black currant banana bread

Baking has never been a huge interest -- call me lazy, but I'd prefer to eat, thank you. The only time you'd find me whipping something up in the kitchen was when a craving struck. It wasn't until I began falling in love with the art of food photography that I realized if I wanted to photograph food, food had to be made -- and thus my journey into the realm of baking was born. It's a satisfying feeling, sifting and measuring and mixing seemingly unrelated basics to form something delicious, a feeling that's worth the flour everywhere and gooey bits of batter strewn about the counter.

Thursday mornings have been deemed as my baking day. I scour cookbooks and blogs through the week and enter the kitchen with a list of recipes. Three house later and a mess later -- unfortunately I'm not like chefs on Food Network that have everything perfectly organized and layed out, though I try, promise! -- timers ding and the smells in the kitchen make my stomach rumble. By the time lunch rolls around, I feel like a nineteen fifties housewife...except that statement is far from the truth.

Banana bread is one of those foods that evoke memories from long ago. I fondly recall running into the house following riding my bike around the neighborhood, and at all of six years old, the only thing on my mind was the smell of freshly baked banana bread wafting throughout the house. After waiting the five more minutes for the timer go off -- which felt more like five hours-- I snatched a slice, still steaming from the oven. It burned my mouth, yes, but it was the most delicious slice of banana bread I've ever had.

black currant banana bread
adapted from texas home cooking -- gingered banana bread
ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (approximately three bananas)
1/3 black currant jam (or other jam of your choice)
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 teaspoon lemon or lime zest
3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 5-by-9 1/2 inch loaf pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. Set aside. 
With a mixer, cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in mashed bananas, jam, sour cream, lemon or lime zest, and, if desired, chocolate chips. Spoon in the flour mixture about a third at a time, mixing until the batter is well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan; bake 60 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm.

This bread is perfectly moist and perfect for afternoon coffee, a party, or even breakfast. Even if you don't like bananas (and I'm not a huge fan), the flavor is cozy and comforting -- it almost made me wish it were cold and snowy outside. It brought back memories of childhood and our house in Texas and bike riding.

What's your take on baking?

Also, I got drawn! Is this not the coolest thing ever? I'm in love.

(see the post as well as two other bloggers drawn here)

-carlotta

looking forward

Situated on a quilt outside, the soft breeze is currently rippling through the leaves and the smell of late summer is prominent in the air.

There's a bush in the yard that is currently yielding some sort of apples -- what kind, we're not sure yet, and we haven't been able to eat them, but I don't mind.
I'm writing with paper and pencil -- typing up the words is an extra step, but still worth it for the gratifying sound of pencil lead scratching against smooth, white paper.

It's Monday, but not just any Monday -- it's the first day of blogging since my rediscovery, the first day of a new style. Honestly, it's scary. It's a big commitment that I've taken up myself, to walk away from posts as I've known them in favor of something richer and different. At the same time, though, it's exciting to feel this mini revolution pulsing through my veins.

Today also marks the beginning of my last week of summer -- it's been one of the best summers of my life. I promised I would be more real in this new chapter, so here goes: I'm dreading the start of classes. It's not that I mind learning, it's just the stress that accompanies it I'm not looking forward to. This summer revealed the answer to what I want to do in life and I'm not ready to give up the job I had these past three months. Sure, there times I was stressed, but it seemed to be a good, real life kind of stress. School is the groundwork for a successful career, yes, but at times it seems a bit silly to slave over a paper that isn't going to matter in the grand scheme of things. I'm not denying the fact that life past school will be difficult and may lack fun and I know this seems rather childish; please don't think I'm complaining,. This is just something that's been weighing heavily on my mind lately.

But I suppose these years will be over before I know it and suddenly I'll be plunged into the real world. This morning, instead of lamenting the end of summer, I sat down at my desk and compiled a list of things I'm looking forward to this fall.

