Urban Art (knit edition)

Recently, I have seen a few small pieces of knit urban art in my community of Logan Square, and I just love them! The following link from Deputy Dog is an older post, but houses a pretty sweet collection of knit pieces. I think the one on the tree outside the Logan Square el stop, top one below, has since been removed.

Whiskey Pie

I don't know what prompted me to start looking for a whiskey pie recipe - maybe just to discover if such a thing really existed. Well, it does. I'm not sure I ever really intended to make this pie when I stumbled across it, but I mentioned it to a friend who is having a birthday today, and he loved the idea, so I made one last night. Pretty simple process that goes really quickly, so have your ingredients pre-measured out or you will be scrambling.

Donnie, here is your whiskey pie. Enjoy!


RECIPE: (Courtesy of Group Recipes, minus the spelling errors, and with a few minor revisions)

5 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup boiling water
1/2 cup good Irish or Bourbon Whiskey
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 large pre-baked cooled pie shell or graham cracker crust
shaved chocolate


1. beat egg yolks until thick and lemon colored
2. slowly beat in sugar
3. dissolve gelatin in boiling water
4. when completely dissolved, add 1/4 cup whiskey
5. add gelatin mixture to egg/sugar mixture while stirring very quickly
6. add remaining whiskey , stirring quickly
7. whip cream until semi-soft, semi-firm peaks form
8. add 1 cup or more whipped cream to egg/whiskey mixture and fold until well blended
9. pour into pie shell and chill about 2 hours or until set
10. sprinkle chocolate shavings on top and then decorate border with remaining whipped cream

Rainbow Cake, redux

Remember way back when I did a post about rainbow cake? Well, turns out it was only like two posts ago, but nearly a year ago! I finally finished the marmalade quilt last month, and although the first rainbow cake was given away for a friend's birthday, I am finally getting around to posting pictures of subsequent rainbow cakes. Not only are they easy to make, but they are amazing looking and DELICIOUS!

New Alphabet

And I'm back! Who knows where the hell I went.

But today I stumbled across (via Love Forever) this whimsical little gem from Pentagram, such a beautifully executed little video quiz about your typeface font. The narrator's voice and the unobtrusive soundtrack in the background put me so at ease!

Turns out I'm New Alphabet, the "uncompromisingly Dutch font" that is "exceptionally striking while being almost totally illegible." Apparently New Alphabet is for me because "I am a statement maker when that statement makes perfect sense to [me and] it is immaterial if it makes no sense to anyone else."

If I Were A Robot

Look at this darling stencil of a robot, courtesy of Simply Radiant. If I were a robot, I would want to be this robot!

Of Marmalade Quilts and Rainbow Cakes

It has been suggested that this quilt top is reminiscent of marmalade. I think it is a fitting description. I based this on a pattern I think was called "Bento Box," although my lines are nowhere as crisp and perfect as the quilt I was using as inspiration. But I like it a little askew, like life. Here's a little preview:

Also, I will be making this rainbow cake today, found at the awesome food blog, Omnomicon. How freaking sweet does this thing look??? I'll let you know how it turns out. (Oh, and I'm definitely making the full fat version, none of this diet cake for me!)

Unintentional Urban Art (and some Urban Camoflage

I found some unintentional urban art on the street the other morning - I happened upon one of those mailing labels that are often tagged and then stuck up near the El or on newspaper boxes. I initially thought someone had done a little watercolor or drawn some cool spots on it, but it turns out that some rain from the night before had collected on the surface. I like the result!


While searching The Girl in the Green Dress the other day, I came upon this hilarious urban camoflage post! I trie googling it to find some other fun images like this, but a lot of the others involve intricately painted suits designed to blend into the background surroundings. I didn't like them as much - these below are more fun.
I've got Rosemary biscuits baking in the oven right now...I'll let you know how they were shortly!