cultural awareness and my need for more stuff!

everyone likes a party right?

yes, of course you all do! (Nobody likes a party-pooper...)

i have to say, i love to throw a good party, but I hate the anticipation of not knowing who is going to show up... (the down-side of the social life in college is the non-committal answers people give you when you invite them to something.)

"i'll check my schedule"

"i'll really try to make it!"

"i might have a date that night..."

basically... "i'll see if my cooler friends are doing anything fun, then i'll get back to you."

gee, that makes me feel awesome!

just kidding. :)

but i am a little nervous for our chinese new years party tonight.

yeah, i know that it was yesterday. but fridays are just made for parties!

we told everyone to bring something that reminds them of china.

since i am so cool, i decided to make these:

mine do not look this perfect.

but almost!

(i lost my camera somewhere... and whilst i am attempting to find it, you must be satisfied with the picture that came with the recipe.)

Fortune Cookies!

Ingredients

1 egg white

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 pinch salt

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a cookie sheet. Write fortunes on strips of paper about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Generously grease 2 cookie sheets.

Mix the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. Sift the flour, salt, and sugar and blend into the egg white mixture.

Place teaspoonfuls of the batter at least 4 inches apart on one of the prepared cookie sheets. Tilt the sheet to move the batter into round shapes about 3 inches in diameter. Be careful to make batter as round and even as possible. Do not make too many, because the cookie have to be

really hot to form them and once they cool it is too late. Start with 2 or 3 to a sheet and see how many you can do.

Bake for 5 minutes or until cookie has turned a golden color 1/2 inch wide around the outer edge of the circle. The center will remain pale. While one sheet is baking, prepare the other.

Remove from oven and quickly move cookie with a wide spatula and place upside down on a wooden board. Quickly place the fortune on the cookie, close to the middle and fold the cookie in half. Place the folded edge across the rim of a measuring cup and pull the pointed edges down, one on the inside of the cup and one on the outside. Place folded cookies into the cups of a muffin tin or egg carton to hold their shape until firm.

***

i want these!

oh my gosh i'm pretty sure that i could cry right now...

my spices live in spry containers right now.

a pitiful existence for the yummy little muses of the kitchen.

these little "l'epice jars" are from anthropologie. $4.00? no way!

really... i think i just shed a tear.

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today, i am thankful for the stool in front of the heater.

for recipes that don't work out just the way we want them to

(note to self: never stick paper towels on rising bread...

even if the recipe tells you to!)

and for happy music.

a little music for your friday

who doesn't need a little music for their weekend?

i know i do!

happy friday!

my next big idea.

cute huh?

when i get home, and get a free minute to myself,

i am going to make this cute apron!

i am constantly amazed at how creative people are.

i see all these cute projects, and think

i fail at life.

but that's ok! i just copy them.

(copying is flattery in its purest form...)

you know those dangerous discoveries you make?

the ones that change your life forever?

some people fall in love,

other people decide what they want their major to be,

some women find a green scarf

(confessions of a shopaholic reference there...)

i found a recipe.

simple.

but deadly.

to tell you the truth, i've always cooked popcorn either in the microwave or in an air popper...

i've never cooked any on the stove.

sad?

yes!

but true.

i thought that kettle corn was something that was completely be

yond my reach as a cook.

that it required special skills and equipment to be able to make this delicious goodness.

oh how wrong i was!!!

(should i be excited about this? yes. yes i should!)

Kettle Corn

makes 10 cups, cook time 5-10 min

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1/4 cup sugar

salt to taste (1-2 tsp)

1. in a large pot with a lid, add oil and three kernels of popcorn. get your pot holders ready.

2. turn on the heat to medium and cover the pot. listen carefully, when the third kernel pops, your oil is ready.

3. add the rest of the popcorn and the sugar. give it a quick stir to combine and fully coat.

4. cover the pot again and heat for three seconds, then lift off the heat with your pot holders on and shake vigorously up and down for three seconds.

5. repeat heating the pot for three seconds and shaking for three seconds and continue repeating for about 5 minutes (hey, you didn’t think this deliciousness would be effortless, right?).

6. check the kettle corn for color and continue heating and shaking until popping stops or kettle corn is sufficiently golden brown.

7. pour popcorn into a large bowl and toss with salt while still hot.

8. taste and salt as desired once cool.

