The BIRTHDAY BOOK IS DONE!!!

At long last I am actually writing this post. I have dreamed about this for almost as many years as I have been authoring this blog. It is with great satisfaction I can finally say–and mean it–The birthday book is done! 

I have told my husband and the kids so many times "the birthday book is done" that it started to loose meaning. Draft after draft, after frustrating small-tweaks-here-and-there draft, it is really truly completely, no-more-to-do done. I invite you to to pop some champagne for me... no not really, I can do that myself, but geez luize, it is good to put this one on the shelf and say fini! 

It was a project my good friend Robin and I started back when the kids were little. We traveled through so many stages of our lives and I have lived in five houses since we started. I guess I like to move! Or it has just taken a long time and finding the place that is home takes a long time too. 

But anyway, enough about that, here are some of my favorite images from the book:

Filled to the brim with step-by-step instructions for making original gifts, favors, cakes, wrapping, decorations and games, BIRTHDAYS: HANDMADE, HOMEMADE is interwoven with stories, photographs, illustrations and anecdotes. We invite readers to pull up a chair, pour a cup of tea and spend the afternoon making and creating. Our goal is to offer inspiration on how to make a birthday handmade, homemade and your very own.

Readers will love the creative ideas that make this book so personal and tangible. Projects range from fast and easy . . . Dinosaurs in real eggshells, to more timely and in depth . . . Dining table forts. Young parents and do-it-yourself enthusiasts will find endless help onhow to prepare and execute a homemade birthday party.

At a time when it seems like families are trying to take back just a bit of their own and blogs hum with self-reliant know-how, this book is a great jumping-off point for those aiming to leave commercialism behind and bring it all back to the ones they love. 

Birthdays: Handmade, Homemade is available online. 

Hope everyone is enjoying summer!
                                   

                                              Cheers~
                                                         Marica


P.S. I have one copy to give away, so if you live in the United States and would like to enter for a chance to win, leave a comment below. I'll pick a name at random and post a winner Sunday July 23rd.

Holidays… Pie Days…

It's happening fast. December has nearly doubled its speed. 

Make way for Christmas, make way for New Years, hold onto your hat! Here we go...

  

 

                                                                     Cheers ~ 

                                                                                   Marica

Dark Winter Days…

Days getting dark so early, holiday things beginning to happen. These pictures are from a friends Christmas party. Her house is a project, I am so excited she is going to make it beautiful!!! But for now it has the most incredible rustic feel. I love it!

                                                  Cheers ~ 

                                                              Marica

Pie Truck Post

I feel like I have very little time to take pictures right now. My days are soooo busy and filled to the brim with children, pies, house cleaning, and all the other little tidbits of things that have to be done. Gone are the days of toddlers and the four meals that happened before the sun even reached it's peak in the sky. I miss that slower pace. I miss it a lot. At the same time my current adventures are exciting. I am serving the world up pie. Real, handmade, scratch-made, flour-all-over-me-made pies, every week. There is surely monotony, but there is also that burst of life that can happen when I make a connection with a customer. There are the mornings where all that takes me through is, strong brewed chai, a dabble of music and the revelation that I AM MAKING PIE for complete strangers. This is my art, in the form of the word meaning expression, and I better make use of it while I choose to indulge in such indulgences. 

Like with anything, working out of a truck has its ups and downs. It is a very personal, very connected feeling situation. I see the weather—the windshield and other windows of the truck gift me the sensation of being part of each day as its shifts in and out of clouds, sun, rain, or the rare snowflake that will certainly make me giddy as a child. I am in conversation with each and every customer. They see me wash my hands and attend to their meal, from start to finish. Not so much the cooking, I'm in the truck, and they usually wander off to sit down, but as in the way you are a friend to a barista; they remember your drink and make it themselves. I am my own boss. I hesitate to use that word, it is so ugly and unbecoming of what the meaning of that is. I have the weight of making sure I cross my Ts and put tails on my Qs. I often am ready to turn off the propane-powered ovens, lock the door and leave the mess for another day. But I don't. But I do dream of it, sometimes. 

 I taste food, constantly. I actually realized something the other day—I recommend you give it a whirl—I realized that if you stop to taste food it tastes more. I am often beside myself with how amazing and unbelievably out of this world a simple thing like a mushroom sauteed in butter can be. What I noticed was, even if you eat something less than incredible, if you stop and let your tongue fully communicate to your brain before you swallow it down, it is remarkably more tasty. I tend to be a scarfer. I can eat a burrito faster than my stomach will enjoy, only near the end when I am already quite full do I slow down enough to truly taste. I am planning to adjust my tendencies. 

And I like how magical people find pie. I like touching the piece of a person that goes straight to their, for lack of a better word, "inner child"—the part of us that gets excited by windstorms and soft about Christmas lights. So often pie sounds good, but when it is delivered, it's a lukewarm, over-sweet, rancid butter lingering disappointment. I love knowing that what I set before these people is the right amount sweet, freshly baked with real butter, and the kind of care I would want someone else to put into my food. Even our sweet pecan pie, though sweet, makes the mark, at least in my opinion. 

 

I wanted a place to serve food from. The goal was good, real food—kind you read about in storybooks—at a price where it isn't only available to the aloof, fortunate eaters. That would make my stomach turn. It is an almost impossible balance, but so far we are hanging on. 

 

Well, long winded and pie oriented, I better get to bed. Tomorrow is Monday, lovely, lovely Monday. 

                                              Hope you all have a good night!

                                                                                         Marica

Coconut Cream Pie, but no cream...

A couple of days ago I made a coconut cream pie, and it was exactly that, a "coconut cream" pie.

I had bought two cans of coconut cream from Trader Joe's, the thick creamy kind, planning to
make chicken marsala, but instead they became a most decadent pie… 

Coconut Cream Pie

Start by preparing a crust. I used the crust recipe from this post, 
except I used an egg instead of the water… If too dry, add a few drops of water at a time. 
Recipe from The Blue Heron Ranch Cookbook

Roll out the crust, place in a buttered pie pan, poke a few holes with a fork so the crust
doesn't bubble then bake at 375 degrees until done, 15-20 minutes. Set aside to cool.

On a dry pan place:
2/3 cup dry shredded coconut 
Bake until golden, maybe 6-8 minutes?? I didn't time it…
Spread half of the coconut over the bottom of the pie crust
and save the rest for the top of the pie.

Filling

Combine in a medium size heavy pan

and stir until smooth:

5 egg yolks (save whites for this recipe...)

2/3 cups raw sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

pinch salt

2 + 1/2 cups thick coconut cream 

(I used Trader Joe's canned coconut cream)

Place over medium heat and cook, stirring CONSTANTLY until thick.

Remove from heat, and add, stirring until smooth:

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

3 tablespoons butter sliced into piece

Pour immediately into the crust and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

Cool in the refrigerator for at least several hours. 

The filling for this pie is based off of the recipe for Vanilla Cream Pie in the Joy of Cooking.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

                                      

                                                                 ~ Marica

Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies…

Today's been dark and rainy, definitely cookie baking weather. Since I can't eat peanut butter I am always trying other butter cookies. These came out particularly nicely; chewy, flavorful, a touch too sweet, but hey, they are cookies.

Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies:

 In a medium bowl mix:

1/2 cup butter soft

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 sunflower seed butter

2 eggs

Add:

1 + 3/4 cups unbleached flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Bake 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

P.S. I didn't add it to mine, but I'm sure some sort of citrus zest would be wonderful! 

                                                     Hope you all are well!!

                                                               ~ Marica