1st Day of School

Today is the 1st day of school for our boys.  The supplies were organized, children scrubbed, tags taken off of new clothes and shoes, lunches packed and maple bacon pancakes made and scarfed down.  If you're wondering what possessed me to add crumbled bacon to pancake batter, it'd be this incredibly yummy posting from SteakNPotatoesKindaGurl.

I made the mistake of telling Whirling Dervish that he looked sharp this morning.  That sent him into surly teendom, and I wasn't allowed to take pics of him this morning.  I did get a pic of his shoes, though.  Nothing like squeaky clean, brand new shoes on the first day of school.

Snuggle Bunny's light-up Skechers were bagged up, because he didn't want them to get wet.

He wore his froggy boots out in the driving rain.

I don't understand it.  This weekend was steamy hot.  The van's thermometer read over 90 all weekend.

But today for the first day of school, it's cold(mid 60's) and raining cats and dogs.  We're actually under a flood watch.  Boo.

The kids have both been picked up by their buses now, and I'm off for my 1st day of school ritual.  I head off to sit in the Barnes & Noble cafe with a venti coffee,

and a giant pile of decor magazines.  Spending several hours sipping coffee and flipping through design mags without being interrupted by a child's request is my perfect first day of school.

My BFF will not be joining me.  Her 1st day of school ritual involves a thorough cleaning of her home.  After a summer of too many kids using the pool, and running through the house, she spends the day scrubbing and steaming everything in sight.

So how do you handle the first day of school?  Is it snuggled under blankets, crying, while watching videos of your kids' first steps?(not me, I'm that girl dancing in the aisles at Staples)  Pulling out the projects that you just couldn't get to during the summer?  Or is it just another day?

Thanks for popping in and spending the 1st day of school with us.

Almond Nectarine Torte

We were invited over to a Labor Day barbecue, so I of course made a dessert to bring to the party.  CG loves plums, and I had every intention of making a plum torte, but the plums at the market didn't look very good and the nectarines wanted to come home with me.  This torte turned out delicious, but feel free to substitute with your stone fruit of choice.  Without further ado, I give you pictures of the yummy Almond Nectarine Torte.

This was so quick & easy to put together.  First peel & slice your fruit into 8ths and set them aside.  I used 5 nectarines.

In a large bowl, melt 7 tbsps butter and whisk in 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/4 cup of honey.  I like using a local honey, but you should use whatever is in your pantry.

Whisk in 3 eggs one at a time until they are well incorporated.  Add in 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp of almond extract.

Whisk in 1 1/2 cups almond meal, 1/3 cup brown rice flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, and a pinch of salt.

Spread the batter in a prepared 10" springform pan.  You can prepare the pan with butter and a sprinkling of powdered sugar.  I like to use parchment paper on the bottom of the pan just for extra measure.

Arrange the nectarine slices in concentric circles so they'll be pretty.  You don't really have to push them down into the batter, because the torte will take care of that by rising up around the fruit.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

I like to finish it off with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and grated nutmeg.  I process a bit of powdered sugar with a quick grate of nutmeg in my mini chopper for even distribution of the nutmeg, but you can just grate some on top after sprinkling on the powdered sugar.

This torte was so moist and delicious.

Thanks for popping in and baking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Organized Chaos

I know all over the country kids are already back in school, but in NY, students don't go back until the Wednesday after Labor Day.  Every year we receive the school supply list and it's usually a full page of items including a pencil box.  If you buy a pencil box in the back to school section of the store it'll most likely look something like this and cost about $2-3 for an empty plastic box with a weak hinge.

Within 1 week of school your kids supplies will be a jumbled mess, and end up dumped inside their desk to find stuff.  No?  Just my kids?  Instead of buying the cheap pencil box guaranteed to be a mess and have the top broken off, I venture over to the fishing department and grab a small tackle box.  They have customizable compartments that make it easy to find that elusive eraser or pencil sharpener.

As an added bonus, the tops are smooth, and can be personalized with stickers.  You can buy these tackle boxes for $3-5, and they're so sturdy that you can reuse them year after year, just changing out the stickers and moving the little plastic compartment separators.  This box even has a carrying handle.

For more ways to use tackle boxes check out this post where I put together a go anywhere Med Kit.

Thanks for popping in and organizing with me.  I'm linking this up to Domestically Speaking's Countdown to Autumn Party and Home Stories of A to Z's Tips and Tutorials Tuesdays.

Cottage Kitchens

It's no secret that I love kitchens.  I spend a good chunk of every day in my kitchen, and though I may be a bit tight fisted, I opened up the wallet to completely renovate our kitchen.  Here's a sort of after pic.  I really need to take some new kitchen pictures.  This was taken before building the DIY Cookbook Shelves.

Over the years, even after my kitchen reno, I've spent a lot of time over on the GardenWeb Kitchen Forum and there is no better moment of relaxation than flipping through a Kitchen Trends magazine while sipping on a venti coffee.  The official term is TKO - totally kitchen obsessed.  Though I love my cherry cabinets, lately I've been obsessing over the details of white-painted cottage kitchens.  I adore the exposed hinges on these and used similar ones when we built our wine & liquor hutch.

My in-laws have started the ball rolling on their future retirement cottage.  They'll be adding onto the current cottage for a year round home, and the possibilities have gotten this TKO daughter-in-law really excited.  I may or may not have inundated their e-mail inbox with 1001 layouts and elevations of possible future kitchens.

I love the mantel hood and the butcherblock island countertops as well as the soapstone counters in this pic.

Image via here.

 Stacked glass front cabs say cottage to me, and I love the practicality of the solid upper stack for the not so pretty utilitarian stuff.  Does anyone need to see your Halloween bowls in April?  Love the thumblatch hardware, too, though they may not be the most practical hardware for an aging in place situation.

Stacked cabs can add up moneywise, and here's a nice solution for a softer hit on the wallet.  A wider stile at the top emulates that stacked cab look without the hefty price tag.

I'm not loving the proportions of these stacked cabs, but I adore the bleached wood enveloping the island.  You'll notice that I wrapped the island in my CAD rendering above in knotty pine.  Part of the cottage will be demo-ed to make way for the addition, and they'll be saving as much of the knotty pine as possible to be reused.

I love the look of a farmhouse apron sink, especially in a cottage.  This Ikea Domsjo sink is an affordable option for those on a budget.

I love the natural touches with the rattan baskets, and the pops of fun color with the yellow and turquoise in this kitchen reno found at The Handmade Home blog.  My in-laws are experienced DIYers with 2 kitchens under their belts, and I can see them putting in fun personal touches like in this kitchen.



Love the open shelves, blue island, and industrial lights in this pic.  In fact I love the juxtaposition of modern with vintage in a cottage kitchen whether it's lighting, stools, or a fab turbochef oven.

Love the casual feel of this kitchen, even with the great big hulking stainless steel range and hood.  There are no plans for a kitchen table, but don't you love how this table looks with it's flirty skirted chairs surrounding it?  Love the homey feel of the pleated shades, too.

 Love the classic blue and white of this Smallbone kitchen, but with a creamy white Aga range, this kitchen could do no wrong.  I love the large format floor tiles, too.

And finally here's a gorgeous Lauren Rubenstein kitchen that I'm loving for future cottage inspiration.  The architect's plans have the kitchen opening up to the dining room much like in this pic.  I love the wing back chairs and benches used here.  The future cottage's dining room will be much longer and rectangular as will it's table, and there will be a large 7' aisle way between, but I love the way the rooms relate to each other in this pic.  Again, the lamps and pleated shades make this space so warm and homey.

Thanks for popping in and checking out my current kitchen obsession.