Summertime Favorite: Blueberry Buckle

Butter and sugar, mixed until light and fluffy, are the beginnings of Blueberry Buckle (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Adding an egg to the butter mixture, which will become the batter (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Peeling fresh orange zest with a special tool is the best way to infuse a little citrus flavor into the recipe (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Mixing the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, before adding them to the wet batter ingredients (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Wet and dry ingredients are gently blended together (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Cutting fresh nectarines into slices, then into thirds (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Getting ready to mix the nectarine slices with freshly-squeezed lemon juice (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Mixing fresh fruit together, including the citrus flavoring from the lemon juice (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Combined blueberries and nectarines are gently mixed into the batter bowl (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
A handheld pastry blender mixes the topping ingredients: flour, butter, cinnamon and sugars (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Blended topping ingredients are sprinkled to cover the batter, which fills a square baking pan (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
The cooked dessert is removed from the oven and tested with a toothpick in the center (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Just out of the oven, the dessert is set aside to cool for 15 minutes on a baking rack (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Cutting the first piece (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)
Bon appétit! (Photos by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters)

During the summer of 1986, I found myself standing in a grocery store line with my mom. I remember perusing the magazines at the checkout stand, a habit I continue to have to this day. I’m sure I scanned the usual fare: TV Guide, Cosmopolitan, etc. Suddenly, a new item caught my undivided attention: Good Food Magazine. The cover displayed the headline “Star-Spangled Desserts,” placed just above a close-up shot of fresh berries mingled together in a perfect balance of red and blackish blue. I remember picking up the small booklet-sized magazine, intent on finding out what was meant by “Star-Spangled Desserts.” Whatever it was, it sounded right up my alley. The Good Food issue in my hands, I quickly turned the pages of the article in question, whereby I found not one, but an entire collection of colorful desserts. Even as a teenager, I was quite a baker, and I knew something good when I saw it. The thought came to my mind: did I hit the jackpot or what?

Well, as it turns out, there was one recipe in particular that would emerge as my true love from that article swimming with delicious summertime desserts. That recipe is Blueberry Buckle. Just the name itself was enough to close the deal. Who eats “buckle”? Sounds like fun! Looking at the article today, which contains a photo of all the desserts (yes, I saved the original cover and article pages from the magazine), I can see why I picked Blueberry Buckle as the one to make. First of all: blueberries and nectarines; need I say more? In the photo, Blueberry Buckle is cut into square pieces, which are stacked on one another, looking moist and dense—like the best kind of coffee cake—and showcasing clusters of baked fruit; each piece is adorned with a blanket of golden crumble topping. One of the best things about this recipe, besides its good looks and taste, is its versatility. Blueberry Buckle can be served warm or cold, and is equally delicious. It can be eaten for breakfast or for afternoon/evening dessert, along with coffee or tea; in the latter instance, a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream when the dessert is fresh out of the oven truly completes it.

Baking remains one of my all-time favorite culinary activities to this day. And thanks to Blueberry Buckle, I am never lacking for a summertime recipe to make for family and friends. Sadly, for the other recipes in that Good Food article, I have never had the heart–or perhaps more accurately, the willpower–to tear myself away from making Blueberry Buckle long enough to give them a try. That’s how good this recipe is, and why I continue to make it for all the special and wonderful people in my life. I love nothing more than seeing their eyes light up in anticipation of the infamous “buckle.” These moments, filled with joy, laughter and conversation, shared over a homemade treat, are a true gift. And I realize that, yet again, I’ve hit the jackpot.

Click here to view the complete Blueberry Buckle recipe, as it originally appeared in Good Food Magazine. Bon appétit!

