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Black and White Online Class

I am very much drawn to the simplicity and austerity of black and white, neutrals, and shades of gray, even though much of my own work relies on color. Color is a powerful language, and it’s often the element we relate to most immediately in a painting. Because it is such a strong element, we sometimes neglect other possibilities of richness and subtlety in our visual expression.  Read more here.

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black white summer

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Black White Sandy All Over

I probably wear this jumpsuit at least once a week. At least. Its just so versatile and flattering, how could I not? Last night I was feeling a little sad so we picked up and took a trip down the shore for some frolicking in the sand and Bashful Banana whips. (One of my most favorite things in the entire world.) 

Something about the beach is just so healing. Im glad that its so close by because Ive been all out of sorts lately and the ocean is the perfect place to escape to. Yes, its cliché, but feeling small and insignificant next to something so huge puts everything in perspective. (All of the nostalgia from practically growing up here helps a lot as well!)

As for my outfit, Ive been trying to dress more intentional lately without putting too much stock into what I look like. I get really wrapped up in appearances and its not healthy. Obviously having a style blog doesnt help much. Ive been wearing what makes me feel good and what empowers me. Sometimes that means being daring but lately its meant being a bit more modest. I layered the jumpsuit with a cute off-shoulder top (previously seen here) for some dimension and some extra coverage. Will layering ever go out of style? I really hope not.

Hope youve all been well and have a great weekend! 

xo,

e.m. 

jumpsuit/ c/o Fason de Viv (its sold out in her shop but you can still find it here), top/ Boohoo via ASOS (its sold out but heres a similar one!), bandana/ Levis, sandals/ Madewell (old, similar), bag/ Chloé (similar for $20!), sunglasses/ Miu Miu

***Photos by Danielle Conyers

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Black and White

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Black White

Today Im teaming up with Tobi to show off this cute little romper. When they said that they wanted to showcase some rompers, I felt myself recoil a bit because, well, rompers and I dont always get along. Im not the biggest fan of my legs and to be perfectly honest, my torso is a bit too long for them so I get... "crotch problems." (You know how it is.) But, since this is the summer of "WHATEVER!," I decided to give them a chance. So I dont look like a supermodel. Whatever. Its cute and breezy and everything I could possibly want in this Philadelphia heat.

To go along with this minimal/boho vibe Ive been sporting lately, I paired the romper with some simple, black accessories. My big ole beloved felt hat, my favorite lace-up booties, and some chokers. (All about layering those bad boys.) 

I had so much fun picking out clothes on Tobis site. I especially LOVE their lingerie and long skirts! (I blame my inner homeschooler for the latter.) Remember, all new customers get 50% off of their first order so get shoppin!

Thanks Tobi for sponsoring this post.

xo,
e.m.


***Photos by Danielle Conyers.

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Blue jeans White shirt

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Boozy Yellow Birthday Cake with Chocolate Frosting and Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache

• There's a lot going on with this cake, so I suggest breaking it down by making the cake first, and then the syrup two ganaches the following day. Make the cake first and cover it in plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator until you're ready to frost it — the cake's butter flavor actually intensifies overnight.


• So, this cake uses a shit-ton of egg yolks. You will need to use an entire dozen's total for the cake and the frosting combined. I recognize the ridiculousness of that situation (but it was my birthday, and I had to indulge myself), so let me offer you up these recipes for the leftover eggwhites: use 4 egg whites for this rhubarb and pistachio pavlova, another 4 egg whites for this white chocolate malt cake, and the rest for an egg white scramble with a ton of spinach, fresh herbs, and gruyere. 


• Let's talk more about caramelized white chocolate, because I know I just dropped it in there last minute like whoa. I first found out about the phenomenon ever since spying this recipe in Food52's Genius Recipes cookbook and I've been playing around with it since. My one complaint, however, is that the original recipe requires you to heat at a ridiculously low temperature (265 (F)) for almost an hour, along with stirring it every three minutes or so. It's fussy, because if the chocolate gets too hot, it seizes and turns into solid crumbles instead of caramelizing.
  
  So a couple of things: because the oven in my new apartment runs so insanely hot and I really don't have time to stir something in the oven every 3 minutes, I started playing around with trying to find a shortcut. I found out that you can basically get the same result in almost a quarter of the time suggested by the original recipe if, instead of baking in an oven, you cook the white chocolate over the stovetop. The trick is to melt the white chocolate over low heat, and then once it's melted completely, turn the heat on high and to scorch it. Stirring constantly to distribute the heat evenly throughout the mixture achieves the same sort of caramelization, and I found that I actually had more control over the final flavor using the stovetop method — because it's happening right in front of you, you can really control how roasted and caramelized you want the final product to be.


• It took me a couple of times to get the ratio of white chocolate to cream for the topping; don't be afraid to troubleshoot it! If you find the ganache to be too runny, feel free to add a few more chunks of white chocolate to thicken it up. If it's too thick, add a splash of cream. The trick is to add just a little bit at a time to get the consistency you want. Because you're going to be pouring it over the cake, you're going to want a ganache that's still warm and just ever-so-slightly runnier than normal to get that pretty spilled frosting look. The ganache will set as it cools.

