Date Night: St. George Spirits

A few months ago, Ben and I went on a super fun date night to St. George Spirits in Alameda. I credit Ben's dad with starting my gin habit after leaving ice cold gin and tonic in my fridge last summer. I finally tried it one hot August night and I've never looked back. We sampled some amazing gins while at St. George, and several other spirits including a coffee liqueur that we ended up buying. The most interesting, hands down, was learning the history of the licorice-tasting absinthe. 

Anyhow, if you're local, and you like spirits, you should definitely look into doing a tour and tasting. It's worth all the interesting facts you learn about the process of making gin, vodka, whiskey, liqueur, brandy, etc. plus seeing their amazing space. It's a converted war airplane hangar with redwood ceilings and some pretty amazing copper stills:

The absinthe changes color as it mixes with ice. Super cool:

Cheers, St. George! Thanks for the super fun date night!

waking up

I've wanted to write for a while now. Throughout the day, as I go about my Mama business, I find myself thinking in prose. I take little snapshots of my day and surround them with long, lovely sentences full of superfluous adjectives and lists separated by commas. 

All in my head.

I know I'm a writer. My mind keeps an active list of all the things I want to document but my day keeps me from actually getting anything down on paper. Part of it is busyness, but another part is laziness coupled with fear. 

All this to say, I'm hoping to get back into the swing of blogging. And not just about my kids, but about me. About life. Church planting. Community. Eating clean (or trying). Suffering. Hoping. 

I'm waking up. My heart is waking up. My words are waking up.

At least, they're trying to. :)

Thanks for sticking around. XOXO

Adventures as of Late: a Photo Extravaganza!

Some of the things we've been up to since school got out:

Summer Fun List: Donut Date

 Tomales Bay Oyster Co. for Father's Day

Pioneer Woman Blogger Party at Mel's

 SoCal for a pastors retreat with my hubster and the babe

 Stone Brewery!

 I finished my own beer (for the 2nd time ever in my life)

 I sent the big kids (home with Tutu, Boppa & Jennie) a pic of me eating huge mussels

 fun in the big hotel bed

Picked up the kids in Oakland and caught a flight to beautiful Oregon

 Some treasures from my storage boxes in my parents' store room: a poster circa 1988 and an awesome Christmas pullover.

 Ben having fun in the music room at OMSI

 E didn't really like his siblings' idea of a good time

 Great Grandma Mimi

Beautiful Mt. Hood 

 Enjoying (truly!) a hoppy IPA

 tired out little guy

Hood River brewery tour 

 Celebrated our 13th (and mom and dad's 41st) anniversary on July 1

Scenes from our early 4th celebration with the Painter family:

My 35th Birthday: a pool party and lots of sangria

 birthday brunch with the besties

 buddies Kirra, Maddie & Nicole

 Kelly & Berkeley

SO thankful for good friends to celebrate with!

in search of the perfect grain-free birthday dessert: Neapolitan Cake

In search of the perfect birthday dessert, I nearly stopped at this cake. Three layers of cake: chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. Three types of frosting, coating and filling the cake. Fresh strawberries. Cacao. Honestly, this is one of the very best grain-free desserts I've made to date.

Nobody can say for sure who came up with the genius that is now known as Neapolitan. Many sources credit the Naples region of Italy, as reflected in the name. It may have originally referred to various kinds of flavors of ice cream side by side before morphing into our traditional chocolate-strawberry-vanilla version of today. Regardless of where credit is due, it's safe to say that most of us are quite happy with any opportunity to sample three cakes in one slice.

The inspiration for this cake came from both Roost and i am baker. (If you aren't already checking out those blogs, you must. Amazingly talented women). All of the layers were based on Roost's original recipe but with my own additions. If you were to ask me which layer I like best, I'd hem and haw for several moments before telling you I'd make all of them again. However, the strawberry layer is the most moist while the chocolate layer is the one I couldn't seem to stop sampling.

