Breakfast Delight {French Toasts + Apple Compote}

Today is one of those days;  dark and raining ! 

I woke up and on walked slowly to the kitchen and thought to myself; was I dreaming about French Toast last night ?

Yes ! French toast !

After cutting the apples, whisking the eggs, frying the toasts; found out that I ran out of Maple Syrup ! Ooops !

Said to myself, "not too worry!"

I cooked butter and brown sugar under low heat, put dash of cinnamon and nutmeg; voila...I got myself a delicious maple syrup substitute.

And ohh, so yummy !!

- Recipe -

French Toast & Apple Compote

~ half of an apple

~ 4 loafs of white bread
~ 1/4 cup of 1% milk

~ cinnamon

~ nutmeg

~ pinch of salt

~ 2 eggs

~ 3 tbsp low fat butter for syrup plus for frying the toasts and more for cooking the apple and toasts.

~ 1/2 tbsp brown sugar

1. Cut apple into bite size. 2. Heat butter and sautee the apple. 3. Add pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook until apple become soft and tender. Put a side. 4. Whisk eggs and milk and put pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg  {I like to put a little more of cinnamon and nutmeg because I love the taste of it. Use your own judgement on this.}  5. Add pinch of salt. 6. Take a new frying pan heat the butter and dip 2 loafs of bread in eggs and fry them. Cook them on both sides until golden brown. Put a side. 7. Using the same pan as the one from cooking the apple; put 3 tbsp of butter on a low heat, add brown sugar and pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg. Stirring well until all combined about 5 to 10 minutes. 8. Arrange french toast on a plate, apple compote and drizzling with butter brown sugar syrup.

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Thank you for reading !

Chocolate Macaron Turned into Brownies Macaron

Today I felt very confidence in making chocolate macaron for the in-laws for Jewish holiday celebration "Yumkipur." A few days a go I made Pumpkin Spice and Praline Cream macarons and they turned out to be perfect macarons {here}.

But the chocolate macarons I made turned into brownies macarons. The macarons won't form feet as it supposed to be. But it surprisingly taste delicious just like chewy brownies. I can only suspect that I used an old chocolate powder that caused feetless shape of macarons. Lesson learned that never used old, damp ingredients like almond meal, flour, powdered sugar, etc. I did put the almond meal in the oven for about 3 minutes with temperature 240 deg. but I did not warm the chocolate powder to take the moist out.

Meanwhile, I took a few shots of my old 'Praline Cream with Pear Cream Cheese filling.' I have these cute little bowls  that I want to shoot and style the macarons with. So here are some pictures of them.

This is a quick post and I want to share with you what the 'failed feetless chocolate macaron but tastes delicious' looks like.

Really, they aren't so bad looking at all once they sandwiched together except they do not have feet. And tastes just like delicious chocolate brownies especially with chocolate ganache filling inside. I still want to give them to my in-laws. My father in-law is a chocolate lover. He will eat anything 'chocolate!' And I am sure he will like these 'brownies macarons.'

I have made a successful chocolate macaron in the past and in case you want recipe; you can find it here and here.

Thank you so much for stopping by !

Halloween Treats + Cake Stands {DIY}

One of the holiday season that I am not familiar with is 'Halloween.' I grew up celebrating Christmas from my father's side of the family and 'Lebaran' {biggest holiday occasion for Muslims) from my mother's side of the family. But in our country 'Indonesia,' we do not celebrate 'Halloween.'

Only recently do I feel festive welcoming the fall season. I have started to appreciate and enjoy making pumpkin soup, pumpkin cake and apple cider. I love any cake with apple and the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg when baking. There is nothing like the aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg blowing by the wind throughout your home when baking.

So yesterday was 'Sunday' and thought it was a perfect day for baking and did a few DIYs to welcome the fall season.

I did not do a good job trying to create  the Jack O Lantern's faces by piping it on the cup cakes. I thought they are quite cute and funny looking.

