{Wedding Photos} Allie + Russ

I played wedding photographer in Bellingham in September. 

It took me a month but I finally finished editing this weekend. 

It took many multiple-hour sessions wedged in here and there. 

I'll just share a few of my favorites here and then it's back to work. 

checking in

I did not intend to take a blogging hiatus, 

but school started. 

I don't know what's going on but this school year 

has been the hardest one yet. 

September was a series of long, frustrating days 

followed by tears in the evenings and then nightmares about work. 

That all sounds very dramatic, I realize. 

Everything other than work is wonderful!   

Recipe: Blueberry Mini Pies

As I prepare to head back to work officially on Monday, 

I have come to terms with the fact that I would be perfectly 

happy and fulfilled staying home and baking all day every day. 

I would also probably be a much larger person. 

It would be worth it. 

The other day I made these to take to a baby shower. 

The hostess had the genius idea to do a bunch of bite-sized desserts 

(it makes you feel much less guilty when desserts are mini, doesn't it?). 

The couple had maternity photos taken at a blueberry farm 

so the filling here was an obvious choice. 

Since one person on Instagram asked for the recipe (hi, Jill!) 

and I found it was a bit difficult to explain in comment format, 

I figured it would be something suitable for the ol' blog. 

So, without further rambling, I give you...

Blueberry Mini Pies

(makes about two dozen 2.5 inch pies) 

Ingredients: 

Pie dough* 

3 cups blueberries 

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch 

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 egg

* I used (and highly recommend) Deb's "All butter really flaky pie dough" recipe. 

To make the crusts: 

Take half of the cold dough out of the fridge and roll it out 

to about 1/8 inch thick. The shape is not important. 

Use a 2.5-inch round cookie cutter to cut as many circles 

from the dough as you can and place them in a single layer 

on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. 

Return the leftover dough and the cut pieces to the fridge 

and repeat the process with the other half of the dough. 

Repeat the process once more by collecting the scraps 

and rolling them out (basically get as many circles out of the

dough as you can and have an even number by the end). 

Use a small shaped cookie cutter (or just make little slits with a knife) 

in half of the circles you cut out (these will be the tops). 

Return all of your circles to the fridge to stay cold. 

To make the filling: 

In a medium sized bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, 

cinnamon and salt. Lightly toss the blueberries in the mixture to coat. 

To assemble the pies: 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. It helps to continue 

using the parchment paper as a liner on the baking sheets. 

Pull the bottom circles out of the fridge. Place a spoonful of the filling 

in each one (not too much, I ended up with about 6-8 berries each). 

Pull out the top circles from the fridge. Working with one top and 

one bottom at a time, moisten the edges of one top piece and one 
bottom piece using a pastry brush and water. Position the moistened 
edges of the top piece onto the bottom piece and press gently to seal. 

Use a fork to carefully press the edges together. 

Repeat this process until all of your pies are assembled. 

To bake the pies:

In a small bowl, beat the egg. Use the pastry brush to lightly 

coat each pie with the egg wash. Bake them for about 25 minutes 

or until crust is golden brown and blueberry juices are bubbling. 

Allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. 

These make a nice portable pie that is perfect 
for parties, picnics, or just little bites to treat yo' self! 

SF and Sonoma

I spent a few days down in San Francisco 

visiting my brother and Kara. 

It was great to spend time with them and to 

see some new things in the city. 

On the first day there my brother and I visited the Exploratorium. 
That place is amazing! Honestly it put my beloved Pacific Science Center 
to shame. I loved that there were so many different areas of science 
represented and everything was so interactive. It didn't feel like it was 
just for kids. I will definitely go back as there was so much to see. 

 Their apartment is just north of Golden Gate Park so we 

spent time exploring Stow Lake and climbed up Strawberry Hill. 

We saw a turtle laying eggs! 

 We also enjoyed lots of good food: tuna melts at Velo Rouge, 
poached eggs la mer for breakfast at Zazie, 
pastries and oatmeal at Cinderella Russian Bakery, 
and amazing vegan Mexican food at Gracias Madre.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was driving up to Twin Peaks. 

It was a gorgeous evening for a 360 degree view of the city. 

Plus it was sunset. Talk about perfect. 

It was also really windy as you can see in the photos of us. 

Another favorite part of the trip was driving up to Sonoma 
with my brother. These photos were taken at Joseph Swan Vineyards 
where we had an appointment and were the only ones there. 
The setting was gorgeous and it was very casual. 
We also went to two tasting rooms in downtown Sonoma. 
Westwood Winery has a quaint little outside patio down an alley. 
The guy working there let us try different grapes and had a lot of 
good information. He recommended we visit Kamen, which was 
trendier and had fancy water and snacks. I really enjoyed all three 
places and felt like we got a good variety. I also bought wine 
at all three and managed to fly home five bottle of red in my 
suitcase successfully. Whew! 

Thanks to Kara and Alex for letting me stay and showing me 
some fun new spots around the city! 

being home

Since finishing my classes at the end of July 

I have enjoyed a few weeks of actual summer vacation. 

One of the best things during that time was just being at home. 

I love having full days available to do whatever I want. 

I've done a lot of cleaning and organizing, 

a lot of cooking and baking, 

a lot of reading with the cats, 

and tackled some projects on my to do list. 

I realized this morning that I haven't 

taken pictures off my camera since July, 

so here are some snapshots of life at home from the past couple weeks. 

Bead Lake and wildfires

I spent this past weekend at Bead Lake with Joe and 

"a whole bunch of Muhms" (it was a family reunion). 

I took a lot of photos of Max...he is so adorable. 

I left my camera aside for most of the weekend since I was busy 

meeting lots of cousins and kids of cousins and enjoying getting 

to know more of Joe's family. On Saturday we did a "Run for the Berries" 

in a nearby town and one of Joe's cousins had shirts made for all of us. 

We had huckleberry pancakes after the race and then enjoyed lots of 

"dock time" laying in the sun, swimming, and throwing sticks in the 

water for the dogs. We also enjoyed lots of good food and plenty of walks. 

We drove home Sunday afternoon/evening and came across 
some crazy smoke from the wildfires and even a pyrocumulus cloud 
(which I learned about in this post from my favorite meteorologist) 
Joe took most of the driving photos since I was driving at that point. 

I can't believe July is almost over already...