Capping off my 31st year of life with an incredible bespoke purple hat from Tanith Rowan Designs

Outfit details

Bespoke 1930s style purple felt and lace hat inspired by the movie The Women: c/o Tanith Rowan Designs
c. 1930s black plastic tipped hatpin: Unknown, hat for years
Creamy white hued plastic rose stud earrings: Claire's
1950s style Petal Vintage Floral Swing Dress in Blue: c/o Dolly & Dotty
Purple cardigan: Thrifted (Lands' End label)
Peachy-pink plastic beaded stretch bracelets: (I think) Forever 21
Faux pearl stretch bracelets: Real Canadian Superstore
1950s/1960s pink handbag: Unknown (had for years)
1950s style blue floral print fabric headband: c/o Dolly & Dotty
1950s white wrist length gloves: Unknown, possibly a gift (had for years)
Nude seamed nude stockings: eBay
Burgundy faux suede pumps: Payless
Lip colour: MAC Partyline

Photography by Tony Cangiano  

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Sunshine, as you may recall from some of my more recent posts (such as this one), has been about as rare as hen's teeth around these parts for the past nearly three months (in fact, we had rain - and on one occasion a fabulous thunderstorm - for six of the first eight days of summer).
 
Thus, when it decided to grace us with its presence on a recent weekend afternoon, we beelined it across the street to the beautiful walking path that runs along the stream and tall hill there, to take some outfit photos in the lush green foliage that all of this recent precipitation has generated.
 
A day this bright and lovely (though not staggeringly warm), called for an ensemble that celebrated the very best elements of the tail end of spring/start of summer. A colour palette of vibrant, feminine hues. A garden's worth of blooms, and a chapeau that would keep the sun - now that it was out - from getting too overzealous and burning one's face.
 
Were I going to a garden party, a tea party, a bridal or baby shower, a Mother's Day fete, an alfresco dinner party, a birthday bash, or perhaps even a wedding, I would wear this outfit in a heartbeat. Alas, none of those were on the agenda, but that was okay, because the return of sunshine was worth toasting every bit as much as any of those special occasions.
 
This ensemble starts, quite literally, with the most enchantingly beautiful of vintage style hats, which is a bespoke piece that my dear friend - and one of the most talented milliners in the whole wide world - Tanith Rowan - recently created for me.
 
Tanith, who many of you may know from her terrific vintage blog, Tanith Rowan Design, as well as two past occasions where I've had the great honour of wearing her stunning creations here on my blog (most recent of which was the fun spot of time that I spent with her beautiful blue and black hued Traveling Hat).
 
For this exciting collaboration, I spoke with Tanith and conveyed to her my love for, and desire to own a similar hat to, one that appeared in a scene from that most breathtaking - from a fashion standpoint at least - of 1930s movies: The Women (see image below).

{Vintage movie image source}

This movie has been hugely influential to me over the years from a sartorial standpoint and is one of those great classic Hollywood films that I can happily watch over and over again without ever tiring of. One has only to get a few moments in to see why - the fashions and accessories are, to my mind, some of the best sported on the big screen and I've yearned to replicate even just a small piece of the breathtaking late thirties style portrayed in that movie for as long as I can recall.

Tanith instantly understood my vision and we set to work zipping emails back and forth with design and colour ideas. As I've been - and continue to be - very enamoured with all things purple lately, and as I own so few hats in this colour, two shades of this spring and summertime perfect shade were hit upon, as was the design itself.

Working with Tanith is a joy of the highest magnitude. She is sweet, professional, considerate, creative and understanding - she also goes the extra mile and then some for her customers, including, in this instance, have the very lace you see custom made for this hat.

So not only do I have the joy of owning a new one-of-a-kind hat, but also the honour of sporting some beautiful purple bespoke lace on it in the process (a detail that I hugely appreciate Tanith doing).

We wanted to make sure that the bow element, seen on the original hat in The Women, was included here, too. Various ideas were bounced back and forth before Tanith came up with the wonderful concept of a separate piece (of matching purple lace) in the shape of a bow with a loop of elastic on the back, that could instantly be slipped onto the "tails" of the lace on the hat to create a full, fabulous bow beneath one's chin (such a brilliant and innovative solution!).

