Chocolate soup for two

A few months ago I announced to Jess that for our anniversary we would be having chocolate soup. Now  if you think for one second that in this home dessert proclamations are not made months in advance, and then eagerly anticipated you'd be wrong, terribly wrong. There are a lot of great recipes out there that call for all sorts of thickening agents such as flour, corn starch or egg yolks but for ours I wanted a simple cream and chocolate mixture. I decided to use flour since I did not want to bother tempering eggs and I was out of corn starch. Feel free to adjust it to your specific needs, or even omit the thickener all together. The result something more than hot chocolate but less than pudding and entirely decadent to the last spoonful. That being said, I'd like to warn you that it probably has about a gazillion calories in it, but you'll savor every last one of them!

Chocolate soup for two4-5 oz.  of good quality chocolate bars of your choice chopped ( I chose a 70% dark and a milk)1/2 c. heavy cream1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk1 1/2c. milk1/4 vanilla bean splitpinch of salt2 tsp. flour or corn starch(optional for thickening)10-20 hazelnuts cracked and toasted for topping
for the hazelnut whipped cream:3/4 c.  very cold heavy whipping cream1 tbsp. powdered sugar1/2 tsp. pure hazelnut extract
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan combine milk, cream, sweet con milk and vanilla bean split with seeds scraped and added to the milk. Heat over medium flame just until it begins to bubble around the edges (not boiling) Turn off heat, cover and allow to steep for 10-15 min.While the cream mixture is steeping mix up the hazelnut cream by whipping heavy cream and powdered sugar on high. Just as mixture starts to thicken add hazelnut extract and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. (I prefer to over whip my whipped cream for a stiffer texture). Place whipped cream into the fridge until ready to use.Once the cream mixture has steeped return it to medium-high heat, add flour and stir constantly until it is very hot but not boiling and thicker in texture. turn off heat and add chopped chocolate and stir until well combined.Pour into bowls, top with a generous dollop of whipped cream and sprinkle with toasted hazelnut and grated chocolate.Enjoy!

There are so many variations here. you could add any kind of chopped dried fruit, or nuts or coffee or even a little of your favorite liquor. Maybe the best part of this recipe is that you can freeze any leftovers in ice cube trays and blend the chocolatey cubes with a little milk to make the best milk shake ever! The options are dizzying, I'm out of control, I know!

&  velvety chocolate soup

I wish you love

Romantically speaking I could care less about Valentine's Day, but when it comes to the kiddos it's a whole different story. As a child it was one of my favorites with all the hand made paper doodads and candy. I mean really those are still 2 of my favorite things! 

This year my wee men and I made cookie pops to pass out at school. The perfect little treat for kiddos, this valentine is a little more work than just taping prepackaged candy to a card but I think it's a whole lot cuter too!

all you need is some sandwich cookies, white chocolate, lollipop sticks and some red food coloring or sprinkles!

Never, ever, before have I said this, but please buy real Oreos! I bought the Newman's organic cookies, and those delicate little boogers crumbled in my hands as I tried to put the sticks in them.

poke your lolli stick into the creme filling and lay on a parchment covered cookie sheet

here's all my cookie pops ready to be enrobed

what you can't see here is the 3 or 7 cookies I threw at my wall in a cookie shattering rage

Melt your chocolate (we used white, it's Orion's favorite) in a glass bowl in 30 second increments in the microwave until its smooth and ready for dipping.

Carefully coat the cookies in the chocolate and return to the parchment covered cookie sheet to cool. Top with sprinkles while the chocolate is still melty, my little helpers did all the sprinkling. 

I have no pictures of this since my hands were also coated in chocolate the entire time, oh well you get the idea, right?

Allow pops to cool to room temperature before packaging. We used sandwich bags with the zipper cut of and tied them with some cute red baker's twine. Super easy and super cute!

Enjoy!

I'm off to help out with class parties but before I go I'd like to wish you love and peace and big hugs from your loved ones today and everyday!

 remember you are loved!

my paper heart

It's really no secret that I've been pretty down lately. Chronic health issues start to wear on a girl, and the truth be told I should probably talk to a therapist about all of this. (since I'm sure you are all sick of hearing about it) But no amount of talking will make all my problems disappear, so instead I've turned to the only therapy I'm comfortable with, art. I can sit in the quiet of my mind and create beautiful things, perfect things. Here are a few beautiful and perfect things that I am finding very inspiring right now. Thanks to the all encompassing super powers that are Pinterest I have found many incredible artists to set me dreaming.

All the above images are from my 'Paper Skies' board on Pinterest, except the last one which is mine, I'll show you more in a few days :)

have a great day lovies!

