Friday, November 26, 2010

Gritty City Gift Fair

Well, I'm nearing the end of day one at the Gritty City Art Festival here in Tacoma...

I've just about made enough to cover my booth costs! Woooo. This goes on all day tomorrow, from 1 to 8pm - 3 floors of live music, cocktails, unique items you won't find anywhere else; what more could a person ask for?

Just about everything that I've seen here is hip, handmade, local, and environmentally "green". If you're in the area and looking for something to do tomorrow (maybe a little shopping, hint hint) PLEASE! Feel free to stop on by! And say hi! Cause, you know, I'm here. :-) Alllll eeeevening.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Perfect Gluten-free Pumpkin Loaf

(makes TWO mouth-watering 9x5" loafs)

I make this quick and easy loaf for my boyfriend's son, who has Fructose Malabsorption which means he can't have anything with HFCS and wheat. This is one of his all-time favorite breads. It's a great fall and winter anytime snack, and has a wonderfully consistent, moist texture. You'd never know it's gluten-free.

While most "fructmals" know, brown sugar has a bit of fructose naturally, so I add dextrose sugar which can be found at almost any health-food store. You can also substitute the brown sugar by adding pure maple syrup (about 1/2 ratio) if desired. Dextrose is not a good full-on substitute as it has different baking characteristics than regular white and brown sugars.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups white rice flour
1/2 cup authentic -does not contain wheat- corn flour (corn starch)
2 tsp backing soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum (I use Bob's Red Mill brand)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup butter (yes, 2 full sticks), softened
1/4 cup spiced rum
1/4 fructose-free eggnog
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup dextrose
4 large eggs
1 can pure pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling!!!)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together. Add eggs, pumpkin pie puree, rum, eggnog, and vanilla - mix until well blended.

3) In separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.

4) Gently fold flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until just blended - DO NOT OVER MIX!

5) Pour 1/2 of mixture into a lightly greased 9"x5" loaf pan.

6) Bake for about 1 hr or until the top is nicely golden. Check doneness with toothpick. A little moist is ok as it will continue to cook until transfered to cooling rack, but if it's still super doughy, and the top is browned, place some foil on top and bake a few minutes longer.

7) Leave to cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

As tempting as it is to do otherwise, I highly recommend waiting until the bread has completely cooled before cutting into it. That way all the moist goodness does not escape. If you simply cannot wait (warning: this bread smells sooo good; it ranks right up there with banana bread), make sure you wrap the loaf completely with baking (or wax) paper.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

3 days

...Till my birthday, in case you're wondering. WHEW!! I just finished formatting a bunch of ACEO PRINTS and certificates for the Grit City Art Fair at the end of the month! Man, now I'm tired. I'll leave the printing for tomorrow. I'm gonna go get some beauty sleep. :-)

Check out this website if you don't know what an ACEO PRINT is: www.art-card.org. Don't feel bad. I didn't know what the heck they were either until last week. I hear about 'em all the time though, so I figured it was worth looking in to. You know, find out what all the rage is about. Now I'm with the program. And you can be too. Yeah two thousand ten! Alright!!!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

HOT NEWS

I was resigned for no reason. I went back to square one (the first printer I went to, like I said I would) - and worked with Jeff, their color guy. He ended up referring a different printing company up in Seattle, called "The Color Group". They're not cheap, but ARE comparable to the printer I was originally gonna use. And they do large-format drum scanning, which is nice (and cheaper then using a photographer to get digital files made).

I went up there this past week, got proofs made, checked them out yesterday and they looked GREAT!!! So I ordered 5 prints up front and they should be done this coming Monday. Again, not cheap, but a girl has to do what a girl has to do for now. So YAY, I've finally got a great printer to work with.

Other hot news: I signed up for the Artist Fair in Tacoma on Black Friday, which we all know is only the BUSIEST shopping day of the whole year!! The day after Thanksgiving. I will have a booth there, so if anyone wants to buy prints directly and meet me, I'll be there. :-)

The address is as follows: Speakeasy Arts Cooperative, 746 Broadway, Tacoma, WA. Which is located on Antique Row in downtown Tacoma. There is also a second entrance on St. Helen's for foot traffic. Hope to see ya there!!