Memorial Day Dessert Recipe, Two Things to Watch & Some Life Updates

Today on 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.

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Scenes from my week post collage.

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.

Outdoor garden stool and basket vignette

 

Consignment Shop Drop at ReChic

Last week I dropped off a few summer dresses and canary yellow tote at RiChic, my favorite consignment shop.

Yellow and white striped tote filled with summer dresses.

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.

Yellow and white stripped market tote filled with summer dresses sitting on sales counter of consignment shop.

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.

Kara Ross tote Bag handing on rolling rack.

By the way, ReChic is stocked with a wonderful selection of summer things.

Exterior photo of ReChic shop from sidewalk.

 

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.

Three men in backyard looking at trees.

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.

Exterior rendering of little white cottage house.

Interior rendering of small cottage living room.

Kitchen rendinging.

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.

Blue and white planter filled with herbs.

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.

Nest camera view of raised bed garden area.

 

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.

Overhead shot of man and woman sitting outside with dessert plates in their laps.

Here’s the recipe ~

Slice of raspberry Cornmeal crumble ton plate with vanilla ice cream.

Raspberry Cornmeal Crumble

5 from 2 votes
Servings 6

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.

Family sitting around fire table with 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 ~

 

Divider graphic.

And that’s what I have for you today. Let’s go and see what’s inspiring Kim and Elizabeth.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA STYLE

PINECONES AND ACORNS

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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.

American flag flying outside home.

Wishing you the best weekend, cheers from Snowberry!

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  • 5 stars
    Good morning Juliet!
    Don’t fret about the impulse purchases, I have a closet full of them. I just cleared out 3 huge Tupperware buckets and donated them to a women’s shelter, gave some to my neighbors, sister, niece, etc. A clothing free for all. I find as I age I want so much less…I just don’t wear it and it seems a shame to keep it.
    Your crumble looks delicious! I cannot wait to make it. Thank you by the way for sharing my cheesecake. I am making one this morning for a bbq tomorrow.
    I CANNOT WAIT to see and hear more of the house plans. This is so exciting. At the rate our repairs are going from the tree(not started) your house might be finished before mine.
    Sorry about your garden. The critters are terrible. All of my wild flowers are being eaten by critters and yesterday the dear at all of my new cottage planting!
    Have a wonderful weekend, enjoy your beautiful outdoor space. I love the green and white scheme.
    xo Elizabeth

    • Happy weekend, Elizabeth. I certainly hope your repairs are done a lot faster than our house … if not, we’re both in big trouble. That cheesecake looks so good and it will be a welcome addition to the BBQ. I’d skip the BBQ table and go straight for the cheesecake. Finding plants that are pretty and unappetizing is a challenge … I hope we both get find them. Soon. xo

  • Hi Juliet— Once again, I knew we are friends from afar, because I too am an avid hockey fan ( and former hockey mom). Can’t wait to watch the movie! I grew up a Rangers fan, but switched to the Washington Caps as an adult. We had season tickets for years!

    Your new home will be great — just keep your eye on the goal! You will get there!

    Wish I could reap the benefits of your consignment drop off!

    The crumble sounds delicious!

    Just what is Jim going to do when he sees the critters in the garden on the camera?? Now that is a video I would like to see!

    Have a great weekend!

    • Molly! I don’t recall if we’ve discussed this, but have you seen the movie Mystery Alaska? A great romantic comedy/hockey movie … and that’s a rare combination. As for the critters, of course, last night with the camera watching there was not one iota of critter activity. We just want to determine what is getting into the garden so we can figure out how to deal with it. Our garden designer recommend Shake Away for our climbing rose to keep deer away. She said our dogs will be attracted to it, sigh … (although it won’t be harmful to them). I’ve lived in this area most of my life and this is the first time I’ve dealt with this sort of thing. Frustrating but we’ll figure it out with cloches and wire cages around the pasties plants. Fingers crossed. xo

  • I can’t believe you never used the yellow bag! I have the same bag and I have used it at the beach for years.
    Just when I was envying your ability to have a garden…sorry you have critter problems. You might need a fortress like me!
    I feel your pain on the submission of plans to the city. Our county is pretty easy we don’t have those types of issues. Good luck with all of it. The plans look adorable.