On Friendship

By Pam Winters

I’ve been thinking a lot about friendship of late. This includes friends who are currently in my life, friends who once were in my life at some point in the past, and friends I don’t see or hear from very often, but they’re definitely there in my life all the same. There are other categories of friendship, too, which can overlap with and/or morph into the above, of course—work friends, family friends, new friends, etc. Let me just say right off the bat, when it comes to friends, of all shapes and stripes, I am an extremely fortunate person, because I have many, and they are the best people. Furthermore, I consider several family members my closest friends, and those relationships are the most special to me. We’ve seen each other at our very best, as well as at our very worst, and we somehow manage to stick by one another through it all. It truly is amazing when I stop to think about it. Then there are friends who are very much like family to me—we’ve been through many years of knowing one another, shared experiences, laughed together, supported each other during rough times, and even let the other see the not so picture-perfect parts of our lives. I cherish these friends like extended family members, and it seems that it really doesn’t matter how often we see or talk to one another; the friendship weathers it all. With these particular friends, several years can, and often do, go by between our visits. However, when we do have the chance to finally see each other, we make the very most of our time together. Along with family, these are friends I’ve come to lean on, and vice versa. It’s an extremely good feeling to know you have a support system like that.

There are friends I’ve made strictly online or by means of other long-distance communication that I have never even met in person, but we keep on writing and talking, and there is a personal connection that keeps us friends. Maybe it’s writing, music, mutual friends, the shared human experience, or a combination of these, but it’s strong enough to maintain the friendship over many miles, many years and through the screen of a computer. That’s pretty amazing, as well.

If friendship can come and go, or stick around for a lifetime, and if it can happen overnight, or grow and strengthen gradually over the course of many years, how do we truly know when someone is friend material? What is friendship, when all is said and done? Perhaps it’s when somebody sticks with you, even though you may not be the best company at a given time, but they see something worthwhile in you, and are willing to put up with your “crummy self” (as the rockabilly musician Chris Isaak once put it while briefly discussing new relationships between songs during a live performance I attended). These rare individuals know that putting up with your “crummy self” is sure to pay off when the sunshine peeks its head out and the good times are rolling once again. Also, it is my opinion that the “crummy self” scenario is a two-way street—i.e., both friends have to be able to weather this storm for any hope of a long-lasting, meaningful friendship to take root. And everyone has a “crummy self” (even Chris Isaak, apparently). Furthermore, friends lift you up when you’ve taken refuge in the doldrums, or give you a reason to give things another shot. If at first you don’t succeed, and you really don’t feel like trying again, try again for your friend, who believes in you. How many times has a friend kept you going when you felt like throwing in the towel? Or let you see what a great person you really are, when all you can see are the mistakes and flaws? There really is no price or predetermined time limit you can put on friendship—if it’s real, we know it at our innermost core, because we can relax, be ourselves and not give it a second thought. And if the friendship has run its course, we come to know that in our innermost core, too.

I think the character Wind in His Hair (played by Rodney A. Grant) from the movie Dances With Wolves summed it up best at the end of the movie, in his farewell ode to the title character (played by Kevin Costner): “Dances with Wolves. I am Wind in His Hair. Do you see that I am your friend? Can you see that you will always be my friend?”

Custom Bat Mitzvah Invitations: Pretty in Pink

By Pam Winters

Photos of custom Bat Mitzvah invitation suite by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters
Photos of custom Bat Mitzvah invitation suite by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters
Photos of custom Bat Mitzvah invitation suite by Stacey Winters Photography, © 2015 by Pam Winters
Custom thank you card, envelope and address seals (digital mock-ups), © 2015 by Pam Winters
Custom Bat Mitzvah save the date (digital only), © 2015 by Pam Winters

Custom Invitations for a Special Bat Mitzvah

This project is a lovely example of custom Bat Mitzvah invitations. A key element of the invitation is the custom gatefold design, which provides a reveal effect. Vibrant, eye-catching colors of pink and teal were chosen, along with a subtle sea-foam green. These guided the choice of paper and ribbon. Satin ribbon, sparkling gems and shimmer envelopes were the finishing touches, once everything had been printed and assembled.

