Romantic & recipe

I bought Romantic Homes yesterday and I've enjoyed reading it & just looking at all the beautiful pictures. The theme of this issue was "Get the Cottage Look", which I just couldn't resist. There where also lots of links to several amazing websites. And now I've realized that there are so many things I really need in my home... Like a tea cart, a wicker corner unit, a teapot, a blue rose tray, a teapot charm, an engraved soap in raspberry mint tea, a beach sign (or two perhaps, one for me and one for Julie) & a tea cozy. Well, maybe I don't need them all ;-)

I'm not sure that I should share this recipe with you because it will show what an amateur I am when it comes to baking. But I believe in honesty, so here goes ;-)

Vanilla cupcakes
Servings: 20 according to the recipe but I made 10 really big ones instead (my first mistake was that I forgot that the size of the cupcake in a swedish recipe isn't the same size as my huge cupcake tins).

2 egg
2 dl caster sugar
100 g butter
3 dl wheat flour
1 and ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1 dl boiling water (I didn't use the water. Looked through the entire recipe but still missed where it was supposed to go. But the good news is that I found it now, so I'll use it the next time I'm baking these cupcakes).

Preheat the oven to 175 °C (I totally forgot that & I'm sure you'll all remember it but just in case you don't, I wanted to remind you because waiting for the oven to heat up isn't any fun at all)
Beat the eggs and the caster sugar until it's light.
Melt the butter and leave it a while to cool off.
Mix the wheat flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar.
Now pour the melted butter into the egg mixture.
Then add the wheat flour mixture and the boiling water to the egg mixture (remember the water).
Fill the cupcake tins and put them in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes (if you've got those big tins, you might need a few extra minutes).

Lime frosting
100 g cream cheese
1 and ½ tbsp butter
2 dl powdered sugar
Grated zest from 1 lime

The cream cheese and butter should be at room temperature.
Mix the cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar.
Add the lime zest.
Spread the frosting over the cupcakes.

Vanilla cupcake with limefrosting

I love cupcakes. Not just the taste (because as I've said before, I think it can get to sweet) but the look of it & the pleasure of making them :-) However, this time I found a new recipe which I had to try right away. As you've probably already figured out when reading the title of this post (yes I'm very creative in my writing this evening) the cupcakes were vanilla cupcakes with limefrosting. I gave away some of them but I'm tasting one myself right now and they're delicious together with strawberries. Lime and strawberries really work well together.

Lots of colour

I've got a thing for porches and outdoor furniture right now. But I guess it comes with the season :-) Even though I prefer white furnitures I still want other colours to go with all the white. And I think the porch or the garden is the perfect place for some bright colours. Some of my favourite colours right now are lime, turquoise, pink & blue.

Here's one of my old photos from Rosendal's garden. Even they like some colour in the garden :-)

Pink & Green

Here's another bracelet...
I love looking at pictures of other people's creations & If you want to look at some really amazing jewellery, take a look at The Jewelery Blog.

Leftovers

Why is it so hard to get a good photo of guacamole? As I've mentioned before, I love guacamole and I enjoy trying out new recipes... I found a new one in Susan Branch's Heart of the Home: Notes from a Vineyard Kitchen. I couldn't stop myself from trying it since I actually had some leftovers that I could use. Isn't that a perfect excuse to make some guacamole? You wouldn't want your chopped tomatoes or onions from last night go to waste, so you simply have to make something out of them ;-)
Because of how they photos looked (they would probably have stopped you from trying this recipe, they werent't exactly mouthwatering), I will share this recipe without the photos. Because it is a recipe well worth trying if you like guacamole ;-)

Guacamole
2 avocados, mashed (Preferably the lumpy thick-skinned ones)
1 tbsp grated onion
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 diced tomato

Mash the avocados with a potato masher (Well, I don't have a potato masher so I used a mixer instead).
After you've mashed the avocados, mix the other ingredients well.

It was really simple but very tasty! I like the fact that you don't need any sourcream or yoghurt. I always get extra careful with those "use-by" dates in the summer, which is why I don't always have sourcream or yoghurt at home... Then it's perfect with a recipe that doesn't require any of those sort of dairy products.

Yesterdays lunch was Spinach ravioli with goat cheese. Doesn't it sound like I put a lot of time into it? I love how simple it is to make a good pasta dish when all you need to do is open the package of fresh pasta and boil it & then add whatever you want to it ;-)

Summer jewellery

Finally I've had the time to do be creative. Feels good! :-) One of the things I've done recently is this bracelet. I love the different colours, especially the different shades of blue which reminds me of the sea. Isn't it amazing what an effect colours have on us? I feel like smiling each time I look at these blue, green and gold colours.


Another thing I've suddenly got the time to do is reading. Well, I've been reading a lot this past couple of months but not reading... You know, sitting in a comfortable place and reading a really good book just for the pleasure of it and not because you have to read it. It's even better if the book gives you a nice summery feeling. A feeling of sand, water and icecream.
Too bad Julie's new book "Truffles by the Sea" isn't out yet ;-) Can't wait for it to arrive!