    • I know, I can’t believe I didn’t use it either. Although it did make a very pretty decor item on my closet shelf! Let’s hope it finds a new and better home. Last night not one critter showed up on camera. Typical, right. Hard to know what to do until we know what we’re dealing with. One way or the other some of our raised bed plants will get protective cloches and wire cages. And our garden designer recommended Shake Away for the roses that are being eaten by deer. Hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend. xo

  • Hi Juliet, and Happy Memorial Day weekend. Oh, I’m so sorry to see the devastation the critter has done to your beautiful raised garden! I’m thinking it’s an early morning rabbit who is enjoying a big breakfast. I still love the 4th Street Cottage, and hope it passes building code soon. Your patio at Snowberry is so pretty and welcoming. I’ve saved the Raspberry Crumble recipe to my files. Looks delish! Enjoy the weekend, and happy birthday wishes to Jim.

    • Hi Karen! Thank you so much. A lot of people have mentioned rabbits, and it makes sense. But we’ve dealt with rabbits before, at our Fidalgo Island house, and we’d see them everywhere, plus they always left calling cards that could not be missed. I thinks its something more sinister. Like a rat. Ewe. But, we’ll see. No activity on the camera last night. Have a wonderful holiday weekend. xo

  • Your home building project is intriguing! Are you remodeling the existing home, or scraping and building new.
    I live in a very charming town, with a vibrant historic downtown. Many of the modest cottages have been torn down. Most of the new homes are beautiful, and fit in well with the existing homes. A few, though, tower above the rest, or are painted in very dark color schemes that just don’t fit in. I think that local building codes can be challenging for good reason. Hopefully to just ensure that everyone remains good neighbors.
    I volunteer in my local hospice thrift store. Sometimes, the most amazing things come in! A few weeks ago, the Frank and Eileen Triple fleece Henley dress was just hanging on the rack, in my size! I snapped it right up, after my shift.
    That brought me to the Frank and Eileen website, searching triple fleece. Have you seen the travel sets? Makes me think that you should look into the pants to go with your Henley top. So cozy looking!

    • Hi Lisa, I know the pants you’re talking about and I love them! Isn’t it fun when you find a great piece in a thrift or consignment store … it’s almost a bigger thrill than a brand new purchase. As for our new house, we’ll be tearing down the tiny (600 sqft) exciting cottage. It’s in terrible condition with foundation issues and there’ not choice but to start from scratch. Thankfully, most of the rebuilt homes in the neighborhood have been done in a way that’s respectful to the history of the old downtown … and that’s what we intend to do as well. A small, under 1600 sqft cottage. It will need to be two levels due to the setbacks. Of course our neighbors have much taller and larger 2-story homes so height isn’t an issue. Parking is the biggest obstacle, and because our lot is narrower than the others it’s hard to fit in a garage without pushing the house back. Oh my gosh, it’s so complicated and difficult to explain but I know we’ll come up with a design that’s functional and aesthetically pleasing. Eventually. Have the best weekend! xo

  • 5 stars
    Juliet, Your crumble looks so pretty and delicious. I love raspberries. I hope you get more time on the patio this weekend. Looks like Karl is over here this weekend too! I am wishing Jim a great birthday and fun at golf.
    I cannot believe the garden stuff! What the heck? So far we have just our tomatoes and they are doing fine. Week one though… Hopefully, since it is still so early in the growing season, they can restart your plats again!

    I wish we had a store like Rechic near here! It looks so nice. They are lucky to get your cute things!

    Have a relaxing weekend!

