my latest version of our favorite apple cake

I am revisiting our family favorite fall cake:

apple cake or as we call it at home harvest cake!

By changing the pan (and the amount of the dough)

I change the cake:

this one is like an easy apple tart.

It does look different depending on how the apple slices are arranged on top of the dough:

But it tastes just as good as the original harvest cake,and the perfect cake to make at the last minute,it takes longer to heat up the oven to 350 than making the dough!
for this larger pie pan:3 eggs150g of sugar150g of AP flour1.5 tsp of baking powder0.5 tsp vanilla0.5-1 tsp cinnamon3 tbsp of milk 150 g of melted butter
mix together, one after the other,pour into greased pie pan,and arranged the sliced apples (1.5 apples for this size)

bake for 30-35 min at 350,enjoy warm or cold.
We also make it in a loaf pan:

harvest cake



Happy thanksgiving!

Enjoying some harvest cake in a new pan

Long time, no see!I am back with some autumn/harvest goodness:everybody's favorite apple harvest cake!(well at least at home, which matters most to me!)

It is pretty much the same recipe from the previous years:

here and here,

2 eggs, 100g of sugar, 125g of flour (a little more),1 tsp of baking powder,

2 Tbsp of milk or apple cider, a little vanilla, a little cinnamon, 

 90g of butter (salted for us) and of course 1-2 apples cut into small pieces.

Quite tasty!

The new pan made it extra special, and fun!

It requites some baking spray to insure proper demolding,

pretty much little any cake.

Happy first day of Autumn!

apple embroidered pillow

I finished my apple embroidered pillow in time!

I was getting concerned that I was not going to make it!

Well I knew I would finish it,but in time to go to the park to take pictures,that was less certain!

with French cidre (from Normandie, not Bretagne... but yeah cider!),

apples and harvest cake.

The cross stitched pattern from Madame La Fee

was long but not too difficult,

with the proper glasses!

I must admit I was looking forward to have it complete!

I was able to find in my "collection" the perfect print:

a thimbleberries apple print from 2004!

I remember buying it when Miss C. was a tiny baby!

I used the print to frame the embroidery (a little too small for a pillow)

and for the back.

Then Mon Cheri and I went to the park to take pictures....

with pillow, blanket, cake and cider!

I think people look at us a little funny,

since there is a no picnic policy right now!

Luckily the pictures turned out really nice,

and we had a nice walk around the pound.

Cakes like to go on walks too!😜

Happy day!

the fall outdoor cocktail hour

What to do when you dream of travelling and you have to stay home?

You try to recreate the scene of the travel of course!

I recently saw this cool pic on IG of an "impromptu" fall picnic 

in the English Countryside:

(Photography: @hope_and_wander)

and it was simply lovely.

As I was sharing this with one of my girlfriends,

she dared me to recreate it our backyard!

I had to change the narrative from impromptu fall picnic during car ride

to fall cocktail in the "woods".

It required grabbing planters, pumpkins from the front porch,

and blankets from different rooms to the backyard

and set it all together....

The final ingredient was the cocktail,

 I found the perfect one: apple cider Manhattan from Inspired by charm

Originally I was concerned it was too sweet with the maple syrup,

but it was just right.

We have made it 4 or 5 times, a new favorite!

2 oz bourbon, 0.5 oz sweet vermouth, 1.5 oz apple cider, 0.5 oz maple syrup,

2 dashes of bitter (orange which I do not have) and a cherry, of course!

I quickly prepared a little appetizer,

to help absorb the alcohol...

some thinly sliced baguette with a little fresh goat cheese

and herbes de Provence, toasted in the oven...perfection!

Somebody decided that they smelled too goodto let them sit outside....

so Lou ate them all!🙈
At least we enjoyed the cocktail and the setting!
Happy day!

histoire de Pommes cross stitch embroidery

I started this "delicious" embroidery at the beginning of the stay-at-home order,thinking it was the perfect time to workon such a large project:

It was and it is, but I have been back at work for months,so it is slow going.....I am not sure I am going to be done in timefor apple season!
The pattern is from Madame la fee,a French designer,whose cross stitch grid can be purchased online,but it is not like Etsy and other placeswhere you get immediate download,it can take a couple days.

Here are all the pretty colors necessary for the embroidery,

originally I was planning on doing it on linen,

but after a few hours....

I hated the look and the irregularity of the stitches!

So I grabbed some white even-weave and tea dyed it,

so it would be less white, without being yellow,

and restarted the embroidery:

much happier!

I kept on stitching, keeping busy...

Mon Cheri describes it as my form of meditation,

which is pretty accurate!

The embroidery grew bigger and bigger,

from the middle to the outer edges,

the opposite way of a puzzle!

It took quite a while to reach that size,

it is a great activity when it is too hot to move outside!

Then I realized that in order to stitch all the white parts,

I needed stronger glasses!

And it totally helped!

See that little lace behind the tarte aux pommes?

so delicate!

I still need to stitch the donut, the cider glass, a pot of jelly and finish the flower....

Now I dream of finishing this embroidery

and eating apple goodies like this "chausson aux pommes",

literally apple slipper!

Happy day!