31 October 2009
Happy Halloween
30 October 2009
29 October 2009
Thursday Recipe
Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
Ingredients
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 15-oz can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup half and half (or evaporated milk)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or silicone liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice
In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and half and half until well combined. Add in dry ingredients and whisk until no streaks of flour remain and batter is smooth.
Fill each muffin cup with approximately 1/3 cup of batter.
Bake for 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan. They will sink as they cool.
Chill cupcakes before serving. Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
Makes 12
28 October 2009
My Ink
Did I tell y'all that I got a tattoo this summer? When I was home for vacation in July, my sister and I got matching tattoos. It was her idea, but I had been toying with the idea of getting a tattoo for awhile, I just couldn't think of the right thing to get and since you know, it's PERMANENT I wanted it to be the right thing. My sister went to Aruba in May for vacation. She called me from the beach one day and said, "I think we should get matching tattoos before I move to California." To which I promptly replied, "Are you drunk?" She said "No, I think we should get the Italian word for sister." Cue the "Awwww" moment. I had to give her credit - it was the perfect idea. So in July, we headed up to Federal Hill and a lovely young man at a very reputable tattoo parlor inked my wrist. Oh man it hurt! It was worse than a pinch. It was like a cross between a pinch and a third degree burn. Fortunately, it was quick. The inside of the wrist is apparently one of the most painful areas to get a tattoo. I concur. I haven't regretted it once, although sometimes I look down at my wrist and I forget that I have it and think what is that? For all the pain though, I think I might want another one...
26 October 2009
Claudia Kishi or Flop?
I stumbled across this quiz on Sunday night and thought it was genius. I grew up reading the Babysitter's Club books and one of the things that sticks out for me about those books were the descriptions of Claudia's outfits. Someone actually put together a quiz asking if the outfit described was something worn by Claudia in one of the books or by a celebrity. I got 11 out of 16. Some of the descriptions I remember word for word from back in the day. Let me know how you do!
25 October 2009
Weekend in Charlotte
By the time I make it back north to see a new baby, they aren't newborns anymore. Kelly looks wonderful and we had fun just hanging around, chatting, napping, and catching up. And watching all manner of college football game - that last second TD by Iowa was the most exciting 0:02 in football I have ever seen. I got to see my Auntie Gerry and Ally, Rich, Nina, and Richie popped in Saturday night on their way to the mountains - mini reunion!!! Since I had seen Richie and Nina just a few months ago it was so nice that they remembered who I was. Usually we go through the awkward "I-don't-remember-her" phase. With the exception of Kelly, many times I don't get to see them but once a year most of the time. I grew up with Ally and many of my childhood memories are of her and the fun and mischief we used to get into, so it's always a blast to get together with her again.
I also had the chance to use my new camera on subjects other than Jack and Kate! I was sad to leave, but needed to stop at Ikea (such a blast), drive the 2 hours back to Durham, do grocery shopping, laundry, and write a paper. All have been accomplished except the paper, which needs to be finished tonight. I've already offered up my baby-sitting services to Kelly and Korey for a Saturday night here and there if they want to get out.
23 October 2009
22 October 2009
Thursday Recipe
Caramel Apple Bread Pudding
Ingredients
2 Jonagold apples, one sliced, one chopped
4 cups day-old bread, torn into bite-size pieces
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup cream
1/3 cup currants
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine eggs, cream and sugar. Add bread, chopped apples, currants and mix; set aside.
3. Toss sliced apples in 1 tablespoon sugar and cinnamon.
4. Heat 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat; when hot, spray surface with canola oil spray and add apples. Saute for two minutes, until they begin to turn golden.
5. Remove from heat and add bread mixture to the skillet.
6. Bake in oven for 45-50 minutes.
7. Let cool. Invert skillet on cake plate. Serve with caramel sauce and/or vanilla ice cream.
Serves 6-8
21 October 2009
Random Internet Links
Jeff Fisher has a brain freeze
How many Batman movies do you know?
Just in time for Halloween - a seriously cute vampire kitty
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have the cutest kids
Windows 7 is bigger than Harry Potter!
20 October 2009
Brothers & Sisters
19 October 2009
LV
I'm usually not one to go gaga over a purse. There are a few exceptions - my Kate Spade de Vil being one. That's pretty much the only one. Fortunately, when I fell in love with the Kate Spade, it was in my price range. sadly, my new favorite is sorely out of my price range. But I think I may save my pennies for this one as I LOVE it. It's a Louis Vuitton tote and my new favorite thing that I don't own.
18 October 2009
On the Move
16 October 2009
15 October 2009
Thursday Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup dark brown muscavado sugar
- 1/3 cup light brown muscavado sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 (5-ounce) block semisweet chocolate, chopped into chunks (recommended: Callebaut)
- 1 (5-ounce) block milk chocolate, chopped into chunks (recommended: Callebaut)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon pads.
Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
Place the butter in the bowl on an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugars and continue mixing, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes longer. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and the vanilla extract, beating until incorporated.
Add half of the flour and mix until just incorporated. Add the remaining flour, again mixing until just combined. Remove the bowl from the stand and fold in the chocolate chunks.