Looking forward to:

the visit of my sister Alina

cooler weather, and consequently, chunky knit sweaters and jeans

my birthday -- actually, our family's birthday season in general

more time spent in the kitchen

the reveal of my exciting project (soon!)

the spicy smells, tastes, and colors of fall

roaring fires on crisp nights

a photoshoot with a friend (ballet themed, no less)

a trip down to my hometown in Texas

The list is taped on the wall next to my desk -- each time I look at it, it makes it a bit easier to let one season of life go and embrace the next.

What are you looking forward to this fall?

xoxo

p.s. the previous giveaway winner didn't respond, so the winner of any anklet from emily's shop is michaela. congratulations! please email me to claim your prize.

rediscovery

It feels odd, honestly, to be typing in this space again. Though it's only been just over a week since I last blogged, it feels like an eternity ago. But I don't regret taking this time off -- on the contrary, it was just the thing I needed.

Among other things, one of the reasons for my break was to reevaluate who I am and how I want to be defined as a blogger. I'd reached a point where I needed to step back and sort everything out, and for that I needed time. It was as though I'd rammed straight into a brick wall, not able to go forward with what I'd been doing before, but having to go left or right with something different. Over the past few weeks, my posts seemed to all be the same -- give or take a few words, they'd morphed into variations of their successors. These posts could be summed up in three words: summer, farmer's markets, and weather, also known as the standard of every blogger. But I didn't want my blog to fit a standard mold. It was time for a change.

So pastor's girl's ponderings is growing, breaking out of its chrysalis and stretching its new wings, colorful and exciting and different. More photographs, stories, and recipes, less standard "life is lovely". While I'm not denying the fact that life is lovely, because it is, there are ugly, raw sides too. Life deserves a more descriptive, meaningful adjective than lovely. I'm tired of the saccharine flowers-and-sweetness approach; I aim to portray life more realistically. I've vowed to take more photographs, to write with passion, to capture this sliver of life at the moment the best I can.

While blogging, it's easy to get caught up in numbers. Watching the number of comments, followers, and stats quickly becomes an obsession until posts are dictated by the uncontrollable need to see the numbers rise. But that's not what blogging is about. Part of this rediscovery period I'm going through involves having good content I'm proud of, not just blogging to see the page views increase.

It's going to be hard. It's going to feel odd at first, until I settle into my own little niche. I'm going to want to give up. But it'll be worth it. It'll be oh, so worth it.

But now, after a few days off, I'm remembering just why I fell in love with blogging. Sculpting something beautiful using sentences and text makes me smile. And because pastor's girl's ponderings is reinvented, it makes me even happier and excited.

Little sister got glasses. 

It's good to be back.

Happy Saturday, friends!

-carlotta

p.s. interested in sponsoring pastor's girl's ponderings? I'm now accepting for september! feel free to email me for details :)

back soon!

I'm taking a little break from blogging for a few days -- I have a lot on my mind and a lot to figure out. My project 365 blog (which I've recently gotten back on track with) will still be updated, but pastor's girl's ponderings will be rather quiet. I'm going to miss you lovelies, but I hope I'll be back rejuvenated, refreshed, and with a clearer mind.

And just because I can't go without posting a few photos...

new bowls from anthropologie (I'm starting a collection ;)) // vintage globes are my favorite // lilly's new glasses.

xoxo

back to the basics

Food fascinates me -- from fresh-from-the-garden vegetables to creamy raw milk, I'm a self proclaimed foodie. The making of what we eat has always interested me; I remember being seven and gazing up at a sign on how we get our milk in our local grocery store. But then there are other aspects of food -- like products that come from factories. Processed, altered, and injected until the list of ingredients no long resembles anything remotely edible, they still claim it's food. In actuality, it's just chemicals.

The food industry is rapidly declining -- it's changed more in the last fifty years than it has in the past ten thousand. Companies are willing to sacrifice quality and nutrition for quick and cheap. Animals are injected with hormones to quicken their growth and, in most cases, never see the light of day. They spend their life in their own waste, crammed together in pens, their only purpose in being alive to be slaughtered. Because of their diet and lack of exercise, the animals are weak and unhealthy. How the owners of these places can get past animal cruelty laws, I don't know, because this is downright inhumane. Corn is mass produced to sweeten just about everything through high fructose corn syrup, which is even worse for you than sugar. Vegetables are bland, colorless, and lacking nutrition. No wonder the cancer, obesity, and other the rate of other diet related health problems have soared.

