Cherry-Almond Crumble

 One of my favorite parts of summer is making fruit based desserts. I love all sorts of crumbles, pies, and tarts. There is just something so satisfying about warm, juicy fruit with some whipped cream on top.

I had a bunch of cherries in my fridge that were screaming to be used in something delicious. I have been meaning to buy a cherry pitter but I keep forgetting. Instead I found an awesome video on how to do it without one. All you need is a beer bottle and a wooden dowel. The video uses a chopstick but I found that it wasn't quite thick enough so I ended up using the back of a wooden spoon. Also, warning, it is not as clean as it seems in the video. Do this over the sink and be prepared for some cherry splatter!

Cherry-Almond Crumble

4 cups cherries, pitted
1/4-1/3 cup of white sugar, depending on the sweetness of the cherries
1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Crumble
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, cold and diced
1 cup sliced/slivered almonds

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
-Pit your cherries using a cherry pitter or a wooden dowel and a bottle. In a medium bowl, combine cherries, white sugar and cornstarch. Transfer to a 9 inch pie pan.
-In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar and flour. Using your fingers, work the cold butter into the mixture until crumbly. It should feel like slightly wet sand. Add the sliced almonds and toss to combine. Sprinkle mixture over the cherries.
-Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the cherries are bubbling and the crumble is toasty golden.
-Allow to cool slightly and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Take a Hike: West Hartford Reservoirs - Farmington Ave

One of my favorite places to unwind are the West Hartford Reservoirs. There are two main sites for recreation, off of Farmington Ave in West Hartford and Reservoir #6 off of Albany Ave (U.S. 44). Jackson and I took a hike last week with our dog Lucy at the Farmington Ave site.

Ok, so the West Hartford Reservoirs are not what I would normally classify as a hike. Many of the paths are paved and easily walkable. They definitely won't get you huffing and puffing but there are very pretty views and lots of shade for hot days. 

There are two loops, the red trail and the yellow trail, with lots of off-shoot paths and bike paths to explore. If you start the loop going counter-clockwise, you will see a fork in the path with this bridge to the left. This will lead you to the yellow loop. If you want to continue on the red path keep following the bike lane white lines.

It's a great place to go in the evening to unwind from your day and catch up with your significant other. You might even see some wildlife. I have never been so close to a deer. Absolutely beautiful.

Our Wedding Inspiration

As an avid reader of Snippet & Ink and Style Me Pretty for many, many years, when we first got engaged I immediately immersed myself in wedding blogs and magazines trying to pinpoint how I wanted our wedding to look and feel. After more iterations than I care to think about, I finally came up with what I felt captured me and Jackson as a couple and our outlook on life. I wanted something that was classic but organic and romantic with a carefree ease to it.

1. We kept our colors fairly neutral with the focus on white and charcoal gray and lots of greenery to make it feel easy instead of stuffy. Jackson was especially happy that I nixed the raspberry color that was originally part of this color palette.
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2. As someone who worked in a flower shop for 4 years as a high school student and into my undergrad years, I was very picky about the look that I wanted for the flowers. After having done many weddings with bright pops of color that color coordinated with the bridesmaids dresses, that was explicitly NOT the look I wanted. I am a more subdued person and wanted something more organic. This picture was the main inspiration of my bouquet. I chose a mix of peonies, white hydrangea, lisianthus, astilbe, stock, Queen Anne's lace, rosemary, dusty miller, eucalyptus
[Photo credit]

3. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am a complete nerd. I have always been a bookworm and very studious. I love the smell of bookstores and new books. We incorporated books into our table pieces.
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4. Sadly this photo remained solely an inspiration. I had originally wanted to have big garlands of eucalyptus and other greens draping over the large fireplace in the main ballroom. Unfortunately, our venue didn't allow greenery outside of containers and my florist couldn't find the right kind of garland anyway. That said, the effortless greenery in this picture did come to fruition in all the girls bouquets, the centerpieces and the potted herbs we gave as gifts.
[Photo credit]

5. For Jackson and the gents, we chose a charcoal gray tuxedo instead of the traditional black, in order to keep things classic but not stuffy.
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6. Our venue, the Branford House, which I plan to write its own post about, is an absolutely gorgeous 19th century mansion with beautifully ornate woodwork on the inside. With a venue as grand as this, we wanted to put emphasis on details that would create a welcoming experience. We totally stole this couples idea, and also set up croquet as well as some other lawn games for our guests to enjoy. Bonus feature: A quick video of some friends goofing around.
[Photo credit]

Matilda - Still One of the Greatest Movies

Yesterday, while perusing Facebook, I came across the following post.

http://hellogiggles.com/15-reasons-matilda-greatest/

Matilda was one of my favorite movies as a kid! In a time when so many movies fail the Bechdel Test, it's nice to be reminded that this movie of my past would have passed with flying colors. To quote the post "Matilda is a strong, feminine, female protagonist."