Sundays are such nice days

I think I’ve expressed my love for Sundays before but I’ll do it again. Routines make me happy and Doug and I have our little Sunday morning routine and it makes me really happy - a pot of coffee and watching CBS Sunday morning together. Sundays are usually are lazy days, I work on whatever crafty project I’m doing or I bake and Doug works out in his shop or works on one of his building models. Yesterday was no exception to the Sunday rule. We did make a Super Target run around 10AM, which was fine but I got irritated by the cashier because when I gave her our reusable Target bags (that I bought there) and she sat them on the end of the counter and started putting our groceries on the end of the counter after scanning them. At first I thought “Oh she’s just waiting until there’s enough stuff to bag them” but then I realized she was expecting me to bag my own things just because we brought the reusable bags. It really made no sense; it’s the same amount of work, if not less because the reusable bags are bigger and hold more. It also kind of made me mad but I didn’t say anything but I thought it wasn’t worth it the trouble. The bright spot of the Super Target trip was that the Starbucks inside started selling Pumpkin Spice Lattes again. I love, love, love Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Monday through Friday I go to a local-chain coffee shop but during PSL season I sneak over to Starbucks on the weekends to get them. So I was pretty happy to have my first PSL of the season.

I also finished knitting a baby hat I started Saturday afternoon. It’s the Upside Daisy Hat from Itty Bitty Baby Hats. It’s for friends who are expecting a girl in November. It was a super quick and simple knit and it looks so stinking adorable I can’t stand it. I used Rowan All-Seasons Cotton, which is the same thing as Lion Brand Cotton Ease, so in retrospect I could have saved a little money if I had used Cotton Ease. I finished the knitting but I’m blocking the little petals right now and I still have to sew them on to the top but I should have that done by the end of the week.I also worked on my Lace Ribbon scarf some more. I finished up the first ball of yarn so I’ve got to knit through the second ball before it’s done. It really is a pretty easy lace pattern it just takes awhile to get some length on it. Speaking of knitting, the new fall Knitty came out last week and there are a few patterns I really like. Anne Shirley is a scarf and even though the last thing I need is another scarf I want to make it just because of the name. I was a huge Anne of Green Gables fan. I also love the Sidewinder skirt but I'm hesitant to knit a skirt, too many online horror stories of knitted skirts. And the Retrofit man sweater is something Doug would wear but it has seaming and I absolutely loathe seaming. But I might have to make the sacrifice.

Besides knitting and Target, we caught up on some DVR'd shows and a movie we bought a few weeks ago. I made the Lighter Beef Tacos from this month's Everyday Food for dinner and we watched the second of episode of the new HBO/Alan Ball show True Blood. It's entertaining, although it was hard for me to listen to Anna Paquin's accent at first. I'm probably oversensitive about fake Southern accents because I always worry I have an exaggerated accent too.

Getting to know me...

Here's some mildly amusing facts about me which you may or may not know:

• This is my BFF Amanda and I in the 8th grade. We have been best friends since 3rd grade. We bonded over Barbie. (I'm in the pink shirt with the ginormous glasses)

• Said best friend and I went to summer camp with Conway Twitty’s granddaughter.
• My mom used to be a Civil War reenactor - really. My brother and I would go with her sometimes. I had a whole outfit and everything.
• The first time I really ever drank alcohol was at my friend Randi’s house our senior year of high school. There were lots of people there and I was afraid we’d get caught so I cleaned up all the bottles and cans and drove around with the trash bags in my car the next day until I found a dumpster to throw them in.
• I'm a speed reader, if I'm really interested in a book I can devour it within a couple of hours.
• The name of my blog comes from my parents, my mom's maiden name was Short and my dad's last name is Rose so Short + Rose = me.
• I played the clarinet in band. I also played the bass clarinet and the cymbals (not very well).
• I did community theatre from the ages of 12-18. My favorite plays were "Camelot" and "Li'l Abner", I have still been known to belt out "The Lusty Month of May" on occasion.
• My wedding was at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music . Our first dance was to Otis Redding's "These Arms of Mine" and we got our pictures taken in Isaac Hayes' solid gold Cadillac.

