Nature

Sometimes a day can be busy and to find a relaxing or quiet moment I often enjoy the small things in nature. Here a look of a few things I enjoyed this week on my grad campus.

Homemade Cherry Muffins

This week I made cherry muffins from my cook book Off The Shelf Cooking From the Pantry, by the food writer Donna Hay. I changed up a recipe for no-fuss blueberry muffins and added cherries instead, as well as butter instead of the sour cream. This was due to what I had in the Pantry. I thoughts this was okay considering the books title. Also a lot of crossing my fingers was involved that the muffins would taste good! So here is the recipe:

Cherry Muffins

In a bowl, combine 2 cups sifted self-raising flour, 1/2 cup superfine sugar, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup vegetable oil and 4 oz of butter (this is the part I changed from 1 cup of sour cream) and mix well. Add 1/3 cup water and stir. *(note: At this point the mixture was really thick almost like cookie dough. I added a bit of water the 1/3 cup to fix this problem).  

Wash 20 fresh ripe cherries. Pit the cherries by hand, or if you have a fancy cooking tool go for it! To pit the cherries I ran my knife blade all around the center of the cherry and then popped out the seed. This worked well. Chop and dice up the cherry halfs into smaller pieces. Sprinkle the mixture with the cherries and fold them into the batter. Spoon into a a muffin tin. This recipe makes 12 medium muffins. 

Bake in a preheated (350 degree Fahrenheit) oven for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through. Allow to cool.

The muffins taste great for breakfast or a late night snack. I made sure to allow them to be cooked all the way through for a nice golden color. Hope you enjoy! 

Any great muffin recipes you have to share?

Farmers Market Finds

The farmers market is always exciting to venture to. I love browsing all the different organic foods, fresh flowers, and stopping by the sweet stand for a fresh cupcake. Here are some my finds.

Relaxation time at Creama Cafe

The start of summer has been pretty busy. Ending the year with teaching and all busy things. Today I had some time to do one my favorite things try some new food and coffee. I went to a cafe called Creama in San Jose. I would definitely recommend the atmosphere, lattes, and food.

I tried a white chocolate mocha with soy milk. The drink was served to the perfect temperature and tasted delicious. Creamy, mocha, with a hint of soy. The sugar cookie was also a nice treat! I've been trying to cut back on treats so this was good! a nice snack. Now, back to eating more nutritious food.

Lil baby birds

The birds hatched and are getting bigger as the days pass by. Here are two pictures of them all in the nest opening their little beaks for food. It has been really neat to watch the nest start as empty, to seeing small eggs, to now 5 little hungry birds.

San Francisco Clam Chowder and Sister Visit

SF has such a special place in my heart! The food is delicious and I love there chowder there. This one was from Boudin Bakery on the pier. I would definitely check this restaurant out if you're visiting SF.  It's a fun little stop where you can watch the bakers make the dough, and also see the water while you're eating.  Not to shabby of a place. 

It was such a great day because my sister came up to visit and I got to play tourist for the day! We drove down Lombard Street, walked around pier 39 and got a coffee snack there, saw the seals, went souvenir shopping, took lots pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Lil Bird Eggs In a Canvas Bag

One day I was sitting at my desk looking outside the window on our little patio. I saw a small bird going in and out of a canvas bag that was hanging from an old bike. The bag was meant to be left out to air out from a trip and soon turned into a beautiful home. I watched the small brown bird go in and out the bag. After the bird left the area I peaked in the bag and found a small nest made out of twigs, twine, feathers and more.

Two weeks past where I would quietly check the bag to see if anything had occurred. After two weeks I figured the nest was left, and a better spot was found. A few days later I peaked in the bag in the morning and found two small pale white- peach speckled eggs. I was thrilled. They were so tiny, about as large as my thumb nail.

I started to do some research and believe they are house finch eggs and a mother. I will hopefully see soon. Every day I quietly would check the eggs and four more eggs were laid. Now six small eggs wait in the nest and the momma bird sits on them day and night.

I look forward to seeing them hatch and hope they do well in the protected area. This little nest is such a great reminder of how beautiful nature is and the process of life. I'm looking forward to sharing more soon!!

Any tips on once the babies hatch and this bird type? Hope you all have a good week!