Apartment Tour

I absolutely love seeing other people's homes. Seeing how they arrange the furniture and the art work is just so darn fun! I get new ideas and feel like I'm learning a lot about the resident. Does anyone else obsessively try to peek into windows at night when people've accidentally left their curtains open? No? Oops, guess that's just me.

nope, this isn't our apartment. I wish.

Well, no need to fly over to Morocco and try to peek into my windows. This is our 3rd Rabat apartment since I moved here last September. It's the oldest of the group, but many people think the most "homey."

We'll start in my favorite room- the salon aka living room. This is the only room in the apartment completely covered in wood panelling and I sort of love it. Never thought I'd say that! It's a nice, light color and I feel like it gives the room a really nice texture. I don't even feel bad that I've hardly decorated the walls!

I love the large window and we get really nice light during the day. The room is big enough that I played around with lots of arrangement options, but in the ended opted for putting the TV in the corner- it's close to the seating area, but tucked away as to not be a main focal point and I can easily see out the window.

I could definitely use some art up on the walls. They may be my next mission, I need to take advantage of the great stuff I can get here at very reasonable prices!

We had this small table in the kitchen at our old place, but here it wouldn't quite fit. In the end I like that it adds a second functional area to the living room. If only we could keep from unloading all of our crap onto it as we walk into the house! The rug is used, Mohamed bought it from a guy off the street for less than $40. It's huge!

The living room opens to a fairly large entry area that we've done absolutely nothing with. You'd be amazed at the incredible lack of benches available in this place. Am I the only one who likes to sit and put my shoes on? A coat rack would also be a nice addition, I just haven't made the effort to purchase one.

On the other side of the entry way is the bedroom. It's another really nice sized room which is great as there are no closets. Our first investment after moving in here was a set of armoires. This room gets great light in the afternoon. The only downside is that the window looks out to our neighbor's patio. Oops. At least they only use it to hang laundry...

Whenever I open this window or water the plants I can't help thinking- If only that were my patio! Alas, we have to live with a very tiny balcony off of the second bedroom (not pictured).

From the entry way there's a small hallway leading to the bathrooms and kitchen. On one hand this makes it feel more like a real house, but on the other I can't stand how far the kitchen is from the living room. It's just so nice to be able to be preparing something in the kitchen, yet semi-involved with the happenings elsewhere in the house.

The bathroom is split into two separate rooms. Both are extremely fashionable with their bright blue and orange tiling. Definitely gives them some character.

The sad little toilet room. Definitely my least favorite place in the house. It's claustrophobic and contains a propane gas tank attached to our water heater. The tank covering really doesn't do much, but we tried.

Finally, tucked away in the back corner is the kitchen. It's quite nice aside from the location. 

The spice shelf is my favorite. Amazing how wonderful it feels when every single thing in your kitchen has a home. Ahhhhh.

Extra bonus- killer pantry! Storage space is generally what I find to be most lacking in apartments here. Shockingly, this is the only built in storage in the entire apartment. 

Just off of the kitchen is a small, enclosed patio area. Home of the washing machine, buckets and cleaning supplies. When it's really cold, I've also moved a chair in here to warm up. 

There is also a second bedroom, but we have done absolutely nothing with it and it's really pretty embarrassing. Maybe when it becomes functional I'll addend the tour.

Hope you enjoyed the peek into our home. Maybe now you can refrain from looking into other people's windows for the day. Or maybe not. Happy spying!

Fluffy White Cake with Balsamic Strawberry Buttercream (happy birthday to me)!

Yesterday was my 29th birthday. You don't turn 29 every day, right? Oddly, this was the only birthday that I've actually felt a bit sad about. 28 was no problem, but 29?! There's just something about starting your 30th year. I knew I had to make a special birthday cake.

After scouring the web and my Pinterest baking idea board, I decided that I absolutely had to make this Balsamic Strawberry Butter Cake from one of my favorite baking blogs- Raspberri Cupcakes.

