Peep this: I'm Teaching a Needle Felting Class

My last needle felting class at the Urban Craft Center was so much fun that I cannot WAIT to meet my new students and see their *ahem* YOUR awesome creations! 

(You are signing up for this class, right? See you soon? Yes? YAY!!!)

Sign up by calling: 310.392.0139,
emailing, hello@theurbancraftcenter.com or 

showing up at 2433 Main Street, Santa Monica, California
Materials included. $35 

See you guys soon, RIGHT??

UPDATE!! If you cannot attend this class but have been kind enough to ask me about creating PDF instructions, they are now available in my Etsy store HERE. Thanks to all who inquired! I'm so glad you like these little guys :)

Needle-Felted Peeps: Hand-Crafted Easter Treats!

I started making Easter-themed Needle-Felted "Peeps" a few months ago, and could not wait to share them with you. What started with two small yellow bunnies, quickly multiplied (they are rabbits after all) into a dozen or so in assorted colors.

My little sister loves eating Peeps at Easter. The only caveat, is that she only likes them stale. Very stale. I happened to have a "vintage" (2-year old box) waiting for her in my cupboards, and unfortunately for her, I had to open that box for a closer look at these traditional springtime sweets.

The Marshmallow Peeps seemed to want a closer look at the Needle-Felted Peeps after a while too...

While there might not be room in my belly for marshmallow AND woolen Easter Peeps (please note mine are NOT edible!) there is certainly enough room in my heart and cupboard for the Needle-Felted Peeps AND the original marshmallow variety. Hope you enjoy these little fuzzy holiday friends!!

And by the way, these Felted Easter Peeps are now in my Etsy Store! 

Boxes of TWO, are sold HERE.  

Box of FOUR, sold HERE.

Want to learn how to make these? I'm teaching a class on April 16th!

Carnivorous Plants in Hanging Terrariums

I used to keep a lot of beta fish as pets. I had a row of fish bowls lined up on my counter top, and a couple of hanging fish bowls above my couch. I adored the bright and colorful companionship of my fish, and lived with them for many years. As my sweet swimmy friends would pass away, I would clean up their bowls, and put them into storage. I've re-used a few of my fish bowls for other projects (like the table-top water garden), but hadn't thought about the hanging fish bowls until this past weekend when I decided to combine a few small carnivorous plants to make hanging terrariums.

I have lots of carnivorous plants in my garden, and right now is the perfect time of year to start re-potting the plants that have outgrown their containers! Since I was already in the re-potting mood, (and had re-discovered my nifty hanging aquariums), I selected a few specific carnivores, and got to work making terrariums.

The plants I selected were (clockwise from top): Two small Sarracenia (trumpet plants) that I had grown from seed, and knew would stay small this year, two types of Pinguicula (butterworts) with lovely cheery flowers, and some Drosera capensis (basically a sticky-armed carnivorous weed in my garden.)

Carnivorous plants grow naturally in soil with very little nutrients, so instead of using a nutrient-rich potting soil which would likely kill them, I used a mixture of peat moss, sand and perlite. I wet the mixture with pure water (rain water, distilled, or reverse osmosis), and securely planted them in the plastic vessel.

The shallow roots of the Pinguicula

I planted my Sarracenia in the center of the terrarium so that it could grow up and out of the opening. Normally, I keep Sarracenia in plastic pots sitting in trays of water. I re-pot them every year, and will more than likely remove this Sarracenia from the terrarium next year, as it will become too large for the container. I added a plastic Saber-tooth tiger to the mix for good measure and hung my terrariums outside in the garden. These plants love bright sun, and lots and lots of clean water, so I placed them in a highly visible area (so that I won't forget about them and allow them to dry out too much!)

As you can see, one of my plastic fish tanks is much more clear than the other... when washing your PLASTIC fish tanks, take care not to use a highly ABRASIVE sponge as it will completely scratch up the plastic. (Duh Megan!)

View from the top

Since these terrariums are clear, they also look pretty cool hung back-to-back.

