In Progress

first attempt

2012-01-10T12:14:00.001-05:00

i saw an article in martha about cross stitching, so i decided it was about time to give it a try. at work, we are having a postcard design contest for the museum's 40th anniversary. technically i can't win the contest, but i decided to participate anyway (just for the fun of it). so i cross stitched my entry. pretty appropriate for a craft museum, but that is just my take. anyway, for your view pleasure!

ps - one of my resolutions this year was to actually sell on my etsy site and complete more crafty projects, so expect more posts! (i know i have been slacking, but i'm trying to make up for it now :) )

UPDATE - the museum liked my design so much that they used it to illustrate the blog. check it!

Gingerbread house

2011-12-22T22:01:00.001-05:00

From freaking scratch!!!

so pretty!

2011-12-17T20:35:00.002-05:00

this is the recipe is the one on the cover of everyday food this month. it was so good! tangerine with sparkling cranberries - super festive. loving the berries... just soak 2 cups of cranberries in still hot simple syrup (which is 2 cups of water simmered with 2 cups of sugar until the sugar dissolves) overnight in the fridge then drain and roll in coarse grain sugar until coated. once they dry, eat! so yummy - and the "pop" in your mouth :)

Holidays!

2011-12-15T19:04:00.001-05:00

my felt wreath :) very homey, i know!

pie-oh-my!

2011-12-15T15:49:00.000-05:00

top: shaker lemon pie (altered martha recipe)
bottom: pear-cranberry pie (i made it up)

these are little pies (the pie plates are six or eight inches - i'm not sure exactly). the lemon was a 1/2 recipe from the citrus shaker pie recipe from martha's pie and tarts cookbook. i only used lemons though. the other, i used two pears and two handfuls of cranberries (frozen), two tablespoons of brown sugar (i ran out of white), a few tablespoons of flour, and a splash of oj. that's it. it was baked for a long time - maybe 60 to 75 minutes - at 375.

i haven't tried them yet... they are for a party i'm going to tomorrow night. if they taste like crap, i'll post an update. and if there is no update, just assume they were awesome :P

family day craft

2011-12-08T17:25:00.000-05:00

oops, upside down... you get the idea :P my crafts from saturday.

got glue?

2011-12-08T17:16:00.000-05:00

my glue supply at work... no, i don't sniff it. seriously :)
oh, and the box with glue sticks is full to the brim, and it is about 10" deep. yep, i'm rollin' deep.

It has been awhile...

2011-11-17T11:04:00.000-05:00

i know, i have been slacking. sorry. it happens. i moved into a new apartment in october, and i am still adjusting. anyway, i hope to get things rolling again soon. i also have a new pup. i try to post daily pix of her at www.thelollidog.blogspot.com - so you should really check that out. she is super cute :) i did make her a crocheted dog toy last night, but she sort of destroyed it before i could really photograph it. sorry...

in other news, i'm going to a talk and book signing by MARTHA tonight. this is going to be good! i hope that it stirs up all sorts of creativeness in me - tehe - and spurs me to post more. it will happen. it will!

The boy quilt

2011-08-13T17:17:00.001-04:00

i know that i showed you all shiloh's quilt a little while back, but i wanted to share diggory's quilt with you as well! i have decided that pastel colors for babies are just overrated! i love the way the colors pop! and my happy little customers (well, gift recipients) like them :P

my first banana cream pie

2011-06-07T15:07:00.000-04:00

and most likely my last. yuck, i do not like banana cream pies. no wonder i hadn't attempted one in the past. although - it was really easy, and i think if i substituted a different fruit, it could be quite delicious... perhaps peaches? my mom said that rhubarb would work too... i mean, it was just a simple custard poured over the fruit in a graham cracker crust. it would probably be easy to make it into a chocolate cream pie too... maybe pour it over chocolate chunks or oreo cookie crumbles or something...? yes/no?

anyway, all i know is that i was not a fan. but - BUT! - i was told by many people that they enjoyed it. and linds (whose going away party i baked for) really enjoyed it. so i guess that is all that really matters ;)

i suppose you'd like to know how exact i made this little gem, huh? well, the pie followed ellie krieger's recipe (except i used 1 c. whole milk + 1/2 c. cream instead of low fat for the custard). and my whipped topping was a little different. i mixed 1/2 an 8 oz package of cream cheese with 1/4 c. sugar, 1/2 tsp. of vanilla, 1/4 tsp. almond extract and 1 c. heavy cream. all whipped together, you get a whipped cream frosting that won't melt in the heat :) it looked fabulous until it was cut into!

painting class with linds!

2011-05-21T20:57:00.001-04:00

perhaps you remember the painting class i took back in december... well, i took another :)

here you can see my sky and river (the original it is supposed to look like is in the background)

finished painting (the low-res camera makes it look better than it is... haha)

more printing!

2011-05-21T20:52:00.000-04:00

don't tell me i can't crochet a bow tie!

2011-05-10T10:44:00.003-04:00

i'm a known crocheter at work. i was joking with my curator one day that i should crochet him a bow tie to wear (he sports bow ties on a regular basis - it's his thing). when i brought it up, it was sort of challenged to me to do this. with (i think) a tiny implication that i might not be able to actually crochet a proper, sturdy bow tie. so, i took it as a challenge, and i certainly showed them! at a happy hour event i coordinated at the museum, i made my curator wear the bow tie! you can see it below. not too bad, if i do say so myself!

back in school!

2011-04-12T12:28:00.002-04:00

whoa - ok, so i know it has been awhile, but i'm back! let's hope i don't take another 4 month break, huh? i had a lot going on! the jeffster was on r&r at the end of february, before that i found us a new place to rent (yep, living with the boy!), and after his r&r i had to move into the new place. now i am patiently awaiting his return from afghanistan, and while i do so, i am decorating our new place - a lovely little townhouse. it makes me very happy! and there will be many posts coming soon about my decorating endeavors (like the roman shades i just made for the bedroom!!!).

but, in addition to the house decorating, i have also signed up for a silk screen printing class! once a week for 3 hours, i slave away in a studio with my teacher and 8 other students (ok, it really isn't slaving, but it can be hard work!). on our first night, i was uninspired to create my first design (i didn't know we'd be printing immediately!). so i made a funky cloud design and played around with the blue and silver paints. you can see my tinkering below...

this is my screen after i made a pass with the the paint

here are the colors i used

and a finished print!

but it needed to dry, so it is hanging on the rack

happy customer

2011-01-28T16:28:00.002-05:00

my co-worker had a little baby girl over the summer. she was born early, so it really isn't my fault the blanket wasn't ready when she arrived (i was working on a preset schedule that the baby did not intend on following...).

anyhoo - she is cute as a button. i got to meet her at our department christmas party. she has these big squishable cheeks and a little tiny nose! and she was even cute when she cries. her face get all scrunched up, and she'd make these adorable little noises. i'm sure we pissed her off cooing and giggling when she was clearly in distress... oops.

meet shiloh (and her blanket):

snug as a bug in a ~~rug~~ katie made quilt

i gave her mom the bright colored quilt she has in the pictures below. it was my first shot at quilting, and it was rather fun! the back is solid fleece, so it is soft and warm. perfect for wee ones. i guess the wild colors are good too - apparently she likes to stare at them. they must entertain her in some way...

baby booty!

i suppose the title of this post is a misnomer. while shiloh is certainly happy as a clam with her blanket, she didn't buy it. but i like to think some day i'll be selling my stuff on etsy - and their will be lots of little babies enjoying my quilts :)

whoo hoo?

2011-01-23T22:51:00.000-05:00

so i have been playing around with my new sewing machine for awhile now. i procured some yards of felt from a nearby craft store, and you, of course, saw my monsters. well, i decided to branch out and try some new designs. this little guy i call a "hooter" - which may be trademark infringement, but i think i'm safe since the name is not exact. right? patent lawyer out there let me know, mkay?

anyway, i was actually inspired to make the plush little guy from a felt pin kit i saw in an oriental trading catalogue. funny, huh? and i got the buttons for his eyes from a large bag of buttons that i inherited from a garage sale or something. not sure i'm going to be able to find another pair quite that awesome. i do know that i'll find a better way to incorporate a beak. the one i gave him was a bit of an afterthought, and that is the only real regret i have. might try to make him a wee bigger too...

he's a cutie. i gave him to the other kati for christmas. she seemed to be enamored by him - and i hope she still is. makes a nice little pillow.

Sketchbook Project

2011-01-14T13:06:00.002-05:00

working on some new creative things. learn about them here and here!

making a little holiday cheer*

2010-12-29T15:40:00.001-05:00

*cookie images may not be suitable for some audiences.

well, it wouldn't be the holidays without a little baked goodness, a little good ol' holiday cheer straight from the oven. am i right? who is with me? well, this year i went back to iowa and dusted my parents' kitchen with a lot of flour and powdered sugar. the result? deliciousness. yep. that's right.

please notice the star cut outs on the edge and two pine tree cut outs for the center - very festive, me thinks!

first on my list was a holiday pie to eat on christmas eve (which is when my immediate family celebrates christmas). my dad loves apple pie (and had a few from his last orchard visit left in the bucket), so apple was proposed. i, personally, am not a fan of the apple pie (gasp! i know, so un-american), but do not fret, i still make a mean apple pie. and, i made an apple pie for christmas eve, but i put a little kick in that pie. that's right - i added cranberries. bet you couldn't have guessed, huh? we all know how i feel about the cranberry, and ocean spray brought cran-apple (genius) to the world long ago - so it seemed only logical that i put a little festive flavor in the apple pie. and - not to brag - my pie crust kicked ass. i think it was because i incorporated the butter into the flour by hand. lately i have been using a food processor to make my crusts, but straight-up elbow grease is so much better. mmm, flaky and delicious!

dad working hard on his masterpieces - maggie hoping he drops one

in addition to my pie making, christmas cookies were certainly in order. my mother baked the cookies well before i got home (she gets antsy, and frankly, couldn't wait), but she left the decorating up to me and (to my surprise) my father (who was rather eager to help). we were decorating some to go into a care package for the jeffster and some to keep at home. the frosting (which flavor-wise i did not love) dried hard and shiny - which was nice. enjoy our work below! note: dad did all the stockings, i did most of the cookies in the lower section of the photo, and if the cookie has multiple sections of different colored frosting - it was most likely dad's. enjoy.

our work

some of my favorites i frosted

anatomically correct cookies... (dad did the 2 to the right, mine is on the left)

dad's festive star

dad did a breast cancer awareness cookie - pretty good, no?

