Allie


Wednesday, October 9

apple crumb cake

You guysssss. I recently discovered Figgy Bakery, a gem of a blog/bakery, and have not been able to get enough of her recipes. They're an amazing take on whole foods and clean eating and she has a knack for making vegan baked goods and seemingly indulgent desserts just a bit healthier than they typically are. Anyways! I've made the below recipe a few times, modifying it a little each time, and this is what I've come up with:


Ingredients:
[topping:]  1/2 cup flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 
teaspoons cinnamon, 1 cup Earth Balance melted, 1/2 cup flour, 3/4 cup rolled oats
 [cake:] 3 cups chopped apple, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3/4 cup Earth's Balance, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 2 eggs, 1 1/4 cups Greek yogurt, 1 teaspoon agave

Disclaimer: You need four separate bowls for this concoction 
as well as an 8x8 glass baking dish and perhaps a small loaf pan.

Begin with the topping. Melt Earth Balance (1 cup) in a medium-sized bowl. Add all other topping ingredients, mix and set aside.

Chop three apples into cubes, put into a bowl and add cinnamon. Set aside.

In another bowl, add flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix.

In a fourth bowl, beat Earth Balance (3/4 cup) until smooth. Add sugar and mix. Then add the eggs and mix. Next, add the Greek yogurt and agave. Once all of these ingredients are incorporated, add the flour mixture, little by little, until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed together. Finally, fold in the apple-cinnamon combination and transfer to an 8x8 greased baking dish. You may have left over batter (I did), so I made an extra little loaf. 

Add the topping and bake on 350 degrees for about an hour, testing with a toothpick to make sure the cake is done.

Note: mine took probably an hour and fifteen minutes to cook. I'd recommend setting the timer for 50 minutes and checking periodically after that.

Thursday, September 19

madison, wi: part three

Johnson Public House was another lovely establishment we feasted at whilst in Madison. Owned by an adorably kind (and cute!) hipster man, Johnson Public House brews an incredible array of coffee (Stumpton and Counter Culture to name a few) in addition to serving up some killer paninis.


smitten with these ceilings

a variety of art hanging to and fro

Oh! And the paninis. I got the Sunday Morning Breakfast Sandwich, which had a hefty portion of hardboiled egg, ham and cheddar shoved between two slices of country bread and grilled with just the smallest bit of maple syrup on top.

sunday morning breakfast sandwich

Madison, you are lovely and I'll definitely be back!

madison, wi: part two

One of my favorite things about Madison is that you can basically walk anywhere. There's a co-op in the middle of town, which I visited at least three times during my four day stay (they also make the best smoothies in the whole world at a strangely affordable price. The Green Dream... holy crap). But besides the co-op, one of our favorite meals was at a quaint and eclectic eatery called a pig in a fur coat.

outside a pig in a fur coat


In typical form, we ordered one of each menu item (I'm hardly exaggerating). But the dish to write home about was the ravioli: one giant pillow of heavenly goodness filled with ricotta cheese, egg yolk, crispy kale, fried bacon and topped with brown butter. It was the dreamiest. 

Wednesday, September 18

madison, wi: part one

Over Labor Day, my two best friends and I headed to Madison, Wisconsin to visit our fourth pal in her new habitat. I didn't know what to expect, but it's needless to say Madison surpassed all of my expectations. In fact, I think I'd be pretty happy to move there one of these days.

fried cheese curds

colectivo coffee

new glarus brewery

With cheese curds on every menu and the nicest people you'll ever meet, this city is full of art, culture, beer and some pretty tasty noms.

We checked out the farmers' market on Saturday and sampled an ungodly amount of cheese curds (my stomach wasn't thrilled). I tasted Colectivo Coffee (their packaging is to die for) and drank way too many Spotted Cow brews from New Glarus. We played more than a few aggressive foosball games, stayed out until 3 a.m. and laughed until we cried.

There's nothing quite like being with the people who know you best.



Tuesday, September 17

san francisco dwelling + things i dig

Oh hello there, world! So much has gone on in these past few weeks months, I don't even know where to start. Probably the most notable step is that I've finally moved to San Francisco, my dream city for about the past five years. To say that it's been fun and exciting is an understatement. There's nothing quite like having your own place and in a city like this one, I feel constantly motivated, eager and all around ready for a new adventure. I feel like I have so much to say and so much to write about, but I'll save those thoughts for another day. For now, I'd like to share a few decorative items that I've been pining over: