Decorating a cake for the 4th of July - fresh berries

Last year Ben and I made an ice cream Independence Day cake, and it was a challenge in hot Moscow weather. This time we decided to have a baked white cake with mousse and decorate it for the 4th of July with fresh seasonal red and blue berries. I feel more and more interested in actually decorating and styling food, I love the visual part of the cooking experience more now than I did, so it seems less important which exact recipe of cake to use.

I decorated our 4th of July cake with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and dark chocolate covered açai berries. I wish I could find red currants and blackberries, as well, but the stores didn't have any. At the very end I used some dark chocolate to grate on top of this berry field. You can also imagine it being sprinkled with white powdered sugar - unfortunately, by the time I started taking the pictures, it melted on the fresh juicy berries, but I didn't really notice and didn't add a new layer. I think it looks glorious even without any powder.

Right after I got finished taking the photos, we heard roaring thunder and it started heavily raining. We called Ben's parents and invited them for an early 4th of July tea party. We ate the cake, looked through the art books we thrifted last weekend, listened to the rain outside and chatted about dreams, space shuttles and weekend plans.

a week or so ago

I can't move on without leaving a note about Father's Day 2013. It was such a great weekend! We had breakfast with Ben's parents at "The Readery," which is our favorite place to eat so far this year. We had so much fun putting together a gift bag for Ben's dad.  The pink toenail polish for Sam-dog was the highlight. It was hilarious to reveal that the "dog's dog" had hot-pink nails. He didn't even notice, of course, and sat patiently while we petted him and painted them.

In the evening we went to the city beach and had an "international meals" picnic with friends, watched a train shooting fire while driving across the bridge (scraping the track), and enjoyed the lake Pend Oreille sunset.  If you're visiting Sandpoint - no matter what you came here for... go to City Beach, 3rd avenue pier, the bridge or anywhere overlooking the lake and watch everything change colors, and say "Hi!" to the mini Sandpoint Statue of Liberty!  Sandpoint is the best in summer!

summer picnic and a bunny

Wearing: silk top//thrifted; skirt//ASOS; sandals//GAP

It's Monday, but we didn't want to say good-bye to the weekend fun, and after work headed to a park for a picnic. It was very simple: just the essentials like mint tea, homemade banana bread with nuts, cheese, our soft blanket and a camera. We went to Memorial Field park next to the lake and just a short walk from our house. 

We settled under three big trees in a sunny spot, cut the bread, and then suddenly noticed our old friend munching on white clover right next to us! We first met our neighbor bunny rabbit in March and since then we've seen it almost every day under our window in the backyard or just hopping around nearby. The last week or so we lost sight of it and were even slightly worried - what a relief it is to know that the bunny found its way to the green park and it looks just as healthy and happy as earlier this spring! I really wish we could just have it and take care of it, but I guess it's a pretty smart and adventurous bunny.  It seems to enjoy freedom.

On another note, I'm testing Photoshop Elements tonight -- so far so good. I've been using Photoshop for the last 7 years and we've always been great friends. As you may know, my other laptop died last month taking down all of my programs and files. So now I have a new start with a new mac, empty hard drive and zero applications. Before getting a subscription to Photoshop on the cloud, I decided to use this period as an excuse to test some new programs and products, so I got Photoshop Elements and Lightroom. Anyone use these programs? What do you prefer?

Rhubarb mojito

It's the rhubarb season! We've been making (and most importantly eating!) rhubarb pies and bread, strawberry-rhubarb jam and sauce, and one day we had a whole bag of freshly cut rhubarb at home and wanted to try something new with it. I can't remember now where we saw this recipe but we thought it sounded good, so we quickly made the syrup and mixed the mojitos. It's a must-try in summer: looks great, tastes even better. Here's how we make it:

Rhubarb mojito

For 4 servings:

• 4 oz white rum
• 8 oz rhubarb syrup (recipe below)
• 20 mint leaves
• 4 tbsp lime juice
• 12 oz club soda
• 1/4 tsp lime zest
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• sliced limes

In a pitcher add nutmeg, lime zest, mint leaves and lime juice.
Use a wooden spoon or muddler and mash ingredients to release flavors.
Add rum and rhubarb syrup, then club soda.
Add ice and lime slices to pitchers.
Serve immediately.

Rhubarb syrup

• 8 oz chopped rhubarb (2-3 stalks)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in small saucepan.
Bring to a boil, then simmer for 7 minutes.
Let cool completely, then strain to separate bulk from liquid.
Syrup will keep for two weeks in the fridge.

lately

Lately I've been very busy, I feel like I'm on a high-speed train and everything is quickly passing by a window. I'm usually a person who controls everything, plans ahead and makes lists, but it's not how I live now. 

This past week at work we were finishing a new issue of a magazine, I was running around town with a camera, taking food photos for the dining guide, then making and editing ads for the local businesses, working on a few website design and SEO projects.. all at once! On top of everything my home laptop with all my files and Photoshop (!!) finally broke, and now I'm struggling with blogging and my regular evening computer activities. 

On Monday (of course!) I woke up with sore throat and running nose and I've been fighting cold since then, some days winning, some days not so much. I'm going to see a doctor tomorrow morning, I only have one week now to make sure I'm fine because... next weekend we're going on vacation! We're travelling south to Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Georgia - I'm super excited, neither Ben or I have ever been there, it should be fun. I'm trying to get as much rest as possible today and get ready for another crazy week full of deadlines and travel arrangements.  

