The Best Sour Cherry Pie Recipe EVER!!

Now is the season for sour cherries.  The New York Times just published the Recipe for Twice Baked Sour Cherry Pie.    I couldn't resist.  I ran out to the Farmer's Market on Greenwich Street and bought about $40 worth of cherries to make 2 pies. One for Sunday and one for a later date.  The recipe was super easy and fun to make. Here is what the pie looked like before I put it in the oven:

Before brushing it with whipping cream and dusting with demerara sugar!

 Aside from the fact that I had been looking for a sour cherry pie recipe I was really interested in making this pie because I wouldn't have to make the traditional top-of-pie crust.  Those always end up looking amateurish (and ugly) whenever I try my  hand at them.  So I dug out some of my cookie cutters and made a variation on the design in the Times.

This is the magic ingredient that makes the pie have the perfect consistency!

The next day I brought it to a friends house for a little picnic on the porch and everybody loved it!!   It was also the easiest and best crust I'd ever made.

The finished product.

So go ahead. Try this recipe while the sour cherries are still in season.  I pitted the rest of the cherries and they are now in the freezer for the next time I feel like making some home made cherry pie!!  Let me know how your pie tastes or if you have other recipes for sour cherries. BTW the crust was divine!

P.S. This dessert was accompanied by donuts from The Donut Plant

(for some reason their website takes a long time to load but worth the wait)  and incredible cupcakes flown in from Santa Barbara California. For those of you who love Magnolia  ( I have a preference for Duncan Hines cupcakes)

And one more treat: These cupcakes are the best (or the bomb as Heidi says) So far -not at a store near you if you live in NYC but who knows?  If you ever find yourself in Santa Barbara you must try these Whodidily cupcakes.  Imported from SB! They were pretty amazing. All sorts of flavors and some of them had cookie dough in the center.  One day I'd like to try the Love you a latte or Monkey Love cupcake,  The kiddies loved them as did the adults. 

Needless to say we rolled away from the table and headed to the pool to work off some of those unnecessary calories.  I can't wait for the next sweet extravaganza/pool party !!

Laura's Alice in Wonderland Birthday Party Celebration

Over the weekend we celebrated  my daughter's 10th birthday party chez nous. We planned it around an Alice in Wonderland tea party theme.... She asked her friends to dress up as their favorite character and most girls were either Alice or the Red Queen.  For decoration   I started with the table. We covered it with a white tablecloth and then used a big frog and little rabbits as the centerpiece. I found the frogs, rabbits, ribbon and other things in the Flower District at  JamaliGardens. I also scattered little bits of candy wrapped in a playing card motif (partycity.com)  and pieces from our chess set.   I think Fresh flowers would have been nice to add some color but next time!

Mexican cut outs were hung over the table  and we  posted big playing cards on the front door  from www.partycity.com

After eating pigs in blankets and sliders  the girls went to the craft table and  got themselves busy putting on tattoos. These particular tattoos could be colored in.    After that I found a really cool idea  on this blog A Field Journal: Merrie May (see her creation below left)   I thought the kids could have fun making their own little cornet to hold a  bunch of flowers (Ikea $1.59 each) to put on their bedroom door.  Here are some examples of what the kids came up with....

The inspiration

What some of the girls came up with....

I'm not really one for this type of thing but the piece de resistance was the Barbie cake made by my friend Paulette http://sugarlovingfashionista.blogspot.com/ (amazing pastry chef) The cake was exactly what Laura wanted.  Our Barbie version of the White Queen...

The White Queen in all her glittering glory!

It was also a fab conversation piece . Every body wanted to see how I was going to cut the thing.... which was interesting and it got especially hairy when I got to the one legged part of Barbie... apparently 2 legs does something weird to the cake  so Paulette had to remove one leg.  Everybody wanted to see the inside of the cake....

Barbie cake

And not for nuthin' but that cake was moist and delish!! Wish my kid had preferred chocolate but oh well.  The kids seemed to have a great time and each one left with a little goodie bag filled with a mini deck of cards, mini teapot and some candies in a pretty little bag

Enough about this birthday- I gotta get planning the next one for this weekend!!

Nothing to do with Crafts

I have this list of stuff I want to post but just haven't had time or the where-with-all to sit a bit longer at the computer... My kids are out of school and today is their one week of camp until July12 so a little bit of time available.  I'm still not getting to the things I want to post but instead wanted to post a link to this article written by Nicholas Kristof for the New York Times on Father's Day.  If you get a chance- read it. It's fascinating, inspiring and  a bit of a tear - jerker. 

Geek Sewing Tools

 

Clover Triangle Tailors Chalk, Blue

So after sewing from the age of 12 and going to art school to get a degree in Fashion Design I have found 2 new fabulous tools I love!! All produced by Clover which is a Japanese based company so of course these are great!!    First I discovered this tailors chalk.  It makes perfect lines- not all blurry like the ones you see with the wax/chalky thing....  I also can't live without Clover Ball Point Awl

 

Clover Ball Point Awl

It's this point-y thing that has a sort of ball point and is great for evening out the gathers while you are sewing.  Can't believe it took me this long.

The last thing (until I buy my next tool) is the clover stuffing tool.

This is great for stuffing little amigurumi animals and just digging into a corner when turning something out to the right side.




I also just finished a dress for Laura and I LOVE it. Can't wait to post it but have to take some pictures.

Tomorrow I'm off to Ikea to try and find some fun props for Laura's 10th birthday party- Alice in Wonderland is the theme.  I'm thinking crazy tea cups, mini lights, glitter. All the girls will come dressed up as their favorite character. Laura will be the White Queen.

Now I'm going to go back to the Clover website to find another gadget I can't live without then off to bed... trying to get to bed earlier these days!