Happy Holidays :)

behind

2010-12-14T10:56:00.000-05:00

oh my goodness, i have been behind in my posting. i'm sorry to my three or four readers out there! i promise to be better. i taught a class this fall, and the put me behind in just about everything. also, the jeffster and i took a trip to france for his R&R, and well, it was amazing! and i was distracted thinking about it and preparing, so not much crafting happened. hopefully you all can forgive me!

last night linds and i went to blush-n-brush in georgetown. this is a place where you can bring in your own wine or beer to drink while they direct you on how to paint a painting. i'm not a painter. i've painted ornaments and different crafty things, but i've never painted a canvas before. never. hard to believe? well, it is true. (at least as far as i can remember.) anyway, i'm not a fan of my creation, but i suppose it is good for a first try. (it was supposed to look like this.)

in addition to my escapades in the painting realm, i made myself a new winter hat the other day. the dc area got real cold real fast. so i whipped up this little number when i had some spare time. keeps my ears warm - and that's what counts. (i am a fan of the little flowers too!)

monster love

2010-12-13T12:45:00.000-05:00

so i forgot i had this post sitting in my drafts since october 10th! wow, i suck. anyway, i'm trying to catch-up. something i recently started doing is monster making. yep, monsters. cute lovable, little felt monsters.

my friends jordan and britton received the first little guy for their little guy in october, so i thought i'd post a couple of pictures of my first creation (you'll have to wait to see the one i gave away - i'm hoping they send me pics of their little guy with him... we'll see).

here he is sitting on my 15" laptop - if you want scale. and that's right - he has 6 legs. er, arms... whatever.

i gave him a little tail

just one big eye - to watch you with.

not so green thumb

2010-10-12T19:25:00.000-04:00

so, i tried to be a gardener this summer. the jeffster took me to get window boxes and soil back in may/june. it took me some time to get around to planting my seeds (i really should have started a long time before that), but eventually there was cilantro, cucumbers, and peppers. the cilantro and cucumbers came up quickly, and i originally thought that the peppers were dud seeds. well, the dc heat came and took out my cucumbers and cilantro - but it jump started my pepper plant. i named the plant fernando (i have this thing where i name house plants), and he flourished in the heat. but then the summer turned to fall, and the temperatures started to drop. now it is october. OCTOBER! some stroke of luck sent a blast of warm air through this past week/weekend, and fernando sprouted fruit. there are TWO PEPPERS on my pepper plant. they are itty-bitty, but with any luck, i'll be able to eat them yet!

happy birthday, lindsey

2010-10-02T11:12:00.000-04:00

yesterday was lindsey's birhtday, and earlier in the week she put in a request for birthday pie. a lemon meringue birthday pie. quite a tasty confection, if i do say so myself. and - AND - it held up. sometimes lemon meringue pie can be soupy. not this one. thanks alton brown :)

takin' a leap

2010-08-31T09:57:00.003-04:00

so, for some time now, my friends at work (and a few non-work related friends) have been trying to convince me to start an etsy shop and sell my handicrafts. well, i did it. i created a shop. there is nothing in the shop to buy yet, but the shop is there nonetheless. i'm waiting until i have a stock of things to put up there before i put anything up at all. i've started making these cute little felt monsters (separate posts on that coming soon), but they are already spoken for - belated baby gifts for some friends.

anyway, i also started a new blog with the same name as my shop. so anytime i craft something for sale, i hope to post about it on that blog. i will, however, link to all posts there on this blog. it sounds confusing as i type it, but it won't be. any no worries, i'll still post here too. when i bake a delicious pie, i'm not going to sell it - so i'll need somewhere to post about that, won't it? (it has nothing but a background right now that i'm not sure i'm even going to keep, so you'll have to wait for a link to it.)

i'm not sure why i'm writing this like i have some many followers. i know there are a few of you out there (and i greatly appreciate each and every one of you!), but maybe my etsy shop will be wildly successful resulting in lots of new readers??? (probably not, but i think this is going to be a fun new hobby.)

sushi sushi

2010-08-10T17:07:00.005-04:00

who knew rolling sushi could be so easy?

my co-workers and i signed up for a sushi making class the other week. it was a learning process, and a lot of fun. i certainly left with a belly full of veggie rolls and stick fingers!

home grown

2010-08-10T17:05:00.004-04:00

i was at my parents' home in iowa at the end of july, and my father decided to send me back to dc with a crop of home-grown veggies in my suitcase. my luggage weighed about 30 lbs when i got to my parents' house - it weighed 47 lbs by the time my dad was finished adding his organic masterpieces to it. i just wanted to share some of the oddities that i was sent home with. since the big grocery store suppliers tend to genetically alter every molecule of the stuff they grow, it is fun to see the stuff that hasn't been altered at all. these little gems make me happy.

and i heart onions too!

very lady-like carrots - legs crossed!

holy giant zuke batman!

2010-08-10T16:52:00.003-04:00

i told my co-worker that my roommate brought a giant zucchini home as a gift for his girlfriend. his girlfriend was all, "what the heck do i want with that?" so then, obviously, he looked at me. did i want the giant zuke? could i do something with it? could i do something with it??! of course. hello! i blog about this random stuff! seriously people.

now, that said, i didn't really want it. i don't really like squash. i actually don't like acorn and butternut at all (unless in a savory roasted soup form), but i tolerate summer squashed fairly well. so i decided to tackle working with this monster. and it was a monster bigger than my calf (as in leg, not pet bessi. not that i have a pet bessi, but you get the idea).

so i decided to try three separate recipes with guy - since clearly i'd have enough. i used a potato peeler and created ribbons of zucchini and put it in a summer pasta salad dish. rather unexciting, but good for numerous lunches at work. next, i cut chunks of beast into strips - and i intend on making zucchini frites sometime in the near future (since they are currently residing in my crisper at home). lastly, i finely grated what was left and incorporated it into paula dean's chocolate chip zucchini bread recipe (using milk chocolate chips, skipping the orange zest, and using mixed nuts instead of walnuts). considering my roommates devoured the first loaf before the night was out, i take that to mean it was a success. (not that i was doubting - were you??)

inspired by the crochet coral reef

2010-07-18T22:18:00.003-04:00

mine is the red and alli's is the orange. we went to a hyperbolic crochet coral reef thing at the natural history museum. i'm totally into this and plan on making something big to donate to the exhibition going on view in the fall. check it out!

my dress fabric!

2010-07-08T21:13:00.002-04:00

obviously not finished, but i'm excited about it!!

dresses

2010-07-06T07:34:00.003-04:00

i'm taking a sewing class! i already know how to sew, but i haven't had proper instruction since i was in high school home-ec. so now i'm learning how to make a dress. i'm going to stitch dc near capitol hill. it is a lot of fun and future posts are coming about it! we are using the book pictured here. built by wendy

i made this rhubarb pie and it is gorgeous. LOOK!

2010-06-06T16:52:00.000-04:00

with rhubarb straight from iowa :)

kitchen sink couscous

2010-06-04T16:35:00.000-04:00

i have been at a loss lately as to what to cook for dinner. i keep getting produce boxes, but nothing jumps out at me as a great recipe. i also have been very busy. in addition to my "day job," i'm still teaching one night a week and taking a pottery class (posts coming soon) on another night during the week. i just spent a weekend in beantown visiting the brother and his wife, followed by another weekend (well, really more like a week) in iowa for a wedding and some fishing with my pops. now that i'm back a work (until mid-june when i go out of town for trip to tn with the college gang), i'm overwhelmed with the the work i need to complete and invitations to parties, bbq's, happy hours, and general summer frolicing.

which makes the question: what to make for dinner that is weather appropriate (sweltering) and not daunting (or time consuming, for that matter)?

answer: kitchen sink couscous

(or at least that is what i'm calling it.)

this is quite possibly one of the best ideas i've had in a long time. i made 2 cups of dry couscous with raisins and lemon pepper and added a little of everything i could find in the fridge: green peppers, green beans, black olives, feta, tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, red onions, pine nuts (these are added later - on top to keep them from getting mushy), cilantro, and other stuff i can't remember.

i mixed everything with a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, sour cream, agave nectar, and spices. then, i scooped out about a cup of this concoction on top of lettuce for a tasty lunch or dinner. for dinner, i highly recommend pairing it with a crisp glass of white and dinning on one's porch or balcony :)

got a cold? got soup?

2010-05-17T21:48:00.000-04:00

i might have been out sick the other day, but i was rather productive. i decided that i needed to have some good old fashioned chicken soup to combat my cold. so, i bought a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store (they are only $5 on fridays at the giant down the street from my apartment). i removed the meat and shredded it, used the fat and bones to make a stock, and added a variety of on-hand veggies into the mix (carrots, leeks, onions). then i spiced it up and let it simmer. i also decided homemade noodles were in order - so i whipped up a batch:

one tasty bowl of soup. though, i'be been eating it for days (since i made a HUGE stock pot full of it - i'm not complaining too much).

did you know about my love for ...

2010-05-16T21:22:00.003-04:00

ice cream??!!??

well, if you didn't, you really should. and to feed my addiction, i recently purchased an ice cream maker. one of my friends posted on facebook that she wanted one, and that got me thinking - why don't i have one. so i went to amazon and looked at prices. i really wanted to get the kind i could hook-up to little martha, but they were a little pricey. so i settled for a very basic hamilton beach model. no complaints yet (other than the fact that it is large. i have to keep it in the living room under an end table - ha!).

so my first batch? coconut ice cream, of course. i really <3>like the texture. so here's the recipe (courtesy of all recipes) i followed for my first go -

ingredients

1 cup milk
1 (14 ounce) can cream of coconut
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut (optional)

directions
combine the milk and cream of coconut in the container of a food processor or blender, and mix thoroughly. stir in cream and flaked coconut. pour into the container of an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

the second batch i made was a burnt sugar ice cream (which, due to tuesdays with dorie, is quite the popular). i can't remember which recipe i used, but they are mostly the same. it is a really unique (and good!) ice cream flavor. just google it and take your pick of recipes. (i added almonds to mine.)

make-shift garden...

2010-05-13T12:41:00.002-04:00

let's see what happens... cucumbers, peppers, and cilantro - an experimental variety out on our porch.

domestic (with a capital D!)