Remembering

It’s hard for me to believe it has been seven years since September 11. Time goes by way too quickly. It’s one of those days that if you were old enough to know what was happening you’ll always remember where you were. I guess like my mother’s generation and the assassination of JFK.

I was at work and the real estate agent of one of my co-worker’s called to tell my co-worker about the planes. After I got off the phone with her, my boss and I spent 20 minutes trying to load CNN.com but it kept freezing up. Eventually everyone in our office went to the lobby area where there was a huge television and we watched what was going on. I don’t remember much else about being at work that day except lots of emails from friends I hadn’t spoken to in awhile saying “are you seeing what’s happening??”

I had been living alone for barely two months. When I got back to my apartment that night I just sat on the couch with the tv on. I didn’t sleep in my bed for a few days; I stayed camped out on the couch at night. I was afraid I would miss something so I kept the tv on continuously. I had to fight the urge to drive back to Covington to my mom’s.

Every year I read the New York Times and their profiles of those that were killed that day. People who just thought they were going to work, or catching a flight and had no inkling as to what was about to happen – it gives me chills and I guess it should.

The internets make me happy

Considering the kind of days I've had at work lately I've had to take certain measures to de-stress. Since I'm trying to restart 'Operation: I'm-Not-Buying-Bigger-Pants' I have to back away from actual snack foods so the sugary goodness of the Internet is the next best thing. There are several sites/activities online that I do when I'm feeling particularly 'stabby' towards people or things and I can't knit.

I can't even remember life before the Internet, well actually I can but I prefer not to. I remember the frustrating dial-up (shudder) we had when I was in high school. It always took FOREVER to dial in and we had AOL. Although there was always a certain thrill when I finally logged-in and the AOL voice said "You've got mail". When I first moved out on my own at age 20 I sublet an apartment on Madison Avenue, across the street from the Southern College of Optometry and down the street from the historic gay bar, J-Wags. The guy I sublet from had high speed Internet and once I experienced it I was hooked. I never had dial up again.

There are so many awesome things online. In no certain order here are some of my favorite internet activities/sites. Maybe you've already seen them or maybe you find them juvenile or silly or even possibly offensive. But they still make me laugh out loud and forget that I wanted to scream. Even on my worst day these always cheer me up.

• LOLcatz and I Can Has Cheezburger? Cats and bad spelling, what else can I say?

• Cleolinda and her Occupation: Girl blog. I just found out about her last week but I already love her. Her entry on Brian Williams was genius. Her Movies in Fifteen Minutes are overwhelmingly fabulous (here's Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire) and her Twilight books recaps had me laughing so hard I cried. I can't possibly stay in a crappy mood after reading her entries. Plus she's from Alabama.
  
  

• 'Window' shopping. For yarn, Etsy-items, shoes I could never afford, vacation packages, whatever. Virtual yarn shopping isn't nearly as satisfying because you can't really grope the yarn as you would in an actual yarn store. I like looking at Sonny & Shear, The Loopy Ewe, Etsy, Endless.com, Expedia and Amazon.

• Facebook status updates. Some of my friends have the best status updates ever. A few in particular make me laugh manically every time they update.


• Adult Swim. Oh how I love thee. If I don't get to watch Family Guy every night I feel like I've missed something important - even though I've seen every episode a meeellion times at least. And then there is the pure genius that is Venture Brothers and Robot Chicken. Le sigh.


• Vintage Olan Mills photos. I dare you to look at this and not laugh. And it's okay to laugh because I have pictures of myself that are just as horrible.
  

• Weight Watchers recipe cards from the '70's. Yum!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

Another delicious cookie recipe this week - Chocolate Malted Whooper Drops chosen by Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart. Doug was very excited about these because he loves chocolate malts and Whoppers. The recipe came together just like most cookie recipes. The most tedious part was chopping the Whoppers, sometimes they wanted to slide out from under my knife. And of course there was the temptation to pop a few 'extras' in my mouth while I was chopping...

