Berries and limes treasury

A big thank you to Saralibbey for including our key lime pie earrings in her lovely "Berries and Limes" treasury! (Click on the image for a closer look.) I'd also like to point out that incredibly cute pink sheep.


(And can I also point out how well this treasury matches the colors of our blog?)

coolest food treasury!

We had to share this one with you all! We adore pretty much every single item in it. Plus it was created by a local group, The Richmond Craft Mafia, a pretty awesome group of crafters based in Richmond, Virginia, and host of the Spring Bada-Bing show.

(Click on the image below for a closer look, and read to the end of the post for links to all of the items!)


I'll go through row by row (brilliantly arranged by the four meals of the day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert.)

In the first row we have a fantastic painting about breakfast (part of a breakfast, lunch, and dinner series by the same artist; all of them are adorable.) Next, a cute little felt egg tart. Finally, a print that basically represents me each morning (and afternoon, and about 9pm....)

The second row features cute little screenprinted lunch totes, a very enthusiastic pb&j sandwich iron-on transfer, and a whole felted pretend lunch (although frankly, there really need to be three chocolate chip cookies in a proper lunch.)

The third row has a hilarious little felt dumpling, our Chinese take-out earrings, and a gorgeous handmade set of sushi plates.

The fourth row has a cute bracelet with polymer clay cookies, a kid's cupcake apron, and the most fantastic cookie-holding felted squid ever. Cleo Dee is a great company, and we'll have to feature them sometime soon on Inedible Art.

Whew.

Chocolate chip cookies

Since this is my favorite recipe of all time, I thought I'd share it here! (Yes, I know it is far, far too hot to actually turn on the oven today, but soon enough you'll want to bake to help heat up the house!) And if you'd like some tiny milk and cookies, check out our earrings.

(Copied from my personal blog, which is badly neglected!)

In my opinion, the ultimate test of an american baker is their chocolate chip cookies. Depending on their cookies, you can really decide whether you might like their other offerings. To me there is nothing more disappointing than a beautiful, bland cookie. I prefer a cookie with a great buttery brown sugar flavor, with a layer of nuttiness from oatmeal, and fabulous chocolate. These cookies are my absolute favorite recipe (I might not be the healthiest eater…), honed over many years of making them. They are not the most beautiful cookies, but they are delicious.

Chocolate chip cookies

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not imitation)
3/4 cup unbleached flour (organic has the best flavor, hands down)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (organic too!)
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup oatmeal (you can grind these in a food processor if you prefer; I prefer them whole.)
6 ounces chocolate chips (semi-sweet Ghirardelli are my favorites)

optional: 6 ounces chopped pecans or walnuts

*Preheat oven to 375˚F.
*Whip together the butter and sugars until well mixed.
*Add in egg, salt, vanilla and mix well.
* Add in flours, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix until just incorporated.
* Add in oatmeal, chocolate chips, and nuts (if using).
* Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a cookie sheet. If you prefer a more aesthetically pleasing cookie, you can form them into 1″ balls, then press them gently onto the sheet. (But really, why bother?)
* Bake 10 minutes or so, or until gently golden.
* Let cool on a cooling rack (or paper towels on the counter) for a minute or until no longer about to fall apart.
* Enjoy!

** The dough can be refrigerated for a day or so. Or, you can tightly wrap up enough dough for a batch in plastic wrap and freeze the dough for a few weeks. When you’re ready to bake them, just slice the frozen roll of dough into cookies and bake.

** The cookies are most delicious either right out of the oven or the next day.

** Baked cookies can also be frozen in a tightly sealed container. They’re pretty good a little frozen too.

Fruit tart obi-dome

Sometimes we learn the most amazing things through creating tiny foods! For example, we met a lovely woman recently who enjoys dressing in kimono. Although I'm a fan of some Japanese cinema (the old Zatoichi movies are fun), I really know virtually nothing about the intricacies of kimono.

The blue part of the picture to the left is the kimono, the pale green band about the middle is the obi, and that teeny tiny circular bit in the very center is a decorative pin called an obi-dome. (Someone more knowledgeable, please correct me if I'm wrong about any of these!) Apparently, the obi-dome can be a whimsical little accessory, and in this case, our client wanted a tiny fruit tart to complete her summer kimono.

I love to create the tiny fruit tarts, since each one has a unique arrangement of kiwis, bananas, mandarin oranges, and various assorted berries. From a distance, they look like millefiori, and only upon closer inspection do the tiny fruits reveal themselves.

This particular tart was a bit larger than usual, since it is affixed to a pin backing (when not used as an obi-dome, it would also look really cute on a cardigan). I went heavy on the berries, since she loves berries in particular. Here's the tart up close. It measures almost exactly 1" in diameter (you can get a sense of the scale from the photo of our client modeling it!)

We'll definitely be creating more of these as pins in the near future! If you need one of your own (or another style of obi-dome, for that matter), please feel free to contact us through our website or through etsy.

(A big thank you to SR & her husband for providing the photos!)