short + rose

TWD Revisited: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake

2012-01-26T13:00:00.000-06:00

So TWD is over, we baked it all. Well I was pretty lax about participating the two months (but for good reason). But the good news is we're still going to be baking TWD will start baking our way through Baking with Julia beginning February 7th. In the meantime I'm still baking, although I've had some issues that normally I would not have but for some reason my baking attention span has been lessened causing some kitchen misshaps. First was when I made the Low and Lush Chocolate Cheesecake (page 243 of the Dorie book). I made an ENTIRE CHEESECAKE and left out the sugar. Oh the humanity. Next I made the Peanuttiest Blondies (page 119 ) and managed to underbake them so the outside was perfect looking but the inside was gooey and not totally baked. Sigh.

Finally, I did manage to bake the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake (page 286) without screwing it up. For some reason I thought I missed baking it when it was originally made during TWD, but then I looked in my archives and I did bake it in June 2010. Anyway, it was still very good. This time I used an actual loaf pan and raspberry jam instead of cherry.

I look forward to baking through the new book, I think it's going to be a little challenging, there are a lot more recipes with more techniques I'm not familiar with, but it should be a fun learning opportunity.

Finished knits & in-process knit

2012-01-10T05:58:00.000-06:00

Here are a few things I finished up before the end of the year but didn't get a chance to photograph until now.

Heirloom Baby Blanket, knit in Madelinetosh Vintage - colorway "Happiness"

I knit this blanket in September for my friend's baby girl and liked the pattern so much I decided to knit one for my own someday-baby stash. This version is a little larger because I used worsted weight instead of DK and the skeins were a little different color-wise but it still turned out really nicely.

Pebble Baby Vest, knit in Madelinetosh DK - colorway "Forestry"

I knit this up super quickly but it took me ages to sew the buttons on (lazy). I've knit this before too but the first time I messed up the sizing and it was more dress-like than vest-like. But this time it turned out pretty well. This is also for my someday-baby stash. The picture doesn't accurately show the color, it's a beautiful dark green/blue and the buttons are yellow/pale green.

Leaves Long Beanie (from Weekend Hats), knit in Madelinetosh Vintage - colorway "Silver Fox"

Again, a really quick knit (a weekend maybe?) and it was my first time finally managing to work from a chart without writing the instructions out, yay me. I was a little worried a slouchy hat would look weird with my haircut but I think it's looks fine.

And now for the in-process knit...

Jetty Sweater, knit in Quince & Co. Lark - colorway "Storm"

I originally bought this yarn to knit the Castle Pullover (same designer) and I even started knitting it. However I felt like the Jetty sweater might be a little more flattering on me instead. It's gone pretty quickly and I love the cable details. I might have started my decreases/increases a little past the point they needed to be so I have to decide if I want to fix it or keep it. Ugh.

Orange you glad it's January

2012-01-05T05:20:00.000-06:00

January is a fresh start, a clean slate, a new page in the notebook; there are so many possibilities for this year. I bought our new wall calender in October, it's from Rifle Paper Co. and I love all the illustrations in it. Since January's illustration was citrus, it inspired me to bake something with citrus. Plus I've been snacking on clementines like crazy lately.

I thought cupcakes might be fun and I found this recipe for Orange Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. I used some cheery-looking liners I bought at Joanne's a while back. I really liked the cupcakes, they were appropriately orange enough and the cream cheese frosting was delicious.

What 2011 brought

2011-12-31T09:32:00.001-06:00

Another year flown by, this seems to be happening more often the older I get.

Things I seem have done this year:

Oh and baked a zillion things, or at least too many to link.

November and December got busy in other parts of my life but I'm hoping that the New Year brings more projects and good news. I have lots of hope about good things and new adventures in 2012.

Happy New Year!

A very belated Merry Christmas

2011-12-30T19:47:00.000-06:00

I've kind of been busy with this other thing I can't yet talk about (soon hopefully) and my blogging time has taken a major hit (as has my knitting/baking time). However with the New Year looming in mere days, I'm hoping to get back into the groove of regular posting/baking/making.

Here are some photos from the past week or so.

Our Christmas tree this year

Blooming paperwhites

Gooey Chocolate Coconut Truffles (recipe here)

My sweet Nannie on Christmas

Doug with our nephew on Christmas

Just-because bundt cake

2011-11-23T03:04:00.001-06:00

You know how you buy produce with good intentions but it doesn't always work out? Like say you buy some pears thinking "those will be great for a snack" and instead you eat candy or pickles or anything other than those pears? Then those lovely bright green pears start to get a little less bright and a little mooshy? That's pretty much how baking this cake happened. This is Pear & Almond Spice Cake from The Pastry Affair. I made this cake forever ago (October) and took half to my grandmother and aunt and kept the other half for Doug and I. It was very good, chocolatey with crunchy almonds pieces and sweet little bursts of ripe pear. My only modification was that I used apple cider in place of pear cider for the glaze (where does one even find pear cider around here?)

Tuesdays with Dorie: Honey Nut Scones & Arborio Rice Pudding

2011-11-22T23:54:00.000-06:00

Oh hey I have a blog! Sorry about that, other bits of life have gotten in the way. Anyway, here's a TWD two-fer. These are Honey Nut Scones from the week of November 1, chosen by Jeannette of The Whimsical Cupcake. I made these smaller than called for and froze most of them for when I'm craving a scone but feeling lazy.

The second thing is this week's Rewind recipe, any previous recipe we wanted. I picked Arborio Rice Pudding. I've made this recipe a lot. It's so good and easily adapted to be vanilla or chocolate or another flavor. This time I made mine chocolate. It's difficult to get a nice shot of rice pudding, especially on a rainy, overcast day but trust me, it tasted very good.

Cookies & pie for fall

2011-11-03T06:21:00.000-05:00

I made these Fall-ish cookies a few weeks ago to help me get in the 'spirit'. First up was Pumpkin Gingersnaps from Two Peas and Their Pod. Doug loves gingersnaps and I love pumpkin so I hoped we'd both like these. I made them mainly for Doug's game night on Thursday but kept some for us too. They seemed to be a success, I liked how cakey they were but I might have kicked up the spice a tiny bit.

Second, was Iced Oatmeal-Applesauce cookies, which I do not have a picture of. Sorrys! This recipe was from the Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: the New Classics but I found it online here. As silly as this sounds, I don't pick up this cookbook too often because there are almost no pictures. I know, I'm ridiculous. Anyway, I felt like it was rather neglected so I scanned through the pages, found the recipe and found that I had all the ingredients for them. I did make mine bigger than the recipe called for but I really love the flavor of these.

Now the pie is a magnificent creation, found at Ezra Pound Cake. I made it for Sunday night dinner dessert and it was a little involved, but completely and utterly worth the effort. Graham cracker crust with a layer of caramel and pecans, a layer apple slices cooked with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, cream cheese layer and topped with homemade whipped cream and more caramel and pecans. It was too dark to take a photo that night so these are from the next day so it's a little less impressive but it still tasted very, very good, even the next day.

Sweaters for fall

2011-11-02T06:34:00.010-05:00

Well, technically I finished this sweater before fall started, but whatever. It's the knit-a-long sweater from my knitting group's summer knit-a-long. The Narragansett pattern from Thea Colman (aka Babycocktails). One of my sleeves is a little longer than the other and the neck is a little wide but overall it was a really good pattern to knit. I like the uniqueness of the cable detail. (also the weird middle stripe is because it's been folded for weeks!)

The second sweater is really a shell/t-shirt and I've been knitting it since August (while knitting other things too). It's the Imogene pattern from Carrie Bostick Hodge at Quince & Co. and the yarn is Tern (75% wool, 25% silk) also from Quince & Co. There's side shaping and I love how the lace pattern looks really complicated but it's not. The sweater is a little wrinkly in these pictures and the garter edging on the sleeves doesn't want to stay down but can be fixed with some more blocking/steaming. There's a whole set of Imogene patterns, a baby shell, a cowl and a blanket too.

I cast on for this sweater in Madelinetosh Merino Light in Mineral. The short rows in the round seem a little complicated to me but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.

I've also finished two hats and another baby stash item but they need to be blocked, hopefully I'll have pictures next week.

Halloween snapshots

2011-10-31T09:29:00.000-05:00

I meant to post about this last week but got distracted....hope you have a Happy Halloween! We'll be passing out chocolate at our abode while watching the original Halloween movie.

Photos from our friends annual Pumpkin Carving Party (it was the tenth one Doug and I have been to!) Our pumpkin was somewhat lame and I forgot to take a picture of it.

Last week I had knit night at my house for Halloween, mainly as an excuse to make Ham Face again. It was so much fun though and the weather was nice enough that we sat on my patio (especially helpful for those allergic to my cats). Plus it was the day after my friend Kenan's birthday so I made her a cake too.

These are apple-almond teeth made by Kenan, completely awesome.

These are some of my decorations from around the house

Tuesdays with Dorie: Ginger Jazzed Brownies

2011-10-18T06:16:00.002-05:00

This week's selection was chosen by Hindy of Bubie's Little Baker. I'll admit this was one of those recipes I was somewhat skeptical about but I've learned Dorie is usually spot-on. I did make a smallish change to the recipe, I hate messing with fresh ginger, it's so stringy and I can never grate it well enough so I omitted it but increased the ground ginger and added crystallized ginger. These particular brownies were super fudge-y and the ginger added a nice little kick.

Making & baking via Pinterest

2011-10-17T11:34:00.005-05:00

I heard about Pinterest a few months ago and was king of 'meh' about it. I didn't seek it out really and figured at some point I'd get interested. Then about a month or so again a friend sent me an invite so I finally joined. I'm still not a pin-aholic, but I do like the fact that it's a place I can gather all the things I want to bake/craft/knit, etc.

In the past few weeks I've made these things that I 'pinned'.

Glittered pumpkins via Martha Stewart. I used glitter and glitter glue from Martha's line at Michael's (thank you 40% off coupon). It was a pretty messy project because there is glitter everywhere, I'm pretty sure I have glitter in my bloodstream now. Also you had to be really careful to not touch the glue/glitter before it dried. I love the way they turned out though.

Felt leaf garland via A Beautiful Mess. This was incredibly easy to make since I ran them through my sewing machine instead of stitching them by hand. I just traced a leaf shaped pattern on a piece of copy paper, cut it out, pinned it to the felt sheet and cut them out by hand.

Chocolate Almond Oat bars from The Pastry Affair. These are delicious and could not have been more simple to make.

White Bean and Parmesan Baked Orzo from How Sweet It Is. A really good one-dish kind of dinner, even Doug ate it!?

Tuesdays with Dorie: Classic Biscuits

2011-10-11T11:11:00.000-05:00

It's been weeks since I've made a TWD recipe! But I did participate this week, making biscuits, chosen by Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort. I've made Dorie's Sweet Cream Biscuit recipe half-a-dozen times and the classic recipe is pretty much the same, except with whole milk instead of heavy cream. I baked four biscuits for our Sunday morning breakfast and froze the ones that remained for later use. Doug had his with strawberry jam but I used pumpkin butter for mine. Very good and miles better than those canned biscuits!

Knitting updates

2011-09-26T06:03:00.001-05:00

Hey look finished knitted items!

Summer Flies, knit in The Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga in 'Stick Insect'. This was an easy/fast pattern and the yarn is dreamy. I skipped the picot edging and just bound off like normal, which still created a ruffle edge. Excuse my smirky face, I couldn't get a picture I was happy with.

Right now I'm knitting the Imogen tee from Quince & Co. in Quince & Co. Tern yarn, 'Kelp' colorway. This yarn is 75% wool and 25% silk, it makes a really nice fabric and it's springy. However, since the yarn and needles are small it's taking a looong time to knit. Well that and I've knit several other things while working on it.

This a monster from Rebecca Danger's The Big Book of Knitted Monsters. It was a gift for my nephew who turned one last week. I used Stitch Nation yarn from Debbie Stoller, the Full O'Sheep version. I ended up left off the leaving off the arms because I couldn't get them to look right (need more practice) and I figured he might pull them off at some point anyway. I still think Mr. Monster is super cute looking, although my nephew wasn't as interested in Mr. Monster as he was the books we bought him.

This was a special gift for my friend Christiana's soon-to-be-born baby girl, it's the Heirloom Blanket knit in Madelinetosh DK, the color is Duchess, a dark purple/almost black. It's not a huge blanket, more like a crib or pram blanket, but it's very sweet looking I think. The second picture is more color-accurate.