    Oops almost forgot, Love the house plan! SOO cute. We have window seats and I LOVE mine. Good storage too. I love the kitchen and everything… I would have them put all windows along that one kitchen wall! That is something I love and wish we could have had those windows that go to the counter level. The more light the better. It’s going to be gorgeous. Even the fireplace is pretty.
    Can’t wait to see it all . xo

    • Happy weekend, Kim! Love your window seats too … I’ve enjoyed them so much in this house we have to have them in the next one. I think you’ll love the raspberry crumble … it’s an interesting taste and texture with the cornmeal and ground almond. Anyway, I love raspberries too. Any kind of berry. Karl is wrecking havoc with us today … hopefully it warms up tomorrow. I guess this is typical Memorial Day weekend weather and we’ll just have to put on another sweater! xo

  • I must have missed the news with two very ill pups last week. You are building? I love Snowberry it’s an ideal place.
    Your photos are always so beautiful. Love all your recipes if I can eat the ingredients that is. Gosh exciting news for you and Jim.

    • Hi Jess, yes, we bought a tiny lot in downtown Lafayette (one town over and my hometown). It’s a great location, walkable and we’ve been trying to find something there for years and years. Snowbery is great and we love her … but being able to live where we can walk to everything is just too good to pass up. xo

  • Hi, my garden based the same fate as yours. Something mowed down every single tomato plant, eggplant and my Shishido peppers that I ordered especially from a specialty nursery here in San Diego… It’s so frustrating. I used to be able to buy deadline to keep snails out of the garden, but they’ve made that illegal now so I cannot find a snail bait that works. Don’t think it can be rabbits because my rays beds are 3 1/2 feet above the ground, but who knows! I have all the ingredients to make your raspberry crumble. I think I will try. It sounds a perfect thing since we are having Grey down here and it’s cold and foggy. Try to get together sometime. I change my base back to Oakland and I have a car there so maybe we can meet for lunch someday!

  • So funny about your bags, Juliet! I so wanted Staud’s Mini-Shirley square handled bag in black patent a couple of years ago but I only found it used, and hoped to find one online “new”. While looking, I snapped up a buttercup-colored one on Poshmark and haven’t used it once! It made more sense as a fun (black) evening bag than a daytime accessory for me…

    Also, parallels with your new house planning… we are submitting an offer on a lot in Tidewater VA, and we spent 4 years building our home in the MW and have only lived here 5 years! I am enjoying following your new home plans, as we also consider what will suit us for the next 15+ years…

    Sorry about your mystery marauders: very clever to try the Nest camera. CA has fabulous growing weather, but mild weather means more garden pests of all kinds, I think!

    Thank you for the Raspberry Cornmeal Crumble recipe: that looks perfect for Memorial Day! The cornmeal is an interesting addition.

  • Juliet, as I consign as well, I researched LeChic , and even though it only carries fairly high end clothing, there’s excellent tips there regarding how they do business that I‘d like to pass on to my local boutique. It has changed hands again within the past year, and learned that an employee is the new owner. I think that’s a positive change, since I wasn’t particularly impressed with the business style with this past owner. Part of the difficulty is that many store owners here are aging out of their businesses…we are an older demographic here on central Vancouver Island… and everyone deserves to consider retiring at some point. Makes for some interesting changes.

  • Hi Juliet,
    I made your Crumble for a last minute Memorial Day party and it was really delicious! A bit different from my standard topping with pecans, the almonds and cornmeal is more refined and easy w/ melted butter (not cubed). I had a lot of strawberries from another party for my husband’s students, so I used a pound with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch (worried about excess liquid) and 2 tablespoons sugar as the fruit substitute and it worked beautifully. I did not lift it out of the dish bc of the increased fruit. Increased the fruit too feel less guilty about 2 sticks of butter! Thank you for this recipe!

    • Hi Joan! I love it … counteracting the bad with the good. Sounds so yummy … I’m going to give it a try with strawberries too. Thanks for sharing!!! xo

  • Hi, I’m Juliet … welcome to Make Mine a Spritzer where we talk about all things home décor, classic style and more! I’m so happy you’re here!

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