2010-05-10T12:00:00.003-04:00

so i have been wanting to make kolaches for quite some time now. i've only ever been able to get them in iowa, and that just wasn't working for me.

what are kolaches you ask? well, they are delicious little pasties that i believe are czech or polish (large populations of both heritages reside near my hometown in iowa). actually, after a quick wikipedia search, it seems that they are in fact czech (although, the ones pictured on wikipedia do not look anything like the ones you get in northeast iowa).

anyway, recipes for these vary greatly, and i've never been sure what to use. my grandma ethel use to make them, and her's were the best i've ever had. so, i went on a search for her recipe. i begged my mom to ask her sisters for the recipe (since my mom has never attempted to make them). i think she got around to asking my aunt judy (the eldest of the clan), but never actually got me a recipe. i took matters into my own hands and asked my aunt/godmother jan via facebook (prolly should have done that from the start). turns out that aunt jan has grandma's handwritten cookbooks - bingo! she did some perusing and found this recipe:

1 pint of milk scalded
2 well beaten eggs
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 cake yeast or pkg of quick acting yeast (start this in alittle sweetened water)
3 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon lard
6 cups of flour

Mix all this together and beat well. Put the dough in a greased pan to rise until it has doubled. Knead it down and let it rise again. After it has risen make little flatten sqares and fill with your desired filling and bake 350.

first of all, this is not a very descriptive recipe - especially for something you bake! with yeast! oy vey. jan also included this disclaimer, "it's tough to make these and get it right. You know Mom went by the feel of things like how her dough shaped up... good luck and let me know." reassuring, huh?

second of all, the recipe called for lard - LARD! do you know how hard it is to find lard in dc? let's just say it isn't easy. thankfully, someone in the area needed lard and put up a question on chowhound not too long ago, so i used the advice i got there to find a vendor at a farmer's market that carried leaf lard.

which brings me to my second point - did you know that it is almost impossible to buy rendered lard in dc? well, it is. which means, that i not only had to haul my butt up to the u street farmers market (thanks lindsey and tina!), but i also had to then take my pound of pork fat home and render it. good thing we have a crockpot at home (thanks raf), and it is also a good thing that real food mama blogged about how to render lard in a crockpot. i successfully came home on saturday night (a little tipsy) at about 1:30AM and started the rendering process. by the time i rolled out of bed in the morning, i had a bunch of bubbly liquid fat ready to be filtered!

then what, huh? well, i tried out grandma's recipe. i basically put all the ingredients into li'l martha (my stand mixer) and blended. when i started to add the second half of flour, i switched from a whisk attachment to my dough hook. i ended up using about 1 - 1.5 cups more flour than grandma's recipe called for. i think i used more water in my yeast starter than i needed. anyway, the dough was super easy to work with. each time it only took about 1 - 1.5 hours for the dough to more than double in size (and punching it down is the BEST part).

then i tried to remember what kolaches looked like. i had some jam to put in them (my grandma usually made her's with prunes - which tasted good, but i wasn't going to go down that road). so i rolled out the dough, made little squares, put a tablespoon of jam (either ikea brand lingonberry or lindsey's homemade blackberry) in the center, then folded the corners in to attempt to make smaller, fatter squares - which sort of worked.

i then baked them for 16.5 minutes. oh, i also brushed them with an egg wash. which made them brown nicely, but also made them have a crisper outer edge (which i did not like). i only made 1/2 the dough (i froze the rest), since this was going on late on sunday night - and i was getting tired.

the result:
a variety of little kolache-esque forms. a number of them burst open or let all the filling ooze out. not sure how to fix that.this is clearly a work in progress. i'll keep you all updated when i try it again. but no worries, this batch, while not the end result i'm searching for, still is mighty tasty.

work to wear

2010-04-13T22:48:00.004-04:00

for the earth day celebration at the museum (i.e. family day), we let our work study student plan the majority of the day. she has been working with us for two years now and is awesome. sometimes i'm not sure how we'd get through without her! for this family day (with some guidance), she chose to create paper beads out of old magazines as one of the crafts. kids can make necklaces from them and recycled shoelaces. very clever. i took a couple of the sample beads home and made earrings. i think they are cute. i'll have to show my co-worker tomorrow (our family day mastermind). she seemed skeptical when i said they'd be cool. what do you think? i might wear them tomorrow...

hop, hop, hop

2010-04-05T10:47:00.002-04:00

my roommate (dan) and his girlfriend decided we should dye easter eggs yesterday. i was skeptical at first, but overall, it was a good time :) unfortunately, i don't have images of my egg after i put the "sticker face" on it. i made a very nice monster with a cyclopes thing going on. tehe. hoppy easter all.

manzo didn't hate them...

2010-03-22T20:29:00.003-04:00

i experimented with a new recipe. i had the day off, so i decided to work with what i had... this is what you get... dark chocolate chunk apricot and cashew cookies. weird combo - i know. here's how you make them:

1		cup brown sugar
1/2		cup shortening, softened
1		egg
3		teaspoons vanilla
2		cups all-purpose flour
3/4		teaspoon baking powder
3/4		teaspoon baking soda
1/3		cup sour cream
		lots of crushed cashews, chunks of dark cashews, and chopped apricots bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes (i used a small ice cream scoop to form nice little uniform balls. they didn't really brown on top, but the edges of the bottoms were a little tan. and like i said - manzo didn't hate them :)

big apple - and we're not talkin' pie!

2010-03-21T20:20:00.001-04:00

but i am talking about cupcakes! i stole this pic from the brother's facebook page. mmm. i had banana with chocolate frosting and vanilla vanilla. yes, i had two. it was my birthday (weekend), and calories don't count on your birthday (weekend). at least i hope so...

not green, but distinctly irish

2010-03-17T19:48:00.000-04:00

what do you get when you sandwich bailey's flavored butter cream between two slabs of chocolate guinness cake? you get a dessert worthy of st. patrick himself - that's what! now, i realize that st. patrick was a catholic dude that lived in the 400s (you can read about here), but i'm talking about the st. paddy we all (by we, i mean secular folk) celebrate with on march 17th.

anyhoo - i thought about making irish soda bread, and then i remembered that i don't really like irish soda bread. i contemplated baking something with green food coloring, but that wasn't ... creative (?) enough. so, i thought about the essence of secular st. patrick's day - drunken debauchery. and what alcoholic beverages are the unmistakable standards of the holiday (other than jameson - since i don't do straight-up whiskey since that debacle with jack when i was far too young to drink it) - well guinness and baileys of course :)

the result was a recipe that would make anyone shout the name of this dessert - whoopee!

frosting/filling -

one bag of powdered sugar

two sticks of unsalted butter

bottle of irish cream (i used the generic stuff)

beat butter until light and fluffy. alternately add sugar (by the cup full) and baileys (about 2TBS at time). i ended up using all the sugar and a lot of irish cream - prolly too much since you could smell the alcohol content in the next room. they were still damn tasty!

for the cake recipe, i used one for guinness cupcakes from chowhound. you can find it here.

if not, kendra said i'd be lame

2010-02-24T20:23:00.004-05:00

ok, so this is not the type of blog where i would post about things that i do not related to making things, but kendra said i'd be lame if i didn't play along. i’m certainly not lame, so here it goes...

friday face-off (on wednesday night?)

i’m not big on a morning ritual. it takes me awhile to get ready in the morning because i’m usually tired. i move slow when i’m tired. other than that, i’m in to the minimal. first i have to know if i’m showering. that adds hair drying time, which takes awhile. no shower = more sleep, and i like sleep :)

so i usually get up in the morning and wash my face one of two ways, either hot water and a washcloth (no shower) or with mary kay facial scrub (shower).

ok, post wash, I moisturize. I used to use the mary kay moisturizer that goes with the scrub, but I ran out. now i use a clean and clear lotion. as long as my face isn’t dry and there is some spf in it, I’m good.

and right now, that is it (other than hair). lame, I know. but, I’m allergic to bing, so eye make-up is out. if I could wear make up, I’d curl my eyelashes and put on mascara – whatever mascara I happen to have. and then chapstick. so yeah, o’natural. haha. on a special occasion, I might don eyeliner and eyeshadow – but that is it. and a little cover-up if there is a big pimple. so that is it.

there you go kendra. i'll tag laura a. b. let's see if she isn't lame :P

happy VD everyone!

2010-02-14T22:14:00.004-05:00

i made cake-pops again! here i made hearts and flowers for valentine's day. enjoy a little eye candy ;)

flour the cutter

push it into the mound of cake

slide out of cutter

freeze

i skipped some parts with the hearts... coat with chocolate and sprinkles!

i must say, i did much better this time :)

more yeast...

2010-02-06T15:37:00.000-05:00

my co-worker loo told me a story about her loooooooong wait at the grocery store the other day. she had to wait so long, and she was so hungry (this girl gets seriously hungry and seriously cranky when she isn't fed on schedule) that she ate a third of the baguette that she had in her basket. apparently she was craving crusty bread... and then eventually i was craving crusty bread. since it is the year of year, i set myself up for my next challenge!

the recipe came from my baking handbook, and i'm pretty sure i can't just re-type it here. you can go to matha's site to learn all about baguettes though. i probably won't make these again. they were rather labor intensive, and you have to eat them within 24-48 hours... i suppose i could have frozen some of the dough for later, but i couldn't wait...

rosemary-lemon shortbread

2010-02-01T15:14:00.000-05:00

we had a tea party at work the other day. it was for a co-worker's birthday. we like themes, what can i say. anyway, we were all supposed to bring something in, and i decided that shortbread would be the ticket. it got rave reviews :)

i used this recipe, but added one lemon's worth of zest, 1/2 a lemon's worth of juice, couple tbs of fresh rosemary (chopped), and a little extra flour.

the year of YEAST

2010-01-31T20:33:00.002-05:00

so for some reason, i'm frightened of yeast. i'm talking about baking with yeast. i'm not sure why. it is just something i haven't tackled yet. i'm intimidated by it. so i have vowed (or resolved in the new year) to conquer this fear. of course i started with martha's baking handbook. it really is a great resource.

anyway, i started with a roll that looked pretty simple - which was important. i didn't want to go head first into something that would have been too much for me. so i made pizza crust. i didn't take photos, so i'm skipping to my second attempt - parker house rolls. to be honest, i didn't know what they were. never heard of them. but i whipped them up anyway. i also used a garlic herb butter rather than regular to make them fit with the lasagna i was simultaneously making. anyway, they seem to have been a success. you can try the recipe yourself here.

not craft/cooking related - but super cute

2010-01-11T12:18:00.003-05:00

i'd like to introduce my reader's to the latest addition to my family - bing crosby. i just call him bing. (why name him bing crosby you ask? good question. well, he was born on christmas day - which is why he looks so small for a guinea pig - and i thought a christmas themed name would be appropriate. so i thought of my favorite things about christmas, and my favorite christmas movie is white christmas. bing, being the male lead, was an obvious namesake choice, in my opinion.)

anyway, he likes to hide out in a coffee cup. he was the runt and is a little shy. i'm working on that. i have learned that he likes melon, lettuce, and carrots more than bananas and broccoli. he also likes to burrow in the crook of my arm when i hold him, and he'll jet up my sweatshirt sleeve if i'm not careful. this weekend i'm hoping to make him a suitable cage that is spacious, but doesn't look like a cage (since we're roommates in all, and i don't like the looks of cages). i have been inspired by a DIY g.p. habitat i saw on apartment therapy... we'll see! (another post will surely follow - as this would be a craft project!)

multiculturalness

2010-01-11T12:04:00.004-05:00

we celebrated mlk jr.'s birthday (a week early) at the museum this past weekend. i didn't actually work at this family day, but i helped figure out the craft activities. i found a hand print wreath activity somewhere on the interwebs (sorry if you are the original creator of this craft and i'm not properly crediting you!). we translated it slightly to fit our theme and what supplies we could find. since we thought it would be really hard for a kid to cut out enough of his or her own hands for a whole wreath, we decided to order pre-cut hands. did you know that almost nowhere sells this? or if they do, they are pastel pink and blue and tiny? ugh. but, my colleague found some multicultural sets on oriental trading's website (the big ones in skin tones). and our friend at our partner museum gave us the little ones - which added a nice touch. kids were encouraged to make cut-outs of their own hands to add to the mix too. mine are the gargantuan pink ones... then we glued the on a paper plate and drew a world in the center. you know, the idea of many cultures united across the world sort of thing. very dr. king, we thought. kids could also cut the center of the plate out and hand it as a wreath. you know, whatever. anyway, i thought i would share.

photo by bruce guthrie

your burritos are bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s!

