The weather has been so mild in the morning lately! Thanks to the fog, which has been hovering over the Santa Cruz Mountains overnight and clears just in time for the day to start. This type of weather allows me to wear jeans; and definitely calls for layers!
I wore this outfit the other day to meet up with my friend Dawn from Fashion Should be Fun at Santana Row. It was perfect because the layers allowed me to peel back the kimono and just wear the tee as the day wore on. If you live in the Bay Area, or any area near the ocean, you may be accustomed to micro-climates. These micro-climates demand we dress in layers! Without layers, our clothing will either be to hot, or too cold. Layers allow us to stay comfortable all day! Love that!
Did you notice these major hoop earrings! I need to give a shout-out to Sheila Fajl. Her jewelry is so beautiful! These hoop earrings are a fabulous closet staple, and they are lightweight! I love comfortable earrings with style; and these hit all the buttons! They also happen to be 18K gold plate. Love that! You can find her jewelry collection on her website.
Kimonos, denim shirts or jackets, and wraps, are key during the summer months to stay comfortable. How do you layer up when your temperatures fluctuate during the day?
How to make butterbeer recipe for the all of the Harry Potter fans out there! OK quick, which house are you? Although we are a Gryffindor family, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and even Slytherins, are welcome here. After all, a love for butterbeer is something we all have in common!
Last month, I took my family to Universal Studios. One thing on our agenda was to taste butterbeer! Harry Potter loved it, and it sounded like a fun, non-alcoholic drink the whole family could enjoy. So, we made grabbing a glass our priority. After we tasted our first butterbeer, we realized it was the most delicious drink! A butterbeer is part soft drink, part dessert; now doesn’t that sound amazing?! It really is; and you don’t have to be a Harry Potter fan to enjoy a yummy glass of my butterbeer recipe. If you are counting calories, never fear, I have a low calorie butterbeer recipe option for you here!
First off, let’s talk about the tools and ingredients you will need to make butterbeer at home.
Hand-held whisk: This one by Kitchenaid has been in my kitchen for fifteen years and they still make it. Best whisk ever!
12 oz. glass or pint glass: How cute is this “Hello Beautiful” glass! Yes, Hello there beautiful butterbeer, you are delicious!
When we returned home from our vacation, I looked online to see if I could find a butterbeer recipe. Unfortunately, the recipes I found used odd ingredients, were too complicated, or flat out didn’t work. So, I decided to come up with my own special recipe for butterbeer. I hope you like it as much as my family does! Here are a few simple steps for making butterbeer.
I always start off my glass of butterbeer by prepping the froth first. Measure 1/4 heavy whipping cream and put it into the mixing bowl. Then, add one tablespoon vanilla extract. Whip the two ingredients together using a whisk until they are well mixed and you start seeing bubbles in the liquid. (see above for example)
Set aside your froth mixture and measure one tablespoon of Torani Classic Caramel syrup. After you measure it, pour the syrup into the glass or pint you plan to drink from.
After you have added your Torani syrup to your glass, tilt your glass to a forty-five degree angle and slowly pour the cream soda into the glass. It is important to tilt your glass because good cream soda (like good beer) will create a large head if you don’t pour it into the glass at an angle. If you have a head on your soda, it might spill over the sides and you will not have enough room for your froth. If you do get a head on your soda, let it sit for a minute so that the froth can settle in, or you can sip the froth from the head off the top.
If you are wondering what “head” means, it is the name for the white fluffy foam which ends up on top of soda or beer that is not poured into a tilted glass; or is poured too quickly.
The froth mixture will pour into your soda too quickly without a barrier. This is where the canned whipped cream comes in handy. Put a small layer of whipped cream over the top of your butterbeer to create a floor for your froth. Be careful not to add too much or you won’t have room for your froth, and you might spill.
Now that your butterbeer is mixed together, and you have a whipped cream floor, slowly pour in your froth on top of the whipped cream. The froth will sink into the soda, but that is part of the flavor and fun. I recommend adding a straw for easier drinking. 🙂
Voila! There you have it! If you have been wondering how to make butterbeer, this is my version of Butterbeer. I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it!
Calorie Count with Henry Weinhard’s Vanilla Cream Soda: 285
Summer is in full swing! To celebrate the freedom of summer vacation, I took my kids out for dim sum during the week at Sino Santana Row. They have such good dim sum! My kids are finally at an age where they are trying more varieties of foods, so it was really fun to just order a bunch of dim sum for the table and see what they would eat. All three of them were really good about tasting everything, and they even found some new foods to love! Yay!
On our way to eat dim sum, my ten-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son took turns snapping pictures of my outfit. They are getting pretty good with the DSLR! My ten-year-old starts sixth grade in the fall, and her elective is going to be photography. I’m so excited she enjoys it. She is really creative, so it is fun to see her explore all avenues of art. She is already a fabulous painter, and she also loves to design clothing. I can’t wait to see how she interprets nature and people through the glass lens.
This outfit was perfect for the moderate summer day when we ate out last week. The blouse is nice and breezy, and the wide leg jeans offer a breezy silhouette too; so I didn’t get hot! Love! I’m looking forward to wearing this blouse often during the summer months. The rainbow pom pom details are so cute, and it will look nice with cut-offs on hot days too.
Are you indulging this summer on slow days?
Thank you for stopping by!
XOXO
Cathy
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