Some things are certain.

What a strange year this is turning out to be!

We have had NO SNOW since mid-December or so. Very weird and made for a strange Christmas and New Years. Now, we have snow again which makes me so very happy as there is reflected light --> even cloudy days aren't so gloomy anymore. Today however (this picture was from yesterday), we have actual blue skies and sunshine. It's lifted my mood a lot and now that I think of it...when was the last time we even had a sunny day?!

One characteristic of this year is that it's totally unpredictable. It increases my anxiety levels but makes for a sense of adventure too. Who doesn't love spontaneity and adventure?!

The last time I had an unpredictable year like this was when I was about 19... And choices I made then, still affect me today (mostly in a good way!), so let's hope that the same can be said later about this year!

Adventure? What adventure?

The possibility of going to Japan again! (lots of reading this book and drinking tea and coffee at the moment)

Adventure of becoming an entrepreneur! It's in the cards and is my resolution. Although, I really don't do resolutions. Hubby and I do mottos. This year we haven't decided on it yet totally, but I think it's getting financially stable. Something definitely related to that! 

One thing that isn't uncertain: we eat well.

This gorgeous cinnamon rolls were consumed in honor of the new year. With cream cheese frosting of course!

This cake was my mom's birthday cake. It was a gluten-free sponge cake with a layer of meringue on top. And in between the layers and on top, a creamy coffee chocolate filling. And on top of that, ganache!! 

Oh. My. Word.

This was totally improvised. Totally delicious.

And it hasn't all been desserts. We've made yummy curries, savory casseroles, and there's a high consumption of these below at the moment. 

We really need the vitamin C now, since we are all a little sick. Poor muffin has her first cold. ;(  

She's still mostly in a good mood.

And no cold is going to get in the way of learning how to crawl!! 

She's 7 months and rocking on her hands and knees. 

We are going to be in mega trouble soon! :D

Another certainty: I will always be taking flower photos. 

This amaryllis has been blooming since New Years. First one stem. 

Now the one below. A nice little surprise too, a THIRD bud is coming up!

:)

For the first time this year, one of my all time favorites: tulips.

I don't think I've ever bought them so early in the year before, but I'm not one to argue with sales. ;) 

And my favorite, flowers on the nightstand. ♥

I got a cute Vera Bradley tote from my sister for Christmas, in which I've been stashing my yarny crafts. 

I gave up on the mittens since hubby broke my bamboo needles! 

So instead I started knitting this thick and chunky basic scarf.

My mom gave me some gorgeous yarn, so after long debate with myself and ravelry, I decided to make another south bay shawlette. I made 3 or 4 of these a few years ago as Christmas gifts, but never with a variegated yarn. I love this pattern and I love how it worked with the yarn!

It's quite big but super cozy.

The last pictures I wanted to share make me giggle. 

The aftermath of taking down the tree a month after having it.

:)

Entertaining

That cake = utterly fabulous.

If you like American style, dense, sweet, moist cakes with RICH frosting... you will love this recipe.

HIGHLY recommend it. I like it more than the go-to "busy day chocolate cake" recipe I've been using for a couple years.

I like it more than the chocolate cupcake base a la Annie's Eats (that I've used for baking cakes before). 

It is spectacular!

And easy.

Make it!! LINK HERE for Hershey's perfectly chocolate chocolate cake via my missourikitchen.com.

Why make a cake like that?

Well we had a small dinner party! :)

Hubby invited his friend and family over so it was the perfect excuse to indulge in yummy food.

I made veggie stir fry and rice. Note how fun stir fries can be when you don't own a wok pan. Umm... why don't I own one?! I ask myself every darn time.

The stir fry sauce was pretty good, linky here. It makes A LOT, so you can easily halve it if you don't plan on making stir fry again the for the next week day.

The veggies we used: carrots, broccoli, onion, garlic, fresh new season cabbage, bell peppers, zucchini. 

 

To accompany the veggies and starch, we had protein in the form of Vietnamese Chicken Bites.

Well, the store we went to was out of ground chicken so we did ground turkey but they were AMAZING. 

Like so good we-need-to-make-them-once-a-week-good. 

As a dipping sauce, we just had Thai sweet chili sauce that they sell in the stores here. 

Yum!

This is the look of a kitty asking for you to drop her a turkey ball.

 

And this is the pink cover that my mama got me to protect cakes from that very face above. ;)

 

Dinner was great. The company was great. The evening was great.

But man, looking at those pictures makes me hungry!!

By the way, we usually never finish whole cakes around here just the two of us... but half that cake was gone once our guests left. And the other half only lasted a day and a half.

That's really saying something about how good it was, I think!

Mother's day and daffodils

Sunday was mother's day and we celebrated by inviting my parents over for brunch.

I made a fresh salad with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette. 

The salad was nice and crisp accompanying this RICH quiche. I fried bacon and then caramelized onion, garlic, and bell pepper in the bacon grease. It gets better! Then I added some defrosted broccoli florets and tossed it in with the grease... and then melted a super rich and tasty soft cheese. Then I mixed 2 eggs and 1dl of sour cream into the warm mixture quickly, put it in the slightly pre-baked crust and put a bunch of cheese on top. 

Yeah, when I mean rich, I mean RICH!

It was so thick and creamy...just perfect! 

The crust was just a simple butter, flour, water crust that I pre-baked for 10min. I used gluten-free flour and some polenta to give it a nice texture. It was a nice crumb-y crust, everyone liked it. 

For dessert I wanted to make something fancy looking, but light considering the bacon quiche... Obviously I chose pavlova. (My love!!!) 

These gorgeous currants have been waiting in the freezer for some use, they were frozen complete on their little stems so they look nice as a garnish. 

Yep!

I loved the way they looked as they were defrosting!

The pavlova ended up getting a little too brown (darn distractions!), but the flavor and texture were great (my hubby called the darker spots campfire marshmallow). 

I "filled" the pavlova with a raspberry-lemon whipped cream concoction, using the Finnish "rahka" (quark?!). 

Garnish was left over whipped cream topped with lemon zest and the currants. 

Can you tell I just wanted to eat it and not take a million pictures of it first? ;)

My good boy Koda made sure his grandmama felt the love on mama's day.

So later on that day, I was inspired to take pictures of the daffodils that we brought home from the garden on Saturday. 

These were my favorite shots.

 

Apparently I was in a close-up mood. :)

Ah, yellow. It really has grown on me... well in certain moods and seasons anyway.

 

 

So that was my Sunday. 

This week has been crazy hectic/busy and life in general will continue to be so until sometime after June 9th. 

Argh.

I have sooooo much school work + starting my summer job + my friend's wedding (helping make decorations, baking, and crocheting her a shawl as a gift + my own shawl!!!)!!!

Finding time for everything is a biatch. Especially when I am lazy and selfish and only want to do things I want to do. 

Oh life!

Hope you're enjoying a relaxing week, I'll live vicariously if I must. ;)

 

Another week flown by...

I've written this post at least twice in the past week, and haven't found the time to upload the pictures for it... and then have moved on, deleted, re-written and now I've ended up here again! 

The cause is simple: lack of concentration, stress increase, and inadequate amount of time. 

I hate that time and I just don't work well together! I love thinking that I have great time management skills, but reality is that I only get things done on time through desperation and panic. Until then, I've been procrastinating! Lol! 

Let me just let the pictures finish the talking, since I have a feeling this post has the potential of becoming a rambling one about stress, time, and the usual suspects.

Kissa looking pretty. As usual.

Munkkis are Finnish donuts eaten on May Day. I made a batch of gluten-free for my dad and a batch of regular for the rest of us. 

 

 

Later on May Day, we took advantage of the good weather and head to the garden. We went a few more times last week, but I didn't really have the time or patience to take any good pictures, except these willows.

 

I baked a chocolate cake with coffee buttercream for guests we had last night. It was mighty delicious and I was so happy to get a chance to bake. It's been forever!

 

And we finally tried last week's Asian marinade on chicken. It was even better, since we marinated the chicken overnight. We pan fried the chicken and served it with jasmine rice and broccoli. 

More, please!

 

We're off again this evening to the garden, I'll try to get together some decent pictures for my first garden post of the season! :)

For past garden posts, check out this link to my old blog. 

Thanks for stopping by, have a nice week!