This chapeau is big, bold and unlike anything else in my millinery wardrobe. It looks the mid-century part exceptionally well (as all of Tanith's vintage inspired pieces do), fits me like a glove, and is so beautiful, I can still scarcely believe that it's me wearing this hat in the photos shared here today. It is not the sort of topper one is apt to slip on any ol' day. But that's not only fine - it's exactly what I wanted in a hat this grand that was inspired by one of the most glamorous movies of all time.

It's important to have incredible looking pieces that we save for festive events, parties and holidays, or for when we want to brighten up our everyday lives with something so amazing looking, it might just stop traffic.

This magnificent late 1930s inspired purple felt and lace hat does that impeccably and is a testament to Tanith's unbelievable talent and ingenuity. I cannot thank her enough for the gift of this enchanting chapeau and know that anytime I need a major dose of purple, I have only to reach for this off-the-charts awesome millinery creation.

The question as to what one partners for a first wearing of such a glorious hat was something that I pondered long and hard. Various ideas swirled through my head, including some of my vintage suits, however, on a day bathed in gentle sunshine and when standing in the midst of nature’s verdant palette, such just seemed too stuffy and out-of-place to me.

Much to my delight, the answer to this question revealed itself to me in the form of one of the beautiful garments from UK vintage inspired clothing seller Dolly & Dotty that I recently selected to showcase here for you guys this summer in my roll as a brand ambassador for this wonderful company.

Called the Petal Vintage Floral Swing Dress in Blue, this elegant frock is the sort of flower print garment that turns my knees to Jell-o and which I can never, ever get enough of.

In particular, I was drawn to this gorgeous 1950s style dress because of the blue background - which isn't overly common on vintage reproduction/style garments - and the incredibly attractive rose pattern that it boasts from top to bottom.

Made from a very comfortable cotton and elastin blend, this light weight (fully lined) dress is the perfect thickness of fabric for the sunny months. It sizzles with a classic v-neck, a matching fabric covered belt, a hidden zipper, a full skirt (which one could most definitely place a crinoline underneath of), and a very becoming silhouette.

I would note that, like some of the other pieces that I have very kindly received from Dolly & Dotty, this dress runs on the smaller side (and one may wish to size up, especially if you're between two different sizes).

Here I'm wearing a UK size 10 (my usual size for British garments), which is roughly equivalent to a modern US/Canadian size 6 and I would say it fits closer to a UK size 8/US size 4. However, the use of stretch in the fabric helps a great deal there and I had absolutely no problem comfortably wearing this beguilingly sweet floral print dress for many hours on the day we took these photos.

With a hat and dress this vivacious unto themselves, little was needed in terms of further embellishments here with this outfit.

Some classic jewelry, an equally timeless pair of vintage gloves, a charming purple cardigan, my much adored peachy-pink hued mid-century handbag, a matching 1950s style blue floral print fabric headband from Dolly and Dotty (tied around the handles of my purse),and some burgundy pumps round off the outfit and help the frock and topper to shine all the more in their radiant splendor.

It's hard to believe that this is the last outfit post that I'll share with you during my 31st year of life. My birthday rounds the bend again in just four days time and with it a whole new year of exciting vintage outfits lie ahead.

If one wanted to round off a year of their life with a serious bang from a fashion perspective, this outfit most definitely delivers big time on that front - and you know, it strikes me now, maybe that makes the day we took these photos quite a celebration unto itself after all.

Fitting, wouldn't you say, for one's birthday week and the return - I truly hope - of, at long last, some proper summertime weather, which should help make taking upcoming outfit shoots, once I've turned thirty-two, all the more enjoyable!

Birthday party perfect 1950s Pink Coconut Snowball Cupcakes

It's hard to believe that nearly a year has passed since I last sat down to debate what I might like to serve when my next birthday rolled around (which I did by taking a look at 15 of my favourite desserts ever).

With my 32nd rounding the bend in precisely one month's time, I've already begun planning my birthday menu and though, as usual, the dessert choice is nowhere near finalized yet (more often than not, that happens at about 11:45 pm on July 9th), a quick peek through my collection of saved vintage recipe ads turn up a real charmer of a mid-century take on coconut snowball cupcakes.



{Looking very, very much like the marshmallow cream filled chocolate snack cakes that are Sno Balls, these adorable pink coconut topped cupcakes would be an ideal choice for any birthday celebration. Vintage recipe image source.}


I love chocolate, I love coconut (and as discussed in this post, it's always a safe choice when feeding my family), and I absolutely love anything pink, plus these darling little cupcakes just seem to have a fun, festive air about them.