& free therapy

Wash and wear

Well hello there! I'm back and beginning the new year by finally finishing up all my half done projects. I'm not much for resolutions but I have decided that it is high time I tie up all my loose ends!Just about every room of our home has some tweak that remains to be done whether it's touching up a paint job, adding knobs to furniture, or just some serious organization. There is one really big project we are hoping to finish/open a whole new can of worms on soon.  You see, I've shown you my renovated kitchen but I've never shown you the shameful other half. 

Yes, yes that is a door with a dryer in front of it, with a hot water heater next to it, with the washer next to that! Glamorous, I know!
Yep, our laundry is in our kitchen, our already ridiculously small kitchen, and it seems that no amount of pathetically dehydrated house plants can make it look any better. I watered those right after I took that picture I swear! Why our laundry is not in our garage, which is conveniently located next to the bedrooms, I could not tell you. My best guess is that the fella that designed this house in the 50's, hated his wife and wanted her to suffer as much as possible with a terrible kitchen and laundry area. But it get's even better (or worse really)...the reason that dryer is in front of a door is because that door used to open up to a rickety 2nd story deck, that was then torn down. Now the door it just opens up to a 12  foot drop to the ground below. With 2 little ones in the house we decided that until we could afford to re-build our deck that it would be a good idea to just block it off all together.So here these have sat since we renovated the kitchen in the hopes of someday moving to their new home in the garage. Not that the garage is a much more glamorous option, but in our tiny little home there is just no room for a real laundry room. 

like this one from here, *sigh*

Currently we are in the middle of relocating the laundry out to the garage which is only a few steps down the hall from the bedrooms, and I will finally have a laundry sink (thanks, Honey!)After the washer and dryer are snug in their new home we will be removing that huge beast of a hot water heater and installing a gently used high end on demand water heater we picked up off craigslist a few months ago. The best part about our new hot water heater is that it is installed on the outside of the house. Thus eliminating the need for venting and freeing up loads of space.Next we plan to rebuild the deck just outside the door, and install a fancy new door with a large window panel in it.Since we currently have no pantry in our kitchen the plan is to remove those upper cabinets and build in a large pantry unit. We are also considering just buying a large hutch like piece of furniture and placing it there as a pantry. Honestly it's pretty hard to imagine what I'd like to do with the space so long as those hulking machines are there, but hopefully they'll be settled in to thier new home by hte end of this week. So that's what we have been up to, and will be up to for a while. What have all of you been up to?

& Perkier plant life

Home again, Home again

We are home from Hawaii and only slightly disgruntled to have to get back to everyday life. Our trip to the big island with my in-laws was wonderful to say the least! I'll spare showing you tons of pictures and only show half a ton. Clearly I really enjoyed the trip, but what makes me the happiest is that the hubs (who never wanted to go to Hawaii) is already ready to go back!
We decided to not take our kids this time and instead had Gramma come and stay with them. Being so far from them was hard but knowing that they were safe and sound with someone who loves them definitely makes it  easier.  Gramma is the real hero of this story, so thanks again mommma!

 While we were there we relaxed on nearly every beach we could find

We took in some sights

This was my favorite sight of all!

We hiked down from here all the way down into the Waipi'o Valley

And played on the black sand beach

we took in a few beautiful waterfalls

My momma-in-law and I searched for shells, beach glass and heart shaped rocks

We played in the beautiful rivers

 We took a day trip over to the volcano

Which we pretty much had to do since this guy's a geologist!

(which also meant that we broke the rules and took a few small examples of the different kinds of lava rocks to show the boys, but it's strictly educational so you won't tell right? )

we checked out all the craters

and literally ran through the wet and drippy Thurston Lava Tube!

and then took a moment to meditate on the sea arch at the end of the park road. which was without a doubt my favorite part of the whole trip.

And ended everyday on the beach with a cold drink watching the sunset!

Now that we are home I am having a really hard time getting back to normal life, although I'm overjoyed to have my babies back. Last night was my first shift back to work and it was rough to say the least!

I'm also pretty bummed that I can no longer go to the farmer's market and buy bag loads of tropical fruit. 

How awesome are those apple bananas?!

&  Big Waves!

Hawaii Bound!

So long Blogland! I'll be lounging in the sand and sun for the next few days!Love ya!