The owners of huge food corporations have managed to pass laws that make it illegal to take pictures of their production line -- they're scared that what's really going into what we eat will be found out. I love the documentary Food, Inc, which delves into what exactly these factory owners don't want us to know.

So why are we buying our food from huge supermarkets? Because it's faster. Easier. Cheaper. But don't you think it'd be nice to know personally the local farmers that sell you your food? To know exactly where your vegetables come from? That's (one of the reasons) why I love the farmer's market. Healthier, often cheaper, and you know where your food is from -- that sounds good to me.

When we lived in St. Louis, my mother began researching and reinventing the way our family ate. We stopped buying ready made foods and went back to the basics. Butter -- lots of it -- was and is the key to all things good. (seriously, it's a superfood) We began drinking raw milk (we have the cutest little dairy that we go to; their milk and cheese are amazing) and were fortunate enough to have friends that sold us eggs from their chickens. My mother now grinds all her wheat for her bread, started a garden, and recently purchased half of an all natural, grass fed cow from a local farmer. The result? Healthier, more energized, more satisfied versions of ourselves. Yes, it may be more work in the beginning, but once a rhythm is established, it's easier and so worth it.

So say goodbye to processed, factory food and say hello to fresh, delicious, natural food -- because the journey to ending this forgery begins with us.

What are your thoughts on this matter? I'd so love to hear!

-carlotta

summer loving.

Patchwork quilt? Check. Shady maple tree? Check. Labrador running about? Check. Mumford & Sons? Check. Laptop, camera, and a cool breeze blowing? Check, check, and check.

Sometimes a change of environment is just what's needed to get the creativity flowing -- hence my current setup in the backyard. I'm lying on my back, computer balanced on my legs, and the reflection of my red and white striped shirt is casting a bit of a Where's Waldo effect on my screen. Above me, the leafy tree juts out against the azure sky, the combination of vivid green and blue more beautiful than anything man made. This is the kind of summer I love, simple, sweet moments I will remember when unfolding memories like a comforting blanket.

Fridays are my favorite day of the week. They're sort of like the horns that are blown when a king enters the building -- the excitement and relief and anticipation that all come with heralding in the weekend.
Thursday night was an outdoor concert (country music is my favorite and old couples dancing the two step makes me die from cuteness overload) and Friday morning was some early morning gardening.
Or more like, my mother gardened and I photographed. The garden, while rather overgrown and unruly (why is that weeds are the only thing that grow in heat?), has yielded herbs and salad for much of the summer. I must confess I'm not the most patient person and, while it sounds lovely in theory, tending to plants it's not exactly my area of expertise. Which is why I'm thankful for a mother that has patience where I lack it. Now that it's cooled down, my fingers are crossed for some ruby red tomatoes -- from plant to mouth in two seconds, there's nothing more delicious. But for now, I'll settle for leafy green basil and sage.

Friday (and part of today) in photos: 

a little sneak peek of a (very) exciting project I'm working on :)

Golden light, picnicing, frozen bananas (a must try), stripes, laughter, working on a super exciting project (which I'll reveal in a few weeks -- any guesses in the meantime?), beautiful weather...sounds good to me. And this morning, I slipped out of the house at the early hour of seven am and went down to the river for a shoot with a super sweet couple. There was a soft breeze and gorgeous light and I was in heaven; and because I'm a sentimental sap, I had to draw a heart on the beach. I know.

Eat an extra piece of chocolate, do a little shopping, take some pictures, treat yourself. Because if life is short, why not take advantage of these precious days? Happy weekend, y'all. 

-carlotta

p.s. giveaway winners: the winner of any anklet from emily is ellyn. 

the winner of the photos from olivia is mary ann.

congratulations, winners! please email me to claim your prize. note: if winners does not respond within forty eight hours, a new winner will be chosen.