2010-01-10T18:18:00.000-05:00

my friends lindsay and nate invited me (and mike) over for tacos! muy bueno! since i'm mostly opposed to showing up empty handed (and i knew mike would grab a bottle of vino), i decided a dessert was in order. i couldn't think of anything i could whip up with what i had on hand (it was cold outside, so i wasn't about to go to the story - who does that :P).

so after some googling, i found a recipe for chocolate banana burritos. it was certainly not authentic, but it worked.

first i needed to make a basic banana bread batter.

then i spread the batter (that i added coconut to).

sprinkle chocolate chips...

roll the tortilla with the goodness inside and place in a greased baking dish,

and then i spread the chocolate on the top. my chocolate didn't work out so much. it was too think and not drizzly. but i spread it (it was thick) and baked it anyway. i didn't picture it with the powdered sugar on top - it looked a lot better that way. right now it looks a little like poo. but i promise it was tasty. :)

tis the season for cookies

2009-12-21T17:47:00.003-05:00

this year, i found myself to be quite busy in december. i think a lot of that had to do with the new class i was teaching. coming up with new stuff is hard. i have a lot of respect for teachers. a lot.

anyway, i always make some sort of christmas cookie. it just wouldn't be right not to. but this year i only made one, and it took me almost a whole week to complete them. not that they were all that hard to make; i just didn't have the time. (thought they were a little tricky...)

this year i made stained glass cookies, and i followed this recipe. they turned out really cute (i think). and i didn't actually eat one, but those who did said that they tasted good (i was worried that the melted life savers that i used would taste funky, but apparently they were tasty).

here is one of the cookies held up to the light. i thought it was a fun shot to take. looked cooler in person though.

i also took it upon myself to save all the little pieces i cut out and decorate those too. i did have a few of these, and i can testify that the recipe for the dough is a solid one (and by solid i mean good, not like too heavy). the recipe calls for some molasses, and i think that is key in getting the nice flavor they have. they don't taste like gingerbread, but they have a hint of it...

side note - don't use sanding sugar in place of the crushed hard candy. i was a moron and tried that. clearly the sanding sugar has a higher melting point than the candies. so it didn't work. at all. but, i did use sanding sugar on top of the cookies after i frosted them. the sugar stuck to the icing and the stained glass part, which made them look even more festive (in my opinion).

for the frosting, i wanted something that would dry hard. i didn't want the designs to get all mushed on the commute into work. apparently egg whites are the trick to this. so whisked (in li'l martha) one egg white, one cup of powdered sugar, and 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla for this icing. it did the trick. i really had to work quick with the sugar too - it dried super fast.

anyway, happy holidays!

this should be an onion article...

2009-12-15T12:34:00.000-05:00

i was invited to an ugly (holiday) sweater party this past weekend. you know the type - everyone has been to or heard of these. thankfully, this party was self-contained (no embarrassing trip to the bar in an ugly sweater to dread).

anyway, i went to goodwill to find an ugly sweater - and you know what? there weren't any (well there were plenty of ugly sweaters, but none that were holiday themed)! it think the popularity of these parties over the years has caused people to hold on to their ugly holiday sweaters. it really is a shame, and i feel let down.

but that didn't stop me! i picked up two 80s style turtlenecks and picked up some supplies from walgreens. the photo below, i think, speaks for itself :)

happy holidays all!

d + t - finally done!

2009-12-14T11:02:00.001-05:00

my best friend got married in august (i was the his maid of honor). i decided a long time ago (before he even proposed to his girl) that i wanted to make him a really awesome afghan - not just any afghan, but one that would be fought over. you know how there is a specific blanket, pillow, or throw you prefer to snuggle up with when you lounging on the couch, reading a book or watching tv? well, i wanted this afghan to be that blanket. so, part of the reason why i was so late in getting the gift to the newly weds was the yarn selection. i went to a couple different yarn shops and found nothing i even remotely liked. i was looking for a yarn that felt smooth and soft. i'm pretty sure i remember my friend mentioning that he didn't like afghans because of the texture. and i get that. i don't like crocheting with cheap yarn, so why would you want to snuggle-up to a blanket made out of cheap yarn...? it all makes sense.

so i finally found a mirco spun yarn that i liked, but the store didn't have enough of the colors i wanted. so i had to figure out a way to get it online. it was a little tricky guess-timating how much yarn i'd need. this was a lighter weight than i was used to using. it also took a little longer to make for that reason. luckly, you supposedly have a whole year to get a couple their wedding present (and it only took me four months - i'm like ahead of the game).
here she is, the finished project. it is really much more of a throw than a full sized blanket. i didn't follow a pattern (since i can't really read patterns), i just made it up as i went a long. i decided to work with the yarn and let the blanket have a spontaneous feel to it. each large section of color (horizontal and vertical) was a skeen of yarn. when i used up a skeen, i just switched to another color. the thin strips of green were random. i just made a couple of rows until i got tired of it and switched.

i used three rolls of green for the border. one on each short end and a third to go all the way around the blanket a few times. and i think the stich i used was a single crochet? nothing fancy. i really liked the uniform look it created.

finally, i decided that the blanket need a little something more, being that it was for a very special occasion. the couple used this cute design (d+t in a heart - or maybe it was t+d, whatever, too late now!) in a few of their wedding elements (cake topper, inviations, etc.), so i worked it on to the corner of the blanket. a little tricky, but i think it turned out ok!

and i found out that it arrived this past weekend :)
and they used it :)
and they liked it :)

mission accomplished!

i've been crafty, i swear!

2009-12-07T17:16:00.004-05:00

i have just been busy! i promise i will post lots of stuff once i'm done teaching for the quarter. in the meantime, check out the super cute ornament i received as a gift from the society of decorative painters on saturday. they came to the museum and helped out. amazing group!

gobble, gobble

2009-11-30T11:29:00.000-05:00

this year for thanksgiving, i really, really wanted to cook my own turkey. i had never done it before, so i convinced manzo to play along with me. we decided to have turkey day at the 402, just the two of us. then, i found out that our friends katie m., and eric were going to be in the area, and we had them join us. above you can see the table right before we got ready to dig in. i didn't have time for any cute table decor, but i also don't think there would have been any room! jammed-packed i tell ya! i think if you click on the pick, you'll be able to actually read the captions. i labelled what everyone contributed. katie m brought a yummy broccoli salad (which she didn't eat, sad) and mac 'n' cheese; eric brought green bean casserole and some seasonal brews (not pictured...); manzo made some mean mashed taters and a very buttery corn pudding. and below, i highlighted what i contributed... :)

spicy deviled eggs! no real recipe, lost of dijon mustard and some tobasco though (and minced celery and onions!)

here's the gravy. can't really claim it. the bird came with a packet of stuff to make it with. i did cook it and mix in some cream...

i love cranberries. and the sauce was super easy. boil water, sugar, orange zest, and a splash of rum until the cranberries start poppin'. cool and serve :)

brown sugar carrots. just steam them for a bit and then saute them in butter and brown sugar. my mom used to do this all the time when i was a kid. probably needed to let them caramelize a bit more though...

and THE BIRD.

i was so impressed with my turkey skillz (that i didn't even know i had). i followed alton brown's instructions. and while i even went out and bought a probe meat thermometer, it didn't really matter. the thing never went off. it was only a 5-7lb turkey breast, and i roasted it for a total of 3-3.5 hours. somehow, it came out juicy and was totally infused with the herby flavors of the aromatics we stuffed inside of it. and the turkey sandwiches the next couple of days were amazing. (note, i didn't have a good carving knife and no one at dinner ever carved a turkey before... so we winged it. haha, get it?)

oh, we can' forget about dessert! i made two cheesecakes. cranberry on top and pumpkin below.

for the cheesecakes, i used martha's basic cheesecake recipe and then tinkered with it. first, i bought two pre-made crusts (sacrilege, i know, but did you see how many things i made???), one honey graham and one shortbread. i then split the filling of the basic recipe and added a 1/2 a can of pumpkin puree to it and a healthy dose of pumpkin pie spice. then i poured it on top of the graham crust. for the cranberry, i poured the remainder of the filling in and dropped spoonfuls of cranberry sauce on the top. i then swirled the sauce and filling to make a festive pattern. delicious.

yep, i saw giada. boys and italian food lovers be jealous.

2009-11-16T10:28:00.000-05:00

my colleague and i went to the metropolitan cooking & entertaining show in dc. it was a lot of fun and a lot of free samples. we scored 1/2 price tickets to the giada session through "livingsocial" (one of those online coupon websites). because of that, we also got to skip the line. gloria hallelujah!

our seats were in the nose bleeds, but that was OK. you can see the big screen they put her up on. she is so tiny in real life. i'm not sure she eats anything she cooks. either that, or her metabolism is through the roof! (saw news for the boys reading this that just like the low-cut numbers she wears on tv - her scarf was strageically placed the entire time.)

during her set, she invited people up on stage with her. at first, no one wanted to volunteer. she was going to cook a pork loin (which i've decided i must do now) and wanted a male volunteer. this college-aged boy sitting a row behind us actually ran up to the front of the set trying to get her attention, but the older guy in my blurry image above must have been sitting closer - and he made it up there first. he reminded me a little of my dad (the older guy, not the college kid, sheesh), so i was ok with him beating the other guy. i imagine actually standing that close to giade might have been too much for the youngster anyway...

and then, after we finished with giada, we were allowed in to the expo portion for free! there were hundreds of vendors and stations to learn about cooking techniques. we saw some local "celebrity" chefs dissecting a full pig on stage (see above). and a couple of the peeps from top chef were hanging around too. (i don't really watch the show, so don't ask me for specifics.)

all in all, it was a great experience, and i'd totally go again. although, it was SO crowded. if i could figure out the best time to go to avoid the lines that'd be nice (though i'm guessing there is no such time...)

something new

2009-11-13T11:33:00.005-05:00

so i have never had a candied apple, and i have certainly never attempted to make one. but, i was in the grocery store a few weeks back with my man (from this point forward - in this posts and future posts - will be referred to as the jeffster), and he mentioned his affection for them. though, the ones at the store were unacceptable as they were covered in nuts.

for some reason, i always thought the red apples were just caramel apples with food coloring to make the caramel more festive. it never really struck me that they were different. so different.

now, i heart caramel apples. in fact, each time i fly through the minneapolis/st. paul airport, i always walk past the rocky mountain chocolate factory and salivate in front of their caramel apple display. they have giant apples covered in layers of caramel, chocolate (milk, dark, and/or white), nuts, candies, and other tasty delights! i bought one once for my roommate (for pickin' me up from the airport in dc), but the hefty price tag on the beasts limits my purchasing frequency.

anyway, i'm making a short story long.

i was feeling generous and wanted to get the jeffster something fun, so when i saw the candied apple kit at the store, i got it and splurged on some superb apples (man, they were good)! unfortunately, i didn't realize you needed a candy thermometer to make them, so we had to wait a couple days till we were back at my place to make them. so two of the big apples were consumed in the meantime (luckily, i had a couple of little apples to take their place). check out the finished product:

warning: just because the thermometer isn't going up quickly, doesn't mean you should let the candy coating sit and boil while you join your bf on the couch for some tv watching. as soon as i turned my back, the temp spiked, and the candy coating has a slightly burned taste to it. sigh. they still turned out very pretty. and considering i'm a fan of burnt black marshmallows for s'mores, i didn't mind the toasty flavor. nor did the jeffster.

side note: my co-worked mentioned a recipe she heard on the radio for mini-candy apples. and it just sounds far too cute for me to pass up, so watch out!

