Archives for October 2009

In a far off land and time…

October 11, 2009

Price, Emily, and I went to King Richard’s Faire today to take in all the costumes, music, food, and drink that can be consumed in a day. The costumes themselves were enough to give you mental overload, but at every turn there was something new, a guy in a purple dragon costume, ‘naughty’ pirates (not sure how that fits in with the Medieval or Renaissance theme), tigers, mud fights, a LIGER!, and much more.

Hercules the Liger- yes that’s a cross between a Lion and Tiger! He holds the title of largest healthy cat in the Guinness book of world records

Emily got to hold an owl!

This man had wings!!!

I can’t wait to scrapbook this!!

Quote of the day: ‘Mommy, that pirate music sounds Scottish!’- said by cute little girl in princess costume

dogs!!!!

October 11, 2009

Since we can’t get a dog in our current apartment now or really juggle the responsiblities of a dog and school now maybe this will work?

*check Improv Everywhere for their other cool work.

Monkey Bread

October 9, 2009

Over 4 years ago Price and I spent Memorial Day Weekend in Rockport, MA. We stayed at the Sally Webster Inn, a cute B&B that is walking distance to the historic district. While there we had this sweet, sticky, yummy breakfast… it was the first time we ever had Monkey Bread. We had never heard of it before so we eagerly asked what it was and how to make it. Our inn keeper told us how simple it was to make so we decide that we must try it at home later on. I have made it several times since but I don’t typically make it at home since it makes a lot, I have even cut it in half when we have had a few people stay over and it is a lot. Plus, let’s be honest, it’s not really healthy…. you’ll see.

Every friday my office has this thing called Pod Breakfast. It just means that 1 person brings in breakfast for our different pods (sections of open workstations). So today is my turn for Pod Breakfast. Since I started working at Gensler 3 years ago Sept I have made Monkey Bread for all but 1 of my turns. I’m kinda sad that I missed that one but I know at the time I correctly choose sleep over getting up early to bake.

I make Monkey Bread and either make something else or purchase something else. I have done everything from a large fruit salad to McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches. So I had to decide what my other item would be… since we just made waffles last weekend I had that on the brain and settled on that. I got up at 6 this morning (luckily I did not snooze for 30-40 minutes like usual) and went to the grocery store to get all the supplies I would need for monkey bread and buttermilk waffles.

Making the monkey bread was easy, like usual, and prepping for the waffles was a breeze however I put the eggs in the fridge and forgot them at home. Damn! I was so annoyed since I had to run out to the closest convenience store to get eggs. Just another thing to juggle this morning. The big scheme it was not a big deal since I made 3 batches of waffles but it slowed me down at the start. Once I got going everything went smoothly- I think I ended up making 45+waffles- which were served with syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream. I sent up a table for the monkey bread and the waffle prep. The monkey bread was a hit since it is a sugary, buttery, sweet breakfast bread. I felt bad that I forgot to invert it since I was so busy with the waffles but it was still good. Inverting the monkey bread allows the buttery ‘caramel’ to sink back into all of the pieces.

Monkey Bread

4 pack of buttermilk rolls (I use Pillsbury)

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon

1 to 1 1/2 sticks of butter (depends on if your heart/hips can take it)

pre=””>Preheat the oven to 350. Use a bundt pan or a loaf pan for the monkey bread. Spray with nonstick cooking oil.

In a large bowl mix the sugars and cinnamon together.

Using clean, sharp kitchen scissors cut every roll into 4 pieces.

While you are cutting the pieces melt the butter.

Roll all pieces in the cinnamon sugar mixture until coated. Place all pieces in the pan. Pour the butter overall the pieces. Cook for 30 minutes. be sure to check on the monkey bread so it does not brown to quickly. Invert the monkey bread onto a plate, serve warm.

Work in Progress

October 8, 2009

I am a work in progress.

I am constantly working (or at least thinking) about what I can do next, how I should/could have done that better, when is it time to give up, etc. I have these lovely thoughts through my head all day long. My to do list is constantly running through my head…get more rabbit hay from the garage, put away clothes, do homework, get my car serviced, etc. I keep waiting for my life to really start. Yes, I have been on the 3rd rock from the sun for about 25 years now but I just don’t feel like anything has really started.. The main issue is that I have been at school since Sept ’03 and I am not done yet. I keep telling myself that things will be different once I am done…. I will get more sleep, I won’t be so forgetful, I will have more time to scrapbook, I will get to the gym more, our apartment will be really clean, etc. I just have to remind myself that I will be done with classes in 10 weeks and I walk in May.

In the mean time I scrapbook when I can and make a horrible mess while doing it 🙂

A Sweet 24th Birthday

October 6, 2009

I just scrapbooked a few of the pictures related to my 24th birthday. I have a few more to go but at least it is started. Only 9 1/2 months later….

I loved the color pallet of the background paper. It was neutral so it let the colors in the photos pop.

Patterned paper, solid paper, ribbon, scalloped scissors, sub ones, vinyl accent

Sun and Smiles

October 4, 2009

I finally got around to scrapbooking pictures from a dinner cruise Price and I went on last summer. It was fun to play with color and patterns.

Supplies: Blue patterned paper: Cocktail Dress Stripe from Luxe; Solid Paper, Flower Pattern Paper, ribbons, rub-ons, dimensionals all from Stampin’ Up! (Striped Patterned Paper is unknown)

Buttermilk Waffles

October 3, 2009

We woke up to rain. Lots of rain. Rain pounding down on the skylight over the stairs. Rain does funny things to you. It makes you want to cancel all of your plans just so you can hibernate while watching bad movies and cooking shows. Luckily, Price had a class to go to and I wanted to get to Harvest Fest in Somerville so we were ‘forced’ outside. At least I got to make a comforting breakfast for us… waffles.

Last year my boss Helen gave me the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. It was a thank you for making all the birthday cakes for our then pod (now I do them for the office). I love the structure of the book as it gives a detailed description of the recipe for an introduction and the recipe amounts are given in several ways from volume and weight measurements. Also, at the end of each recipe there is a section called ‘understanding’ that explains little things about the recipe, like cake flour has less gluten-forming protein than all-purpose flour. There is a pine cone cake (you can see the picture on amazon) that I am dying to try… too cute! Anyway, whenever I want to make waffles now I go to this book for a great buttermilk waffle recipe.

This waffles have a great tangy flavor without overpowering your palate. There is a lot of butter in the recipe so you don’t even have to add anymoreon top. The butter in the batter also helps create a crisp crust. We always make the whole batch and freeze the waffles to save them for a weekday breakfast (as if there is any time) or a dinner.

Buttermilk Waffles

Makes 6-8 8″ Waffles

Ingrdients

1 3/4 cups unsifted cake flour or 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2 cups of buttermilk*
16 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Process

Wisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Beat the eggs and buttermilk together in a small bowl.
Combine the buttermilk and eggs into the flour mixture. Mix lightly with a fork until the flour is moistened. Mix in the melted butter. The batter should be lumpy.
Cook in your waffle iron. A really hot iron will produce a better waffle- nice crisp edges!

Note-You can freeze up to 2 months. When freezing the waffles free them separately and then store or place a piece of parchment paper between each waffle before freezing.

*If you don’t have buttermilk on hand you can make your own with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar for every cup of milk and let it sit for 5 minutes