Studio Kiekje

Eggstreme Eggcellence

We had some friends over for a delayed Saint Patrick's day dinner tonight. I made this torte again - And decorated it with a powder sugar stencil shamrock.

When I lined up my ingredients for baking the five eggs required for this recipe were staring up at me looking like a little family. So I decided to give them the faces they were silently asking for.

 

May I present Molly, Gertrude, Sarah, Frank and Bill.

How d'you do?

Every time I see this picture I start telling stories in my head about this family. Perhaps about how Bill ended up with a baby bird on his head, or how Frank got into competitive bicycle racing, or how Molly enjoys the smell of a new picture book.

Feel free to leave me a little story in the comments!

Have a lovely weekend, from the l'Oeuf family and me!

Sweet and sassy Spring break

This past week was my Spring Break, although what with the usual work-load and some obligations I didn't really notice it was a vacation. I did get to have a couple of fun dates with Sean, including a trip to Delaware to see the school where he teaches, and then hang out and have lunch and wander around. And then, at last there were cupcakes.

 

I heard about SAS cupcakes (Short for "Sweet and Sassy cupcakes") on Food Network, and when I saw that they were in the town where he teaches, I thought they might be a fun place to visit.

Look at that picture - definitely a good choice. That's two raspberry cupcakes on the left which were amazing. They even had a thin layer of raspberry jam between the frosting and the cake which just made the raspberry flavor even better. (Must remember this idea...) Then on the top right is a S'more cupcake, which the guy who worked at the shop recommended. It was pretty good - a bit too much frosting though. And on the bottom right is a Cinnammon toast cupcake which was very good. 

The people who worked there were very nice too - very hyper, which I imagine I would be too if I worked around delicious cupcakes. (Also, they complimented my outfit, so I am biased.)

We pride ourselves on being dessert connoisseurs (or at least I do... and Sean is my apprentice).

So did we approve?
Let the pictures be our evidence:

 

Yes. We did.

xoxo,

Angelique

Speculaas (Speculoos?)

It's that time of year again - the time for Holiday Baking.

This year I wanted to try making the cookie that for me is most evocative of the holidays. That is speculoos/speculaas. We call it speculoos in Belgium. It's a very delicious, crisp spice cookie which is available year round but is particularly loved for Saint Nicholas Day (Dec 6th).

I had already thought of making it as gifts for friends this season. Then I saw a recipe for speculaas in the most recent issue of Martha Stewart Living, and I knew I had to try it.

 

The picture of the cookies from the magazine is beautiful. They used molds from this site. I didn't have molds, just a glass that I used as a cookie cutter, but I improvised, as you will see. Still, how beautiful are those molds? My mom recently told me that she has a speculoos mold at home that I have no memory of her owning. I will have to check it out when I visit Florida for Christmas.

So, the recipe, while a bit drawn out, makes a really delicious cookie. Not entirely authentic ... it tasted more like a cousin of speculoos.

Not as pretty as the ones from the magazine! I made a sugar glaze which I tried to pipe out in the shape of a snowflake... but some of them ended up looking a bit more amoeba like. 

So the final verdict: they don't entirely taste like speculoos, but they are an acceptable substitute! (That is to say, they are super yummy) I would love to see if anyone makes these with an actual mold.

Thanksgiving --> Xmas

OOF. I think I've only just recovered from the pumpkin pie coma. My Thanksgiving was awesome, I hope those of you who celebrate had equally wonderful holidays. There were about 9 to 11 people at our party, and tons of awesome food, including 5 pies. Charades were played. And I felt very grateful for my awesome boyfriend, my friends, and my family even though they were far away.

Behold the dessert wonder:

 

Clockwise from top left: The chocolate pie I made, blueberry pie, pumpkin pie, and apple pie. There was also ice cream and homemade whipped cream that you can see in the top right corner. There was an extra pumpkin pie, bringing the total to 5 pies for 9 people. Lots of leftovers!!

The next day Sean and I got our very small Christmas tree (actually a little rosemary tree), and proceeded to decorate it in a very "homemade with love" sort of way.

 

We dried orange slices! I know I've mentioned before that I've always wanted to try it. I think they came out wonderfully. We also made some paper snowflakes in true Kindergarten style. I didn't like the cheap plastic-y covering the pot had, so I crafted a little mini-stump by taking a shopping bag, cutting a rectangle of the correct size, drawing random wood grain swirls on it, then taping it onto the pot. I like it much better this way.

Yes, that's a gift for me. And yes, I'm tempted to shake it every time I walk by.

Happy December!

