domicile

Mrs. Alice Boffin Toft

Mrs. Alice Boffin Toft and Mr. Pluto
Originally uploaded by emira

This little minature bakery was among my most treasured childhood toys, and now lives in my old toy chest alongside an old Brownie Scarf, LPs and well loved dolls. I was given Mrs. Alice Boffin Toft (that's her name on the sign at the back of the store, though I added the "Mrs." somewhere along the way) by my grandpa Jack and his wife (my step-grandmother) when they arrived back from a trip overseas. I've always assumed it came from Vienna, but my adult self isn't so sure as there's a stamp from Cambridge on the base of the bakery itself.

It was a brilliant gift for a meticulous little girl who loved to set up scenarios and play with dollhouses and things. The little bakery stand isn't anything so special, not that I look at it with adult eyes. In fact, with all the woodworking skills renoing this house and knowing Martin have afforded me I'm quite sure I could make one. The really special part is the "baked goods." Little minature replica bakery items: peach pie, gooseberry pie, chocolate cake with nuts, a cream cake, baguettes, eclairs, cream puffs, cream horns, a three tier wedding cake, croissants, jelly rolls, jam tarts, and the list goes on. More goodies than can in fact fit in the bakery at once. I remember that as a littlel girl I had a very specific way that I thought the store should be arranged, though now those "rules" are a foggy memory.

I pulled Alice Boffin Toft out this weekend to take a closer look because I think I may in fact try to make a replica for Miss P's birthday this year. Everytime we go to Victoria she spends as long as she possibly can inside MiniLand lingering over the endless supply of mini foods, furniture and tchotckes. She usually comes away with one or two little things, but nothing on the scale of Mrs. Alice's bakery. She's also verging on the edge of being too old for something like this, so this might be the last year I could get away with giving her a miniature bakery.

Before you think I'm totally nuts, I don't think I'll get into making all the little foods. No, those I'll get from Mini Land, but the bakery structure itself? That I can do. As I say, compared to renoing a kitchen, should be a breeze. Now I just need to sort out some wood scraps and some striped awning material.

Give Me Your Dough

reflection
Originally uploaded by emira

Or more correctly, your recipes. Anyone out there have a tried and true recipe for a wholewheat-ish bread they'd like to share?

I've scoured my cookbooks, my mom's and even one a friend's mom brought all the way from New Foundland (well it's a Newfie cookbook, but she brought it from Ontario). I've decided to take a break from the Multigrain I've been making to try out something else. I can of course get a recipe from the library or ye olde internet, but I'd love something others can vouch for.

So, here's what I'd love, but I'll be talked out of this if your argument is persuasive enough, a recipe for bread that is:

- Not too full of sugar, all the olde fashioned recipes my mom had laying around used like 1/4 or a 1/3 of a cup of sugar. That seems like too much too me. If it were honey or molasses in those quantities I'd probably feel better.
- Has a fair bit of whole wheat flour or some non-traditional grain. I don't like using too much white flour.
- Is a yeasted bread, and preferably not a sourdough starter. I feel like I'm not quite ready to graduate to sourdough starters, but again I can be talked out of that.

Other than that, I'm open to your wisdom. Help me fill that lovely new vintage bread box!

Hello Spaceboy!

Spaceboy close up
Originally uploaded by emira

In a bit of a last minute flurry, I finished off this Space Guy (pattern from Wee Wonderfuls) for one of my very favourite four year olds this weekend, as a belated birthday gift. I made a half-hearted promise to myself at the beginning of this year that I would not purchase but rather create or make all the gifts for the many wee ones in my life this year. I'm sorry to say I haven't been able to totally comply with that what with one thing or another -- like renovating our kitchen during a big birthday month -- but I've not done too badly. One of my strategies in this direction is to keep a long list of planned projects and work my way through them on slow evenings or rainy weekend afternoons (of which we've had far too many). Spaceboy here was begun several months ago, so all I had to do to get him ready was stuff him and embroider his face. I was particularly thrilled to find that little blue stripy button in my button jar for his belt, as it coordinated perfectly, without being planned.

Currently, I'm pretty behind on the list and the summer birthdays are now officially in full swing. Though if summer continues to delay its arrival, I may keep on top of things yet.

For some of the other kids in my life, I've opted (rather selfishly) to spend an afternoon with them instead of giving them a material gift. While I love making the dolls, I have to say the shared adventure option is heaps of fun. I spent a fabulous afternoon at the petting zoo getting nibbled on by baby goats with one friend's daughter for her second birthday, and while it was intended as a treat for her, I had the best lazy Saturday afternoon I've had in months!

Such a Lucky Girl

Untitled Ring Set 1
Originally uploaded by clbaran

Sometime, a while back now, I fell in love with this ring made by local Vancouver jewelry designer Colleen Baran. I am already the very lucky owner of a gorgeous necklace of her from her Floating Saucer series, and I've bought some of her pieces for friends in the past. This ring -- which is more correctly a series of small rings that go together -- however took my breath away when I first came across a photo of it online. That was, I believe, sometime just before my birthday last year and so I dropped some not-very-subtle hints in Martin's direction, but he had already picked out a pair of shiny read clogs for me (a gift very hard to argue with) and so the ring(s) and I were not meant to be just yet.

