Making Pomegranate Mojitos

I'm declaring it the summer of the mojito. It's not like I have the authority to make these sorts of declarations, but come on, who's gonna argue with that. After seeing Mono+Mono's extensive mojito menu and Amy's round-up of flavor possibilities, I decided to mix up a pomegranate mojito. It's so refreshing and light, and the color is like Christmas and summer all in one blissful glass.

Pomegranate Mojitos
20 mint leaves
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
2 tablespoons simple syrup
1/2 cup white rum
1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons pomegranate juice
2 cups ice
club soda

Muddle mint leaves and lime wedges in a sturdy container. Add simple syrup and continue to muddle. Add rum and pomegranate juice and stir. Fill two glasses with ice and divide unstrained mojito mixture between both glasses. Top with club soda and give it a stir. Garnish with lime. Makes 2 mojitos.

Bird Housing

These adorable birdhouses, designed to look like retro trailers, are handmade by a husband and wife team in Oregon. Each one comes with a personalized license plate, and yes, birds actually do live in them. I know if I were a bird, I'd definitely pick the cutest, quirkiest birdhouse.

And check out this round-up of bird nests I came across. Some of them are so beautiful!

Weekend in Photos

Jonah and I decided to do something fun and easy for our anniversary on Saturday, so we headed to Long Beach, New York, not California. It was just an hour train ride to a nice, white sandy beach. It wasn't too crowded and the weather was just right. We took a stack of magazines, some fruit and were two happy beach bums for the day. We had a late lunch at a great Italian place called Sorrento's with amazing pizza and yummy Italian cookies. Then we hopped back on a train, sleepy and a little sunburned. My parents and in-laws both sent sweet gifts, I bought some peonies, and on Sunday, we had pancakes in our pajamas. It was exactly what I needed.

One for the Books

Like I mentioned the other day, this Saturday is our fifth anniversary. I never made a photo album for myself after the wedding. I know, what kind of bride was I? So after five years, I finally took the time to do it. I decided to order a panoramic photo book through Pinhole Press. I gave myself a few hours to go through my photos, narrow them down, change some to black and white and choose different page layouts. Less than a week later, the book is in my hands, and I love it, especially the look of the photos stretched across both pages. Happy Anniversary to me!

We're still deciding how to celebrate. I'm thinking a day at the beach would be nice! What are you up to this weekend?

[all wedding photos by: Kellie Kano]

Warm Afternoons and Cold Drinks

Some days are just made better by things like an iced latte on a warm afternoon, flower shop displays on the sidewalk, colorful signs and walking directly behind a man in Brooklyn who's wearing the same color pants as you.

Italian Cream Cake and True Love

Italian Cream Cake was one of my favorite sweets growing up. I think of it as one of my grandma's signature desserts. It's a recipe out of her church cookbook, and it was usually my birthday cake request for her. When I got married and Italian Cream Cake was a wedding cake option, my decision was already made for me. But I wanted to be accommodating since I know some people aren't fans of coconut and give our guests another option, chocolate cake with the same yummy cream cheese frosting.

Jonah and I did the whole bride and groom thing, feeding each other Italian Cream Cake, no shoving or smearing was allowed by me. But when cake was served to all our guests, only the chocolate cake came out. The plan of two cakes got lost in translation somewhere along the way. These things happen in the chaos of weddings, but two lessons were learned that day:

1) Don't sweat the small stuff, especially when no one else will even notice.
2) Always just serve whatever kind of cake you want.

So only the bride and groom ate Italian Cream Cake on their wedding day. It's sort of special really, and since our fifth wedding anniversary is this Saturday, I thought it was time for us to share another one.

Italian Cream Cake
Adapted from the Robert McIntire United Methodist Church Cookbook

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, separated
2 cups all-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
4 tablespoons butter (half a stick)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 16 oz. box of powdered sugar
1 cup pecans, finely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans. (I used three 6-inch pans and had batter to spare.) Using an electric mixer, cream butter with shortening. Add sugar and beat until mixture is smooth. Separate egg yolks and whites. Beat egg whites until stiff and set aside. Add yolks to batter and beat well. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture a little at a time, alternating with buttermilk until combined. Mix in vanilla, coconut and chopped pecans. Then gently fold in the beaten egg whites. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Set on cooling rack for 15 minutes, then remove cakes from pans and allow to cool completely.

For frosting: Using an electric mixer, combine butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add one box (16 oz.) of powdered sugar and mix well. Add vanilla and beat until smooth. Frost cooled cake and coat sides with finely chopped pecans by pressing lightly into frosting.

This is one of those cakes that gets better with time. I made it on a Saturday and thought it was tastiest on Monday. Enjoy!

[wedding photo by: Kellie Kano]

Painting for Beginners

 

Over the weekend, I took a painting class arranged through Course Horse. It's a website that sets up New Yorkers with classes in all sorts of things like wine-tasting, cooking, dancing, knitting and, in my case, a beginner painting class at The Art Studio NY. I haven't painted much other than furniture, but everyone in my family paints, so I decided to give it a shot and see if there's any natural talent there. Sadly, I don't think artistic ability is a genetic trait (see finished product above), but I still had a lot of fun.

We recreated one of Picasso's works, focused on mixing colors and layering paint. The environment was fun and relaxing, and the class consisted of about 10 people, so you got lots of one on one attention. You really can't beat dabbling in pretty colors, while listening to music and drinking red wine, so I might even give painting another try. Although, a swing dancing class is pretty tempting too.

Thanks Course Horse for the opportunity! And thanks to Shoko for passing my name along to them!