Cabin in the City

Books, cats and midwestern charm.

Lisa

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Basement Blues

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I love my home. I love so much about it – the coziness, the wackiness, the memories it holds. But sometimes I hate being a homeowner. It can be phenomenally terrible. How?

This is how.

Yep, that is my yard being torn up so my basement can be repaired. What’s wrong with it? Almost everything. Three out of four walls were bulging, the drain tile was rendered almost useless by mud and tree roots and the whole thing leaked like no one’s business. It was bad.

So this is the sort of shit you do to fix it up. You hire a crew to wreck your yard, wreck your basement floor and put it all back together again all so you can sleep at night knowing that your foundation won’t collapse and your husband’s assemblage of musical instruments won’t be ruined by water coming in all the damn time.

NBD. Just a 10′ deep trench in front of our door.

This is what real home ownership looks like. It is not all picking out midcentury sofas and Anthropologie drawer pulls. It’s not curating the perfect china cabinet or finding the right brushed brass light fixture. Home ownership is hard, repairs are hard and shelling out the cash is the hardest yet.

But you do it.

And you try not to let every lifestyle and home décor blogger out there bother you when they post a picture of their kitchen “before” and it looks like you kitchen’s “after” except 100 times better.

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The Stars Align: Tarot Art Show

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Once in a while, the universe does me some wonderful and mysterious favors. And more rarely, the universe does me some wonderful, mysterious and coordinated favors.

Proof? A few months back, I wanted to get a little more serious about my interest in tarot. I had been envisioning embroidering tarot cards for some time – as a for fun, witchy woman sort of thing – but didn’t really want to go at it until I knew more about tarot readings and what the cards symbolize. I expressed some interest in this to some friends one day – less than a week later I got an email from my local yoga studio advertising an upcoming tarot workshop. That’s some great timing.

But then just a few days after the class, I was mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and I saw that an artist I follow, Lesley Numbers, posted a final call for artists for her art show. Her tarot-themed art show. HOLY SHIT.

Talk about the stars aligning, right?

Lucky for me, Lesley still had cards available to assign. Through the powers of divination and random assignment, I was given the Knight of Cups. I obviously took this as a sign and immediately googled its meaning. Just like drawing the Fool, it turns out the Knight of Cups had some relevant messages for me. The Knight of Cups can symbolize energy and drive (but in a controlled and peaceful way) as well as creativity. Ummmm… is it just me that sees that card as the perfect parallel for this project? Tarot is real, everyone.

With this assignment and metaphysical encouragement, I got to work embroidering my most complex project yet: the traditional Smith-Waite Knight of Cups. It took about 40 hours to complete (and some really sore fingers), and I think it turned out really well! I’m pretty proud of this one.

Some of the really lovely cards on display in the Bubbler inside Madison’s Central Library.

For all you locals, you can see my work in-person, along with cards from 150+ artists, at The Bubbler inside Madison’s Central Library now through the end of April. And if you’re really into this idea, you can attend the opening on Friday, April 14 – there will be other works on view, including some from Lesley Numbers herself, the library’s artist in residence. You can find all the details about the event here.

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Introducing… Kaminski Handicraft

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In my last post I made mention of new and exciting embroidery projects and how they were keeping me pretty busy. Well, it’s true! I do have some fun embroidery news to share!

After literal years of saying I would, I opened my Etsy shop! Say hello to Kaminski Handicraft!

Kaminski Handicraft sells custom embroidery pieces to celebrate life’s special occasions: weddings, anniversaries, new babies and more! I have a handful of standard designs that are ready to customize, and I’m also open to all sorts of design-to-order work to match invitations, websites and whatever else comes my way.

It’s a bit embarrassing to admit that I first wrote about this idea here all the way back in 2015, but that’s OK! I’ve got a few more hoops under my belt and a few more designs to pop into the shop!