In yarn procurement, this is what has come to live in my stash recently:

Madelinetosh Eyre Light in "Folklore" from the Magnolia Society

Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Sport in "Steamer Trunk" from the Magnolia Society

Madelinetosh Vintage in "Happiness" from Knit Happy. It's going to be an Heirloom blanket too, for my someday-baby stash.

Madelinetosh Prairie in "Lichen" a gift brought back from PDX for me by my friend Lynsey.

I finished my knit-a-long sweater weeks ago but haven't taken pictures yet. Soon!

Miscellaneous stuff I like right now

2011-09-15T17:07:00.000-05:00

My Kindle. We bought it right before our huge roadtrip. I actually didn't use it very much until we got back (I'd rather knit than read it turns out). However, when we got back I started using it more often. I'm still not 100% sold on it for all my reading needs but I enjoy the convenience of it. As of today I have read since late-June: Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer (good but bizarre story), Bossypants by Tina Fey (loved.it.), The Help by Kathryn Stockett (hated it), Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner (liked it okay) and I'm in the middle of Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff and yesterday, thanks to a friend's recommendation, I downloaded two John Green books, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. Since I go through books so quickly I like that I can have a new book almost instantly. It is hard getting used to not having an actual book to look through though.

This yarn (Madelinetosh Merino Light in Mineral)

I have cast-on-itis, I'm going to use it to make this sweater but I'm not letting myself cast on until I finish the other half-dozen items I have on the needles. The color makes me extremely happy.

Salads, my current favorite salad is baby greens, toasted almonds, dried cranberries, goat cheese, turkey and balsamic vinaigrette. I can't say it's super healthy but it tastes good.

Mad Men, we are so behind on this. I know everyone has talked about how great this is forever but we're just now getting around to watching it. We just finished the first season and both of us love it. I told Doug it's like candy, not only is the storyline completely addictive, the set design/wardrobe is so fun to look at.

The most recent Bon Iver (Justin Vernon) record. Beautiful and eerie.

He's also doing this with James Blake:

Rebekka Seale's Dear Friend, blog. She lives in Nashville, takes very lovely pictures and is also a very talented artist.

I'm obsessed with these chairs. I would love a set for the dining room, maybe with a long wooden table.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Classic Brownies

2011-09-13T12:37:00.000-05:00

This week's recipe was chosen by Anne of Anne Strawberry.

I'm not entirely sure I love these brownies. They taste great but they aren't my favorite kind of brownie. They're more cakey that I'd like them to be. I like a brownies with a dry, flakey top and an intense fudgy inside. These brownies, while delicious, are not exactly what I like. Also I think it would have been better if I had toasted the walnuts before they went in batter. But who cares, they're still brownies, they're still good and they're still a must have with a glass of milk.

Nutella love & the first pumpkin baked good of the season

2011-09-12T21:08:00.000-05:00

Usually this is how I like to eat Nutella. Although it's really good on graham crackers too.

Over the weekend I made Nutella shortbread cookies with a recipe from Serious Eats/Cakespy. These cookies are a little more labor intenstive because you shape two flat pieces, fill them and seal the sides, so a little more work than your normal scoop and bake cookies.

They are super buttery/crumbly but very, very good.

Saturday morning, before I made shortbread, I made pumpkin doughnut muffins (recipe from Martha). Last week in Memphis it was so nice weather-wise. The mornings and evenings were cool and even the day time was nice. Today and tomorrow temps are creeping back into the 90's but hopefully we'll cool down again soon. The cooler temperature put the desire for pumpkin baked goods in my belly so I made these muffins. They were easy and buttery and gave me the first hint of fall.

They were also really good with this.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cornmeal & Fruit Loaf

2011-08-30T06:00:00.001-05:00

The TWD book is so close to being done and I am somewhat ashamed I haven't been participating as much, but I'm hoping to redeem myself. This week's selection was Cornmeal & Fruit Loaf, chosen by Caitlin of Engineer Baker.

I got up early Sunday morning to get this in oven in time for our ritual of coffee and CBS Sunday Morning. I used a fresh pear and dried apple slices. I really like how this wasn't super sweet and the cornmeal added a nice texture to the bread. I am especially interested on trying it with diced bacon as Dorie suggests on the sidebar.

Simple Plum Tart

2011-08-29T12:38:00.000-05:00

Last week, squirreled away in the produce department of the grocery store, I spied a basket of small Italian Prune Plums. I didn't buy them at first because I wasn't sure what to do with them, but I knew I'd find some recipes if I looked. There was a recipe using them in my Dorie Greenspan Baking book that was tempting. Then I found this recipe from Ina Garten for tart that seemed super simple with minimal ingredients.

The crust/topping is butter, flour, walnuts, brown sugar and an egg yolk pressed into a tart pan and then some reserved for the topping. The plums are halved and placed in the tart shell, then covered with the topping. Bake and you're done. It's such a good desert and the plums were wonderful with the walnut crust. I had an idea that maybe for the fall I'd like to sub pecans for the walnuts and sweet potato slices for the plums.

Middle-of-the-week chocolate cake

2011-08-25T12:45:00.000-05:00

Some times Wednesdays just call for chocolate cake. I was itching to bake something last night, but nothing too involved since it was a weeknight. When I was home at lunch I thumbed through my growing collection of cookbooks and found this recipe for a simple chocolate loaf cake from At Home with Magnolia. I like this cookbook but most of the desserts in it require hours of letting it 'set' before eating. Luckily, this loaf cake did not, it was more of a throw together, bake, let cool for half-an-hour and then devour. I used natural cocoa powder and made the adjustment suggested by Deb at Smitten Kitchen. The loaf cake turned out perfectly and didn't 'rise and fall'.

Doug and I had our still-slightly-warm slices with vanilla Haagen-Dazs, very good.

Space for hope

2011-08-16T17:57:00.001-05:00

Doug and I have been going to church (shocking!). It's a fairly progressive United Methodist church with things like a soup kitchen, food pantry, community garden, etc. and it's 100 times better than the church I grew up in. Anyway, for the last month they've been doing a Southern literature series on Sundays, tying in some piece of Southern writing to the sermon. This past Sunday they did a selection from Wendell Berry and the sermon was called 'Space for Hope'.

Considering the infertility issues we've been dealing with for so.long I'm always looking for hope. The sermon was nice and when I went home I thought about the literal space for hope I've been creating the last few months. In my craft room there's this:

The little red rocking chair that belonged to Doug's father, two 'blankies' from my childhood, some of my favorite Little Golden Books, a few really cute onesies and baby tees from Threadless and all the little knitted items I've been making for our someday-baby. This is quite literally my space for hope. I hope that these things will be used by our baby one day. There has to be an end (a happy one) to this rocky road eventually.

I finished two more baby sweaters for my stash this weekend, the knitting had been done for a while but the button-sewing-on and the sleeve seaming wasn't finished.

This the Cascade baby sweater knit in Madelinetosh Vintage in 'Baltic'. The buttons are naturally shed reindeer antler. I bought them in Denver last year at the alpaca show.

This is the Maile sweater knit in The Yarn Gallery in 'Aztec' (also bought last year at the alpaca show). The yarn bled a lot when I was blocking it but it's super soft, it's a wool/bamboo superwash. The buttons are from Jo Ann's. This is the same sweater I made for our friends twins in February but I left off the flower pattern on the bottom to make it a little more gender neutral.

Since those things are finished, I started this baby blanket made with sock yarn leftovers. The pattern is Zig and Zag sock yarn pram blanket. I love this so much already, it'll probably be ongoing for awhile since I need more leftovers to knit with but it's a super easy pattern.

Hug the ones you love

2011-08-15T09:47:00.000-05:00

(I meant to post this Friday but got sidetracked)

Life is all too brief. Earlier this week I was reading Gluten Free Girl and saw this post about a dear friend of hers who very unexpectedly lost her husband (the story is can also be found on CNN's Eatocracy too). It resonated with me because Doug lost his father from an sudden heart attack when his father was just 42, Doug was 12.

She asked those to help her heal by making her late husband's favorite pie and share it with those you love and hug them, because as she says and as we all know too well, tomorrow is not guaranteed.

So here's my Creamy Peanut Butter Pie, eaten with the one I love.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Carrot Spice Muffins

2011-08-09T06:17:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the extended baking hiatus! There was travel, illness and general baking malaise to deal with. But I have my baking mojo back and was very happy to make this week's selection, Carrot Spice Muffins, chosen by Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs. (I'm really jealous she got to meet Jeni of Jeni's Ice Cream!) I love making muffins because they're so easy and usually involve just tossing the ingredients together in a big bowl. The muffins were perfect for breakfast and snacking, I used pecans and golden raisins but I'm sure they'd be just as delicious with any of the other mix-ins Dorie suggested.

Chickens & cold pie

2011-08-08T18:56:00.000-05:00

I have been badgering Doug for backyard chickens for EVER. This is a man who almost never tells me no but he used his veto power over chickens. I wanted backyard chickens for a number of reasons, one being that I'm a country girl at heart, having spent good portions of my childhood at my grandparents and great-grandparents homes in the county. After much begging and pleading and thanks in large part to my uncle, I wore Doug down and he finally agreed to two Buff Orphingtons. My uncle got the chicks while we were driving out west back in June and they've been living at his house ever since. We went to visit them back in July and they were in that awkward not a chick anymore but not yet a full fledged hen stage. Anyway, before the chickens can come live in our backyard we have to get their 'house' situated. Doug had considered building a coop from scratch but with the heat and the lack of A/C in his wood shop he decided to buy one that was pre-made online. It came in pieces on Friday in two very large boxes and Saturday in our living room he put it together. It looks pretty darn good I think and Doug says its very well made. We still have to build the chicken run that the chickens will hang out in during the day while we're at work but Doug's drawn up plans and hopefully the run will be completed in the next few weeks so the chickens can come to our house before the end of the month.

While Doug was slaving away in the living room, I was two rooms away making Key Lime Pie in the kitchen. Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake is such a bad influence, she tweets about the delicious things she's made, which promptly makes me want to make whatever it is she's made. Which is how I ended up making Key Lime Pie Saturday afternoon. The main appeal of making the pie was that I knew it would be a cold pie and that sounded delicious since Memphis in August is something akin to Hades. Rebecca's recipe is on her blog here. It was quick and simple and very good. I skipped the whipped cream though because I wanted a pie that was more tart than sweet.

Stay tuned for future chicken updates.

Two more things to keep you cool

2011-08-04T09:11:00.000-05:00

Last week Doug and I were hit by an awful stomach virus, courtesy of our ~~germy~~ sweet nephew. It was so bad, we haven't been sick like that the whole time we've been together. There was a lot of lying in bed, moaning, sweating, lying in the bathroom floor, drinking Gatorade and eating Saltines. We missed two days of work, which is a rarity for both of us. In six years at my current job I've only ever called in sick once before. Anyway, we got better thankfully, but neither one of us felt like eating much. My desire to bake/cook was greatly diminished this past weekend too. However, I did crave light, cold treats and they didn't require much effort either.

First, there's Watermelon-Lemonade Sorbet from the Jeni's Ice Cream cookbook. Seriously easy, watermelon puree + lemon simple syrup + a whirl in the ice cream make + a trip to the freezer = done. This sorbet tastes like summer.

The second thing is vanilla yogurt popsicles with raspberry puree. I have four sets of popsicle molds (I was a little indulgent last summer shopping on Amazon.com) and I never used these particular ones but dug them out to use for this recipe. The 'recipe' is just one container of raspberries tossed in the food chopper with a dash of lemon juice and a little less than 1/2 cup of sugar, pureed. Then I alternated filling the molds with the puree and vanilla yogurt. I wanted to use Greek yogurt but I only had a little bit and because it's so thick it was hard to get in the molds than the regular yogurt. I really liked the way these turned out and the molds release much easier than I thought they would. Plus they're relatively healthy, they could be made healthier by using fat free yogurt and stevia or agave for the sweetener.

Considering we still have at least 6 more weeks of 90+ degree temperatures I am sure I'll be using the popsicle molds some more.

Garden 2011 - Week 12 or maybe 13

2011-08-01T13:01:00.000-05:00

I have to admit my poor little garden has been greatly neglected recently. It's the same old story, heat and mosquitoes.

This is what's happening currently:

Okra and Morning Glory is taller than me (I'm 5'2) Tiny okra pods are appearing, the Morning Glory is blooming, I just need to go out there in the AM to take a picture.

