Fantastic Friday: Dreaming of France, Peanut Butter Bread and Free Music

A finer Friday I could not have asked for! I love having exceptionally good days because when you're having a not-so-great day they are the days you can draw inspiration from and remind yourself that there's always a rainbow after the biggest of storms. So, I've had all things French on my mind, so much so that I actually did a little bit of my French lessons on Livemocha.com. I was watching Julie & Julia last night and although I wasn't able to finish (the DVD was not working very well) I was already loving it and think I may just have to purchase it! I think I may also purchase that cookbook of Julia's and tackle those recipes myself (Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a cookbook that has always intimidated me but now that I am older I think I might be able to handle it).

I woke up from a brilliant dream about being in France and was happy to find the sun shining through my window and was even happier to come downstairs and drink a cup of coffee accompanying it with some toast with Nutella spread. After feeding Gianna and making sure Alyssa had some food, I sat down to watch the Gilmore Girls and then caught Paula Deen on the Food Network. Her recipes today were delicious as she had decided to "Go nutz!" The episode, Goin' Nutz! was full of great food and a nice little "tip" at the end. She made this very good looking Peanut Butter bread which I of course had to try! So I made it, although the reviews were not so great, but mine turned out wonderfully! Here it is:

Peanut Butter Bread using Paula Deen's recipe

I think the trick to the bread was baking it for about 30-35 minutes instead of the 50 minutes suggested by the recipe (I inserted a toothpick and when it came out clean took the bread out which was well before the 50 minutes). Also, adding more like 1/2 a cup to 3/4 cups of sugar instead of 1/3 cup will make it a bit better although adding honey to it when it is still warm makes it taste pretty good too! Here is the recipe. Just click on the boldfaced word to access the link!

I listened to the House of Soul sampler I got from iTunes as I was cooking and while waiting for the bread to cool some, I got on facebook to see that there was an NPR sampler available for download so I got that. Looking for more music I found samplers for free on Amazon and I want to share that link with you: Amazon Samplers. I love to listen to music as I cook or craft and even more when it is an ecclectic mixture of good tunes! So, I leave you now with some gorgeous photos of Paris, La Ville-Lumière, the City of Light since that's what I've been dreaming of lately:

{Tour Eiffel, Paris France by Philip Rood Photography}

{Collage by ..Agnes.. on polyvore.com}

{Photo from Paris Perfect}

{Mini Eiffel Tower Grater from wishingfish.com}

Ok, so that last one isn't exactly a photo of Paris but I thought it was cute and really want one! Hope you've enjoyed today's post!

Cheers!

Monday Musings: Blogs, Music and other things I love...

How lovely the sound of the Emma soundtrack is, particularly since I now own it because I caved and bought it at iTunes. I couldn't resist! It will not be long before I cave in and buy the actual film on DVD. Today, after re-inflating my bed and folding laundry, I set out to do a little "computer organizing" and began working on getting all of the blogs I follow on my Feeds list rather than the Favourites. It is much easier to manage them. I also re-arranged my Favourites and created new folders for different websites. As I got the blog feeds in order I was able to peruse some of my faves and that was a lot of fun. One of my favourite crafting blogs is called Things We Make and is managed by Amy Palanjian. This blog showcases the crafts of many and is a great source of inspiration.

Not only does Amy post about the crafts of those who inspire her, she also posts great recipes and other enjoyable things! You must check out her skillet cornbread, I think I will soon be trying to make some myself! Her latest Weekend Project post, Learning to Crochet got me thinking that I really ought to start learning myself and use that little kit and yarn I bought! The box is still sitting near my bed, not at all looked at since I first bought it at Tuesday Morning in Princeton, NJ. I have no idea when I became so side-tracked. Anyway, it did inspire me to take it up and also to finish knitting the scarf I began two years ago (hopefully I can finish it before winter is out!).

There are so many blogs I follow that this blog post could become eternal if I tried to mention them all so I have decided that every Monday I will mention one in the hopes of sharing with my readers a bit about the other great blogs and ideas that are out there. Things We Make is quite visually pleasing and also a great read. I hope you take the time to visit it! Expect a change in the way my blog looks this month! I've decided that with it being a new year I want a fresh new look! Also, I have been thinking that while my blog looks pretty the background makes it a bit difficult to properly see links that I post so in order to remedy that I have decided to go with a new look!

Until tomorrow!

Nadia