Category Archives: domesticity


mama mia

it’s so rewarding putting together simple ingredients, and coming out with something real…wonderful. delicious.

something that i made with my own hands. something that might not be perfect the first time around, that i have to make adjustments until it is just right.

growing up, mom and dad both shared the kitchen. a lot dishes included mom’s secret touches, while others were only perfect if dad made them. it was well balanced and wonderful.

the past month i have finally felt comfortable and confident enough to let loose and try my hand at baking.

i’ve been collecting recipes for a few years now. and i’ve been in love with food photography for a lot longer.

today’s recipe: pizza dough.

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i made calzones. what is it about them that tastes SO different from a regular pizza? it’s the same ingredients… just. folded up.

like i said, simple ingredients…

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it was my first time ever making anything like this, without the help and wise hands of someone else to make sure it was all coming together well.

wondering if the yeast would come out right… if i would knead the dough too little, or too much.

if it would rise….

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(my kitchen wasn’t particularly warm today, so i aided it along a bit…)

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erin darcy photography

there was no reason to worry, because the dough was absolutely beautiful.

so perfect… the second rise it puffed up quite large, so i was glad that i let it sit for as long as i could. (meanwhile, the kitchen warmed up since i baked some cookies)

i don’t have a rolling pin, so i used a jar of tomato sauce.

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the dough was so easy to roll, and didn’t need much extra flour. it was super smooth..

(i separated it into four equal parts, but instead, combined them again-into half dough. i should have gone with my first instinct on the size needed… but i ended up just making one massive calzone, and left the other half of the dough in the fridge to make into something later on)

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erin darcy photography

the monster calzone included minced steak, chorizo slices, onion, and mushroom with some grated mozzarella cheese.

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fold it over and make sure to fold the dough-and make a tight seal.

poke a few holes in the top to let it breathe.

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cut in half, or fourths… depending on who you are feeding and how hungry you are. : )

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yumlish. perfect… but so filling…

the ‘toppings’ are endless. i was thinking of making a chicken one. oy vey… typing that out after eating this… the idea of that is just too much!

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apron strings

i think this baker is going to have to put away her apron before it gets any more flour and sugar on it.

too many sweets… i’ve got to limit it to one sweet bake a month or something like that. because having all of this in the house is not good.

especially after having a heavy sweet, and today’s delicious ultimate comfort food- potato soup…

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accompanied with a delicious roasted garlic sunflower seed bread…

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and it was delicious. i moaned through every spoonful.

sigh.

and then i put in a workout dvd, mel b’s totally fit.

i only made it through ten minutes before i was completely spent. sweaty and breathless.

it’s pathetic… i feel terrible about it.

it has to stop.

so i turned the dvd off.

haha!

but really. enough is enough. going to buckle down and try to shift a few pounds i think, or at least stop with this crazy bake fest.

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the joys of baking*trial and error

i’ve been wanting to make something with lemon in it for a while.

steven’s a chocoholic… so i have to decide to do these things without telling him… i’ll just get discouraged hearing him say ‘i don’t really like lemon’ HMPH!

but i found this recipe a while back, and after reading it, i couldn’t stop thinking about it. it sounded perfect… lemony. fresh. sweet. perfect.

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i had a few things that i had to collect before i could begin…

sigh. what have i told you about substituting things? please remind me next time i feel that i can’t do something-when i just need to find a different way.

bought a cheese grater yesterday, one of those big fat ugly fancy ones. it has two sides that are ‘zesters’ or…whatever they want to call them.

they’re really just shitty little teeth…

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after a few tries and ruining my lemons and wasting their peel, steven suggested i use a serrated knife. PERFECT!

i ‘peeled’ it with the serrated knife- a regular knife will cut too deep and get yucky white pip. is that what it’s called? i don’t really care. we just don’t want it.

after i had my pieces, i chopped them up as finely as i could.

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next, get your carton of blueberries…

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oogle at them because they are so pretty…

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roll them around, eat one, oooh ahhh mother nature is a fine thing…

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now stop that. get a hold of  yourself, they’re only berries.

now,  put them in a bowl of water to wash.

