Happy Fathers Day! If you’re anything like us, you’ll keep it pretty low key. We’ll be going church, taking it easy at home, and eating what better desert than… APPLE PIE. Every dad loves a good pie, right? This is the perfect recipe to celebrate all fathers and hubbys.

…Speaking of papas, my father brought us over 60 apples from his unit (I thought it was just 40 originally…. but there was THIRD layer that I had missed and found upon cutting a bunch up. Yeesh!).  I’m sure apple pie is just one of the many things we’ll be making with these bad boys… but Man oh MAN, is this sweet concoction of flaky crust and subtly crunchy apple UTTERLY amazing! We topped ours off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, paired with a latte of course, and it was a slice of heaven. We used a simple recipe from Taste of Home, and there’s nothing I would alter… it’s completely perfect.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 6 to 7 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 egg white
• Additional sugar

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine the sugars, flour and spices; set aside. In a large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Add sugar mixture; toss to coat.
• Line a 9-in. pie plate with bottom crust; trim pastry even with edge. Fill with apple mixture; dot with butter. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie. Place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cut slits in pastry.
• Beat egg white until foamy; brush over pastry. Sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges loosely with foil.
• Bake at 375° for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake 20-25 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 8 servings.

{ Happy Fathers Day! – Yes, that’s little me! }

I had a pretty exciting thing happen in my life… my dream came true of finally owning a commercial-grade machine. I know that seems sort of insignificant in the grand scheme of life, but I’ve been saving up for it all year, and it’s been rough to say the least… Well, I can now say that I have it, and I couldn’t be any happier with my choice machine. As much as I’d really like to open up a coffee shop one day, it’s just not a feasible concept in our lives right now. This machine brings me as close to that fantasy as possible… and it really feels like I have a little cafe right in my house!

…If you are ever in the market for a machine of this status (or anything close), I definitely recommend buying through Chris Coffee. They carry a wide range of machines at a variety of price points, and the staff is extremely helpful.. fast shipping, just an over-all excellent service.

Ok. The great thing about the Alex Duetto, is its stunning quality. It will last me a life time. No plastic or crappy parts, and literally weighs as much as I do. Dual boiler (means it can steam and brew simultaneously, as well as consecutively), semi-automatic, plumbable or reservoir-reliant, PID-temperature controled… It’s a work of art – done in the style of the original Italian E-61 group-head machines that began this modern generation’s addiction to coffee in the first place. And the shots? Oh, don’t even get me started on the most delicious coffee that it makes… A++. You will NOT regret this purchase if you take a similar route.

Enough coffee-geek. I also need to share how cute the littles were after they got ahold of the boxes…

{ my collected thoughts of a father: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 }

Fathers Day is just around the corner! I love celebrating our mothers and fathers on these special days dedicated to just them, because we truly owe all that we are to THEM! Any good points we have, it’s due to the ways in which they raised us (even if it’s a different personality trait than they demonstrated) and we should always thank them for our best attributes. I love my own father more and more all the time, especially because it’s occurring to me more and MORE all that he scarified for us kids, and how proud he was of our littlest accomplishments. He taught me to respect myself, as well as to always respect others. Such a wonderful man, and lets not forget the other father in my life that I am so thankful for too… being married is one of the biggest blessings I’ve been bestowed. Thomas is such an amazing father… he too, sacrifices so often that I think it’s easy to take for granted some days… but his humility melts me on a daily basis. I would be lost without these men in my life.

…Thank you, all you daddies out there for ALL your hard work and diligence to provide, submit, and to care for your families.

{ photos by Strawberry Koi }

There’s been a fantastic little recipe going around for sometime now, but I thought I should remind us all of it again… lest we forget true perfection in a cookie. These cookies are so utterly delicious… and there’s really no way around it. We like to use Ghirardelli Dark chocolate chips, which is pretty much what we always use when we make candies or cookies. With a tall glass of milk or coffee… oh man, what could be better?

Chocolate Chip Cookies
From the New York Times, adapted from Jacques Torres
- 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour (Jane note: I usually use pastry flour here…that’s what my OTHER Jacques Torres cookie recipe calls for)
- 1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter (Jane note: If I only have salted butter on hand, I use 1 teaspoon regular salt instead of 1 1/2 tsp. coarse salt)
- 1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (Jane note: you can use regular semi-sweet chocolate chips here, but if you can find disc shaped chips, it is pretty awesome…you end up with layers of chocolate in the cookies, which is heaven.)
- Sea salt

1. Sift both flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. (Jane note: I usually make the dough balls and THEN refrigerate the dough in a ziploc bag. I think the dough should ideally be refrigerated at least a day the texture comes out better, but if you really can’t wait and cook a few cookies when you make the dough, they’ll be good, just not best.)

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside. (Jane note: I bake my cookies on my handy dandy Silpat.)

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. (If you do smaller cookies, adjust cooking time accordingly.) Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. (Jane note: I never did the ‘transfer sheet to a wire rack then slip to another’ rack step.) (Another Jane note: one thing I DO do when they come out of the oven is slam the tray straight down to force the cookies to settle…makes for a nice even cookie with a great texture.)

