Today on the weekend meanderings, my raspberry cornmeal crumble recipe is a great Memorial Day Weekend dessert. Plus a few things I dropped off for consignment, more challenges in the garden, and a couple of good things to watch on TV.
Happy Saturday friends! It’s time for the weekend post with Kim and Elizabeth, our weekly roundup of inspiration and goings on.
This article includes affiliate links; if you click on a shopping link and make a purchase I may receive a commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Do you have big plans for Memorial Day Weekend? We’re celebrating Jim’s birthday with dinner at one of his favorites restaurants and tomorrow he’s going golfing with his son. Other than that it’s going to be a relaxing weekend at home. A chilly, relaxing weekend at home. Karl the Fog crept over the hill yesterday … and burrrr.
Summer Patio Ideas
It may be a little cooler than we’d like, but at least it’s not raining and we’ll crank on the fire pit and enjoy some time outside. Earlier in the week I shared my green and white patio decor. After briefly flirting with a new set of multi-colored outdoor pillows, I decided to stick with my green and white palette … with a few new additions. If you missed it, you can read it here.
Consignment Shop Drop at ReChic
Last week I dropped off a few summer dresses and canary yellow tote at RiChic, my favorite consignment shop.
My never ending closet clean-out/reassessment continues. I’m getting closer to achieving the goal of all my clothes fitting into my half of our not-huge walk-in closet.
The yellow Mar Y Sol tote has been decorating my closet shelf for years … looking beautiful but not being used. I mean, not used once. Many years ago I’d fallen in love with the same tote in a navy and natural combination, but hesitated in buying it and it sold out. Then I came across it in canary yellow and ignored the fact that while I love yellow it does not love me. Of course, a yellow bag doesn’t have to be worn with yellow and can be a nice, bright pop with many other colors. But still I never used it. I wish I could say this is the first time I’ve made an impetuous purchase of something similar to, but not quite, the thing I wanted and then quickly came to regret my decision. A pair of platform sandals in middle school comes to mind. But that’s a story for another day. I may have finally learned my lesson.
All that said, I was still reluctant to take the tote to ReChic. Emotion is a funny thing. But now it’s there, and I hope it finds a loving home with someone who will give it the wonderful life it deserves.
Speaking of that, a Kara Ross tote I took to ReChic a few months ago did not sell. When I spotted it on the shelf I thought ‘I want that bag’ … then quickly realized it was mine. Why did I give it up? I don’t know, but I brought it home and it feels like having something wonderful and new. It’s a great travel tote, because of its flat bottom and protective feet. It’s going to be perfect for our upcoming trip to Italy. It reminds me a little of this popular Madewell bag I first saw on Classic Casual Home.
By the way, ReChic is stocked with a wonderful selection of summer things.
The Little House on 4th Street
Yesterday we met with our architect, Joseph Gorny, to review another round of preliminary designs for our little house on 4th Street. And we met with an arborist who will assess our tree situation. Earlier in the week we had a soil survey. It’s one thing after another. … and we’re still a ways from being able to finalize a workable design to present to city for review. There are many – many – challenges associated with our little project, including setbacks. Setbacks from the street, neighboring homes and a creek. Our lot is unusually narrow and trying to make it work with current building code is not for the faint of heart. It’s hard not to be discouraged … where there’s a will there’s a way.
To keep our spirits up Joseph brought us some fun renderings of what the house might look inside and out. It’s hard for me to visual spaces from blueprints so these renderings make a huge difference.
After our meeting yesterday, Joseph went back to the drawing board and last night we received an updated floor plan that we think may be our best way forward.
Garden Wins and Losses
This week I harvested lettuces, strawberries and garlic from our raised bed garden. And herbs … thyme, chives and mint.
On the not-so-great side of our garden story, many of our new plants have not fared well. It seems we have a mystery critters using our yard as an overnight salad bar. Not only have they eaten many of our new plants, but they attacked our raised bed garden with a vengeance and munched their way through all kinds of veggies and herbs including our newly planted tomatoes. Stefani and Christian of Homestead Design Collective were here this week to assess the damage and help us come up with a plan to fight back.
To that end, Jim ordered another Nest camera to monitor the raised bed garden area. Last night was its first night on duty so stay tuned.
What We’re Watching
In between the NBA and NHL playoffs we found time to watch a couple of other things.
