Are You Taking Advantage of Summers Bounty?

It all started with 5 cups of plump, delicious blueberries.


Some magic spices courtesy of my PIF-Trade and friend, Project Ni Hao! These fresher than fresh, aromatic, gorgeous seasonings came all the way from Geneva, IL. Definitely jazzed things up quite a bit. Thanks, Mommy Ni Hao! xo


Lemon zest embraced the exotic spices and imparted a fresh, summery element.


Tossed together, dotted with butter and all ready for lattice crust + the glow of the AGA. Can you believe this is half the sugar that the recipe called for? Whoa.


Donezo!


Yes it was delish & the house smelled like lemony, nutmeg infused heaven. Next up? Probably my annual fresh tomato corn chowder. It is that time of year....

Sometimes You've Just Got to Give In....

...and do something that really, really makes you smile.


That is precisely why I had stars painted on my fingertips.

What have you done recently? I could use some more ideas.

Candy Cap Curiosity

How's about trying some of these in your next Birthday Cake?


What you see pictured above are glorious Candy Cap Mushrooms. Aren't they beautiful? I've yet to see a fresh one myself, but recently scored a small container of these caramel-scented, maple-syrup flavored shrooms in dehydrated form. And, yes, I did use them in my father's birthday dessert. Pictures to follow.

First time I made the Candy Cap Mushroom's acquaintence was in Mendocino, CA at my favorite restaurant Cafe Beaujolais when I ordered this dish:

Pan Roasted California Sturgeon Fillet
House Made Tagliatelle, Truffle Emulsion Sauce,
Wild Mushrooms, Beets and Snap Peas

The waitress explained that the hard to pinpoint, surprising secret ingredient was Candy Cap Mushroom. I embarassed my husband when I asked the waitress to kindly tell the chef how "F'ing Delicious" I thought the dish was. She did & the laughs from the kitchen made the meal that much more enjoyable.

I have since obtained the recipe for the Cafe Beaujolais sturgeon and as fearless as I think I am in the kitchen...enjoying this dish (my official "Final Meal") will be reserved for my all too infrequent visits to Mendocino.*

Ok, so back to the weekend festivities...

Dad got to choose between cake and bread pudding for his daughter-made birthday treat. I was 98% certain that he'd choose the pudding - but I wasn't going to jinx my odds by telling him that I planned to experiment with mushrooms as part of it. Dad didn't let me down & chose his favorite...old school bread pudding. He gave me permission to play with the recipe a bit and put in a request for a brandy/rum sauce if possible. Woot!

Here is the Bread Pudding Recipe in case you were interested. And, HERE are the shrooms:


It was a very simple recipe that had me scalding heavy whipping cream and then steeping dried Candy Caps in it for an hour. The house smelled very sweet - and maybe a little like curry.


I was supposed to use "half a loaf of pullman-sized brioche". So, yeah, I used nearly a full loaf of Challah. Pretty similar, I thought.


Here is after an hour steeping. Didn't look all that dramatically different, but it sure tasted lovely.


Here is the pudding after straining shrooms from cream, adding eggs, soaking bread with custard, sprinkling golden raisins and currants and cooking for a while. Golden yummy-ness!


One piece left after all was said and done. My clever brother in law figured out the secret ingredient after some hints. And, nobody freaked out that I used mushrooms in this dessert. I think that they may expect as much from me.


To celebrate this Kitchen Adventure Post and to share a recent download that I am currently in love with I leave you with this - a cover of an old Bread tune by the band called Cake. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

*Note to self: discuss Autumn vacation planning with DH tonight or sooner.

One of the Cutest Wordless Wednesdays Evah...

8/8/08

This day carries many a mixed feeling. And, deserves its own treat. So I bought these:

They were made by a very cool, energetic, edgy, interesting glass artist that I've gotten to know on etsy. Her shop is called Combustion Glassworks - and her nickname is "TNT". She and I are in the same California Crafting Club Street Team and I've collected a few pair of her earrings and this beautiful pendant:


Yeah, I've always been a girl that brakes for rainbows. Ask my Mom.

When I saw the red-hot, super shiny, celebratory dangle earrings in TNT's shop - named "Shanghai" - of course I needed to have them for today. They make me feel a little extra happy & that's a good thing. Maybe some dumplings could help too? And, a little Turnip Cake.


So how many days 'til the next batch of referrals come out?

For your Retail Therapy Pleasure - Here is a link to Combustion Glassworks Shop. Hope this post finds you enjoying the beginning to a really great weekend. xo

Plucky Penguin Preview

Plucky Penguin Preview
Originally uploaded by wzgrrl

Wordless Wednesday!!!

Stay tuned for more details about my newest creation.....

Isn't This What Everyone Hopes For?

...that when you bring a Newbie into The Fold - that everyone ends up loving each other?


Seeing Peyton giving Iris a bath (after she taught him how to do so) just warms my frostbitten heart. I'm hoping that it only gets better as the days cool down and the evenings inspire fireside cuddling.

Balm for this girls soul.

Do You Think I Could Pull It Off?