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ooooh but they’re still so pretty.

drain them, leave them on a towel to dry and begin mixing your other ingredients.

in one bowl, ‘sift’ together flour, baking powder, and salt.

i say ‘sift’ because i don’t have a sifter, and just use a whisk to add some air to it.

in another bowl- mix eggs, sugar, oil, yoghurt, vanilla extract and lemon zest.

once your pretty blueberries are dry, toss them in 1 tablespoon of flour.

mix the dry ingredients into the wet and gently combine. fold in the blueberries.

pour mixture into your prepared (greased and lined) 8 inch cake pan. (also. your oven should be preheated to 180C. i don’t know what that is in F right now. look it up. oh sorry.. was that incredibly rude? here, i’ll go find it for you… okay, it’s about 355F.)

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put in the oven to bake for around 45 minutes. (check it at 30 minutes just to see how things are going. my oven likes to cook hotter on one side. so i had to turn my pan-and bring it down one shelf after about 30 minutes of cooking)

meanwhile, cut one lemon in half and squeeze the juice into a bowl, we’ll use this later.

while you’re waiting and have those lemon halves there-that are already juiced, you could soften your elbows.

go ahead. just stick your elbows in them and sit there for 5 minutes.

i won’t judge.

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and time’s up. take her out.

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did i mention that i only used two eggs?

hahaha… i know. i did-because i only had two eggs, and didn’t happen to have any other egg substitutes (bananas, apple sauce etc.)  so you can see that my cake probably didn’t get the amount of lift it should have–or maybe it didn’t hold… i don’t know. but it fell just a tiny bit, i will blame that on the lack of egg.

let it sit and cool…

i’m impatient.

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oooh look! purple stuff.

or blueberries if you want to get fancy about it.

i peeled off the wax paper on the bottom…

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isn’t it pretty?!

too bad it’s trash.

at this point, i put it in the fridge because… i’m impatient. i want to make the icing!

now, that bowl of lemon juice you set aside- combine 1 cup of powdered sugar into it.

once the cake has cooled, pour over the top and spread around

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cut into cake and….

ARGH! WHAT IS THIS?! why are all of my blueberries at the bottom? hmph! that is not what it looked like in the recipe.

okay, so it isn’t as pretty. but it DOES taste delicious.

one thing i would change? i probably wouldn’t put the icing on the top-it was just a bit too sweet. i think the cake would have been perfect without it.

next time, i’ll use three eggs.. and i might get smaller blueberries-and probably set them on top instead of folding them in, letting them work their way to the bottom.

but guess what?!

the chocoholic even liked it.

i’d call that a win.

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yadda yadda

waking up to thunder rolling in the distance.

that kind of electric energy doesn’t fill the air often here… but when it does-i get butterflies in my stomach.

i love a good storm…

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i’m supposed to be working on a commission piece. (i also have a post written about commission pieces blah blah yadda yadda that i am supposed to publish but haven’t yet.) but i’m finding the silence taking over me. drowning in it… i’m sitting at the bottom and i’m okay there.

i tried picking up something else yesterday, to keep my hands busy to help pass the emptiness that creators befriend… meh.

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sitting. and waiting seems to be it.

listening to emilíana torrini… she’s good for the soul.

i could take pictures of my kitchen window every day… every hour. it always changes, but yet…stays the same. captures the silence and beauty of just… normal. dull life.

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plateful of yummy comfort food…

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roast chicken, peas and a creamy pesto pasta.  i didn’t expect it to be all so green…. but that’s alright.

oooh! did you notice all the green in ALL of the photos. : )

i’ll stop blabbing on and perhaps i’ll bake you something pretty and yummy tomorrow.

xox

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tea party

i woke up wondering what i would bake today…

the weather perfect for long sleeves, sky opening up with sun and closing again with showers.

mini pineapple upside down cakes, in muffin tins-that’d be perfect. but i didn’t have the ingredients, nor the tin…  crumbly coffee cake! but i didn’t have most of the spices for that either.

so i read through recipes online, wanting something crumbly…sweet, maybe not too sweet. something perfect to go with a cup of tea.

i have never had these before…

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they have a few different names, mexican wedding cake, russian tea cake, italian butter nut…etc etc.

either way, the recipe calls for a few simple ingredients and looked lovely.

begin with creaming your soft butter and powdered sugar together.

in a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and finely chopped nuts. (i didn’t have any nuts-so they weren’t included.)

