Cake: A crumby study

It's no secret that the baking crazy takes hold of me every now and then. I bake so much that I have to bring most of it into work or send it out to our friends and family nearby. My neighbor that shares the floor with us (We have a 6 unit building) and I have taken to doing a bake exchange between our 2 flats. (I admit to eating more than my share of her blueberry pie, by sneaking it off to the office for breakfast. I may actually be a pie person now.)

I have always loved Smitten Kitchen's blueberry crumb cake. I rushed this one a bit. I think I used too much blueberry considering these were ginormous. The ratio was a bit off.

And since cherries are sweet delicious and in season, I thought let's try it with cherries. This was tasty and this time, I could've used more fruit. This version also taught me that maybe buying a cherry pitter is not such a crazy investment after all ... 

Lastly I modified The Kitchn's Nectarine and Blackberry upside down cake. I used a mixture of cake and all purpose flour because that is what I had in the pantry and I completely left out the cornmeal. Seriously, do we need to fusion and texture everything people? Settle down. Let the classic cake shine. I also used brown sugar instead of granulated for the topping. It looked a bit like it was under a sheet of glass when I was done. The cake was tender and people tell me it wasn't too sweet. I took it to my father and stepmother's this weekend and I think there was one piece left. That's a good sign, indeed.

WINNERS! The random number generator selected 9 (Kathy B's son Zach) & 10 (The Delusional Knitter) for the National Parks Coloring book giveaway. I'll be in touch to confirm mailing addresses and get those out to you this week. Thanks to everyone that entered.

What's bringing the sweet and color in your summer so far?

Giveaway: National Parks Coloring Book

A good friend of our family's Ms. Sophie Tivona a talented illustrator and artist has released her first coloring book. It's a coloring book of illustrations of the National Parks.

From Amazon.com

In order to support and celebrate such an awesome project I'm going to be giving away 2 of these books.

All you have to do is leave a comment here with a way to contact you for your mailing address. Ravelry, email etc. by end of day June 12th. I'll announce the winner June 13th. 

Meanwhile, color your days in happy.

WIP Wednesday

There have been happy things and good times at the homestead.

Hot cups of coffee in those reusable to-go cups from The Starbucks that make my life less crazy. I drink half a cup of home and finish the rest at the office. AHHHH. Less Crazy thank you coffee gods!

I also managed to make some rounds on my Golden State Warriors playoff socks.  I'm about 2/3s finished with sock #2 and then after much influence from the blogophere and you lovely commenters I'm on to Flaum! I'm sure there will be other things socks going on as well ...

I also have read a little bit. Amazing, I know. The boys sort of gave me a snort for my combination light mystery/romance but it's like watching an episode of Rosemary and Thyme. Maybe it's not brilliant but it's fun and comforting. Those two qualities actually mean a lot to me right now :) It's such a fun easy read, that I am almost done after a few nights of a few hours!

And of course there has been family, friends and food. My inlaws came over for brunch on Memorial Day after they stayed Sunday night in the city. We cooked and prepped food like there were 15 of us, but hey ... that's what we do and nothing went to waste. (I'm still eating those biscuits and I polished off the cherries at the office yesterday!)

Oh there was SO much more ... and I didn't even eat any smoked salmon!

My exercise remains at the bookends of the week, but that will do. There is plenty to keep in progress in the meantime. Just a few more days and then we are back to weekending.