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Yesterday I catered a brunch for the launch of 011's Spring/Summer collection.

Concept: Galvanized Steel serving platters, neutral strands of grosgrain ribbon in the window, white Brazilian cotton lace...lots of organic inspiration and snacks (Lapinha products) to meld with the rustic, modern boutique (but not take focus away from the lovely clothing collection...that I wish I could squeeze over my 32 week belly).

Menu:
Granola Parfait
Leek Quiche
Spinach Quiche
Bruschettas: Brie with Tangerine, Hibiscus, and Blackberry Compotes
Mini Banana Muffins
Blueberry Muffins
Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
Mini Carrot Bundt Cakes
Tea Sandwiches: Tuna Salad, Hummus-Cucumber, Ham and Fresh White Cheese

Party Favor: Tins with Triple Chocolate Pressed Pecan Cookies, Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and Logo Cookies in Chocolate, Gingerbread, and Sugar

A lovely event, indeed!


Thanks to 011 and Alice Ferraz

Traveling Farm

João is turning one. His sweet Auntie Livia is heading south (by plane) with a box full of farm fun: cookies and fondant barn animals to celebrate the big day.

Aren't Aunts great? Feliz Aniversario!

Magic Boots

Head on over to Minas de Ouro...I'll be posting a handcrafted idea every Monday.

PS: I think the rain boots worked magic. It is finally raining.

Quiche, quiche, everywhere...

If I wasn't surrounded by quiches, maybe I would have something else on my mind (better post). But as it stands there are 200 in my kitchen...upcoming brunch affair and I am obsessing.

But I'll offer you something. The best dough recipe:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water
Directions

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.
With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to 1 month.


Courtesy of good old Martha.

I'll leave the filling up to you....

My First Post...

I am so pleased to have been invited to be a member of the Minas de Ouro (Golden Girls in Portuguese) blog...an honor to be amongst such talented women!

You can find me there once a week...

Just click on this link to read my first post dedicated to baby boy. And if you haven't already, add Minas de Ouro to your blog roll!

Weekend: Declared a Holiday

Georgia woke up Saturday morning and asked me if she had school. "No, It's Saturday," I declared. Her next breath, "Daddy doesn't work today." But when she went to look for him, she saw his side of the bed was empty. Disappointment ensued. I explained that he had to travel
all weekend. Trying to salvage things, I quickly proclaimed a holiday: Mommy and Georgia Day. I promised not to bake, clean, or answer emails. No working at all.

And I didn't. In one day we:

1. Had breakfast while swirling on the stools of the local bakery.
2. Met friends at the club playground for a play date.
3. Ate steak and fries at the "Dinosaur Restaurant" (i.e. kid friendly place with dinosaur logo).
4. Went to the launch of Isabela Capeto's safari inspired children's collection for C&A Department store (very cute).
5. Stopped by the bookstore and happened on and joined in a painting workshop for kids.
6. Strolled the bustling Jardins neighborhood on a balmy early evening hand and hand (no stroller) eating ice cream.

Whereby Georgia reminded me that it was "getting dark." And we hightailed it home, ate a fried egg over rice, hit the showers and both passed out in Mom and Dad's bed.

But this morning I really had to get some work done. And I found the solution in a makeshift tee-pee we installed in the living room. I may have just opened a step ladder and draped a sheet, but I was able to sneak in a solid hour and a half of work. (She accepted happily that we both couldn't fit inside with room for toys.) In the afternoon she visited with Grandpa and we went to a local theatre and saw Avoar. A busy weekend now over.

As of sundown Daddy will be home. We are waiting!

Alice's Favorites

Alice's Favorites: Cookie Monster, Grover, and Zoe
A Sesame Street Bash
Georgia didn't want me to put them in the box...we'll have a hard time seeing these ones go!

Happy Birthday Alice!

Maria Betina

Maria Betina will celebrate in her Mommy's belly tomorrow.
Cookies with M&B and sweet delicate clothes on the line.
A baby shower on Saturday...

Butchered Beauties

These lovely artichokes should have been put in a vase. I just don't have luck with this particular vegetable. The first time I had one (in a restaurant and not from the jar), I feigned that I knew how to eat them, shoving the whole leaf in my mouth (of course, I was on a date).

And, today, I tried to trim them in hopes of creating a new dish. I looked in vain for their heart and ended up with a hairy mess of spines and leaves.

The only thing salvageable....a lovely still life?

Smile

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I needed that.

Angel Food

We awoke this holiday morning (Independence Day in Brazil) to the sound of much needed rain. Aside from the newspapers reminding us of the dangerous conditions and poor air quality (50 days without a drop), I realized just how long it had been when confusion registered on my daughter's face as she looked out the window. Thereafter we spent the morning talking about umbrellas and thirsty trees whilst singing all the rain songs we hadn't sang in, well more than 50 days. G was really pleased with mother nature.

I, however, tend to resort to melancholy when the sky is gray. My motivation levels plummet drastically and for fear of a holiday locked indoors withToy Story II on continuous play, I decided we better have a project or we'd wilt like the parched flowers. With all the talk of skies and magic, Angel Food Cake seemed appropriate--mini versions with blueberries. Plus they are low in sugar content (after the brownies) and as light and airy as a cloud.

I won't tell you how many eggs we cracked to get the dozen whites we needed. We made a sticky, sticky mess in the kitchen. But the morning passed pleasantly and we had dessert to take to Grandma and Grandpa's....and lots of stories to tell. If we would have just remembered to leave the house with our umbrella...

Hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend. Happy Wednesday...it is going to be a short week. xo

Bagged Brownies

Dark chocolate brownies with crackly shiny tops and walnuts for a picnic.
Squared and bagged.
Going, going.
Gone.

And a heart brownie without nuts for a birthday. The perfect "in a hurry" when you don't need a big cake solution--carried on a tray to wake the birthday boy/girl, still rubbing sleep from their eyes.

Eco Babies

Album Di Famiglia

I recently received an email asking if I would be willing to do an ecologically correct birthday party. Signing off, my client wrote...sempre pensando em que vai ficar para eles. (Always thinking of what will be left for them). The phrase has been in my mind all day and in all of my actions. I don't think I am a very wasteful person. But I could do better. And plastic is too omnipresent in my life.

The phrase, as with anything that brings one's children into context, has me vowing to be more ecologically correct. So today when I was thinking about cribs, I remembered a cardboard one I had seen on-line a few months back. I thought it was, for lack of a better word, "eco-chic." And I wanted it. But then I remembered that baby boy's crib has already held Georgia and Daddy...sentimental and ecologically correct. Check. check. So I think I'll just give it a fresh coat of paint and return to reducing plastic in my household.

I think Georgia's toy bin and my Tupperware would be a good place to start....

Happy Birthday Lorenzo!

Camilla's (Sucatinha de Luxo!) son Lorenzo has a big party tomorrow--a third birthday with lots of animals in attendance. I am certain his Mommy is going to put on a wonderful bash. Georgia and I cannot wait to go.

And we are so happy that our sweets will be part of the mix.

Happy Birthday Lorenzo!

Antonio is 3, too!

Been a busy moment for third birthday parties! I've frosted so many little cars in the last 24 hours that I dreamt of automobiles in my kitchen--and not these little colorful dough guys.

Beep beep! Green means "let's go to Antonio's party, favor bags!"

Feliz Aniversário Antonio!

Quality Weekend

With the exception of the onset of another cold, the weekend was simple, lovely.

Homemade Clay.
Magic Markers. (with the exception of the sofa)
Buttered Toast.
A rose filled wedding. A 3rd Birthday Party.
Lots of family time.
And a little girl who carries her own purse and is practically, officially,
potty trained.

Can it get any better?

The calm before the storm--500 cookies and some cakes--by Wednesday. Hope your Saturday + Sunday was quality, too. Catch up with you soon....xo.

Undies

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Aside from a lot of baking this week, I am potty training.

Georgia should probably have been out of diapers a long time ago. I imagine a toddler that is capable of correcting her Mother's difficulty asserting the feminine and masculine in Portuguese ("Mommy, Pirulit-0 not Piriulit-a"), should not be wearing Pampers. I suppose I have the same excuse with toilet training as with learning the correct gender of words, I imagine I'll get there some day soon. (Give me some credit though--we use "the" for everything in English.)

Anyway...On our recent trip to the USA, Georgia saw her cousin Reese adeptly using the toilet. And my girl promptly informed me that she would be using the privy from now on, too. (Although I won't share what happened when she saw the dog pooping in the yard or her boy cousin using the urinal.) She basically trained me because I kept forgetting to even ask my little girl (every half an hour--as most Mothers do). Off she went, declaring her need to use the bathroom. She managed alone to pull her underpants down and climb on the throne. In fact, I wasn't allowed in the bathroom while she did her business. "Mommy, NO! Georgia by self." I was almost waiting for her to take a magazine with her. The kid was that good.

She "allowed" me back in to help with the wiping, washing of hands, and to participate in her celebratory glee of success. Mission accomplished I thought smugly. But then we got on the plane. Back in Brazil, there were no more big cousins to mimic. I'll confess: I put her diaper back on and Georgia no longer felt like training me.

So this week I decided that I would have to "do the whole potty training thing." Bummer. We are no different than most--having accidents everywhere (and I am asking every half hour). We take changes of clothes on all outings. And, although, I would probably lean toward buying only white cotton undies (like photo), I am learning that the ones with the princesses and mermaids are a blessing. Georgia promised me she wouldn't have an accident on Snow White today after a pretty grim day yesterday.

I am hopeful that Snow White can put our potty training back in the realms of a fairy tale.

We will get there.

Sampler

I've promised to deliver a sampler to an incredibly hip new restaurant today. So I've been sifting, stirring, beating, shelling...baking/baking/baking all week. The final contents of the box:

Mini three layer almond cake with apricot filling and buttercream frosting
Chocolate, sugar, ginger cut out cookies
Pistachio and cherry muffins (I got a new cherry pitter and can't say enough about it!)
Devil's food chocolate cupcakes with choco-buttercream frosting
Triple chocolate (light, dark, and white) cookies with pressed pecans

I tried to base my confections on the design and feeling of the space. I have to say it was one of my favorite projects, with the exception of the perilous cab ride...dodging sun rays and pot holes.

It is out of my hands now....delivered. Ufa!

Double - Triple

Working on new recipes today.
Cookies.
Three kinds of chocolate: Dark, Milk, and White
Two Pecans Pressed
Salty. Sweet.
Can a cookie be hedonistic?

Sunrise Surprise

It was very hard to convince Georgia that she couldn't have cupcakes for breakfast (at 6:45 am, okay) --especially when morning deliveries contain a large box of Minnie and Princesses that magically appeared in our kitchen last night.

"Mommy did you make these for a party?"

"Yes...yes, I did--while you were fast asleep. I saved one for you--for after lunch..."

And that was how our week started.