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Perfect Day for Fun

October 21, 2009

These pictures are well over 2 years old and I finally got around to getting them in a layout. Correction… I already scrapbooked them and hated it so I threw the page out. It was much to dark and busy for my liking. So I reprinted the photos, minus the 1 of me. With 2 4×6 pictures on the page it looked less busy than 3 cropped ones. Plus I was wearing a blue and red stripped shirt- it really contrasted Price’s orange and I wanted him to the be focus since the story was more about him and his first time horseback riding.

All supplies are from Stampin’ Up!

Remember! 20% of all merchandise totals of the months of Sept and October will be donated to Susan G Komen. Support Breast Cancer research and get crafty!! Leaving me a comment explaining you want some info if you are interested in placing an order.

Perfect Picture, Perfect Pair

October 20, 2009

When Price and I were at the Yelp event last week I took pictures with my new Fuji Instax camera. I love the look of them plus it’s fun to get them instantly! Since they were at hand I scrapbooked them this weekend when I hosted a scrapbooking meetup.

This layout is a little flat to me- meh. I love the grey that I used- it is Basic Grey from Stampin’ Up! I got an architectural lettering stencil to use for scrapbooking. I using a Tattered Angels mist for the letter. The tickets are from House of 3. I just love them 🙂 The bird-cage rub-on is from Hambly. I have used their rub-ons before but this one would just not come off the transfer page…. would not! I struggled with this for like 5 minutes. I was not sure if it was because the sheet was slightly textured but I tested another rub-on on a regular sheet and the same thing happened. Hopefully it is just a bad sheet since I love their products. I think that the layout fell flat with the journaling. I might cover this up and rewrite it with a thinner point marker. Oh well, live and learn 🙂

Cranberry Apple Pies

October 18, 2009

Apple Pie is my thing. I won a pie contest at our local library when I was 5/6… no, really ask my Mom! I totally rocked it. Plus I used a Pillsbury crust which made all those grandmas pissed to no end since my pie with store bought crust kicked their pies bottoms with homemade crusts. Must dig that photo out somewhere. (Get on it Mom!) Well, since then I have to make apples pies in the fall. HAVE TO. I signed up for a Meetup event that was a mac and cheese/ pie cookoff so this required me stepping up my game and trying something new. I saw a recipe for an apple cranberry crumb pie in my new gourmet magazine that sounded good but since I hate crumb toppings I had to do things my way.

I was happy with the outcome of my pie since the sweet apple was balanced by the tart cranberry. Plus the cranberries still had a bit of that burst in your mouth consistency. I typically make pies that stack up really high but since I was pressed for time and space in my tiny ‘oven’ I made them average, I guess you could say that. While at the meetup people were saying how interesting and good mine tasted with the cranberries and something else, something they could not figure out. Well that something was ginger. I had an impulse to add some ground ginger and I guess it paid off. Although I used cornstarch, like usual, it still bubbled over. I’m guessing it’s due to the fact that the cranberries gave off more liquid than I expected ( I adjusted the recipe to reflect this). Luckily I put my pie on a sheet pan incase this would happen, also, its easier to take out of the oven for me.

Cranberry Apple Pie

2 crusts for a 9″ pie- homemade or store-bought

7 Cortland apples, peeled, cored, sliced into pieces

1/2 a bag of fresh cranberries, washed- look through for stems

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

zest of 1 orange

juice of 1 orange

2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

3+ tablespoons cornstarch

Preheat oven to 425.

Peel. core, and slice apples. In a large bowl combine the apples, cranberries, and all other ingredients. Mix well. If there is a lot of liquid add a bit more cornstarch to thicken it.

Put 1 crust into 9″ pie plate. Carefully, add all apples and cranberries into pie crust. Cover with the other crust. Trim the edges/excess and cut slits in top crust.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425. Turn oven down to 350 to continue baking, approx 45 minutes. If the crust starts to darken add tinfoil around crust or slip on a crust shield.

Let pie cool 15 minutes before serving. The cooling allows for the juices to thicken.

Serve and enjoy 🙂

And remember… a compost would love all that apple peel and core goodness. At least my compost does!

Oooo a new toy!

October 15, 2009

So I previously posted about getting a Fuji Instant Camera. I ordered my Instax200 awhile ago but it came with no film. I was not expecting much film, I clearly understood I would need to buy more, but since digital cameras come with 32mb memory cards I was really really disappointed that I could not try it out right away. I called all around Boston, Watertown, Somerville, Cambridge, etc and no one carried film for it! Damn 🙁 Well I finally got around to ordering film and it arrived in time to take it to a Yelp Elite Event last night. It was really easy to use and produces great pictures plus I loved getting to show it off. It’s a monster of a camera so you can’t really hide it from people so if you get one have fun but be ready for some looks.

Plus here is a picture of Jack… love the ears!

The Fuji Instax 200 is big… this is it compared to my beat up high heels. They are a size 7.5. You could get the smaller Instax… but your photo is A LOT smaller, clearly.

Good Eats

October 13, 2009

I got to meet and got a book signed by Alton Brown tonight! Yes, the Alton Brown on Good Eats and Iron Chef America and the Next Iron Chef. He’s a busy man. But not too busy to sign a book. Okay, it was for a book tour to promote his new book, Good Eats: The Early Years, but it was still so great to get him to sign the book and take a picture with me.

I met my friend Natalie to go to the signing. We waited in line for about an hour at Brookline Booksmith. We were excited!!

As we got closer we got more excited, plus we could see him!

And then it was our turns! I got the book signed for Price and me so Alton asked who Price was. I told him my boyfriend. Noticing that there was no boy with me he asked where he was and I told him in class. ‘Class for what?’ ‘ Architecture’ ‘ Cool, but there are already so many buildings. You made the right choice coming here tonight.’ Oh, Alton I agree 🙂

Grin and Bear it

October 12, 2009

Our company participates in an architectural softball league. We are in the C league- since we are okay and don’t take ourselves seriously- like people bring beers to base or outfield. And if you knock it over as you run around… you are in trouble! I have gone in the past to cook and take pictures but this year I decided it would be ‘fun’ to play. Since I have no coordination I decided catcher would be good since you don’t want an outfielder who can’t throw far or a basemen who ducks at balls. Well, catcher has to throw the ball back every time. Damn! I forgot that is part of the game. So I whined my way through the season (sorry Mike) and was eager to express my excitement when we had enough players so I did not have to play! Yay! I would grill and take pictures so it really was hard playing, grilling, and taking pictures.

This page explains my feelings about softball with a picture from our first game- when it was still new and exciting to me!

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 🙂