For carnivorous plants, check your local nursery, major home-repair shop (like Lowes or Home Depot) or look online! If you are interested in making your own hanging carnivorous terrariums, or keeping beta fish above your couch like I did, here's where I got the hanging bowl:

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Baking Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cakes

Another month, another Daring Baker's Challenge! This month's tasty treat? Coffee Cake... but not just any ol' coffee cake. Meringue, chocolate and pecan-Filled Coffee Cake with a yeasted (read: raised to fluffy, heavenly perfection) dough. 

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. We were given two recipes to choose from, and here's the one I chose:

Jamie's Coffee Cake
Dough Ingredients:
4 cups flour

¼ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon salt

1 package active dried yeast
¾ cup whole milk

¼ cup water
½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

2 large eggs at room temperature

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1½ cups flour, the sugar, salt and yeast. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter over medium heat until the butter is just melted. With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup flour and beat for 2 more minutes.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed. (P.S. This is what the original recipe said, "sexy dough!" I did my best...)

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.

Filling Ingredients:
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate
* Note- I also added 1 cup cinnamon chips because I find them DELICIOUS.


Directions: 
In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling. You can add the chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately. Also, I chopped my pecans, and chocolate and cinnamon chips in my food processor for uniform size.

Meringue Ingredients:

3 large egg whites at room temperature
 (reserve the yolks for the egg wash)

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup sugar

Directions:
Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue. In a clean mixing bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:
Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).

Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

Using a sharp knife, make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch intervals. Don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.

Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings. Cover the coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Egg wash: 
1 beaten egg (I used the left-over egg yolks from the meringue)
Cocoa powder (optional) & 
Powdered sugar for dusting cakes (also optional- I sprinkled mine with cinnamon and sugar, and crystallized date bits.

Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper (or Silpat mats) off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes onto cooling racks. 

Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

So how did this taste? I typed most of this post with one hand while enjoying a left-over piece of coffee cake this morning. I read in Mimi's post, that Mr. Mimi didn't care for chocolate in his breakfast breads, and my husband said the same thing. However, we gave the second coffee cake to the family moving into the house next door, and one of their boys said it was perfect the way it was and complemented me on using Nutella in the coffee cake!?! There was no Nutella in this recipe but he may be onto something. Maybe next time kid... 

The only draw back (for me) with this recipe, was length of time. I can't imagine what hour I would need to wake up to have these ready for breakfast- only because I have a "slow-rising dough" curse over me. Even though I used "rapid-rise" dried yeast, it still took my dough almost two hours to double in size (and that was sitting on top of my warm oven!) When I use regular yeast, my dough rises in about 4-5 hours!! So the Mister and I enjoyed this coffee cake around 3:00pm yesterday afternoon- which is not a bad time of day for coffee cake... but it's not a breakfast hour by any means. Regardless, it was VERY tasty and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to try this recipe! Thanks again Daring Bakers!

Photo Saturday: Tonic Water Flowers

These are the flowers of the Cinchona Plant. This plant produces Quinine which is used to make Tonic Water. Taken at the Cal State Fullerton greenhouse.

Making Paper Orchids: The How-To

Last week, I posted some photos of paper orchids I designed for an engagement shoot. I had several friends ask me how I made them, so I thought I would put the patterns into Illustrator, and share them with you. You are welcome to download, and make your own paper orchids using my patterns for the following:


A Phalaenopsis:

A Cymbidium:

Oncidiums:

If you have any questions, or need any further help, please feel free to ask! I hope these documents help and encourage you to make your own lovely bouquet of paper orchids! Have a happy Friday!

I'm in BUST Magazine!!!!

Ok, I wrote an article that's in BUST Magazine this month. You should totally check out the April/May 2011 issue!! Liv Tyler is on the cover. I'm on page 44.

My excitement cannot be contained. BUST is my FAVORITE magazine on earth and I got to write a travel piece about my favorite city on earth: San Diego, California. (My home sweet hometown) 

I LOVE BUST Magazine you guys. (Oh really, Megan?) If you don't yet subscribe, you SHOULD. Or at least, buy this issue!!

Thanks for letting me share the good news! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Homemade Ginger Chews!!

I have to credit my husband, Mr. Rad, for this recipe. When he suggested that we try making ginger chews at home, I flashed back to my original thoughts on making marshmallows at home. Ginger chews are not "food" in my mind. Their ingredients could be spun gold, melted wishes, and Hobbit sneezes for all I know. 