May picnic at the city beach

We celebrated the beginning of May with an after-work beach picnic (and a sunny photoshoot)! Sandpoint City Beach is a wonderful place in warm weather: there is a green park with tall trees, a kids playground, and of course, white sand and a blue lake with mountains as a backdrop. We made a quick stop at the shop to grab a baguette and lemonade, and in just a few minutes we were all settled, entertaining people in the park with our photo posing.

I had such a great time. To be honest, this past week was pretty stressful and I even caught flu, but spending time outside in the sunlight definitely helped me feel better. I think we should have mandatory weekly picnics!

lately

♫ ♪ Alpaca Sports - Telephone

I went a whole week without opening my laptop! It wasn't planned at all, and I was checking my email, Instagram and Twitter on the Iphone, but after a whole day at work in front of a big screen I couldn't find a big enough excuse to spend the rest of the evening online. I missed it, I had things I needed to do but I felt more like going for walks, meeting with old and new friends, gardening and eating out. 

This morning we wanted to go on a road trip to see alpacas and to hike to the waterfalls.. but we got caught up in a strong rain which made us turn back. By the time we got home it was sunny and we just walked in the neighborhood, took photos of the blooming cherry trees, met a very nice old lady, and had milkshakes at Dub's - a local diner kind of place full of kids and teenagers: some with their parents, some on the dates or with friends. Now it's very quiet in our apartment, you can only hear me typing this post and Sonya bunny running and jumping across the room. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Hoot Owl Cafe breakfast

It all started with us driving to get coffee, then we decided to just go somewhere for breakfast... somewhere we hadn't been yet... While we were driving around town I quickly looked up some places online and was reminded about the Hoot Owl Cafe ( I mean "owl" - how can I resist?).  It's a sort of traditional Sandpoint restaurant but I hadn't been to it!

We were greeted by a very nice lady, got our coffee, I ordered their special: the beefy omelet with bleu cheese and mushrooms, and Ben got biscuits and gravy. The dishes were gigantic! (Larger than they appear here) I only made it through half of my omelet, Ben did a bit better but still was offered a box to go. One more thing: Hoot Owl is another place that's open 7 days a week, 5 am till 2 pm, so I added it to my list of places to go to on the weekends!

popcorn: 3 perfect recipes to surprise your friends

I cooked lots of popcorn and wrote this post for Kitty and Buck recently. 

And today I decided to share my  home-made popcorn recipes with you here. 

16 cups popped popcorn
4 oz white chocolate baking bar
6 oz white chocolate chips
1 drop pink food coloring

Using a double boiler (or something that works the same way), melt the chocolate. Add 1 drop of food coloring and mix through. Pour the chocolate over the popcorn and mix it through. Set aside until chocolate sets and serve.

16 cups popped popcorn
1 1/2 cups dry-roasted peanuts
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, honey and corn syrup. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir constantly. Do not boil too long or your popcorn will be rock hard. Remove from heat.

Stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Immediately pour over popcorn, mixed with peanuts, and stir to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 tbsp. honey
sea salt to taste

Melt the butter. Add in honey and stir until combined. Add a couple dashes of sea salt. Pour over freshly made popcorn. Stir well. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Enjoy it!

PS: Don't forget to enter our $300 giveaway!
And share the news (and popcorn!) with your friends! :-)

road trip and food

First of all, I wanted to say "Hello and Welcome!" to all our new readers and friends. It's so exciting to have you on our blog! I hope we get to know each other well and you enjoy coming over!

We had a long and adventurous weekend, full of food, driving and thrifting. It all started on Thursday with (yes, you guessed!) Valentine's Day! After work we hopped in the car, drove across the lake, witnessed a gorgeous sunset and had dinner at Forty-One South. It's a great restaurant not too far from our town, we've been talking about going there for a long time but never actually made it before. Ben surprised me with a reservation he made there for our romantic date, and I couldn't be happier. No, actually, I could - I was ecstatic when I discovered duck in their menu! Duck is my  favorite, it's not in the photos though. It was pretty dark there, candle lights don't work well for cameras. You can see Ben's steak at least, and Ben's happy face:

It was kind of hard to work on Friday.  The office was empty (due to a Winter Festival in town over the last few days), it was sunny, and the road was calling us. We left a bit early and took a trip to Spokane, WA. It was wonderful: we stayed at Courtyard Marriott downtown (and forgot to go to their swimming pool even though we brought the swimsuits!), we discovered the best cafe in town: Kim's Korean Restaurant (ate there twice and wished they'd move to Sandpoint!); we shopped at the Asian Market and at Kiev Market, stocking up on all the essentials for homemade bibimbaps, kimbaps and Russian tea parties.

We also spent lots of time thrift shopping, found an old film camera, a fencing foil, cute picture frames and a Mexican painting! I guess I'll make a separate post about those. Overall the weekend was very romantic and nostalgic, Ben got to use some Korean he remembered and I met a couple of nice Russian ladies.  We drank lots of coffee. I hope you all have a great week and I can't wait to catch up on all the emails and blogs!

Bugogi (marinated meat) with lots of side dishes. 

Bibimbap. So good! We made it at Ben's parents again last night after the trip.

I have no idea what it is and why. Some things in thrift shops are so strange.

Ben's favorite Russian food "Bychki" - fish in tomato juice. His happy face is adorable!

And one last thing: have you entered the giveaway yet? Hurry up! Lots of cool prizes are up for grabs! I wish I could enter... :-)