2nd side note: notice the biscotti in the background to the upper right. i made that too. though that is another trial and error blog post for the future...

remember this one?

2009-11-08T11:57:00.001-05:00

just thought i would mention that i have been baking, but i have been going back to some of my old favorites. i saw the bags of ocean spray cranberries piling up in the grocery store, so i made this recipe again. mmm... just as good as last time. and i got multiple compliments on my crust. what can i say, i'm good.

also, i just wanted to note my favorite fall flavors:

cranberries (fresh)
poultry seasoning (mmm, stuffing)
pumpkin pie spice (in anything i can use it in)

this year i want to try a cranberry cheesecake... let the experimentation begin!

i won the entire office pizza today...

2009-10-30T14:37:00.004-04:00

well of course i had help - but i was the team leader and ended up doing quite a bit of the work. anyway, i found a segment on martha's website that inspired me to try to do a hi-tech pumpkin. the idea was a witch's cauldron. we got fiber optic lights, colored christmas lights, and dry ice fog to give it a nice ambiance. we dressed up an old mail cart with a black table cloth, cut-up shower poofs, and rubber creepy-crawlers. to top it all off, we put a skeleton hand coming up out of the top... to make you wonder what really was cookin' in the pot!

anyway, i got to spend two afternoons at work on this (which was a fun change of pace). and, AND - i (i mean we) won! there were 8 other pumpkins (only 1 really provided any really threat), and we were decided the winner. so the property manager of our office building bought the entire museum lunch. bertucci's catered it, and we has 42 gourment pizzas delivered to our conference room today. it was sooooo good! there was enough pizza that i got to take a whole one home with me :)

happy halloween!

birfday cheezecake

2009-10-28T21:17:00.002-04:00

tuesday was my man's birthday, and to help him celebrate, i made him a cake - a cheesecake! he told me a couple weeks back that he liked plain cheesecake best, but when have i ever just done a plain anything? yeah, that is what i thought too. so i thought on it a bit and decided to combine a cheesecake with another dessert i knew he liked - apple crisp. i did a bit of googling, and below you can see the spectacular results. it really was a tasty number!

if you want to attempt to replicate it, check out the recipe i used here. i did, however, find the texture to be a bit off. it wasn't as dense and creamy as i would have liked. i also had to bake it for a very long time (an additional 20-25 minutes). this may have been due to the fact i used a pan that could have been a bit larger... also, the recipe calls for brown sugar with the cream cheese and sour cream to compliment the topping. perhaps using regular sugar would have improved the texture... who knows. it's not like it was bad. off texture or not, the cheesecake was damn good :)

one groom's cake - comin' up!

2009-09-24T11:31:00.003-04:00

my friend and co-worker grant got married a couple of weeks ago. i was able to get an invite (it was a small wedding with a short/limited invite list), and i was also commissioned to make the groom's cake. grant hails from minnesota, and requested a golden gophers cake. needless to say, as a stanch supporter of the iowa hawkeys, it pained me to fulfill this request (but, for grant, i labored through it).

grant immediately asked if he could have a cake that was chocolate/peanut butter. i wasn't sure how i was going to do it, but i knew it could be done! so i said yes and went on the hunt for a good recipe. i used martha's one-bowl chocolate cake recipe (so good, so easy) and this recipe for an extremely fluffy (and hard to resist) peanbutter buttercream. the cake was delicious and it smelled about 100x better than it tasted. mmm... so good! it was definitely a hit. although, they forgot to tell the caterers not to serve it (it was supposed to be saved for grant and his new bride), so the only cake he got to taste was the little bit from the ceremonial cutting portion. poor guy.

i get to knit at work - my job is awesome!

2009-09-18T13:35:00.001-04:00

check out my sit 'n' knit program at work. man, i'm a lucky girl :P

you'll find the article here.

thought i look like a gomer in the photo... meh.

for the crunchy, granola people out there

2009-08-02T22:06:00.004-04:00

my co-worker loo is a bit of a health nut these days. actually, i'm a touch jealous. the girl is training for her second full triathlon and is sticking to healthy eating regiment (something i should really consider - the eating, not the triathlon; no need to kill myself). anyway, i usually bake something delicious for my friends on their birthdays, but i knew loo wouldn't eat a cake or something similar this year. so i researched granola and protein bar recipes and concocted a mix of my own. these little babies are tasty power burst!

my recipe (based on several different bloggers out there):

2 cups of rolled oats
1 1/2 cups of nuts and seeds (i used almond slivers, pumpkin seeds, and soy nuts)

[toast the above ingredients on a greased cookie sheet at 350-375 degrees, stirring about every 5 minutes]

3/4 cup of honey
3/4 cup of creamy peanut butter (a generic natural kind - runny is easier to use)
2/3 cup of brown sugar

[heat these ingredients on medium heat until combined and melty]

2 cups of dried fruit (chopped up, i used apricots, cranberries, and papaya)
1 1/2 scoops of vanilla protein powder (not sure how much a scoop is - but they come with those huge cans of whey protein my male roommates insist on having...)
toasted oats, nuts, and seeds

[mix these with the melty stuff and then press into a greased 9x13" baking pan, refrigerate for at least an hour, cut into bars, and wrap in wax paper, cling wrap, or foil - as i did below]

the little "g" on the middle bar denotes a special littla addition i made to a couple of the bars. i bought som crystalized ginger while i was at the grocery store. i wanted to chop it up for the bars, but the flavor was so strong (i'd never had it before), i wasn't sure if it would over power the bars. so i chopped a few and pressed them into the top of a small portion of the bars. glad i did it to - loved it!

wedding bells

2009-07-19T11:28:00.003-04:00

so my office chief is getting married soon, and we decided to throw her a surprise shower at work. so of course i was "commissioned" to create the cake for the party. we wanted a miniature wedding cake, and that is what i made. decorated with cheesy topper and some fresh flowers. i'm pretty proud of it. and you can see it below...

SURPRISE!

2009-07-11T17:28:00.003-04:00

so i'm in boston right now. about 2 months ago i emailed my best friend's fiancee and was all like, "hey, how about i come up to boston and surprise d for his birthday - assuming i can find a flight that i can afford?" she was all about it, and so now i'm here. he was very surprised (and mopey before i arrived, which is great :P). i also brought him some of my dad's deer jerky (my last pack, so he best be thankful as all get out!) and a homemade cookie cake. this cake was awesome, both t and d agree. here it is - complete with my berf-day wishes to d :)

if you'd like to re-create this masterpiece, you can use alton brown's recipe for the chewy. just don't bake it very long. i think this was in the oven for 12-15 minutes.

peachy keen

2009-07-09T12:56:00.004-04:00

whoa, i set-up this post a long time ago, and apparently i forgot about it. anyway, here's the link to the recipe for these little guys. i, personally, wasn't thrilled with them, but the co-workers seemed to like them. they do have cream filling, so what's really not to like?? (get you mind out of the gutter!)

blueberry pie screams independence, right?

2009-07-04T10:31:00.004-04:00

i was feeling inspired by the holiday and decided to give martha's fourth of july blueberry pie a whirl. i didn't actually have enough blueberries on hand to create the recipe in her baking handbook, but that didn't stop me. i just used a recipe in a very old school better homes and gardens pie cookbook my aunt gave me ages ago. anyway, my recipe ended up a little runny. i think i needed more flour or cornstarch in the filling. oh well, you never learn without mistakes!

anyway, any blueberry pie recipe will do. it is the crust that makes this little guy so awesome. i used a mini star cookie cutter to cut out lots of little stars and i over lapped them on top of the filling. after that, i just brushed the top with an egg wash (1/4 cup of water and one egg yolk). they cooked together in the oven. the filling bubbled over some of the stars, but you can see the pattern in center. i think martha used a larger cookie cutter for her pie - which would have been useful here, but i had to go with what i had. anyway, enjoy this holiday treat! as paula d would say, "from my kitchen to yours... ya'll!"

crust recipe (based on martha's)

2 1/2 cups of flour (plus about an additional cup for rolling out the crust)
2 sticks of salted butter (it is cheaper than unsalted - and you don't have to add salt that way)
ice water
egg wash (1/4 cup water + 1 egg yolk beaten)
coarse sugar (optional)

i put my flour in the freezer for at least an hour before i start and i take my butter out of the fridge right when i need it. the colder the ingredients, the easier the crust is to work with. this time i used a food processor to combine the butter and flour, but before i have used a pastry cutter and a little elbow grease (and i have used a potato masher before too - use what you got!). try to get the mixture into crumbles before adding the water (about 3-4 tbls at a time) in intervals. once the mix turns to a dough consistency, separate it into two balls. put one in the fridge (to use for the top later) and roll out the 2nd immediately. place in pie plate, trim edge so there is about 1/2" of dough hanging over the side, fill with the blueberry filling, then roll the excess crust into he plate (i didn't fork or flute it this time). then roll out the dough still in the fridge and cut out your stars. overlap them and brush with the egg wash then sprinkle with a coarse sugar (makes the finished pie almost sparkle). follow the directions in your pie recipe for baking.

the power of bacon...

2009-07-03T15:47:00.005-04:00

i was watching some late night food network t.v., and there was this special on bacon. they had various chef's talk about their favorite ways they like to eat bacon. well, ted allen started talking about this blt he had once from a french place. and then i watched the french dude make the blt. i craved bacon and specifically blts for days after that.

well, i had a wide open night last night and decided to satisfy that craving. i got some amazing peppered bacon from the grocery store (and it was on sale - oh yeah!) and got to work. they dude on t.v. made his own mayonnaise with fresh rosemary and garlic. well, i cheated and chopped dried rosemary with black pepper and garlic salt and combined that with the mayonnaise i had in the fridge - which was the olive oil kind they have in the store now.

i slathered some toast with my mayo concoction, piled on lettuce, red onion, tomatoes, and a little smoked gouda. i slow fried the bacon and put that in the sandwich last. sooooo good!

then, THEN - as if this wasn't enough - i decided i needed to use more of the bacon. so i made mac 'n' cheese with bacon! omg, delicious. and mind you, i do not like mac 'n' cheese out of a box. i have to have it homemade and baked with crispy-crunchies on the top (and that is just what i created). i used flour, dry mustard, and pepper with milk and butter to make a base. i think added gouda and sharp cheddar to the mix. i used about 8-10oz of elbow macaroni (boiled to al dente and drained) with a little bacon grease in the pan and mixed in the cheesy mixture. i then poured it into a baking dish, crumbled bacon on top, then topped with sliced tomatoes and whole-wheat saltine crumbles. i baked it. and then i ate it. (well not alllll of it, hello, i'm not a heffer). and it was good. no, great!

this sht is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s!