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Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins

How is it that I have missed the boat for so long on browning butter?!?!  Oh. My. Goodness. Do I LOVE browned butter!!! The taste that it adds to this muffin recipe is wonderful. I can not wait to bake more with browned butter! That being said be warned as you will most likely see many more recipes in the future on my blog with browned butter.  Do you have a favorite recipe that uses browned butter?  PLEASE do share!!!


I love that Joy the Baker has come out with her first cookbook as this is where I found this lovely muffin recipe.  If you have yet to purchase this book do yourself a favor and treat yourself to it.  It is packed full of GORGEOUSLY scrumptious recipes.  A talented and oh-so-sweet blogging friend of my mine, Carrie from Bakeaholic Mama, hosts a fabulous blogging event every Sunday that features a recipe from Joys cookbook.  This event is called, Sundays with Joy.  Take a peek at it as I am sure you will find lots of fun and delicious recipes from Joy The Baker that you will want to try. :-)

Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins
(Slightly altered from the recipe found in Joy The Baker Cookbook)

Muffin Ingredients:

7 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup milk
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup white chocolate chips (my addition)
2 cups fresh blueberries (I used frozen bbs and it worked just fine)

Topping Ingredients:

3 Tbsps unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbsps sugar


Directions:

1.  Place oven rack onto the upper third of the oven and then preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with liners and then set aside.

2. Make muffin batter first by browning the butter.  Place 7 Tbsps of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Butter will first melt, then forth and then lastly crackle - which is the water cooking out of the butter. The crackling will subside and then the butter will start to brown - this happens quite quickly so keep your eye on the butter so that it doesnt burn. Remove saucepan from heat when you see that it becomes a medium brown color and it has the wonderful nutty smell.  Immediately pour hot butter into a small bowl and set aside.  This will allow your butter to not continue to cook and possibly burn.

3. In a small bowl whisk to combine,  milk, egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract. Add in browned butter and whisk to combine.  Set bowl aside.

4. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar and baking powder.  Whisk all together.

5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients all at once. Stir to combine. Do not over mix.  Add in white chocolate chips and blueberries and gently but thoroughly stir all together. .

6. Scoop muffin batter into prepared muffin tins.  I used my lovely medium scoop for this step.

7. Make crumble topping but combining cold butter, flour and sugar all together in a medium bowl. Incorporate butter with the dry ingredients by either using a pastry cutter or your fingers.

8. Sprinkle crumble topping over muffins.  Pop muffins into preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown and when a toothpick is inserted in center comes out clean.  Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.

Happy Brown Butter Blueberry White Chocolate Muffins Baking!

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Black and White and Shades of Gray

In these 8"x8" studies, I am simply exploring black on white, with very simple shapes.

In the top two, Im using only black and one shade of gray on the white ground.  In the bottom two Im using multiple shades of gray in addition to the black.

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Blue and White

 Maybe it was because last week it was so hot hot hot here that i decided to use cool blues for my newest sewing project.......ive been planning to make a blue and white checkerboard patchwork quilt for quite a while and like all my projects, first it is a plan in my head and then all at once it is being made......

 ..............all the blue fabrics were pulled out of the cupboard and lots of white but slightly patterned ones for the contrasting squares..............

 ............i cut the squares 4 1/2 in so they ended up as 4in squares when all sewn together......

 ........i rotary cut the squares and then strip pieced them in rows then joined the rows together......pressing the seams in opposite directions and nesting the seams helped with accuracy....

 ..............i loved the deep indigo blues and had to order some extra fat quarters of some new ones as i was running out.......i used up many pieces from my scrap bin for this quilt so there is a nice mix of different fabrics and lots of other projects to remember that they were used in too when i look at it.....

 ............my little sewing machine worked very hard, speeding along the seams.......

 .............and of course i then began particularly noticing blue and white things around me.....

 ................like blue teapots, plates, mugs and jugs........and the palest of pale blue hydrangeas.....

 ............at the weekend we went on an outing to a lovely country garden........we had a picnic lunch, a nice walk and later a cream tea in the tea room garden.........and i took some photos of blue flowers.......

 ..................gorgeous blue clematis above.....and below the pretty agapanthus............

 .............the weather here has cooled down now and is back to normal again after soaring to temperatures of 33C last week (on the hottest day of the year) and with high humidity too.....but now our mini heatwave seems to have ended.................

 ................now my quilt top is finished and i need to decide what to back it with and what kind of quilting to do.........this week i am working on more xmas designs and an applique quilt so plenty to keep me busy............also spending time this week with my sweet grandchildren as school is out for summer here and we will be doing a bit of crafting together again..............

..................thank you for popping in to my little blog space dear readers and for all your kind comments about my dimity quilt in my last post........it is so nice to hear from you and to have your visits.............wishing you sunny summer days and lots of  happy crafty times.......back soon xxxxxx

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