Friday, August 26, 2011

Scones!

It's no secret that I adore sweet baked items. If I had to rank texture of said sweets, it ascending order it would go: sticky (cinnamon rolls), gooey (butter cake), crumbly (biscotti), dry & cake-y (tea biscuits, scones).

Now, don't misinterpret, all of these are highly ranked, in fact, now I find myself craving a cinnamon roll, but I digress...

Every time I go to Starbucks, I buy 3 of those petite vanilla bean scones. They're so tasty. I love the little crack as I bite into the vanilla bean glaze. Yum. After scouring (OK, I looked at a few sites), I decided upon the Pioneer Woman's mock up. And, while I'm discussing the Pioneer Woman, I feel disappointed at how commercial she has become. I think it's awesome that her blog is popular, it's also super cool that she has a cookbook, but really, a show on the food network? Eh. I've lost my interest.

Anyhow, (man! why do I keeping going off on tangents?) I made her scone recipe, except I used pure vanilla extract instead of vanilla beans (or caviar as she calls it, which actually, is kind of annoying). Sorry Pioneer Woman, I may have your love of cooking, baking, and photography, but I do not have your bank account.

Summation: the scones were very good, I will make them again, but smaller.
They weren't *exact* replicas texture-wise, but they are super delicious either way.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Missing my Boys


Last night I had a dream about Carlos & Charlie. It wasn't a good dream. In my dream, they were alive, but both in the process of dying. It was awful and sad. The night before that I had a dream that Abby got into their ashes and found large pieces of identifiable bone: a piece of jaw, and a paw.

Charlie has been gone for almost 4 years, Carlos, not even a year. I miss them both terribly and think about them every day. I am fighting tears now as I write this.

We have two cats now, but they are not really involved in our lives. Zelda is very independent and George sleeps most of the day, comes out at night to torment Zelda and bite and/or scratch me. There is no cat-on-cat or cat-on-human cuddling. It is very sad. I miss my boys.

This is me and Carlos. I don't have any pictures of Charlie on this laptop. :(

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Coasters.

Inspired by the simplicity of this find on pinterest. (And the fact that I have all supplies on hand!) Abby & I made coasters. We had coasters, they're made of cardboard, which is a really stupid substance for a coaster to be made from, really.

This coaster is made from tile, paper, and felt, mod podge, and water-based sealer. Abby made a set and I made a set. She did everything herself, so it's a really easy project for kids to do!

Adaptations: I cut the paper a bit shorter than the size of the tile, so the paper didn't overlap. I also didn't have the little sticky felt pieces, so I just cut up some felt and glued it to the bottom. These are cute ideas for housewarmings, holidays, whatever. I think they'd also look cute with fabric scraps.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Time Suck.

As if facebook, flickr, and etsy aren't enough of a time suck, I've added a new website to the mix. Pinterest.
It's a site of virtual idea boards. You can "pin" images from any website onto a designated board. I have several boards including: lunch ideas, halloween, cloche hat, and cat-related items. One of the cool things about this site is that it gives proper credit to the original site. Kudos, pinterest!



This is such a cool idea because it negates the need for my annoyingly unorganized, endless array of bookmarks. Such a cool idea for redoing a room in your house, or anything really. You can also select ideas you're interested in (DIY, photography, technology, music, etc.). You can also see the pins of other people who share similar likes, styles, and tastes. Chalk this up to another, "Why the eff didn't I think of that?!" idea

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Powder Room Cupcakes

So, a couple (few?) years ago my lovely friend Heather purchased Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and surprised me with it. I've made many a cupcake from that book, although, admittedly, I often didn't make them vegan. I just like the clever cupcake flavors.
Each time I look through that book, 2 cupcakes stand out. The green tea cupcakes, which I've made numerous times (non-vegan) and love. I make myself a green tea cake for my birthday each year (OK, 2 years in a row, but probably for the rest of my life until I decide that I don't feel like baking myself a cake anymore.) My daughter hates it, but I don't care. It's my birthday and if I want to pay $11.00 an ounce for matcha, then I'm gonna do it, dammit!
The second cupcake is the cover girl of the book. Rosewater pistachio. I know. I don't really care the pistachio as a nut, but in things, it doesn't bother me. And rosewater, I had no idea what it tasted like, but it sounds cool and worthy of a fancy-schmancy cupcake. On a trip to Whole Foods, at least six months (probably closer to a year) ago, I purchased some rosewater. It's been sitting in my cabinet.
I finally put it to use. It smells good, but not edible. I blame this on my Aunt Rose. Well, she's my great-aunt, but whatever.
She had a "powder room" off of her kitchen. It was overly pink and smelled rosy. I didn't realize it at the time, but the second I had a sniff of the clear liquid I was about to pour into cupcakes, I was immediately was standing in Aunt Rose's powder room. Gross. I'm about to flavor the cupcakes with the scent of a bathroom.

So, I can't really give an unbiased opinion of these cupcakes since I feel like I'm eating bathroom smell. I think it's needless to say that I will not be making these again. Abby enjoyed the first bite and finished the cupcake, but didn't want anymore. And she doesn't even have the bathroom memories, so that says something.
Oh, I didn't add the cardamom that the recipe calls for because I've realized that I only like cardamom in chai. It annoys me in anything else.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Resurrection!

More than 365 days have passed since I've written in this blog. Not more than a week goes by that I think about resurrecting it. Today. Today is the resurrection. Please mark this day on your calendar (Heather, my sole reader).

So, what has occurred in the past 12 months? Lots of baking, sewing, and knitting. I also started a book reviewing blog with the child, which I've enjoyed enormously, but, alas! it is now defunct. Mainly because, (looking around shiftily), I have library books that are late. Very late. Months late. I am embarrassed to admit this publicly, even more embarrassed to own up to my crime at the local branch. Also, I feel like I enjoyed the blog more than the child. It got to the point where I could feel her eyes roll. I don't want her to hate reading books because her mother wants to blog about it. Heaven knows I don't want her to resent me for making her do things that I want to do, but she has no interest in...

Which, leads me to the second big thing of the year. Therapy. It's been helpful and stressful. I've also started writing in a journal again. The last time the journal was written in was December 7, 2005. The day before the child was born.

And school. I stopped going to school. I don't feel like getting into the whole thought process, but I'm very pleased with my decision. It's allowed me much more time to read. I've read so many amazing books since quitting school: The Help, I Know This Much is True, Water for Elephants, just to name a few.

Yeah, other things have happened, but nothing really comes to mind right now.

To conclude, enjoy a teaser photo for the next post.