Wordless Wednesday 9.1.2010

by Beth on September 1, 2010

Monhegan Island Part 1: The Settlement.

As a bit of background, Monhegan Island is a small island–less than 1 square mile–10 miles off the coast of Maine. It’s only accessible via a mail boat that runs a few times a day. After a serious bout of seasickness on the high and rolling seas, we enjoyed a day on the island.

Some of our adventures in the inhabited parts of the island…

house on the hill

monhegan fish house

retreat

monhegan village, looking back towards the mainland

monhegan light

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Why We Went to Maine

by Beth on August 30, 2010

So you all know I went to Maine for my summer vacation (as evidenced by the lobster sightings) but I don’t know if I ever told you why.

ryan and eli

They’re why. They are Ryan and Eli. Ryan is one of Noel’s oldest friends. Eli is his rockin fiancee wife. And they were getting married, at Eli’s family’s house in Maine. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

beautiful cake!

And guess what else? They asked us to bake their wedding cake! SQUEE! So Eileen and I packed up our mixers, 25 pounds of flour, a ridiculous amount of powdered sugar, half of the rest of our kitchens, oh, and our husbands, and headed off to Maine for the week!

fresh, wild maine blueberries

Baking a wedding cake from scratch is always an adventure, but baking one in an unknown kitchen is extra fun. Like when you get there and realize you have an apartment and not a kitchen oven. That doesn’t work so well for a 14 inch round–thanks again to Sue and Jon for letting us steal their oven for an afternoon, or otherwise, this story might not have such a happy ending!

yeah, it's a lot of batter!

But luckily, it does have a happy ending, one full of butter, sugar, fresh, hand picked wild Maine blueberries, love, friends, and fun. Thanks to way too much overplanning on mine and Eileen’s part, the cake went off without a hitch. We had the perfect recipe, good upper arm strength, and a delightful buttercream. And it all came together beautifully.

cake stations

I’m sure right now you’re ready for a picture of the cake. But you know what? Good things come to those who wait. So come back later this week to see us put it together and the final product–but as a preview, I think it may be the most beautiful cake we’ve ever made!

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Wordless Wednesday 8.25.2010

August 25, 2010
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Lobstah Killah Edition We’re in Maine this week with the usual suspects…so the posts may be scarce, but we’re still cooking!

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Peach Vanilla Jam

August 20, 2010
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Wendi–you guessed right! All those peaches were procured as part of a jam making mission. A massive jam making mission. We’re about to enter a particularly busy stretch in our lives where we spend a good chunk of our lives on the road. It should be fun, and hopefully not to exhausting (I’m not a [...]

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Wordless Wednesday 8.18.2010

August 18, 2010
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My new happy place! For more Wordless Wednesday, go here.

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Blueberries and Peaches at Larriland Farms

August 16, 2010
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On this past cloudy Saturday, Noel and I had a little adventure. We headed west out of the city into the green Howard County farmlands. Our destination–Larriland Farms, my favorite pick your own spot. Although Larriland is just 22 miles outside of Baltimore, it feels like a different world out there. I had only ever [...]

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Carrot Zucchini Muffins

August 13, 2010
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Since my junior year in college–after the ill-fated first year of college and the dread freshman 15 + the bonus sophmore 15–and the need to work it off, I’ve been kind of a fitness nut. Some even like to use the term gym rat, although as a person who has had actual real life encounters [...]

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Wordless Wednesday 8.11.2010

August 11, 2010
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Wordless Wednesday Valencia edition, compliments of my good friend (and usual suspect) Carlos del Valle! Carlos just returned from his annual trip to Spain, where he was lucky enough to be for the World Cup Final! And he took these food pictures just for us–okay, maybe not just for us, but we get to enjoy [...]

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