:phew:

I'm back! And I am very happy to report that I finished about 30 thesis pages... although I can't fairly testify as to the quality of those pages. Just relieved to have gotten work done and sit back for a few days to enjoy the holiday.

A few things got me through the last couple crazy writing days. The first was the discovery that Gmail has themes to decorate your inbox. (I feel like their must be a much more technical way for phrasing that, but darned if I know it). I highly recommend their Tea House theme which involves a cute little fox living in a Japanese style house. See evidence A:

You should really click on it to see it larger, because wow, is it cute. And it changes depending on the time of day. Sometimes the little fox is feeding the birds, or drinking tea inside, or cutting flowers. Internet reports even claim that around 4am, while he is asleep, a little ghost family hangs out in his front yard. But, crazy as I've been the last couple days, I wasn't crazy enough to be up still at 4.

It's the little things, right? Anyone who has written a thesis will tell you that you spend a lot of time checking your email, and this little guy brought me a lot of delight.

The other thing that got me through it were numerous cups of hot chocolate. I like my hot chocolate very rich and chocolate-y, and made by Sean. He even adds a couple coffee beans to the mix, so I had a little buzz to jumpstart the writing.

You know what made it extra awesome? Evidence B:

 

Homemade marshmallows for in the hot chocolate. My gentleman friend is as sweet as his confections.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Part 2, and stripe-y socks

Here is the promised post about my pumpkin soup recipe which I've been making since my last year of college, with compliments from all. It's actually super easy, and everyone seems to love it. I think it can be changed quite easily, but I like the original recipe just the way it is!

 

Pumpkin Mushroom Soup

* 1/2 lb mushrooms sliced (I used shiitake)
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 2 Tablespoons butter or oil
* 2 Tablespoons flour
* 1 Tablespoon curry powder
* 3 cups chicken broth
* 1 can of pumpkin (should be about 15 or 16 oz)
* 1 Tablespoon honey
* dash of nutmeg
* salt and pepper
* 1 cup evaporated milk

Saute the mushrooms and onion in the butter or oil. Add flour and curry and stir. Gradually add the broth, stirring. Add everything but the evaporated milk, and cook, on medium heat for 10-15 minutes, (still stirring!). Add the milk and heat through without boiling. Enjoy!

Moving away from one favorite (food) to another favorite (clothes) - may I present to Studio Kiekje viewers, my new socks:

 

They are from the much adored Sock Dreams. I thought they were subtle-y witchy and thus appropriate for pre-Halloweening. I can't tell you how much more enjoyable the cooler weather is since the discovery of Sock Dreams. I know I'm not the first one to rave about them. (Emily of the Black Apple is also a huge fan).  Still, if you don't know about them - they are amazing. They have every single sock, stocking and tights option you could imagine, and they offer free shipping (joy!).

 

I've been thinking of occasionally sharing some of my clothes on this blog. I really love clothes, and it makes me happy to wear things I think look cute. But I've been a little self-conscious sharing that here because of foolishly worrying that I might appear shallow. But this is a blog which is supposed to be predominately about the things that inspire me and the things I make, and I have to admit, that clothes are a part of that for me. So here I am, smirking slightly, in my somewhat witchy outfit. (Perhaps if a witch was living incognito as a librarian) The black cardigan also has little sequins scattered on the shoulders, but that didn't show up too well in the picture.

Bashfully yours,
Angelique :)

Of things nearly too sweet

Part of this weekend was spent  (rather obsessively) watching episodes of Pushing Daisies. I'm not a big television follower, as I tend to get annoyed at obvious ploys to increase ratings (cliffhanger: will Ross and Rachel get back together... again?) But, I got sucked into the extremely sweet world of this show, which is Amelie-esque, and Moulin-Rouge-esque, and fifties-musicals-esque. After watching my rather pathetic attempts to find the beginning of the first season online, my boyfriend (who is also extremely sweet) snuck out and bought it for me.

 

I admit it, I'm a total sucker for cuteness.

The premise of the show? A pie maker named Ned has the secret talent of being able to bring people back to life through a single touch. If he touches them again, they go back to being dead, permanently. If he keeps them alive for longer than a minute, someone else has to die in their place. He ends up pairing up with a disgruntled detective (who knits!) and brings murder victims back to life for just a minute to find out who killed them. One of the victims turns out to be his childhood sweetheart, and he keeps her alive. But, he can't touch her.

Ok, got it?

It's a really funny show! And, I have to say it, Chuck (the sweetheart) has the greatest clothes I've ever seen on tv.

 

The knitting detective.

Do any of you watch Pushing Daisies? It's so different from the usual junk on tv that I can't help thinking that it'll be canceled too quickly (like Arrested Development).

