Happy Birthday Buster!

My little guy is 3 already!

Tubing in Golden

We headed to Golden, CO this weekend for an adventure tubing down the river. I was definitely nervous as we went down rapids and dodged boulders, but the kids and locals made it look so easy. I got the hang of it towards the end, and we all had a great time. I'm sure we'll be back to Golden soon.

Key Holders

We're getting settled into our new apartment and I'm wading through boxes of stuff. There's still a ton of organizing to do, but I'm already thinking about decorating. There's a perfect spot by the door for a key holder. I found a few options, and now I just have to pick one:

1. Key Hook Rack by Anthropologie

2. Wisconsin Wall Hook by Old New Again

3.  Vintage Key Holder Rack by House About it





















4.Antler Door Rack by The Door Stop

5. Deer Head Wall Hook by The Door Stop

Back in the Day Bakery: Strawberry Cupcakes

 I found the perfect recipe for our freshly picked strawberries, cupcakes by my favorite Savannah bakery! The cupcakes turned out great, adding pureed berries to the batter is a genius idea.

Strawberry Cupcakes with Fresh Strawberry Frosting
from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Makes about 24 cupcakes

Ingredients
Cupcakes:
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups pureed fresh strawberries (from about 2 cups whole strawberries—puree in a blender until smooth)
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp lemon zest
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 egg whites

Strawberry frosting:
4 sticks unsalted butter, softened (1 pound)
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt (original recipe calls for fleur de sel, which you can find at specialty shops)
8 cups powdered sugar (from two 1-lb boxes)
1/2 cup pureed strawberries (about 1 cup whole strawberries)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line or grease 24 cupcake tins.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Whisk together the pureed strawberries, lemon zest, milk and vanilla in another bowl. Also set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and egg whites gradually, beating after each, until combined. Alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the wet strawberry ingredients to the butter mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.
Scoop batter into prepared cupcake tins, filling up 2/3 to 3/4 the way full (depending on the size of your tins…I have really small cupcake tins so I filled mine up all the way). Bake cupcakes for 25 minutes or until golden. Be sure to test using a toothpick to make sure they are completely done in the center. Let cool.
While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting! Beat the butter until creamy then add the powdered sugar, lemon juice, sea salt and pureed strawberries. Continue beating (ideally with an electric mixer but you can do this by hand if need be) until very light and fluffy.
Pipe or spread frosting on each cupcake. Enjoy!

Picking Strawberries

I traveled to Wisconsin to visit my family this week. My dad and I picked 18 lbs of fresh berries at Oakridge Farms in Neenah. Now we need to decide what to do with all these strawberries!

Buster's Buddies

I'm heading to the farm to pick up Buster. He's been having a blast hanging out with his buddies. Then were heading off for a little road trip adventure.

Cinco de Mayo Recipe: Cucumber Jalapeno Margaritas

We made this spicy margarita recipe to celebrate Cinco de Mayo from Gastro Chic. It's the perfect drink for a hot summer day.

Recipe: Cucumber Jalapeno Margarita

1/2 L. tequila blanco, 100 percent agave
3 jalapenos
1 cucumber
freshly squeezed lime juice
simple syrup*
lime wedges

Slice the jalapenos and combine with tequila in a mason jar or swing-top bottle. Infuse the tequila with jalapenos for three days. (Or you can cheat and put it on a sunny windowsill for one day.)

For the cucumber juice, roughly chop the cucumber and blitz the hell out of it in a food processor. Run it through the finest setting of a food mill or press it through a fine-mesh sieve to extract the juice, leaving most of the skin behind. Cucumber juice will keep in the fridge for a couple of days.

To make one margarita, fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add 2 oz. jalapeno-infused tequila, 2 oz. cucumber juice, 1/2 oz. lime juice and 1/2 oz. simple syrup. Shake and serve on the rocks in a glass rimmed with salt. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Repeat as necessary.

* For simple syrup, combine 1 part sugar to 1 part water in a Pyrex measuring cup and microwave until the liquid is clear and sugar is diluted. Let cool before using.