Carrots and Bachelor's Buttons are growing, probably another few weeks before the carrots are ready to harvest.

Cucumbers and beans are being attacked by something vicious. I have a lot of misshapen pickling cucumbers and one lovely and unusual looking True Lemon cucumber. The beans are dying so that's kind of a shame but I haven't been doing much to prevent.

Tomatoes and zinnias are doing exceedingly well. I love the zinnias so much, they remind me of my childhood. I have a ton of Roma tomatoes on the vine and lots of larger green ones of varieties I can't recall. I also have these teensy little guys, this was one of the plants my mom gave me that she started from seed - Matt's Wild Cherry.

Doug's grape vines are finally producing real, edible grapes. These are Concord, they have seeds and a very strong flavor.

Some things to keep you cool

2011-07-21T07:45:00.000-05:00

For several years now I've heard about Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams in Columbus, Ohio via Ravelry via TNNA. I was seriously close to ordering pints online before but the pricey shipping stopped me. Lucky for me (and everyone really) Jeni Britton Bauer (the Jeni) has written an ice cream 'cookbook'. I picked it up a few weeks ago and it has so many delicious-looking recipes in it for all seasons of the year. I cannot wait to make the Pumpkin Five Spice in the fall. My favorite part of all the recipes is that none of them use eggs. I just don't like homemade ice cream with egg yolks, the texture always seems weird to me. Instead the ice creams in Jeni's book are made with whole milk, heavy cream, sugar, salt, cream cheese and then whatever the flavor components are. Perfect! The book is also just really well put together with lovely photos and cute artwork.

The first recipe I made was Pistachio and it is perfect! I used pre-roasted/pre-salted pistachios but other than that I followed the recipe exactly. I was so anxious to try it and it did not disappoint. The pistachios make the ice cream a pretty pale green.

The second recipe I made was the Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk. We've passed prime strawberry season here but I picked up some non-local berries at the grocery store. To achieve the maximum strawberry flavor, you slice the berries, toss them with sugar and lemon juice and roast them for about eight minutes in the oven. After that you puree them in the food processor. Since you only use 1/2 cup of the puree, there's a lot leftover and I'll tell you what I did with the leftovers below.

I love, love, love this flavor. The pistachio is wonderful too but the strawberry is my favorite of the two. However, I managed to get some tiny cornstarch clumps so I guess I didn't get the cornstarch mixture fully incorporated. The flavor of the ice cream wasn't hurt though but I'll be more careful next time.

With the leftover strawberry puree I added a small amount of vanilla bean paste and a small container of vanilla yogurt. After I whisked it all together I poured the mixture into some of my popsicle molds and froze them.They turned out really well, not too sweet and lots of strawberry flavor. These particular molds remind me of a unicorn horn.

I love this book so much and I anticipate making many more of the recipes, mainly the Sweet Corn Black Raspberry!

Summer knitting

2011-07-13T11:08:00.003-05:00

As I said to my friend the other day, I am convinced it will never be cold enough to wear wool. At least heavy wool. Yet we all still knit sweaters.

My knitting group has decided to do a knit-a-long this summer using the Narragansett pattern from Thea Colman. I'm using Classic Elite Solstice yarn, it's 70% cotton and 30% wool. It seems to be well-written pattern, it took me seven days to finish the sleeve increases (I knit slower than most folks). The yarn is knitting up really well though, it's similar to Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.

I finally finished the Featherweight Cardigan in Madelinetosh Tosh Light. The neck is somewhat wonky and my finishing skills need more work. The main issue I had was picking up the neckband stitches, they look pretty messy on one side. Oh and I changed the sleeves up a little from the pattern. I do like it though and I'll probably make another one. I think I'll get a lot of wear out of it.

Before we left on Megatrip, I made two baby shrugs for our Seattle friends baby girls. The pattern is Confection Baby Shrug and I used Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton. I used seed stitch for the cuffs and collar instead of the ribbing that the pattern calls for.

While on Megatrip, I only went to two yarn stores, such restraint! I went to Close Knit in Portland (which I had been to before) and bought two skeins of Madelinetosh Tosh Light. The colors are Silver Fox and Celadon and my intent is to use them for the Stripe Study Shawl.

In Lawrence, Kansas my cousin took me to the Yarn Barn (how great is that name?) and I got two skeins of Claudia Hand Painted sock in Cherries. I really like this Fishnet Anklet pattern but who are we kidding here, I'm never going to actually knit two socks.

Tennessee sucks, in the summer

2011-07-12T12:58:00.002-05:00

Memphis is under a heat advisory for several days. When I got into my car at lunch yesterday the temperature gauge said this:

This is why Tennessee sucks in the summer (not sure if that's what Ryan Adams meant though).

My co-worker and I were all alone in the office (our bosses were out of town) so I went over to YoLo after lunch and got frozen yogurt for us. Mine was white chocolate with strawberries, chocolate granola & mochi.

I'm currently obsessed with this song. I especially like to turn it up really loud in my car.

I think we're going to the beach in three weeks, which means I'll be using up some of my precious vacation time but it might be worth it to spend a week doing almost nothing.

Doug and I have become addicted to Buffy (the tv series). One Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago we got caught up in a marathon of it and couldn't stop watching. Luckily my friend Kenan has let us borrow seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. Yesterday we watched five episodes.

We bought a Kindle and I'm trying to get used to it. I bought Bossypants, A Visit from the Goon Squad and Under the Banner of Heaven on it but I find it a little harder to sit down and use. Part of that could be my reluctance to put down my knitting.

I got a really short haircut. I used to have short hair. The first time I cut my hair short was junior/senior year of high school. It was not quite cutting edge and more suburban mom than high school student. Eventually I grew it out. The second time I cut my hair short was about a year into dating Doug. I kept it short for several years and started growing it out after we got married. Over the last year I've been hemming and hawing about cutting it again but couldn't decide. Then the other week I got tired of blow-drying and frizzy hairs so I made an appointment and got it all snipped off on Saturday. I love it so much. There are no frizzy hairs and the blow-dryer is put away for a bit. Plus since it's 104 degrees outside there's no hair sticking to the back of my neck. I'm hoping the new 'do doesn't make me look too much older.

Patriotic Pie & Lemon Blueberry Buckle

2011-07-07T10:57:00.000-05:00

On Monday we lazed around our house most of the day watching a Roseanne marathon on Oxygen (don't judge). Later in the day we were due at the home of friends for dinner. I had wanted to make an actual-real-from scratch cherry pie for awhile and the 4th of July seemed as perfect a day as any to make it. Since we don't get sour cherries around these parts I used the sweet cherry pie recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I used the butter-based pie dough recipe too. I feel like I worked the dough a little too much and it chewier than it should have been. The pie turned out well but it didn't slice up into neat triangles since there was no gelatinous goo to hold the cherries together. I attempted to use a USA shaped cookie cutter for the vent in the center. It looked somewhat abstract but most everyone knew what it was supposed to be.

I have a lot of cookbooks, most of them are baking-themed, and I'm trying to do better about using them. Over the weekend I pulled out Rustic Fruit Desserts and made the Lemon Blueberry Buckle recipe. It was very, very good. I did manage to accidentally caramelize the lemon syrup but it didn't diminish the overall taste. If have access to blueberries you need to make this. You also might consider doubling the crumb topping - just a suggestion...

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Chunk Muffins

2011-07-06T09:57:00.000-05:00

This week's selection was chosen by Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles. I always like muffin recipes, they're so easy, usually the mixer is not required and they're pretty versatile.

Chocolate Chunk muffins were good, moist and very chocolately but in retrospect I think I would have liked to add dried cherries to the mix. Chocolate + cherries are so good.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies

2011-06-28T12:46:00.000-05:00

Even though it felt too hot to turn on the oven, I cranked up the AC and baked on. I fiddled with the recipe slightly, I omitted the cinnamon and nutmeg and used dried cherries instead of currants or raisins. I made mine a little bigger and somewhat lumpy too (less batches). I liked these, very cake-y. I think if I had made them a little smaller/flatter they might be a good ice-cream sandwich base. (which is what this week's recipe selector did!)

Thanks to Spike of spikebakes for the week's selection!

Garden 2011 - Week 7/8

2011-06-28T11:34:00.010-05:00

I can't remember what actual week I'm on, either 7 or 8. Eh, anyway, while we were gone my kind brother came over and kept all of our cats fed, watered and with a clean litterbox and he watered my plants/garden. Yay for brothers!

Everything exploded while we were gone. Tendrils are reaching out for something to climb up and onto, tomatoes are flowering and growing, cucumbers and beans are blooming, etc. I do appear to have a pest problem, what kind of pest I'm not sure, I did catch a glimpse of something that looks like a pink/iridescent ladybug. At any rate something(s) have been nibbling on my morning glory, okra, beans and zinnias. I sprayed some insecticidal soap on Monday and because of the rain/watering I'll need to reapply this weekend. I also need to stake my tomatoes too but Lowe's was out of the right size of bamboo poles so off to Home Depot I need to go.

Morning Glory/Okra/Bachelor Buttons/Carrots

Beans/Cucumbers

Tomatoes/Zinnias/Herbs

Lemon Boy Tomato

Doug's grapes (Concord & Red Flame)

In the flower bed my newest cone flower has bloomed and so has my double Rose of Sharon.

The potato vine and petunias were looking a little sickly but extra water and deadheading the petunias seemed to help.

We've been everywhere

2011-06-23T12:40:00.000-05:00

We survived the Western Megatrip with no fights, no breakdowns (emotional or car-wise), no bad weather and no illnesses. We saw so much, I can't even remember it all. I will say this, cheesy or not, America is really beautiful. I really enjoyed watching the landscape change and I found that despite seeing more of this country I am still completely enamored with the Pacific Northwest. Besides seeing the country we also got to see family and friends, which was an added bonus. It was a long trip and there were times when we were so exhausted from driving we thought we'd never get to the hotel. We also ate some crappy food and some delicious food and sometimes we ate fast food. The complete photo set is on Flickr but here are a few :

Lincoln Highway in outside of Laramie,Wyoming

Salt Lake City Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah

Oregon Scenic Highway, somewhere in Oregon

Astoria, Oregon

Mt. Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota

Crazy Horse Monument outside Custer, South Dakota

Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota

Places we stopped:

Springfield, Missouri (had lunch at some brewery-type place downtown)
Lincoln, Nebraska (spent the night & wandered around near the university)
Cheyenne, Wyoming (stopped for lunch)
Salt Lake City, Utah (saw family, Temple Square, beautiful mountains, had dinner at Silver Fork Lodge & breakfast at Finn's)
Twin Falls, Idaho (saw Snake River Canyon & Shoshone Falls)
Boise, Idaho (had delicious lunch at Salt Tears)
Portland, Oregon (spent the night & went to The Meadow, FlavourSpot, Grilled Cheese Grill, a comic shop on Mississippi & Close Knit)
Seaside, Oregon (saw the end of the Lewis & Clark trail)
Astoria, Oregon (saw the house from Goonies!, the Oregon Film Museum & Astoria Column)
Seattle, Washington (saw our Seattle friends, including two sweet babies!! Ate at Oddfellows, Spud's & Ivar's & got cupcake from Cupcake Royale)
Roslyn, Washington (the "Northern Exposure" town, Doug insisted)
Missoula, Montana (spent the night & had dinner at Biga Pizza)
Crow Agency, Montana (saw the Little Big Horn National Battlefield & Monument)
Spearfish, South Dakota (spent the night)
Keystone, South Dakota (saw Mt. Rushmore & the Crazy Horse Monument)
Deadwood, South Dakota (saw the town, which is less like the HBO series & more like Gatlinburg with gambling. Also saw the graves of Wild Bill Hickok & Calamity Jane)
Sioux Falls, South Dakota (stopped for lunch at Culver's where I swear I saw someone from Teen Mom)
Mitchell, South Dakota (visited the Corn Palace)
Sioux City, Iowa (saw lots of Missouri River flooding)
Lawrence, Kansas (visited family, saw another cute baby, had some super-delicious ice cream at Sylas & Maddy's, shopped at Astrokitty Comics, the Yarn Barn & Au Marche)

Phew.

We did miss our cats a lot and the hotel sleeping/road food eating did get a little tiring but I am so glad we did it. You just can't see all of America (the good and the bad) from an airplane window.