They're also a snap to whip up, which means less time spent with the oven on during July - which is always a good thing! I like, too, that they'd be a breeze to put a gluten-free cake mix to work in and that, if so desired, one could certainly leave the coconut untinted.

You could also add in some chocolate chips or pieces and make these double chocolate snowball cupcakes. A favourite extract - say orange, mint, lemon, almond, or coffee - could also be used to jazz them up further, as could adding some festive candies or slices/pieces of fresh fruit on top of the pretty pink coconut.

If one goes in for birthday candles (and I definitely do!), it's always fun when serving cupcakes at a celebratory meal to top each one with enough candles to collectively equal the person's age - or conversely, just select a couple of cupcakes and stick a number shaped candle atop both.

And if you wanted to take this recipe in an especially elegant direction, you could forgo the coconut and instead coat each little cake in a layer of fondant or almond paste and then adorn them with candied (edible) flower petals, grapes or citrus peel. They might not look quite as "snowballish" any longer, but I assure that they'd still be every bit as scrumptious.

I've still got a month to decide on what I'll be making for this year's birthday, and you know, I'm starting to think - in the name of serious scientific taste testing, naturally - that I might just have to road test these cutie pies (err, cakes) before then.

One has to be sure, after all, that they're going to adore their birthday dessert and it's always better to veer on the side of (completely delicious) caution in these kinds of instances. :D

Links, Life, Love: June 4, 2016

Summer is approaching, fast and powerfully, its air a fragrant blend of thunder storms, honeysuckle, sandy shores, and the first locally grown tree ripened stone fruits in nearly a year. A lively month fills our days now and before we know it, the next season really and truly will be upon us.

Nearly two months have passed now since I launched a new periodically occurring post series called Links, Life, Love here and it seems, now that we're into June, like high time for the second installment of such.



Links:

Thoughts on Modern Vintage Style: I greatly enjoyed and appreciated Bonita's heartfelt look at this topic and how it relates to her own life and wardrobe. It's something that I think many of us will be nodding up a storm as we read and I really commend her on tackling this important vintage style related subject.


My Favourite Instagram Accounts for 1920s Style Inspiration: Searching for some of the best and most arrestingly chic jazz era fashion wearers to follow on Instagram? Look no further than this curated and entirely fantastic list that Jessica from Zella Maybe recent put together. Le swoon!


Spring & Summer Vintage Accessory Essentials: Bianca rounds up several of favourite must-have warm weather vintage accessories, from high heeled sandals to pretty parasols, and highlights them care of some seriously soon worthy yesteryear images in this fun spring + summer fashion post.


The Lifesaving Powers of Vintage Turbans: You'll want to run, not walk, to your scarf collection the moment you read this terrific piece from Nicole at The Artyologst, and then proceed to spend the whole summer sporting the most glamorous vintage style turbans imaginable.


Why I don’t like capsule wardrobes: Personally, I'm quite neutral when it comes to capsule wardrobes and have zero against them personally, but I did find this post on why its author, Christina Fleming, isn't a fan to be a thought provoking, interesting read.


Edwardian Pomade Recipe: Kate's super simple and very natural recipe - complete with a great how-to video - for such will have you running to the local health food or holistic related shop and then your kitchen in a heartbeat.


Flea Market 101: A Beginner’s Guide: Jackie of the always enjoyable blog, Let's Go Thrifting, dishes out some super handy, and very detailed advice, on what to know/do/take with you/expect when you go flea market shopping. This post is a great read for all outdoor second hand market fans, be they newbies, veterans, or anywhere in between.


A Man Took Hundreds of Photobooth Self-Portraits From Between the 1930s and 1960s. But No One Knows Who He Is and Why?: Tell me this doesn't intrigue you something fierce!


5 Keys for Mid-Century (Decor) Style: A quintet of fun, easy ways to inject more of the mid-century awesomeness we so adore into our home decor care of Sabrina over at the delightful blog, Inky Notions.




Life:

In many respects, I feel like I've already shared most of the highlights that have filled our days lately, including our wonderful little trip to the Kootenays, but that doesn't mean that other things haven't been happening behind the scenes, too.