Thanks for checking Kaminski Handicraft out. I’ll be adding more styles in the future, and – who knows – maybe a few non-special occasion hoops (looking at you, Golden Girls quotes). 😉

P.S. You can follow this new venture on Instagram: @kaminskihandicraft.

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Easy Wins: Chocolate Ganache Tart

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The Great American Baking Resolution continues! And thank goodness because without it, I’d never post here. I have some stitching projects underway – more on those later! – and they’ve been eating up a lot of my laying around time.

This month, invigorated by new seasons (!!!) of The Great British Baking Show on Netflix, I decided to make a chocolate ganache tart. For some reason, I was under the impression that a) ganache was difficult to make and b) I had never made it before. I was wrong on both counts, but that’s OK! An easy win is still a win.

To make this tart, you’ll need the following for the crust:

  • 1½ cups shortbread cookie crumbs (you could also use graham crackers, gingersnaps, Nilla wafers, etc.)
  • 6 tbsp. butter, melted
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • Dash of salt

And the ganache:

  • 8  oz. heavy whipping cream
  • 12 oz. dark or semi-sweet chocolate
  • 4 tbsp. butter, softened
  • ¼ tsp. vanilla extract

Begin by making the crust. This is your standard crumb crust that you’d use for ice box pies, cheesecakes and the like. You’ll start by grinding up your cookies until they’re relatively fine – by fine I mean more like sand and less like powder. If you have a food processor, now’s the time to bust it out! If not, some elbow grease works too. Once you have finely crushed cookies, mix in the melted butter, sugar and salt. Press this into a 9″ tart pan. I used the bottom of a measuring cup to press the crumbs in firmly and evenly. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes. Let it cool.

To prepare the ganache, start by chopping the chocolate and butter into small pieces – I’d say about the size of a chocolate chip. Put aside while you heat the cream. Heat the cream in a saucepan on medium-low heat until hot (almost simmering). Then pour over the chocolate and butter. Let this sit for a couple minutes, then whisk together. The chocolate and butter should melt pretty easily and you’ll end up with a rich, chocolate mix. Pour this into the cool tart shell. You can let this firm up by letting it set overnight at room temperature or pop it it in the fridge for 2-3 hours. I like the latter. And when I say 2-3 hours, I mean it. You’ll see in these photos that the ganache is a touch soft – that’s what an hour and 45 minutes gets you.

To finish it all off, I sprinkled with some sea salt and drizzled with a little caramel sauce. But some fresh whipped cream and berries would be nice too. You do you!

Overall, this is a simple dessert – a good recipe for home bakers like myself – but it sounds impressive as hell. It’s the sort of dessert that sounds like it can win friends and influence people. So I recommend whipping one up for your next dinner party, visit to your in-laws or charity bake sale. 🙂

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Darn Good Almond Poppy Seed Cake

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Best dessert of your life – go! For a sweet-lover like myself, you might think it’d be hard to choose between the tiramisus, the French silk pies and the eclairs of the world. But you’re wrong here. My heart belongs to one dessert and one alone: Delicately Delicious’s almond poppy seed cake. I don’t know how this bakery does it, but they make the lightest, fluffiest whisper of a cake, and I can’t get enough.

I also literally cannot get it enough. I never get to the bakery on time for a slice. What’s a girl to do? Turns out a girl just makes it her damn self.

And that turned out to be quite the task, but one totally suited for my Great American Baking Resolution. It seems the world doesn’t really make this kind of cake. The internet let out an exasperated did you mean lemon poppy seed cake? every time I searched. Or Pinterest would cough up some halfhearted pound cake recipe. Not what I was looking for.

So I decided that not only would I have to make the cake myself, I’d have to create a recipe too. So I returned to Pinterest, pinned the recipe that looked most like what I wanted and went from there. What did I start with? A very pretty looking lemon poppy seed cake recipe that inconveniently used the metric system – horror of horrors to an American that’s not in the mood to use math.