Using a small ice cream scoop, spoon the dough onto a baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie and bake on the middle rack until the cookies are lightly golden brown and still soft in the middle, about 11 minutes. Let cookies rest for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a baking rack with a wide metal spatula. Let the cookies cool on the baking rack for a few minutes before eating. Repeat with remaining dough.
Note: I don't use an ice cream scoop and they come out just fine. I use a teaspoon instead. If you can't find muscavado sugar, you can use light and dark brown sugar.
14 October 2009
Wishlist
12 October 2009
How Many Can you Name?
11 October 2009
Script Ohio
10 October 2009
Fall Favorites
1. New TV! Fall is when the new TV season starts on the major networks. Thank goodness for tivo, I can catch up on everything I miss when I have classes.
2. Pumpkins - to decorate, to carve, to scent the room, and to eat. Pumpkin pies, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin ice cream, you can pretty much find it everywhere in the fall. And the pumpkin puree itself is low in calories, so it's a good substitute for oil in cake and brownie mixes.
3. Leaves. The colors are gorgeous. Once the leaves turn here in NC (they aren't even close), I plan on trying to capture some of the scarlets, ambers, golds, and crimsons in print.
4. Sweaters. Fall is sweater (and sweatshirt) weather. I don't have quite the array of sweaters in NC as I did when I lived up north, but I will hold on to my hooded Ohio State sweatshirt until it falls apart at the seams. The cuffs are starting to fray, but I don't care.
5. Fireplaces. I don't have one in my apartment, but I love the sound of a crackling fireplace and the smell of the fireplace smoke in the air outside. That is what fall smells like for me.
6. Football. Specifically college football. Go Bucks!!! Fall is football season and it is my favorite of all the sports. I miss games at the Shoe in Columbus and I have yet to see the Patriots at Gillette. Hopefully one of these days I will get to one of them - or both.
7. Movies. Fall is premiere movie season. Different than summer blockbuster season, fall is when the studios release the movies they feel are worthy of an award nomination, so all the greats come out to play.
8. Weather. Fall has my favorite days, late fall here in NC. The days when it's just cold enough you need a jacket, there's that bite in the air. Well, I don't wear a jacket those days. It generally has to be in the 40s for me to don a coat, I live for the crisp autumn air.
9. Baking. I mentioned the pumpkins back in #2. Fall is prime baking weather. Sometimes in the summer it's just too warm, even when you have central air and you don't want something so heavy as a cake or pie. Fall is when I get back to baking. Although since I am moving in the next couple of months to a new apartment and I've started to pack things up, my baking may be curtailed this season.
10. World Series - but only the years the Red Sox make the playoffs. Any other year, I don't care. I'm too wrapped up in numbers 1 and 6 to care about another team.
09 October 2009
08 October 2009
Thursday Recipe
Apple-Maple Crunch Pie
Ingredients:
For crust:
1-1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup Mazola corn oil
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup crushed nuts
For filling:
4 cups Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons maple syrup
For topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
5 tablespoons butter
Directions:
1. For crust, mix flour and salt in a small bowl to make a one-crust pie. Add oil and mash with a fork. Then add milk until fully mixed together. Roll out on wax paper and put into an 8-inch pie pan. Crimp edges. Press crushed nuts into crust bottom. Put foil around edge. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes in middle of oven, and cool.
2. For filling, peel, core, and cut apples into bite-size pieces and place in a small saucepan. Add apple juice to coat apples, and cook on medium heat for 3 minutes. Drain juice away. Add lemon juice and toss apples together. Mix sugar and cornstarch together and coat apples. Then add maple syrup and spices and toss gently together. Let set for ten minutes (you can prepare topping (below) during this time). Spoon evenly into pre-baked crust.
3. For topping, mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, water, and chopped pecans. Add oats. Cut butter in small pieces, and crumble together with fingers over the apple filling, working out from center of the pie to cover all the apples. Bake at 350 degrees on middle rack for 40 minutes, covering with foil as needed to prevent crust burning.
Serves 8.
07 October 2009
Please Pack Your Knives And Go...
06 October 2009
Mid-term
05 October 2009
Precious
04 October 2009
03 October 2009
Hmmmm...
Ahem. Excuse me, but what are all of these things that are in the way of where I play?
I can't seem to get to my favorite spots anymore, although these make for a nice place to perch and watch Jack meander around the living room.
Ah yes, they are boxes. And yes, Kate, we are packing up everything and finding a new place to live.
Moving! Where will we go? Are you bringing all of my toys? You won't leave any behind will you? Yes, Katia, we will bring all your toys. I don't know where we're going yet, but it will be someplace nice. I promise.
Kate is a little traumatized by all the boxes. Jack (having moved with me three times now) is somewhat of a pro and doesn't really seem to care that there are boxes stacked all over the place. My lease is up at the end of November and since I don't trust my management company, I think it's time to find a new apartment. With school and all, I've been trying to pack up a little bit at a time so I don't get inundated all at the end, when I'm trying to move and finish the semester at the same time.