Book Signing!

We've each gotten a nifty pen. We thought up a cute inscription. Oh yes, we're ready for our book signing tomorrow!

The best part? It's being held in Albemarle Baking Company, one of the best bakeries we've ever been to (and owned by enormously nice people to boot!)

So we'd love it if you swung by to say hi tomorrow, November 7 between 3 and 4.30 in the afternoon. Come even just to inhale the heavenly scent of fresh scones and perfectly crispy baguettes.

And if you'd like your book signed too, awesome! We'll have copies for sale there, or you can bring one you've already bought.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Book release!

It's hard to believe, but our tiny food cookbook will be officially released tomorrow! We are super-excited and can't wait to hear what you all think of the book. We'll have copies for sale at the Charlottesville City Market this weekend, if you're local.

We also plan to have several book-signings in the upcoming weeks. We're currently pen-shopping so that we'll have a fun and cool pen with which to sign copies of the book. Pen suggestions are welcome!

Two signings that we have confirmed (copies of the book will also be available for purchase at both events):

November 4, 2009; 7pm: Staunton Public Library (Staunton, VA)

November 7, 2009; 3-5 pm: Albemarle Baking Company (Charlottesville, VA)
(Come early and buy a scone to nibble on; they're the best!)

We'd love to see you there, and we'd love to see any inedible goodies you've made!

Tiny Food Burgers

Curious to know how to make your own tiny burgers? We made a video showing you all the steps!

Before you watch, it's helpful to have the following ingredients already assembled on your work surface (all clays are Premo unless otherwise noted, and a ball is a smooth sphere of clay):

Bun:
1/16" ball white
1/4" ball ecru
3/8" ball ecru

Burger, Cheese, & Tomato:
1/4" ball burnt sienna
3/16" ball cadmium yellow
3/16" ball cadmium red

Lettuce:
3/16" ball translucent
1/16" ball light green (* we usually use Sculpey III Granny Smith)
1/8" green

Tools & Other materials:
raw sienna artists' (soft) pastel
double-ball stylus (small tip)
paintbrush
headpin (2", fine gauge)

Have fun customizing your own burger! Maybe you prefer your lettuce on top of your patty, or your patty to be square. Or get really creative and add mushrooms or onions on top!

Tiny Burger Recipe Video

One week til book release!

We can't believe that the book will be out in a week! We're planning some fun book signing events in Virginia and in the DC area, and we'll announce those soon if you'd like to come and say hi in person.

Jessica just saw Julie & Julia (fantastic!). In addition to the amazing food, beautifully subtle exploration of relationships, the movie depiction of the process of putting together a cookbook was fascinating. We didn't have nearly the headaches that Julia Child and her collaborators did in getting their masterpiece published. We were extra-lucky to have had such a supportive editor in Julie Mazur, and everyone at Random House has been a dream to work with.

The process of testing each recipe in our book was much the same (although with understandably inedible results- excepting the real food recipes of course!). And that big yellow envelope with the advance copy that arrives rather unexpectedly in the mail? Yep- that's still the same envelope publishers use today, and yes, we both danced around our houses when that envelope arrived!

If you're excited about seeing how our little creations are made, check out the book at your local bookstore or library. Or you can order a copy online! Borders just let us know that they're running an online-only 30% off sale on select craft books- including ours- til November 2.

Peach crisp

A friend of ours from Colombia had never tried crisp or cobbler before, and when Jessica tried to explain what it was, she described it as "very much like pie, but with the crust just on top." He loved the end result, but could not remember the proper name for the dish, and so has forever referred to it as "upside down pie."

With only a couple of weeks left in peach season, we thought we'd share our recipe for peach crisp! We started with the excellent recipe for apple crisp written on One Frugal Foodie, and modified it for peaches. We are also big fans of real butter, but imagine that you can easily make this recipe vegan again if you prefer a margarine butter substitute.

This recipe is easy to tweak to suit your individual taste- add a bunch of blueberries, or some shredded coconut on top for great texture and flavor. If you have some, scrape the seeds from about half of a vanilla bean onto the peaches before you add the topping. Or, top each warm serving with some good vanilla bean ice cream when you serve it.

Finally, be sure to use real maple syrup on top. It gives an incredible crunchy texture that is impossible to create otherwise and is well worth it!

Enjoy!

Peach Crisp

4 medium-large freestone peaches

1/2 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp ground cardamom

2 tbsp maple syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Slice the peaches into thin wedges, leaving the skin on. (The skins will confer a lot of extra flavor to the dish, and they will soften while baking.) Add them to an 8" x 8" baking dish. Toss with vanilla seeds, if using, or add a dash of vanilla extract.

3. Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, and cardamom in a large bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks crumbly, and the pieces of butter are about the size of peppercorns. Add the topping in an even layer on top of the peaches.

4. Drizzle the topping with the maple syrup.

5. Bake the crisp for about 30 minutes, until the fruit is soft and sizzling, and the topping is a golden brown.

6. Enjoy!

Yay Cookbook!

Learn to make your own tiny food! We wrote a cookbook with 20 miniature food jewelry recipes (and a few real food recipes too!), and it is officially being released October 20, 2009! It's fun, it's colorful, and it answers the perennial question: "How on earth do you make these?"

Not only that, but the photos inside are absolutely delectable (the photographer shot the cinnamon rolls on real cinnamon sticks, with a real cinnamon roll in the background- mmmmm), and the book is totally colorful and fun.

If you'd like to pre-order the book, you can find it at your favorite booksellers!

amazon.com

barnes and noble.com

borders.com

Peach oatmeal

I've been inspired by a breakfast suggestion from the incomparable Diet Girl. I've always known oatmeal is healthy, but it's so often just insipid and bland. Her idea of adding pears and almond butter to oatmeal was a huge revelation for me. I adore fresh pears, but the canned ones just aren't quite the same. So I subbed in peaches and tweaked a few details to come up with my own version of fruity oatmeal. Seriously, this stuff is much better than you remember, and has a heck of a lot fewer calories than you'd think. One key to great flavor: use the liquid from the canned peaches (instead of water) to make the oatmeal. It imparts a great extra-peachy flavor.

Peach Oatmeal

yield: 1 serving

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 can of sliced peaches in lite syrup (ie: in pear juice)
1/4 cup milk
1 tbsp crunchy almond butter

* Add the oats, milk, sliced peaches, and (this is crucial!) the pear juice from the canned peaches to a microwave-proof bowl.

* Microwave on high for 2 minutes (enough time to scratch your cat and get the coffee started!)

* Cut the almond butter into the oatmeal. It's easiest to mix in the almond butter if you have it on a spoon, then use that spoon to chop up the sliced peaches.

You can also sub pears in, if you prefer those. And ground flax seeds make a nice nutty addition if you're out of almond butter. I'd love to hear some other variations if you have ideas!