Banar Designs: September 2009

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The most gorgeous designs in the world- African face art

These are from a book by photographer, Hans Silvester: Natural Fashion, Tribal Decoration from Africa. Published by Thames & Hudson. They are from the Surma and Musi tribes of the Omo Valley in East Africa.

I wish I could design like them.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Happy birthday to me (2 days ago)

I didn't want to remember my birthday this year because it's a bad one. One of those decade ones!

But several people did remember and I got some nice cards and these pretty flowers. I told Nancy that I really didn't want to do anything, but Nancy, Bob and I (the whole Finwall family) went out for hot fudge sundaes. It was nice and subdued, It didn't make me dwell on my age for very long. The flowers were from the little Kinsey boys. Robin gave me some pastries from the new bakery in town. Delicious! Thank you one and all.

A stroll through Nancy's house- Little chairs galore

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Here's the recipe for the Olive Oil Cakes that Vickie made for our last book club. She got it from Food Network Magazine

Ingredients

For the Cakes:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh thyme, plus sprigs for garnish

For the Glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Position a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Prepare the cakes: Brush a 6- or 12-cup mini Bundt or muffin pan with the melted butter. Lightly dust with flour and shake out the excess.
Pulse the granulated sugar and lemon zest in a blender until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, then gradually pour in the olive oil and milk, pulsing until emulsified into a thin batter, about 30 seconds. Don't overblend or the cakes will be too puffy.
Whisk 1 cup flour, the baking powder, salt and 1 teaspoon thyme in a small bowl. Add to the blender in 2 batches, pulsing lightly until just combined; stop to scrape down the sides of the blender as needed. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cakes just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and spring back when lightly touched, 28 to 30 minutes for a 6-cup Bundt pan and 22 to 25 minutes for a 12-cup Bundt or muffin pan. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the sides with a small knife and invert the cakes onto a rack.
Meanwhile, prepare the glaze: Whisk the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth, adding more lemon juice if the mixture is too thick. Drizzle over the warm cakes and garnish with thyme sprigs.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Another postage stamp collage

Also found at a garage sale.

Modern Medical Mysteries

Saturday, September 12, 2009

September Book Club

The book of this month. It was chosen by Kathy and we all

thought it was very well written. Helen and Kathy both liked it a lot. I really didn't enjoy reading it.

It was set in the early 1900's in Alaska where the main character was sent to report on and study the weather. Not something I find interesting. There aren't many people there at the time and particularly not many women. Among the three women he interacts with two of them don't talk and the third one he doesn't allow to talk. I prefer more "talky" books, myself. This one seemed to have a theme of lack of communication. There was also a little too much killing and skinning of animals for my taste. I also found the sex scenes uncomfortable, maybe because it was written by a women in a man's voice, although she did it very well. I've gotten the reputation as the prude of the group (which I'm not,really).

There were a lot of deep meanings which I had trouble deciphering, and so did some of the others. I must say it made for one of our most lively and best discussions, though.

Now to the most important part of the evening: the food!

Lovely little salmon burgers by Vickie.

A salad by Laurie.

She wasn't able to come to the meeting but still, very nicely,
had Roxanne bring this salad. What a pal !

A beautiful jello salad by Susan.

The most delicious little olive oil cakes by Vickie.

She had quite a search for the perfect mini bundt pan to make these in.
She finally found one at Sur La Table. It was made by Nordic Ware.
I'm going to get you the recipe. Stay tuned.