[Music Monday] Oh Daughter

Oh Daughter is comprised of London singer, Elena Tonra. Her melancholic sweetness was essential in my London playlists, especially "Run," and I'm so happy that she has released a few more songs. My favorite is currently "Medicine." Perfection. It reminds me of the changing seasons, warms beds, and mulled drinks :-)

Daughter - 'Medicine' (Taken from 'The Wild Youth' EP) by ohDaughter

Daughter - 'Home' (Taken from 'The Wild Youth' EP) by ohDaughter

Daughter - Love (taken from 'The Wild Youth EP') by ohDaughter

Daughter - Run (demo) by ohDaughter

[Music Monday] Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials

After an amazing weekend, including Bikram, vegan food, new Toms, pie tasting, microbrews, and thrifting with Nat, we woke up before dawn to get Carrie to LA. I've been at the library since 6:30am getting ready for the week and it's looking like a busy one :-)

Aviva is a godsend and is bringing me coffee, then we have a lunchtime speaker event:

"Laurel Kaufer is an attorney, mediator and arbitrator in Los Angeles, California. A UCLA and Loyola Law Alum (‘86), she has worked on resolving everything from construction and real estate to commercial disputes. One of Kaufer's most recent endeavors, (and the main topic of the meeting on Monday,) is Prison of Peace, a program through which she works with women serving life in a Maximum Security prison, teaching them communication and mediation skills in order to reduce the levels of violence in prison."

Then class time and dinner with our profs! Hopefully, I'll get back in time for a yoga class with Becky. :-)

Other plans this week include catching you all up on our weekend in LA/Fullerton as well as dinner with Rahia, finishing my crim outline, and catching up via email with my jetsetting amigos...

And of course I need a soundtrack for all of that, which is Florence + the Machine's Ceremonials. The best I could find in the sampling of the album on Soundcloud - the woman can do no wrong. Love her.

Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials by uidnewmediaberlin

[Food + Drink Wednesdays] TJs Faves

I went to Trader Joes this evening on my way home from class and I realized I hadn't been since Grant's birthday in April. CRAZY. I picked up a few of my faves and a couple of new things that I thought I'd share:

1. Pumpkin butter - my desire for autumn continues. Tastes like a PSL, but like I can put it on bread.

2. Fig butter - LOVE figs. also good with bread. or cheese. or a spoon.

3. Mango mochi - Old time fave. The best flavor.

4. Trader Joe's Medium Roast Coffee - SO CHEAP it's cray cray. And also my fave coffee.

5. Wine - all of it.

6. Habanero hot sauce - haven't tried it yet, but will fill you in.

Things I should have picked up but didn't:

1. chocolate covered acai berries - I couldn't find them though.

2. the artisan beer - obvs.

3. cheese - but I'm so glad I practiced self-control

4. The tofu spring rolls - to take me back to wine tasting with Sara. Yum.

5. The dark chocolate covered thin pretzels - but last time I bought them, I ate an entire bag in one sitting.

[Music Monday] CocoRosie for a Spooky Halloween

One of my favorites, I listen to CocoRosie all through the year. But for newbies to their music, these two sisters may be more suited for All Hallow's Eve. Enjoy! (Their music is gorgeous and addictive and I bet you'll be listening to it every day of the year!)

[Things We Adore Sunday] Autumn Mornings, Sam Cooke, Southern Tea Cakes

It's been a long weekend for me. While everyone was out partying and having a good ol' time drinking witches brew, I was stuck inside shivering and eating little besides chicken soup with a swig of orange juice. So boring.

What have I been doing to escape? Reading blogs and back issues of Sunset magazine. And watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians. No judgies! When was the last time you had a flu so bad you fainted? Yeah, that happened to me on Thursday... So I am allowed to spend my Saturday night watching Kim get married, thankyouverymuch.