I served this cake to a mixed panel of grain-free and grain-indulgent folks in our missional community. Everyone loved it, even my husband who regularly partakes of desserts made of real sugar and white flour. I'd say it's a hit!

Neapolitan Cake
adapted from original recipe by Roost and inspiration from i am baker
serves 10-12

Vanilla Layer
1 3/4 C. blanched almond flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3 TBS honey
3 eggs
1/2 TBS pure vanilla extract
1-2 vanilla beans
4 TBS butter

Strawberry Layer
1 3/4 C. blanched almond flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 C. honey

3 eggs

1/2 TBS pure vanilla extract

3/4 C. strawberries

4 TBS butter

Chocolate layer

1 3/4 C. blanched almond flour

1/4 C. cacao nibs

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 C. honey

3 eggs

1/2 TBS pure vanilla extract

4 TBS butter, softened

Frosting

4 room temperature egg whites

squeeze of fresh lemon juice

1 C. honey

1/2 C. strawberries, finely diced

1/4 C. raw cacao nibs, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease three 6-inch round cake pans. Trace the bottom on parchment paper, cut out circles, and place in bottom of pans.

For the vanilla layer:
Melt 4 TBS butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until light brown and fragrant. Remove from heat.

Combine dry ingredients (flour through soda) in a small mixing bowl with a whisk. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine honey, eggs, and vanilla extract. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean pods and add to processor. Process until smooth. Add flour mixture and process again, scraping down bowl with spatula as needed. Lastly, process in melted butter. Pour into one of the prepared pans.

For the strawberry layer:
Melt 4 TBS butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until light brown and fragrant. Remove from heat.

Combine dry ingredients (flour through soda) in a small mixing bowl with a whisk. Set aside.

In a food processor, pulse 1/2 cup strawberries until pureed. Add to the processor: honey, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix well. Add flour mixture and process again, scraping down bowl with spatula as needed. Lastly, process in melted butter. Pour into one of the prepared pans.

For the chocolate layer:
Finely grind cacao nibs in a coffee grinder until powdery. Combine cacao powder and rest of dry ingredients (flour through soda) in a small mixing bowl with a whisk. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine butter, eggs, vanilla extract and honey. Mix well. Add flour mixture and process again, scraping down bowl with spatula as needed. Pour into one of the prepared pans.

Bake all three layers for 25-30 minutes, checking at about 22 minutes for doneness. Each cake will finish baking at a slightly different time. Remove when a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

Allow cakes to cool for 10 minutes in pan, then gently remove to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

For the frosting:
Place egg whites and lemon juice in an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk. Process on medium-high until stiff peaks form (takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes). Meanwhile, bring honey to a boil in a medium saucepan. When stiff peaks have formed, with the mixer running, very slowly pour hot honey into bowl. Beat until thoroughly combined, about a minute more.

Frosting must be used immediately or placed in refrigerator. If you choose to decorate the cake, keep it stored in the refrigerator until serving time.

To assemble the cake:


Separate frosting into two equal halves. Set aside one half in fridge. Halve remaining frosting once more into two separate bowls. Gently fold in, with a rubber spatula, strawberries into one bowl and cacao nibs into another.

Place chocolate layer on cake stand. Frost top with cacao nib frosting. Stack strawberry layer on next. Frost top with strawberry frosting. Finally, place vanilla layer on top. Frost sides and top of cake with the plain frosting, piping decorations if desired.

Optional:
Stir in cacao powder (use coffee grinder) to make a chocolate-tinted frosting for decorating bottom layer.

Halve additional strawberries and place in pattern around middle of cake (strawberry layer).

*********

Two giveaways going on through July 9th! Enter to win: 1) two grain-free cookbooks for all your birthday (and everyday) baking needs; 2) a birthday party giveaway to Mel's shop including an invite design, 25 invites w/envelopes, 25 cupcake toppers and 25 favor tags or stickers. Two lucky winners! 