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i don’t have any proper baking tools, no food processor or electric mixer. just a wooden spoon and a whisk will do. (i only just got a whisk a few days ago, before that it was just a fork. use whatever you have.)

once the butter and powdered sugar are creamed together, add the vanilla, and then slowly start to add the flour mixture.  it will come together in crumbs- but when you press it firmly-it comes together.

roll dough into 1 inch balls. (next time i will roll my smaller.)

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line on an un-greased cookie sheet and put in the oven to bake for 8-10 minutes at 350F.

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don’t over bake- they are done when they are firm, but not brown.

remove and roll around in powdered sugar and set to cool.

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put the kettle on to boil and pour yourself a cup of tea or coffee.. don’t make it too sweet, trust me, you’ll want it a neutral because these are a kick in the teeth.

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once they set, the powdered sugar kind of soaks into them. the recipe i read said to roll them into more powdered sugar before serving. if you want them to be prettier.. go ahead.

if i had some chopped almonds i would sprinkle them on top.

they were so sweet, i cut them in half.

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and am currently nursing a post-sugar rush headache.

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sweet cinnamon days

two eggs whisked up with cinnamon…

bread soaked up in this simple concoction…

fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

something so simple, but feels like it can do so many things to my body and soul.

just typing that feels silly. but really…

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the day is cloudy and cool, a cardigan and umbrella day… where people are rushing around-clucking their tongues at the sky.

am i the only one that loves it this much?

i can sit and take a deep breath of it forever. the coolness that fills my lungs, the scents of fire and rain.

it feels like autumn.

i know it won’t last long, summer days will come back. but for now, i’m in my element.

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french toast is one of those magic foods that tastes like childhood… like lazy sundays and days of snow covered cabins. days that you don’t change out of your long johns, but just put your snow suit on over it to go outside and be free…and breathe in icy air until your lungs are stiff… pink cheeks and warm bellies.

it reminds me of my papa standing over the stove, a cup of coffee steaming next to him while he plates up thick pieces of sweet toast and crispy bacon.

make your day sweet.

-xo

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southern comforts

there is nothing like waking up on a saturday morning, a chill in the air…maybe some light drizzle… and the smell of biscuits and gravy cooking.

my papa makes it the best.

in fact, i haven’t had it since my papa made it for me…

but ‘the time as come’, the walrus said…

this was my very first attempt to make home-made biscuits. the gravy will be later-but i don’t have light to share… perhaps another time. but on to the biscuits! laaaaaa

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erin darcy photography

in a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

(go ahead and put a little flour on your work space)

cut butter up into small pieces and blend into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. (i just used my fingers to do this)

add the milk and beaten egg until just combined.

scoop the dough up and place it on your floured surface and knead it gently until it comes together into a smooth dough.

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roll it out until it is about a 1/2 inch thickness…  (i didn’t have a rolling pin so i just used my hands. no need to be fancy.)

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later, i realised that i could have left them a bit thicker… but this was experimenting. trial and error really. i’ll know better next time.

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now get a round cookie cutter, biscuit cutter… or, like me- a glass. dip in flour and begin cutting out your biscuits.

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place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, i ‘brushed’ the top with a beaten egg so they’d be nice and golden. and put in my preheated oven at 200C (400F) for around 10 minutes.

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serve warm with butter and jam…or sausage gravy… yum yum.

they were super quick and easy to make as well.

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into the silent…soft and crunchy side.

i’m starting to notice a pattern to when i feel this silent wave over me. when i feel a dark pull into myself, where i take notice of what goes on around me, wanting to only be a witness.

i just realised that the full moon is near, and it seems that i’m remembering when i see her full face glowing against the roof tops-that i’m in a silent reflection mood.

today is just one of those days, one of those weeks… one of those things.

the weather is perfect for it, feeding my mood… keeping it cool and light rainy, grey clouds and sweet cool air. it’s summer time, but that doesn’t escape the smell of chimney smoke in the distant.

what else would suit, but sweet comfort food.

filling the house with the scent of baking and cinnamon.