Garden 2011 - Week 4

2011-06-08T03:52:00.000-05:00

This year we decided to start with a clean slate so to speak. We got a pretty late start but it always warm here well past September so I think it'll be alright. First I pulled up all the brick that was between and around our raised beds and we tossed the original beds (the wood was starting to rot). After some research/reading I decided to try square foot gardening. Doug built us six 4 x 4 boxes and then we divided them into smaller square using cotton yarn and nails. They're filled with a mixture of organic garden soil and composted cow manure. We hope to add pea gravel in between the boxes and frame out the area with a picket fence and gate. We're not sure yet if our budget will allow for this summer or if it will happen next year but I think it'll look nice once the total vision is complete.

This is my planting list, all from Seed Savers:

Ideal Market Bean

Climbing French Bean

Dragon Carrot

A & C Pickling Cucumber

True Lemon Cucumber

Star of David Okra (okra seems to take a lot longer to germinate for some reason)

Blue Boy Bachelor's Buttons (flower)

Morning Glory (flower)

Giant Zinnias (flower)

Plus tomatoes, basil, parsley and marigolds I bought as plants. I do hope this year's growing season will be better than last year. It was so dry and hot a lot of my plants died before or shortly after they first produced something.

Carrots and Bachelor's Buttons

Okra and Morning Glory

Cucumbers and Beans

Tomatoes, marigolds, parsley, basil & Zinnias

This is the first year I've planted any petunias and I think they look great with the chartreuse potato vine.

I'm so in love with our patio right now, everything is coming in nicely and despite the sudden onset of heat, I really like sitting out there under the umbrella.

The Road Trip to End All Road Trips

2011-06-07T18:42:00.000-05:00

So here's further proof my husband and I are un-sane. We're leaving tomorrow morning and driving from our home in Memphis to Seattle and back. In ten days. In a compact car.

As one person I told put it "That sounds like a terrible trip". Yeah maybe it does, but it's going to be one hell of a trip. This is our route going:

Memphis to Lincoln, NE

Lincoln, NE to Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake City, UT to Portland, OR

Portland, OR to Seattle, WA

Seattle, WA to Missoula, MT

Missoula, MT to Spearfish, SD

Spearfish, SD to Lawrence, KS

Lawrence, KS to HOME

Along the way we're planning on stopping to see a few relatives and friends, visit roadside attractions like the Corn Palace, see a couple of natural wonders, eat a lot of bad diner food and fight for control of the radio. We're pretty excited.

Here's some road songs to get us in the mood:

Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry-Brown Sugar Plain Cake

2011-06-07T04:31:00.000-05:00

Winner!

I used dark brown sugar instead of light, added a few more blueberries and baked it in a smaller pan. The blueberries sank to the bottom, creating a layer of juicy, sweet berries, topped with a moist, faintly cinnamon-y cake. When I first saw this recipe I wrinkled my nose a little, but then I made it and it was fantastic. Thanks to Cindy of Everyday Insanity for this week's pick.

Chocolate hearts Peanut Butter

2011-06-06T15:14:00.000-05:00

I think I've talked about this before so forgive me if I'm being repetitive...You know sometimes you see a picture of something and it looks so good that you have to MAKEITRIGHTNOW? That happened to me with this Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie, via Ezra Pound Cake. I saw the picture and then starting calculating how long it would take to create and then get in my belly. It's not made with very many 'whole foods', but it's got an Oreo cookie crust and that's good enough for me.

Despite looking intricate, it actually didn't take very long to make, it took longer for it to chill than anything. I spent that time circling the refrigerator, willing it to get colder. Now that it's 100 degrees (at least here in Memphis) you can make this without heating up your entire house.

Second, on this love fest of chocolate and peanut butter, are these Cocoa Brownies with Salted Peanut Butter Frosting from Not Without Salt. My photographs aren't anything near as nice as hers but the brownies were exceptional. This is the kind of frosting you want to just eat out of the bowl.

More little sweaters

2011-05-27T06:16:00.000-05:00

Have a gander at two more sweaters for my baby stash.

This is the Annabel Babe Cardigan knit in Quince & Co. Chickadee (the color is Bird's Egg). Knitting garter stitch can be really comforting sometimes. The Peter Rabbit buttons came from Joann's.

And this one is the Sock Yarn Sweater from KnitBot knit in Spinning Colors sock yarn and edged with leftover Lettuce Malabrigo Sock. Thanks to Christiana for teaching me how to add a crochet edge to the neckline, even though I don't think I did it right.

Another sweet baby cardigan just came off my needles too, but it needs some finishing before it can be photographed. I also knit this Upside-Down Daisy hat with Madtosh DK leftovers for my knitting friend Stephanie's baby girl. It's just a little late getting to her.

I'm still working on my Featherweight Cardigan. I just got kind of bored with it so I set it aside.

I'm also working on a couple of secret projects that need to be done in the next two weeks! Luckily they're for tiny people : )

Aaaand I just couldn't help but cast on the Sugared Violets shawl in Madelinetosh TML in Briar. So pretty! Rose Beck has the best shawl patterns, I want to knit them all.

Strawberry Jam Attempt #1

2011-05-26T07:23:00.000-05:00

Making jam is scary! Seriously, I thought there might be an explosion/burns/spills on either me or one of the cats running around underfoot. Luckily no one got hurt!

My strawberry jam making adventure at the downtown farmer's market, where I got berries from Jones Orchard. It seems like it took forever to clean and hull them but once that was done I started working on the jam part. I started out using this recipe from Food in Jars as a guideline. Instead of macerating overnight with a vanilla bean, I used a generous scoop of vanilla bean paste. Making the jam wasn't not the hard part, I did let it cook a little longer than I should have giving it a slightly more 'caramelized' flavor.

The scary part came once it was time to can the jars. I used my Ball canning set, which comes with a rack to set the jars in, but I also added a dish towel underneath because everything was rattling so loud I worried something would break. The jars boiling was the scary part, it made so much noise that I was sure the whole thing would explode. After the allotted time I turned off the heat and pulling the jars out with the tongs. The lids started popping right away so I knew I had gotten a good seal. My problem arose later that day when the jars had cooled and I realized the jam was more like a sauce. I assume I didn't use enough Sure-Jell to make it jammy enough. So I Google-d and found instructions for re-making jam. I used this site and re-made it using more Sure-Jell and this time it turned out just right, the perfect jam consistency.

It took time and patience and frustration but I finally made jam! I plan on making more in the next week or so before the heat takes all the strawberries away. The jam was particularly good on homemade sweet cream biscuits.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones, Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp & Basic Marbled Loaf Cake

2011-05-25T07:26:00.000-05:00

Playing major catch-up here....

Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp - Excellent, would have probably been better with fresh rhubarb but not really available around these parts. Delicious though! Thanks to Sarah of Teapots & Cakestands (also a knitter!) for this selection. I'm planning on making it again soon with farm fresh strawberries now that the season is on.

Basic Marbled Loaf Cake - For this I did the chocolate/orange variation. It was easy to mix and the orange smelled sooo good. The cake was really good right out of the oven but by the next day I felt like it had really dried out. Maybe a glaze on top would have helped? Thanks to Carol of The Bake More for that selection!

And yesterday's recipe - Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones, chosen by Patricia of Life with a Whisk. Super simple to mix up and serve for brunch/breakfast or anytime. I made 1/2 of the batch and froze the other half for future use. Especially good with homemade strawberry jam!

3-0

2011-04-27T18:33:00.000-05:00

Holy crap. I'm thirty. I didn't complete my 30 by 30 list and I got a little sad about still not being a mom by 30. But I am happy to be this age and I'm looking forward to the next decade of my life.

My actual birthday was last Thursday and was pretty lackluster since it fell during a weird work day and on a Thursday. However, last weekend totally made up for it. Friday night I had a party with my some close friends at our house. The weather was perfect and we had piles of Gus's fried chicken, Muddy's cupcakes and other fixings thanks to kind friends. My friend Lynsey made lots of things including the triangle bunting and she and our friend Kenan made the tissue paper flowers since my attempt was a fantastic fail.

On Sunday my family came over for an early dinner and cake. Because I'm homemade cake kind of gal I made my own birthday cake and it was delicious if I do say so myself. I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and it turned out beautifully (although it rose more than I would have liked it to). Do keep an eye on the frosting though, I left mine in the fridge a little too long and had to heat it up in order to make it spreadable again.

The best part of Sunday was my much-loved grandmother, Nannie, who has had some scary health-issues this year, came. I was so glad to see her.

Shiny

2011-04-12T13:20:00.000-05:00

Let's talk about this:

This is my new kick-ass, awesome range with a convection oven. Hell yes. After a lot of back and forth between myself, Maytag and the Home Depot, it arrived Saturday afternoon and was installed within minutes. It is glorious and beautiful. The matching range hood was out of stock but should be delivered this weekend and hopefully installed sometime next week. After I ooohed and awwed over it for awhile, I got to baking.

First I made Nutella sandwich cookies. The recipe is from the (newish) Barefoot Contessa "How Easy is That?". The cookies are super buttery shortbread with ground up hazelnuts in the dough. The dough is really sticky and I added flour to make it easier to work with. I could have made the dough thinner (I think the recipe says 1/4 of an inch). I liked these so much. I took some to my aunt and my grandmother and they both really liked them.

The jam muffins are a recipe from Serious Eats and I used a jar of Bonne Maman Four Fruits preserves. Very yummy, especially warm.

I think New Oven and I are going to be very happy together.

Music that isn't depressing

2011-03-31T08:21:00.003-05:00

I got a new car last month and it came with six-months of Sirius radio free. I kind of ignored it at first but then I got a little addicted. I still listen to my beloved WEVL on regular radio, but I've picked up on a lot of new songs on satellite radio. A lot of songs that are way less doom and gloom than my regular musical tastes.

Sleigh Bells "Rill Rill"

Passion Pit "Little Secrets"

Amos Lee "Windows Are Rolled Down"

The Naked and Famous "Young Blood"

Tiny knitted things

2011-03-29T07:17:00.000-05:00

These are some of my finished-knitting-objects so far this year. You can read more about them on my other blog here.

Greenleaf hat done in Bee Sweet Taffy and Pom-Pom Cap in Madelinetosh DK (also all my purls are twisted because I forgot how to correctly throw my yarn for a whole project!?)

Bitty Cabled Cardigan in Madelinetosh Vintage. The buttons are little goldfish bowls! I bought them at Stash in Memphis this past NYE.

Pebble in Rowan Felted Tweed. Buttons are from a online Japanese store I can't remember the name of.

Owlie Sleep Sack & hat in Madelinetosh Vintage

I'm working on two more sweaters right now that I should have finished soon. As far as knitting for me goes, I just finished the sleeves increases for the Featherweight cardigan. I attempted to knit it last year with Malabrigo lace but it just kept getting stuck to itself. This time I'm using Madeleinetosh Merino Light from the yarn club. It's thicker than Malabrigo and easier to knit with.

Spring-y

2011-03-28T12:54:00.001-05:00

New tiny orchid

Hostas emerging

Compost bulbs

Volunteer tomato sprouts

Garden 2011 seeds have arrived

New spring scarf from here

Patio furniture on which to enjoy the spring weather

Tuesdays with Dorie: Citrus Currant Sunshine Muffins & Honey Nut Brownies

2011-03-22T03:50:00.001-05:00

Last week's recipe was chosen by Lauryn of Bella Baker. I really liked these muffins but they didn't keep as well I think they should have. I made them Sunday morning and by Monday morning they were pretty tough and dry. I did not use currants because the only place around here that sells dried currants is Whole Foods and I didn't want to fight the crowds. Instead I used dried cranberries, which I think worked really well.

This week's recipe was chosen by Suzy of Suzy Homemaker. I used Orange Blossom honey in these brownies and almonds for the nuts. It could be my oven but these brownies took about 25 minutes longer to bake then the recipe called for.After 45 minutes the knife came out with wet batter on it. The top was already browned so I covered it with foil tent and baked it for 25 minutes more. After they were done I let them cool before cutting into them. The honey flavor is very strong so I would make sure to use good honey while making them. I liked these, they are not your typical brownie but they're still very good and reminiscent of a cake. They're also not very photogenic...

Traveling plans

2011-03-02T05:34:00.002-06:00

I am alive, despite my lack of posting last week. I'm in that fun area of full-time work + part-time school + doctor/acupuncture appointments. Luckily spring break is next week so I won't have to go to school and most of doctor appointments have ceased until next month.