What I ended up with was risky: inexact conversions, subtracting ingredients, substituting others, a higher baking temperature. Would it ever turn out?!

YES!

This wonderful, sweet cake turned out beautifully. Not quite as good as its professionally produced sister, but so, so, so close, especially for just winging it. And close enough that I consider this a real success 9/10 for sure. The cake is light and moist, just they way I wanted it. And it’s all topped off with Swiss meringue buttercream and some toasted almonds.

Now let’s get baking. Here’s what you’ll need for the cake:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • 15 tbsp. butter, softened
  • 1 cup + 2 tbsp. buttermilk
  • 5 egg whites
  • 4½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. almond extract
  • 3 tbsp. poppy seeds

Start by mixing the flour, baking powder, salt and poppy seeds in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl mix your buttermilk and egg whites together. Set these aside for the moment.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and pale. Add your almond extract. Now alternate adding your dry ingredients and your wet until you have a nice, creamy batter. Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of your bowl as you alternate to make sure every bit gets blended in.

Divide the batter between 3 8″-cake pans. Be sure that your pans are greased and lined with parchment or waxed paper on the bottom. Pop into a 325°F oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool briefly in the pans and then remove and cool on a wire rack.

And for the frosting:

  • 8 egg whites
  • 2½ cups sugar
  • 3 cups butter
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract

To make the frosting, place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water on the stove making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Whisk the egg whites and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is about 160°F.

When that mixture has hit temperature, pour it into the bowl of your mixer and beat until room temperature using the whisk attachment.  The mix should form soft peaks (this will take about 6-10 minutes). Then switch to your paddle attachment and gradually add in tablespoons of butter until the mix is creamy and frosting-y. Finally add your vanilla extract and you’re done!

I let my cakes cool overnight before frosting. I definitely recommend letting these cakes cool for a few hours. A touch of heat on that Swiss meringue frosting and it’s as good as butter. As for the actual frosting of the cake – I’m no professional. Just swipe it on there and smooth it out, though you could definitely use this frosting with a piping bag for some nice swirls and what-have-you.

She’s a beaut of a cake, and it’s a real shame that I didn’t take a picture of it sliced like a good blogger, but you live and you learn. Now I’ve gotta run and think about what my March baking challenge will be. I was thinking ganache in some way, shape or form. What do you think?

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My Strange Tradition: Groundhog Day Cupcakes

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Happy Groundhog Day, all! We might be getting six more weeks of winter, but that’s OK because I brought treats: my signature groundhog cupcakes.

I know what you’re thinking.  No one celebrates Groundhog Day, idiot. Yeah, well that’s sort of the point. It’s an underrated and goofy holiday, why not give it a little love? That’s what I thought when I started making these silly things ten years ago. TEN. That is an absurdly long time for something so wonderfully stupid.

Thing is, I almost didn’t make these cupcakes this year. Well, I wasn’t planning on it until I got a super sweet text from one of my oldest friends reminiscing about their cute little faces. I can’t resist nostalgia, so I decided I had to whip up a batch (sorry you can’t enjoy them, Molly!).

Here’s the lowdown on the recipe. It’s from Cupcakes! from the Cake Doctor, a book I picked up at a church book fair back in high school. This book spurned my then-not-yet-passé interest in cupcakes. And the cute themes sparked a short-lived interest in cake decorating. Although I’ve only made probably four recipes out of this whole book, it somehow developed into some sort of totem for me. It’s my Midwest mom cupcake book, my silly high school baking cookbook, a book I used in college for my demonstrative speech in COMM 101 and a book that started my favorite absurd tradition. And it makes cupcakes super simple because every recipe starts with a cake mix (that’s what the Cake Doctor does – it’s her thing).

