Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas two-thousand eleven

Fog.





Tradition.



Peaceful.


Owl City.


Cookie.


Bracelet. My friend made this for me.


Picture. From my sister.


Necklace. My friend made this!


Flower. My friend crocheted this for me to wear in my hair :)


Garlic. For the mashed potatoes.

Necklace. My sister made this for me. Isn't it beautiful?


Gift.


Earrings. Given to me by my sister's sister-in-law, Keiki (Psst! She has a Facebook page where you can buy other treasures like this!)


Festive.

Necklace. We did a White Elephant gift exchange with my sister and her husband's family, and I got this necklace which is also from SO Keiki Jewelry.




Book. My sister gave to me.

Doughnut cutter. My sister gave to me.





That pretty much sums up my Christmas. I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

~  <3 ichelle

CHRIST.mas

   Each year, when Christmas comes around, its different. Different feelings. Different wishes. Different thoughts. As I've gotten older I've noticed things that I've never noticed before. I know, I make it sound like I'm SO old, but I think you know what I mean. From the small discovery that opening a pomegranate is no more the involved task of getting a rag towel out, laying it out on the floor and carefully separating the seeds from the white stuff. To the bigger longing to be with all of my sisters and have Christmas the way we used to. God knows what's going on though. And that gives me a tremendous peace.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas Baking and cooking...

  Last year, on the 1st of December, I went to my friend's house to bake and go sledding. This year my that same friend's sister and I decided to do this again this year. We tried for the 1st, but that didn't happen, so we ended up setting the date for the 5th.
  We made pesto swirl bread, pesto chicken pasta, and salad for dinner...
 


       

Thursday, December 8, 2011

One day I felt like making an apple tart... So I did.

18 CANDLES..................

November 19th was my 18th birthday. At first I wasn't going to have a birthday party, but at the last minute (two days before to be exact), I decided to have one.

  The day before my birthday I made one layer of my cake. All went really well except for the fact that our water had stopped working the day before...so I had no way to wash dishes. Then it came to me as I was looking out the window at the snow piled up outside...So, I went out  and scooped some snow into a big bowl, then hurried back into the warm house. One of the girls we were babysitting and I did this a few more times, melted the snow on the stove, and I washed dishes with the water...I felt very hard core ;)



Saturday, November 26, 2011

November Birthday's cake

A few weeks ago I went with my mom  to babysit for a friend. When we arrived, the oldest girl, P------, suggested that I help her make a cake. She had already picked out the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake to make, so we set out to make it. After a few slight mishaps, the cake made it into the oven, baked nicely, and made it out of the oven safely.


Sunday, November 6, 2011

AUTUMN leaves


There is just something about this time of year that makes me  smile. Something about sweaters, scarves, tights, and boots that makes me feel like everyday is special.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Cookies and Cream Cake

I have been wanting to make this cake ever since I got my cookbook (Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World). In the book, the cupcakes are made with the chocolate cupcake recipe, not the vanilla one. I didn't have cocoa powder, but I did have some Newman's O's....

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Here I am again! I don't really have anything to say, but I thought I would post some pictures of these Coconut Lime Cupcakes that I made sometime in September. The recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. For the frosting, again I used regular butter since I did not have Earth Balance. They were SO good, not to mention just plain cute!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

the BIGGER picture.

    So many times I think of trials that come up in my life, and they seem so big. Like they will just keep coming and never end. But I realized something that I've realized in other trying circumstances...when hard things happen in my life, it makes me rely on God. I rely on Him when things are going good too, but going through times in your life when you absolutely don't know what the next step is going to be...that makes you have to put your hand in His and know that He's the only thing that's going to lead you out of the darkness.

    Another thing I realized was when I was reading 2 Corinthians 4:17 tonight. It says, "For our light affliction, which is but a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are not seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (NKJV).  I noticed almost right away how it says "light affliction". My immediate thought was, "My trials aren't 'light'!" The thoughts to immediately follow that one were, "But...look at the whole verse. What are these trials being compared to?"  My life on earth really is but a moment; and the affliction I go through is but a moment of that. So I started seeing how that moment of a moment really is nothing compared to "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory".

Friday, August 26, 2011

Summer's slipping away...

You might be wondering by now if I have fallen off the face of the earth. Well, rest assured, I have not. My mom's computer has been broken for who knows how long, so I have had to be content with the not-so-regular library trips to use the internet. It is on one of the aforesaid trips that I now write this post.
   Here are some baking and cooking that I have been up to since I last wrote...


Friday, June 24, 2011

Last week


My SD card with the pictures from my graduation party are is still not working... Let me rephrase that. I haven't done anything about my SD card not working yet... It's a long story, but I'll probably end up formatting the card and then using a recovery program. I'm just scared to format the card... But, I'm going to talk to someone I know and ask if he thinks that's a good idea, or if he has any other ideas.



