BLEUBIRD BLOG

A LITTLE QUIET.

it's been a little quite over here due to us spending some good, quality time with juj and plum before they leave for the summer on monday. they will be gone for two months and though i am so happy that they get to spend this time with their dad, i will miss them terribly. i have been snapping photos for a bits + pieces post this week and i have some good books and etsy crushes to share with you shortly. oh, also a new maternity style post so please stay tuned and thank you for your patience while i hugs my kids like crazy. :)

xo.

BUTTER 101.

i recently purchased this book on a whim due to an interest in making my own cheese. i am happy to report that i am quite pleased with my impulsive purchase. the book is full of tips for a successful home kitchen creamery and easy homemade recipes for butter, yogurt, sour cream, creme fraiche, cheese and more. now i just need a cow.

after getting my hands on some fresh, thick, whole cream from a local farm i had the joy of flipping through the pages of dairy products and deciding just what to do with it. we decided to start simple and make homemade butter. and of course we made it a family affair so we skipped the quicker method of using a food processor or immersion blender and went straight to the mason jars...

HOMEMADE BUTTER

you will need:

1 pint of good whole cream
sea salt
mason jar/jars and sealing lids
wooden spoon or butter paddle
strainer
small bowl
large bowl

be sure that you are working with cold cream. at least 60 degrees. pour one cup (in our case a little less) into jars. screw lids of jars on tightly and shake like crazy for 20 minutes or so until you see the butterfat become a solid and separate from the butter milk. open jars and strain your butter saving the buttermilk for later use. return butter back to jar. "rinse your butter" by adding a bit of cold water and shake again. strain and repeat until water runs clear. transfer butter to a wooden board or bowl and paddle your butter spoon to remove excess liquid. mix in salt to taste. date and store butter in the refrigerator for two to three weeks.

homemade butter tastes like heaven. i think we are going to make this a regular thing in our home but leave the churning to a mixer rather than our tired arms. i am looking forward to making another batch with some fresh herbs and maybe investing in some fancy salts to make a few different variations. now what to do with that buttermilk that is sitting in our fridge? maybe some homemade buttermilk pancakes in the morning.

A BLEUBIRD GIVEAWAY - CLOSED.

our friends over at bonlook are giving one lucky bleubird reader a $99 voucher for a new pair of sunglasses or eyeglasses. as you can see, we're pretty excited about it! to enter please visit bonlook.com and comment with which pair you fancy. international readers are welcome to enter as well. you can follow bonlook on twitter and facebook. good luck!!!

terms: all entrants must provide a valid email address and first name along with your comment entry. please avoid putting your contact information directly into your comment, winners could be posted publicly. once the giveaway has ended and winners are chosen, they are contacted and put in touch with the sponsor. bleubird does not handle nor distribute giveaway items at any time. giveaway items are directly distributed to the winners by the sponsors themselves. if a winner fails to claim their prize within 30 days, they forfeit their winnings and another winner is chosen and contacted via email. all winners are chosen randomly. our glasses were sent to us courtesy of bonlook.

BITS + PIECES.

bits + pieces of our week.

and now it's the weekend. it seems like our weekends and our weeks in this house are one in the same. well, to me they are. the kids see the difference. they see no school on saturdays and sundays. they see sleep overs with friends and getting to stay up late on friday and saturday nights. i see most of the same day in and day out. being a mom, a wife, a neighbor, a friend... a blogger. sure, some days i school and others i don't. some days i run errands and others i don't. but for the most part they are all one in the same. aubrey doesn't work a regular nine to five so some days he works and others he doesn't. we don't have a count down to friday at five o'clock. sometimes i miss the weekends. i mean the real, get excited because it's friday, jump up and down weekends that we used to have. most of our days run into one another and sometimes, as embarrassing as it is to admit, i forget which day it is. but most of the time i am thankful. thankful that i get to stay home with my kids every day, thankful that we have the freedom to make our own schedule and thankful that i don't have the dreaded monday blues. that is a perk i suppose.

photos above...
1. leg rolls. she still got em'.
2. breakfast of cake.
3. aubrey has been sorting, cleaning, sleeving and cataloging our record collection for days. it's a messy job. there are records all over the front room in stacks and boxes.
4. a sweet day dreaming boy.
5. gerber daisies that make me happy every time i look at them.
6. our littlest chicken keeper.
7. a mid-day snack and some useful reading.
8. old photos that i hung using sticky tack, but i see the sticky tack doesn't work very well. i need a better solution.
9. i just started unpacking things from the wedding and found that several of our pretty mismatched plates are broken. this makes me sad.
10. our one and only kitchen window that lets in just a little bit of sun.
11. my nose twin.
12. a little known fact about yours truly. i always wear socks. around the house i mean. even in the middle of the summer it's thick, white sport socks everyday. cold feet.

and now for the winner of the thrive furniture kennedy chair giveaway.
ooh, some one is going to be so happy tonight!!!

the winner is KATE from the forkandvine blog! CONGRATULATIONS KATE!!!! i took a peek at your blog and it is so charming, hope you don't mind me linking it here and i hope you fall in love with your new kennedy chair. we sure love ours! thank you again to our friends over at thrive furniture for such a generous and exciting giveaway!