Tony recently returned home from his latest work trip to the States, which saw him touch down for a few days in Denver, Colorado. Save for the airport there, he'd never been to Denver before and really enjoyed his time in this beautiful state, which geographically speaking, share many points (mountains! evergreen trees! vast expanses of wilderness!) in common with our own province of British Columbia.

Much as with Austin, Texas in April, he adored getting to explore more of America and is looking forward to wherever his company may opt to send him to next, be it in America, Canada, or even further afield.

And speaking of Tony, both he and I have birthday coming down the pipeline in the not-too-far-off future. Mine will roll into town on July 10th (I'll be 32) and his appears again on August 6th (he'll be 36). We've always adored that we're both "summer babies" and while we don't have any mega plans in the works for either day yet, are certainly looking forward to celebrating them together.






In fact, we're genuinely psyched to be spending the summer as a whole in one another's company, after being apart while he was in San Francisco (for work) for nearly the whole duration of last summer.

Though we both fared well during that time apart and stayed in constant contact online, it truly wasn't the same letting the most stunning, sunny and light filled (aka, prime outdoor photo taking season) chapter of the year go by without each other's companionship and we feel very fortunate to have this summer together again.

We're also excited about Canada Day on July 1st (it's one of only two days each year - the other being New Year's Eve - when our town puts on a small fireworks show), the prospect of a summertime road trip or two, the return of cherry + peach + apricot + plum + nectarine season, days of weather so stunning it almost makes you weep, and making plans on various fronts for the second half of 2016.


Love:

-Muted colours, as I blogged about recently in this post, are something that I simply can't get enough of at the moment. I recently ordered a fab new fifties dress in these earthy, goes-with-everything shades for fall and am already planning an outfit for October around it.

-And speaking of thinking ahead when it comes to my ensembles (ahh, the life of a full-time fashion blogger), a recent Etsy search for "Christmas pudding brooch" lead me to discover the most delightfully cool handmade fruit and veg themed jewelry shop on Etsy called By the Shed, and I'm not even joking when I say that I want every single thing that they're selling. If I receive some birthday money this year, I uber want to put a portion of it towards my first purchase from this awesome shop.

-Wearing all the vintage straw hats and carrying all the vintage straw/bamboo/raffia handbags. Hands down one of my favourite elements about summertime fashion is this point right here and I've wasted no time this year in putting my straw (et al) accessories to good use!

-Shopping my own closet, so to speak. As evidenced by some of the comments that I received on this  post last year (and various others, too), I know that many of are firm fans of putting existing wardrobe pieces to continued use in new and exciting ways, and that's something that I greatly enjoy and make a point of doing as well.

There is, objectively, relatively little I truly *need* when it comes to clothing and the older I get, the more I want to keep enjoying and experimenting with my existing wardrobe, which naturally means blogging many such outfits here with all of you.

-Kailey Flyte, better known to many online as Mermaiden's, cuter-than-cute collection of cell phone cases that she designed in collaboration with Casetify.

-Magnum Double Raspberry Ice Cream Bars: Oh my stars, are these things amazing! Tony and I just discovered this particular Magnum offering last month and to we're both beyond addicted to them now. Hands down these Double Raspberry Bars are in my top five favourite store bought ice cream products of all time. If you love the taste of raspberries, I seriously can't recommend them highly enough!




-Nestling our camping chairs into the sand down at one of the local beaches here and watching the sky transform from butter yellow to tangerine, coral, lilac and amber as the ever-hotter sun sets over either Okanagan or Skaha Lake.

-This adorable elderly British couple who finally tied the knot after dating for 42 years (aww!).

-When my wonderful Etsy customers blog about their purchases, such as Sara from In a Nutshell, Sarah (with an "h" :)) from Sew Characteristically You, as well as Jessica from Zella Maybe , and Elizabeth from Gloriously Vintage have all done did in recent weeks.

Thank you wonderful ladies each so much, I truly appreciate it! (Check out snaps from each of their awesome posts below, in order from top to bottom: Jessica, Sarah H., Elizabeth, and Sarah.)

{To learn more about a specific image used in today's post, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.} 

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What are your plans for this first Saturday of June, my dear friends? Recently my awesome sister, who lives in the nearby city of Kelowna, caught wind of a brand new vintage sale called the Okanagan Vintage Fair, which is holding its first ever event today, and rushed to tell me about it (isn't she the best!).