2009-06-28T20:07:00.004-04:00

so i get bananas in the produce box all the time. unfortunately, i tend to not eat them fast enough (which means my roommates complain about that amount of browning bananas on the counter). whatever, i can deal with the whining :P but this time i whipped up a batch of monstrous cookies (not to be confused with monster cookies). i altered the original recipe (of course) and am excited to alter it further to try to create my own version of teaism's salty oat cookies (which are amazing and amazingly over priced).

so if you go here, you can see what i started with. i ended up adding one more banana, a touch more baking powder, 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of rolled oats, and a bag of chocolate chips to what the recipe called for. i also used a much bigger scoop (1/4 cup, maybe). all in all, a tasty and successful endeavor :)

*note that i made this cookies last week. after the quiche, i was baked-out. although i did bake a peach/plum pie the same day i baked these bad boys ;)

it's quiche!

2009-06-28T14:31:00.000-04:00

whoa, a productive morning. i got up, read a chapter of my book, made brunch for my roommates, and scrubbed the kitchen floor. since then i have watched 1 chic flick and taught my roommate's girlfriend how to crochet. not too bad, if i do say so myself.

here you can see the fruits of my labor: a delicious brie and asparagus quiche. i do have to give props to my bff for inspiring me with this quichey-combo, but i generated the recipe mostly on my own. i googled a couple of recipes, but i ended up going with my instincts (and oh how right they were). i randomly chose to put in some cream cheese, and i think that really made the recipe. mm-mmm!

so the cute stalk pattern was more spoke-like (think a bicycle wheel) before i baked it... slightly skewed in the baking process...recipe --

pastry shell (just enough for the bottom)
4-6 slices of bacon (fried and crumbled)
4oz of cream cheese
4 eggs
1 cup of milk
4oz of brie (rind removed and cubed)
6-10 stalks of asparagus (blanched and cut into 4" stalks)
pre-heat oven to 400 F

1) sprinkle bacon into the pie crust and push them into it slightly
2) put cream cheese, brie, milk, and eggs into a blender. blend until smooth
3) pour egg mixture over the bacon sprinkles
4) arrange blanched asparagus stalks in a pretty pattern
5) bake for 35-40 minutes (look for a golden brown crust and sniff for a delicious scent)
6) let cool for at least 10-15 minutes, cut and serve (also good at room temperature several hours after brunch :P )

pay attention to the potato salad ...

2009-06-16T11:35:00.000-04:00

i needed to make a side dish for a birthday bbq i was going to attend the other weekend, and i was at a loss as to what i should make. i didn't want to make something super traditional or boring, but i also didn't want to make something too adventurous (since i didn't really know most of the people coming to the bbq). i also didn't want to go to the grocery store or spend a lot of money. i had food in the apartment, i just needed to figure out how to use it.

well, i started scouring the kitchen, and i noticed that i had quite a few potatoes - and they were looking at me. no, seriously, 1/2 of the taters has started to sprout eyes. a little gross, but still good. i cleaned and chopped the taters and threw them into some boiling water - potato salad became my mission.

i googled a couple of recipes and found myself on food network's website, perusing the entries. then, i came across a unique looking one a la bobby flay. i was intrigued - red pepper sauce? paprika? mmMmm! of course, i had to alter it a little (and i did have to go to the mini-market across the street for a couple of supplies), but i think it turned out pretty tasty!

my version just had boiled potatoes (no grills allowed in my apt building - sad, but true), and i added bacon crumbles, chopped celery, and some red onion slices to the mix. and of course, it was a hit! and the batch was big enough that i kept half at my place and still had plenty for the bbq.

in the image you are seeing my lunch at work the following week. the sausage-like thing is a chunk of kielbasa (courtesy mi papa) and the green beans were my make-shift version of green bean casserole (fresh green beans baked with creamy mushroom soup (note, not cream of mushroom soup, so a little runny) and slices of onions plus some saltine crumbs on top). i was the envy of the office that lunch (the smell wafted through the cubicles).

sneak peak

2009-05-27T11:05:00.002-04:00

my first wedding commission! details forthcoming...

tarty little number

2009-05-10T12:19:00.002-04:00

i decided to have a rather productive mothers' day this year. i had ordered rhubarb in my produce box this week (a pound - that my mother told me she'd mail me in the future and it'd be cheap - she's a frugal one my mom), and i diced it up this a.m. i then proceeded to google rhubard crumble recipes (next time i'm going with a pie - i wasn't in love with this recipe). anyway, i first whipped up a pastry crust and then added the rest of the ingredients to create the
rhubarb crumble. warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream - it really did hit the spot ;) and i brought a piece in to my co-worker (we both had to work that day to give my boss - who is a mother - the day off). we're good kids. no, seriously!

another season, another reason, for makin' whoopee...

2009-04-20T09:49:00.002-04:00

i found a recipe for pumpkin whoopee pie on taste spotting, and i had to try them. i'm not sure why this was a must, but it was. anyway, i made them in honor of janet's birthday (she is the visitor services manager at the museum). they were much loved by my department at our bi-monthly meeting. and they were much loved by my roommates and manzo during a rousing game of settlers the night before. and i'm hoping the soul remaining whoopee pie will be much loved by me sometime this week. i stuck it in the freezer. the original blogger i stole/borrowed this recipe from said they were mighty tasty frozen...

*note that most pumpkin whoopee pie recipes call for a cream cheese based filling, but i wasn't feelin' it for this recipe. so i opted for a recipe that had more of a buttercream based filling instead. soooo good.

it's... peanut butter jelly time, peanut butter jelly time!

2009-04-01T16:18:00.004-04:00

so apparently, this little concoction - called peanut butter and jelly bars (a la martha stewart) - was one of my better bake endeavors. and that really is saying something. anyway, here are some picks of my process...

note, i didn't not use strawberry jam. i used a raspberry. and just about the whole jar. more is best in this case...

a little blurry, but i think you get the gist of it. but seriously, i need to get a new digital camera...

oops...

2009-04-01T16:17:00.003-04:00

i totally forgot to publish this post. i think these are the chocolate white chocolate chip cookies i made a few months back, but i can't remember the recipe. more than likely, i just combined a couple of recipes from martha's cookie cookbook and tada! (i do remember them being good, and going fast!)

what?! you altered MARTHA'S recipe???

2009-02-25T12:20:00.003-05:00

yep, i sure did! and why not? i was flipping through my copy of martha stewart's cookies, and i found a recipe for double-chocolate cookies. it looked really good, but i thought to myself, "self, what would be better than double chocolate cookies?" at first i answered myself with "lemon bars," seeing as how i'm not that much of a chocolate person. haha. but i had already committed to cookies and chocolate ones at that.

so i asked myself again, and this time i answered, "triple chocolate pecan cookies!" mouthwatering ring to it, huh? so, i added white chocolate chips and pecans to the the batter and a little extra flour and got to work. they turned out pretty good!

since i added the extra flour, they didn't spread out, and i was able to fit all the cookies on to two baking sheets. i thought they were a little dense, so i kept them in for 15 minutes each - which proved to be too long. well, the first batch came out crispy/crunchy on the outside with a melty/chewy inside (exactly what i was going for), but the second batch turned quite hard - cooked the whole way through. this does not mean the second batch was bad by any means, it just means that they are best with a cup of coffee or other hot beverage to dip them in. anyway, i have made a mental note, and i will bake for about 13 minutes in the future...

givin' li'l martha a work out!

my work space...

the end product.
they were some BIG OL' COOKIES!

ps - my digital camera took a crapper on me earlier this year while i was in florida. sad, i know. so i have resorted to using the camera built into my cell phone (lg venus, if you were curious). not to shabby, i must admit. not great. obviously. but it gets the job done :)

dream a little dream for me...

2009-02-20T12:58:00.003-05:00

i planned a native american themed family day at the museum a couple weekends ago. i had an author read from her book on famous painter who captured native americans on canvas in the 19th century, and i had a native american flute specialist (and player) perform. it was a casual but fun afternoon. kids could also make dream catchers, woven baskets (out of paper), and paper teepees. above is my attempt at a dream catcher. not too shabby, but if you saw my intern's, you'd know i got schooled. haha. anyway, you can buy the kits for the catchers here if you are really interested... but if you aren't very, er, crafty? you can try the remedial kind :P

perhaps i'm too nice for my own good

2009-01-11T13:31:00.004-05:00

when my bananas get gross and brown, i stick them in the freezer. my roommate complain about this, because they "look gross" to them. apparently dave and raf saw two particularly "frightening" bananas in the freezer the other night and put an "expiration date" on them. basically i had to use them or lose them within one week.

well, no one told me about this, and without knowing, i baked a batch of oatmeal banana muffins with cream cheese frosting for the roommate for breakfast that weekend. i told them all to eat-up when they eventually woke up (in the middle of the afternoon), and raf seemed particularly suspicious. why was i being so nice? was this because of what he and dave were discussing? i had to get mike to decode for me. cryptic boys, they are (in yoda style).

anyway, sometimes they just don't deserve me and my culinary wonders.

elvis would have been proud

2009-01-08T20:15:00.001-05:00

the powers that be at the museum decided that we should have our holiday staff and volunteer appreciation day on elvis' birthday this year - hence an elvis theme was adopted (we even had an elvis impersonator there)... this wasn't so bad, since it themed the catered food towards southern comfort food (delish). i, however, was tapped to create a cake in the shape of a guitar. apparently elvis had a guitar birthday cake one year, and the planning committee wanted to recreate that. word in the museum spread, and people knew that i baked things (is this good or bad, i don't know). anyway, after three boxes of red velvet (yes, i know, boxed cake mix, sigh), 4 packs of cream cheese, several sticks of butter, an entire bag of powdered sugar, six dum-dum lolly-pops, and some food coloring...

this is the end result. a hunka-hunka cake of red velvety goodness. man, someone needs to, like, hire me. right?

it IS a good thing my friends have lower standards than santa...