I used Chocolate Malt Powder (I think Carnation brand) mainly because I wasn't going to use the entire bottle on the cookies and we're more likely to drink chocolate malted milk than plain. The actual cookie dough was so good I snuck a spoonful and I rarely eat raw cookie dough. Dorie says in the book it will resemble fudge frosting more than cookie dough and she was right but it tasted amazing and this was before i added the Whoppers and chocolate chips.

I did use a little less butter than called for so my cookies were more cake-like, fluffy with those caramelized bits of Whoppers and the melty chocolate chips. I can't even describe how good they were warm. Doug loved them of course. It is a more decadent cookie recipe than I would normally make. I'd probably reserve these for special occasions but man they were good!

More cookies next week too!

Some knitting

I finally finished the yellow sweater I had been working on for what seemed like forver. I kept getting distracted with other things and sat it aside. I took it to the beach and worked on it there and got a lot done but then we got home and was tired of looking at it. It's the Green Gable pattern from Zephyr Style without the lace portion at the top. I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece again. I'm kind of 'eh' on the color. It looked nice in the shop. Plus I probably could have made it a little longer and I bound off too tightly on one of the sleeves. But it's okay, I can still wear it without looking too ridiculous.

I've been working on the Lace Ribbon Scarf from this past spring's Knitty. I'm using Louet Gems sport-weight in my favorite shade of green. It's a fun pattern to do, I haven't gotten bored yet. I really like the graphic look of the pattern too. I've been working on it for two weeks (surviving one episode of frogging after a few days) and it will probably take two more weeks to finish but I think I'm going to love it once its done.

I bought more Cotton Fleece on Ebay a few weeks ago to use for my Rusted Root (again from Zephyr Style). I'll probably cast on for it when I'm done with the scarf. I really should be starting my holiday knitting but I may just forgo gift knitting this year. I might make my mom some more cotton grocery bags and dishcloths but she's really the only one in the family that appreciates my knitting (well my husband does too). I am a pretty selfish knitter though, I see so many things I want and I don't even think about making things for other people. Although I do want to make Doug a sweater vest, he really likes sweater vests so I was thinking I'd find a nice pattern and make one for him for our 5th wedding anniversary in February. I'm scanning patterns now and hopefully I'll find something he'd like.

I haven't been blogging as much as I would like to lately, work is INSANE with the High Holidays coming up and by the time I get home I want to curl up with my knitting, my iPod and a glass of wine (or bottle of Woodchuck). It should slow down a little in a few weeks and I can take a breather.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chunky Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

This week's selection was chosen by Stefany of Proceed with Caution. I really like making cookies, it's almost instant gratification. I was a little lazy this week because I didn't have exactly everything I needed for making them and I didn't feel like braving the grocery store so I made due. Really it wasn't that bad, I just only had 1.5 cups of oats instead of 3 and my peanut butter was low-fat and smooth instead of chunky. I used Ghirardelli 60% Caco Chocolate Chips and they were fantastic. I also experimented and used 3 less tablespoons of butter than called for, I couldn't tell a difference either.

I refrigerated my dough for about an hour before baking the cookies. I left the first batch in a little too long and they were crispier than I wanted them. The subsequent batches I pulled out around 11 minutes and they were perfect. The cookies did spread and had a thin, chewy texture - which was great because that's my husband's favorite kind of cookie, flat and chewy. The cinnamon gave out a distinct flavor but it went well with the bittersweet chocolate chips. I also used a few of the cookies and made ice cream sandwiches (using vanilla bean ice cream) we both really liked those too, the cookies held up well to freezing. So again, we both enjoyed the cookies! The husband is super excited for next week's cookies, he loooves malted milk balls.

I think I hate people

Well not all people, but a lot of people.

