A Timeless Pursuit

I am smitten with this collection of photographs; they are truly timeless.  And that vintage Oscar de la Renta dress - gorgeous!

All images by Gray Malin, from Maison Gray: The House of Gray Malin Photography in his collection A Timeless Pursuit in New York, Paris, and Los Angeles.  These photographs were taken from 2008-2011, and the series is now a book.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I've made a number of banana breads in my life, but never had I tried a chocolate banana bread.  Not until this week.  I wondered if the chocolate would overpower the bananas, but it didn't.  This bread is moist and perfectly blends the chocolate and banana together.  A new favorite banana bread for sure!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
2 cups flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or hand mixer in large bowl), beat the butter at medium speed until soft, about 1 minute.  Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat another 2 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating a minute after each addition.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the mashed bananas.  Add the dry ingredients in three additions, mixing only until they disappear into the batter.  Still on low, add the buttermilk, mixing until incorporated.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour batter into buttered 9x5 loaf pan and place on insulated baking sheet or two regular baking sheets on top of each other.  This will keep the bottom of the bread from over-baking.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Cover the bread loosely with a foil tent and bake another 40-50 minutes (total baking time is 70-80 minutes), or until knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.  Cool pan on cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before running a knife around the edges of the bread and unmolding it.  Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

source:  recipe from joy the baker, from Baking: From My Home to Yours


Other favorite banana breads:
Banana Zucchini Bread
Best Banana Bread
Caramel Pecan Banana Bread

linking up with this chick cooks, delectable tuesday, tasty tuesday party, full plate thursday

Kate Spade Holiday 2011

via oh joy

Is anyone else oohing and aahing over this sneak peak of Kate Spade's holiday collection?!   The collection will be available October through December.  I just love all the polka dots and sparkles! Goes perfectly with my current confetti obsession (seen here & here), don't you think?

New Games

One of the things on my summer bucket list was to find a new game for Caleb and me to play.  We like to play games in the evenings, but I think it's hard to find fun games for just two people.  In the winter we played an insane amount of Monopoly Deal (Caleb is winning with 47 wins to my 46).  We also play a lot of Scrabble.  My very thoughtful mom remembered that I wanted a new game, so she got me one for my birthday!  She actually bought two games; I picked one and she kept the other.  I recommend both of the games.


I had played Ticket to Ride twice before but had kind of forgotten about it.  It's a strategy game where you collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes across Europe, scoring points for long routes.  There's a bunch of other twists and rules that make the game really fun.  This game kind of reminds of me of Settlers of Catan, but it's way better because I don't actually like Settlers.  This is the game I ended up picking.  We're still figuring out our different strategies but we're really enjoying it.

amazon

Qwirkle was the other game my mom bought, and we ended up playing it several times when we visited.  It looks really weird, but it's really fun.  You use blocks to score points by building lines that share a common attribute - either the color the shape.  It is fairly simple to play, but if you want to score a lot of points and win, you really have to strategize.  Qwirkle also just won the 2011 Spiel des Jahres award, which is the most prestigious game award.  Caleb was really good at this game (I think it's the engineer in him), so I'm sure we'll be adding this game to our collection at some point as well.

board game geek

Are you a game person?  What games do you and your family like to play?

Confetti Dipped Present

I saw this idea some time back and needed to try it.  As you know, I like when things look like they've been dipped in confetti.  I decided I would try this on our present for our new little nephew, who was born August 1, two days past his due date.  He is SO cute!  I've visited him twice but I can't wait to see him again!

Here's what you do:

Wrap a present in plain paper, like tissue paper or brown packing paper

Grab a 1-inch circle craft punch, like this one

Make the confetti using lots of colored paper and your craft puncher

To achieve the dipped confetti look, either spray one end of your present with adhesive spray glue (I used this), or wrap a wide double-sided tape around one end of the present.  Then dip the glue (or tape) side of present into the confetti.  So easy!

Finished product

linking up with skip to my lou made by you monday

Rainbow Cookies

In middle school I went through a phase where I refused to eat the brown M&Ms.  

I mean, they're just so ugly compared to all of the other M&Ms.  All of my reject brown M&Ms sat in a giant Ziploc bag on top of my dresser, ugly and uneaten.  

Then I decided to write M&Ms and ask them why they had to put such an ugly piece of candy in an otherwise colorful bag.  They responded and said that without the brown M&M, people might get confused and think they were Skittles.  

In these rainbow M&M cookies, I have included the brown M&Ms.  

Just so you don't mistake these for rainbow Skittle cookies.  

You know, with that whole taste the rainbow thing.

Giant Rainbow Cookies

2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) salted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup M&Ms

Mix flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.  In another bowl, mix the butter and sugars together until they are combined.  Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed.  Gradually add flour and mix until a dough forms.  Fold in the M&Ms.

Divide the dough depending on what size cookies you want:  1/4 cup portions for 18 large cookies or 2 Tbsp portions for 36 smaller cookies.  Shape each portion into a ball with your hands then pull each ball of dough apart into two equal pieces.  Turn each half so that the rough side of the half (what used to be the inside of the ball) faces upward, and then squish both halves together.  Place the dough rough-side up on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 325 degrees for 12-15 minutes (large cookies) or 8-12 minutes (smaller cookies) or until the edges are slightly brown.  The centers should be soft and puffy.  Do not over bake.  Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on wire racks.

source:  recipe from how sweet it is

Cleaning Products I Can't Live Without

Obviously that is an exaggeration.  I can live without these things, but I certainly don't want to. These are my top favorite cleaning products - the ones I always have on hand and the ones that actually make cleaning a bit more enjoyable.

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Bath Scrubber

This is my newest find.  I had been wanting to try this Magic Eraser 

everyone was talking about and waited until my tub was 

beyond help.  I was seriously blown away by what can only 

be described as magic coming out of this scrubber!  

My tub is sparkling white now!

  

Caldrea Countertop Cleaner in Citron Ginger

This is by far my favorite cleaning product.  I'm slightly

OCD about cleaning my countertops because I hate crumbs and

 stickiness!  This spray smells SO good! 

I bought it at Target, and I went later to buy more 

and they were OUT.  I looked in every Target I was ever in, 

and finally found them it in Tennessee.  I pretty much bought

them out.  This stuff is amazing!

Clorox Disinfecting Wipes

Cleaning with a rag grosses me out, because it seems

like you're just spreading the germs and nastiness around.

Even though I know it's not environment-friendly, I prefer to use 

wipes.  I have wipes in cabinets and closets all over 

the house, and it helps me to clean more often because they're so 

easy to grab and use.

409 All Purpose Cleaner in Lemon

This stuff works wonders.  Once upon a time I dropped an 

entire plate of pb&j crackers onto the beige carpet, of course 

strawberry jam side down.  I immediately sprayed this stuff

on and the carpet came completely clean!

I also like using it if I get grease spills on my stovetop. 

Are there any cleaning products you love?  Tell me what I'm missing out on!