Victoria Car Share Co-op Board of Directors

Look how happy and summery we are!

Enter

Check out the photo I submitted for Smarts & Crafts' latest photo assignment.

The office

I'm slowly adding personal touches to my office. The squirrel is the latest addition. I bought it for $3 at a church rummage sale that takes place near my work every Friday. I suspect it's meant to hold walnuts, but I'm using for things like hand lotion and lip gloss. One of my coworkers tripped out when she saw it because her grandma used to have the same container.

I was recently commenting to a friend about how small details can often pull a whole room together. That squirrel is certainly working his magic in my office. On a similar note, I need to take a photo of the bear lamp that has helped me reconnect with my bedroom. I seem to have a fondness for wildlife decor these days.

Guest post: Making Strawberry Jam

And so another ambitious jam season begins. This weekend Marc, Erin and I headed out to Saanich to collect a piece of the spring/summer bounty. Strawberries were at the top of the list, although SunWing: I could not love you more.

So, jam! This winter/early spring, I really had to ration the jam I managed to make. This year, I hope to avoid this notion, or delay it, by making quite a lot more than last year.

I use a Nigella Lawson strawberry jam recipe with one major difference. I like her recipe very much (balsamic vinegar! no pectin!), but she doesn't process her jam in a water bath. A lot of the British recipes I've looked at don't bother with this. I can't totally abandon it though, so I process it for 10 minutes. It hasn't led to any problems with consistency or anything like that, and it makes me feel better, so I figure it's worth it.

I hope to seduce Erin with the ease and payoff of all of this.

I'm thinking I've got the payoff part in the bag, don't you?

Making Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Another trip to the farm called for another strawberry rhubarb dessert recipe. This time I made a Bowen family favorite. You'll see from the amount of sugar involved that it's easy to love!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Adapted from a recipe by Lorraine Bowen (my mother-in-law)

Put 2 cups of rhubarb, 2 cups of strawberries, 1 cup of white sugar and 2 tbsp of flour in a baking dish and toss. Combine 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of rolled oats and 1/2 cup of room temperature butter and cover rhubarb mixture. Bake for 45 minutes at 300.

Design Inspiration

I've become addicted to the sneak peeks on Design*Sponge. The sneak peeks are photo tours of people's homes. They aren't just any people of course; most seem to be designers of one sort or another. I really like these recent peeks, in particular:

> Hannah Berman of Pie Bird Press (see photo)

> Nick Dewar of Nick Dewar Illustration

> Missi Pawlecki and Brian Caviness of Birds of Ohio