We've been making traveling plans for the spring. In mid-March we're going to Columbus, Ohio for an indie comic thing (SPACE), the first weekend in April we're going to St. Louis for Adam Corolla live (Doug really likes his podcast) and in late-April we're going to Chicago for a Cubs game. I wanted to go to San Francisco for my 30th (gulp) birthday in April but it's the same week as Passover (i.e. really busy time at work) so we're delaying that trip for a month or so until after school is out. I also have enough frequent flier miles for a Delta ticket which I may use for a Seattle trip sometime in late-summer. We've also toyed around with the idea of driving to Austin for Renegade in May but the timing may not work out.

(image from Something Cakes, found via weheartit)

Tuesdays with Dorie: Toasted Almond Scones & Chocolate Pots de Creme

2011-03-01T05:38:00.000-06:00

Last week and this week's since I'm behind in posting.

I loved the scones, I'm a big almond fan and these were delicious, albeit crumbly. I think these would be even better with the addition of dried cherries. Thanks to Mike of Living Out West who chose the scones. Go visit his blog, you won't regret it!

This week's recipe was Chocolate Pots de Creme, chosen by Christine of Black Cat Cooking. Pots de Creme are kind of like a souffley pudding. I halved the recipe but I didn't think the two of us should have eight desserts on hand. The recipe was pretty simple and turned out delicious. Don't forget to chill it, it's much better chilled.

V-Day Treat

2011-02-15T13:01:00.000-06:00

I don't really have strong feelings about Valentine's Day one way or another. I probably cared more when I was in middle school/high school and wished I had a boyfriend to send me flowers. These days though it's kind of off my radar. I did get a little card/print for us, my friend Lynsey alerted it to me on Etsy. It's hanging in our living room now.

Now to the treat part - I committed a cardinal 'sin' - I used boxed cake and pre-made frosting! If that's not bad enough I used it to make cake balls (or if you're more refined cake 'truffles'! Shameful, but I so do not care. Y'all they are good. I'm almost positive there is nothing 'natural' in them but you what? that's okay. Sometimes you just want junky things. I used the recipe from How Sweet It Is (she has some fabulous pictures and more obscenely good-looking treat recipes). I bought Duncan Hines Strawberry Deluxe cake mix and cream cheese frosting and used Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips for the chocolate coating.

The hot pink sugar is from Bake It Pretty. The best part about these is that the cake is pink, very fun. They are really, really rich and sweet and I say that knowing I have a high tolerance for sugar.

I did have a hard time dipping them into the chocolate, not all of the cake part got covered. So there you have it, one of the few times I have used boxed cake mix and I don't feel bad about it.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Bourbon Bread Pudding

2011-02-10T19:55:00.000-06:00

It's Thursday, not Tuesday. I know. I meant to make this on Sunday but didn't get around to it. Yesterday we got snow so my night classes were canceled, SO I finally got the chance to make bread pudding. I didn't have any bourbon so I used a splash of Jack Daniels. I also didn't use the water bath to bake it in, I'm far too lazy for that.

I love bread pudding, it's my favorite dessert, and this one did not disappoint. Thanks to Sharon of Simply Southern for this week's selection.

Wonky Curtains

2011-02-10T19:45:00.000-06:00

I sewed something, not very well though. I have wanted to make curtains for our kitchen door and kitchen window for ages. I looked at different fabric options and fell in love with some really cute Michael Miller prints (and I can't find now) but I couldn't justify spending the money. Instead I pawed around in the fabric stash I've been accumulating and decided to use fabric I bought last year when I went to San Antonio. The pattern is American Jane by Moda.

For the door curtains I used some lace at the bottom that I bought at an estate sale. There wasn't enough yardage left for the cafe curtains but I think that's okay. The seams are not really straight, but maybe no one will scold me. I'm just glad I had enough of an attention span to finish them. I'm sure there's a more proper way to make these, measuring and such, but being lazy and having a short attention span I just winged it.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Great Grains Muffins

2011-02-01T05:53:00.006-06:00

These muffins seem so unsuspecting but gosh they're good, I think they might be my new favorite muffin recipe. I followed the recipe just as Dorie states, but left out nuts and used Red Flame Raisins for the fruit.

I loved the way they tasted, the cornmeal was crunchy and the maple syrup and raisins added the right amount of sweetness. I will be adding these to my weekend breakfast rotation.

Thanks to Christine of Happy Tummy for these week's selection!

Look what I finally finished

2011-01-31T12:35:00.000-06:00

Just in time too! The little ones these are intended for are set to arrive within the next week.

Once I did one sleeve the others were easier to do. I learned that I really need to pay better attention to the edges when knitting something that's going to be seamed. The buttons sewing isn't 100% perfect, my technique needs work, but for my first major seaming/button sewing attempt I'd say it's pretty good. I bought the buttons at Churchmouse Yarn on Bainbridge Island in December and I really like the way they look with the yarn colors.

The Madelinetosh sock yarn softens up a lot after washing and now it's really squishable and soft. I can only hope one of the twins has longer arms than the other one because the sleeves on the green sweater are shorter than the blue-ish one. Oops. All in all I'm still really happy with the way these turned out and hopefully the recipients will enjoy them too.

I also made bunny hats for them in Madelinetosh DK, the green color is Creme de Menthe and the ivory color is Milk. So sweet! I can't wait to see these topping little baby heads.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Nutty Chocolately Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

2011-01-25T06:26:00.004-06:00

This is the part where I show you a lovely picture of my bundt cake. Which I would love to do except my bundt cake got stuck in the bundt pan. So instead of that lovely picture I have this to show you.

I'm pretty sure this is my fault. I kind of took liberty with the amount of filling, which I believe caused the problem because I buttered and floured the pan really well.

Luckily, the cake still eats. It's really, really good too. I kind of love the orange/pecan/chocolate/cinnamon flavors. However, next time I'll stick to the recipe amounts for the filling.

Thanks to Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort for this week's selection!

Alpaca and angora

2011-01-24T12:41:00.001-06:00

This past weekend my friend Kenan and I drove (will she drove, I rode) to nearby Oxford, Mississippi for a fiber festival.

There were promisesof real, live alpaca and we just couldn't pass up that opportunity. The festival itself was pretty small but there were two alpaca, not as friendly as the ones we met in Colorado, and angora rabbits.

The rabbits were pretty much the cuter things ever. They're bigger than my cats and look like giant balls of fluff, we almost could find the eyes on one of them. I wanted to take one home with me, although Doug seems to have a strict policy on animals other than cats living at our current house.

After wandering around the festival we walked around the square stopping at Amelia, a tiny but completely adorable shop. She had items from several Etsy artists as well as other things I hadn't seen before. I bought a Shanna Murray decal, which I had been coveting for awhile but never ordered, a printed tea towel and a coffee mug.

Down the street was Bottletree Bakery they were serving lunch but were decidedly low on pastries. We each got something sweet and wandered back down the street to have lunch at Boure. After lunch we stopped at Square Books and then later had coffee at High Point (which used to be in Memphis before it went out of business here).

Before we left town we went to Knit 1 Oxford, Oxford's only yarn store. The staff was super nice and they seemed to have an adequate amount of basics. K and I couldn't stop petting the Cascade Baby Alpaca yarn. It is so flipping soft that despite my promise to buy any yarn I bought one luscious little skein of Chunky Baby Alpaca. Very soon it will become a neckwarmer/cowl - even thought I don't need another one.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins (and Midnight Crackles)

2011-01-18T03:31:00.000-06:00

Sooo behind in posting.

First off, TWD from January 3rd was Midnight Crackles. I liked this but the dough turned to a rock after chilling. I had to leave it out for hours before I could attempt to form it for baking.

They tasted good but my hands/wrists/forearms were killing me after making them. Recipe is here on the TWD blog.

Secondly, this week's TWD chosen by Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness. I had made these before but previously left off the glaze but this time I went for it. I also used Meyer lemons instead of plain ones.

I really liked this little muffins, but they tasted (to me at least) better on Day 1 than Day 2. Thanks for this week's selection Betsy!

Should have but didn't

2011-01-17T13:19:00.000-06:00

Things I should have done this weekend:
- Seam baby sweaters
- Clean the bathroom
- Re-organize the pantry

Instead this past weekend I:
- Drank a lot of chai tea

- Wore comfy socks
- Ate dim sum

- Knit part of my new flip-top mittens (pattern from Ysolda here)

- Made muffins
- Bought new lamps (via Target)

- Watched too much ID and CI television

Maybe next weekend....

Long time no see

2011-01-13T12:58:00.000-06:00

Why yes I am still alive. Unfortunately, my energies have been focused elsewhere. I can't believe I haven't even written a blog post in the new year. Shame on me. I have been knitting up a storm on some tiny things I'll show you soon. I've also been procrastinating on finishing those adorable baby sweaters for my Seattle friends. The actual knitting part is done, the seaming and sewing is what remains. I honestly did start working on one sleeve last weekend but the selvedge edge is so messy its hard to find the right stitches to sew up. I should have slipped the first stitch of every row to make for a neater edge. I have created a self-imposed deadline of having these in the mail by January 31st.

This is my last week of 'freedom', classes at UofM start back today but my classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays this semester so I don't go back until Monday. I'm taking an English class, Macroeconomics and an Algebra class (barf). No morning classes this semester thank goodness, I'm just on campus from 5:30-8:30PM on Mondays and Wednesdays. The work isn't terrible it's just going to class and having to be around people I'd like to strangle. Each semester puts me closer to the end though, so yay for that.

I haven't been baking as much but decided last night to make something together for Doug's game group that gets together on Thursday nights. I thumbed through my collection of baking cookbooks and found a recipe for Butterscotch Cashew bars from the Sweet Melissa Baking Book. The bars are made with a shortbread base with a butterscotch caramel on top and then sprinkled with whole, salted cashews. (which by the way I completely forgot how delicious cashews are, OMG).

They were really easy to make and totally addictive once you started eating them. Hope the guys like them!

Knitting until my hand stops working

2010-12-29T06:50:00.000-06:00

Being a smart (lazy) person, I did not attempt to knit any holiday gifts for people. It's just too much pressure (on me, by me) and I can never remember to start early enough. Maybe next year? I have been furiously knitting though. The MKM has been selling items at Republic Coffee, our weekly hangout, to raise funds to help me pay for this. I can't thank my MKM friends enough for giving up their precious knitting time to make items to sell. They are made of awesome. These are some of the things I've been knitting recently (with stash yarn!)

Neckwarmer in an alpaca/wool blend

Ribbed man hat

Chunky button hat

Queen Anne's lace hat (I made this in October but forget to post a picture)

Apple/pear baby hats

Also in progress, baby sweaters for my very dear friends who are expecting twins in February. The green one needs to be blocked, have the sleeves seamed and buttons sewn on. The blueish/gray one is still being worked on. Both are knit in Madelinetosh sock, one in Thyme and one in Celadon. The sweater pattern is Maile and is free on Ravelry. I'm desperately trying to finish them in the next week or so, I wanted to finish them by Friday but that is so not going to happen.

I also have some new yarn porn to show. In order to save funds for the baby-making, I limited myself to buying just two skeins of yarn in Seattle. This is Blue Moon Socks that Rock in Rosemary Rocks. I bought it at Churchmouse Yarn and Teas on Bainbridge Island.

This is Madelinetosh Vintage in Colbalt and I bought it at Little Knits in West Seattle.

Since I had already signed up for the Madelinetosh yarn club and couldn't cancel, I've gotten two shipments of it. Although I did sell some stashed yarn on Ravelry. This was the first installment, the colorway is Laurent and it's 80/20/10. It's very soft and springy and the color is so pretty in real life. I'm planning on using it to make a set of Snapdragon mittens and a tam.

This was the second shipment, it's Tosh DK and the colorway is Geode. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it but I really like the color.

My poor hands have really felt the burn lately, I've been knitting so much my hands are stiff. I think I need to start wearing one of those hideous braces, at least at home.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Rewind - Swedish Visiting Cake

2010-12-28T11:48:00.000-06:00

Okay despite the fact I have sweets coming out of my ears, I still made this cake. I made it back in April when it was first chosen but I took it somewhere else for others to eat and didn't get to taste it myself. Since I had almost everything I needed to make it in my pantry/fridge I choose it to rewind. My only alterations were to use orange zest instead of lemon and to up the almond extract from 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon. This cake is one of my favorite TWD recipes. It's so simple to make, takes almost no time and has such a good flavor. Perfect!