I didn't feel that I found out about it far enough in advance to attend as a seller (I usually need, due to my health, several weeks to prepare for an in person selling event, which then, there's never any guarantee that I'll be feeling well enough to attend; thus selling online via my Etsy shop, as I do, works so much better for me!), but I am hoping to bop up to Kelowna this weekend and attend as customer, if possible.

We have exceedingly few vintage related events, let alone sales, in this corner of the province and I really like to support as many of them that do exist as I realistically can (interestingly, a few days after my sister texted me about this event, the organizer - who I'd not interacted with before - contacted me via Facebook to invite me to attend, which was so sweet and thoughtful of her to do).

I know some of the folks who will be selling there and look forward to meeting others who are new to me, as well as to attend the premier occasion of this fun sale. Hopefully I'll return with a vintage treasure or two enrich my wardrobe and/or home with!

Aside from that, we're keeping things nice and on-the-fly this weekend, with few set plans and even less of a desire to be rushed or overly busy. These warm, gorgeous months are all too brief and one should savour them at a leisurely pace as often as possible (even if that means for just a few hours on the weekends or after work).

Have a stellar, delightfully fun - and hopefully relaxing - weekend, everyone!

When I wore a younger woman's clothes

Today is my 31st birthday. Yes siree, I made it through the first year of my 30s and am every bit as excited to embrace the second as I felt on the day when they began precisely a year ago.
 
Being both my birthday and a Friday however, I didn't want to launch into a hefty sized post. Instead the idea struck me recently while listing to Sirius XM (as I usually do when shooting photos for my Etsy shop listings) to feature a few photos of myself as a youngster on my birthday when the next one rolled around for me. As you may have deducted, it was Billy Joel's classic hit Piano Man that inspired the title for this post and by the same token, the post itself.

I have some photos from my childhood, the bulk of which I have my very dear mom to thank for scanning from old photo albums and sharing with me on a flash drive a few years ago, however not that many from my the birthdays of my youth. I debated posting others that weren't from birthdays, and may do so in another entry one day (I have shared at least a couple such snaps over the years, including in this post about how my passion for vintage fashion took root at a very early age), but that didn't feel right given the occasion so I tried to find a few that were from past birthdays, save for the first one of me as a teeny, tiny baby (aww!).

I am not wearing vintage or vintage styles here (I began doing so in earnest at the age of 15, transforming my wardrobe into an into ever more yesteryear filled one with each year that followed), but you can still get a sense of my style - girly, filled with pink, classic, and fun - from these few long time faded photos, each taken on July 10ths that came before.

Please bear with the quality of these images. They're scans from old family albums that were not archivally safe and which definitely show the ravages of time, as many colour photos from that era do. I'm so grateful to have them though and that I can take a trip down memory lane anytime I want care of these old snapshots, captured almost always by mom's hand during my youth.




I don't have any photos of the me on the day I was born, but I do have this one professional one shot during my first sixth months of life. Love that eyelet trimmed dress, it would have been perfect for a birthday party!




In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not 100% certain that this was taken on my birthday, but given the bow on my head - clearly accessorizing was already an important priority to be at a very early age (I would have been about a year old here, I think) - how could I not share it?




{Back when I was a wee sprite, British Columbia had two fun theme parks devoted just to the classic cartoon characters, The Flintstones, one of which was located about 45 minutes from our home at the time. It was a huge treat to go there and visiting on my 4th, I believe, birthday as I did here with my good friend at time, Leanne, by my side, was beyond the icing on the birthday cake for me!}




I'm going to say that this in my 5th birthday, but am not 100% sure. Based on my hair, height, and what I'm wearing, I think it was though. Here I am kneeling on the brown picnic bench we had in our backyard at the time, opening a Hudson's Bay box. I don't remember what contents it held, but am sure that it was clothing and that that me one seriously happy birthday girl (I think I was one of the few kids out there who actually loved getting clothes a present - my fashionista tendencies haven taken hold very early on in my life! Plus, holy smokes, check out the box on the ground. Is that the year I got my Lite-Brite? I loved that toy so much!).




Growing up, my family always had a tradition of giving each child a helium balloon first thing in the morning on their special day, and here I am - decked out in a pastel pink party dress, natch - holding mine as my 7th birthday kicked off. Props to my mom on the fab pink streamer decoration job around the doorway!