Here’s what you’ll need for the cake:

  • 1 package German chocolate cake mix
  • 1¼ cups buttermilk
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract

And the frosting:

  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp. cocoa powder
  • 3-4 tbsp. milk

And the decorations:

  • Chocolate jimmies
  • Shaved almonds
  • Chocolate chips – mini brown M&M’s work too
  • Mini chocolate chips

Making the cake is easy breezy. Just mix together all the ingredients with an electric mixer or stand mixer for about three minutes – stopping halfway to scrap down the bowl. Then fill your cupcake liners ¾-full. I like to use a disher or ice cream scoop to make portioning easy, but a spoon does just fine too. Bake at 350°F for 22-24 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the pans and let cool.

The frosting is just as easy. Simply beat your softened butter with an electric mixer until it gets nice and soft. Then add in your powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and about three tablespoons of milk. Beat this together until combined. If the frosting looks too stiff and powdery, add in more milk a little at a time until it gets that nice frosting consistency. If you find the frosting is too runny, just add in a little powder sugar at a time until it firms up.

Then comes the best part: the decorating. To start, just frost the cupcakes as usual with an offset spatula. This does not need to be too finicky – I wouldn’t even bust out a pastry bag for this. Roll the frosted cupcake in the chocolate jimmies. Word to the wise: don’t frost all your cupcakes first. This frosting has a tendency to dry a bit as it sits, so if you wait too long you’ll lose all that sticking power.

Once you’ve got that done, I’d recommend grabbing a pastry bag with a wide, round tip. A zip-top bag with the corner snipped off works just as good – no need to get too futzy if you don’t have to. Fill this with the rest of your frosting and pipe a round dollop of frosting on each cupcake for the groundhog head. I’d say the head should be somewhere between the size of a quarter and a poker chip. Once the heads are finished, insert two almond ears into each along with a chocolate chip or M&M nose and little chocolate eyes. With that – you’re all done and you have a little repetition of groundhogs (which is what the internet tells me is the name for a group of them – that or coterie).

I realize writing this on Groundhog Day doesn’t give you much time to whip these up for your Groundhog Day movie night, but I’ll say that this recipe is good any day of the year.

Happy Groundhog Day and big thanks to my friend Molly!

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The Great American Baking Resolution

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As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been making resolutions galore this year – cutting out soda (thanks to my dentist for that one), eating less fried food (sorry, Culver’s) and exercising more than never. These are going alright so far (could still be exercising more than once a week).

But not all resolutions or goals need to be boring or difficult or no fun like the ones I listed above. I decided to set a fun goal for myself as well. Inspired by The Great American Baking Show (and the original of course!), I decided to try a new baking skill or recipe every month. I figure if those bakers can try their hands at Battenburg cakes and petit fours, I can give those more challenging desserts a try.

One new recipe a month isn’t overly ambitious, but there’s nothing wrong with an achievable goal. The way I see it, by 2018, I’ll be confident making 12 new recipes. That’s bound to be more than if I just winged it all year, right?

I started this weekend with eclairs. I’m not confident enough in my execution to show off some sort of tutorial, but I was confident enough with the result to bring those (slightly misshapen) beauties to work. It was a good sweet to start with since it challenged me to make two things I’ve never attempted: pâte à choux and crème patisserie. I had always assumed those things would be ultra-complicated, but it turns out they’re really not too difficult. It was a good recipe to launch me into a sweet 2017.

I don’t have my 11 other recipes quite sorted out yet, but I’m planning on French macarons and another type of pastry to really keep me on my toes. If you have any suggestions for what I should bake next, I’d love to hear them!

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The Fool

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Happy belated New Year, friends. I’ve been away for a bit, but I can assure you it’s because I’ve taken up lots of new habits (like trying to bring my lunch to work everyday and not eat every French fry). I’ve also been focusing more on general goals, like spending more time doing things that make me happy and aren’t hours of Netflix.

That is precisely how I ended up taking a tarot class at my local yoga studio. I’ve always been interested in all things new age-y, supernatural and spooky (see here, here and here), so taking this class really wasn’t a big stretch. I was sort of hesitant at first because no one really needs to take a tarot class, but no one needs to spend hours making plastic canvas houses either. So I signed up. I’ve been interested in learning more about tarot for a while but never got too far into my internet research – besides I learn better in-person anyways.

