Last day of summer

Lots of birthdays recently so I decided to bake a nice coffee cake that I could share with my friends.

11/2 stick unsalted butter at room temperature (plus 1 tablespoon for apples)

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup spelt flour

11/2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

2 cups sugar ( 1 tablespoon for apples)

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup whole milk yoghurt

1/4 cup whole milk

2 cups sautéed apples

Core and peel apples. Cut into 1 inch pieces and sauté in 1 tablespoon of butter, add brown sugar and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a tube pan and dust with flour. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In stand mixer bowl beat butter until smooth. Beat in sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs and then vanilla. Add flour and yoghurt milk mixtures in alternating batches until just combined (do not over mix)

Spread half the batter in pan, top evenly with sautéed apples and spread remaining batter on top.

Bake for about 1 hour or until tester comes out clean.

Once cake has cooled off glaze with a mixture of 1 cup of confectioners sugar mixed with 2 tablespoons of milk.

Let cool completely before removing from pan.

Happy birthday 

Geneva

Beautiful afternoon at Lake Geneva. 

It is amazing how they have live flowers even in the middle of winter.

Short Hikes

Dish cloths

I love making dish clothes. They're fast, simple and immensely useful. They're cheap and get used every day.

I made this one tonight after a long day at work. 

Love the colors.

Walking in Zurich

It was kind of a cool, grayish afternoon, but walking through the alleys of Zurich's old town I came across some beautiful stores and courtyards.

One of my favorites, the Predigergasse.

A store that sells and repairs bicycles.

Another one repairs dolls and stuffed animals.

I wish I could bring one of the beautiful chairs home with me.

Or maybe just some fresh veggies.

But I did get a skein of yarn!

Noro (on sale for $8)

Cleaning and organizing

Have been in a cleaning, organizing and decorating mood these last 2 days. After clearing away all the holiday stuff the house was in need of a new look. Plus the dog was shedding so badly that major house cleaning couldn't be avoide, I'm still not finished and I will post pictures as more rooms take on a new face. Somehow having the mantle reflect the season seems like a good start.

That, and a very good smelling dog:

Feeling better

After being sich with a yucky stomach virus for 2 days, I finally returned to my favorite knitting chair and finished my project:

A sleeve for my iPad mini. I used a pattern for a kindle reader and just made it a tiny little bit bigger. I think it'll work well.

Cold

It's only 9pm and the temperature has already dropped tp 9F. Time to warm up the bed with a hot-water bottle:

And it's really time to knit a new cover. There's a great pattern on the Lion's Brand website. I already bought the yarn as well. 

Pumpkins

My pumpkins at Halloween.

I was amazed that these pumpkins survived for 2 months in my garage, I chose one of the ghost pumpkins, cut it up and cooked it in the crockpot with lots of spices for 4 hours. Then I added coconut milk and served it over riice.

Great dinner for a cold winter evening.

Cold morning

It was 9 degrees Fahrenheit here this morning. So after starting a fire, feeding the animals and making my tea I decided to make some oatmeal. I used steel cut oats and added dried berries and apricots, then, for good measure , I added some cinnamon and ground up some green cardamom. Warm and yummy.

2014

It's a new year so I'm going to try my hand at blogging again. My plan is to at least post one picture or short note every day ( I got a new I-Pad for Christmas, which should make this an easier job)
So here is my first picture for the new year:

a pair of socks I just finished.