Vibrant Veg

All of the fabulous images above are from La Tartine Gourmande.
Talk about eye candy galore!

Good Morning!

Pineberries

Have you ever seen anything more adorable than these sweet little pineberries? These lovely images were taken by Mowie Kay, the owner of the delightful food blog Mowielicious. You can get a better peek here, and if you like what you see you can vote for Mowie in the 2011 Best Food Blog Awards by Saveur Magazine.

Shortbread

When searching for a shortbread recipe yesterday I happened upon the Brigitte-Keks. How sweet are these cookies?! They were all created with the nifty European gadget. It is a cookie cutter and letter embosser all in one. The kit comes with an assortment of type so you can imprint any message you little heart desires. I have yet to find them for sale in the states but, there seems to be several European sites that have them available. These would be so much fun for the holidays.

Today's to do list...slow down.

With all of the things I try to get done I have become the queen of to do lists and lists in general. I actually have a weekly list, monthly to do list and the "when possible list" for big projects.
So, today I need to give the cat a bath, run the usual errands, call so and so back, wrap a birthday gift, make sure and mail that thank you note... does this sound familiar?
It goes on and on, huh!

I think we all need to slow down every once in a while and enjoy the day. It is beautiful outside so why not today. Put off all of the little things until tomorrow (the ones that wont get you fired or make your life impossible later). On your way home from work stop by the farmers market and pick out what ever looks amazing and a bottle of decent wine. I swear, if you hate cooking just grab some fresh sour dough bread, buffalo mozzarella, basil and heirloom tomatoes. Add a little kosher salt, balsamic vinegar and olive oil and it is practically a meal in itself. Once home pour yourself a glass of wine, put on some great music and dance barefoot in the kitchen. You will wonder why you don't do this more often.

Happy Birthday Joe!

Yesterday we had an all day BBQ to celebrate Joe's birthday. As usual it was a non-stop feast that went on into the night. I woke up this morning still full. I can't remember ever eating so many types of meat and fish in a single day. To prove it here is the list...
First coarse was clams with chorizo and roasted garlic crostinis with basil, Parmesan and tomato. Second coarse of sweet shrimp with chili and lime, watermelon and cucumber salsa with Serrano chilies. The third coarse was scallops wrapped in bacon. Then on to a fourth coarse of antelope and elk with rosemary. Next it was halibut with a caper aioli and somewhere in between there was roasted potatoes and baby artichokes.

I feel so full... I may not eat again until Wednesday.

When life gives you lemons...

Make Homemade Lemonade

-1 cup sugar can be reduced to 3/4 cup
-1 cup water for the simple syrup
-1 cup lemon juice
-3 to 4 cups cold water to dilute the lemonade to your liking

.................

1 Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely. Set aside to cool.

2 While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice. This is a good time to enlist the help of your children or spouse for elbow grease.

3 Add the juice and simple syrup to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to your desired strength. Refrigerate until chilled. If the lemonade is too sweet for your taste try adding a little more straight lemon juice. When using Meyer lemons you may need to use less simple syrup since Meyers are a rather sweet lemon. Serve with ice and sliced lemons.

Serves 6 average people or 1 sumo wrestler.

Thirsty for more? Then check out Love. Obsess. Inspire. Alexa was sweet enough to post our lemonade download on her beautiful blog too. You should take a peek if you are in need of an extra dose of eye candy.

Free Lemonade Goodies- "spiked" version

The free goodies for a "spiked" lemonade party are here and ready for you to download.

I just had to design a set for grown ups. There are gift tags, large tags for invitations, decorative spots and more. I couldn't resist making a little sign that reads, "When life gives you lemons make lemonade. If that does not work add vodka." So get out your scissors and pretty cocktail dress because it's time for a homemade happy hour!


click the link below for download:
Free Lemonade Download- adult version


Copyright Farouche 2009. The download is for personal use only, not to be sold.

Free Lemonade Goodies- version for all ages

The lemonade goodies are finished and ready for you to download!

There are gift tags, decorative spots and more. I even included some journal spots for you scrapbook artists. If you check out the photos you will see I made some simple cupcake picks with the decorative spots and a toothpick. For more elaborate cupcake picks try backing them with colorful paper and tissue paper. We would love to see what you make from these.

So call your friends and start squeezing some lemons to throw your own summer lemonade party!


click the link below for download:
Free Lemonade Download-kids version


Copyright Farouche 2009. The download is for personal use only, not to be sold.

Home Grown

To say I like home grown tomatoes might be an understatement. They are top of the heap on the list of the five foods I would choose to be stuck on a desert island with for the rest of my life. In the summer I can be completely content with a sandwich made of thick slices of tomato, black paper, a little slice of cheddar and mayo on sourdough bread. For me, it doesn't get much better than that!

If you have yet to try growing your own produce why not give it a go this summer. A victory garden can feed more than a household if you have the space. Even if you don't have land try growing what you can on a balcony, deck or kitchen window. The flavor of home grown produce is worth the effort and you can share the extra bounty with your friends and neighbors.

And the winner is...

Congratulations to esprout for winning our Mother's Day giveaway! Please email us at farouche@cruzio.com to let us know the personalization name and address for mailing. Happy baking!

Just in time for Mother's Day

We all have someone special to thank this Mother's Day.

Dear ol' Mum may never be far from your thoughts or perhaps your sweet Aunt. You know, the one who is always there for you, like the time she helped get you ungrounded for well... you know what. She leveled the score by reminding your Mom how she got caught for doing the same thing when she was your age. Then there is your Grandma to thank. No matter how old you get, she still gives you an Easter basket full of chocolate bunnies, Peeps and plastic eggs.

This Mother's Day we want to help you thank someone in your life by sending them a free set of personalized baking tags from Farouche. All you have to do is post a comment about why this person is so special to you. We will announce a winner on Saturday May 2nd so please check back to see if you have won!