Open Heart
A documentary following New York Rangers goalie, Henrik Lundquist’s, aka King Henrik, open-heart surgery in early 2021. In case you didn’t know it I’m a die-hard hockey fan and while the Rangers aren’t my team, Henrik Lundquist is one of those beloved athletes who transcends their sport and team affinities. I guess it doesn’t hurt that he’s a beautiful person inside and out … and one of New York’s best dressed people. I was kind of hoping for a David-Beckham-in-his-closet-moment, but that’s the only disappointment in this otherwise wonderful movie. Beginning and ending at Henrik’s jersey retirement ceremony at Madison Square Garden, the movie flashes back a year to the discovery of his inflamed heart during a routine team physical, followed by open-heart surgery, a period of recovery, set-backs and ultimately the realization that his playing career is over. It’s interspersed with moments of Henrik’s family life, with his wife and two young daughters, interviews with his parents, identical twin brother, teammates, doctors and a life coach who helps him come to terms with retirement. These days Henrik is a TV hockey analyst, Ambassador to Madison Square Garden and host of Club 30, a podcast where he chats with other athletes, celebrities, and musicians. Did I mention he plays guitar in a band? Open Heart debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival can be seen on Netflix. Obviously, I highly recommend it.
A Man in Full
Oh my gosh, this six-part series adapted from Tom Wolfe’s book of the same name is so good. We watched it over two nights. Jeff Daniels is outstanding as Charlie Crocker, a big brash Southern business mogul facing financial collapse. There are so many interesting characters in this series including Charlie’s ex-wife played by Diane Lane. I love her.
Raspberry Cornmeal Crumble
Niece Sophie recently asked for my Raspberry Cornmeal Crumble recipe. It was one of her favorite desserts when she was younger. Niece Shelby came for dinner this week so I thought it would be fun to make it for her. She remembers it fondly too. It’s really easy to make and delicious served warm with ice cream … and the next day cut into bars. If you need an easy, delicious dessert this weekend, give it a try.
Here’s the recipe ~
Raspberry Cornmeal Crumble
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Blanched almonds
- 1/2 cup Yellow cornmeal
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Unsalted butter, melted
- 10 oz Frozen raspberries (or any kind of berry)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Line 8" square baking dish with parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides
- Pulse almonds in mini-prep processor until finely ground
- In a large bowl, whisk together ground almonds, cornmeal, flour, sugar and salt.
- Add melted butter to combined dry ingredients and combine until it forms a crumbly dough
- Press two-thirds of the dough into bottom on lined baking dish.
- Scatter raspberries evenly on top
- Crumble remaining dough over raspberries
- Bake about 35-40 minutes until crumble is golden brown
- Cool slightly, removed from dish and cut into six slices. Serve with a scoop vanilla ice cream or dollop of whipped cream
What’s a crumble without ice cream? Here’s how I make a super simple, crowd pleasing vanilla ice cream.
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
Whisk eggs until light and fluffy. wish in sugar until completely blended. Add cream, milk and vanilla and whisk to blend. Pour into frozen bowl of ice cream machine and follow machine directions to freeze. My very old Krups machine takes about 15-20 minutes.
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, this is a really good one. Niece Sam gave me this insulated storage tub for homemade ice cream, and this ice cream scoop is the best.
It was a warm night and we had dinner outside on the patio (before Karl the Fog descended) and sat around the fire table for dessert.
Odds & Socks ~
Looking for more holiday weekend desserts, Elizabeth’s got you covered with her beautiful red, white and blue no-bake cheesecake.
There’s still time to tour the San Francisco Decorators Showcase this weekend, including Memorial Day.
French Flea at Chateau Sonoma is this weekend!
You may notice a few more updates to the blog, including a larger font due to popular demand. Technical stuff is not my strong suit and I truly appreciate Little Blue Deer, my blog designer and very patient updater.
It’s Memorial Day weekend and, of course, everyone is having a sale. Everyone. A few worth mentioning, and that I’ll be shopping are …
Serena & Lily – 20% off (or more) + 24% of outdoor, pillows, rugs and their beautiful wallpapers (through May 29th), I’m going to stock up on my favorite Catalonia coasters
Loft – 40% off
Rag & Bone – Extra 25% off sale – I’ve seen so many cute things from this brand lately and I’m going to take advantage
West Elm – 40-60% off + extra 20% of clearance using code EXTRA20 – including all the pillows from my patio post and these lanterns
Mango – 30% off everything
OKA – 25% sitewide – they have some green and white outdoor pillows that are right up my alley like this one and this one, and this striped garden stool
Current Favorites ~
And that’s what I have for you today. Let’s go and see what’s inspiring Kim and Elizabeth.
Last week I toured the San Francisco Decorators Showcase with Kim and wandered around some beautiful, local gardens. You can catch up here.
And Kim and I did an Instagram Live this week, you can see the replay on my Instagram.
Wishing you the best weekend, cheers from Snowberry!
Reader Interactions