I have been working since I was 15; my first job was a ‘checker’ at a local grocery store. I worked at the grocery store until I was 19. It was there that I started losing my faith in humanity. My next two jobs were at banks, where again being exposed to the general public made me rethink the idea that ‘people are truly good inside.’ My last two jobs (including my current one) had me working with an older population, which can sometimes be trying. At my current job one of duties is putting together a weekly newsletter in both a paper form and in an email form that is then sent to something around 400 people. This is one of the worst parts of my job. Some people have nothing better to do than to search this newsletter, front and back, and look for mistakes. Grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, anything. I’ll be the first to admit that I make mistakes frequently, but the level of attention that some of these minor mistakes get is ridiculous. Often I get curt little emails from these jerky people explain how I left out their child’s birthday from the birthday list or how I didn’t capitalize a name in a engagement announcement. I silently curse these people while gritting my teeth and writing back “of course I’ll add a correction in this week’s copy.” These are the kind of people I hope develop painful boils in uncomfortable places.

Sigh. At least it’s Wednesday and there is a long weekend coming up…

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte

Strawberry ice cream + chocolate ganache = love

This week's delicious frozen concoction was chosen by Amy of Food, Family and Fun. Raw eggs kind of scare me but I decided to be brave. The picture in the cookbook is so nice, perfect layers of dark pink ice cream and chocolaty gananche. I let my husband choose what flavor ice cream, I thought the raspberry sounded great but he's not a fan of raspberry so I gave him the decision. He chose strawberry ice cream, I could have gotten vanilla and mixed in the strawberries like Dorie did with the raspberries but I am lazy so I did not. Instead I bought pre-made Edy's Strawberry Ice Cream. By the way, Edy's has shrunken their containers and are charging more, I paid $4.99, eh gads! I know prices have been going up lately but I've really noticed it on things I by every week but man $5.00 for less ice cream?

Anyway, after I recovered from ice cream sticker shock I picked up some pasteurized eggs from the dairy section. This lessened my fear of raw eggs slightly. Putting together the ganache was not difficult, I did end up only using 7 eggs instead of 8 because I had exactly 8 left and one of the 8 turned out to be cracked on the bottom so I took a chance on just 7. While I was making the ganache I put the ice cream in the refrigerator to soften up since I omitted the alcohol. I left out the alcohol because all we had besides wine was Peppermint Schnapps, Maker's Mark and Coconut Rum and I wasn't sure any of those would taste very good with strawberry ice cream. I used a non-stick springform pan but I still oiled it just in case. The first layer of ganache firmed up very quickly, less than 30 minutes. But all the layers after took at least 45 minutes. I was afraid of running out of ganache but did not, I had just the right amount for the final layer. I let it sit up in the freezer for almost 6 hours. I used the hot dish towel method instead of the hair dryer and it came out fairly easily. Next time I'll try to remember to use a circle of parchment paper on the bottom though because it's almost impossible to get the entire torte from the bottom of the pan.

It's a wonderful dessert, my husband said he keeps forgetting what his favorite 'Tuesday' dessert is because they've all been so good and I have to agree. They just keep getting better! Next week we're making Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters chosen by Stefany of Proceed with Caution.

Wanderlust

This past week I've felt like I was in 'impending crisis mode' and I'm not sure why. Everything seems fine? Regardless, I felt the need to escape and I needed a change of scenery and some alone time. I decided to take a little road trip to Oxford to see William Faulkner's home, Rowan Oak, and to wander around the town for a bit. It rained practically the entire day. Not a downpour, but a light steady rain.

I got to Oxford in less than an hour and a half, long enough to listen to a Death Cab for Cutie album one and a half times. When I first got off of the interstate I turned right instead of left and ended up going 15 minutes off course before I realized my mistake and turned around. Then I actually drove past Rowan Oak twice before I saw it. I'll admit there was a slightly creepy quality to walking around there all alone with steady rain.

After I toured the house I drove around and found a place to eat. I picked the wrong Saturday to visit town because it is the weekend before school starts on Monday at Ole Miss. Every eatery and coffee shop in town with packed with frat boys discussing various ways they would be attempting alcohol poisoning last night. But I was still able to enjoy my BLT, greasy fries and grape Crush (in a bottle!). After I ate I drove around the Square several times before I found a place to park. The Square is there 'main drag' and its where the bookstore and the coffee shop I wanted to go to was. Square Books was packed too but I found a autographed copy of "A Dangerous Age" by Ellen Gilchrist, who is my favorite writer.