I know, I have too many pictures here; but I love them all. Orange is not my color but I like the colors of  vibrant orange mix with midnight blue and I really enjoyed executing this project from baking the macarons, mini cup cakes, DIYed the cake stands, styling and finally took lots of pictures yesterday.Pheww...at the end of the day my feet were killing me from standing from noon until late afternoon.

On my last post I mentioned that I picked up a few things for projects from Good Will from our last trip in Florida. So I picked up these 4 items; 2 plastic goblets and 2 plastic plates for 70 cents each. And I hand carried them all the way from Florida to New York. Yes, I am way too serious about my project.

The step by step

1. The above itmes +  Martha Stewart multi-surface acrylic craft paints color of your choice available at Michaels. 2. Brushes. I am using my artist brush. 3. Small plastic container to put the paint on. 4. Glue gun. {to join the goblets and plates together} 5. Very small artist brush to paint the chevron motifs.

Start painting 2 coats on the outside of your goblets and plates. You can give another coat if you want to be more opaque in color.

  These are what the cake stands should look like after giving two coats of painting. I later on finished painting the chevron motifs on the other cake stand pedestal. For this tutorial; I simply dip my smallest round brush in the paint and start to paint the motifs anywhere free hand on the goblets. Again I go over on top of the first paint to make it more opaque in color. Note; it is not perfect but I like the imperfection and makes it more look like hand painted which it was !

So now the 'recipes'

Pumpkin Spice Mini Cup Cakes

Makes 24 mini cup cakes.

~ 1 cup all-purpose flour

~ 1 teaspoon baking powder

~ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

~ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

~ Pinch of salt

~ 2 eggs, lightly beaten

~ 1/2 can of 15 ounce pumpkin

~ 1/2 cup sugar

~ 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Cream Cheese Frosting

~ Wilton Black Decorating Icing from Michaels

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. Put mini cup cake liner in a large cup cake pan (about 24 cup cakes) set a side. In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside. 2. In a large bowl stir together eggs, pumpkin, sugar, and oil. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Scoop batter with spoon in to cup cake pan. Filling in only 3/4 to the top. 3. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it cool. 4. Spread with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting; In a small bowl combine 1/2 cup of cream cheese and 1/2 cup softened butter, add 1 tsp vanilla and orange color. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add 1-1/2 cup powdered sugar, beating until smooth. 5. Fill Wilton Balck Decorating Icing into piping bag. Using no. 1 Wilton piping tip start making the design (here Jack O Lantern's face} on top the Frosted cup cakes.

Pumpkin Spice Macaron

Recipe (here) except put orange color on the meringue and 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

For the filling I am using the same Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting above.

Praline & Cream Macaron

Recipe (here) except put 1/2 tsp praline & cream essence on the meringue and a dash of cinnamon to give a little of color.

For the filling.

1. 1/2 pear; chopped finely

2. 1-1/2 tablespoon of butter

3.  1 tbsp of brown sugar

4. Lemon juice

Heat butter and put in chopped pear and brown sugar. Stirring until pear becoming soft. Let it cool and put a side. Meantime, with electric mixer soften 1/2 cup cream cheese. Put in the cooked pear and mix well. Squeeze a drop (only a drop) of lemon juice to naturalize the too sweet taste of macaron.

Styling props

~Glitter pumpkins from Michaels

~ Paper straw from Michaels

~ Bunting; DIY out of cup cake liners

Good luck Everyone and Thank You for stopping by !

Full of Spirit & Laugh Over Dinner with an Old Friend

So Linda asked 'Ellya, when are you going to cook dinner for me ?' when we took her to P F Chang for dinner first time we met after she moved to Miami from New York then recently  moved to Boca Raton,  near by us 'Delray' Florida. I said, 'you can come tomorrow plus you have not seen our place yet !'