This cake actually combines two recipes from two really great sources. The Balsamic Strawberry Buttercream comes from Raspberri Cupcakes, but the Fluffy Vanilla Cake is the favorite white cake of Sweetapolita. Check out these sites for the full recipes of this AMAZING cake.

I was so excited, that I technically took two days to make this. On Friday night I had to make my own cake flour. Usually I just substitute all-purpose in recipes that call for cake flour, but this time I just had to get it right. Turns out, making cake flour is so easy! You sift together all-purpose flour and cornstarch- for each cup of flour needed, substitute two tablespoons of the all-purpose for cornstarch. Easy peasy.

Saturday night was the main event. The first step in the cake recipe involves combining egg whites, milk and vanilla. I feel bad about kicking out the poor little egg yolks, but once again, this had to be perfect. Egg white mixture then gets set aside.

Next, you combine the dry ingredients in a big bowl before adding the rest of the milk and butter and mixing for a few minutes. When it's fairly well combined, you add the egg white mixture into the batter in three additions, mixing briefly between each one. When you're finished, you end up with the most beautiful, creamy, delicious vanilla cake batter you've ever encountered. I am seriously ashamed to say that I was actually eating this batter with a spoon.

This is far from a professional cake making operation. I do not have 8 inch round baking tins, or anything close to that. So, I make due with this much larger tart tin. Sigh. I fear I made a mistake by sticking to the double layer cake. With a pan this large, I should have just put all of the batter in. Alas, I didn't.

Being much thinner layers, my cakes baked much quicker than the time listed on the recipe. I also had to turn my oven down a bit after the first layer came out a little bit too golden. Here's the 2nd layer, on my makeshift cooling rack. As you can see from the side shot, it's pretty thin.

Next up, the buttercream! I was practically jumping up and down at this point. So excited to try to make (and devour) this frosting. First- puree the strawberries. This was so fun and quick thanks to my awesome blender. Next, create the buttercream base by mixing the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. I failed to get any photos of that step, but here I am adding the strawberry puree to the already fluffy buttercream!

Add the balsamic and mix until fluffy. I did have to add some extra powdered sugar to get the right consistency (smooth and spreadable, but not runny). The verdict: HOLY COW THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING FROSTING I'VE EVER HAD! Sorry for the caps lock, but it had to be done. This stuff is serious. Seriously incredibly delicious. Hopefully you've got the picture and are going to commence making your own right now.

Strawberries, fluffy vanilla cake and the delicious frosting. All ready for assembly. This frosting was so easy to spread and it didn't stick at all to the cake- must be the vinegar? I did a crumb coat (thin 1st layer to keep the crumbs in), but it was completely unnecessary. 

First layer was frosted in no time flat. 

If I were a professional baker, I would have certainly sliced off a thin layer of both cakes to make them flat. As you can see, I didn't do this and the layers didn't quite fit together. I solved this problem by filling the gap around the edges with more buttercream. hehe.

Mohamed's contribution: flattening the bumps I left in the frosting. So helpful ;-)

Ta da!!!! This is probably the prettiest cake I've ever made. I was proud. Too bad this was the night before my birthday so I didn't get to eat it yet. booooooo.

I didn't have to wait too long though as we ate it for breakfast the next morning! Nothing says Happy Birthday like the most amazing cake you've ever had for breakfast. I added a few halved strawberries as an extra touch before the feast.

The verdict: This cake absolutely lived up to the hype. Every single bite is like a mini strawberry shortcake explosion in your mouth. The cake is perfect (light, fluffy, flavorful) and the buttercream is to die for. I will definitely be keeping these recipes around. In fact, I think I'm going to have another piece right now!

If I want to make something more delicious for next year's birthday, I better start planning now!

Neapolitan Swirl Cake!

Sundays are definitely the best day of the week. I get to sleep in and Mohamed doesn't work so we have all day to hang out and do fun things. This morning we headed out right after breakfast to catch a glimpse of the protest we'd heard would be happening.

