I’ve been low-key craving banana coffee crumb cake after trying a slice of a keto version that my office manager baked some time ago. I would’ve loved to make a keto cake but couldn’t figure out good carb-free ingredient substitutes with all these stores running out of supplies. Not that we’re out of supplies or anything… In fact, we’ve been able to get all our necessary groceries consistently since starting quarantine. It’s just always a bit more difficult to find no/low-carb options. Thank goodness for the roadside makeki stands too, for having fresh niu and misiluki bananas for 2 bucks a bunch.
Regardless of the fact that this is my first time baking (or one of the first times, I don’t recall a previous first time), I severely underestimated the time it would take to make this dang cake. I followed this recipe I found on Pinterest, and two hours later—I truly don’t understand why it took me so long when the recipe said it was only 10 mins prep—I popped it in the oven and waited for the magic to happen. Ian braved the uncertainty of my baking abilities with the first taste test…
And the verdict is in…
It’s edible! Not just edible, it was also quite (dare I say) delicious! To prove Ian’s non-bias, I took half the loaf next door and had my best friend Jabs sample a slice… and she said it was equally moist, firm, walnutty, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, and overall better than average! My favorite part is the streusel topping.
As you can see, I’m in no short supply of unbiased taste testers, hahaha.
I’m honestly very pleased with myself, and shooketh, because it makes me wonder, who the heck do I think I am!? Martha Stewart over here, sans the crochet jail poncho.
Made two batches—one last night, and one this morning—because I bought a small 6×6” baking pan, and the recipe called for a 9×6” pan. Both were equally yum, even though one was thinner than the other.
And there you have it folks, she (meaning me) can indeed bake!
Finally used my JOBY GorillaPod and set my camera on timer for today’s portrait. Didn’t do the best job with the shot composition because I never use tripods so I couldn’t be bothered with
Played around with poses and it’s kinda feeling like a fashion look book lol.
Made this duster dress a few years ago with a couple yards of marigold-colored light jacquard cotton fabric I picked up at Manu’a’s. We don’t have a lot of good cotton fabric for flowy-style clothes here, so I love this dress because I love this fabric. I did a pretty sloppy job on the actual sewing, and there are loose threads everywhere because I don’t have a serger. That’s okay thought. It’s lasted this long in my closet, and I don’t foresee me getting rid of it anytime soon.
It’s 4pm, and my day’s been pretty good so far…I’m feeling much better. I did yoga. Got some work done. I’m on my 7th glass of water. Aaaand my eczema is back (ugh). I have a cold compress on my face to soothe the uncomfortable heat-rash-type-bumps-that-telll-me-my-skin-isn’t-happy-with-me-for-staying-out-in-the-saltwater-an-extra-hour-at-high-noon-yesterday-because-it-was-too-beautiful-of-a-day-to-not-bask-in-it, but other than that, can’t complain.
It’s now past midnight but wanted to share tidbits from my day and some random thoughts for this longer than usual post.
Working from home has been great
My “creative studio”, aka the spare bedroom, is now a fully functioning WFH office for me and my mister. We moved the bed into the closet over the weekend and the space feels so much bigger, it’s made a huge difference. We share the workbench we built years ago and have designated workstations for our tech and papers to sprawl out and get tidied up at the end of the workday. It’s amazing how compatible we are, even being around each other 24/7 for an entire month now. We don’t chit chat too much during work hours, saving the lovely longer conversations and any tea we can spill for lunch and happy hours on the balcony.
Bought cloth face masks
Around 1pm, I left the house to pick up a silk screen print order—my work got new rash guards and I had put together a design with our logos so the science team could easily be identified underwater—at a local print shop. There was traffic on the road, which baffled me, as if people were just getting off of work and picking up their children from school all at the same time, but clearly those things aren’t happening so I have no idea why everyone was out and about. I walked into the shop with my batik scarf wrapped around my neck, covering my nose and mouth. I noticed they were selling colorful cloth surgical-style face masks, and I thought about my initial aversion to them because CDC started out saying they were a no go unless you were sick or a medical practitioner, but now that CDC is saying “hmm, yeah maybe you should wear them”, I’ve been more into it. I haven’t even bothered making any at home because I have perfectly functional bandanas and scarves which I prefer, but these were cute fabrics, and I liked that buying their face masks meant support for a local business, and would show everyone not wearing a face mask (aka almost everyone outside today) that it’s cool to wear one. You know, because I have license to make it cool. I purchased two face masks for $3 each, and I’ll post a photo of it later after I run it through the wash.
Today’s portrait
Been itching to take more photos on my Sony A7iii but my inspiration is at level F for funky. I want to start a daily portrait project (we’ll see if I actually do it), so I snapped a photo of Ian and asked him to snap this photo of me. I love that whenever I ask Ian to take a photo of me, he instinctively knows to take about a hundred photos so I have options to choose from because 98% of the faces I make are total derp.
My Mr. Man
I thought I was having a decently productive day, but I got off a call right about lunch time and walked into the kitchen and Ian had just made bread… like, literal bread. He was proofing it, and before I could even say anything, he was on another work call. I was v impressed. He added basil, sesame seeds, rosemary, and some other goodness I don’t even know, baked the bread after work, and it was ready by the time it was happy hour—and let me just say it was diviiiine. He made two loaves, one for us and one for our neighbors. Then he cooked a delicious dinner of honeyed teriyaki chicken, stir fry veg, and brown rice. I mean, I don’t know what to say… he’s a mad man! I love him so much.
Movie night (almost) every night
There’s something so calming about our new iso routine. When evening comes, we are in relax mode. Happy hour is followed by dinner, sometimes outside on the balcony when it’s cool out, or if it’s unbearably hot we’ll move the party to the bedroom where we’ve got the A/C going and the projector filling up the blank wall. Tonight, Ian really wanted to watch Uncut Gems. He’d heard raving reviews on it and just had to rent it from Amazon Prime. Now for the record, I’d say my movie selections are usually spot on. Ian’s is hit and miss, hahah… yeah, it was pretty bad, or at least not in our taste. Adam Sandler’s acting was great and all, but his voice just got soooo annoying, and it was just a super stressful movie to watch.
A Brief Intermission
In the middle of watching Uncut Gems, Jabs called to let me know the short film she co-created at the Native Slam film fest in Aotearoa last month was completed, and invited us to preview it at her house next door. We kept our usual +6ft distance and settled in while she set up her projector and described the work that went into creating the film. I’m excited for her to later officially announce the film, so I won’t say anything else about it yet except that she did an amazing job, and we’re so proud of her!
It’s a recent favorite I snapped late one night in early March.
I was standing in the hallway of my little apartment and saw out of the living room window, a bright moon just about to make contact with the mountain. I walked out the front door and stood there watching Masina‘s slow descent.
It was the prettiest moonset I’d seen in a very long time. Not one I’d planned to see either… It was there for a moment, and then it wasn’t. I realized I didn’t have my camera only once the mountain had eclipsed the moon, leaving a faint glow of the moon’s halo. I rushed to my room to grab my Sony A7iii camera and 50mm F/1.8 lens, quickly fiddled with the manual settings, fired some test shots, and clicked this memorable night scene.
