Vintage cookbook and the easiest apple pie

I have to confess, that even though I mostly bake (and cook) using recipes found online, I simply adore cookbooks. I don't have a huge collection, but there is a designated shelve holding all my treasures.
I have some of those beautiful, hardcover volumes with amazing pictures and very accessible "shortcut" recipes, but I also have a couple of my grandma's books with old time wording and very "frugal" titles. I don't usually attempt cakes calling for dozens of eggs, bushels, and quarts, but I have a few that are brilliant in their simplicity.
This apple pie is one of them. It's just handful of ingredients, mostly apples, and no fat. I mean... you can almost call it healthy! I definitely don't hesitate to eat it for breakfast.

Oldschool apple pie
1 kg apples
breadcrumbs (2-3 tbsp)
150-200 g sugar
4 eggs
250 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
vanilla essence
optional:
cinnamon
walnuts
raisins

Line the cake pan with baking paper and cover the bottom with the breadcrumbs. (The cake batter goes on top, so breadcrumbs "hold" the bottom of the pie).  Peel and roughly chop the apples and place them in the cake pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon, nuts, and raisins.
Mix the eggs with sugar until pale and creamy. Gently mix the flour with baking powder. Pour the batter over the apples. Bake at 170°C for 50-60  min (golden brown but soft).
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

the scariest thing this Halloween...

Krakow - City of Literature

For past two weeks, I've been grounded by an incredibly annoying cold bouncing between me and little Z.
The weather was delectably autumny so sitting wrapped up in a blanky with a hot cuppa, and a box of tissues handy felt very natural. I actually enjoy the horrible fall weather a lot, knowing that in short three weeks ill be back in Goa...
But I willed myself to get better by today because today was the last chance for the trip to the international book fair.

Growing up, books were my constant companion. I remember that on birthdays and Christmases (and other occasions), they were the most welcome gifts. The unread ones held the promise of days full of great adventures and excitement, while the known ones I welcomed like old friends. Till today, I feel there is something inherently magical about books and all the places that house them. But, living with one foot in Asia and the other in Europe, I had to adopt a more practical attitude and befriend Kindle (which proved to be a very loyal companion).
Nonetheless, the trip to the fair confirmed one thing: I'm not at all immune to beautiful children's books. Honestly, I had no idea how many publishing houses print exclusively for kids. I don't know if my perspective has changed, but this year especially, most of the stalls seemed to be dedicated to the youngest readers.

Among millions of new titles, I was happy (and a little sad) to see some familiar ones with brand new, beautiful illustrations.
And now, we come to the scary part. Surrounded by the ocean of books, I seemed to have lost my mind. At least I plan to claim temporary insanity if somebody decides to judge my recent purchases.
I'm fairly certain, that if it wasn't for my old trick (I only bring limited cash - no credit cards), I would spend all my savings and then some!

Baby mobile

Having a baby undoubtfully means that your free time shrinks to nothing, but, fortunately, it also means some guilt free crafting time. After all, you can't feel bad about making sth for your little one, can you?

Using that newly discovered excuse, I spent several days hunchbacked over thread and needle. First of all, it's so great to be able to make all those cute not-so-adult  decorations without seeming overly eccentric! And second, felt is my new discovered love! It's so easy to work with, comes in fantastic colors and has such a nice texture.

But to the point... All the elements are self-drafted. I did search for some patterns online, but in the end, int's not rocket science so I decided to just do it myself. Hot-air balloons turned out perfect, but the elephant, though very cute, is a bit too porky.

I'm thinking about modifying my pattern and saving it in PDF format, but I'm not very enthusiastic about computers, so I'm just leaving it for later.

Couple of practical notes:
My mobile has two hot-air balloons, two stars, three clouds, the moon and the elephant.  Hot air balloons are made from the same pattern to they balance themselves, clouds are different in size, so I had to add little stars on one side so the mobile wouldn't flip to one side.

Because felt doesn't fray, you don't have to stitch in on the wrong side, unless, like me, you want to go for a cleaner finish.

I used silicon cushion filling  to stuff all the elements and soutache braid for decoration so there are not beads or buttons that could be swallowed.
If you are drafting your own pattern, make sure that your clouds are a little "taller" on paper than you want them to be.

When choosing your felt, go for the soft, easy to shape one, but not the thinnest one - otherwise, the thread may tear through it at the seams.
Other than that, just have fun!

En plein air

For some reason, this summer was full of unexpected turns, the kind I could only summarize as A Series of Unfortunate Events.

It makes me remember this year's holidays even more fondly. Being a creative soul, it was everything you could hope for: art, work, beautiful setting, eccentric characters and a large dose of quirk!

