Nicole

I love Jim Gaffigan

August 11, 2009

I love Jim Gaffigan. He is hilarious on so many levels. Comedians are amazing… Tom Papa, Dane Cook, Daniel Tosh, Ricky Gervais. Emily and I even went to see Eddie Izzard and Louis CK. (My hatred for Cottonwood Cafe will be ignored right now…. Emily knows why.)

So I bring him up because Price and I watch his special King Baby all the time. And he does it amazing bit about camping. Price and I watched that part several times right before we went to NH.

Jim on Camping

Jim on Hot Pockets

King Baby – Part 1 (you can continue on from there on youtube.)

‘Don’t try to run away from us.. I mean THE BEARS!’

Bacon over the campfire?!?! But of course.

August 10, 2009

Price and I went to Franconia Notch State Park this past Friday-Sunday. It was our second visit to the area for camping. Price is starting to get to know the area well because he is working on hiking all of the 4,000+ foot mountains. He has done some really hard ones so he thought our little hike on Lonesome Lake trail was easy. I wanted to hurt the earty crunchy man that was sprinting up it. The hike was well worth it in the end because we ended up at this fantastic lake. We went a tiny bit off trail to get to the water and sat on some rocks to have our picnic lunch of pepperoni, cheese, crackers, and wine. Needless to say splitting a bottle of Chardonnay leads me to giggle (especially when price slipped in the mud- ‘It’s the wine laughing, not me!’) and have a better outlook when it comes to getting back to camp.

Once back at Lafayette Campgroundwe regrouped for dinner. After a quick trip a grocery store in Lincoln, NH we got our dinner of hamburgers ready. It is so much fun to cook over the campfire. I stopped off in the camp store to get a smores stick and found our that the temps would get down in the 40’s that night. What the hell?!!? It’s August!! Thankfully I always keep a blanket in my car so we had the extra one that I used to stay warm with when were were relaxing by the firs after dinner. Yes, I was sitting in front of the fire. Yes, I was still cold. Repeat: temps quickly dropping to the mid 40’s.

We survived the night. I thought I would have frozen to death but my 2 shirts, fleece, pants, and socks kept me warm enough. Another quick drive down to the grocery store (forgot a spatula) and a cafe for some coffees and we are ready for the day! What better way to start the day than cooking bacon over the fire?!?!? I wish I could cook bacon over a fire all the time. 1) so much fun 2) such a good smokey flavor.

After breakfast we headed up to Echo Lake for some Kayaking. I had not been kayaking since camp (ah I miss camp) but that does not make me forget how to kayak! Our kayak was possessed!!! We paddled on the right, assuming like a normal person that it would turn left, but it went right. We paddled on the left, and it went right, duh! We paddled evenly and it went right. So after some lovely circles in the middle of the Lake we decided that the hour was enough and went back to sit on the beach and watch others have better luck than us.

Back at the camp site we got to relax, read, and nap. I finished Spook by Mary Roach over the weekend. (I’ve read Stiff that I passed on to Price’s dad so I will read Bonk next). Taking an 2+ hour long nap always makes for a good day.

After we finally got up from our naps we did our last dinner over the camp fire, had some roasted marshmallows and watched the fire change to blue and green from this HIGHLY toxic powder I bought at the camp store. Really cool effect but your pretty much dead if you ingest it. Our plan to get up early to swim at Echo Lake was squashed when we realized how cold it was AGAIN that morning. So we drove around the area to see Indian Head and check out Harman’s Cheese, where we got Emily maple cotton candy.

All in all a great weekend. We had a great hike, fun picnic, doomed kayak, lots of good naps, great food, and lots of fun together. On the negative side…my car smells horrible since it is a lovely combo of dirty clothes, dirty shoes, dirty cooking utensils, garbage…. well, you get the idea. Febreeze is my friend.

Carrot Cake- Time to Celebrate August Birthdays

August 6, 2009

There are a lot of people who celebrate their birthday’s in August, including my family and the people I work with. I try to bring in a cake or cupcakes for the people I immediately work with to help celebrate their birthdays. But this time, 8 in one month was a lot to take on! So I figured that I could bring in 1 big one for the office to enjoy with the all the birthday people. I love to bake but I am not bakery! Especially with 4 birthdays in a row!

