Soy Milk and Spicy Okara Brownies

I'm pretty sure that I was a chipmunk in a previous life.  At dinnertime as a kid, I used to chew and then keep my food in my cheeks until they burst.  Plus I'm a burrower.  I love snuggling up into a cozy corner or into a little ball when I sleep.  I love any kind of nook, reading nooks, breakfast nooks, cranny nooks.  I know there are other animals that burrow too but chipmunks are much cuter than rats.


So what could be better than burrowing up with a rich chocolate brownie and a cold glass of milk?  Perhaps a cold glass of soy milk and soy spicy dark chocolate brownie?  

I was asked to try out a soy milk maker and as soon as I read the instructions, my mind was brimming with ideas.  Soy milk, almond milk, horchata!  So I started with a basic soy milk recipe to see how this baby worked.  Well I must say, having a machine makes it so much easier to make soy milk.  Normally you would have to blend the soya beans in a blender, strain and then heat in a saucepan.  But with a machine, it does it all for you and clean up is super easy.  What's left in the machine is the soy bean pulp (otherwise called okara) which can be used in many recipes.  I had a nagging craving for something chocolate so I decided on brownies and added a little kick to them.  The "mayan" spices really emphasize the dark chocolate and leaves a little heat in your mouth.  Perfect with a cold refreshing glass of soy milk!   


Keep reading for the recipes...

Felted Wedding Topper (Jenn and Chris)

After the success of J+L's wedding topper, another friend asked me to do their wedding cake topper.  Jenn and Chris gave me complete creative freedom with the only requirement that I use their signature pose: the high five jump.  Chris and Jenn love anything quirky and cute so I knew that I would have fun creating personalized characters.  I also wanted to create soft figures and decided to try needle felting.

Needle felting is pretty much sculpting with wool and it is a breeze to learn.  All you need is some wool roving and a special barbed felting needle.  Then you stab the needle into the wool to create a denser shape.  Since it was my first time, I wanted my shapes to be perfect so instead of stabbing quickly into the wool, I more so poked cautiously - I'm such a risk-taker.

Things that I'm loving...

Happy long weekend!  Going to stay in town and try to get a lot of important things done.  Like go to the beach, eat oysters, sketch, tie-dye and drink sangria.  Serious stuff.

So I'll leave you with this:

How I would introduce David Bowie to my kids...

Coconut Shrimp (baked no less!)

This bike diagram

Libraries

With lots of love, Roald Dahl.

Holding onto the whispers of summer...

Welll...if autumn looks like this, I think it'll be okay...

Yum!

I love black sesame seeds for its sweet earthiness.  I love frozen yogurt for its cool creaminess.  So you can probably guess how much I love black sesame frozen yogurt!

It's really important to strain the yogurt to create a smoother texture.  So first thing is first, line a mesh strainer with cheesecloth or paper towel and scoop in 4 cups of plain whole milk yogurt.  Fold edges of cheesecloth over and let sit in refrigerator for 6 hours.

Automata Mr. Robata

Wow!  I just finished reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.  It's part graphic novel, children's book, mystery, history and flipbook.  I read it from start to finish because it was so wonderful - thank goodness for lazy Sundays!  And a movie adaptation directed by Martin Scorsese is coming out in the fall so I won't have to wait too long to see it in all its 3D Hollywood glory!  Fingers crossed that it does the book a fraction of justice.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is about an orphan boy who lives alone in a Paris train station with his one valued possession - a mysterious automaton.  I won't say anything more because the book is so magical and it will take you places that you wouldn't expect.  Also, don't even try to "google" it.  Google's autocomplete is really good for revealing key plot points.  I learned that the hard way when I googled One Day by Dave Nicholls.  DON'T DO IT!!  Anyways, it's safe to say that there is an automaton in The Invention of Hugo Cabret so we'll just stay on that.

Wedding Topper (Jackie and Lorne)

One of my best friends (J) got married and I was given the honour of making the wedding topper. This was based on her expectation that I would just make simple wooden figurines. But as you'll learn I don't like doing the same thing twice and I like to make things difficult and complicated. To me, a new project is a chance to learn something entirely new and challenging. So I decided to make the wedding topper out of polymer clay (i.e. Fimo, the stuff that kids use to make ugly brooches that moms are obliged to wear to work).

I decided to base the topper on one of J and L's engagement pictures. I thought that this picture represented exactly the kind of fun people they are...and why I would never pick a fight with J.

source: Definition Photography

So I did some research on working with polymer clay and found the most informative step by step breakdown at: www.thumbprintkids.com/pages/stepbystep.html. I went to my arts supply store and stocked up on little bricks of Sculpey.  Full process after the jump.

Lazy Sundays

There's nothing like spending a lazy Sunday morning with breakfast in bed. And then there's the something about spending a lazy Sunday *day* in bed. A whole day! A day with no deadlines or errands and just time to spend with someone or catch up on a book or movie. So for that friend of yours that loves to retreat into their Sunday cave every once in a while, make them a "Breakfast in Bed" kit with all the fixings. The fun part is assembling the kit and making the custom labels. Or if you like, you can use the ones that I made! Just download, print and share the Sunday love!