you know what i love...?

....spending time with THIS guy...while eating Pad Thai and watching Arrested Development. Just sayin'....

hello, it's nice to meet you

So I have a project for everyone....if you are reading this blog right now, I would LOVE if you wrote me a little message in the comments section of this post. I would love to know who is reading my blog, whether I know you in person or not (ESPECIALLY if I don't know you in person, cause I would like to meet you). I'm excited to be over 1,000 page views in the little over a month that this has been in existance, and it would be super nice to know who thinks my thoughts are worth reading. YAY! I heart meeting new people!

chocolate chip cookies with a twist

I never get tired of chocolate chip cookies. They are a definite classic. But sometimes its fun to play around with them a bit and add a little excitement. These are my "experimental" cookies that I adapted from a few recipes. I made my friend Mike come over and be the taste-tester, and the verdict was "delicious"! These are made with gluten-free flour, which sometimes makes it hard to have light, fluffy, chewy cookies, but my twist was a little applesauce...and cranberry applesauce at that! Try them for yourself, I was quite pleased with the result...and subsequently ate three in a row.

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp. cranberry applesauce
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1 and 1/2 tsp. xantham gum
• 1 cup chocolate chips 

*note: since I played around with the recipe, please feel free to do the same. You can cut out the egg all together and use 6 tbsp. applesauce (which can be flavoured or regular), and most choco. chip recipes call for brown sugar and white sugar, but alas, my brown sugar was as solid as a rock. In that case, you would use 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar. Most often though, you can just throw ingredients into choco. chip cookies.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix together applesauce, egg, sugar, salt, and vanilla. In a seperate bowl, combine the flour, xantham gum, flax meal, and baking soda. Carefully add the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until you have a grainy dough. Add the chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough in small amounts onto the cookie sheets. One thing I discovered afterwards is that they really spread out and puff up, so you can make the balls of dough fairly small, because they will expand. Press them down with the back of the spoon or the palm of your hand. Then put them in the oven! I have a gas stove, so they only took about 10 minutes to bake, but you can use your discretion. They should look slighlty brown and crispy around the edges, and puffy and soft in the middle. Don't let them get too brown on top. You can even touch them, and if they feel firm yet springy to the touch, then they are done!

Final step:

Eat them! And share with friends.

happy friday!

 Just wanted to say hello this lovely Friday morning! There's something about the end of the week that just makes you breathe a sigh of relief. Things have been intensely busy with school, leaving me little time to blog or have anything other hobbies, so I'm taking advantage of this quite morning to write a quick little something.

I'm a morning person, so I tend to be the first one awake in the house, and usually I'm getting ready to rush out the door for the day. But mornings like this, I revel in. I think I'm at my best in the mornings. I think the clearest, and I love how quiet everything is before the realities and tasks of the day begin.

I finally found wheat free oats, so this morning I am enjoying a bowl of oatmeal with cranberries and cinnamon. Such comfort food. Oh, and a cup of coffee obviously. And watching season 3 of Big Love. :)
Blissful. But alas, this time of leisure will be short, as I have a long list of things to get done today.

So, in the busyness of life, I really hope that you can enjoy a few moments to yourself today and over this weekend. Enjoy and appreciate the little things. Wishing you a great, relaxing, and love-filled weekend!

orla kiely - spring 2011

Via the blog world, I have been discovering some amazing alternative/independent designers. And as if they are reading my mind about the dullness of winter, they are releasing their spring collections. mmmm fashion. mmmm spring. Some of the Orla Kiely line is featured at Anthropologie, but you can visit the website to see everything from their line. I reblogged this from a new blog that I discovered (Sally Jane Vintage), which I think will become a new favourite.

Pine, Pine, Pine......

....I want all of these!

Rag rug project

I've embarked a new project of making a rag rug. This is my first time making one ever. I had to do a bit of research to find out how to make one that wasn't too complicated and was easy to learn. I found a tutorial online that explains how to make a rag rug entirely out of knots. No sewing needed, which cuts down on steps and materials. Here is my progress so far. My rug is only a few inches in diameter right now, but once I got the hang of it, its been coming along fairly quickly. It's nice to be using my hands again and making something unique. I will keep you all posted on the progress, but since this is my first one, please bear with me. I'm sure its not going to be the most attractive rug, and I'm hoping not to get frustrated and give up on it.

I'm using old vintage sheets, one dark blue and the other a beautiful floral.

Cutting out strips! Tedious.

Progress so far. It's a little messy, but it seems to look nicer the bigger it becomes.