I made a massive carrot cake for the 8 people who have August birthdays. Requested by Kellie (August 8th birthday)

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Serves 24 (but you can get 36 decent pieces out of it)

2 pound of carrots

3 cups of all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

8 eggs

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed

2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup raisins

2 cups walnuts, finely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Line and grease 2 11”x8” baking pans.

Peel and grate carrots (fine shred with a food processor is okay but a grater has the best results)

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In a very large bowl, beat the eggs until blended. Add the vanilla, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil and beat until well incorporated.

In three batches, add the dry ingredients, mix well.

Fold in the carrots, raisins, and walnuts until they are mixed evenly throughout.

Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, test for doneness.

Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Let it cool completely on a rack prior to icing.

Cream Cheese Frosting

24 oz (3 8oz packages) cream cheese, softened to room temperature, cut into small pieces

¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into small pieces

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

8 cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the vanilla extract to the mixture. Slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar. Beat until fully incorporated and smooth.

This recipe can be reduced in half.

The last time I made this recipe I left out the raisins and walnuts (afraidof nut allergies in the office) and it was a lot drier. This cake was very moist but not as easy to work with, especially when icing it!

It was nice that we were able to gather the majority of the office to get together for some cake and signing instead of our teams. We figure that we will now have a birthday cake for the month and it will be done during the staff meetings. hmmm what will I make for September?

Banana Pecan Muffins

August 5, 2009

The last time I made banana muffins I was doubling the recipe and made a big goof because I did not double the sugar…. I tripled it. In the end I ended up with sugary banana pucks- not dense, just no levening. They were really good, they just gave you a cavity in the process.

Well, I got bananas this past weekend for the purpose of banana muffins- I had been craving them recently. So I got out the mixer and all my ingredients tonight to get some serious banana pecan muffins going.

Banana Muffins with Pecans

18 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease the muffin tins .

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a small bowl, mash 2 of the bananas with a fork so they still have a bit of texture.

In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer, the other 2 bananas and sugar together. You want a light and fluffy mixture, approximately 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Divide the batter evenly between 18 muffins.

Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. You may need to rotate the pan periodically to ensure even browning.

Cool the muffins in the pans for 10 minutes or so, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I felt like mixing things up a bit and used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. The muffins had the same great texture and taste but they did not rise much, compared to when I use all purpose flour. No worries, taste is more important than appearance to me. Plus I made 12 muffins and I used the rest for a mini loaf that I am going to take with us when we go camping this weekend.

Bananas, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla have been incorporated at this point

Adding the whole wheat flour.

Ready for the oven.

A typical Thursday night?

July 30, 2009

Going to Michaels and seeing pumpkins on display?!!? I stress this because it is JULY!!!! JULY!!! JULY!!!

finishing Season 2 of Big Love from Netflix?

starting episodes of the French Chef? Ah I love Julia Child!

attacking slugs that are destroying your plants?

I wonder what tomorrow night brings…

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Time flies by

July 30, 2009

I can’t believe it has been a year since our last visits to New Hampshire and Maine. I am afraid we won’t make it to Deer Isle this summer but we have our NH trip scheduled for two weeks from now. Last year’s attempts at kayaking on the Saco River were foiled by too much rain (made the river too fast) so this year we figure not to even try since we have had the wettest June on Record here and July has not been so great either. So we are sticking to kayaking on a lake in the White Mountains. It will give me the perfect chance to take some great pictures… for scrapbooking. Big surprise there.

Anyone in the White Mountains should see The Flume Gorge and go on the Kancamagus Highway. The Kanc is 32 miles of winding road through the White Mountain Natioanl Forest. A must see in the fall!

Or take a trip to Deer Isle when in Maine. Its sorta in the middle of no-where but it is just amazing. We specifically stay on Sunshine. How can you not enjoying a relaxing time on a place called Sunshine? Plus it is where Price’s mom grew up so it is fun to hear all her stories about life growing up there.

When in Deer Isle head over to Nervous Nellies Jams and Jellies. They have the best jams and jellies! Last year we stocked up and got a case. Their Hot Pepper Jellie is just fantastic! In addition to the jellies you can check out Peter Beerits‘ sculptures on the property. You have not been to Deer Isle until you have seen a dragon made out of ‘junk’.