Made with love (a little bit of snark)

2010-12-27T16:40:00.000-06:00

Two weeks the MKM had our Christmas party/ornament exchange. Each of us handmade a dozen ornaments to exchange. My original idea was to print off a black and white graphic of a whisk onto fabric and then sew little pillow style ornaments. Unfortunately neither my printer at home, nor my printer at work would cooperate. Plan B was to make the same kind of ornaments I made last year, the glitter cupcakes (instructions are found here at Bake It Pretty). Of course I ran out of the Martha brand glitter glue I bought last year and couldn't find any at Michael's so my cupcakes didn't look at 'frosty' as I wanted them to.

Everyone made such cute ornaments and every time I put them on my tree I'll think about them!

We also had a potluck and I brought an orzo salad with baby spinach, feta, sun dried tomatoes, olives, etc. and I wanted to try something new so I made Nanaimo bars. You can read all about them here. I used the recipe on the City of Nanaimo's website . I couldn't find any vanilla custard powder so I subbed vanilla instant pudding mix instead. These three layer bars were deeelicious. The base was coconut/almond/chocolate graham crackers, the middle was a vanilla frosting/custard and the top was chocolate ganache. Very yummy and pretty simple!

From my favorite book

2010-12-16T14:08:00.000-06:00

Wednesday was the birthday of Betty Smith, the author of my favorite book ever, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I have read and re-read that book countless times. One of my most treasured possessions is a well-worn first edition of the book. Over at The Writer's Almanac they reprinted a small portion from one of the chapters, especially relevent during this holiday season:

At midnight on the Eve of our dear Saviour's birth, the kids gathered where there were unsold trees. The man threw each tree in turn, starting with the biggest. Kids volunteered to stand up against the throwing. If a boy didn't fall down under the impact, the tree was his. If he fell, he forfeited his chance at winning a tree. Only the roughest boys and some of the young men elected to be hit by the big trees. The others waited shrewdly until a tree came up that they could stand against. The little kids waited for the tiny, foot-high trees and shrieked in delight when they won one.

On the Christmas Eve when Francie was ten and Neeley nine, mama consented to let them go down and have their first try for a tree. Francie had picked out her tree earlier in the day. She had stood near it all afternoon and evening praying that no one would buy it. To her joy, it was still there at midnight. It was the biggest tree in the neighborhood and its price was so high that no one could afford to buy it. It was ten feet high. Its branches were bound with new white rope and it came to a sure pure point at the top.

The man took this tree out first. Before Francie could speak up, a neighborhood bully, a boy of eighteen known as Punky Perkins, stepped forward and ordered the man to chuck the tree at him. The man hated the way Punky was so confident. He looked around and asked, "Anybody else wanna take a chance on it?"

Francie stepped forward. "Me, Mister."

A spurt of derisive laughter came from the tree man. The kids snickered. A few adults who had gathered to watch the fun, guffawed.

"Aw g'wan. You're too little," the tree man objected.

"Me and my brother — we're not too little together."

She pulled Neeley forward. The man looked at them a thin girl of ten with starveling hollows in her cheeks but with the chin still baby-round. He looked at the little boy with his fair hair and round blue eyes — Neeley Nolan, all innocence and trust.

"Two ain't fair," yelped Punky.

"Shut your lousy trap," advised the man who held all power in that hour. "These here kids is got nerve. Stand back, the rest of yous. These kids is goin' to have a show at this tree."

The others made a wavering lane. Francie and Neeley stood at one end of it and the big man with the big tree at the other. It was a human funnel with Francie and her brother making the small end of it. The man flexed his great arms to throw the great tree. He noticed how tiny the children looked at the end of the short lane. For the split part of a moment, the tree thrower went through a kind of Gethsemane.

"Oh, Jesus Christ," his soul agonized, "why don't I just give 'em the tree, say Merry Christmas and let 'em go? What's the tree to me? I can't sell it no more this year and it won't keep till next year." The kids watched him solemnly as he stood there in his moment of thought. "But then," he rationalized, "if I did that, all the others would expect to get 'em handed to 'em. And next year nobody a-tall would buy a tree off of me. They'd all wait to get 'em handed to 'em on a silver plate. I ain't a big enough man to give this tree away for nothin'. No, I ain't big enough. I ain't big enough to do a thing like that. I gotta think of myself and my own kids." He finally came to his conclusion. "Oh, what the hell! Them two kids is gotta live in this world. They got to get used to it. They got to learn to give and to take punishment. And by Jesus, it ain't give but take, take, take all the time in this God-damned world." As he threw the tree with all his strength, his heart wailed out, "It's a God-damned, rotten, lousy world!"

Francie saw the tree leave his hands. There was a split bit of being when time and space had no meaning. The whole world stood still as something dark and monstrous came through the air. The tree came towards her blotting out all memory of her ever having lived. There was nothing-nothing but pungent darkness and something that grew and grew as it rushed at her. She staggered as the tree hit them. Neeley went to his knees but she pulled him up fiercely before he could go down. There was a mighty swishing sound as the tree settled. Everything was dark, green and prickly. Then she felt a sharp pain at the side of her head where the trunk of the tree had hit her. She felt Neeley trembling.

When some of the older boys pulled the tree away, they found Francie and her brother standing upright, hand in hand. Blood was coming from scratches on Neeley's face. He looked more like a baby than ever with his bewildered blue eyes and the fairness of his skin made more noticeable because of the clear red blood. But they were smiling. Had they not won the biggest tree in the neighborhood? Some of the boys hollered "Hooray!" A few adults clapped. The tree man eulogized them by screaming, "And now get the hell out of here with your tree, you lousy bastards."

Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple-Coconut Family Cake

2010-12-14T05:47:00.000-06:00

I've been on a TWD break for two weeks, between my trip and school finals it was hard to find baking time. Thankfully finals are over (for me at least) so I found the time to make this week's TWD selection, chosen by Amber of Cobbler du Monde.

The recipe was apple-coconut family cake, it's very moist and not too sweet. I liked this cake but I think the coconut threw off the taste a little. If I make it again I'll omit the coconut just to see what difference it makes.

Seattle Part II - Shopping, eating, walking

2010-12-13T12:42:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning we woke up early and had breakfast at the 5 Spot in Upper Queen Anne. After breakfast we walked around for a bit, stopping at a few shops. When we left Queen Anne we drove to Archie McPhee's and got a contact high from the distinct plastic smell. At eleven Urban Craft Uprising opened so we headed back to Queen Anne for that. The Seattle Center was packed with people and crafters, lots of people I 'know' from Etsy and blogs. Doug got a very cool tshirt from a local artist and I bought a pair of simple silver earrings.

That afternoon we picked up our friends and we all drove down to West Seattle. I drug my non-knitting friend to Little Knits and then bought two skeins of yarn (such restraint!) and Doug found a comic shop next door. We also had pie to Shoofly Pie down the street before heading over to Delancey for dinner.

We got there right before they opened and there was already a line. The pizza was very, very good and we were so glad to have time to enjoy dinner with our friends. I got a pepperoni and Doug got that night's special which was bacon and onions and something else. After dinner we took our friends back home, went back to our hotel and called it a night.

On Sunday we had donuts and coffee at Top Pot before going downtown to Pike Place Market to walk around. The produce looked so good, I just don't like the fishy smell from the seafood stands.

We caught the ferry to Bainbridge Island and had lunch at a Thai place by the water. We walked around too and visit Churchmouse Yarn and Tea, where I purchased one skein of Blue Moon Socks that Rock and some tiny buttons.

By the time we made it back across we were so tired. We did manage to stop by Macrina Bakery for a pick-me-up before driving down to Tacoma to have coffee with one of Doug's friends who lives there. Monday morning we got up early and packed, had breakfast in West Seattle and stopped by Alki Beach again before heading to the airport.

The security line was clogged up so we made it to our gate just in time for boarding. The flight back was kind of bumpy but shorter than the ride there. As always I really enjoyed my time in Seattle, although I think Doug wants to drive there next year...

Seattle Part I - The Olympic Peninsula

2010-12-08T13:17:00.000-06:00

We survived our flights to Seattle with the help of expensive but terrible plane wine, laptop movie watching and some prescription pharmaceuticals. Thursday when we got in neither one of us felt great (it was the wine). We got our rental car and drove to West Seattle for a much-needed lunch of fish and chips at Salty's on Alki Beach. After that we checked into our hotel and later meet up for an early dinner with our Seattle friends. I had a roaring headache the rest of the night so we were in bed early.

Friday morning I woke up at four in the morning because my body thought it was six. I got ready and patiently waited for Doug to wake up. Once he did we headed to Volunteer Park Cafe for a yummy breakfast and then spent the rest of the driving up the Olympic Peninsula.

It is an outrageously beautiful drive, mountains, trees, lakes.

Eventually we made it to the Hoh Rain Forest, which was spectacularly quiet and serene.

While we were there we saw *two* Bald Eagles in the wild, craziness! We also saw these elk on the side of the road.

We had wanted to drive to Ruby Beach but by the time we got ready to head that way it was close to sunset and we still had close to twenty miles to drive. Instead, we headed back the way we came and stopped at Rialto Beach to watch the sun set.

After all that we packed up and headed back to Seattle, stopping in Port Angeles for coffee and a bathroom break. It was so late when we got off the ferry we ate Ivar's for dinner. Ivar's is a Seattle fish and chips chain but it was really good after such a long day.

The rest to come, Urban Craft Uprising, pie and shopping in West Seattle, dinner at Delancey, Kerry Park, Pike Place Market, Bainbridge Island and Tacoma.

That time of year again

2010-12-01T04:45:00.001-06:00

It's time to catch a plane and head west. I'm leaving for Seattle on Thursday and this time Doug is coming with me. This trip makes the third December I've gone, Doug hasn't been back in sixteen years. Half of me is super excited to go and the other half of me is filled with overwhelming anxiety about flying. I could care less about the potential for scanning/groping by the TSA, I just don't want the plane to crash. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that my dear, sweet husband is a terrible flier too. Right now our plan is to either a) take Xanax or b) take a quarter Ambien each. We're leaning towards the Xanax considering once we make it to Seattle we have to pick up our rental car and drive into the city. Ambien has a way of disorienting you - even in small doses. This will be the first direct flight I've taken to Seattle, total flying time is around 4 hours (OMGOMGOMG) and 51 minutes. Deep breaths. I'm downloading some movies to my laptop and bringing plenty of knitting to keep us/me occupied and less concerned about crashing into the mountains.

Provided we safely land in the Emerald City, our loose plans include spending time with our friends who live in Edmonds, dining at Delancey, visiting the CakeSpy shop, hiking in the Hoh Rainforest, seeing Ruby Beach, taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island, shopping at Urban Craft Uprising and having a cupcake (or three) at Cupcake Royale.

Fingers crossed for an uneventful flight.

Mini Pies

2010-11-29T06:38:00.000-06:00

I love finding new blogs. Last week I found The Spotted Fox, it's a super cute blog with recipes, craft project and general adorableness. The authors are two girls from Nashville, which endures them to me even more. After spending the better part of an afternoon combing through all of their posts, I found this idea for making mini-pies with Nutella and banana.

It's just cutting out discs from pie dough

Filling them a slice of banana, a dollop of Nutella and a sprinkling of cinnamon, covering them with another disc of pie dough and ending with a little egg wash.

They were so good, of course anything with Nuetlla is delicious. I think they'd be perfect with almost any other pie filling.

Thanksgiving Making

2010-11-28T08:20:00.000-06:00

On Thanksgiving we managed to make it to two locations in two different states despite a total downpour that slowed traffic to around 40MPH on the interstate. We ate a lot too, ham, turkey, potatoes, beans covered in cream of mushroom soup, rolls...you get the idea. For my part I made two of Dorie Greenspan's My Favorite Pecan Pie, a Pumpkin Chai Cheesecake, sweet potatoes with a praline topping and Proscuitto Dijon Gruyere puffs from Joy the Baker.

The cheesecake recipe came from one of those little magazines companies like Kraft put out around the holidays near the checkout aisle at the grocery store. Normally I don't buy those but this one had recipes from Mark Bittman in it as well as the cheesecake on the front and I'm a sucker for pumpkin cheesecake. As most cheesecakes need hours to cool, I made it Wednesday night. I think it turned out beautifully, especially since it's the first cheesecake I've ever made with no cracks in it!

The recipe also included a caramel-rum sauce but since we were traveling I left it off. Had I been making the recipe at home I would have included it, although I don't think the cheesecake needed it, it stood alone just fine.