The Mister was undeterred, and I sat back skeptically as he made his first batch of chewy candies. Batch #1 was darn close, and my interest was piqued, I was by his side for Batch #2. By Batch #3 we were feeling confident that we had cracked the code on ginger chews. And with that, I share the recipe with you.

Ingredients & Equipment Needed:

Several pieces of fresh ginger

Liquid Maltose

White Sugar

Tapioca Starch
Electric Juicer

Sifter

Wax Paper

Saucepan

Wooden Spoon

Cutting Board

Sharp Knife

Take 1 cup of sugar and place in saucepan over medium heat. Melt sugar completely until it caramelizes. Add 2 tablespoons maltose and stir together. Add 3 tablespoons fresh ginger juice. Allow mixture to bubble together.

Place wax paper on a large plate or cutting board. Generously sift tapioca starch onto wax paper. With your finger, make gentle depressions in the starch and pour candy mixture onto the depressions. While you allow the mixture to cool, sift a bit more tapioca starch over them.

Once the pieces are cool enough to handle, use a cold knife and cut the candy strips into bite-sized pieces.

Store in an airtight container with ample tapioca starch to keep the pieces from melting together. Enjoy!

Notes: This recipe is a work in progress. If one of you reads this, tries it, and can improve upon it, please share your work! We are open to suggestions!

These ginger chews work wonders on scratchy throats and pesky coughs.

If your local markets don't carry Liquid Maltose and Tapioca Starch, try theses links.

Warning: These ginger chews are similar to the kind you would suck on, not actually CHEW on. Chewing them could cause you to pull out your dentures! Ask my father-in-law... 

Happy cooking!

Attempting the T-Shirt Necklace

Last week, every day snuck up on me, catching me off guard, and leaving me behind schedule. It may have been my very heavy heart thinking about the devastation in Japan. It could have been the time change that left me groggy every day, all day. But I'm fairly certain I felt perpetually past-deadline because a "simple" craft failed me repeatedly at the start of the week and threw the blog into scramble-mode. That craft was the T-Shirt Necklace. 

Fail #1

I was looking online for fun crafts to do with my nieces after school, and came across the "T-shirt Necklace" on MarthaStewart.com. It looked easy enough. Heck, it looked like something we could crank out during a commercial break of Yo Gabba Gabba... Thankfully, I had the forethought to try this craft out BEFORE inviting the little ones over to participate, because my first two attempts at this easy craft, looked more like a squid, and something your cat might have coughed up. Seriously. 

Fail #2

The problem with the first two attempts may have been the material used (100% cotton t-shirts that were SLIGHTLY stretchy,) but more likely it was because I used regular scissors to cut the strips of fabric, (ok, I also washed and dried the pink necklace to see if that would put some curl in my edges) and completely disregarded the rolling blade (or rotary cutter) recommendations. I was determined to make it work with regular scissors. Determined didn't cut it, (literally & figuratively) so I borrowed a rotary cutter and a self-healing mat, and got cracking on the T-Shirt necklace again.

Third cotton tee, metal ruler, rotary cutter and the mat in hand, I was ready to make this craft happen, or scratch it completely and give my first two "cat-toy necklaces" to the animal hospital down the street.

I started by cutting the bottom cuff off the shirt. Then, like Martha recommends, began cutting horizontal strips that measured 3/4 inch wide.

Next, I stretched the strips out with my hands. (This was the fateful moment that tripped me up twice before.) After giving the pieces a good long stretch, they should curl slightly at the ends. This time, they curled!! They didn't disintegrate, they didn't kink. They did exactly what the countless websites and YouTube channels said they would.... this time.

After cutting about 20 strips, I laid the pieces out in a uniform pile. I then cut off the sleeves from my shirt, discarded the cuffs, and then sliced a couple of 3/4 inch strips from the sleeves to use as my knots.

I looped the sleeve strips around the mass of longer strips. In two different places, I tied them into knots, tucking any loose pieces into the knot. 

