{finding home}

we finally found our home, and oh how sweet it is.

dear plum street house, i knew you were ours the moment i saw you ... we can't wait to come home.

love,

alison, steve, and august

{sweet potato pizza} with garlic, basil, gorgonzola, and hazelnuts

{sweet potato pizza} with garlic, basil, gorgonzola, and hazelnuts

recipe by me

1 medium-large sweet potato

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons chicken stock

1 tablespoon pure maple syrup

1/4 cup hazelnuts toasted and chopped

2-3 leaves basil, chiffonade

gorgonzola, to taste

1/2 cup parmesan

salt and cracked pepper to taste

pizza dough {i use my artisan bread recipe for neapolitan pizza dough} this crust was made with part whole wheat and flax seed meal.

preheat oven to 500 degrees

heat olive oil in a small saucepan; peel garlic cloves and cut into very thin slices, and add to the oil. cook garlic on low heat until fragrant and tender (around 10 minutes). peel sweet potato and cook in boiling water until tender. put in a bowl with chicken stock and maple syrup and a pinch of salt, and mash. set aside.

break off about 1/2 lb {around a softball sized ball} of dough from the artisan bread dough. you will be able to adjust this, depending on how you like your crust, or how big you want your pizza to be {if making a bigger pizza, break off grapefruit sized ball, and double toppings}.

on a floured surface, roll out dough, to desired thickness. don't be afraid to dust with flour in this process, this dough is a wet dough and can handle the flour... i also love the way it looks when it is baked and still has a dusting of flour on the crust. this particular pizza i rolled to about medium thickness, and slightly smaller than a dinner plate. but i've also rolled it very thin and once baked, it is wonderfully crisp.

here is more on rolling out the dough {neapolitan pizza dough recipe}

Flatten the dough into a 1/8-inch-thick round with your hands and a rolling pin on a wooden board. Dust with flour to keep the dough from sticking. (A little sticking can help overcome the dough’s re sis tance to stretching, though, so don’t overuse flour.) You also can let the partially rolled dough relax for a few minutes to allow further rolling. Stretching by hand may help, followed by additional rolling. Place the rolled- out dough onto a liberally cornmeal- covered pizza peel.

sprinkle a generous amount of cornmeal on a baking sheet and transfer pizza dough.

spread sweet potato over the crust as you would pizza sauce. top with garlic, drizzling some of the fragrant olive oil over the pizza. crumble gorgonzola, and sprinkle with parmesan. season with salt and cracked pepper. top with basil chiffonade and bake at 500 degrees for around 10 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden. slice and top with toasted hazelnuts, and a bit more parmesan.

*plate by kate fisher {my favorite local potter}.

my birthday {according to instagram}

on january 23, i turned 33. every year, for the past 10 years i've been buying quince branches on my birthday. there is something about the contrast of pale pink blossoms against the winter landscape of january that gives me hope. my sweet little august was sick with a fever. we put an offer in on what we're hoping will be our first home. and, i started my birthday off recording new music... i can't wait to share it with you. it was quite a day.

xo,

alison rae

dear ina {shortbread cookies}

dear ina,

you never let me down. i made your shortbread cookie recipe with august this weekend, and they were divine. perfectly flaky, and just as you say "the quintessence of shortbread, and my all-time favorite cookie". we usually make the shortbread hearts for valentines day, but i couldn't wait that long. maybe someday we will make them together in your kitchen... a girl can dream.

sincerely,

alison rae

{shortbread cookies}

adapted from the barefoot contessa, ina garten

3/4 lb unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

mix the butter and granulated sugar together in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until just combined. add the vanilla. in another bowl, sift together the flour and salt; add it to the butter and sugar. mix until dough just comes together. dump onto a floured board and shape into a flat disk. wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

preheat oven to 350 degrees

roll the dough 1/2 inch thick and cut with a 3 inch round/or heart shaped fluted cutter. place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. i like to sprinkle them with sugar just as they come out of the oven. let cool to room temperature.

paper whites {narcissus}

{looking for home} part deux

we are still looking for home... and after three failed house offers, we are a little worse for the wear. the town or country debate is still there, but not so important as it once seemed. i still dream of land, and open fields, and chickens, and a farmhouse with the screen door flung open in the summer time. friends gathered on the porch, my hands in the dirt, clothes on the line.

but, i am just a little weary, and it doesn't seem to matter so much where we find it... i just long for a place to call home.

so, just as i was starting to think that we should buy land and pitch a tent, a house came on the market. we saw it for the first time yesterday, and i fell in love. standing there on the front porch as we opened the front door, i was already fighting back tears of hope. this is the house i've been waiting for. i can see us there, building our first fire in the fireplace, dancing to a record, august taking a bath in the claw foot tub, that first smell of lilacs in may, swinging on the front porch swing, sunlight coming through the window in the early morning, planting my great grandmothers rose bush in the backyard, the piano waiting to be played.

i am so proud of steve and his beautiful work, i will never stop singing my heart out, and i have high hopes for my next record, and i love being a mother to my august. we don't have much money, but we will offer anyway. and, i am prepared to get down on my knees and beg for a miracle.

don't worry, i'll be ok if we don't get it. but, my heart is already there after all... i can't help it. i want to go home.

photo credits {1. homecoming by alica bock, 2.pendant by alicia bock,

3. everywhere, for a moment by kitty rogers, 4. retro love photography.}

{girl put your records on}

i am in love with my vintage record player. i can't stop playing records and dancing... there is a lot of dancing going on around here.