Chive Flowers!

I just got back from Ohio where I was visiting my family. My dad is growing chives. I had no idea they have such beautiful flowers.

He is also growing asparagus. Unfortunately, those are the only two things he is successfully growing because the deer eat everything. I mean, everything. The deer love the asparagus but my dad has it fenced off so they can't get to it. Thank goodness.

He used to have flowers all around the house and a huge garden. Because they are tearing down forests in surrounding cities, the deer are foraging for food in people's yards and gardens....and eating everything. Such a shame really. They are just innocent hungry animals that have no choice.:(

On a lighter note, if you like these pictures, I have them for sale here. They are high quality prints on canvas. All pics are taken and edited by moi. :)

The Perfect Mojito

I enjoyed my first mojito of the season yesterday. Rob and I started our porch planting and of course, mojitos are a perfect accompaniment. I realized I’ve never actually posted my recipe for mojitos. I have posted about Lingonberry Apple Mojitos, which is almost exactly the same as this recipe. But I wanted to give the original mojito proper credit. Nothing says warm weather and sunshine like a delicious mmmmojito!

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

8 mint leaves

2 ounces of simple syrup - Printable Recipe for Simple Syrup

2 ounces of light rum

Fresh lime juice from 1 and a half limes, strained to remove pulp

4 ounces cold club soda

Ice

DIRECTIONS

1. Place mint leaves in the bottom of a tall glass. Add simple syrup and lightly smash mint leaves with a muddler.

2. Pour in rum, lime juice, and club soda. Top with ice and stir. 

Iced Lemon Bundt Cake

I baked in my new kitchen for the first time last night. Loved it! It's much more conducive to baking, cooking, and general socializing. I adapted this recipe from the lovely Ina Garten. Her show kills me. She's always having these fabulous dinner parties with some fabulous friend who she usually puts to work. Not gonna lie, I'd barbeque some pork chops if she told me to. It would be a fabulous trade-off for the opportunity to sit on her back patio and have a grand time with her whilst enjoying her fabulous foods. Anyway, this cake is deliciously lemony and perfect for spring.

Printable Recipe 

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup whole milk at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice + 4 tablespoons

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature

2 1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk at room temperature

Lemon zest from 6 large lemons

1 tablespoon of honey

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a standard sized bundt cake pan with butter. Coat with flour and shake out the excess.

2. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine whole milk, vanilla, and only 1/4 cup of the lemon juice. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream butter and only 2 cups of sugar with and electric hand mixer. Mix it at medium speed for 3-5 minutes. Continue mixing and add eggs one at a time, mixing well in-between each egg. Add lemon zest and combine with mixer.

4. Add your flour mixture and milk mixture alternately to butter mixture, a little at a time, until all are combined. Pour the batter into the greased cake pan and even out the top with a spatula.

5. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. 

6. In a small pan over medium heat, combine the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of honey until sugar is dissolved. Reserve the remaining 4 tablespoons of lemon juice for the icing. 

On a side note, I have an addiction to honey. I love it. I could eat it 10 times a day. This is one of my favorite kinds: 

yummmmmmmm

7. Once cake is done, allow to cool on a cooling rack (with a tray underneath) for 10 minutes. Remove cake from cake pan but be careful as it may still be hot! Evenly poke about 20 holes in the cake with the wooden skewer. Spoon lemon juice/sugar mixture slowly and evenly over the cake. The tray below will catch any additional mixture that is not absorbed. 

8. For the glaze, start by pouring only 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice into the confectioners’ sugar. Stir and keep adding lemon juice until you get a smooth consistency. Spoon evenly over the cake. Again, the tray below will catch any glaze that runs off. 

Ohmygoodness! Yum!

Changes

It really has been ages since I blogged. The banner that I had up was my snowflake banner. Yikes! It is now updated and fresh and summery looking. Ahhh. I want to say a big fat thank you to anyone who still reads this and/or checks back to see if I've posted anything. Smooches to you.

I recently moved and as everybody knows, moving is stressful. I hadn't moved in almost 5 years so my brain conveniently erased all memories of moving. As soon as I packed my first box, all the lovely memories came flooding back. Packing and me, we are not friends. But, we have been in our new place for over a week and are unpacked and settled and ready to resume some normalcy.

I've realized lately that I really miss blogging. It really is a stress reliever at times. I also miss baking, which I haven't done in ages. I think Rob misses it too. So tonight, I shall bake in my new kitchen for the first time!

In my blogging absence, I have been spending a lot of time taking and editing photos and posting them on Instagram. I have found a great community of people on IG. It's become somewhat of an addiction. Here are a couple photos, taken from my rooftop:

Western sunset

Eastern Skyline

This move is a first of hopefully many changes for me. It's time for me to do different things in life and I'm looking forward to what the future holds.

If you like the pictures above, you can purchase those and some of my other photos here.

Now I just need to decide what to bake tonight...