I just love Project Runway's Emily and her slanty, jagged bangs. If only I could find a better picture before next week's salon appointment....

Closest I Got to a Gotcha Day About Now

Very, very sweet.

Peyton Pea is our Sweet Baby Boy.

Care for Some More Trash Talk?

My last post was all about my discovery of Trashion and the inspiration/diversion it has provided for me lately. How about some more pictures??

Couple weeks ago my sister sent me a link to a very cute upcycled t-shirt dress that she wanted for her daughter. I suggested that she wait & the two of us try to tackle the project together. Next thing I know, I've got my old t-shirt drawer open and I'm cutting up my old favorite cotton tees. What fun!

Here's the beginning shots. I purchased a second hand tank dress in approximately my nieces size to serve as my guide.


Here are the additional t-shirts pre-cutting:


Ta-Daaaa! Final dress. And, I can hardly believe that it FIT! Didn't get a picture with Little Miss in it though, darn-it!


The big discovery is that I learned how to join two knit fabrics - kindof tricky - and my machine has just the right stitch. So, yeah, there will be more of these over the years....


In other Trashion News...someone contacted me via etsy and complimented me on my fruits, veggies and other plushie creations. She challenged me to make her an Apricot - for her husband who grew up on an Apricot orchard. The most important task was finding just the right color. Apricot isn't really easy. Its not orange. Its not peach. It is Apricot. I had to purchase an Apricot to make sure that I got it right:


Here's how they ended up:


I paired the Apricot hued jean with some perfectly golden corduroy to give these guys a sun kissed look. Both my etsy customer and I were very happy with the result! Click here for more pictures of....Brandy, Goldrich and Bert!

It really is fun creating and sharing. So thanks for indulging me. xo

Trashion!

TRASHION: An Etsy Street Team that is all about visualizing beauty in unconventional objects and materials. Members fabricate art, jewelry, fashion and objects for the home from used, thrown-out & found elements. Trashion is a philosophy and an ethic. It encompasses environmentalism and innovation, and respects the human creative and healing potential.

Making traditional objects out of recycled materials can be trashion. Making avant-garde fashion out of cast-offs or junk can be trashion.

Who knew that what I've been doing all this time with much of my sewing was Trashion! Each and every owl & some of the fruits and veggies that I've sewn were comprised of upcycled materials - usually felted former sweaters, vintage denim and corduroy. Some of my favorite fabrics! The process has been very gratifying and fun. Once I found a group of other artists on etsy that have similar inclinations - of course I petitioned to join their team!

This month we had a Palchemy (read: Pal + Alchemy) swap. Each participant was paired up and asked to send a package of materials to someone else on the team. No specific rules were given beyond the request to send things that were to be upcycled into, yes, Trashion! The next steps: Receive, visualize and create.

Here's what my partner sent me:


Plus some things I added from my own stash:


My first Trashion Project was Kitten Carlisle:


My second was Puppy Rooney:


I cut out the embroidered part of a vintage pillowcase that my swap partner sent me and used that for the kitten and puppy faces...the rest is an amalgam of bits and pieces sent by my partner and what I already had on hand. Sure was fun making something out of "nothing". If you click on the links above - there are more pictures!

You can click here to see more work created as part of the Trashion Palchemy Project - it is quite diverse!

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I know that its been quiet around here - so how about some Words on this fine Wednesday?



Its July 2008 and that means that this buttercup blog has been around for 2 years. I can hardly believe it. To mark the anniversary, I will soon be changing some things up in here...so please stay tuned.

One of the new things that I'm going to be trying out is participating in a "West Coast Wednesday" Sale over at Etsy. So, for the next 27 hours (midnight tonight NYC-Time through midnight tomorrow San Francisco Time) everything at buttercupbloom.etsy.com will be 10% off!!! How cool is that?

Just click on the link in this post - or on the etsy pictures on the right ---> to get transported right over to my virtual boutique.

I'd love to see you over there...and I promise to see you back here later...when I find my voice again.

xo

wordless wednesday + more l8r

Wordless Wednesday + a wee bit

Iris is a Momma Cat! And I am so proud of her.


She is teaching wee Peyton how to play and how to share. It is incredibly endearing. Iris is doing so much better, but still not her old self. Today I feel as though she is her old self, but now in a Momma Cat role, therefore just a bit more reserved and "motherly". I hope that I'm right.

Fun stuff....

Over the past few months, I've fully embraced the whole etsy community "thing"....and, let me tell you, it has been a lot of great fun. My CCCOE (California Crafters Club of Etsy) group is very, very active and motivated to promote each other's work. Its Great!

I couldn't have chosen a better bunch of people to engage with amidst the huge etsy collective. Today was a first! One of my creations was featured on the FRONT PAGE of ETSY! Here is a Screen Shot picture of the "event":


Do you see my Summer Of Love Owl down there in the left hand corner??

What does this mean, you ask? Well, when you hit the front page....a whole lot of peeps end up seeing something you've made and that you're selling and, hopefully, come visit your shop. That is what happened - lots of visitors, lots of love & lots of mad props for my work. Neat.