The next day I cooked dinner for her and us as promised. She was very kind and brought me  gifts; a silver mortar and bouquet of sage {which I forget to take picture of}. She suggested that I must use the sage to bless the house and I should also bless the home in New York to give positive energy to help selling the house. I laughed and said isn't sage is being used to clear a house from ghosts ? But I totally get what she meant and the next morning I walked around the house with a burning sage saying happy prayers for us and for the home.

We were having so much fun over dinner. Linda is becoming very spiritual, free spirit, happy, and we clearly see that she is very exciting about her new venture owning a vintage clothing boutique in an affluent down town Boca Raton, Florida. She also into living healthy and told us the reason she is loosing weight is that she does master cleanse every 6 months for 10 days. Master cleanse is a body cleanse to achieve physical health, mental clarity and to lose weight and get rid of body toxins  by only drinking lemonade. Yes, only drinking lemonade for straight 10 days. I was totally sold on what she said and I want to try it out myself. So I search in the internet and found here. So if you want to loose weight fast; and like Linda which I was impressed by her look, you can follow this diet. After all, I like the idea to cleanse my body from toxins every 6 months or so.

At some point of our conversation,  we took turn and telling each other on what we will be doing if we were a US President. And of course this is rather silly conversation as to no one was really knew what they talked about; certainly not me ! And then we talked about the Illuminati Society and so on. {Oh my, what the heck is that ! I only knew it from the movie 'Angels and Demons'} A part from having a car accident that day; Linda looked very happy. She told us that someone ran through the  front part of her car andripped the entire vendor off which later she showed us the vendor sat on her back sit car. When this happened she took a deep breathe and try not to get up set, she told us as a part of her supposedly try living with a positive mind set without getting emotional too quickly. 
So yes, it was nice to see Linda again, very up lifting and very positive toward her new venture and life.

I wish her a happy and successful endeavor in what she is doing. I really do !

As I mentioned earlier that I always look for a new project while visiting Delray. So I went to Goodwill {love kitchen stuff, picture frames in this thrift store ! Most of them are junk anyways but the most fun part is when you found things that are really beautiful and useful for projects for  very little money.} I got these lovely wine goblets for 90 cents each  that  I wanted to create a group  of dining table center  out of. I bought the votive candle  for USD 2.00 for 6 and various glass candle holders for USD 1.50 each from Target.

Do you see the sage she gave me ? I brought it back to New York and blessed our home hoping to have better energy and yes, to finally sells !

When Linda left  my husband 'Steven' immediately said,

"Thank you for delicious dinner !"

I smiled and felt  happy that I created a small lovely moment to spend  together over a nice simple meal  in our home. {Not very often, but I truly enjoyed it}

I should punish myself for not taking pictures of the entire meal course including hors d'oeuvres and desert. I can only imagine with those pictures it will enhance the collage above and the overall ambiance of our dining experience that night. Oh well, I just have to have my camera stays close next to me for next time.

Thank you so much for reading !

The Usual Fun Trip Back in Delray Florida

Having a second home is a privilege I must say; even though it is a small condo. Not to mention when it is dead cold winter in New York; we are so looking forward to our trip in Florida to enjoy the sun, sports, beach  and friends. I am especially exciting about this area because I can do lots of thrifting.  So I always look for a project to execute in Florida way before our departure. It is so much fun, you know what I mean !

This time is quite special trip because I unexpectedly met up with an old friend from New York whom recently open up a vintage clothing consignment store. Oh boy...did we have so much fun together at her store {will post story about this later}.

This swan {we call her "Swanee"} was in front of our back porch door all the time. I was having breakfast and a cup of coffee when taking this picture and enjoyed watching her.

I am not a golfer but gave it a try and this time I managed to hit the ball over the lake.  I confess that quite often I am so impatient with this sport that made me even more frustrated.

Thank you for reading !

Pretty Vintage Tinted Blue Bottles + Gold Motifs (DIY)

We seem to can never get enough with these tinted jars. I too did an experiment  tinting a few vintage small bottles I happened to have and bought at a flea market  from my medical trip in New Hampshire (last seen here) few months a go.

