YUMMY RECIPE!

I'm sure you've heard me talk about my mom, the fabulous cook.  I remember people talking about my mom's good cooking even as a child.  I also remember being very unadventurous when it came to eating as a kid.  My mom was always experimenting with new and fancy recipes and all I wanted was "yellow" mac&cheese" (Kraft brand).  If my mom made mac & cheese it was always homemade and lacked that dark orange color, which now I know was a good thing, but back then it just meant boring and homemade.  

I also didn't know they sold things in the store like box cake mix, ready made pie crust, brownie mix, pie fillings etc. until I got to college and began cooking for myself.  If my mom made anything it was from scratch (including the noodles in chicken noodle soup).

So I am going to pass along a delicious recipe she posted on her website on how to make French Macarons.   

  

OK, it's about time I change my blog post so that my "soap box" moment isn't the latest post.  Soap box  moments are therapeutic and fun but let's be honest, what do I know!?  The more I learn (through lots of trial and error) the less I know. The paradox of life.

So back to more interesting things... like ??? lavender?

Lavender has been a recurring theme in my life these last 4 years or so.  I've had a long relationship with it, full of ups and downs.  I first fell in love with it's beauty, aroma and history.  I then realized how high maintenance it was as I got tired of planting and weeding it. I then became jealous of it as it took my parent's time and energy away from the family....

Caramel Apple Coffee Cake

recipe courtesy of Southern Living

pictures courtesy of moi

But in my absence I have found some cool stuff and here are just a few of them, the first is brilliant for those of you with fine hair. It is a sock bun tutorial from Say Yes to Hoboken.

So my dad gave us his old laptop, awesome right! Well, the only draw back is that it needs a new hard drive and since school has begun I have not had any time to spare to run and get one. So I have been seriously neglecting my blog. :( I miss blogging.

My sister just posted her recipe on her cooking blog, so go HERE to make them! If you would like to purchase a small bag of cooking lavender contact me at bartholomew.brooke@gmail.com and I can get you some from my mom's farm, The Purple Apple.

My mom and I put together the basket above. It contains all her good stuff Like:

2 bundles of lavender, 1 'clean' bundle and 1 field bundle (meaning that the buds have not been removed from the bottom of the stems), 2 lavender sachets made from her vintage hankies, 1 lavender soap made for her by Spirit Goat, 1 lavender honey jar made for her by Cox's Honey, 1 bag of Grosso lavender (the fragrant kind) and 1 bag of culinary lavender.

Can you tell its lavender harvesting season? I feel like every other post is about lavender. Last year I was completely lavender'd out. I remember thinking to myself, "if I see another sprig of lavender or find another pile of buds I am going to scream!"

This year's not so bad...I enjoy creating baskets and making them look pretty so lavender and I are friends again this year.

My parents hang the bundles to dry in their cottage. They need to be placed somewhere cold and dark in order to maintain their fragrance and color. Hm, who knew?

When I was visiting her about a week ago I stayed up after everyone had gone to bed and made these sachets filled with her English lavender buds. I used 4 handkerchiefs and was able to make 16 sachets.

I have one in Max and Mimi's room and I told them that when they wake up in the morning to just squeeze their bag and their room will smell like lavender...and it does. These little sachets are potent and their rooms smell amazing!

She has a blog full of delicious recipes using lavender and anything else you can find in the garden. You can find her recipes here.

These pictures were taken in the middle of the Summer last year, Henry was almost fully cooked and ready to come out. Despite being extremely close to delivery we helped harvest lavender as well as sow seeds in their massive vegetable garden.

My mom is starting her own business using her Lavender fields and Apple Orchard. Her farm is full of sweet smelling lavender planted by Peggy and vintage apples planted by our ancestors.

I am helping them start up a little blog about their products etc. Their blog is called The Purple Apple. They have already set up an official website which, I am going to put a link on my blog to their store in the next couple of days. Here are few things my mom and my extremely talented cousin Kristy are working on:

- hand milled French Lavender soap

- Lavender lotion (excellent for those with dry skin and eczema)

- Lavender and Apple scented hand lotion rub (AMAZING stuff)

- body scrub

- a variety of lavender sachets

- stationary

- Lavender Fairy line (just for little fairy-girls)