Diving right into my gifts on my 8th birthday, with my BFF at the time, Talia, and my little brother by my side. Tal and I were the same age, but I was very short - usually the smallest in my class - as a child, so she looks much older than me here. Based on the shape of that top box, it was almost certainly a Barbie. Score!!! :D




This is the last photo I have of me, as far as I know, that was taken one of my childhood birthdays and it from my 13th, if I'm not mistaken. My teen years were incredibly difficult and tumultuous (for reasons far beyond the normal tribulations of youth) and exceedingly few photos were shot of me during that time, which makes having this one - of me sitting on a swing at a park here in Penticton - all the more precious to me.

♥ ♥ ♥

Like most of my friends back in the day, my wardrobe was not big when I was a child and my parents had a strong say in what I could wear until I hit high school, but looking back on these photos and the others I sorted thorough from my youth to unearth this tiny selection, I can still see the seeds of the style that would come to fill my closet in the decades to come.


It's often hard to believe just how quickly time passes. I can still recall the precise way that that pink party dress felt on my skin and how much I loved my long permed locks (the results of, I kid you not, three different spiral perm applications to get my naturally bone straight hair that curly) in the final photo. I can recall too with stark clarity, too, the waves of massive excitement I felt on each birthday that I've experienced, no matter what else was going on in my life at the time.



(A Dairy Queen Ice Cream cake, my absolute favourite b-day sweet treat when I was a youngster – this one from my 4th birthday. If they were gluten-free, I'd still get them to this day. Next year I'll have to devise a GF version of my own and rekindle this once favourite birthday food tradition once again.)


I love birthdays. I mean really, really love them - be they my own or other people's, and while I might have worn a younger woman's (girl’s, technically) clothes when these snaps were taken decades ago now, that wide-eyed excitement still holds true and returns each July 10th to help set the stage not only for the day's celebrations, but for the whole year ahead and each bright, beautiful possibility it holds in store.

Welcome, 31st year of life, I can't wait to see what new memories - and photos alike - you'll bring my way in the coming 365 days!

15 of my favourite desserts ever (with vintage recipes for many of them)

With my birthday less than two weeks (yippee!), my thoughts have already started shifting towards how I'm going to spend it and what I'm going to serve up on the menu to celebrate it (sooo many possibilities!).

I've covered such things in various posts here over the years before, so I won't veer into broken record territory here again, but just to recap, between the fact that my diet is wildly restricted due to many of my chronic illnesses that are seriously affected by what I eat, that I'm a card carrying member of team Celiac Disease, have a nasty egg allergy, and, oh, you know, have eaten low carb at least 95% of the time for more than 3.5 years now (doing so is not only helpful in managing my weight, which some of my meds wreck havoc with at the best of times, but which is extremely beneficial, I find, for some of my conditions), planning the feast - very much including the sweet treat - for a special occasion is not something I take lightly.

As touched on in this vintage recipe post last December, if dining with a good number of my family members, I also happily have to keep their own dietary needs and preferences in mind, too, though for my birthday, I'll sometimes make multiple desserts so that everyone is safely covered and then just ensure that the one I'm tucking into is safe for me to consume sans awful repercussions.

Though I've always been more of a "salty tooth" than a sweet too, like most folks, I'm not adverse something on the saccharine side of things every now than then, especially when celebrating an event as marvelously exciting as a birthday.



{Just a few days stand between me and my 31st birthday, so as it rounds the bend again, I've suddenly got my favourite desserts on the brain! Image via Etsy seller Veetzy Innovations.}


The world of desserts is an incredibly diverse and exciting one, which has long been amongst the most voluminous in terms of its scope in the whole wide world. Each culture across time has created anywhere from a handful to hundreds (if not thousands, is some cases) of sugary treats that would set nearly anyone's tummy rumbling at the mere thought. In recent year the hybrid dessert (a mashup of two or more traditionally separate desserts - such as cookie cupcakes, red velvet cake s'mores, or the doughnut croissant lovechild that is cronuts) has caught on like wildfire.

Though there are some such exciting combination desserts I can eat, as I usually have to adapt dessert recipes quite heavily at the best of times to make them safe for me to tuck into, this isn't an area I've been able to explore to its fullest when cooking or baking for myself. Again, though, I do delight in those that I can and always keep my eyes open for desserts that look like they might work well on that front.