2009-01-05T20:55:00.000-05:00

i walked off the elevator and rounded the corner to the door to my apartment. sitting outside the door was an alarmingly large box with "macys" stamped on the side. i curiously looked at the box as i unlocked the door, and then nudged the box with my foot. damn - it was heavy. i slid the box into the kitchen using my foot, and promptly ignored it while i decompressed from my work day.

once my arms were free and my coat and shoes were off, i decided to move the big box. i hoisted it on to the kitchen table. i vaguely remember my roommate mike asking if a package had arrived over the weekend (he was out of town). none had, so i assumed this is what he was waiting for. when i took a look at the label (to make sure it didn't belong to one of the other roommates) i saw my name.

my name was on the package. but i didn't order anything from macys, not that i could remember. and i certainly would have remembered something this heavy. all sorts of thoughts flew through my head - what could it be? of course i opened it. no time for questions when the mystery could be solved simply.
this beautiful piece of machinery is what was awaiting me! my most fabulous bff in beantown and my 3.5 years-into-a-common-law-marriage roommate mike got it for me for christmas :) and i named her li'l martha. and she is glorious. absolutely glorious. check out her maiden voyage. i made these delightful little cookies from martha's website (although i didn't make them in the shape of walnuts - because srsly, who has vintage walnut shaped cookie molds???).

mixing the batter...

scrapping the sides...

making the filling... soooo good

i rolled out the cookie batter and made little discs instead of walnut shells.

then i filled them with the chocolately goodness i whipped up!
(ps - i used an ameretto liquor not a walnut - where hell do you find walnut liquor?!)

2008-12-19T13:59:00.001-05:00

merry christmas from me to you!
above is the holiday ornament i made for at a family day at the museum (we were celebrating an internationally renown glass artist).

a little pizzaing...

2008-12-01T21:51:00.000-05:00

when you have a hankerin' for pizza, you have a hankerin', and there isn't much you can do about. best bet is to feed the beast. fighting it is only going to get you in trouble. trust me, i know.

i had a pantry that was lookin' slim (that seems to be a theme lately, huh?). so i dug around to see what i could round up. luckily, i had two packets of pizza dough mix hidden in the pack of a cupboard. i made the crust according to the package and pressed it into a shallow cookie sheet and baked it for 10 to 15 minutes. just enough to puff it up and prevent it from getting soggy from the sauce.

next, i had to find something to create a sauce - no easy task. i took a can of diced tomatoes, garlic clove, basil and oregano, and a good portion of balsamic vinegar and attempted to make a reduction. it was a little watery, so i took about a tbsp of flour mixed in tiny bit of flour and added it in. i like a thin sauce.

so i first spread ricotta cheese on the warm crust (what i had left in my fridge - about 1 cup), then i slathered the tomato reduction on top of that. next i chopped up some spinach, a can of mushrooms, and a roma tomato and sprinkled that across the top. then i took the half-a-bag of "fancy italian shredded cheese" i found under a package of tortillas (probably a little too close/past the expiration date) and dumped it on top. i did one last sprinkling of oregano and black pepper on top and stuck that puppy in the oven. something like 375 - 400 degrees until the cheese was bubbly and brown and the crust was purty-looking (honestly, i can't remember how long this took - no long though).

it was a tasty treat for dinner and lunch for the next several days :)

impromptu eggbake

2008-12-01T20:52:00.000-05:00

hunger drives a number of my random creations. here you can see what a near-empty pantry can produce (ps - it helps to have roommates to mooch ingredients off of).

make a graham cracker crust, only use a savory cracker (saltine, club, or ritz) and garlic powder instead of sugar. press this in the bottom of a 9x9" baking pan. then take milk or cream, 4 or 5 beaten eggs, 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (i used cheddar), couple cups chopped spinach, and some s&p - mix them together and pour into the pre-baked crust. top the concoction with more shredded cheese (used a mix of yellow and white shredded cheeses i found in the fridge) and sprinkle french's fried onions on top (you know, the stuff you put in green bean casserole). cover with tinfoil and bake for 20 - 30 minutes covered and then an additional 10 - 15 minutes uncovered. the onions will be crispy and the cheese will be brown and bubbly.

if you have ground beef or diced ham, that would be a tasty addition. bacon would be divine as well! and i think mushrooms might be fun(gi)!

cranapple pearberry pie

2008-11-26T21:56:00.000-05:00

i said i was cranberry crazy!!! well, this is what you get when that happens :) basically i took this recipe (or it might have been one similar - i forget these things when i actually get around to blogging) and used 1/2 apples and 1/2 pears since i didn't have enough of either to get the job done alone.

for the crust, i used a variation of martha's recipe. 2.5 cups of cold flour and two stick of butter. margarine will work in a pinch. and i only add salt if the butter is unsalted. and i generally skip the addition of any sugar.

i also like to beat an egg and brush it on the top. then i use large grain decorating sugar (the white kind) and sprinkle the top. i've used sugar in the raw packets for this too, which has a similar effect.

cheesiest cake around

2008-11-26T21:54:00.000-05:00

this thanksgiving brought on a cranberry kick. i love cranberries though. i'm not ashamed. not at all. but usually, i make a pumpkin cheesecake for thanksgiving. it is my way of mixing traditional with something a little more creative, a little more my style. but i thought i'd mix things up. my friends lindsay and nate were having me over for thanksgiving dinner (since i couldn't afford to fly home to iowa for the short holiday), and linds said they were prepared to make a traditional pumpkin pie. so i took that as my go ahead to try out the cranberry cheesecake recipe i found thanks to epicurious! (note that i skipped the compote though.)

look at those beauties simmerin' on the stove top!

my graham cracker crust (with some added pumpkin pie spice to liven it up!)

here you can see the gorgeousness pre-baked. i used one of my roommate's chopsticks to swirl the layers, quite effectively i might add...

and the final product... a little dark, but delicious beyond compare!

mango muffins?

2008-11-23T22:26:00.002-05:00

i decided to bring some muffins into the office, but the problem with that - finding ingredients. i had all the basics - sugar, flour, etc. - but i didn't have any good flavor additives. i did have a mango, leftover from my produce box, but how the hell was i going to incorporate that into a muffin recipe? huh?
well, all you ever have to in this type of scenario is google what you want to make - no matter how bizarre - and see what's already been done. so, that's what i did. i googled mango muffins and eventually stumbled upon this recipe.
unfortunately, i didn't have enough mango pulp to pull it off. i only had one mango. so i got... creative. i also had some honeydew melon cut up in the fridge that i was eating at a glacial pace (let's be honest, while i hate cantaloupe/musk melon, honeydew is just a step above tolerable). so i took out my teeny-tiny food processor (i'm sure i've mentioned this adorable gadget, right? it purees about 2 - 2.5 cups of food at a time...) and pulsed the mango pulp and honeydew. i then dug out a bag of shredded coconut from my cupboard (i almost always have a bag of coconut on hand - the shit is good, what can i say) and dumped half of it into the mix.
after my creations were baked, i had them tested before i brought a full batch into work. i got mixed reviews. a little too subtle, apparently. so i slathered them in cream cheese frosting, because let's be honest, when has well prepared cream cheese frosting ever hindered a baked good? (yeah, that's what i thought, too.)
i brought them into the office with a batch of cranberry lemon muffins too. i didn't take home any leftovers...

my daddy caught me some fishes!

2008-11-16T21:39:00.002-05:00

when i was last in iowa visiting the folks, my dad spent a couple of hours fishing and brought back several bass and a blue fish. he then proceeded to gut and clean the fish. since my parents' freezer was already well stocked, he let me take them back to dc. i finally got around to thawing them out tonight.

i fried the fish after coating them in an oatmeal and pecan mix. i based this concoction off of this recipe.

and of course i needed a side dish. here you can see the deviled cauliflower i threw together. good thing i forgot about the cauliflower from my produce box last week. and who knew this funky little veggie had such a long (refrigerated) shelf life?

of course i fed this meal to my boys (roommates), and i told them they could eat it if they rooted for the cowboys tonight (my team!) rather than the red skins... but they aren't really holding up their side of the bargain. here's hopin' for a win - GO COWBOYS!

knittin' up a storm

2008-11-14T21:24:00.000-05:00

so i taught myself how to do a cable knit! i'm super impressed with myself. so i'm attempting to knit a scarf. i don't know if i'll ever finish it... it is slow moving. but i'm going to try to keep at it. i bought a sassy pink yarn for the trim. it'll be purty. mayhaps i'll make it a christmas gift... that's a thought...

poor baby wanted pumpkin cheesecake...

2008-11-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

but that's not what he got. heh.

my friend broke his ankle this summer and had the screw temporarily placed in (ew) removed recently. he was laid-up for awhile, so i told him i'd bake him something to easy the pain. haha. anyway, he seemed to think he was going to get a pumpkin cheesecake, but that shit takes a long ass time to make. i've been working a lot lately - lots of programs at the museum, don't cha know - so i didn't have the time to invest in a cheesecake. so i decided pumpkin cookies would have to do. and they did. he even tossed out the pumpkin scone he was munchin' on when i presented the bag. but i mean, who wouldn't.

i forget where i got the recipe. oops. ya'll will just have to deal (you know, the whole 4 people that read my blog...).

english tea party

2008-11-08T20:47:00.000-05:00

my former boss, now colleague, is running off to toronto this week to get married. her and her sweetie of several years are eloping. cute, huh? anyways, our office decided to throw her a little pre-wedding party. being that she is from england, we though a tea party would be only appropriate. we even wore hats. large, silly hats. it was delightful. and, of course, i baked for the event :)

one night i was pretty bored and my kitchen was lookin' bare. but i wanted to bake something. i found a box of jiffy and perused the bake to assess what types of goodies one could concoct (other than pancakes). there was a recipe for sugar cookies, and i tinkered with it a bit. it wasn't too bad. but it was very simple and plain. for the tea party, i decided to add some additional flare - kick 'em up a notch.

basically i made the jiffy sugar cookies, added a bunch of flour and some sour cream, tossed in 2/3 a bag of fresh cranberries, and used lemon extract instead of the vanilla the recipe called for. then i whipped up some lemon flavored glazed to drizzle on top. peeps like them. i called them scones and told no one about the jiffy :P

punkins!

2008-10-13T21:05:00.003-04:00

when i was little, i would call them punkins. actually, i would call them that until i was in undergrad :) if my best friend wasn't such a grammar nazi, i probably still would call them that. but i suppose i can handle pumpkin.

i absolutely love halloween. i haven't celebrated as i would have liked for the past couple of years. i'm not sure why. i really am hoping to change that this year :) i'm volunteering at boo in the zoo - and i'm excited! this at least guarantees that i'll be wearing a costume at some point.

anyway, i haven't carved a pumpkin since my second halloween in dc (and this is now my fifth!), so i thought it was about time.

here's my beauty. i call he sam.

i hate the smell of pumpkin guts, but i persisted. nice 'n' clean, huh?

here are the seeds, after they were cleaned.

i mixed up some butter, oil, worchshire sauce, garlic salt, and oregano. mixed in the seed and spread them out on a foil lined pan.

baked in a 325 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

they were savory and delicious.

and then it came time to carve my masterpiece! i searched templates and galleries upon galleried of pumpkin carvings. i couldn't find one that i wanted to do. i found a ghost that seemed cool, but then i went to my friend robert's house over the weekend and decided that my ghost would be lame compared to his bad-ass skull. he reall did a good job. them, i decided that i would do a monster. something playful, but still very appropriate. i looked over the sesame street website for some ideas. i though image of telly, oscar, and cookie monster might help. i think it did. so... have a gander at sam. i think he rocks!

no candle and room lit.

room lit and candle lit (and a fuzzy focus).

in the dark with candle lit.
kicks ass, no?

a little too big...