Via Pinterest

& Umbrella shaded beverages

Let's Catch up

Good morning my friends, I hope the day finds you all doing well. I am happy to say I am finally back to my old self and scheming up all sorts of new projects for me and the Mr. I've decided today would be a great day for all of us to catch up.  Our Holidays were pleasant, albeit the same hectic pace that they always are. I am so tired of traveling for the holiday. Each year we alternate whose family we will spend Christmas with and each year I swear that the next one will be spent in our own home. But even I know myself better than that. If we were to stay home we would only wake Christmas morning to find ourselves longing to be nearer to our family. Next year we are to spend the week with my husband's family but in lieu of cramming all four of us into what may be the smallest guest room known to man I have decreed that we will be renting a  vacation house of our own for the week. There are so many cute little vacation cabins in their town that we should be able to find a happy compromise between having our own space to build our own traditions and being able to spend quality time with our loved ones.Do any of you spend the holidays away from your own home? Oh how I wish we lived near ANY of our family!
How is everyone's New Year been thus far. I am happy to report that I have not managed to screw mine up yet, so that's good news. Did you know that my wonderful hubs and I will be jetting off for Hawaii in just a few days? Do you also know how utterly depressing it is to be trying on bikinis right after the holidays?! well it is very depressing indeed. Nevertheless my very white thighs and I are bound to have a great time.We have never been anywhere tropical together and I am so super ecstatic, and only a teensy bit nervous about being on an entirely different land mass than my children who will be with Gramma. I am just certain that they will both come down with the flu as we leave or something else that will make me feel like a reptile of a mother for the whole trip.The kids are bummed they were not invited but we've promised to bring back lots of presents.

Speaking of presents here is the little white owl I made Mason for Christmas. He was a big hit and he is now in the honored place of being one of the 5 babies Mason has to have to go to sleep. I also made a kitty for my niece and a frog for my nephew, which I of course forgot to take pictures of. He knew right away that it was the little white owl from his favorite story and is still telling us thank you for it, so I think it was well worth it!
Well, I'm off to get the boys to school then to spend some time on the elliptical undoing all that Christmas Cheer before we jet off this Friday. I hope you all have a great day! & Tan lines!

On Owls and greiving

You may have noticed, my darling friends, that I've been away for some time. There's a lot I could say but for now I'll just say that I've lost a friend, and very nearly lost another.  Death is always a difficult truth to accept, but when someone so young and joyful goes it's a lot harder to fight back the bitterness of one's grief. Needless to say it's been hard to get excited about the holidays, and even harder to get anything done. My heart is heavy and my hands are idle. I am allowing myself to explore this place and patiently I'm awaiting the return to my usual creative exuberance. There is still the joy of the holidays ringing in our home but on a much smaller scale than years past. The hubs and I agreed to simplify our holiday this year by scaling back the amount of gifts we do. A usual holiday tradition for us is to hand-make as many gifts as we can. Currently Mason is obsessed with the book, The Little White Owl, which is adorable story of a friendly little owl. 

He has already worn his copy out!

Via buttonbirddesigns

When I saw this little Owlie at button bird designs I just knew that I would have to make an all white one for my little buddy, so that's what I'm doing today.

What gifts do you like to make by hand for your loved ones?

& health to all of you

Lilliedale Shop

Good morning friends, I am enjoying the peace and serenity of a very foggy morning here on the coast and I wanted to share a few things with you...

Lilliedale will now be offering items for sale through Etsy. I know, I know I'm about 3 years late to the party, but better late than never, right?... Today I'm working on new listings for my Esty shop and will soon set up a link on my sidebar, somewhere over there-------------------------------------------------------->If any of you are Etsy sellers I'd love to hear your most valuable advice, so please tell me all about your experiences. 
It is only Monday, and already my week has had it's up's and down's. I am busily creating a few custom orders(Yay!) and am trying out a new medication for my Crohn's that so far makes me feel pretty icky(boo!). We were lucky to have my husband's parents in town this past weekend and my mother-in-law and I got to spend an entire child free day shopping all the thrift and antique shops here in town. I have definitely been struck by the holiday bug and have all sorts of great ideas to share with all of you in the coming weeks. 
To celebrate the opening of my new Etsy shop I will be doing a giveaway to be announced later this week, so stick around to find out more on that.

I hope you all had a beautiful weekend, it sure was sunny and warm here which has since been replaced but a cold autumn fog!

on the new horizon

No pretty pictures, just gratitude

Today is veteran's day, and unfortunately my veteran has to work. It's not fair really, I think all service men and women should get it off it as a national holiday, I mean school children and bankers get it off and they didn't even have to go through basic training. But you know, those vets they don't really complain about having to work their holiday. After all that's what they do right, they work so the rest of us can go on with our daily lives.

 There are quite a few veteran's in my life, some went around the world to serve and some never left the states. Some went into the service to expand their future and some had no choice, leaving their homes to fight in a war they may or may not believe in. 
Some may be marching in a fading parade today,or reminiscing with fellow vets over a pint in their sleeveless BDU's.Some may be alone with their terrifying memories of jungles, deserts and other far away lands.Some may even just go about their regular day with hardly a thought for the time they gave.
What ever your experience was in the service, I hope you feel appreciated today and everyday for your willingness to give. I am grateful for you, all of you.
on earth, please.