I hopped over to Tosa Yoga on Friday the 13th – a full moon – and sat down to hear what Erika Schreck of Turtle Healing Energy had to say. And I was totally enlightened.

After some basic introductions and an overview of the deck, the instructor had us all ask ourselves What do I need to know right now? as we picked a tarot card from the deck fanned on the floor. As I approached, I saw an end card and was like nah –not the end. But then she called out, “First choice is best choice!” Makes sense for an intuitive sort of craft like tarot. Turns out it also made sense for me!

I drew, as the title will tell you, the Fool. I definitely had sort of a aww really? moment about it. I drew the Fool out of all the 76 cards? But since I was completely uneducated about the whole tarot deck, I had no idea how appropriate this card was.

Erika came by and gently explained its meaning: Fool is the start of the tarot deck – it’s numbered as zero – and the Major Arcana (the cards that are not Wands, Swords, Pentacles or Cups) is essentially the journey of the Fool. This means that the Fool is the start of something – though I may not know exactly what.

She went on to say that if I don’t know what direction to head in, it’s a good time to listen to myself, the world and try to learn a bit more before I start forging a path. That piece of wisdom really struck a chord with me. For some time I’ve been searching for something new – whether that’s opening an Etsy shop, exploring a new career path or maybe none of those things – so hearing that I could be on the cusp of something (rather than stuck) really lifted my spirits.

Truthfully, the whole class lifted my spirits – not just pulling a card that spoke to me. Sitting in the studio for a few hours on a Friday with a bunch of like-minded women really tapped into a few things I love most: learning, sisterhood and all things magical and mysterious. Maybe that’s a little something I needed to learn before I start my journey.

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A Christmas Miracle

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The 90s are back. We all know this. Chokers and combat boots abound. But these are all small bananas compared to my dream 90s comeback trend: velvet.

YES PLEASE. I recall being a child and thinking velvet was the epitome of glamour (it is) and loving every velvet Christmas dress I owned (which was at least three). So early on, the idea of velvet at Christmastime was cemented in my mind. If you want to look fabulous and holiday-ready, you need a velvet dress. Plain and simple.

Except not.

Last year I ordered a plum velvet dress from ModCloth. It was a bust. As was the gold one I tried on at Boston Store. I was disappointed, but I vowed to search again in 2016. I did. I found a beautiful velvet burnout dress – but the keyhole neck was too droopy with the weight of the fabric. But then I saw a blue velvet option from Nordstrom for $58. Oh yes, this would be it! The quest was complete and shipping in two days! But lo! The cutouts looked so stupid on me! My hopes for singing “Blue Velvet” to myself were dashed. So I lurched back to Nordstrom to return another contender. I thought again, next year. I believed that the world did not want me to find a decent velvet dress.

Until I was walking out. There she was: a beautiful long sleeve velvet dress with a skater skirt and flower pattern. Only one in my size left! It was fate. I fell in love quickly. I made plans for this dress: a holiday party! Dinner! Christmas Day!

And we’ve been happily together ever since. A Christmas miracle.

• • •

P.S. I’m not a fashion blogger and my husband is not a fashion photographer, so this is the best we do.

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Life in Plastic [Canvas] is Fantastic

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I briefly mentioned in my holiday tradition post that I picked up a new holiday hobby: making little plastic canvas do-dads.

I fully realize that unlike other crafts of yore – macramé, cross stitching and the like – plastic canvas is not cool. I’m drawn to it nonetheless – maybe it’s my inner grandma, maybe it’s my 90s nostalgia.

Whatever the case may be, I’m digging it. Making these little houses from the Needlecraft classic “Hometown Villages” is sort of a weird hybrid of needlepoint and putz house making. So when you think about it that way, it makes 100% sense why I can’t stop working away at these.