Growing up surrounded by artists of all sorts, it's only hitting me now, how unusual plein air invitationals are. When I replay it in my head, it's almost like a trailer to a magical movie.

First of all, the only way to get there is by a night train. We reached Torun - the city famous for Nicolaus Copernicus and gingerbreads at the break of dawn. Now, if gingerbread city isn't straight up from a fairytale, I don't know what is.

But that wasn't the end. We had to travel about 30 minutes more to reach a hill - the only one around, where stands a lonely palace surrounded by orchards, ponds and forest with long forgotten cemetery.

Slowly the whole crew gathered: the botanist in harry potter glasses and straw hat, the musician who built a considerable amount of wind chimes during our stay and the whole bunch of artists.

For the next two weeks, you could stumble upon them in all kinds of places. whenever the sun came out, we took to the easels, and during the rain, everyone was ensconced in one or the other corner of art studios.

There is something incredibly inspiring in such atmosphere. Even for professional artists, it's a rare luxury to be able to focus solely on their work - perfect space, all the materials, no distractions and creative spirit almost tangible in the air!

Apart from it being a great opportunity to get you creative juices flowing, I had a chance to meet a whole lot of real personalities. Everyone worked in different technique and style, had a different approach to their work which made our time together all the more interesting.

Autumn cooking - aka recreating family recipe

I always liked September. There is something in the air that brings back memories but also makes me want to prepare for a new beginning. I guess it's the beginning of the school year vibe, the trips to the stationary shops, buying new notebooks and pens and the absolute certainty that this year will be somehow different and better than the last. But it's also the smell of fallen leaves, first autumn rains, shorter days that make you want to cozy up with a cup of hot chocolate and the variety of fruits, nuts, and wild mushrooms...

Apparently, everyone gets sentimental this time of year because during one farmer's market trip my mom started reminiscing about mushroom appetizer her grandmother used to prepare.
Aside from the chanterelle bread spread, i didn't have much to go by, but after some experimentation, I got it just right! Or so I'm told...

wildflower kindle blanket

"Do you suppose she is a Wildflower? -said the Daisy"



I've been caught up in a true water armageddon. Our beautiful newly renovated flat we poured our hearts (and a big pile of money) in has been flooded in every possible way. I'm pretty sure there is a water witches' curse on it! So instead of enjoying last days of summer, I'm running around supervising (and trying not to look too closely) the total eradication of our carefully selected floors and parts of the walls.

Luckily my DIY-s are providing some destruction, saving me from a total heartbreak.
I've been putting this project off for months, but I'm finally done - brand new and 100% handmade kindle cover!

It's one of these projects you can complete in one afternoon or stretch it for days - depending how practical you are. I'm not practical at all, therefore I spent 2 hours on actual cover and about 2 days on embroidery and design. But I loved every second of it!

But to the point... I used 2 sheets of soft felt (approx 28x19cm) plus one sheet for the screen frame (9x12.3cm - 14x19cm).

If I was making it again, I would probably use stiffer felt, at least for the frame, to make it less flimsy. As it is, I stitched cotton ribbon around the inner edge to stop it from losing its shape.

The embroidery part was the most fun. I even did a quick sketch of what I want it to look like. A word of warning, though : felt tends to stretch if you pull it too much, so embroidery hoop is out of the question. Also felt on felt embellishments look really good and don't take quite as much time as what I did.

Anyway, once that was over, I glued both of the covers together with fabric glue so they hold together well.

The last part was a blanket stitch all over. I mixed gray wool with a regular gray thread to have both the looks and durability.

My case has a centre opening for the kindle and a small hole for the charger. Speaking from experience- mark your openings well. I didn't, and stitched right through it.

Once I had all the edges blanket-stitched, I just added two small metal clasps, which is not at all necessary. I guess, I just wasn't quite ready to call my project finished. You know what they say about enjoying the journey quite as much as the destination...
And here it is, my wildflower kindle blanket!

holidaying in wonderland

I spent last two weeks in a fairyland full of eccentric characters and truly magical places. The weather was a little more prosaic, so I came home with a cold as a memento of beautiful holidays. There was a huge Pegasus prancing among the stormy clouds.

Huge weird mushrooms were popping here and there. I swear, I almost saw a caterpillar smoking a pipe on one of them...

Stone gate straight from the opening of Prince Caspian (Chronicles of Narnia). Do you remember castle ruins and apple trees in the long forgotten orchard?

And then there was a palace. Maybe not as old as the one in Narnia, but palace nonetheless!

Gate opening to the sky...

...and the magic door behind which the art happened.
Oh, and did I mention over a dozen quirky artists?