I went to a coffee shop and sat and knit and drank a mocha and people watched again. I left about 4:00 and got home around 5:30ish. It was a good day despite the rain, I felt like I cleared my head a little.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Granola Grabbers

Another Tuesday and another baking adventure. This week's selection was the Granola Grabber cookies chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking. When I looked over the recipe I wondered how these cookies would turn out because there seemed to be a lot of dry ingredients but not many wet ones. I made no changes to the recipe, I did use granola with coconut and almonds already in it instead of adding them separately. This cookies turned out really well, the batter was kind of lumpy and I didn't try to smooth out the dough scoops but I think it added to the rustic look. They were very tasty, the sweetness of the raisins contrasted nicely with the saltiness of the peanuts. It was a nice chunky cookies, the kind you almost have to to serve with milk.

Recent Obsessions

• The Twilight Series. I have to admit I kind of avoided this series because it’s so popular. I did the same thing with Harry Potter, I didn’t even start reading the books or seeing the movies until after “The Half Blood Prince” book came out.I think in my snobby way that I’m not going to give in to the ‘hype’ of a movie/book.Then I manage to read something and I get hooked.Which is totally what happened with the Twilight book. A few weeks ago Doug and I saw an interview with Stephenie Meyer, the author, on CBS Sunday Morning.Then I saw the movie preview and thought it looked fun, so on a whim I bought the Twilight book on Amazon to take with me on vacation.On Day 2 of sitting on the beach I put my knitting down and decided to pick up the book and see what all the hype was about it.I finished it the next afternoon and then promptly ordered the other two books from Amazon.(The fourth came out two weeks ago but I didn’t order it – yet)I had a *huge* obsession with Anne Rice’s vampire series as a 14/15 year old so this kind of reminded me of that, but in a different way.So hopefully no one will make fun of me for reading books that are considered in the ‘Young Adult’ category.I got a nice surprise when I got home today and found that the USPS had delivered my two books from Amazon.I know reading those books will seriously cut into my knitting time this week but I’m okay with that.

• Death Cab for Cutie and Imogen Heap. I don’t know why these people were off of my radar but they were until the other day. I heard “When Soul Meets Body” on the radio just like everyone else and thought it was catchy but didn’t do much more investigating of the band. I happened to hear another one of their songs “I Will Follow You into the Dark” and went back and bought their last two CD’s on iTunes. Great music. I stumbled upon Imogen Heap on the Six Feet Under soundtrack and then heard “Hide and Seek” and now I can’t stop playing it on my iPod.

• Nic’s Sticks from OPI. Nail polish in a little tube with a brush applicator – genius. Especially for people like me who are constantly knocking over bottles of polish on their hard, white tile floors. I’ve been nibbling my nails again recently so I’ve only used the clear polish so far.

• Tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil. My dinner obsession since my tomatoes have started to come in. Nothing is tastier than a fresh tomato, some fresh basil, mozzarella and a little sea salt.

• Making my own fonts. I haven't really researched this very far but I've been doodling in the sketch pad. I'm sure a few Google searches will direct me on how I can actually make a real font.

Knitting on the beach

Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

As it turns out my blueberries were more like blackberries. I was not really feeling blueberries this week so I thought I could get a similar color from the blackberries and it would be a slightly different change of pace. This week's selection was chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity.

I've only had my ice cream maker for a few weeks so I was excited to get to try out again. And with as hot as it's been here ice cream was a welcome cold treat. It was a fairly simple recipe to put together.
I washed the blackberries and then threw them into the saucepan with the other items and let them simmer away for a few minutes. The color while they were simmering was so nice I couldn't wait to see it when the ice cream was finished. After they had cooked I put them in the blender, gave it a few whirls and then added the sour cream and heavy cream and just a little bit more sugar. Very easy. I let it cool for about 1 1/2 hours and then put it in the machine and let it run. It did turn a beautiful color. I left it in the freezer overnight before serving it the next day. Everyone that tasted it enjoyed it, you could taste the sour cream but I didn't find it super overpowering, I thought it complimented the berries really well. I'm sure it's just as good when you use actual blueberries too so maybe I'll try it again with them.