Even though the Arab Spring hasn't quite made it to Morocco, there are protests every week and today Mohamed had a friend who was coming in to Rabat to participate. It's unusual for out-of-towners to come in, so we thought it might be big.

I wish I'd taken my camera, but sadly didn't in an effort to travel light. When we finally found the hubbub, it was no ordinary protest at all- it was an Amazigh (Berber) protest! The Amazigh are the native North African people that make up large parts of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. They have their own languages, culture, history, etc completely separate from that of the Arabs.

Only recently did Amazigh become one of the official languages of Morocco, and many people feel that there's a long way to go in Arab-Amazigh relations. Anyways, Mohamed is Amazigh, so it was really fun to see everyone (I estimate over 1000?) out with signs, wearing and waving all kinds of Amazighian flags in hopes of getting the attention of the Moroccan government.

The protesters had a few different issues, but the biggest ones that I noticed were requesting the release of two political prisoners and the demand for a diverse counsel to create a truly democratic constitution. We followed the parade for a while and then found a new pizza place for lunch. Yum!

When we got home in the early afternoon, I had a serious cake craving. I definitely have a cake problem, but I don't see myself solving it anytime soon. The internet wasn't working, so I couldn't try any of the recipe's I'd saved on Pinterest. Darn!

Instead, I decided to put a twist on my favorite yellow cake recipe- you know, spice it up! My first thought was a chocolate/vanilla marble cake. That sounded good, but adding a third flavor sounded like a real blast. Neapolitan it is!

My favorite yellow cake recipe comes from the Peace Corps Morocco cookbook. I wish I knew who was the mastermind behind it because it is truly amazing. So easy, so simple and the moistest cake I've ever encountered.

I started by simply making the yellow cake batter. First you cream the butter/oil with the sugar. I usually just use oil, but because I knew I'd be adding flavors I had to up the fat a bit. I had exactly the amount of oil I needed for the recipe, so I added a tablespoon of butter just for good measure.

Next, you sift together the dry ingredients. To save myself a dirty bowl, I sift directly into the oil/sugar mixture, then mix this together a little bit.

Last, the beaten eggs, milk and vanilla go in the bowl. Mix this together well. You could stop right here if you want a delicious yellow cake! I bake this all the time and we eat it without any frosting at all. Just don't over-bake (I think that's the key to any delicious cake!).

Since I was going Neapolitan, I had to divide and flavor. For the chocolate, I added a packet of 100% cocoa powder (about 1 tablespoon). For the strawberry, I added two tablespoons of strawberry jam along with some pink food coloring to get the pretty color that I wanted. (Note- I have absolutely no idea if jam is supposed to flavor a cake. Also, gel food coloring is AMAZING!)

Next I layered the flavors in my greased pan and used a toothpick to create a pretty swirl. I'm not going to lie, I sort of wanted to just dip a spoon in and go to town. I refrained, you should be proud.

After 20ish minutes in the oven, the cake was done. I could hardly wait the entire 15 minutes to let it cool! To keep myself busy, I made mint tea to go along with our afternoon snack. Yum! We definitely did some damage to this cake and I can't wait to try it on day two! I'm generally a huge fan of 2nd and 3rd day cakes- unbelievable how delicious they get with time.

Yellow Cake (from the Peace Corps Morocco cookbook)

*2/3 c oil or butter (I use oil)

1 1/4 c sugar

1 t salt

2 1/2 c flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3 eggs, beaten

1 c milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter/oil with sugar. Sift together dry ingredients and combine with remaining ingredients and butter/oil mixture. Spread into greased pan and bake 25-30 minutes.

*If you're going to add flavorings, increase the amount of butter or oil by 1-2 tablespoons.

Neapolitan flavors

Chocolate- 1/3 of batter + 1 tbsp cocoa powder

Strawberry- 1/3 of batter + 2 tbsp strawberry jam + pink food coloring

I layered each flavor twice and then used a toothpick to swirl. Happy Eating!

Speaking of protests, has anyone attended one recently in the States? I feel like there hasn't been a lot of news recently featuring the Occupy movement, etc. Are they still happening?