I found the easiest tutorial from It's Overflowing by only using three ingredients. But I fell in love with the tinted bottles painted with intricate and delicate gold motifs on the outer side of the bottles. So I painted the motifs hands free on the two bottles only.

Since this is my first trial; I tried on a few small bottles. They  came out with different results. I noticed it would be best to try on a small clean dry on the inside of bottles/jars. Mine were dirty and I did not clean them first. So it made lots of 'streaks' {the drip of liquid that does not cover evenly} Still I think they are quite lovely !

What you need for all of these 5 small bottles;

* 3 tbsp of water

* 1/2 cup of Modge Podge

* A drop or two of you favorite food coloring mine is Gel Spectrum {Aqua, Sky Blue and Royal Blue} I was experimenting with different blue green colors. So for the first bottle I used Aqua color, then I added 2 or 3 drops Sky Blue then I poured on the second bottle. Next I added Royal Blue then poured in to the 3rd bottle and so on.

1. Microwave water for 30 second. 2. Add Modge Podge. 3. Add the food coloring. First I used Aqua. Mix real well. 3. Pour in to the bottles and cover the whole jar and turn the jar upside down and let it stand on the alumunium foil for about 5 minutes. 4. Next bake the bottle in the oven with 170 deg. C for about 20 minutes. 

 There is complete tutorial also here at It's Overflowing

How to paint motifs on the bottle.

I am using Martha Stewart Glass Paint Metalic. I am so used to paint with brush so I used small artist brush painting these motifs first then I realized that the bottle has a very narrow tip that you suppose to paint from the tip directly. That is why my motifs are not perfect. And no wonder when using brush the paint did not stay very well but when used directly from the bottle it is more subtle and opaque in color and the line more prominent. I will do more of this painting with different tinting color bottles.

My tips when painting this motifs on glass bottle are;

1. Clean the surface of the bottle very well. Used alcohol and let it dry especially vintage bottles. Vintage bottle has lots of debris stuck on the surface of bottles and on the inside as well.

2. Hold the bottle firmly and horizontally so the paint wont drip

3. When create a pattern try to combine lines, curve and do not fill the entire surface of bottles. Leave a space that are free from motifs.

Well, it is entirely up to you ! Just have fun ! You can clean off the paint if you make mistakes and start all over again.

I really love these blue green bottles ! They are fun and pretty either just for a display or as center piece for dinner party. I will definitely make more of these tinted color bottles and paint them extra careful this time !

Good luck Everyone & Thank you for stopping by !

Vintage French Style Rotary Telephone

My son 'Buck' bought a few things at the flea market Fort Greene Flea and Williamsburg Flea Brooklyn New York the last time he came visited us {last seen here}.One of the most interesting item he bought is a vintage French style Rotary telephone in vintage aqua blue color. He bought many other vintage items and he could not carry them all back with him.

So he left them {including the telephone} with me and that I should ship them over to him in  Jakarta, Indonesia. So now the telephone is on a display in our living room.

The more I looked at it; the more I like it ! Especially when I saw and pinned through Pinterest a DIY art scarf as a wall decor with a table underneath it and with similar telephone decorated the table. I thought it is so pretty ! There is something quite elegance about this telephone. So I searched more on Ebay and {sorry Buck, you are not going to like this !} for similar telephone plus shipping cost is about USD 40.00

 

 

And the ones I pinned from Pinterest.

 Source: Pinterest

Well, this one is a little different but still is pretty !

 Source: Pinterest

I was on the radar on Ebay for this  one a few days a go ! But I forget to bid on  it and last I checked it was sold to another bidder for USD 40.00 included shipping. Ouch ...!

Sold on Ebay

More on this type of telephone which I am going to get very soon ! {Oohh..why it is so difficult to sell  our condo. I am in the 'home decor dream land' right now !}

Available on Ebay

Thought I share this lovely vintage Princess French style Rotary telephone in case you want to add an elegant unusual piece to your lovely home ! I would !

Thank you for looking !