my face with the enzyme cleansing gel and followed that up with the facial spray with aloe, herbs, and rosewater. I'll admit, I read about how Martha Stewart has favourites from this line and I became intrigued. She wasn't kidding. My skin loves it. So nice and non stripping for my sensitive skin.

The area of my lawn that has the bird feeder station has sprouted little sunflowers. These were sown naturally via the birds. No work on my part. :)

Are you craving autumn yet? I know I am, officially now.

Have a great rest of the week! 



Nature's Lace

Almost as if overnight, Queen Anne's lace has sprouted all over the prairie. I am gently reminded that we are entering into late summer ~ a time of warm days with a cool nightfall, harvesting vegetables, visits to the forest and conservatory; with late summer festivals in between it all. This is the part of summer I love the most. The tail end. 

I also get the urge to make new changes. A haircut booked for tomorrow. I'm going from long to a bob. I can't wait to feel the lightness and feel polished. Maybe I will get brave and share a picture or two of the new look. I just have this need right now to lighten everything up in all areas of my life. I know relaxation will follow.



My Summer Garden

I am an all or nothing kind of girl. I completely neglected my backyard, but this is what I put my all into ~ my front garden beds. I am enjoying the summer color show and I wanted to blog it. I went around and took photos of corners of my garden. Can you tell I like pink and purple flowers?

Lavender, russian sage, zinnia, cosmos, and a butterfly bush compliment each other. I will always grow cosmos every summer; they are so easy to grow ~ just scatter and water. To be frugal, I am going to harvest all the seeds from my zinnias for planting next spring. I love the instant color and volume they add to the garden.

Here is a view of the left side of my front garden. This spot gets a lot of sunshine. I'm thinking about putting another butterfly bush there. We have had so many butterflies and hummingbirds since I put in a butterfly bush last summer. The prairie lies behind my backyard.

This summer I let my garden patch go in the backyard. I want to build raised beds, but I never got around to it. So, this summer I just planted my tomato plants in with the flowers. They are starting to change to red and in the coming weeks we'll have lots of good old homegrown tomatoes.

Thank you for taking a little tour of my garden with me. Pottering in my garden is one of my favorite things. It brings me boundless joy. What flowers are you growing in your garden this summer?



Friday Faves

Yesterday we took the train into the city and on the way back I treated myself to the British Country Living. Rested my tired feets on the train soaking that baby up on the ride back here to the country. I thought I'd do a little Friday Favorites posting. I noticed those type of posts are going 'round blogland and well, I just enjoy them. Here's my weeks little list of loves.

I stumbled across this post on food photography and it really spoke to me. Now I haven't ever submitted my photos to sites like Foodgawker, ecetra - never felt the interest in doing that. But I love how she writes about letting your spirit come out in your photos when developing your photography style. The best blog post I've ever read about photography all year - straight to my heart and something to ponder.

I love the tranquility and simple farm living that Fig and Fauna shares with their readers. This post on fig and honey cream cheese spread makes my mouth water.

I am redecorating our powder room and I am wanting to add these towels and this soap. I have a very small and simple powder room in the garage door/laundry room wing of my house.

I am loving this kitchen. These photos exemplify the style I am most driven to - simple, neutral, a little bit modern country, a little bit coastal, a little bit Hamptons, a little bit farmhouse style - you get my thought. So inspiring. I can look again and again.

I've been decluttering, purging, simplifying the house all week. Trying to keep the neutrals thing my focus. I always get so absorbed in my purge the house days; that's why I've been away from the blog. I was doing the kitchen drawers today and finding useless gadgets shoved to the back of the drawer. I realized I will probably never use a red plastic lettuce cutter. Into the donation box it goes. I need to start staying with the classic things and avoiding the trends; it just comes down to that. With fashion too and I'm finally getting it.

Have a happy sweet weekend.

Watermelon and Feta Salad

Who doesn't love juicy watermelon when it's in season? It certainly is a weekly staple in this house during the months of July and August. I love cold watermelon cubes for a refreshing summertime snack, and I also really love a good watermelon salad. Summer on a plate.

