MAKE: Rose Pound Cake.

Anything rose-- I'll buy it, taste it, smell it…spritz it on my face. I'm going through a total rose phase right now. If flowery is not something you want to associate with consumption then I recommend skipping this recipe or omitting the rose. Of course then you are just left with pound cake, which I think is what Rob would have preferred me to make. His comment was, "it's a good, moist cake." Smart man. I, on the other hand, loved the floral, sweet flavor and thought it went best with a cup of coffee in the morning.  

I found this recipe on Pinterest and couldn't get it out of my mind. It kept calling me back to it. And oddly enough I was picking up the ingredients graduly without even realizing it. I bought a bottle of DRAM apothecary's Juniper Rose Syrup and then the rose water thinking I'd like to figure out ways of incorporating them into recipes-- and then I remembered this cake. Perfect.

A note on the ingredients: rose water can be purchased online or a smaller boutique grocery may carry it (if you are local I found mine at Marczyk's). The same goes for rose tea and again if you are local to Denver I bought mine at Apothecary Tinctura. Also, you can find the DRAM syrup here or here in town. 

Ingredients: Serves 7

For the cake:

1.5 sticks of butter 

1/2 cup of cream cheese or half of 8 ounce package

1.5 cups of granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1.5 cups of all purpose sifted flour

1 teaspoons of rosewater

For the glaze:

1 tbsp. of cooled rosebud tea

2 tbsp. of DRAM Juniper Rose Syrup 

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1   cup sifted powdered sugar 

1/2 tbsp.  of buttermilk

MAKE:

Preheat oven to three hundred and twenty five degrees. Butter and flour a 6 inch bunt pan*. Set aside.

Make tea according to instructions.  Combine cooled tea, sugar and buttermilk. Set aside.

Using a stand or hand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese.

Gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy.

Slowly add eggs; one at a time.

In stages, incorporate sifted flour in but do not overbeat.

Add rosewater to mixture (the batter will be thick). Transfer into pan.   

Cooking time is around one hour and 30 minutes. Use the toothpick method to test doneness.

Let cool in pan and then convert to cooling rack.

To make the icing, mix all ingredients together until smooth. 

Pour glaze over cake and garnish with rose petals, if desired.

* if you only have a 9 in. bunt pan, double the recipe

Original Recipe found here.

Wandering Wednesday: Lately.

I feel like this batch of photos really sums up what I've been doing the past few months. I realize my postings have been sparse and I'd like to say that things have been too crazy to sit and write it all down, but that's not exactly true. So what's happening? I've been really enjoying my downtime. Life so far in 2014 has looked a lot like this...kitten, snow, friends, 60 degree weather, more snow, movies, cooking, beers, mountains, cocktails, friends, kitten....you get it. Work falls somewhere in there too of course, and stress, and the occasional break down. But the older I get, the more I realize that doing things for yourself feels so good, and saying 'no' because you just don't feel like it is totally allowed. So that's sort of been my mantra for this year thus far. I read this article the other day and thought the advice was spot on. I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes (although there are many) : 

 1. If you worry less about what people think of you, you can pick up an astonishing amount of information about them. You no longer leave conversations wondering what just happened. Other people’s minds and motives are finally revealed.

2. There are no grown-ups. Everyone is winging it, some just do it more confidently.

3. There are no soul mates. In fact, “soul mate” isn’t a pre-existing condition. It’s an earned title. They’re made over time.

4. Emotional scenes are tiring and pointless. 

5. Forgive your exes, even the awful ones. They were just winging it, too.

6. Just say “no.” Never suggest lunch with people you don’t want to have lunch with. They will be much less disappointed than you think.

7. By your 40s, you don’t want to be with the cool people; you want to be with your people.

8. When you’re wondering whether she’s his daughter or his girlfriend, she’s his girlfriend.

Really though, you should make yourself a cup of coffee...sit down and read the whole thing. Trust me, it will make you feel pretty great ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Can't wait to celebrate with this guy tonight!

Engagement Session: Aly + Stuart.

In the spirit of love and Valentine's week, I wanted to post some pictures from an engagement session I photographed back in the fall. Ha, except that sounds way too official because these are two of my best friends and it really didn't feel like a job to go to the park and snap some photos of them. I am pretty pleased though with how they turned out considering that this isn't something I do very often. Aren't they a beautiful couple?! Aly suggested we go to the Elk Meadow off-leash dog park which is close to Evergreen, CO and about a 15-20 minute drive from Denver. It doesn't sound very glamorous, but this place is so gorgeous with about 3.5 miles of hiking trails, a small stream, great mountain views, and plenty of those lovely Aspen trees that had just started to turn yellow. It was colder than we expected but we stuck it out and spent a few hours getting more and more comfortable with each other :) Hope you enjoy these as much as I do....it's not everyday that two of your favorite people get engaged and you get to be a part of the process! Hope you are getting lots of love this week. xoxo!

Nashville + Family.

Well, these are the last of my Christmas photos. It's really hard not to post a dozen more of these baby girls. They kill me they are so stinking cute. We were a little more productive in Nashville and made it out of the house a few times....specifically to Husk for lunch and drinks (my brother-n-law Mike is the bartender and makes the best cocktails in town :), to the Omni hotel for lunch at Kitchen Notes and a wander around, the Barista Parlor once again for coffee and the best biscuits in town, Robert's and Pinewood Social for some tasty latenight libations (sadly no pictures of this place but it's a must go, super cute new spot), Mangia for a 12 course family-style Italian feast, and a couple little shops I will tell you about in another post. Nashville is really changing and taken me by surprise my last few visits home-- so many new, great restaurants and shops! I totally recommend it to anyone traveling that way or in need of a fun town to explore. 

At home, we had a gingerbread house decorating contest (dry ice was involved!), opened presents and ate ourselves silly. Mostly though, we just tried to stop time and take it all in, because this was a memorable holiday for so many reasons. I know it's sappy but everything really does happen so fast when babies are this small. Little hands, little feet, and the best smelling skin, you want to bottle it all up and keep it just a bit longer. These girls bring so many smiles, it really did make my Christmas about a thousand times better having them around and my family isn't so bad either ;)