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the perfect sweetness, crunchiness, softness… to cuddle up on the couch with a blanket, watching a movie-reading a book, watching birds out the window play and escape the rain.

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of course, i didn’t have all of my ingredients, or the tools i needed. a quick pop out to the shop to get some brown sugar, some oats, a cookie sheet.

begin by creaming together the brown sugar and butter. some people would use an electric mixer for this, i just used my hands.

i started with a wooden spoon, then a whisk, and realised it wasn’t getting me anywhere-so dug my hands in and it was just perfect.

the smell of brown sugar reminds me of my papa. i didn’t even realise that until i cut open the bag and got this strong sweet sharp scent of the sugar…

mix this up until smooth, then add in one egg and vanilla. mix with a whisk.

meanwhile, in a separate bowl- combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. give it a slight whisk and incorporate it into your mix.

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stir in your oats, and whatever optional addition.

today, i used chocolate chips. i couldn’t find dried cranberries-but wasn’t sure if i wanted raisins.

roll into balls, or use a fancy ice cream scooper and place about two inches apart on a greased (or lined) cookie sheet.

wet your hands and press them down just a smidge.

pop into your pre-heated oven at 177 C (350F) for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown around the outside, and still soft and wet in the centre.

remove from oven and let cool on a rack, or… a piece of parchment paper on your counter will work just fine. : )

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they are my favourite when they are semi cool, but still warm on the inside..

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the mixture of crunchy and chewy is perfect…

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make a cup of tea, or a tall glass of cold milk.

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oh my thighs…

brownies are my vice.

oh those evil chocolate better-than-cake squares that hug you, and kiss you, and make all right in the world.

amen.

anyway. so brownies. i’m used to making them out of the box, add oil and water- and viola!

then, there was an even BETTER invention. pillsbury came out with brownies in a tube that you just…squezz (pronounce it that way. it’s fun) into the pan, smooth out and bake.

well… we just don’t have that fancy devil worshipping pillsbury brownie stuff here. and while you CAN get a box of brownie mix, it is pretttty expensive-AND you have to add eggs.

so i decided i wanted to try to make my own.

these aren’t just right yet, maybe i over cooked them.. maybe i should follow the directions properly. needless to say, they were DELICIOUS. scrumptious. little pieces of heaven, endorsed by the devil. and they fit so nice and cute up on my hips. it will come back in fashion one day…

here’s how i do it

ingredients

okay, so that is what i SHOULD have done… had i had all of the ingredients. but why would i? why would i think about preparing this BEFORE i did my shop. baah. pish posh!

for the 5 ounces of semisweet, or bittersweet chocolate chips– i chopped half a bar of hersheys dark chocolate.

don’t scream at me. i know it isn’t what the rule books are calling for. but it’s all i haaaad!

and then i made a run for the shop before they closed, because i had 1 drop of vanilla extract. that little bottle is a nuisance. she’s made a mess all up in my cupboards. i guess she got tipsy and fell over and spewed her guts. that’s another story.  BUT OF COURSE the shop didn’t have extract… only essence.

i didn’t have google at that moment to tell me if it was okay, so i just assumed it would. later i found out that it is perfectly fine-but that essence is just man-made crap, while extract is the real deal. learned.

and then we get down to the optional extra semi-sweet chocolate chips.

i should just tell you right now that it is not optional.

you will be missing out on some major goodness if you skip that part.

only…

like this girl mentioned earlier, she didn’t have chocolate chips-and didn’t even THINK to pick up any while at the emergency store getting essence… SO…

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she chopped up two snack sized mars bars.

(i went back and chopped these down the middle to make them into tiny tiny tiiiiny little squares.

oookay. now we are ready for our other stuff.

melt the butter and chocolate chips-fancy places will tell you to do it in a bowl, over a boiling pot of water.   …i put the butter in the microwave and then stirred in my ‘chocolate chips’ to melt.

once it has combined, add your sugar and cocoa powder.

stir stir.

next is your extract or essence…

and add one egg at a time, making sure to mix well before adding the next.

combine your flour and salt and shtirrr it all up.

don’t forget to add those not-optional chocolate pieces!