With the literal sweetest part of any celebratory meal at the forefront of my mind as my birthday rounds the bend again, I though that it would be rather fun on this last Sunday in June to shine the spotlight on a list of 15 of my favourite desserts of all-time.

I need to state emphatically before we proceed with this list that I cannot safely eat all of these things any more. Some of them have not graced my lips in over thirteen years now, and others have to be heavily modified (ditching the eggs, gluten, alcohol, caffeine, and other ingredients that massacre me ) before I can even contemplate sticking my fork, knife or spoon into them.

Much as I never stopped reading and adoring cookbooks when my diet was forced to make drastic changes though, I haven’t ceased loving these desserts either and just because I might not be able to eat them or consume them in their original form, doesn't mean that they don't still hold a special spot in my heart and memories. The latter of which is something I find always goes hand-in-hand with birthday celebrations, so that strikes me as all the more reason to highlight them here.

As some of these desserts are newer inventions and/or were not common in North America or the UK during the mid-twentieth century (or earlier), I haven't been able to find recipe pages (from cookbooks, magazines, ads, newspapers, etc) online for all of them, so when one wasn't forthcoming in my search, I tried to find an image that related to it in some capacity instead.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the desserts I enjoy (nor is it in any kind of "top favourite" order; the entries here are all completely random), but it does certainly shine the spotlight on some of my all-time favourites and I hope that you'll find some of your own most beloved sweet treats amongst them as well.




1. Dessert pizza: I'll never forget the first time I had dessert pizza. The setting was a Pizza Hut restaurant and I was maybe all of six years old. It was cherry, with crumbly, fantastic streusel topping and oodles of white icing piped across the top. It pretty much blew my young mind and I've been a devoted fan of all kinds of dessert pizzas ever since (the first time I had the apple cinnamon one from them, it did the same thing, too). You can easily make your own at home with any number of toppings, ranging from fresh or canned fruit to s'mores ingredients to ice cream, and each one will have you coming back for seconds for sure!




2. Ice cream cake: This - in the form of Dairy Queen's classic offering - was one of two staple birthday desserts for me when I was growing up (the other being homemade chocolate cake topped with mountains of seven-minute frosting), especially during the first ten or so years of my life, so it is impossible for my b-day to roll around with my mind racing straight to ice cream cake no matter how old I get.




3. Cherry Pie: I'm a huge fan of pies in general, but with the glorious abundance of cherries that are grown in Okanagan and which are in season at this time of the year, a cherry pie becomes a very natural fit for any July celebration (ditto for peaches and peach pie as the summer rolls on).




4. Nanaimo Bars: Canada has given the world many incredibly tasty recipes over the course of the few centuries, but few - if any - top the chocolate + coconut + custard filling heaven-on-your-tongue that is the mighty Nanaimo Bar.




5. Rice Pudding: File rice pudding under one of those foods that I could happily eat every single day for the rest of my life without growing tired of it. The creamier, the better, but rarely have I met a rice pudding I didn't adore and am always game to try new versions (plus, I love that most are GF right off and bat and many can be made sans eggs no problem).




6. Strawberry or raspberry trifle: Hands down the best English trifle I've ever had comes by way of my paternal Grandma, who would make one or more every summer with fresh picked raspberries from her thriving garden and generous amounts of rich custard sandwiched between the layers of fruit and cake. It, along with potato chip coated chicken and her delicious hamburger pie, were the tastes of summer at my grandparents house when I was a youngster.




7. Millionaire's Shortbread: A rich, crumbly shortbread base combine with tongue pleasing caramel (usually made with condensed milk) and alluring chocolate in this endlessly delicious treat that's served up in bars or wedges and for which anyone you make it for, will beg you for the recipe. I first discovered Millionaire's Shortbread while living in Ireland and have been hooked ever since.




8. Cheesecake: Oh silken, luxurious cheesecake, how I melt for you! Perhaps because I've had such good luck with both baked and no-bake GF, EF versions of cheesecake, it is one of the most common desserts I bake, very much including for my birthday (two years ago I made a strawberry + raspberry version was the after dinner star of my birthday bash).