Over the weekend, I devised this recipe for a watermelon and feta cheese salad. It is a divine, simple summer lunch. The sweetness of the watermelon balances out the peppery arugula leaves. Nutty toasted pine nuts add just the right additional component. I'm thinking about having another bowl right now.

Gathered garden flowers in a basic glass vase on our new rustic dining room sideboard table brings a little of summer inside ~ I will have to share my photos of that soon.

Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as I am.

Watermelon and Feta Salad

serves 4

3 big handfuls of arugula

1 (2 pound) watermelon cut into bite-sized chunks

4 ounces crumbled feta cheese

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice {about 3 limes}

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

In a stainless steel skillet, toast the pine nuts {stirring occasionally} over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes ~ they will be brown and fragrant. Set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, salt, and the pepper.

In a large salad bowl, combine arugula, watermelon, feta cheese, pine nuts, and lime dressing. Toss to coat.

So Delicate and How I Shot This Photo

Every year, once midsummer has passed, my rose of sharon shrub blooms its delicate pale pink blue toned petals. For some reason, I like how these flowers look floating in a bowl of water. Pretty petals as thin as crepe paper.

I thought I would take a few moments today to share how I shot this photo. Would you like to hear that? I hope so! First and foremost, I was inspired easily by this flowers delicacy and wanted this image to be super soft, feminine, like a pretty pastel watercolor painting. I chose a mint green bowl because I think mint green looks so nice with pale pinks - both colors work with each other to establish the soft, gentle look I was trying to convey.

I shoot about eighty percent of my still photos at this window. I am lucky to have this spot right in my kitchen as it it very convenient for my food photos. I love to shoot on rustic surfaces. These are just some old boards I found that I painted a matte country white color. I am hunting for these type of surfaces all the time.

For this particular photo, the time of day was late morning and it was sunny. The light was not direct or harsh yet, so I did not diffuse the background light. If I do need to diffuse, I will use a sheer curtain. Taped up vellum paper or parchment paper works well also. I have made it a habit to always bounce the light on to the subject. Sometimes I use two light bounces. But, in this case the natural light I had was already so smooth and pretty, I just used a small folding panel foam board. Bouncing light onto your subject really makes your focus point pop and removes the shadows. It makes a world of a difference. So important.

Onto the shooting. I wanted this to be very soft, so I shot it wide open at 1.4 to achieve a shallow depth of field and bumped up the aperture compensation by one number ~ just to give it a pinch more brightness and luminosity. I kept the ISO at 100 because there was no need for more light. Then I took my photo to processing to resize it, do some wee boosting on highlights and brightness. I didn't feel like this particular image needed any contrast or sharpening adjustments. To polish it off and give the image a light, soft vintage mood - I took it to vintage processing then faded that out to take out the yellow tones and bring out more whites. Done! I have a tripod, but I don't use it anymore. I'm not crazy about it and I would like to get a better one. I try to stay in good practice with holding my camera well when I shoot - patience and focus comes into play here too.

I could talk passionately about photography for hours really, but I'll just stop here for now. Until next time.

Peach Raspberry Crumble & Returning To Softness

I am sitting on my back terrace as I write this. Skies are overcast, with absolutely no humidity. The gentle breezes on my bare arm make me linger here instead of getting dinner together.

First of all, I want to share a picture of a corner of my flower garden. Presently, it is just dancing with color. Zinnias in various shades stand tall {please don't look at the beetle damage} in front of a backdrop of dainty pink and white cosmos.

All grown from seed.

The past year, I have spent many free moments of my downtime learning more about food photography. I've been reading, observing, and practicing. How does one find their own style? I have wondered that many times.

It's been a journey.

I have experimented with lots of full on color this year. I thought that was how it should be done. And I felt a little insecure with that. Never quite satisfied with my own processing I guess. Through this, I have learned a lot. It was a discovery process; one not to be rushed.