Another great selection! Next week will be Granola Grabbers chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking.

Garden - Week 18ish

Mainly pictures, as I am too lazy to type much else.

Cherokee Purple tomato almost ripe

Purple Ruffle Basil

Butternut squash

Watermelons

Countdown to vacation: 2 days! Of course I'm looking at the weather forecast and there's a chance of thunderstorms every day we're there...

Tuesdays with Dorie: Black & White Banana Loaf

Delicious. This is my most favorite Dorie dish to date. It was fabulous, moist banana cake with a thick ribbon of chocolate running through it. I wish I had a better macro setting on my camera so you could see the texture and how dense and moist it looks.

The Black and White Banana Loaf was chosen by Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen and I can't say enough good things about it. I make banana bread a lot, usually I use a Cooking Light recipe so I don't feel so guilty about eating it. As much as I love Dorie's recipe it will have to be a 'luxury' banana bread. The recipe has a stick of butter and four eggs in it, eh gads my waistline.

This recipe was moderate on the scale on hard/easy to assemble. I did forget the lemon and I didn't have dark rum so I used regular rum but it still came out wonderfully. It smelled so good while it was baking. Since my oven has a tendency to run hot I tented the loaf pan with foil while it baking and took it off during the last 45 minutes it was in the oven. It was perfect, not hard or chewy on the outside, just cakey and moist. I think some people commented on the TWD there was some trouble with it baking through but luckily I didn't run into that issue.

Again, this is my favorite selection thus far, mine turned out to be more like a cake than traditional banana bread but that was just fine with me. Next week's selection is Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, a great selection for our recent 105+ temps.

Random Thoughts

• I went to the Farmer’s Market early Saturday morning and bought a ton of little heirloom tomatoes. They are such pretty colors. I made a big bowl of pasta with them yesterday and I still have a lot. Doug is not a fan of tomatoes so I’m having to gnaw my way through them alone. I also bought some little Japanese eggplant and had grand plans for grilling it. Well, I grilled alright, I grilled it right into oblivion. RIP little eggplants.
  

• I just cast on for my first pair of socks. The needles are so tiny and the yarn is so thin. I hope I don't screw up.


• We leave for Florida in 7.5 days. I am going to look like a beluga in my swimsuit. *sob*

My Etsy Wishlist

I've been doing a little Etsy window shopping lately. I've been good and not actually bought anything since our two vacations are looming and we should be saving. But I've been compiling a list for the next time my wallet is fat...

I heart you necklace from Chocolate and Steel

Constance earrings from Eliwill (Elizabeth Williams Jewlery)

Home Sweet Home print from JennSki

When Branches Meet tshirt from Muttsy Wonder (Harrilu)

Strawberry Cream laceweight kid mohair/silk from Yarn Chef

Lime and Lavendar Sweet Lil Wristlet from Jennifer Joy Creative

Sea Urchin vase from my fellow Memphis blogger Bridgman Pottery

A new kitchen toy

I have been coveting an electric ice cream maker for months, especially since the weather turned so hot (heat index of 105 today!!). Last weekend Doug went for a haircut at Sport Clips, which is in a strip mall near our the Target closest to our house. While he was getting his haircut I wandered into the Williams-Sonoma outlet down the strip. There I found some little dishes which I thought would be perfect for making smaller portions of my TWD selections and I also found a $39.99 Krups electric ice cream maker, with a 20% off sign. Doug needs to learn not to take me with him when he goes for a haircut because I always end up in the outlet buying things we don’t really need. In my defense I had really been jonesing for an ice cream maker and he had even agreed it would be fun to have. So this bad boy got to come home with me.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across David Lebovitz's recipe for Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream. I may or may not have gotten this urge to buy said ice cream maker solely for the purpose of making this particular ice cream. It looks divine. It also has quite a few steps, which is why since purchasing the ice cream maker a week ago I have not attempted this recipe yet. Maybe in a few weeks when we have company. In the meanwhile, I decided to make this recipe for Nutella Ice Cream from Chocolate & Zucchini, ingenious and simple and delicious. After he took a bite Doug realized the goodness that is homemade ice cream.