Finally, I had a successful T-Shirt Necklace. It looks cute when worn as one long necklace for a light, summery piece, or doubled up (to keep you warm!) in springtime!

I'll be trying this necklace ONE more time before inviting my sweet nieces to participate. I was extremely frustrated with my first attempts, and would prefer that when a six and eight-year old are added to the mix, they don't have to see me curse the holy name of Martha. (You know I love you Martha...)

If you decide to make your own T-Shirt necklace, I'd suggest you pick up a rotary cutter, self-healing mat, and a metal ruler, longer than the width of your shirt. When it works, it really is a fun way to give new life to old shirts, when it doesn't, your friends will have a good laugh when you stubbornly (foolishly) wear your craft-fail out in public anyway. Happy crafting!!

Birthday Lemon Cake with Fresh Lemon Curd

My sister-in-law is one of the nicest people I know. She has the kindest heart, laughs easily, and is a trusted friend. She just recently had a birthday, and we finally got around to celebrating it this weekend. I knew that lemon cake was her favorite, so I set out to find a recipe so blissfully delicious that it would befit the birthday celebration of one of my favorite people.

I read through probably 20 recipes before deciding on this particular cake. The reviews online were very positive. I admit it's not the quickest recipe- especially if you decide to layer the cake since that needs a good long while to set up in the refrigerator, however, I stand by this and would make it again! The original recipe comes from Fine Cooking. I omitted their lemon frosting, simply because I'm HORRIBLE at frosting cakes and I knew my sister-in-law would probably rather have a cake dripping in tart and tasty lemon curd anyway. I made the lemon curd first, so that it would have ample time to cool.

Lemon Curd:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tbs. lightly packed finely grated lemon zest
Pinch salt
6 large egg yolks


Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice, zest, and salt. Whisk in the yolks until smooth. Return the pan to medium-low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens, 6 minutes or so. Check the thickness by dipping a wooden spoon into the curd. Run your finger through the curd left on the spoon- if it leaves a path, it's ready. Do not let the mixture boil. Immediately pour the curd through a fine sieve into a bowl, using a rubber spatula to force as much through as possible. Let cool at room temperature, stirring occasionally. Place plastic wrap directly on the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the cake:

2-1/3 cups cake flour; more for the pans
2-3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. table salt
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 Tbs. lightly packed finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup unsalted butter, completely softened at room temperature; more for the pans
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
Position a rack in the middle of the oven; heat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter and flour two 8 x 2-inch round cake pans (I used three graduated Pyrex bowls.) Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl. Pulse 1/4 cup of the sugar with the zest in a food processor until well combined.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and lemon sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 1-1/2 minutes). Add the remaining 1-1/2 cups sugar and beat until smooth (about 1-1/2 minutes). Beat in a quarter of the milk just until blended. On low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the milk in three batches, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula; beat just until blended.

In another large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer (with clean beaters) on medium speed just until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, increase the speed to medium high, and beat just until the whites form stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted. Add a quarter of the whites to the batter and gently fold them in with a whisk or a rubber spatula; continue to gently fold in the whites, a quarter at a time, being careful not to over-beat the air out of the mixture.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Smooth the tops with the spatula. Bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean (35 to 40 minutes). Let the cakes cool in their pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a table knife around the inside of the pans and carefully invert each cake out onto the rack. Flip them right side up and let cool completely.

Put the largest of the cake layers on a serving plate. With an offset spatula or a table knife, spread generously with chilled lemon curd. Place the next cake layer atop the bottom one, and slather it with lemon curd, and repeat with the third layer. Take three long wooden skewers, and insert them straight down through all three layers to keep the cake steady. Use a knife, and spread the remaining lemon curd all over the exterior of the cake.

I garnished the cake with some fresh-cut freesias from my garden. Since the cake was beginning to resemble a beehive, I added some little sugared bee decorations my mom had given me, and a few more flowers.

The cake smelled glorious, and tasted incredible. It was so light that it almost resembled a lemony angel food cake. One party guest described it as a "ball of heaven" in his mouth.

There were only crumbs remaining at the end of the night. All plates were licked clean. This was lemon birthday cake success! Happy belated birthday to my beautiful sister-in-law, and happy lemon cake-baking to all of you!