Our Stationery Suite

Soon after I was married I ordered our stationery suite. For the past 7 years or so I have always had formal stationery, ever since I caught the paper bug.  And a staple of my stationery suite has always been my correspondence cards. They come in handy in so many ways. I use them to jot quick notes to friends and family, thank you notes, or love notes to my husband.

According to Crane's website:

One of the most useful items in a stationery wardrobe is the correspondence card. Less formal than a note, these increasingly popular items, are used for thank-yous, informal invitations, and short notes. Correspondence cards are flat, heavy cards usually measuring 4 1/4” x 6 1/2” that are mailed in matching envelopes. They can be plain or bordered, depending on one’s tastes. A name or a small monogram may appear at the top of the card. Only the front of the card is written on, never the back. If you need more space, use a different type of stationery, perhaps a correspondence sheet.


I have consistently ordered my stationery suite from Embossed Graphics. With their 300 piece wardrobe which has 50 large, medium, and small enclosure cards with matching envelopes which retails for around $45 the price can't be beat. Plus it is printed on 145# card stock in thermography. I am always amazed that they are able to offer something of this quality at that price. As you can see I choose a very traditional monogram (in a dark blue), but they have other colors and designs to choose from as well. 


I can't wait to start using it.

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Ladies Luncheon Menu

So here is what was on the menu for my recent ladies luncheon of which most  was compliments of my girl MS (Martha Stewart)

Starters : Hummus Platter with Whole Wheat Pita, Cucumbers, and Tomato Basil Feta

Main Course : Turkey Bolognese (courtesy of MS)
                        Mixed Greens with Apples, Walnuts, and Fresh Parmesan with Vinaigrette dressing
                        French Bread

Dessert : Carrot Cake (courtesy of MS)
               Ginger Cookies (courtesy of MS)
               Selection of teas

For all the deserts I was able to make good use of my new Kitchen Aide Mixer which I have appropriately nick named Ruby (for the most obvious reason that she is red).  The mixer especially came in handy when it was time to do the cream cheese icing since it required 5 minutes of mixing. However, I do miss creaming and beating my batters by hand. There was something so therapeutic in the ritual of creaming the butter and sugar. In some weird way it made me feel connected to how people probably baked before the advent of all our fancy kitchen gadgets.

Well here is the MS recipe for carrot cake I used. I actually made it a two layer square cake since I am not a big fan of three layer cake (usually its too much icing for my taste). The cream cheese frosting recipe I used was from Domino magazine's recipe for Pumpkin Bliss Cupcakes (which is now one of my baking staples and is completely YUMMY).

Carrot Cake (recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart website)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 pound carrots (8 to 10 medium carrots), peeled and shredded on a box grater or in a food processor (about 2 3/4 cups)
• 2 cups pecans (1 cup finely chopped for batter, 1 cup coarsely chopped for decorating sides of cake) - I used walnuts instead, call me traditional with my carrot cake.

Directions

• Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper, and butter parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.
• Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat 3 minutes. Add vanilla, water, and carrots. Beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture, then finely chopped pecans. (Note that batter will be bright orange after incorporation of carrots and it will seem as though there are too many carrots in batter. Don't worry. The cake bakes up deliciously with just the right proportion of carrots)
• Scrape batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cakes to loosen, and turn out cakes onto rack. Turn right side up, and let cool completely.
• Using a serrated knife, trim rounded top of 2 cakes. Place one trimmed cake, cut side up, on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with second trimmed cake, cut side down. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with remaining cake. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Gently press coarsely chopped pecans onto sides of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 1 day, covered) before serving.

Cream cheese frosting

4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 T. vanilla
5 c. confectioner's sugar (Yes its a lot of confectioner's sugar but it is needed)

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add vanilla and beat. Add sugar one cup at a time and continue to beat an additional 5 minutes.