So, in the spirit of sharing, I'd like to show off my most recent additions to my shop. My Wedges of Sunshine! Allow me to introduce you to:

Samson:



Mari/Short for Marigold:


and Raye:


All of these guys embrace their love for the sunny side of life - making morning glories awake, painting rainbows in the sky and putting a shine on a freshly washed corvette. Thank you dearly for clicking here to take a look at these cute wee plushies.

This weekend I will be showing off alllll of my creations at my very first Craft Show. It is a show called Craftaluma that is sponsored, in part, by Etsy!

Come On By if you live close....and say hello! I'll give you the buttercup discount.

Happy Summer! xoxoxox

Wordless Wednesday

Truth Be Told

It hasn't been all sunshine and kittens around here.

Our dearest, Iris, has been going through a very rough patch. As a result, so have we.

In order to appease the rescue group that we adopted Peyton from, we took our dear Iris in for an exam and obligatory vaccinations. Our vet thought that she really didn't need any but that the simple distemper vaccine would protect Iris in case the new family member carried any troublesome bugs - so that is what we decided to do. For her benefit.

Thing is, our girl had a pretty significant reaction to this vaccine. She lost her sweet wee voice, curled up in a ball for a good few weeks, stopped eating normally (& lost almost a pound within a 2 week period) and just wasn't herself. She stopped scampering. She stopped snuggling. She wasn't our girl. It was extremely heartbreaking. Many tears were shed.

Then along came Peyton. The cutest kitten I've met. We thought for sure that Iris would step up for the challenge and step into the momma-cat role. We always thought that was in her nature and that she would love having a wee one to take care of. Nope, not even one bit. She barely ate the coveted chicken baby food and her hind quarters quavered when I fed it to her.

Our doc contacted Pfizer, the maker of the vaccine. They noted some history of similar reactions. They also opened a "case" for us. Our vet gave Iris sub-q fluids and Iris did better for a wee while - but it was short lived. Jzboy compared her personality change to Jack Nicholson's character in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Yes, it was that significant.

Thankfully, the past 2 days have presented a shift in Iris that gives us hope and allowed us to exhale a bit. Not sure what it is but she is so much more like herself. Her coat looks beautiful, she "talks" a bit with us (tiny wee chirps) and she is eating more than the ol' Gerber's chicken baby food...in fact, she is eating Peyton's baby food. Today when I held Peyton close to her, she gave him a very sweet and thorough face (& ear) bath. That momma-cat energy is coming forth.

I can hardly put words to the sweetness of Iris' recent shift. Losing our two elder cats just a few months ago left us feeling so sad and fragile. The thought of Iris leaving us (and, yes, that was a real fear) was too much to bear. Thankfully she seems to be coming around. Thankfully.

So that is what has really been going on around here. Thankfully we are moving through this...as are our feline family members.

Unfortunately life isn't all sunshine and kittens.


But, then again, sometimes after weathering the storm - you are left with sunshine and kittens.

How cool is that?

Wordless Wednesday

More Words Later...

Wordless Wednesday

A Very Cute Reason to Baby-Proof the Casa

Introducing the newest "Z".....Wee Peyton-Pea:


Saturday just can't get here fast enough - we met him last weekend, but needed some time to feel certain about our decision. And, to baby proof!

Our boy is just about 2 months and very, very sweet. A real purring lover-lou. It will be so lovely to have him here. I hope. We still worry a bit about how Iris will respond, but I finally decided that at some point in time there will be an actual human child here at the house whom we will all have to transition our lives around...why not start with Peyton?

So there.

I've been visiting everyone's blogs, but trying to hold a healthy distance from the adoption circuit on some level. It can be a real challenge to balance for me sometimes. July will mark 2 years of the buttercup blog - so, if you've been following along, you know about one of my frequent coping strategies. Sewing.

Here are pics of my latest etsy project - The Spirit of 76' Owls.

Sweet Baby James:


Rooster the Owl:


and, Mandy:


Please click on the corresponding name-links above to see more pics and to read my nostalgia-laced owlish descriptions! C'mon, humor me. I'm having a lot of fun with my creative outlet and a couple of my campy little items have made it into the etsy gift guides. That was pretty darn cool to see.

I've got some new ideas that I'm working on, but I have a feeling that a small furry kitcat is about to take over the place & wonder how much trouble Peyton will create with my sewing supplies? More pictures to come and stories about our recent visit to the Big Apple - God I love that place.

xo

Tuna Will Be Required

We are taking our girl to the vet. It will be the first time since we adopted her 4 years ago. Why, you ask? Because that is what the rescue group requires and we think Iris needs a companion.

I get all excited thinking about having one of these little guys scampering around.


Who knows what will happen, the siamese rescue group is very particular and may not allow us to adopt a kitten as Iris is over the age limit. I'm hoping that they will forgive us for not taking her to the vet sooner as I think they were expecting us to have her in for annual visits...

If you have a cat, do you take them in annually? Even if they are indoor only?? I never have.