2008-10-11T13:30:00.001-04:00

so i attempted to knit my first hat (i rock the crocheted hat). it was, um, and interesting experience. and it took me forever to complete. i don't even know how long ago i start this one. i found it in my yarn basket and decided to finish it off. when i was sick last week, i needed something to do while i was occupying the couch. knitting fit the bill.

as you can see in the pictures below, i need to work on size... i suppose that had to do with me making the hat a little bigger than the pattern called for. but, i have a really BIG head. it only made sense that i make this hat a little larger to, er, compensate for my mucho grande cabeza (ok, so it has been awhile since i've used my high school spanish...).

who needs to see, anyway?

i guess i could alway roll it up...

wedding blanket - that thing i do...

2008-10-01T19:04:00.000-04:00

so it has been awhile since i have posted something non-food related, huh? well, here is the blanket i made for my brother's wedding. the yarn was a bulky wool blend, so it should keep those crazy newlyweds warm during those frigid minnesota winters (they live up in the twin cities).

tart time

2008-09-23T16:36:00.003-04:00

i'm not really in the mood to write a post, but i baked a tomato tart last night and thought i should upload the pic i took - so here it is. and here is the link to the blog that inspired its creation (although i added a layer of onions on top of the tomatoes before i put the final layer of fontina on, because let's face it, i have an unnatural love for onions).

tastes better than it looks...

2008-09-16T15:16:00.001-04:00

peach upside down cake - this is what was left after our office party (celebrating my boss' birthday and co-worker's successful completion of her first full triathlon). it looks gross, but tasted great! i think i want to start experimenting with this recipe - different fruits and perhaps individual cakes in muffin tins...

recipe is here.

i cater weddings. ah, sorta. heh.

2008-09-05T19:46:00.001-04:00

i was in iowa for my brother's wedding at the end of august. about 3 weeks before flying home, i received an email from the bride to be:

We only have a little over 30 days left before the WEDDING!!!!!!! I have a job for you [...] I'm gonna do a dessert bar instead of doing [just] cake. So I figured because you like to bake, and I know you'll be home for most of that week, you might want to bake some[thing ...]

wow, does this kid know me or what? of course i'd like to bake something, but little did i know that i'd be a baking machine while i was in iowa. oh well, we all know that i didn't really mind. so i replied to her email with the suggestion of mini cheesecakes, which received a whopping quadruple four exclamation point response (you know this would have made the brother twitch, just a bit). i wasn't surprised. who doesn't love cheesecake? it is a serious crowd pleaser. and i mean serious.

anyway, i googled my way through some recipes, as i am known to do and decided on a rather random but simple confection. my soon-to-be sister-in-law brainstormed with me on the phone about possible toppings. i knew she was going for a black/red/pink theme for the wedding and reception, so i suggested some sort of chocolate or red berry. so how we ended on caramel with chocolate sprinkles. sounded good to me, so i went a shoppin' when i got home. i bought both muffin papers and "nut & party cups" for the cakes. i wasn't sure which would work best. the papers didn't seem too sturdy (and they weren't), but the cups were lined in a plastic-like material that i thought could melt. luckily, it didn't. that test batch turned out the best. nut cups won by a mile.

the recipe called for vanilla wafers for a "crust" though, and i wasn't sure if they would work. i needed to find a cookie that would take-up the majority of the bottom of the cake cup. it didn't have to be a perfect fit, but i wanted it to be close. turns out that oreos (when separated) work really well. and - AND they are chocolate, which works much better with what i was trying to do.next i mixed the eggs, cream cheese, and such together. it made a delicious, cream concoction. and then i filled up the cups. after baking them for a bit, they got very poofy. i was worried, at first, that they might be too poofy for the topping, but, low and behold, they de-poofed with time.
the tricky part came with the caramel. i decided to put little hearts on them and the couple's last initial on a few of them too. i used wooden skewers dipped in caramel as a pen. it was so and hard and tedious! arg! but, i persevered. i made it work!

also, i'll just have you know that my sister-in-law (then to-be) asked me to make about 4 dozen. there were going to be roughly 250-300 guests at this shin-dig, but she also had cake, lemon squares, and 2 types of cookies on this buffet o' desserts. so i did as i was asked, and they flew off the table. there was cake, cookies, and squares left behind for lunch the next day - but no cheesecake. in fact, they were soooo popular. most of the wedding party had multiples :P that makes a cook happy.

mostly pie, mostly.

2008-08-28T20:40:00.004-04:00

i love baking pies. i think it might be my calling in life. no, seriously. if i won the lottery tomorrow, i'd quite my job and open a pie shop. i have the name of the shop all worked up in my head already :) i'm not telling you, because frankly, i don't want you poaching my idea! you never know, it might happen someday...

anyway, since i've been back in iowa (at my parents' for wedding prep - my big brother is tying the knot on saturday!!) i've already made two pies and am currently workin on a batch of mini cheesecakes for the wedding reception (people should seriously consider hiring me). so i thought i'd blog about my creations. i pretty much have made it to the point where i can throw a pie together without a recipe - just feel it out. i love that.

but before i get to the present pies, i thought i should take time to reflect on my pie-like creation i whipped up to go with the pulled pork goodness i blogged about not too long ago. i know, i should have blogged about this then, but i didn't. so what. what are you really going to do about it, huh? that's what i thought.

here is my fruit galette. interesting, isn't it?

basically, i made a standard pie crust, piled in a bunch of almost over ripe fruit leftover from my produce box (with some sugar, flour, and cornstarch), and then folded up the edges. i baked it right on the parchment i rolled the crust out on. good thing too, since the filling oozed out of the shell. although - the ooze stiffened a bit into a fruity, cookie-like thing. it was pretty good. at least i enjoyed it (as did the boys).

so the last time i as at home, my mother had me bake a rhubarb pie (i think i forgot to blog about that one... oops), and she said she wanted a peach pie (her favorite) when i came back for the wedding. i wasn't off the plane for a full 24 hours before i was in the kitchen whippin' up a pie for that woman. but it turned out pretty damn good. even my dad said so, and that man is hard to please (and brutally honest when it comes to food...).
and then i picked up some fresh blueberries and raspberries when i was in iowa city visiting some old friends and whipped up a second pie. i was worried that this one wouldn't set, because it looked a little runny in the oven. but no worries! all was well.

after i made the second pie (notice the successful execution of the lattice top - yeah, i kick ass), i had a lot of left over crust. so i concocted these li'l guys. don't know what you would call them. they are filled with a peanut butter chocolate mixture. i didn't really like them, but mom did. so i guess that makes it all right, right?

they certainly are cute.

for those curious:
pie crust - martha style

2.5 cups of cold flour
2 sticks of cool butter
dash of salt
dash of sugar
ice cold water as neede

use a pastry cutter (or a potato masher works too) to mix butter, salt, sugar, and flour into a crumbly mixture. add water a few tablespoons at a time to get dough into a malleable consistency. refrigerate until ready to roll out.

for the fillings:

mix 6 (ish) cups of fruit with 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, and 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch. once fruit is well coated, put in pie shell and top with second crust. brush with a light egg wash (1 egg beaten with water, milk, or cream) and sprinkle with large grain sugar. bake at 375 for 50 - 65 minutes (crust should be golden and the filling should be bubbling). cool in a safe spot free of over eager eaters... :)

holy balls of cake on a stick batman!

2008-08-20T07:16:00.000-04:00

so alli's birthday was on wednesday, and of course i needed to do some experimental baking for the occasion. i was on taste spotting (yes, again), and i found the hungry housewife's blog. cake pops were calling my name. much more difficult to execute than they look, but i don't think i did too bad. and they tasted amazing. i got compliments all around - which of course made me happy :)

pork, the totally under-appreciated other white meat

2008-08-01T07:18:00.000-04:00

probably sometime in april or may i realized that i lived only 2 blocks from rocklands bbq. i was most excited to discover this. as many know, pulled pork sandwiches are one of my favorite things [insert julie andrews - esque hum here]. unfortunately, it isn't healthy for the figure or pocketbook to frequent a bbq joint, and let's face it - i don't need to subject either to that unhealthy habit.

so i mentioned to a friend at one point this summer that loved rocklands, and we should go. he agreed, but also threw out the idea of making our own pulled pork. whaaa-aat? mine own? that sounded difficult. and a little scary. what if i couldn't pull it off? i mean, i would totally ruin my reputation if i could conjure up a delicious batch of shredded pork.

but it was too late. the culinary wheels in my mind had already started to turn, and the googling soon followed. so many recipes, where should i start? some called for vinegar and some cloves and others immense amounts of sauce. there was carolina, texas, and kansas city bbq styles to consider. how was a girl to choose?

so. overwhelming.

pork overload? almost.

i decided that the recipe i should work with should be simple (this was my first attempt, you know) and require a short shopping list. then, one day while perusing taste spotting i found it. a delicious and simple recipe courtesy of bread & honey.

here you can see the pork butt after 9 hours of cookin'

here it is, out on a baking sheet - mid-shred

a small piece of deliciousness

on a bun with some jack daniel's bbq sauce - and a side of spicey slaw (you can't have pull pork sandwiches without slaw!!)

happy birthday to loo!

2008-07-31T12:57:00.000-04:00

it is a good thing i can back-post on this thing! i have been creative and domestic quite a bit this summer; i just haven't been very good at posting about it. whoops. anyway, i'm back dating this entry to my co-worker laurel's birthday. she asked for a pie, and it is a good thing blueberry pie is her favorite - because they were cheap and in season! woot-woot!

there was some pie crust left and filling, so i attempted blueberry empanadas. i didn't like them (i wasn't satisfied with the crust), but i got good reviews all around. and laurel really like it, so that is really the true test. her birthday, her pie. she even had seconds.

i'll pan your cake...

2008-07-13T19:10:00.005-04:00

so blueberries were on sale at the store this week - super cheap - and who doesn't love blueberries? no one, that's what i thought. anyways, i made a batch of almond blueberry cookies (thanks giada) but forgot to photograph them - i know, i've been a slacker. but it did occur to me to photograph the blueberry - white chocolate chip pancakes i made this morning. i ended up making about 3 batches, until i ran out of blueberries. rave reviews overall :)

a standard batch took 2 cups of jiffy mix, 1.25 cups of milk, 1/3 cup of white chocolate chips, and 2 generous handfuls of blueberries.

next you have to get the pan really hot, but not too hot. i set the dial to just above medium, and then i spray a good coating of cooking spray on the pan. makes for a nice smooth flip.

when the bubbles start to pop, flip the pancake. should be a nice golden brown.

my roommate gave them a definite thumbs up. and i hear orange marmalade is an excellent topping. and really, all you need is a little butter. the white chocolate chips make the pancakes pretty sweet. i think maple syrup would be over kill (not that i like maple syrup anyway - but that is another story altogether).