Just the past couple weeks ago, I started doing softer processing again. It felt right. Like a nice, luxurious fitting glove to me. I began to feel comfortable again. Delicious security and creativity radiated from inside out. I crave softness. It's what I need.

I came to realize that softness is more me. My style. Like coming home.

So, all this to say, I am letting softness back into my photography and into my life.

Someone who is delicate needs that. The thought of it just makes me smile.

Opening up of my heart and thoughts to the side, onto the dessert!

Because the weather has been so pleasant, and because I have a bunch of peaches, I baked a peach and raspberry crumble. And boy it is good.

I used white peaches, my faves. Some old jam jars came in handy for serving.

I wanted to share a food photography/styling tip I just learned. To keep your fruit from oxidizing and turning that horrible brown, just dip your fruit in cold water that is mixed with lemon juice. Not sure if you can tell from these photos, but I did have a little trouble with that on my muesli post. I suppose spritzing the fruit you are photographing with straight lemon juice would work well also. I'm going to try that. Yes, I love to pick up new food styling and photography tips a lot.

Now the sun has decided to come out and is peeking through western clouds. Time to go inside, but will return to my spot for morning coffee.

Peach and Raspberry Crumble

slightly adapted from Everyday Food

serves 8

For the filling ~

2 pounds white peaches, cut into thin wedges

1-2 cups raspberries {I did about 1 and 1/2 cups}

3/4 cup natural cane sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

For the crumble topping ~

6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, plus a bit more for greasing pan

1/4 cup light Muscovado sugar {or light brown sugar}

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Preheat oven to 375

In a large bowl, gently combine peaches, raspberries, natural cane sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and salt. Transfer to an 8-inch baking dish.

In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and Muscovado sugar until light and fluffy. This comes together quickly. Add the flour and salt. Then, with your hands, crumble up topping until large pea-sized pieces form. Scatter over fruit filling.

Bake for 30 minutes, then quickly top crumble with a loose tinfoil tent. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes. Center will be bubbling and crumble will be browned.

Let cool at least 20 minutes prior to serving. Garnish with fresh raspberries {optional.}

Fresh Peaches

Nothing says summer like a big bowl of fresh peaches. I bought a little over two pounds of them this past weekend. These will be going into a crumble recipe I will be making soon. The weather has cooled off and I've been happily cooking with the windows open. Yesterday, I cooked a potato and leek savory galette; I'll be making that again and sharing it on here soon. I needed to run to get a smaller size skillet, so the recipe can be perfected. I'll be back with new dishes later this week. Now it's back to enjoying the good old summertime outside.

Simple Raspberry Blueberry Cake

A large plastic container of hand-picked raspberries came home with us on the Fourth of July. They are so tiny and taste just how raspberries should at seasonal peak. I could eat the whole tub full. I just know it.

I had been wanting to bake a small cake - something quite simple; my feelings on how cakes should be in the summer. I made this simple raspberry blueberry cake this morning. A moist, butter cake with a tender crumb that is filled with oozing summer berries. Sure to satisfy a little cake craving. This would be wonderful with strawberries too. Strawberries and blueberries. Yum.

We had my cute little niece over yesterday. She gobbled up all the blackberries on my blackberry bush. Alright with me, it was so fun to watch her. I'll never forget the first couple times I ate berries straight from a the berry shrub. I hope she has made some fond summer memories here with us.

{cousins}

It has been super hot here the past few days. Enough to make you run inside after just 5 minutes. We are supposed to drop down to a cool 82 degrees for Sunday. More like it. Hope you are keeping cool!

Raspberry Blueberry Cake

from Woman's Day

makes 24 small servings

1 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 and 1/2 cups natural cane sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 large eggs

2 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

1 cup raspberries

1 cup blueberries

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350

Line a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan with foil, let foil extend over sides of pan.

Beat the butter, sugar, baking powder, and vanilla in a large bowl, until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated.

On low speed, alternately beat in the flour and milk. Mix in the lemon zest.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and scatter berries over the top.

Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool completely and cut into small squares. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.