Mad about pumpkins - happy Halloween!

I photographed some floral arrangements for Design*Sponge's upcoming book this week.  They were absolutely beautiful.  Amy Merrick arranged them and she did a wonderful job.  I really don't have much of a green thumb, but looking at her arrangements sent me up to the flower district to have a look around.  She brought a Cinderella pumpkin (I had never heard of that variety before).  It's the most beautiful pumpkin I have ever seen.  As far as I'm concerned, there is no reason to buy a conventional pumpkin again!

I've also been loving ghost pumpkins.  They seem to be popping up everywhere.  I have some out on the table now and they are definitely going to play a role in Thanksgiving decor.  They are so subdued and elegant - i just love them.

 

I found a large one in the floral district today and immediately thought of turning it into a lantern.  Not a traditional jack-o'-lantern but something a little more sophisticated.  I haven't gotten into Halloween festivities yet - but this seemed like just the right toe in.  A knife, a drill, and a few minutes later and I had a little nod to Halloween. 

The best part? I now have seeds to roast.  I already know just what I want to do with them - more on that later.

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin cranberry bread

I know we are past the very narrow window in which we consume pumpkin, but I have a belated recipe to share. I thought it might be nice to make a pumpkin bread to give out on Thanksgiving for the next day, and found the answer to my recipe hunt on one of my favorite design blogs, Design*Sponge. In addition to all of the food blogs I avidly follow, there are a number of design blogs I check in on regularly and am always inspired by the fresh ideas and creativity I find. Design*Sponge is doing a weekly series called “In the Kitchen With . . .” in which a designer is interviewed and shares a recipe. A couple of weeks ago, Lena Corwin, an illustrator and textile designer, was featured and shared her mother’s recipe for pumpkin cranberry bread. I spotted it just in time to incorporate it into my Thanksgiving plans.

I was initially a little dubious about the recipe as it contains more sugar than you probably care to think about and the raw batter tasted overly sweet. However, once baked, it contained the perfect amount of sweetness, and was moist and wonderful with beautiful flecks of cranberry and walnuts in it. On Thanksgiving, I sliced the loaf and wrapped the slices in polka dot tissue paper and then placed them in glassine bags tied with a bow – a very pretty giveaway and hopefully enjoyed the next day with fond memories of the holiday (don’t you love it when restaurants give you muffins for the morning after dinner?). I liked the recipe so much I had to make it again a few days later with the remnants of my annual bag of cranberries.

This seems like a good time to share some of my favorite design blogs. I have them loaded into igoogle (LOVE!) where I can keep an eye on new posts and easily poke around. I am always amazed at the wonderful taste, style and ideas coming from these women. Be forewarned: if you haven’t visited these sites before you are likely to be drawn in for hours (especially if you explore their sidebar links and wander over to their flickr photos). Hope that you discover something new and find as much inspiration as I have.

Another Shade of Grey: Lots of clever ideas. Showcases Etsy artists who I always love discovering (so much talent out there!)
Decor8: “Fresh finds for hip spaces” and such a sweet founder’s story
Design*Sponge (for the interview with Lena Corwin click here): Brooklyn-based daily blog about home and product design that also features interviews, city guides, store reviews and more
Grijs: Inspirational design from Europe
Hoping for Happy Accidents: Inspiration and ideas from Brooklyn
Kris’s Color Stripes: An Italian artist and fashion designer shares inspiration with beautiful photos accompanied by a color palette that makes me see things in a different way
Pumpkin Cranberry Bread (Lena Corwin’s recipe from Design*Sponge)

This recipe uses either two standard loaf pans (plus a small (5") cake or a few muffins), or three aluminum foil loaf pans. The foil pans make it easy to give the bread as gifts.

Wet ingredients
1 3/4 cup canned pumpkin (one small can-425g)
2/3 cup butter, melted (150g)
2/3 cup water (160ml)
4 eggs

Dry ingredients
3 1/2 cups flour (455g)
3 cups sugar (600g)
2 tsp baking soda (10g)
2 tsp baking powder (10g)
1 tsp cinnamon (5g)
1 tsp nutmeg (5g)
1/2 tsp cloves (2.5g)
1/2 tsp salt (2.5g)
1/2 cup [coarsely] chopped walnuts or pecans (60g)
1 cup [coarsely] chopped fresh or dried cranberries (120g)

Preheat oven to 350F/180C degrees. Combine the eggs, pumpkin, butter, and water in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, plus the nuts and cranberries. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix with a wooden spoon by hand. Mix until the batter is combined, but don’t over mix. Grease the pans, and distribute the batter equally in the pans (should fill each about half way up). Bake for 1 hour.