Yes Spring is here..albeit early, but here indeed. Our courtyard is in bloom. I adore the fact that we only need to walk out our front door to have a lovely stroll through a garden.

I also found this little yellow jem of a cactus at Ikea of all places. So I rescued it, re potted it and gave it a nice sunny home in on our front window sill.

More images after the cut

I took these this morning while I was getting ready to go…I just couldn’t resist.

The Olive Oil Rosemary is so far my favorite, check out the recipe below the cut.

Combine these ingredients in the bread maker in this order:

1 cup warm water

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon italian spices
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rosemary (i usually add more than that and of the italian spices)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast

You can either make the whole loaf in the machine, or make the dough and bake in the oven at 350F for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Friday I got a wild hair (or is it hare?) to bake some bread. Luckly I remember Kim & Kjell bought a bread machine, and I was lucky enough to borrow it. Well since Friday night i’ve baked 5 loaves of bread and gained 5lbs. The baking frenzy will calm, but i’m really excited about the idea of never having to buy bread again. The pictured loaf is a Jalapeno Cheese bread, the recipe is below the cut. Although my prized loaf so far is a delicious Rosemary and Olive Oil. I’ll get some pictures and post the recipe soon.

I prefer making the dough in the machine and then baking the bread in the oven. However this particular recipe requires baking it in the oven.

Add these ingredients in this order:

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter / margarine
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Turn bread machine onto the dough setting and about half way through cycle  (so there is still one more kneading cycle left) add the following ingredients:

2 tablespoons finely chopped jalapenos – add more for a more spicy bread
1 tablespoon chopped or dry minced onion

Once the dough is ready roll it out and sprinkle the flat dough with 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Roll the dough back up and pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until it sounds hollow if you tap it with a knife.

This bread is so good with a yummy jelly spread on a slice. Enjoy!

Fields, After the Storm – faux fur, cotton, sifted tile grout.

So…my picture a day certainly didn’t last long, but i’m trying to make up for it by posting more visually wonderful goodies I find. Like Matthew Albanese. His work involves construction of small scale models using a hodge podge of materials to create life live landscapes.

Tornado – steel wool, cotton, ground parsley & moss

Paprika Mars – 12 lbs paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder & charcoal.

Aurora Borealis – beam of colored light against a black curtain. Stars are strobe like through holes in cork board. Trees composited from real life.

Even better you can find them on Plywerk at Fawn & Forest!

]]> http://cafevanzoen.com/2010/01/23/berkley-illustrations/feed/ 0 http://cafevanzoen.com/2010/01/14/way-to-go-rebuilding-center/ http://cafevanzoen.com/2010/01/14/way-to-go-rebuilding-center/#comments Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:51:41 +0000 Keven http://cafevanzoen.com/?p=394

Portland’s very own ReBuilding Center made it onto Apartment Therapy. Check it out! I personally love this place, walking in gives me dreams of art projects and DIY home makeover glee.

Day 9 – Waffle House

Finally a non food image. I’ve been wanting to shoot a picture of the Waffle House by the hotel since we arrived, but its been too cold to walk there at night, so we stopped by on the way home from dinner for my shot. Wish it were more in focus, but its hard to stand still in 20 degree weather for a longer exposure shot.

Day 8 – Cobb in bed

More food -  sorry guys, between being inside the mart all day and the hotel..there isnt much else.

Gadabout – Platinum, Candy Violet, Fern

Today was Day 1 of the Atlanta trade show, it was slow, but should pick up over the weekend. This is Mosey’s first line, and as the teams 3rd bag company, they really have their line locked in. The line is made from 1o0% reclaimed plastic bottles, with lead and nickle free hardware, and light leather with a 50% reduced carbon footprint. With such a clean manufacturing process they are not only making a great looking product but they have spread their strict eco friendly practices to their factory in China. I also shouldn’t fail to mention the bags have very cute names like Gadabout, Mobil Fun(d), Lollygag and Mobag.

Mobag – Java

Satchmo – Cayenne

Walkabout – Candy Violet, Fern, Grape Jelly, Platinum

Unfortunately I don’t have any amazing photos, but you can check out their website (which is a work in progress) for more information. Currently you can only purchase the bags wholesale as a retailer, but they will soon be available for purchase through their website.

Its been fun working the show, definitely learning a lot about trade shows, eating a lot of good food and I get a bag! I chose the Gumption in Cayenne.

I went practical, and being a student, this bag is the best. Removable laptop pouch, special file sized pocket and all the Mosey standards such as cellphone pocket, sunglasses loop, universal headphone port, water resistant shell, removable card and cash organizer, key fob holder and tons of internal pockets. Joy!