Well look at that... two posts in one day! Aren't you lucky? I usually keep my blog posts to the art school whatnot, but I decided that afternoon craft projects counted as art.
Today was marvelous, and after I finished my school related post this morning, I spent much of the day out of doors. One of my closest friends from college drove out for a visit, and we spent the first part of the day walking around Prospect Park (glooorious) and then headed back to my apartment to make Pysanka or Ukranian Easter eggs. We had made them a few times before in college, and today felt like an excellent day for that sort of crafty fun. When you actually know what you're doing, they can be amazingly beautiful; the process is batik-like where you cover up the bits you want white with wax, dye the egg the next lightest color, then cover those bits up with wax, dye the egg the next color, and so on.
Alas, Sarah has all of the in-process photos, which include such classics as Blowing All of the Nasty Goop Out of the Egg Through a Pin Hole, Ow Ow Ow or Lightheaded From Trying to Blow the Nasty Goop Out of the Egg, My Fingers are Ridiculous Colors, Fishing An Egg Out of a Cup with Chopsticks, among others. So sadly, all you have here are pictures of our finished eggs... not to mention an impromptu project to use up all of the aforementioned egg goop.
My first egg... yes that is a crack... I dropped it somewhere between the green dye and red dye stage... I finished it anyway.
Yes I tried scrubbing the dye off. Alas, my fingers are all kinds of colors... what else is new?
Side view of Egg Numero Uno
Oeuf Deux: A Study of Swirlies
Eggs!
Impressive Eggs
And finally, the pièce de résistance: Pecan Cake with Strawberries
Impressive Eggs
And finally, the pièce de résistance: Pecan Cake with Strawberries
Recipe for the pecan cake! Must have! Plz to email!
ReplyDeleteOooooh! Such pretty eggs! I've tried this a few times, so I know hard it can be to get the wax where (and only where!) you want it. Did you use those tiny little mettle funnels that you hold over a candle? Very impressive!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ben! It was tons of fun... and we did use those tiny little metal funnels. Next time I want to try using less black for the whole egg and maybe mixing some of the colors. We only had four to work with, but I'll bet we could have mixed the green and the yellow for an aqua sort of color or the yellow and red to get a more orange shade.
ReplyDeleteNatalie! I figured I'd just post the recipe here in case anyone else wanted it. It actually called for walnuts, but I only had pecans on hand... I would highly recommend giving the pecans a go.
Cake!
1 1/4 cups toasted pecans (make sure they're cooled... I'll bet it would be good with almonds or hazelnuts or the aforementioned walnuts)
2/3 cup sugar
1 stick butter
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (I ALWAYS double the vanilla...)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour an 8-inch round pan.
Grind the nuts in a food processor with sugar until finely chopped. Add butter and process until combined, then add eggs and vanilla. Likewise, process until combined. Add dry ingredients until just incorporated. Pour batter into pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes.
Top with fresh fruit, whipped cream, jam... honestly, it'll taste good with whatever you have on hand. This morning I had it with apricot preserves... de-lightful.
Yes, wasn't Prospect Park beautiful this week. Though, I can't believe you have to pay to go to the zoo when it's open. I spent every Sunday there as a child.
ReplyDeleteOh, and don't park across the street from the museum on Eastern Pkwy. Got a $115 ticket for "allegedly" being in a bus stop.