Supplies:

‘The Flume’ Page- Stampin’ Up! Paper, felt flowers, and brads

‘1 Man’s Trash’ Page- Stampin Up! Paper, HamblyStamped Alphabet rub-ons, Halfway Cafe Diecuts from Cosmo Cricut, and Glitter Mist from Tattered Angels

Out of Africa

July 26, 2009

Yesterdays trip to the zoo was interesting. I had not been to the Franklin Park Zoo in a few years and the last time I went I was chasing after an 18 month old so I was not really take it in. Emily and I decided to go since there has been a big stink lately about the economy hitting the zoo’s state funding. The zoo director played dirty by going public and crying out about the drastic cut in budget by saying the zoo might have to close and as a result euthanize animals. Needless to say, Governor Patrick has been attacked for putting the zoo in such as hard place and the zoo has been chastised for saying it would euthanize animals. (Lineham did come back and say that he was incorrect about euthanizing the animals).

Well, we took this as an opportunity to fork over $13 each to visit the struggling zoo. I use struggling nicely. As a designer, it was really hard to embrace a place that uses laminated sheets of paper tacked up to posts telling people that the Andean Condor saying that the bird was born in the 50’s and acquired by the zoo in the early 90’s (I forgot the exact dates). A zoo is an education place that is to teach everyone about the animals. Did you know that the condor is the largest flying land bird in the Western Hemisphere? No? Well, you would not have known that about the condor going to the zoo for it was not posted on the 1 sign of info about them (I looked it up the the nifty Internet).

I know that I am being really harsh about the zoo and its appearance now, especially when it is facing budget cuts. It just makes me wonder if others even notice what the zoo is lacking or they just view it as a place for them to take their kids to kill a few hours on a Saturday morning? Thoughts?

Enough ranting…

They had quite a few zebras that were in two parts of the zoo. I love their short manes…. mohawks!

We did get to see the lion quite a bit and even hear him roar. He sounded more like the cowardly lion than the ling of the jungle. Still really cute. Check out my video.

Moving along the ill-marked paths we came across two hornbills. We watched them for awhile and one became so comfortable with us there that he? dug up a chunk of dirt and grass, walked over to the enclosure fence and put it down to give to us. Well give in the sense that we were still two feet away from it. Then it stuck its beak out of the fence as far as it could and sat there for awhile watching us.

We also saw flamingos, kangaroos, a tiger, giraffes, butterflies, and more.

Post zoo visit we walked back to my house- 5.5 miles. Sweet.

All in all I know I will go back but I just hope that they get the funding they deserve and outfit the zoo to properly house their animals and educate the public.

Yelp+boat= amazing elite event

July 22, 2009

Price left to go back to NY until Sunday night. I was mopey at our lunch together because it is almost a week apart. He quickly corrected me and said only 5 days. True. At least it is not over 2 months like when he was in Biloxi. Things are just not he same when he is not at home. Oh well, I filled up my week with things to do to be distracted. First things first….

YELP ELITE EVENT!!!!!!

Being that I’m super cool and a yelp elite I was able to go on a cruise around Boston harbor. My +1 and I had a good time cruising in Boston Harbor. It was the very first yelp elite cruise event in the history of all yelp event. Sweet. Plus we got some free beverages (makers mark mojito= yum, MGD 64= piss water) and dinner. It is surprisingly amusing to everyone to see plans landing at Logan- lots of cheering and clapping. It’s not like their wheels were going to hit the top of the boat but it was pretty cool so see them RIGHT above us. Reminds me of driving on the Jersey Turnpike next to Newark Airport. Anyway, the best was the sunset.

Kick back, relax, and scrapbook

July 20, 2009

I organize a Scrapbooking Meetup so that I can have people over to scrapbook. Its great being able to share my stamps and tools with people, esp since I have sooo many stamps!!

Well, I was in slow mo all day and did not get much done. At least I have planned for what I will be doing next…. GREECE!!!

Supplies I used:

Paper and brads- Stampin’ Up!, Tags and accents- Halfway Cafe Diecuts from Cosmo Cricket, Rub ons- Hambly’s Stamped Alphabet, Flowers from a Portafolia Gifted Memories kit.

I love everything that I use to scrapbook but since I am a Stampin’ Up! Demonstrator I can be biased. Great stuff!

Sandcastles in the sky

July 17, 2009

One word- exhausted.

