Few Favorite Finds...

Hope you enjoy!!

Baking Dreams

Did I mention my love for cooking and baking? I am going to master the delicious art one day, and I have a bit of a hobby collecting new recipes to put inside my recipe box..Here are the ones I've collected most recently. I thought maybe you'd enjoy them too..Let me know if you've made any of these and what you think, or if you have any you think I should try. Bon apetite!

Stuffing Buns...mouth watering description!!
Ratatouille...wanted to try making this after I saw the Disney film. This one's by Julia Child!
Pecan Pie...my personal favorite holiday pie. I had to find the recipe when I shockingly discovered that I didn't already have it on file.
Baked Stuffed Pumpkins..part of my pumpkin craze..:)
Ginger Spice Crinkles
Beer Bread with Cheese and Sunflower Seed Crust
Pear and Ginger Muffins
Lemon Poppy Seed Pancakes
Tea Cakes
Ooey Gooey Butter Cake...fell IN LOVE with this at a little pizza place in Jacksonville, FL
Spaghetti with Basil Pesto and Tomato Salad
Chai Cookies
Almond Tea Cakes
Butterbeer
Homemade Milanos...(you'll need to scroll down the page for the recipe)

All of this has, of course, ignited my hunger and desire to cook and bake and such. I'd like to get together with all of my friends and have a huge cooking party. Everyone could chip in a bit, agree on a few delightful recipes, then we could all just go at it!!! I could get one fo my..older friends to bring a few bottles of wine..really get the wild rumpus going! Imagine the talk, the music, the laughs at the not-so -experienced in the kitchen (mainly me, lol). /sighs...well..perhaps someday soon. Happily enough, just around the corner lay the holidays and the sumptous dishes that make it worth waiting all year for.

Pretty Things...

Hope you like the images above as much as I did!! They really are lovely!!

Lucy

On another small, unrelated note: here are a few photos of Lucy when she discovered that the sink is just the right size for her! She likes to keep me company when I am in the bathroom, putting on makeup, checking my outfit, or doing my hair. I love Lucy, lol!!

My Dreaming Tree....

A few weeks ago, I painted a tree on my bedroom wall above my bed. I had mixed emotions about how it turned out for a while, but now I can safely say that I love its imperfectness. Here are some photos! I made some paper flowers courtesy of Talk Crafty To Me that I added to the branch in the first photo. Mine did not turn out as well as the tutorial as I had some difficulty making them. That's one down side to the tutorial is that it's really just some pictures showing the steps, but not explaining them. However, they just add to the slightly off charm. Try making some paper flowers for me, and let me know how they turned out; tips are welcome!!!

NANOWRIMO

November is National Write a Novel Month. Write a novel with me? I've started, just kinda fooling around on this wonderful site called My Writing Nook. Read more about the application here. Read more about the interesting writing challenge here.

On another note, is it really November already? what happened???

Pablo Neruda and the Magic Box

Cover of The School of Essential Ingredients

Pablo Neruda via last.fm

Thought you might enjoy a few poems by Pablo Neruda that I've recently discovered. He is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I have plans to find a book by him, as well as Walt Whitman, at my library. I think I'll start reciting out loud, for my own benefit. I'd like to improve my reading voice and it might be a fun and interesting experience to hear the words and thoughts out loud, in a new way.



I do not love you as if you were salt-rose or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms,
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers.
Thanks to your love a certain fragrance,
risen darkly from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride,
so I love you because I know no other way than this:
where "I" does not exist, nor "you,"
So close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
So close that your eyes close and I fall asleep.

-Pablo Neruda


Because of you, in gardens of blossoming flowers I ache from the perfumes of spring.
I have forgotten your face, I no longer remember your hands; how did your lips feel on mine?
Because of you, I love the white statues drowsing in the parks, the white statues that have neither voice nor sight.
I have forgotten your voice, your happy voice; I have forgotten your eyes.
Like a flower to its perfume, I am bound to my vague memory of you. I live with pain that is like a wound; if you touch me, you will do me irreparable harm.
Your caresses enfold me, like climbing vines on melancholy walls.
I have forgotten your love, yet I seem to glimpse you in every window.
Because of you, the heady perfumes of summer pain me; because of you, I again seek out the signs that precipitate desires: shooting stars, falling objects.

-Pablo Neruda, "Love"


I've also recently read some of The School of Essential Ingredients, by Erica Bauermeister, and read this fabulous quote, "she saw that cookies that were warm and soft satisfied a different need than those that were crisp and cool." and now, of course, I want to buy the book more than ever!
I thought you might also enjoy this link to Life as Lou, where she creates these ingenious Magic Boxes, which of course is now on my extensive list of crafts-to-do, lol.

Take care and be crafty!!!
-Art