But back to the blogs, which are reminding me of all the things I can't wait to do now that it is autumn and now that I am finally starting to feel a bit better:

1. Different ways to cook quinoa, and how homey that grain tastes with everything this time of year:
Cannelle et Vanille's Savory Crumble:

via canelle et vanille

And butternut squash pomegranate quinoa from Family Spice

via Family Spice

2. Once I'm done being sick, I am SO pampering myself with this olive oil face scrub from Wit & Delight. It only requires three ingredients: olive oil, honey, and sugar (which is great for sensitive skin).

via Wit & Delight

3. Taking long walks in the morning. The air is just starting to get a bite of coldness in it in the mornings, and, despite being sick, I have been taking walks all around my childhood neighborhood in the mornings. This helps me clear my head and start the day without wearing me out like running has been lately.

4. Sam Cooke has been getting me through this sickness as well. I can't get enough of this song. It makes me feel much better about, well, everything. 

5. I have been working on the prototype for my southern tea cakes. These are a traditional southern cookie that is served with tea, but I have never been served these by family in Tennessee. They originate more from southern Georgia and the like, but I am determined to make them in the spirit of my Grandma Jones, who made the best cookies you could ever imagine, and they kept fresh for ages. I wish I could send some to her this holiday season, but I can feel her guidance in my hands while I tenderly roll out the delicate dough. She's telling me, in her British accent, to put in just a bit more butter.

I've been working mainly with Paula Deen's Gamma's recipe, but I've also been using several blogs for inspiration including this one:

via delicious inspiration

And this one, which includes a beautiful story about the author's southern cooking heritage:

via Lana's Cooking

Okay, that took a lot out of me. Time to take another nap.

[Food + Drink Wednesdays] Mini Pies for Autumn (Sweet Potato and Plum-Pear Port)

On Monday night, after a long day at work, I decided to work through some recipes I'd been meaning to try and send them to my friend Mike in Los Angeles for his review (and enjoyment too). My friend Will also came by, and I owed him a pie from the raffle, so I threw together a bourbon apple pie crumble pie for him. He was eating it before it came out of the oven, and brought it to his friend's house, where it promptly disappeared.

For me, fall is all about thanking the summer for all that delicious, vibrant fruit, and turning to warmer flavors like sweet potatoes (or yams), pumpkin, squash, pecans, bourbon and port, and lots of butter. With that in mind, I decided to try out two new recipes, and they were an absolute success: Sweet Potato Pie and Plum-Pear Port.

Placing the Bourbon Apple Pie beside the baby pies and the momma sweet potato pie

Plum-Pear Port in the foreground, and sweet potato just in front of it

Sweet Potato Pie gets its time in the spotlight

And here are the recipes!

Sweet Potato Pies (recipe modified from Paula Deen's)

Mine has less sugar, and you can totally get away with it!

Ingredients

2 cups of whipped sweet potatoes (you'll need about 2 large sweet potatoes or 3 medium-sized ones, and I'll explain how to whip them below)

3/4 - 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you like it; brown sugar could also work nicely)

1/2 stick melted and cooled butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out the pastry and transfer either to a 9-inch pie plate or cut with circle cookie cutters and press lightly into buttered muffin tins. Trim and decorate pastry, and then place it back in the fridge to set up. 

2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into evenly sized cubes. Then steam them for about 20 minutes, or until soft. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Once cool, mash with a potato masher (or a wooden spoon or some other mashing implement), then transfer to a mixer and whip them up. You can do this by hand, but I got a KitchenAid for my birthday, and it is the single-best gift of all time.

3. Scoop out 2 cups of whipped potatoes and put into a bowl. Combine with the sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, and spices. Mix thoroughly. Add the milk and continue to mix. 

4. Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature. 

You can add a meringue to this, but I love how it tastes by itself. 

Plum-Pear Port Pies (recipe modified from BHG)

Mine is heavier on the plums because I love their tartness

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

Squeeze of a lemon

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 cups chopped plums (I leave skins on)

2 cups cored and chopped pears

2 tbsp port (you can omit this if you feel like it, but add in some more lemon)

1/4 tsp vanilla

Pie crust for either a double-crust pie (you can do a large lattice, or tiny muffin-tin pies like I do)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Roll out the pastry and transfer either to a 9-inch pie plate or cut with circle cookie cutters and press lightly into buttered muffin tins. Trim and decorate pastry, and then place it back in the fridge to set up. 