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

For those of you who follow me through instagram or facebook, you might be a little more familiar with the fact that I’ve been homeschooling Lucien this last year (his first year). Although I’ve been completely open about it, I’ve not featured much about it here on the blog. I guess it never occurred to me to do so, until I received some general questions about the curriculum I use and my teaching methods.

We chose K-12 as our curriculum, which I’m still very pleased with and will be using again for the first grade (Yes, we enrolled for yet another year). We saw it advertised on TV and thought, “Hey, it’s free!”, school supplies and all. And it’s certainly the reason why this year was so successful for us. It’s organized, complex yet simple, and keeps record of everything for you. There are online classes with other students and teachers, and there are even events and functions that the children can attend together in real life. For us, it’s pretty much perfect. I also learned (somehow I missed this bit in the beginning) that we can add any of our own made up lessons to the attendance… his extra curricular activities include music/violin lessons, Tae Kwon Do, and Japanese language studies. We also plan to enroll him in swimming lessons. If nothing else, I feel like it’s really motivated me to find ways to broaden his horizons creatively…

…It was a difficult decision at first… whether to homeschool him or to send him to public school. There are always friends and relatives that simply do not support it. And my being a people-pleaser and all, makes it a pretty tough battle to deal with… but in the end, I decided to go ahead and give it a go with the thought in mind, ‘I could always send him to public school the following year if I didn’t do a good job teaching him, or if I couldn’t get him enough socialization’.

…Of course there are downsides to homeschooling too, I know that. You find out the hard way. I work very hard to get him out of the house, find him playmates, and spend a lot of one-on-one time with him in his studies. I’ve really lost out on some online opportunities, and I’m constantly behind on emails and blogging. I feel a horrible lack of sleep from staying up late working on that stuff… so it’s certainly a duty. And don’t even get me started on dividing my time between both kids DURING our lessons. That’s so true, but I never wind down or give up. I’m a tenacious type to the core, and don’t fear a good challenge. So we’ve pushed through a lot of (learning) boundaries (and my own sleepiness), and now… I’m so grateful that we stuck through it all. I can honestly tell you, if you DO plan to homeschool your own children (no, it’s not for everyone), it’s one of the most rewarding experiences you’ll ever encounter. Seeing him make such leaps from the beginning of the year to the knowledge he has NOW is not only astounding, it melts every part of me that I could be apart of it. I feel honored, and excited to witness his growth… and it makes me want to work even harder to provide any and every resource unto him I possibly can.

When it comes to our schedule, we are pretty badly disorganized – I’ll admit. It’s completely my fault, and it’s my goal to improve, but I have a hard time keeping on track and doing things routinely on time. If I have one bit of advice, it is to somehow come up with a routine which you get up early and accomplish lessons before the day has really begun… if possible. Because BOY, does it leave so much of the day to take care of chores and house-hold duties. It’s hard to fit it all in.

Create calendars, projects, do internet research prior to your lessons, and try to enjoy them for yourself. I would say the most difficult task is having patience, but if you have it, you can accomplish anything together.

…So. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in a comment, and I will gladly respond and do my best to help! I’m no expert… but sometimes just talking to someone helps in our decision making.

{ Mismatched Moments }

{ source }

These adorable kitten cookies going around pinterest and the blogmosphere have been driving me mad! I tell you, I cannot resist cute things. Even though it does seem a little morbid, I guess… but I want these wittle kittens next to my coffee-mug everyday. EVERY. DAY.

{ source }

…I did a pretty hefty search to find the molds for them, but  they sadly seem to be sold out. Sigh. Originally from MUJI, so keep your eye out on ebay or Amazon if you are desperate for this mold in particular. There are also similar molds available online (like HERE and HERE). I just think you could fill them with chocolate, or sugar-cookie batter, or cake mix and host the cutest tea party ever!

Prepare to fall in love with Tattly, if you haven’t already. Tattly was launched in 2011, by woman named Tina Roth Eisenberg who grew weary of putting poorly-designed temporary tattoos on her daughter (don’t I feel her on THAT), so she took matters into her own hands by teaming up with a slew of amazing designers and came up with one of the most amazing brands I’ve ever encountered. We’ve talked a lot about brands here recently, I know… (maybe I’m a bit obsessed), but this is good stuff folks..

All of the designs are reminiscent of childhood, summer and happy things. I love the vibrancy, the attention to detail and quirky designs without being over the top “hip”. These tattoos would be fun as fun to sport around as an adult as you would on your own child! And the overall presentation from the Tattly site and photography aren’t to shabby either.

…After I learned all this, I had to take a look at the present-day Martha Stewart, and it was like I saw her with new eyes. Of course she’s beautiful, why didn’t I see it before?! I suppose she’s associated with something not so picturesque these days, but it’s certainly true that she was blessed with good genes.

I worked on revamping our photography portfolio this week. I updated the whole page with new photos, did some re-edits to our all-time favorites, and simplified the selections into popular categories. Check it out, or if you’re interested in our work, just drop us a line!