All you need to do is leave a comment to be entered! Answer this question: 
Chocolate, Strawberry or Vanilla?

drumroll, please: ch-ch-ch-changes part deux

Introducing: some new features on the blog! After reviewing some of my favorite posts through the years, it seems the ones that make me happiest and garner the most comments are those that fit into a few categories: food and faith. I love to cook good food, eat good food, and share recipes. So starting this month, I'll be incorporating more healthful, grain-free recipes with you, dear readers!

Many of these recipes will also be posting over at the Patch, where I'll resume blogging. It is my hope to encourage and inspire you to try new things even if you're not following a grain or gluten-free diet. Things to look forward to: Green Curry Vegetables, Coconut-Cashew Mahi Mahi, Mother's Day Brunch, and much, much more!

I'm also looking forward to sharing some of my faith journey. God is working in crazy, amazing, wonderful, creative and mysterious ways in our new church plant. I hope and pray that by sharing stories of how God is on the move in our community, some of you will be inspired and find your own moments of illumination.

Finally, one of my favorite new features will be good eats, good reads: a weekly roundup of all the delightful posts I read and recipes I find while perusing the internet. There's so many amazing blogs I follow, so many delectable-looking recipes to share!

Thanks for following along. Glad to have you as readers!

Ch-ch-ch-Changes!

Hello Readers!

I'm back from a looong, much-needed, relaxing, wonderful family vacation. I did a lot of reading, writing and praying over break, and you're going to see a lot of new things coming. I have all sorts of ideas for spicing up the blog, from regular weekly postings to new grain-free recipes that folks have been asking for, to a series of short nonfiction essays on motherhood I'm going to start compiling. I'm ready for a change; are you? It's gonna be fun!

In the meantime, stay tuned for a series of picture-heavy posts on our trip to Kauai. I'm off to get started on the editing of over 800 photos. Wish me luck!

after my last deep post, something rather shallow

It's the internet hair rage, sweeping the blogosphere: no-heat curls.

Of course, I had to try it out, because I'm all about spending as little time as possible getting ready. :)

Exhibit A: my hair in its natural state (sort of wavy)

I followed the you tube technique exactly, wrapping medium-sized sections of hair (maybe 5 each side, 10 total wraps). I had washed my hair in the afternoon, let it dry naturally, and wrapped it (almost dry, just barely damp in a few places) that night, around 10. I didn't add any product before wrapping. This part took about 10-15 minutes. Easy.

I slept all night with the hair wrapped, as I normally do, switching between sides and back. In the morning, I applied hairspray about 15 minutes before removing the band (it was around 9 am, so the hair was wrapped for 11 hours or so).

When I removed the band, my hair was REALLY curly in front, a little bit frizzy/curly in the back where I wasn't as careful or methodical with the wrapping. I brushed through each section with a paddle brush, curling the ends around the side of my palm (as detailed in the video tutorial). I did a lot of twisting just with my hands, too. I spent more time than I wanted to, probably 20 minutes with the styling of the curls. I would liken the finished product to a modernized Nellie Olsen; it was actually a bit too much curl for me. But I knew they would relax throughout the day, so I went with it. By later that afternoon, I had voluminous, large waves.

Exhibit B: various stages of the no-heat (vintage) curl technique

Top row, left to right:

hair wrapped around band, night before

hair immediately after removing band, morning of

hair after combing and taming curls

Bottom row, left to right:

back view of hair after combing and taming

hair in natural light, later that morning

curls more relaxed, in the afternoon, headed to pool

I tried again a few days later, but wrapped larger sections, and much looser. The next morning it was sort of a mess (sections falling out, unwrapping from the band) but it got a mildly wavy, beachy sort of vibe. I spent virtually no time styling the waves, just combed them out a little with my fingers. Ideally, I'd probably like something right in between my two attempts.

Verdict: I will definitely do this again, maybe even once a week. I'll wrap larger sections, but pay closer attention so they are tight and methodical I'll also try it on Maddie's hair.