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after you get it all mixed up, spray or butter your tin. 9 inch whatever. i used what i had. –a round 9 inch cake tin.

our lesson here today is IMPROVISE.

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our other lesson is that it’s okay to lick the spoon, even though there are raw eggs in there. they are stirred in-so it doesn’t count.

bake in your (pre-heated) oven at 350F or 177C for thirty minutes.

survey the mess… and get your maid to clean it.

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i had a kind bone in my body yesterday, so i decided to help her…

test it with a toothpick, if it comes out gooey, clean-and test one more spot.

i failed to do this.. and didn’t realise until after that i must have met one of those not-optional chocolate melty gooey devilish pieces.

i turned off the oven, and let the brownies sit in there for a bit.  then i took them out, and realised that i was a duped.

and then i popped those little brats out. (i used some parchment paper on the bottom of my tin. i recommend. it was amazing.)

let them cool, or, if you are like me…let them be hot-and cut them up.

NOW let them cool, because they won’t taste as good hot. i promise. they need some coolth so you can really taste the chocolate.

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okay… so they don’t look like brownies. they look like cakownies. (do you see that melty oh-my-thighs bit there?  that’s the mars bar melted. it has CARAMEL. hallelujah!)

next time. i won’t bake them for so long.

and i will also beg you to spread some german chocolate cake frosting  all over the tops of these… oh. oh please.

i promise i will do that next time-i just found a really simple recipe for it. weeeeee!

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bakers sunday *rations cake

i’m slowly gathering the ingredients to make…something. bread, pizza dough, muffins. what have you. i collect recipes on the computer-if i read something that sounds good, i’ll store it away for a day when i decide i cannot go on living until i make this.

i have many of those… obviously the day hasn’t come, so they still sit and wait for me.

last night i wanted brownies… cake… sweet. SOMETHING.

so i scoured the internet for recipes that didn’t need eggs. i found plenty- but those needed vinegar, or condensed milk, or some other odd ingredient that i just didn’t have.

so i kind of.. just… did it.

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erin darcy photography

erin darcy photography

i used what i had… and what i ended up with tastes pretty good the next day. i think that bit of information is key. it tastes SO good the next day.

in a bowl, use a fork to mix together flour, salt, cocoa, soda and salt.

in a separate container, combine water, vegetable oil (i had sunflower oil) and vanilla.

combine the two together and stir until mixed. the mixture is a bit thick and somewhat sticky. i added a splash or two of milk. just enough to make the batter runny.

this cake isn’t sweet, so get a bar of milk chocolate, or what i had on hand- a bar of dark chocolate, chop it up and throw it in the mix.

i knew ahead that it wasn’t going to be super chocolatey, and since chocolate peanut oat (no bake cookies) are super chocolatey with peanut butter, i went ahead and put a few spoonfuls of peanut butter into a bowl, popped it into the microwave for a few seconds until it was liquid, and combined into the batter.

grease your cake tin, next time i will put parchment paper on the bottom… but this was nothing fancy. it was late night, and cravings.

pop in the oven to bake. i had to bake some pizzas at the same time, so i wasn’t too worried about the temp. i kept it at 200 C for a while for the oven to be nice and hot, once the edges started to get firm, i reduced the heat to about 150C until the middle firmed. it baked for at least 45 minutes. but i made sure to check it often.

let it cool.

if i had powdered sugar, i would have made a frosting for it. but i didn’t. you might. do whatever you feel really.

i could have added some cinnamon to the batter.. or anything.. coconut, grated apples, apple sauce… a tin of cherries. frozen strawberries. anything.

it makes for an incredibly dense chocolate cake. almost brownie light, but crumble enough to still be a cake.

go ahead and double the recipe if you’d like.

i think this would be perfect to make into mini muffins. just the right size bite for such rich chocolate taste.

be sure to serve with some ice cold milk. : )

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