Although I don't welcome spiders into my home (within my line of view), I really appreciate their work ethic and design aesthetic. Bravo you little dream weaver.

♥ Miss Bojambo

While in Portland, Oregon this past weekend, I stopped in a little shop by the name of relish. Although they primarily deal with interior design, the store has a wealth of home decor items and gifts within its colorful walls. That's where I found this gem of a terrarium by Space Design Botanicals.

♥ Miss Bojambo

Serves 8 to 12

1¾ cups all purpose flour
  2  cups sugar
 ¾  cup unsweetened cocoa
1½ teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons baking powder
  1  teaspoon salt
  2  eggs
  1  cup milk
 ½  cup vegetable oil
  1  teaspoon vanilla
  1  cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by rubbing with butter, sprinkling with flour and tapping out extra. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix together with a wooden spoon then set aside. In small bowl combine eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat well with hand mixer. Slowly add boiling water and mix. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and fold and stir until smooth. Pour batter into pans, dividing evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Remove cake from pans and cool on racks.

Topping/filling

  2  to 4 tablespoons strawberry jam
  1  pint strawberries, tops removed, thinly sliced
      reserve 3 strawberries, tops removed
 ½  cup sugar
 ½  cup blueberries

In a bowl combine thinly sliced strawberries with sugar. Cover; let stand in refrigerator for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Place first layer of cake on cake stand. Spread 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry jam evenly over surface. Lay a thin layer of strawberries evenly over jam, place second layer of cake over strawberries. Spread 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry jam evenly over surface. Make a ring of strawberries along the outer edge of cake, fill in with blueberries. Place remaining 3 strawberries at the center of cake.

♥ Miss Bojambo

Like many Americans on the fourth of July, I committed myself to the time old tradition of barbecuing. That's right, my friends, no crafting on Independence Day! I brought my best effort to the kitchen and had a blast making, eating and photographing my BBQ dinner.

With BBQ season in front of us, I thought I would share some awesome and easy summer dishes. Check Back for my chocolate layer cake dessert. Enjoy!

Serves 8
Olivada, an Italian olive spread, add flavor and color to this side dish.

   1 garlic clove, peeled
   2 cups coarsely chopped pitted green olives
   3 tablespoons capers, drained
   1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
   1 teaspoon anchovy paste
   1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
 ¼ teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
 ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
   1 pound gemelli, fusilli, or rotelle pasta
   1 8-ounce paclage small (cherry-size) fresh mozzarella balls in water
   2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano

With machine running, add garlic clove to processor through feed tube and process until finely chopped; turn off machine. Add 1 cup chopped olives, capers, red wine vinegar, anchovy paste, mustard, and crushed red pepper. Using 6 on/off turns, process to chop coarsely. With machine running gradually add ½ cup olive oil, forming coarse puree. Transfer to bowl; stir in remaining 1 cup olives. Season olivada to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Olivada can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.
   Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain well. Transfer drained pasta to a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil over pasta; toss to coat. Cool, stirring occasionally.
   Add olivada, halved tomatoes, mozzarella, and oregano to pasta; toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serves 8
A kernel of truth: Don't grill corn in the husk. The high, dry heat of the grill caramelizes the sugars, imparting an amazing smoky flavor, but only when you expose the kernels directly to the fire.

   8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
   1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
   1 teaspoon ground cumin
   1 tablespoon honey
 ½ teaspoon dried oregano
 ½ teaspoon coarse kisher salt
 ¼ teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
 ¼ teaspoon onion powder
   8 ears of corn, husked

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add chile powder and cumin; stir 10 seconds. Transfer to a bowl; stir in honey and cool.
   Add oregano, coarse salt, granulated garlic, onion powder, and 6 tablespoons butter to butter mixture. Mix until smooth. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; chill. Bring to room temperature.
   Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill corn until charred in spots, turning often, about 13 minutes. Transfer corn to platter. Serve with honey-ancho butter.

Serves 4
30 minutes plus marinating

1¾ pounds boneless chicken thighs with skin on, cut into 32 pieces
 ½ cup dry white wine
  2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil for grill - For a cool way to oil the grate, impale half onion on the end of a long fork, dip it in vegetable oil, and run it across the bars of grate.
   1 cup finely chopped peeled and seeded cucumber (from 1 medium)
 ⅓ cup finely chopped arugula
 ⅓ cup finely chopped pitted Gaeta or Kalamata olives
 ¾ teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
 ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

In a large bowl, combine chicken, wine, garlic, and rosemary; stir to combine. Cover mixture and marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.
   Prepare a charcoal grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium-high heat for gas).
   Thread chicken onto 8 skewers; season with salt and pepper. Grill skewers on lightly oiled grill rack, turning frequently, until chicken is evenly cooked through, about 10 minutes. Transfer skewers to a large serving plate.
   In a bowl, stir together cucumber, arugula, olives, thyme and red pepper flakes. Spoon mixture over skewers.

♥ Miss Bojambo

My waistline is growing and the root of the problem is my resolution to eat healthier. After being influenced by movies and books revealing the truth about where our food is really coming from, my bf and I found ourselves wanting to learn more about the food we were choosing to eat, in addition to actually changing how and what we eat.

Since we used to eat out or order in, it was a quite a change of pace to begin cooking daily from scratch. Our shopping experience at the grocery store completely changed... I can't even remember what we used to buy before our food reform. Was it food? Now we only buy fresh produce and grass fed meats from the right sources. We stick to the outer aisles of the grocery store - what do they keep in the middle anyway?

With our new found passion for eating healthier and cooking from home we've become quite the pair of chefs! We love to explore and treat ourselves to wonderfully rich flavors from all around the world - and boy do we ever treat ourselves. Why shouldn't we - we are cooking from scratch at home. That's supposed to be healthier, right? Right, but what we overlooked while eating healthier with out expanding tummies, is that we like the food we prepare better than what we used to eat when we ate out or ordered in. And to top it off we always make more than enough, so seconds became part of the routine.

We were baffled at our growing waistlines. We never considered that while we were making healthier choices with what we were eating, it was possible for us to be eating more and harming ourselves. Luckily we've seen the error in our ways - finally read the fine print! We have made a point to make less food, serve smaller portions, not go back for seconds ... most of the time, and run every other day. Yes, we started the Couch to 5K training! We set out to change the way we are living our lives and we did!

Many of you probably figured all of this out ages ago, but if you haven't already acquainted or reacquainted yourself with your kitchen, here are some of the sources that inspired us to change the way we eat and more importantly the way we live.

♥ Miss Bojambo