Can I just say how super easy this recipe was?

i am about the laziest cook - EVER - and i thought this was actually pretty fun!

i did end up halving the recipe today...

because i didn't think it was healthy to eat the whole batch by myself...

NOT because i didn't want to!

next time, the roommate and i wanted to try to add vanilla, and possibly a little cinnamon...

Yours Alone (A Song from "Heartless: The Story of the Tin Man")

I was goofing around, wasting time on the internet

when I should have been doing something productive,

when I found this video...

http://www.whitestonemotionpictures.com/Films/heartless/

Call me weird,

call me a nerd (cuz I don't really care),

and I LOVE it soooo much!

And the songs on here are AMAZING!

AND - get this!!! You can download them for free... (who doesn't love a little free???)

my favorite is "Yours Alone," sung by Valerie Miller and William Wilkerson.

If a song could melt my heart, this would be it.

The others are mainly instrumental, but even so...

This is just a taste to whet your appetite for more. Say thank you!

You're welcome. :)

There is a first time for everything...

I'm going to admit it.

I have an addiction.

To food.

They really need to have an FA meeting for people like me...

(foodaholics annonymous)

So today, I had a craving for sourdough bread.

I decided to make some.

Unfortunately, making sourdough bread takes a little longer than I thought.

So I have to wait 3 days for my sourdough to be ready.

SQUIRREL!

(no seriously... there was just a squirrel outside my apartment window.)

Here's the bread.

Well... the start of the bread.

(I figured out the hard way that when they said medium sized bowl...

they really meant it!

My start tried to escape over the sides of the bowl.

And intervention was needed... :P)

At least I know that the yeast was working right? haha.

Here's the recipe I used.

It comes from The Breadman's Healthy Breadbook... I don't have that kind of bread maker, but I found the book at a thrift store and since I can't get enough of recipes... I had to buy it.

Sourdough Starter

(makes 2 cups)

2 cups warm water (100 degrees)

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 tablespoon honey

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Put the water, yeast and honey in a medium mixing bowl. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes. Stir until the yeast dissolves. Stir in the flour and beat until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 2 to 5 days, stirring occasionally. The longer the starter stands, the stronger the flavor. The starter will bubble and a sour smelling liquid may form on top. This is normal for a healthy starter, so simply pour the liquid off and discard.

To store the starter, pour it into a sterilized crock or jar. (To sterilize, pour boiling water into the container, let stand 5 minutes, drain and dry well.) Cover and refrigerate the starter in a jar until ready to use.

To use the starter, stir and pour off as much as required.

To feed the starter, use or remove and discard 1 cup of starter. Add equal amounts (about 1 cup each) of flour (the same kind as originally used) and warm water. Stir and let stand at room temperature until it bubbles again, about 30 minutes, then cover and refrigerate.

To keep the starter from turning rancid, use, or discard, at least 1 cup of the starter every week, then feed it as described above. The starter may be frozen. Thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours before using. After thawing, pour off as much as required and feed the remainder as described above.

I want to try this recipe: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/san-francisco-sourdough-bread/Detail.aspx and this one looks like it has some very yummy recipes too! http://www.sourdoughhome.com/recipes.html

I have a sourdough coffee cake recipe... which is really good!

I won't get you too excited just yet though.

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Today I am thankful for my hair.

Even though it is not cooperating with me.

And I am still thankful for the snow.

Even though it makes my hair all frizzy.

Yes. I know. I can't do anything consistently.

That IS why this blog has its very particular name.

Just in case you didn't get that memo.

BUT I did do something very exciting! I crocheted my first cowl!

I think it turned out pretty fantastic.

Not to toot my own horn or anything... ;)

By the way. I am not a model.

Just to avoid any confusion you might be having concerning my um... skills.

Talk about AWKWARD!

This little beauty is from a pattern I found when I was trying to decide what to do with a massive amount of yarn that I have been accumulating over the past several years (no joke!)... I followed the pattern pretty much exactly, but I just ended it early, so it isn't quite as full as the one in the pattern. I also just used super saver yarn that I bought at walmart (I doubled the strands to make it more bulky) AND I TELL YOU WHAT! This thing is a B.E.A.U-TIFUL thing! Especially in the ridiculously cold weather of late.

Everyone I know is jealous of my cowl.

*Smug grin*

And mustard yellow?!

How much more awesome and sunny can you get???

It makes me super happy on this cold, grey day.

(It snowed ALL day...)

Dear sun, I miss you. Can we hang out again soon?

And now for the main event!