2. Combine sugar, lemon, cinnamon, a pinch of salt with all of the fruit and allow it to juice for about 30 minutes. Then pour off the excess. Add lemon juice or port and vanilla. Transfer the mixture into the pie tin(s).

3. Roll out the remaining pastry for the lattice crust, or do whatever you want really with the top a crust. A crumble would be a good choice since this pie is REALLY juicy. It could soak up some of the excess.

4. Bake 1 hour-20 minutes if you are baking a large pie, or 1 hour if baking in muffin tins.  

[Food + Drink Wednesdays] Pie Pops!

Last week, I made some tiny little pie pops. Actually, I made four dozen, and we won't even go into how long that actually took me to make. 

Here are the supplies you need to pursue a similar project:

• Ingredients for regular pie filling (or you can do store-bought, but you're hella cheating), cut into one quarter the amount
• Pre-rolled pie crust
• Lollipop sticks (you can buy these at Michael's)
• Rolling pin
• Patience. Worlds of patience.
• A cookie cutter, about the size of caramel apple pop

This is how they'll look before they go in the oven.

Some of the filling may spill out. It's okay.

And here is me making sure to secure the sticks in place.

The final product! Well worth the effort!

Pecan was by far my favorite, so I'll give instructions for that.

Pecan Pie Pops

inspired by bakerella

Ingredients: 

What is listed above (pie crust, lollipop sticks, rolling pin, etc.)

For filling:

1/3 cup dark corn syrup (I use half corn syrup and half molasses)

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

1/3 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chopped pecans (dice these if possible)

For brushing: 

1 egg white

brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all filling ingredients together in one bowl (I love how easy pecan pie is).

2. Roll out the crust and use a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to cut out circles in the dough. Make sure you have enough for the top and bottom of the pie pops. 

3. Place one circle down and press the lollipop stick into the middle of the circle to secure it in place. Place about 1/2 tbsp of filling into the CENTER of the circle. 

4. Take another circle and place it on top of the bottom circle, pressing into onto the lollipop stick. Then press the top onto the bottom with the end of the lollipop stick to make a pretty design. 

5. Use a pastry brush to cover the top crust with an egg white and then sprinkle with brown sugar.

6. Place back in the fridge for a few minutes before baking to set up. 

NOTE: You may need to place the dough back in the fridge before putting the top circle on. This is because the crust is much easier to deal with when it is cold. 

7. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned, just before the juices start to bubble (this timing is an art that takes practice).

[Music Monday] Wild Child

A beautiful start to my day! I parallel parked successfully the first time (don't judge - it is hard to learn!) And had a delicious brunch with Seds and Mandz at Urth Caffe in Downtown (post on that tomorrow.) This fall weather has me into my folk music to an absurd extent. Right now, I have Wild Child on repeat and love the song PIllow Talk:

Pillow Talk (full album available Oct. 25) by WildChildSounds

Enjoy
*Google Readers click through for music player

[Things We Adore Sunday] My Weekend in Photos

This weekend went by all too fast and now I'm rushing off to dinner with the fam at our friend Katherine's house. Here are a few things that made me happy this weekend:

1. My puppies (being six years old, they are not actually puppies, but they will always be my babies) - I just made this video really quickly (the song is Tighten Up by the Black Keys). I love my munchkins (as you can probably tell by my ogre like laugh and my high pitched: "PUPPIES, ARE YOU READY FOR A CAR RIDE!")

2. Last night's charity event on campus, PILF Noir, and how chic our section is.

Gillian and Me

Aviva and Me

3. My mother's garden :-)

4. My mother's apple tart for breakfast this morning. Yum.

5. Visits to the Pooch Park. There are dogs and dog people. My favorite things.

6. And catching up with Cass on the phone today, as well as making plans to see my roomies, Seda, Mandz, and Alene tomorrow for brunch. Plus, receiving a great video from Grant of Tawsh dancing in the grocery store, coffee with sea-salted caramel ice cream, and walking the trails with Kelsey. <3.

Pawnee Goddesses

The Pawnee Goddess Motto, just because I can:

I am a Goddess.
A glorious, female warrior.
 Queen of all that I survey.
 Enemies of fairness and equality, hear my womanly roar:
YAAAAAAAAAAAH!