In other news of things which are nearly too sweet (but that's what makes them delectable), I discovered a coven of cupcakes plotting near the kitchen.

 

They appear to be lemon cupcakes with vanilla Magnolia Bakery frosting. I can only imagine that they had gathered to plot  the eventuality of Sean and I eating them.

(I know that a lot of people make the addictive Magnolia frosting. So, hypothetically, let's say that these cupcakes did not actually appear in the living room, but were in fact made by me. And that the frosting always seems to become a bit liquidy? It looks like it separates a little bit... Would anyone know how to solve such a problem, if in fact it did exist? )

Pumpkin, Part I

Slowly yet surely, Pumpkins are invading. Beginning with this recipe from the Bread & Honey blog (which is a lovely blog that combines yummy recipes with beautiful pictures).

Wow, that's really a pretty bad picture. The styling of the shot with the laptop and the Magic Rub eraser in the background really makes it, I think ;)

Either way this recipe was really delicious and easy. I brought it along to watch last night's presidential debate with friends. Pumpkin = leadership

On a less homemade note, these have also been delighting me:

 

Extremely sweet candy pumpkins! Please don't hold my affection for this rather sickening candy against me. It's Fall... it makes me a bit odd. They are cute in the little jam jar though.

I think there will eventually be a sequel to this post, when I make my annual pumpkin soup. Soon, fellow gourd-lovers, soon.

puddin'

In a continuation of the kitchen capers from my last post, I bring you chocolate pudding:

I like this picture because it makes the small bowls I used appear vat-like. I cannot help but approve of giant vats of chocolate. Also, I am not so skilled at ladeling neatly.

It was so good, and so easy. I already had all the ingredients on hand. I suspect the secret is to use really good chocolate (so often the case with dessert!). The recipe was shared with me by my lovely friend Sarah and it is from Mollie Katzen.

See? When the sous-chef takes the reins in the kitchen things aren't so bad! Although, Sean did make truly excellent Tom Kha Gai for dinner tonight. Blast you Sean! Your skillz make mine look weak in comparison (but please don't stop cooking).

Ok, enough about food.

These are the new curtains from this weekend. I'm actually ridiculously proud that we managed to hang them and that I hemmed them to a mostly even length. That's why I'm making everyone look at them. Nice curtains, eh?

(Incidentally, I had to increase the exposure on the camera in order for the curtains to even show up in this photo. Just in case you were wondering, The Rapture is not actually occurring outside my bedroom window.)

 

Sweet potatoes and granola

Today was a domestic puttering sort of day. Laundry was done (with the annoyance of over-zealous neighbors who take out one's not quite dry clothes in order to do their laundry. Jerks.) Curtains were hemmed and hung. And a mirror that has been leaning against the wall for two years was finally hung up on the wall.

But the food was the best part.

Chef Fancy pants struck again, making sweet-potato risotto which was just perfect for the rainy weather.

I know, I know. I am a spoiled girl. I did wash the dishes though.

And I did a bit of cooking too! I made homemade granola for in our morning yogurt. It's actually quite easy, and much less expensive and better for you than store-bought granola. Most importantly, I think it tastes better!

A recipe, if you are interested, for Granola:
- 1 lb quick oats (I estimate this, because I don't have a scale, and it's always been fine)
- 3 cups coarsely chopped raw nuts (I used almonds and cashews)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (But, I really like nutmeg, you can use less)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- dried fruit, if you like (I used cranberries, because I think the tang is a nice contrast to the sweetness)

Behold! Much chopping!

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. In a food processor, or a coffee grinder, grind half of the oats to a fine powder. In a large bowl, combine the whole oats, ground oats, nuts, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. In a microwave-safe bowl (or this can be done in a saucepan on the stove) combine the brown sugar, butter and water and heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is bubbly. Stir the mixture until smooth and then add the salt and vanilla. Stir to combine.
4. Pour the butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir well to coat. Let stand for ten minutes.
5. Spread the mixture on a large baking sheet, separating it into irregular clumps with a spoon or by hand, allowing space between the clumps for hot air to circulate. Bake in the middle of the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
6. Remove and stir the mixture, gently breaking the granola into smaller clumps. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes, and then stir again. Repeat the baking and stirring at 15 minute intervals until the mixture is a uniform brown color and completely dry. This can take about an hour, or a bit longer. Cool completely, and add in any dried fruit you'd like.
7. Enjoy with yogurt, milk, ice cream, or picked off of the pan and eaten while still hot, thus burning your tongue. (Not that I did that).

Yum!