The proscuitto puffs were something that just caught my eye when I was reading Joy's blog on Wednesday. After work I braved the crowds and ran by Whole Foods for Gruyere and procuitto. Much to my dismay I couldn't find any proscuitto there and I wasn't willing to risk my sanity at another grocery store so I grabbed some pancetta slices and hoped that would work. Several months ago a couple of my friends drove to Nashville to visit Trader Joe's and brought me back some puff pastry sheets. Trader Joe's puff pastry uses all butter instead of oil and makes the flakiest, butteriest puff pastry.

My puffs didn't turn out as pretty as Joy's but they were dangerously good. They will find a place on my appetizer menus for a long time.

Hope you had a Thanksgiving filled with goodies!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Rewind - Orange Berry Muffins

2010-11-23T09:33:00.000-06:00

This week we got to pick a previously made TWD recipe to bake. I wanted to pick something I hadn't made before and as luck would have it I had almost everything I needed on hand to make Orange Berry Muffins.

Like most muffins these were quick and easy. The batter kind of turned greenish because of the orange juice/zest and my frozen blueberries but it wasn't too bad. My only change was using regular milk instead of buttermilk but I don't think that affected the taste too much.

Chez Panisse Almond Torte

2010-11-22T13:00:00.000-06:00

I bought Chez Panisse Desserts book months ago. When I got it I thumbed through it and looked at all the elegant desserts. I then promptly set it aside, thinking I'd bake something from it in a few weeks. Weeks turned into months and finally this past weekend I made a vow to make the recipe that caught my eye when I first picked it up - Almond Torte. (recipe found online here)

It's really a simple concoction - eggs, almond paste, sugar, flour, vanilla, salt and some leavening agents. All mixed together well and then poured into a buttered springform pan. The result is a moist cakey creation with the hint of a souffle (there are six eggs in it). The flavor is distinctively almond. We had ours plain, but it's one of those versatile cakes that would work well with a dusting of powdered sugar or maybe a side of raspberry coulis.

Iron & Wine

2010-11-15T18:55:00.000-06:00

Last night I finally got to see Iron & Wine aka Mr. Sam Beam, live in Memphis. It was lovely. I bought tickets as soon as I found out he was coming to town back in September. I have loved Iron & Wine for awhile but he had never been to Memphis and the few times he was in Nashville/Atlanta I couldn't make it.

The concert was at Minglewood and we stood but I loved it. I didn't bring my camera because I couldn't find out whether or not they were 'allowed' so I took craptastic iPhone pictures.

He opened with Flightless Bird, American Mouth and it was just him on stage with an acoustic guitar, it totally made me cry, but probably more of an emotional reaction to everything that's been happening the last few weeks.

He also played my favorite song of his, The Trapeze Swinger, love.so.much.

We did leave before the last song because my back was killing me and it was a 'school night' but I am so glad we went.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake

2010-11-09T21:29:00.000-06:00

I was a little confused as to how this was going to turn out, but I trusted Dorie's instructions. Turns out I had nothing to fear, this turned out so well. It's essentially two layers of softer-than-usual shortbread with a homemade jam of cranberries and orange in the middle.

My only change was to add a little more sugar to cut the tartness. It was a delicious cake and the cranberry jam in the middle can always be exchanged for another type of jarred or homemade jam. Thanks to Jessica of Singleton in the Kitchen for this week's selection.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Peanuttiest Blondies

2010-11-02T12:41:00.000-05:00

This week's selection was chosen by Nicole of Bakeologie. They have all the essentials - peanuts, peanut butter, chocolate chips - and they are gooey and delicious. I sent them with Doug to take to work but snuck a piece for myself. They aren't the prettiest dessert I've made but they taste good!

New Month

2010-11-01T12:38:00.000-05:00

October was pretty bad for me. School, work and the other thing collided at once, leaving me emotionally and physically drained. October is usually my favorite month, but this year it was a whirlwind of insanity. I'm dealing with a lot of emotional baggage, courtesy of October, but hopefully I can get back in a regular posting/baking schedule this month. I've made several things but just haven't had the energy to type up the posts or download the pictures.

In the meantime here's some photos from the Dale Chihuly exhibit at Cheekwood Botanical Garden in Nashville.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Caramel Pumpkin Pie

2010-10-19T11:47:00.003-05:00

I love this pie. I normally love pumpkin pie anyway, but the addition of dark, homemade caramel into the filling makes it that much better. Thanks to Janell of Mortensen Family Memoirs for this week's selection. I was so glad I found the time to get to make it.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Squares

2010-10-18T11:41:00.000-05:00

I am so far behind blogging. Work, school and this other thing has sucked up all my free time and energy. I didn't even have time to bake my TWD selection last week. My fingers are crossed that everything will slow down by the end of the month. Two weekends ago I was able to throw together a pan of these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares that managed to satisfy my pumpkin cravings.

It's a Martha recipe and it's super simple. They're also orange and that's kind of fun right now. Recipe is here.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Double Apple Bundt Cake

2010-10-05T05:07:00.001-05:00

Can I tell you how beautiful Sunday and Monday was in Memphis? It was actual fall - real, honest to God Autumn in Memphis. The sky was clear and the high was around 68 and I wore tights.

Of course it's going to be 80 again on Wednesday but for a couple of days I pretended. Making this week's TWD recipe added to the illusion, Double Apple Bundt Cake that screams 'fall'.

This week's selection was chosen by Lynne of Honey Muffin. I loved this cake, it was perfect for this past weekend. My only change was I omitted the raisins because I didn't have any on hand. The apple butter and the grated apple were so nice with the walnuts. Visit Lynne's blog for the recipe.

More obsessive Madelinetosh knitting

2010-09-29T06:23:00.012-05:00

Since I'm pretending it's fall (I know it really is fall but our temps don't feel like it) I knit up a new fall hat.

The pattern is Crooked Paths by Melissa LaBarre and the yarn is Madelinetosh DK in Rose. This yarn is a dream and so squishy. My fingers are crossed that I'll have cause to wear it in the very near future.

Lately everyone in my life seems to be with child. I have a list a mile long of baby items to knit. One recurrent theme in baby gift knitting is the Bunny Tails hat from Itty Bitty Hats. I've knit this hat at least four times, it's uber-cute. This one went to a co-worker of Doug's and it's knit in more Madelinetosh DK, this colorway is called Wash and seems so appropriate for a little one.

One skein of this yarn makes two 0-6 month hats. I have two more skeins of DK for baby hats, one in Milk and the other in Creme de Menthe, such perfect colors for 'surprise' gender babies.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Tarte Fine

2010-09-28T06:09:00.001-05:00

I'm absolutely in love with apples right now, of course it's prime time to be right? I have a box of Honeycrip apples on my counter right now and they're the perfect snacking size. We also have a lot of apple TWD recipes on the list.

This week's recipe was chosen by Leslie of Lethally Delicious. It's super, super simple. Puff pastry? Check. Golden Delicious apples? Egg Wash? Check. Check. Sugar? Check. Apricot jam? Check. That's it folks.

Thinly sliced apples laid atop a flaky layer of puff pastry, brushed with egg wash, sprinkled with sugar and glazed with apricot jam. Simple and tasty and totally fall.

Pumpkin Muffins with extras

2010-09-27T13:07:00.000-05:00

Last week I had the good fortune of being off Thursday and Friday, thanks to a couple of holidays observed by my employers. This gave me enough free time to take my cat to the vet, work on two papers I have due next week, visit my brand-new nephew at the hospital, go to the doctor, do laundry and whip up a batch of these Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins with Pecan Streusel.

I found the recipe at Ezra Pound Cake and since I'm a sucker for pumpkin baked goods I had to make them.

They were delicious, especially warm and the cream cheese wasn't overpowering. As Rebecca mentions in her post if you want a bigger cream cheese flavor double the filling. I made a little more streusel topping than the recipe called for but it worked out fine. I did use a jumbo muffin pan so it took a tad longer to bake than if I had used a regular one. Go ahead and bake some, you'll be glad you did.

Apple Slab (terrible name but tasty baked good)

2010-09-24T07:08:00.008-05:00

Sometimes, when I have a free moment (which is rarity these days) I mill around online at the seemingly endless supply of food blogs. Occasionally a recipe will catch my eye and I have to make it - immediately. This occurred the other week when I saw a tweet on the King Arthur Flour Twitter feed about Old-Fashioned Apple Slab. I opened the link, read the recipe and got a sudden hankering for Apple Slab.

I wanted to make it RIGHT THEN. Alas, my school/work schedule got in the way and it was several days before I got make it. The wait was worth it though because Apple Slab is fan-freaking-tastic.

Doug wolfed down several helpings, as did I. It tastes like fall, as do a lot of apple-based desserts for me. Although I'm beginning to believe fall will never come. The first day of Autumn was this week and the high today is supposed to be 93. I weep. But if you crank up the AC and make Apple Slab you can at least pretend it Autumn right? Recipe here.

Honey shawl

2010-09-23T07:07:00.013-05:00

I finished knitting this sock yarn shawl two weeks ago but haven't had the time to photograph it until now. The pattern is Ysolda Teague's Damson and the yarn is Malabrigo Sock in Ochre.

Malabrigo sock yarn is so soft and springy and this color reminds me of honey. I'm an outrageously slow knitter so this took me about three weeks to knit, but it was really easy. This marks sock yarn shawl number five for me this year.

They're so addictive and considering my stash, I won't be running out of yarn anytime soon.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Coffee Break Muffins

2010-09-22T06:15:00.000-05:00

Late post! I wrote this on Sunday but forgot to schedule the publishing. C'est la vie.

This week's selection was chosen by Rhiani of Chocoholic Anonymous. These were simple muffins to put together, muffin batter is usually a one-bowl kind of recipe. They didn't take long to puff up and came out of the oven looking lovely. However, I was kind of disappointed in the taste. Even though there was cinnamon in the batter I don't think it helped pick up the espresso powder notes. The texture and moisture of the muffins were good but I couldn't shake the sense that they needed an extra bit of something.

Edited to add: I am completely impressed with what Rhiani did with these muffins, she made them Salted Caramel Mochaccino cupcakes! Wowza. Go check out her blog to see what she did.

Chicago in 36 Hours

2010-09-14T11:24:00.067-05:00

Last Friday was the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah and since I work at a synagogue I got the day off. This worked out brilliantly because last weekend was the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago. Friday morning after my class Doug and I packed the car and started the longest-drive-in-history (9 hours plus stops) to Chicago. We got there around 7ish, checked into our hotel, freshened up and went to Ikea. Neither one of us had ever been to Ikea so it was super overwhelming, the one in Schaumburg was huge. I don't know if they're all that big but wow. We didn't buy anything, just browsed. I did find some lamps I would have liked to buy but the lines for checkout were so long that we skipped it. They had a lot of storage ideas that I really liked. After the Ikea trip we had pizza at Giordano's and then called it a night.

Saturday morning we had breakfast in Rosemont before taking the L into the city. Obviously we didn't have a lot of time but we were able to go to The Art Institute of Chicago and take in some masterpieces. The details of the Thorne Miniature Rooms left me breathless.

These were some of my favorites, Egyptian and Asian pieces, sculpture, American classics from Edward Hopper, Grant Wood and Georgia O'Keefe and then Monet pieces.

There was also Van Gogh, look at the brush strokes.

After a far too brief stop at the museum we hopped back aboard the Blue Line and went to the craft fair. It seemed far more packed with people than the previous two years I've been. I bought items from Red Prairie Press, Tartella, Spincycle Yarns, Kitty Jones, Medium Control Goods, Cakespy and a print that I can't remember the seller of. I also popped into Nina, the yarn store just down from the fair, and bought a skein of Madelinetosh (yes, I realize I have a problem), some buttons for a baby sweater I'm working on and a shawl pin.

After we left the fair Doug got in touch with an old friend from Memphis who now lives in Chicago and we were able to meet him, his wife and friends for sushi at Tampopo.

Sunday morning we made a quick stop at Floriole for baked goods and coffee. Floriole is a beautiful space, exposed brick, sidewalk tables, wooden beams and one of those garage front doors so the whole front space can be opened.

The baked good were delicious, I had an almond filled croissant which was one of the best things I ever eaten and we bought lemon-lavender, blackberry and chocolate-earl grey macarons for the road, as well as a milk chocolate-caramel-hazelnut tart that was practically perfect. Plus they brew Intelligentsia coffee, so good.

