Our breakfast this morning.
Valentine’s Day was an excuse to make a new cake.
The recipe is from Gorgeous Cakes by Annie Bell.
I have the book for a while but this Pink Specked cake was the first one I’ve tried making using Annie’s recipe. It was also a first time ever I’ve tasted a BEETROOT CAKE! Yes, it has grated beetroot in it!! But if you like carrot cake you will LOVE this one. The taste is wonderful, it melts in your mouth.
The fact that it doesn’t have artificial coloring is another big plus for me, I try to avoid anything artificial as much as I can. To make it pink, a teaspoonful of beetroot liquid is used.
I wished I could find sugar roses to decorate the cake just like in the book! Not much choice in that department in my supermarket, it only had these simple looking flowers. Oh well, I sure will try better next time.
Have a nice and sweet Valentine’s Day!
PS.
1. I’m not sure I can publish the recipe, but if you would like I can email it to you just ask :)
2. If you’re wondering … the empty frames on the wall in the last picture are waiting for their art or my embroideries. Nevertheless, these frames is a work of art by itself and were made in the early 19th and late 19th century in France. xoxo
This past couple of weeks has been busy for us with sorting things out that arrived from Paris.
With three chandeliers needing to be hung it is not so easy when your walls are made of steel and concrete.
First, two handymen with a powerful drill came to install heavy duty hooks for the chandeliers. Then my husband had to connect the chandeliers and install the ceiling medallions. With a screw driver in his hand he was balancing on the very top of the ladder and me trying to show support and asking a million times if he switched off the main switch on the circuit breaker.
Then it was my turn to climb that ladder. I had to finish the medallion job plastering small cracks between the medallions and the ceiling first and then sanding it smooth the next day.
Well, I can say I’m happy with how it all turned out and that it actually is done.
This is it – the one in the master bedroom.
These two are of the same style and in my son’s room now.
And here is my plastering job. Not bad, don’t you think?
I wished I could say that everything has found its permanent spot. But the reality is far from it. The chandeliers are in the boxes, the frames either leaning on walls, lying on the table or on the window sill, the bed waiting to be reupholstered.
Here are some of the things that I picked up last June in Provence and Paris. They’ve found their new home and I love them all.
A small vintage marquetry night stand with marble top and bronze decoration that first landed in the kitchen but now is in the right spot.
A beautifully embroidered turn-of-the-century chair. Can someone not admire the colors, pattern and workmanship on it? It is in a very good shape for its age. It’s crazy, but I much prefer to look at it rather than sitting on it.
Tapestry close-up:
Antique middle and late XIX c. wooden frames. Aren’t they gorgeous?
It’s all in the details.
And here is the elegant lady – long legs, wearing pink, with pretty bronze details and gold embossed leather top.
These were among other goodies in a huge box that arrived today from Provence, France.
Packed with love. It has brought so many wonderful emotions … and some tears too.
Spice jars filed with lavender and herbs of Provence with pretty antique stoppers, they are in my kitchen now.
Thank you, my dear friend!!
{my perfume collection}
{моя небольшая коллекция духов}
The love for perfume, always! As long as I remember myself.
I can spend half a day at a perfume shop.
Here is my small collection of perfume mixed with vintage French cologne bottles that sometimes I fill with scented bath oil.
There are two perfumes that are always present in the collection.
Since I discovered it in 1998 it is Poeme by Lancome. The other one, because of my favorite lily-of-the-valley flowers that I admire for their elegant shape and scent, is Diorissimo by the house of Dior. The love for this particular perfume goes back to my college days that are almost 25 years back.
With the Valentine’s day approaching, is there a better gift for a woman than her favorite perfume received from the special person in her live? What perfume it would be for you?