Convertable Cowl

Materials:

plymouth yarn baby alpaca grande (110yds)

220 yds, 2 skeins in your choice of color

yarn needle

10mm (N) hook

stitch marker

Overview.

You will be crocheting in the round.

You will join but not turn.

Mark the beginning of each row with a row marker.

Guage:

If working with a different yarn than recommded, make sure that your beginning chain will fit over your head leaving plenty of extra room. Remember that you want your cowl to be loose enough to pull up as a hood and still give plenty of coverage around your neck.

Steps:

Chain 55 and join with a sl st into back of chain (do not twist chain).

Row 1: Ch 1, (working in back of chain) Sc in same Ch as joining. Mark stitch. Sc in each chain around and join to marked stitch (do not twist chain).

Row 2: Ch 2, (counts as first Dc), skip st and Dc in each Sc around. Join with sl st to top of Ch 2. (55 Dc)

Row 3: Ch 1, (counts as first Hdc), skip st and Hdc in each around. Join with sl st to top of Ch 1. (55 Hdc)

Row 4: Ch 2, (counts as first Dc), skip st and Dc in each Hdc around. Join with sl st to top of Ch 2. (55 Dc)

Rows 5-6: Repeat row 4

Row 7: Repeat row 3

Row 8: Repeat row 4

Row 9: Ch 1, Sc in each Dc around. Join with sl st to Ch 1.

Rows 10-17 repeat rows 2-9

Rows 18-23 repeats rows 2-7

Fasten off.

I actually just went to row 15 or 16... I didn't want mine to get too big and bulky.

It's perfect for wearing on top of a shirt and it still fits inside of a jacket and keeps my neck nice and cozy warm!

http://www.favecrafts.com/Crochet-Hats-Scarves-Gloves/Crochet-Convertible-Cowl#

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I want to think about what I am thankful for this year!

Today I am thankful for snow. And for hot chocolate and thick socks.

Oh what do you do on a Saturday, when it's snowy and cold and you are a college student that defies conventional belief that all students should be starving and have a ridiculous amount of food???

You bake.

And you bake even more.

Realizing today that I had forgotten my promise to make one of my friends a cake for his birthday, my roommate and I rushed to remedy the situation. And what did we find in my cupboard? A box of orange cake mix. Yum? We did not know.

But we were going to find out.

So we threw cupcakes in the oven (in my roommate's brand-new silicon reusable muffin cups - BRILLIANT invention if you ask me...) and we moved on to deciding what kind of frosting we wanted to grace the tops of the mysterious tasting orange cupcakes.

We decided that raspberry would work well.

And oh, how well it did work!

(and I failed on taking pictures...)

BUT. We do know for a fact that they WERE GOOD! Because we left the apar

tment for 15 minutes, and came back to find every single one of the cupcakes devoured.

Who could it have been?

The roommate that never seems to leave her room?

The people that seem to come and go from our apartment like the ebb and flow of the tides?

Or maybe the random kid that is sitting at the counter with pink icing covering his face and crumbs on his shirt?

...This one is gonna be tricky...

Just so you can try this goodness for yourself: (by the way, it was not the orange cake mix that made these so fantastic...)

RASPBERRY BUTTERCREAM ICING

*Add fresh raspberries to a classic buttercream frosting and brighten both the flavor and the color of your favorite layer cake or cupcake recipe (yield 2.5 cups)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened (we discovered that completely melting the butter WAS NOT what "softened" means)

1/2 cup fresh raspberries (we used raspberry jam... YUM-O!)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 (16-oz) package powdered sugar

Preparation

1. beat the first 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy

(AND GUESS WHAT??? IT WAS MY FIRST TIME USING MY ELECTRIC MIXER AND THE FIRST TIME I HAVE EVER ACTUALLY HAD AN ELECTRIC MIXER IN MY APARTMENT!!! ...yes... I am kind of excited about this...)

2. gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended and smooth after each addition

(note: be sure to wash and thoroughly dry raspberries before adding

to frosting... not a problem if you use jam!)

3. EAT and BE MERRY! (cuz you might actually die because of the awesomeness of this icing...)

Ok... so it's killing me that i don't have a picture of what we made... but i'll include this picture just so that you get a little bit of an idea as to how magnificent this was...

Again, this is not my picture... (I am a poor college student... do you seriously think I would have cute table settings like that?)

But it was that good.

I dare you to try some.

I double dog dare you.