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Ladies Luncheon

So this past Sunday I had a couple of friends over for a ladies luncheon. I love entertaining and it gave me an opportunity to use some of our serve ware we got as wedding gifts. It also gave me an excuse to pull out our vintage china. The china was inherited by husband from his great grandmother and the pattern is Staffordshire Bouquet by Johnson Brothers. The napkins were a custom item from Betsy Grace etsy shop (Stop by and check her out. She does beautiful work).

We had such a wonderful time that I forgot to take pics of all the ladies while they were at the house. (That always happens. Rats!) These were taken before everyone came and I was setting up.

I will do an upcoming post about our yummy menu where ironically enough all recipes were from Martha Stewart :)

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Committed to Taking a Picture a Day

So the only way you get better at photography is to take pictures.

I have committed myself to take pictures everyday. And I mean everyday.


My photo from yesterday was of my new Tory Burch shoes that I had the shops in Vegas scour the country for in order to find.

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My new best friend

My husband and I recently purchased Nikon D3000's. We both plan on learning photography as a serious hobby. Making the transition from my Sony point and shoot to the Nikon will take some time before I am completely happy with the quality of my shots. And though I use Photoshop now, I will admit I take the lazy girl's out and use Iphoto to edit pictures. But I am VERY excited, this new path I am on should be a wonderful journey.

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One of the Best Things You Can Do as a Baker

One of the best things I ever did as a baker was to learn how to make my own vanilla extract. If you bake often you know how expensive vanilla extract can be. Pretty darn pricey and not even for the top of the line stuff, just for imitation vanilla extract (a small bottle may set you back $3 which lasts maybe a day in my household during the holidays).

I was extremely blessed to visit Hawaii last year and had the opportunity to tour the Hawaiian Vanilla Company which is the only commercial vanilla farm in the United States. Owners Jim and Tracy Reddekopp host tours of their vanilla farm where they teach you about the growth and care of the orchid from which we get vanilla. During the tour they taught us how to make our own vanilla extract from vanilla bean and vodka/rum.

It is a very simple process and I wish someone had told me about this years ago. All you need is good quality vanilla beans, which you can order from the Hawaiian Vanilla Company (through their website) and your choice of rum or vodka. I was told that extract made from rum will have a slightly different flavor than that made from vodika (which will have a purer flavor). I had enough beans so I tried both. (I have yet to bake with the rum because that just came out of the aging process)


Step 1 : Slice the bean lengthwise and make a slit half way into the bean
Step 2: Immerse the bean in the alcohol (I used two beans in a 750 ml bottle)

Step 3 : Place your bottle in dark place. I was told not to let it sit in sunlight. I just put it way in the back of one of my kitchen cupboards - one I did not frequently open. Let the bean steep for 2-3 months. As you check on your extract you will see the color begin to darken and become a beautiful rich brandy color. Once its done the aging process make sure you store it in a dark place.

What makes it really wonderful is that this extract can last up to 20 years!!!!!! When half of the bottle is gone simply refill with alcohol and let it steep some more. Viola you had replenished your stash. Its an endless supply.

I am going to share with you pics of the Hawaiian Vanilla Company and their beautiful farm and the wonderful meal they provided on our tour (everything on the menu was so yummy and all had some element of vanilla in one of the ingredients).

Nomnomnomnom .... Delicious. It was chicken sandwich with a vanilla mango chutney.

The beautiful view from the farm.

An actual vanilla plant

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Martha Wannabee

Hello.

What brings you to my neck of the woods?

Whatever the reason I am happy to have you here. Stay a while and let's get to know one another.

While I know I can never be Martha Stewart. I mean let's be honest that is a near impossible feat but I love trying. I started this blog as a way to talk about my everyday adventures or misadventures in the domestic arts but also to just talk about all the little things  that are on my mind (and there a lot of things rattling around in this head of mine). So not only will you see posts about crafts, cooking, and domestic arts, but fashion, math (yes I have an inner geek), books, health, and my secret obsessions.

I hope you enjoy this little slice of my world and that you will join in from time to time. (I love comments and emails).


Thanks

Nicole aka Wannabee Martha

BTW This is one of my favorite photos of me and my husband taken by my friend Bola from Onada Photography. Check her out, the girl is AWESOME!

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