Most three day weekends are relaxing but I took today off so I could go to the Brimfield Antique Show with Emily. Really, I can’t miss a chance to see the stuff that people have dug out of their attics and then buy it. So we planned for the show and then added on the New England Sand Sculpting Festival to make our day jammed pack.

Brimfield was insane. Some things were amazing like this set of dishes from the late 1800’s I wanted (too bad I don’t have $800 just to throw around) and other things were scary/gross like this one tent that smelled like grandma’s closet mixed with dead animal. While we were getting crispy in the sun I found some cool Pyrex, a rabbit postcard from 1906, 2 Vaseline glass juice reamers, and this AMAZING copper pot and Emily found this cool (‘hipster’) necklace and a decanter. The pot was the deal of the day- $50 and great condition. Plus the guy selling it was hilarious- he had this monster sized hands that had massive gold rings on all his fingers. HA!

So after getting a mild sunburn, spending all our cash on old stuff and Pilgrim sandwiches we headed off to the Revere Beach, America’s first beach, to watch grown men (and a woman) play in the sand. Luckily, the temp cooled off a bit and some clouds came in otherwise I would look like a lobsta right now. The sand sculptures were incredible. We hung around for a while watching them build, sadly one collapsed a bit but he quickly got to work on fixing it- I would have just fixed myself a strong drink at that point to take a break.

So glad tomorrow is Saturday so I can sleep in.

HARRY POTTER!!!!!!

July 15, 2009

I had never been to a midnight movie, until now.

Emily, Price and I went to see the 12.01am show at Lowe’s. Emily and I counted down all day until 12am. Price was scared. As excited as we were we did not get that into it. I just can’t rationalize dressing up to see a movie. It was quite entertaining to watch all the wizards crowd into the theatre. If I was a comedian I would have gotten so much great material just from the night’s experiences.

We met at Parish Cafe for some food (no beers- Emily and I have bad luck when it comes to falling asleep and throwing up at shows so we did not want to risk it) . Ran over to CVS for candy. HOLY CRAP! they had strawberry peanut butter M&M’s. Then walked over to Loews. It was crazy town there. Some guy from Lowe’s was on a bullhorn directing people. And then we finally got to see the movie. The movie was fantastic!! But I would like to thank the theater for stating a movie over 20 minutes late. And the annoying guy behind us who banged into our seats every time he left to use the bathroom.

All in all, great night! great movie! great candy! I loved the fact that it was my first midnight movie, that Price was a good sport about they whole night even though I dumped a packet of pop rocks into my mouth, got an inch away from his ear and opened my mouth while we were waiting for the movie to start and kept nudging him when he was starting to fall asleep, and that I managed to get through my day on 3 hours of sleep.

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

I’m on a boat! I’m on a Boat!

July 14, 2009

This weekend started with Price and I finishing the first disc (episodes 1-3) of the second season of Big Love. I love Netflix and Big Love! We love to hate Nicki and we think Rhonda is amazing! In the midst of all the Big Love watching I made a cake for my stepdad’s birthday. I made a double batch of “Over The Top” Chocolate Layer Cake and Classic Chocolate Buttercream from my favorite baking book. I have made some tweaks to the recipes because I have a convection oven but it is a fantastic book.

Saturday morning we drove to the boat. I love driving in the summer- windows down all the way! It makes me miss my jeep and driving around town with the top down. I held the cake the whole way because it started to slide in the case. (Note to self- put some frosting down first then cake to ‘glue’ it to the bottom.)

The dock had organized a lobster bake that consisted of pot luck sides and over 40 lobsters. Once dinner was over I brought out the cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to Richard. While eating dinner I was talking to a genius of a woman who said that essentially the marina is like an expensive trailer park. Genius! Just genius. She is right. Instead of trailers people have boats that they sit out on while you watch a fat man running around without his shirt on, people getting drunk (mid-day), kids screaming and running around, etc. Not to mention my need to watch NASCAR on the back of it. Oh how I love night races on the boat…. While I love being at the boat I will never look at it the same again because of her. Thank you!

Sunday wrapped up the weekend with some outlet shopping (yay new JCrew dress and flippy floppies) and our trip back to Boston. While I should have been doing laundry and food shopping we opted to watch Role Models instead. I love Ronnie. That little kid had a great delivery. Must watch.

Song of the weekend: “I’m on Boat” (feat T Pain)

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.