I've also had the thought to try another David Lebovitz recipe, this one for Candied Bacon Ice Cream. Doug loves anything with bacon so I might get the 'wife of the year' trophy if I made that.

This past weekend I used the recipe book that came with the maker to make vanilla ice cream and then added some frozen blueberries. I really wasn't very happy with this attempt. Doug liked it but I didn't like the texture of the blueberries and it tasted to icy to me, not creamy enough. Next time if I were to attempt this recipe I'd use fresh blueberries. Maybe it will be better next time.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Summer Fruit Galette

This week's selection was chosen by Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs.

I think that this week I lost my baking mojo. Some days when you get in the kitchen things just don't go the way you hoped. I was happy to make the galette, it sounded delicious. I let my husband pick the fruit since it was his birthday, he chose peaches. I love peaches too, no problem. I got home, made the crust, but before I put it in the refrigerator to chill I thought about how difficult it had been to roll out the blueberry pie crust. So I though "oh I'll roll it out before I put it in the refrigerator" this was probably when the problems began. The crust really needed to rest and cool and instead I tried to roll it out between parchment paper. It stuck to the parchment paper. Once I realized this was not going well I managed to scrape it off of the paper, roll it back into a ball and refrigerate it.

Then I decided to prepare the peaches, Dorie gives instructions for blanching them so I followed the directions. However, only one peach successfully had all of its skin come off. I thought maybe the others needed to boil a few more seconds. Wrong. I boiled them a little too long and ended up with cooked peaches instead of blanched ones. At this point I said a variety of unprintable words and just went with it and sliced up the peaches and called it a day.

The custard part came together with no problem (thankfully). I used raspberry jam and plain breadcrumbs instead of the graham cracker crumbs. I did have a few problems folding the edges around the filling because the dough was still sticking to the parchment paper even after cooling.
After it baked about 20 minutes I added about 1/4 c. of the custard and baked it for another 15 minutes. I had a little custard leftover so I poured that into a little ramekin and baked it along with the galette.

In the end it came out okay, it was not the most attractive thing I've ever baked but it still tasted good. The custard in the ramekin was really good and probably terrible health-wise since it was really just butter, egg and sugar. My husband and I ate it afterwards and it reminded me a lot of Chess Pie, the kind my great-grandmother used to make.

All in all the galette was a nice recipe, I was just not having a great baking day. I'll try it again later, maybe this time with apricots or nectarines.

Next week will be the Black and White Banana Loaf chosen by Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen.

Another episode of "I grew it & ate it"

I finally got a ripe tomato yesterday from my tomato plants. I believe this one was from the Old German heirloom plant, but I am not 100% sure. Whatever variety it was it was delicious. This was the first tomato I found on any of my plants, back in June. This is what it looked like when I first found it. I have tons of little green tomatoes on my plants but nothing has turned red yet, except that one. Hopefully some of my cherry tomatoes and Roma tomatoes will start to turn soon.

I had bought some fresh mozzarella earlier in the week, hoping to use it with this particular tomato. So when I picked it last night I made myself a plate of fresh tomato slices topped with pink Himalayan salt, mozzarella slices, sweet basil from my garden and a little drizzle of olive oil. Plus I had some honey wheat bread with sunflower seeds (leftover from my Farmer's Market haul last Saturday). It was a really simple and delicious supper.

Here’s a little something to waste some time, as seen on Happy Zombie’s blog.

The Game:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

2. Using only the first page, pick an image.

3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker

The Questions & My Answers:
1. What is your first name? April

2. What is your favorite food? Eclectic

3. What high school did you go to? Covington

4. What is your favorite color? Green

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Vincent D’Onofrio

6. Favorite drink? Bellini

7. Dream vacation? Japan

8. Favorite dessert? Bread Pudding

9. What you want to be when you grow up? Actress

10. What do you love most in life? My cats (my husband’s a given, the cats are #2)

11. One Word to describe you. Sweet

12. Your flickr name: roseam21 (I kind of cheated on this only because there were no results when I searched so I just used a picture of myself)