Midnight in Paris Vintage Market

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Midnight in Paris Vintage market at Vintage Inspirations Antiques and Brocante.  A beautiful and dreamy little shop in Ramstein village.  The shop is small but packed full of lovely things from floor to ceiling, literally. 

Let the Minecraft party planning begin

Myles Birthday isn't until October but he has been adamant about having a Minecraft Birthday.  So for once I'm trying not to procrastinate and I've already gotten started.  If you have never heard of Minecraft then you will have no idea what these crazy looking block characters are.  If you have heard of Minecraft then you will probably recognize them and I'll show you were to find them.  

Fun with Buttons

   When I was little my Grandmother (Grandma Dix)  had a big jar full of buttons.  There was also a needle and thread in that jar with a few buttons always on the string just inviting you to start sewing.  I think this is why buttons make me happy.  

Donut muffins of course.

I made these this weekend because my kids love donuts and they love muffins so the two together must be better.  I found this recipe on Pinterest from Somewhat Simple. 

Chocolate Caramel Brownies, Wow!

Holy cow these were good.  Caramel and chocolate and brownies are such an amazing combination.  So rich and slightly salty and very sweet and gooey and did I mention amazing. Yes they were really good.  

And the winners are...

Yes I said winners.  I really wanted to chose everyone that entered, but I decided to go with two.  One was such a lonely number.  So I am happy to announce that the winners of my very first giveaway are (drum roll please)....

Apple Bread mason jar mix

School is quickly approaching for us and I like to start off the year with a sweet greeting. Normally I give a loaf of apple bread and a recipe card.  This year I wanted to go a little bit further and include the apple bread mix.  That way our busy teacher friends can just toss it all together and have a freshly baked treat anytime.  

One Year Blogiversary and Giveaway!

In a galaxy far, far away.... I started a blog.

Shrimp and Coconut milk

Yet another lovely recipe from my lovely Mother in Law, from Guam.  This is one of my favorite summertime dishes, well anytime dish is probably more like it.    I love shrimp and so do my kids but my pocket book doesn't really like shrimp that much, so we don't eat this nearly as often as I like.  This is perfect for summer though because it requires very little cooking time and it's a one pot dish.  

Finadene, a mixture of soysauce, vinegar and yum

 Finadene is one of the most flavorful and delicious things I've ever tasted.  It's a Guam, soy sauce and vinegar mixture that is to die for.  It goes really great with barbecued meats of any kind, and rice and even vegetables.  The only thing I haven't tried it on is ice cream and I'm sure it would be good there too.  There are probably a million and one ways to make Finadene.  Every family and really every person has their own recipe for it. Some people like it more spicy, some like it with tomatoes, some like it with cucumbers(one of my favorites), some like it with lemon juice instead of vinegar.  I've had it many ways and they are all good.  So I'd like to share a kind of base recipe as a jumping off point.  

Planes, tractors, and jewelry...

I love summer.  I love being able to just pick between any one of the random events that might be going on at any given time.  This weekend we got to go to a local airshow or flugplatz fest as they say in German.  It was small but ended up being a lot of fun.  My favorite part wasn't even the airplanes or the hot air balloons (but those were pretty cool).  

Apple pie in July

I don't normally make pie in the summer time.  It's hot and the whole idea of a warm pie on a hot day doesn't appeal to me.  But my sweet Myles kept asking and asking and asking for apple pie.  The weather was unusually cool at the time so I said yes, I would be happy to make him some apple pie.  I bought a ton of granny smith apples to bake for my sweet little boy and then the weather changed.  It got hot.  Well hot for people that live in Germany with no air conditioning. I wanted to wait until the heat broke but it lasted for about a week and I knew our apples wouldn't make it much longer.  So I baked Myles apple pie in 90 degree weather with no air conditioning and lots of love and sweat.  

The results were lots of smiles, happy tummies and a very hot kitchen.  Since I had the pie ingredients out and I guess I wasn't sweaty enough I decided to try to make pie pops.  If you've never seen these adorable little confections they are basically pie on a stick. I found a very easy to follow tutorial at Bakerella (one of my favorite ladies).  I just made a little bit extra dough and a little bit extra filling ( I did dice the apples very small for the pie pop filling) and attempted to create something that would hopefully resemble a pie pop.

Well it didn't turn out as nice as Bakerella's.  It was a little bit messy and the crust was a little too thick, but it tasted pretty good and it looked like a pie pop.  This is something that I will definitely try again and again until I get it right.  I love the cuteness and the convenience of having it on a stick.  It's brilliant really to put something that is so messy into this tiny pocket of pastry goodness. There are also so many options with different fillings and flavors.  I hope that you are having a wonderful summer and if the heat breaks make some pie.  

Credits...

Bakerella for her wonderful Pie Pop walkthrough.

My Apple Pie recipe.

Fairy Garden Party Printables

The Fairy Garden party Printables are finally up in my Etsy shop.  Ready to be used at Fairy parties everywhere or anywhere.  

Fairy Garden Party printables
Sunny by Design

Fairy Garden Party

Last week I had the pleasure of having a house full of fairies.  It was wonderful and magical and memorable and so much fun.  I invited several of my friends and their adorable children to help, attend and enjoy this fun filled day.  The results were priceless. 

Happy 4th of July!

Hope you have a wonderful day filled with red, white and blue.