Plum, Pluot and Cherry Sorbet

One of the best things about summer is the abundance of fresh fruit. That being said, the worst thing about summer has to be watching fruit, at the peak of greatness, go to waste when it starts to spoil before you can eat it. Every year we make several visits to my Grandma's farm and always end up with more fruit than we can consume. This year Joe and I finally wised up and made an amazing plum, pluot and cherry sorbet... we added a little Port and honey for an extra kick. Honey is not in most sorbet recipes, but adding a touch to the simple syrup gives a delightful floral note that goes so well with the tartness of plums.

Certainly the Port is optional if you have little ones around. On the flip side, if you add too much alcohol to the mix you will end up with a tasty "happy hour" slushy... which can be just as nice even thou it will never set up in the freezer.
We discovered this by accident.


Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds of sliced plums and pluots pitted

1 cup of cherries pitted and quartered
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1/4 cup of Port wine (optional)


Simple Syrup

1 1/2 cups water and 2/3 cup of sugar and heat until the sugar is dissolved
add honey to taste

Method

1 First remove the pits from your plums and pluots and slice into blender friendly pieces. Place the sliced fruit, lemon juice, and cooled simple syrup into a blender and puree until smooth. Push the fruit puree through a fine mesh strainer to catch any large pieces of skin and discard them. You should have about 1 1/2 cups of fruit puree.

2 Mix the Port into the puree just before churning. Place the puree in an ice cream machine and churn according to manufacturer's instructions- our machine took about 25 minutes. At the last few minutes of churning add the cherry pieces so they don't get bruised. Place the sorbet in an air tight container and freeze for two hours to firm up. Enjoy!

Makes a about one quart of sorbet.

Monday Love

Today's Monday Love pick is from Scotatto in Melbourne. This super cute rabbit clutch is just one of their many eye catching leather designs, swing by their shop if you want to see more.

Albums in Motion

Hi-Fi from bante on Vimeo.

I came across this short video on grain edit this morning. It was inspired by vintage Blue Note album covers- it is so well done! Try to see how many album covers you can recognize.

How dirty girls get clean...

I just spied these adorable handmade bars of soap over at Hello Crafty. With pleasant scents like chamomile, peach and citrus there is sure to be one to fit every taste. They even make a Dirty Boy bar of soap... I wonder if they make it in industrial size?!

The Thief of Bagdad

Until last night, The Thief of Bagdad had been on our list of classic movies to watch for well over a year. Since it was filmed before talkies I must admit, I kept putting off watching it. In the past I have wasted more than a few hours of my life on other must see classics that I was told we had to watch by film buffs. Don't get me wrong, I adore old movies. I probably geek out on them more than most people, but some classics are kind of a bore. That being said, this movie was definitely a pleasant surprise!

This swashbuckling Arabian Nights adventure was filmed in 1924 by Raoul Walsh and starred Douglas Fairbanks, Julanne Johnston and the stunning Anna May Wong. All of the sets and costumes were designed in dramatic art deco style. I may even watch it again just to take another look at some of the enormous stages! Considering that this was filmed nearly a hundred years ago is testament to how truly imaginative it was- even by today's standards. I am still amazed by the flying carpet, monsters, magical rope, an undersea world complete with mermaids, and many an acrobatic trick by Mr. Fairbanks himself.

In 2008, The Thief of Bagdad was ranked as the ninth best fantasy film of all time by the American Film Institute. If you are up for a silent film give this one a try for the inventive special effects, and Fairbanks' often comical hand gestures... especially when he wants to steal something!

Bring in the Forest

It's another Monday, and like most of the world I must work to keep a roof over my head and dinner in Mr. Kitty's bowl. I would much rather be outdoors enjoying the lovely summertime. Alas, I can not go outside to play today, so instead I will get my fill of the outdoors from these woodland inspired items. For a link to each item please click on the images above. Have a great week everyone!

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Mama Mel for winning our August Giveaway! Please send us your address and color choice for the Make do and Mend print to farouche@cruzio.com.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated! It was great finding out what all of you like to create. Such a nice surprise to see everything from homemade ice cream, to quilt making show up in the comments section... what a talented bunch you all are! If you didn't win this giveaway there is always next month's... so be sure to check back soon.

If loosing this little giveaway has got you down we do have another solution you could try... there is an instant collection of trophies available from the Doo Dah Factory shown above. So, if you feel like you never win anything, why not pick up the collection and make yourself the honorary winner of every contest ever you wanted to. I think I would make myself a trophy that declared me as, "California's Best Hot Chocolate Maker Ever."
We hope you wonderful week ahead!

August Giveaway!

Just one more reason to love the summer, it's time for our August giveaway from Farouche! We are proud to be giving away a "Make do and Mend" print to one lucky winner! You even get to pick which of the three colors you want for your wall. For your chance to win you must either be a follower of this blog -or- a fan of our Facebook page. To enter please leave us a comment about what you like to make. Contest ends Saturday, August 7th. The winner will be announced Sunday, August 8th so make sure and check back to see if you have won!