In the mean time, I have been looking for any opportunity for things to take pictures of, so I can blog about something.  I've gotten quite a conglomeration of pictures, but our computer is broken due to a virus, so I had to wait to use my brother-in-law and sister's computer.






I also just like taking pictures :)








 Lemon Lavender Cookies
 
1 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons dried lavender, finely minced
¼ cup safflower oil
¼ cup sugar (I think that's how much I used. I can't remember exactly)
1 tablespoon lemon zest 
2-4 tablespoons of water (to make the dough more moist)
  1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
  2. Stir together wet ingredients in a smaller bowl
  3. Mix wet ingredients into dry
  4. Form ½ inch balls and press onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
  5. Bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes
  6. Cool and serve
Makes about a dozen cookies
 
Adapted from Elana's Pantry.


                                       ~ <3 ichelle ~

Thursday, June 2, 2011

It's June :)

 I haven't posted for much too long, but I've been super busy of late. . .  Hopefully I still remember how to write a blog post.
  Wow, June 2nd already! I remember when it was January and I thought the end of the school year would never come. But sure enough, it's almost here.


Good bye, May.

   At the moment I am trying to find an egg-less, low-ish-fat chocolate chip cookie dough recipe because I am going to (attempt) to make these for my graduation party on Sunday. I don't want to be stressed out by having too many things on my plate, but I think I can make them without stressing out. We'll see. . .
  I am pretty excited about my graduation party. I like planning, crafting, and picking out all the details :)  I'm just praying and trying not to stress out about things. Hopefully all goes well! :)
  Since I haven't posted anything in a bit, here's a bit of what I've been up to. . .

I made these veggie wraps for Mother's Day. 

 
 
 
 Some popovers I made. I made them in muffin tins because I don't have a popover tin. I've never made them before, and I'm not even sure that I had had them before. They were really good! I used the recipe from The Joy of Cooking cookbook.


 Then I made some huckleberry muffins using this recipe, but substituting the apples for huckleberries and adding less sugar (I used about 1 1/2 cups?). They were super good but, they sunk in the middle. Someone told me that is a sign of too much sugar? I think? I can't remember exactly. They also could have used even less sugar. I want to try making them again and see if I can make them turn out right.


And that's about it as far as cooking and baking goes.
I'll try to post again very soon! 
                                                                          <3 ichelle

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Bittersweet. . .

  I'm very sorry for how long it's been so long since my last blog post. I have been busy busy busy and also waiting for edited pictures (which I still haven't completely finished editing) so I can put them in here. That said, here is a blog post from April.


     A few memorable things happened this last week; some good, some bad. The first of these things was my aunt passed away. I have so many memories of things my sisters and I did with her. Ever since we were little, we would bake cookies at Christmas time. Have Christmas (or Christmas Eve) and day-after-Thanksgiving dinner. As we got older we went sailing also. It's hard to say goodbye to someone you love.
   The other events that happened this week were: I went on an airplane for the first time; and I got to visit the places where I grew up; the places that I think will always feel like home. 
   Here are some highlights that I wrote during the week...



4/11/11
   I finally felt the familiar cold, saltwater feeling of waves rushing around my feet. It was absolute bliss to be near the roaring waves again. Just the smell of the ocean was amazing. To misjudge how far the waves will come in and, as a result, get your jeans wet even though they are rolled up. The sand clinging to your feet all the way home.




4/12/11
  As if I didn't love Trader Joe's enough, I have found another reason. I went there today with my sister and found that they sell non-dairy ice cream made with coconut milk, the same idea as Coconut Bliss but about two times cheaper (And Trader Joe's only has chocolate and strawberry, while Coconut Bliss has quite a few more flavors). Along with one of these we got green tea Mochi, whole wheat tortillas, and roasted garlic hummus. Mmm mmm...
  We also went to two thrift stores that we used to go to a lot, and I got a Martha Stewart magazine from February and a Towne and Country wedding magazine (for dress designing ideas) :).





4/13/11
  I am currently doing...nothing. Except using the computer and occasionally looking out the window to see the beautifulness. I painted my nails pink, and later I'm going out for coffee/tea with two of my good friends who I haven't seen for over a year :O
  I was going to wear an orange dress today, but as it was raining, I decided not to, and now wonder if I should have because the sky is very blue. But...oh well.
  Oh. I also went into an Urban Outfitters for the first time yesterday...It wasn't that interesting...Mostly because I couldn't find the sale section. Hahaha.



4/19/11
 After two flight delays, we finally made it back home. My sister is quite happy to be home. Back to her husband (who, I am told, was not himself while she was gone), and the regularity of life. For me it's bittersweet. But I keep having to remind myself to enjoy where I am right now, and not mope, because I am going to miss out on a lot of wonderful things in life if I do.



                                                                                                                              ~ <3 ichelle ~