On the way home we stopped in Champaign, Illinois for lunch in a little area filled with restaurants. It looked like a great town, I wish we had more time to explore. Alas, we had to get back to the Bluff City ASAP since I had a Monday morning class at 6:55AM. We have to go back to Chicago when we have more time because there are so many things we want to see.

Magic Bars (or why-didn't-I-make-these-soomer-bars)

2010-09-08T06:53:00.000-05:00

Since time is at a premium now I'm on the lookout for baking recipes that can be made fairly quickly and without a lot of fuss. I read the Rainy Day Gal blog mainly to lust after Seattle, but last week I read her post about Magic Bars and was intrigued. The recipe seems so simple and my memories of these kinds of bars (maybe last had at Vacation Bible School a million years ago?) were fuzzy. Friday afternoon after work I was able to throw these bars together in no time, like five minutes.

They were so good, gooey and sweet and super rich (a small piece is plenty). The recipe is from the butter queen herself, Paula Deen, but has only one stick of butter in it.

If you have five minutes to prep and thirty minutes to bake, you need to make these.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

2010-09-07T12:59:00.000-05:00

This week's selection was chosen by Jasmine of Jasmine Cuisine. I had made Dorie's peanut butter cookies a few months ago and really enjoyed them. However, this time around I decided to use Dorie's 'Playing Around' suggestion on the side and use cocoa and semi-sweet chocolate pieces to make a peanut butter-chocolate cookie.

I'm really glad I did because they turned out so well, particularly when they were still warm and the chocolate bits were still melting. I took these to dinner at the home of friends and everyone liked them - another cookie winner.

College: revisited

2010-09-01T03:31:00.000-05:00

Monday classes at the University of Memphis started. I have made my return to campus so I can finish my BA that I've been working on forever (although I did have a four year break). I'm taking classes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6:50-7:45AM (yes AM!), Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:30-6:55PM and Thursdays from 5:30-8:30PM. This is in addition to my full-time 8-5PM job.

Monday proved to be difficult, I was too stupid to figure out how to use my parking garage tag, it took me 15 minutes to hike from the parking garage to the building my class was in, it was a million degrees outside (okay maybe not that hot but still rather warm), I was starving by 7:30, I didn't have coffee, my composition class is taught by someone at least four years younger than me and I feel impossibly old compared to everyone else. Despite all that, I'm glad to be back.

It's not so much about getting a degree to get a better job, because really I've been working in the field (Non-Profit Development & Administration) I'm getting a degree in for the last nine years. Now granted once I get a degree I'll probably be able to get something slightly beyond entry-level but mainly I want to go, learn and finish. I want to finally pass algebra, be done with it and hopefully not have to deal with it in a classroom setting ever again. I want to get a degree with my name on it and know I worked hard to earn it.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

2010-08-31T21:25:00.000-05:00

Coffee and chocolate, two of my favorite things. Combined in a buttery shortbread concoction they're even better.

This week's selection was chosen by Donna of Life's too short not to eat dessert first. I really like making these and eating them, especially with coffee. Thanks again Donna!

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

2010-08-25T06:24:00.022-05:00

Currently my garden only seems to be producing okra and cherry tomatoes. But given the heat index and the lack of rain I'll take what I can get. Over the past week I accumulated enough tomatoes to slow-roast in the oven and use for pasta.

The slow-roasted tomato 'recipe' comes from Smitten Kitchen and they were delicious. I let mine roast for about 2.5 hours and I was out of garlic so I skipped it.

Once they were roasted I boiled a cup of capellini pasta and tossed it together with the tomatoes, salt, pepper and fresh Parmesan for lunch. Making these tomatoes and worth turning the oven on for.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Crunchy & Custardy Peach Tart

2010-08-24T12:52:00.000-05:00

Heavenly. Just heavenly. An almond shortbread crust filled with sweet, ripe peaches and creamy custard with a hint of almond extract topped by brown sugar and more sliced almonds.

This has become one of my favorite Dorie desserts, even though it's a tart and my hatred of making tart dough is well-documented. It was a little involved with the tart dough and the peeling/slicing of peaches, etc. but it was worth it.

A beautiful and delicious summer dessert that showcases in season peaches. Thanks to Rachel of sweet tarte for this week's selection!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

2010-08-17T13:12:00.000-05:00

This week's selection was Oatmeal Breakfast Bread chosen by Natalie of Oven Love. I made mini-loaves (and one slightly bigger) loaf.

I used golden raisins for the dried fruit (leftover from the carrot cookies) and doubled up on the pecans in the topping. I liked this bread, it's moist and not too sweet.

But I feel like it needed a little extra something, of what I'm not sure, maybe cardamon? Another dose of cinnamon or maybe allspice? Still a good recipe to tinker around with.

What I accomplished this weekend

2010-08-16T12:46:00.000-05:00

Taught my 7.5 year old niece to knit (I hope it sticks!)

My favorite thing was when my brother came to pick her up and we were getting her things together I asked her if she wanted to put her knitting in her bag and she said "No I'm going to knit in the car." A child after my own heart.

Made the same niece a little elastic waist skirt with fabric she picked out.

Finished the increase portion of my Damson shawl. The yarn is Malabrigo sock and the color reminds me of honey.

Wound one skein of yarn and made a giant mess with two other skeins after my swift fell apart.

Got Golden India takeout for dinner Saturday.

Went to the movies with Doug (saw this)

Read some of this Mary Gaitskill book.

Drank several glasses of iced Vanilla Chai from Memphis-based Ugly Mug while watching Lucas on the Indie Channel. Noted while watching said movie, Jeremy Piven in 1986 looks pretty much just like Jeremy Piven in 2010, but Charlie Sheen was way hotter in 1986.

Roasted okra from my garden (just a little olive oil, salt and pepper - yum!)

Things that are terrible for you

2010-08-13T15:51:00.001-05:00

It's Elvis week in Memphis, which means thousands of people make the pilgrimage to the Bluff City to celebrate the King. This year is the 33rd anniversary of his death and the culmination of the week is the candlelight vigil on Sunday. I've always thought I would like to go to the vigil at least once just to say I've done it. However, since it's August in Memphis and h o t I can't bring myself to go do it. After living an hour or less from Graceland my entire life we finally went earlier this year (see my Flickr set here for lots of photos). Poor Elvis.

In honor of the King I made a grilled peanut-butter-banana sandwich for dinner Wednesday night, with a few tweaks.

The bread was sliced challah, one side was peanut butter, the other side was maple almond butter, banana in the middle sprinkled with cinnamon and a tiny bit of sugar. Cooked in a pan with about 1.5 tbsp. of butter ( I told you it was terrible for you). It was good, really good. I wanted to do one side with Nutella instead of almond butter but I was out of it. I am positive that it was have been awesome though.

Previously I have professed my love for Cakespy aka Jessie Oleson, she's inspired me to visit bakeries, cupcake shops, doughnut joints and more when I travel. Her recipes are crazy, insane gastronomical treats (see the Pie + Cake Shake, Cookie Dough Filled Funfetti Cupcakes, and Grilled Cheesecake just to name a few). Earlier this week I saw her recipe for Double Chocolate Ice Cream Pudding Pie and I had to try it.

Now normally I'm a from-scratch kind of gal but hell, every once in awhile I can throw caution to the wind and whip something up with ingredients that are not the least bit homemade. The recipe is at Serious Eats here and my only note is that I used a whisk for the first pie but it was lumpy so I switched to my handmixer for the second one and it was much smoother.

Top it off with a few squirts of ReddiWip and you've got yourself a delicious dessert that might give you a cavity.

Why yes, I am wearing wool

2010-08-11T13:08:00.000-05:00

It's August in Memphis, also known as the most miserable month to be in Memphis. It's murderously hot - really - see this Commercial Appeal story for proof. But hey let's pretend it's cold enough for a wool hat! Meet the Ballard Slouch hat, although it's not very slouchy.

I knit it up in a matter of days last week using the new Quince & Co. lark yarn, which is 100% squishy American wool, the colorway is Sorbet. It took less than a skein so I have more yarn to knit a another hat.

I don't really have to wait until the fall to wear my lacy Clothilde shawl, I finished it up last week too.

The yarn is MadelineTosh sock in the Isadora colorway.

My blocking skills still need work but I like how it turned out, a perfect way to keep the industrial AC chill off my shoulders.

I'm at a stopping point with my cotton tank because I want to do bust darts but I'm having trouble with the math involved (shocking isn't it!). I really just need to sit down and force myself to work it out. Also on the needles is a new sock yarn shawl (Damson, pattern here), a top down baby raglan for my soon-to-arrive nephew and my first sock. I need way more knitting time!

Back from the beach

2010-08-09T13:05:00.000-05:00

This morning I had to face the sad reality of going back to work after our week-long sojourn. Truthfully, I crave my weekly routine, even if it involves dragging myself back to work.

We had a good trip, the water was a little mucky because of vegetation but cleared up the last few days. I got a lot of knitting done and was able to knit a hat for my Christmas present stash and finish my shawl I started at the end of July.

Most of our days were spent laying on the beach and our nights were spent relaxing in the condo and watching bad television.

Toward the end of the week we took a sunset cruise on the Nathaniel Bowditch schooner and I completely fell in love with being on a sailboat. I have a zillion more photos on my Flickr account (linked at the bottom).

The weather was beautiful, there was great music, cheese and wine and the feeling of being away from everything that was bothering me.

I didn't think about our roof leak or worry about all the million things going on around me that I can't control, I just enjoyed being on a gorgeous sailboat and relaxing. Needless to say I want to take another sailboat trip, maybe I can find one in Seattle?

On Friday we drove to down to Seaside to have lunch and shop. It was miserably hot and we ended up choosing a restaurant based solely on the fact that the seating was indoors. It turned out fine though, we had a really tasty fennel sausage pizza and marinated olives at Bud & Alley's Pizza Bar.

A new cupcake place has popped up in Seaside since we last visited and I was eager to try it. It's a totally cute place (located inside a converted Airstream) but the cupcakes themselves were 'meh' at best.

The frosting was too sweet and the cake too dry, maybe the fact that it was about a billion degrees had something to do with it? My only regret is that I turned down gelato for the cupcakes - such a mistake. We poked around town until the heat got to us and we drove back to our condo.

All in all it was a good trip, no oil seen at all. If you've been thinking about going to the Gulf or you already have reservations but were considering canceling them don't do it, just go. Most of the communities along the coast rely on tourists dollars and they need you to continue to visit them.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Gingered Carrot Cookies

2010-08-03T05:29:00.001-05:00

Guess who drove nine hours with the Baking book? Me! Even though we're on vacation I brought my whisk and spices and Kitchen Aid (handmixer not the stand) and baked this week's selection from Natalia of gatti fili e farina. While carrots don't usually make you think of something delicious and sweet these were spot on. The carrots weren't detectable taste wise, even though you could see them. The raisins and coconut and pecans worked so well together. I would make these again, thanks for the selection Natalia!

Vacay

2010-08-02T19:28:00.001-05:00

We're on vacation in the Florida Panhandle. It's waaay hot but I hear it's way hot at home too. There's no oil on the beach but the water is kind of mucky because of kelp/seaweedy stuff. We're enjoying laying around, reading, drawing, napping, knitting, listening to the waves and not much else. Despite SPF 45 sunscreen I still managed to get sunburned. We'll be here until Sunday morning when we make the trek back to Memphis.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chewy, Chunky Blondies

2010-07-27T05:10:00.001-05:00

This week's recipe was chosen by Nicole of Cookies on Friday, visit her blog for the recipe. I actually made these to take to a family function on July 4th, not many got eaten but probably because there was a thousand other things there.

I liked these but they took longer than the recipe states to bake and then they were a little difficult to get out of the pan (even with parchment paper) and even though I let them cool for several hours I had trouble cutting them. Like almost every TWD recipe I've made they were still yummy and much easier than making sheet after sheet of cookies.

S'mores in cookie form

2010-07-26T17:35:00.000-05:00

Lately, I have been so busy that I have not been sending baked goods with Doug for the Thursday night game group he goes to. Since they're always so appreciative I knew I had to make some time for them. So last week while blog-surfing I found a recipe for s'mores cookies, I repeat s'mores cookies! Perfect! I made a batch Wednesday night and they were deeelicious.

They have graham cracker crumbs and mini-chocolate chips in the batter. Halfway through the baking time you pull them out and top with mini-marshmallows and chopped up Hershey bars.

I love them so much and the guys seemed to like them a lot too. They were time-consuming since you have to pull them out and top them but it's well worth it. Make them! Recipe here.