By going over the details with Gali and her mom, Yael, along with event planner Catherine Bachelier, early on, I was able to clearly visualize how the different elements of the invitation would come together. Along with Gali’s favorite colors, it was also important to include parchment paper in the design, as Gali and Yael wanted the suite to provide a nod to the beauty of the Torah scroll. Gali’s grandmother would be providing Gali’s name in Hebrew, by way of her own hand-drawn calligraphy, which I was able to turn into digital art in order to be printed on the parchment paper (for the gatefold flaps). In order to achieve the torn edges effect for the front of the gatefold, I obtained a special ruler to tear each strip of printed parchment paper by hand, so that the individual strips containing Gali’s Hebrew name would appear diagonally aligned in a specific way (as seen in the slideshow above). These custom Bat Mitzvah invitations had just the right balance of color, sophistication, sparkle and fun to reflect Gali’s effervescent personality and her special day.

There are four cards included in the suite: invitation card and lined envelope, RSVP postcard, party card and envelope, as well as a folded thank you card and envelope. There is also a digital save the date that was sent out electronically.

Click here to read about Yael and Gali’s experience working with me.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

By Pam Winters

At the end of March, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the paper art of quilling, as part of the Y Conference put on by AIGA San Diego. I had signed up for the conference just before it commenced, so the selection of free workshops (or “Thinkshops,” as AIGA calls them) that comes with conference attendance was limited. Looking at the remaining options, I saw that quilling was available. My curiosity was piqued, as this was something I hadn’t tried my hand at before. Some of the things that come up in an online search when looking up the term “quilling” are so beautifully ornate and intricate, I could see this was most likely going to be a fun, though somewhat challenging, experience.

The day of the quilling Thinkshop, I was pleasantly surprised to find a full room with almost equal numbers of men and women (probably 30 people or more total), sitting at tables, ready to hear the instructor, Candice Warner, a local designer and paper artist, give a brief description on quilling, show examples or her own and others’ work and give us some beginning tools, supplies and tips to get started on making some of our own things. I was inspired right away!

Candice was very generous, and set us up with the basics right off the bat: strips of paper evenly cut and in a variety of colors; a small quilling tool with a split metal head for holding the paper in place while curling; small clipping shears; a lightweight tweezers tool; paper-friendly glue; toothpicks; a disposable plate for placing small amounts of glue as we worked; and lastly, a couple of cards for practicing basic quilling shapes and structures and for creating a small design (pre-drawn on the card for us). Once we all got our hands on the goodies in front of us, we set to work. Our table consisted of a friendly group of people, and we chatted as we worked, talking about our jobs, other creative things we like to do and we also traded business cards. Quilling, it turns out, is not just a wonderful paper craft, it’s also a great way to network and socialize with your neighbors!

When the conference was over, I shared the practice sheet of quilling shapes I had done on Instagram and with family and friends in person. It was a beginning for me, and I kept my manila envelope with all of my newly acquired tools and paper strips at the ready in my workroom, should the mood strike me to start it up again. Well, it took a good couple of months, but I finally gave myself the opportunity to get back to it. And it took a crafting night with a group of friends, with whom I have also worked side by side over the past several years at a retail store, to break out that project I’ve been meaning to revisit. It felt really great to pick up where I left off with the quilling, and when I brought it home with me, I continued working on it.

Sometimes, it’s simply not enough to write down a to-do in your planner, or tell yourself to get back to something. It might take the company and support of friends to give you the permission to set aside the time to sit down with that thing you’ve been meaning to do for yourself. And once that inspiration is reawakened, who knows what’s possible? I like to think, anything at all!

Graphic Design: Uberfood Promotional Pieces

By Pam Winters

Summertime Favorite: Blueberry Buckle

On Friendship

Custom Bat Mitzvah Invitations: Pretty in Pink

Custom Invitations for a Special Bat Mitzvah

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

Graphic Design: Uberfood Promotional Pieces

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