They did however arrive at the perfect time. Last week, in the middle of a rather crummy work week I met Martin at the bus stop to head home from work. And from behind his back he pulled a bag filled with the most fabulous delights that had been packaged up for me by Colleen. The ring set (mine is actually slightly different from the one shown here and has five rings in it, but my photos aren't nearly as clear) all tied up with red string, chocolates and notes were all bundled into what was just the best present ever. I've worn the rings every day since, and just can't get enough of them. One of the great aspects of this piece is its modular and changeable nature. By rearranging the ring components you can come up with a different ring each day. My favorite component is definitely the band of little beads (shown on the right side in the photo) and the contrast it brings to the others.

I'm feeling pretty darn lucky to have received such a gorgeously crafted piece by such a talented designer. Oh and of course having the partner who brightened my week by giving it to me. So very lucky.

Eggpants!

Eggpants!
Originally uploaded by emira

What more is there to say really: eggpants. Try saying it. It's fun!

These little guys came in the mail today and boy was I mighty pleased about them. Several months ago we were on the hunt for some simple eggcups with a bit of personality. We ended up getting some very lovely orange and yellow Danish melamine ones from a second hand shop, but when I saw these ones designed by LIZKIN Design I couldn't resist. Could you?

So we now have plenty of egg cups where we used to have none. Oh well. Now we get to say "Eggpants!" on a Sunday morning and you can't really beat that.

Mmmm Cake!

I volunteered to make a cake for a friend's birthday this weekend and I'll admit I've become a bit paralyzed by my options. You see, I hadn't realized it, but the bulk of the cakes that I have made in the past several years have been vegan cakes for various friends with preferences that lean in that direction. I've got some stellar vegan cake recipes, but this friend has no such restrictions. And, Martin who is also attending said party has some harsh soy allergies meaning typically when I make cakes he's excluded from the deliciousness. So, this time I'm going full on butter, eggs and dairy, frosting-palooza. I realized I don't have many cookbooks that have awesome, decadent, pretty cake recipes so I actually took a few books out of the library (including the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook) and nearly every night for the past two weeks I've gone to bed thumbing through pages of sugary, rich delights. I also, of course, turned to the internet and now have a number of options in my del.icio.us bookmarks. And now, the party is tomorrow and I have no idea which one to choose. There are so many options!

So, since y'all were so helpful with your bread baking advice: anyone have any tried and true cake recommendations? Or something they saw online that they're just dying to make? I've unexpectedly got the day free tomorrow so I'm open to fussy. And I've stocked up on butter, sugar and the like so I'm prepared for most options. Bring'em on!

Not Half Bad

  bread a risin' 
  Originally uploaded by emira

Despite record breaking heat this weekend, I followed through with my plan to try making bread. And, while I received many well intentioned warnings from folks here on this site, I stubbornly went ahead with the multigrain recipe that I had. And, you know what? It didn't turn out half bad. In fact, I'd so so far as to say that it turned out totally edible. A bit dense with a thick crust, but totally edible and not a total brick. In fact, I'd say it was pretty decent.

I woke up Sunday morning to make it and ended up preparing my yeast twice, as the first time Martin knocked the bowl disturbing the yeast and I wasn't sure if that would make a difference. Given that I had only invested 15 minutes and a tablespoon of molasses, 2 tsps of yeast and a cup of water I decided to give it another whirl. The heat was likely good for bread rising, though when it came to baking it I had to open all the windows and the front door so the house didn't totally overheat (I'm sure our old gas stove lacks in the thermo-efficiency department, but I tell ya in the winter all you have to do is bake dinner and you don't need the furnace, this is why ovens were always located in the centre of houses). I then set myself up in the front flower bed to try to deal with some serious blackspot on my roses with my kitchen timer beside me, and was still able to enjoy the smell of fresh bread wafting out the front door. Yum.

My oven runs a bit hot, so the bread was done about 15 minutes before the suggested time. I may have even been able to take it out a few minutes earlier to prevent such a hard crust (it's hard but not tough so that's good), though I was worried about uncooked bread. And it isn't too dry, so I don't think I did badly.

I'll definitely try this recipe again next weekend to see if I can improve/change it, but I need the advice of some bread experts out there. I know that when bread dough is ready you're supposed to be able to punch it and bring out a dry fist. I could do that, though this multigrain was a pretty stiff dough (and I'm a weakling) so I wasn't really making a bit dent in it. I kneaded it for about 7 minutes the first time (the instructions said 10) at which point the texture of the dough didn't seem to be changing much except that it was actually getting a bit stickier and less smooth, ie/ sticking to the board where it hadn't before. My final product was a bit "flatter" than I would have liked, I think it could have risen about 20% more than it did. Does that mean I kneaded for too long? Or not enough? All advice is most welcome.

The one thing I've realized is that I don't really know what this bread should be like, which would have been helpful. It is totally possible that I've made the recipe exactly as it is intended and at this point I'm just adapting for my own preferences. There isn't even a photo in the cookbook I used, so I'm really kind of poking around in the dark here. I may try Molly's Honey Gold Oatmeal bread in a few weeks as there's a bit more a description and a photo of the final product there, so I'll know more what I'm aiming for.