9. Baklava: Honey, walnuts and/or pistachios, countless layers of pastry - oh my word, what's not to madly love about this classic Greek desserts? Though GF versions somewhat pale in comparison to the real deal, that doesn't stop me from trying my best to replicate this awesome Mediterranean dessert at least once a year (Nicole from the wonderful blog Gluten-Free on a Shoestring has a very good gluten-free phyllo dough recipe, should you be searching for one).




10. Spice Cake: Granted we just kicked off summer, but a great spice cake (likewise for pumpkin pie) is one of those awesome autumn favourites that I could happily tuck into any single day of the year (especially since one's birthday is the perfect excuse to indulge in any dessert you want, no matter what season it is most closely associated with).




11. Apple Crisp: Another fall time classic for sure, but one that can easily be whipped up any day of the year. I love to serve mine piping hot with straight-from-the-freezer vanilla ice cream or chilled with hefty wedges of sharp cheddar cheese (much like many folks enjoy their apple pie).




12. Bread Pudding: Comfort food par excellence! I love all kinds of bread puddings (also known as "bread and butter pudding") and have even come up with some great GF ones over the years, including a version that is a rife on a recipe I invented back in my teen years that marries classic bread pudding with fresh pears, cinnamon, and vanilla pudding (and in the same vein as bread pudding, I flat out adore a great Summer Pudding or Eve's Pudding, too).




13. Chocolate Brownie Pie: If you thought hybrid desserts were a new craze, guess again! Clever cooks and bakers have been fusing two or more sweet treats together for ages now, as this seriously delicious Chocolate Brownie Pie recipe attests to (this is the very same recipe I base my own version off of and can attest that it is immensely tasty!).




14. Pineapple Upside-Down Cake: Not only is this a massive mid-century dessert staple, but I find that it's surprisingly easy to make a GF and EF version that tastes strikingly similar to original versions we all know and love. Were I planning a tiki or tropical themed party, this would be one of the first things in the oven!

15. Cinnamon Buns: Bar none the best of which I've ever had are my mom's. You know Cinnabon's offerings - those sublimely scented temptations that make malls smell like pure dessert heaven? Yah, they smoke those out of the water. My mom is an amazing home cook and baker, but nothing, IMO, that she makes tops her cinnamon buns (note, the recipe above is not hers, but I think it looks pretty great, too). If I seriously had to plan my last meal, they would be a part of it (and it wouldn't matter that they have gluten in them, as, hello, last meal, gluten = mute point! ;)). Even the very modified gluten and egg-free version of it that I've been making for years now is still lip-lickingly fantastic.

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Tell me you aren't hungry as a bear after reading all those? Or at least very, very in the mood for something sweet! Which are of these scrumptious eats land on your own roundup of favourite desserts?

I must admit, with having to cut certain foods out my diet entirely for so long now, my mind does tend to gravitate towards things that I know I can still eat and thus isn't as apt as it would have been to list the same things it might have had I penned this post fifteen years ago (back then you might have found entries like lemon meringue pie, creme brulee, chiffon cake, pavlova, root beer floats, doughnuts, angle food cake, tiramisu, baked Alaska, and canolli), but I did let myself branch out still a bit here, as touched on above and it was fun to think about certain foods that I don't often get a chance to any more, unless I'm cooking for others or pining them to one of my many (many!) food related Pinterest boards.

With a touch under two weeks to go until my 31st birthday rolls around on July 10th, I still have time to finalize my birthday dessert or desserts. As is so often the case, there's a few big contenders, but I rarely end up making the final decision until the proverbial 11th hour (and on a few occasions, the literal one, too, on the evening of the 9th). Plus, in the course of putting together this post I came across two great articles 50 of the Best Dessert Recipes of All Time from Huffington Post and 92 Top Rated Desserts from Southern Living Magazine, respectively, that added some new contenders to the list big time!

It's been an age and half since I last had an ice cream cake, so that is well and truly up there, as is trifle, and a classic chocolate cake. We'll see. It will likely come down to my plans and menu for the rest of the day and what I'm in the mood for as I enter the second year of my thirties.

Whatever I make, it will be a treat of the sweetest caliber and one that will satisfy me on the sugar front if not until my next birthday, at least until Halloween rolls around again in just four months (what, I swear I'm not planning every last detail of that day already - nooo, it being my favourite holiday of all time, I'd never do that. Tee-hee-hee :D)