Dad is 50!

My dad turned 50 last week so we made him a birthday dinner and dessert. My mom made me marinate the chicken which meant I had to touch raw chicken. That is probably the number one grossest food item for me. I usually make Sean handle the chicken! For dessert I helped my mom make dad's favorite dessert: cheesecake! I also made a chocolate cake because my brothers do not like cheesecake (strange, I know!) Nothing was burnt, everything turned out delicious and my dad was quite happy with his birthday meal. I think this made me a bit cocky when I tried making the next cake.

I had to bribe my sister to stop home on her way to Florida. Since food makes the best bribe, I decided to do my take on a Black Forest cake. Instead of the traditional cherries, I added raspberries. After the first attempt I learned that I should probably read the directions through entirely before I begin cooking!

I accidentally added the powdered sugar in with the cake mix, which made it more brownie like. This wouldn't have been a big deal if I had realized it before I put it into the pans to bake. When you have more ingredients than you are supposed to, it gives you more batter! Cleaning out the oven from the batter overflowing was so much fun.

The round brownie/cakes didn't taste bad, but there was not enough to salvage to make into a cake. So I started over. I didn't feel like cleaning the round pans right away so I cooked the second attempt in a rectangle pan. The resulting cake did not look exactly like the picture on the recipe...

Now to add the frosting. Oh, but wait, I need heavy whipping cream?! Well I only had regular whipping cream so it turned out a bit soupy. Regardless of the look of the final product it was a big hit with my sister and my dad (who originally thought I was going to make that for his birthday too!) I have become less frustrated when my tries at baking grandeur go awry. If it tastes good and people enjoy eating it, that is all I am after right now. I can practice for my appearance on Food Network's Cake Off another day.

Peppers and scallions and birdcages...oh my!

This week I started some of my gardening for the season. My husband says that I can never grow anything because I just forget about it. I have set out to prove him wrong! (sorry sweetie!)

I built a container for my bell peppers, hot peppers and scallions yesterday so I can start them indoors. I didn't want to buy anything so I used this bottomless box that was just hanging around my dad's workshop. I used some old screen and stapled in on the bottom. I lined it with newspaper and then made containers using more strips of newspaper. We even had potting soil, so the only things I had to buy were the seeds! Let's hope that I can remember to keep the soil moist.

I hope to start more veggies soon, but I have to find a place in the yard that I want to plant these. I am thinking about doing a container garden so I can move it if I want, which is likely to happen. I love to reorganize and rearrange, a trait I inherited from my mother.


Also this week, I tried my hand at making a birdcage veil. Diane of Parsons Photography asked me to make one for an upcoming ad shoot. I had too much fun testing it out! I plan to experiment with different flowers, netting, colors and hopefully I will add feathers! I am a little obsessed with peacock feathers at the moment. I think a black veil with peacock feathers would be super HOT!

I see the sun!

The sun has finally shown itself here in New England! Sophia and I are going to go for a walk to take it all in. This week I have been hard at work making arm warmers. I made my very first Etsy sale this week! ::dance dance:: I also made Brazilian Pastels with my brother. It took some experimenting, but we now know that chives and oregano make the best flavor combination!

Here is the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon of cachaça (or vodka) 1 tablespoon margarine 1/3 cup warm water with 2 pinches of salt ½ teaspoon baking powder 1 egg
PREPARE:
Sift the flour with baking powder. In a large bowl, mix in the sifted flour, margarine, cachaca and egg. Mix well while adding the warm water until you get a dough.  (Or you can prepare the dough in a electric mixer). Move the dough to a flat surface and knead it for 15 minutes. Use a pin to flat the dough. Take half of the dough each time and flatten it with the pin. Fold the dough couple times and flatten it again until you get a thin elastic stripe about 6 inches wide. Lay the stripes down in a floured surface. Place full teaspoons of your favorite filling evenly distributed on the dough. Fold it and cut with a glass or a cookie cutter. Pinch with your finger (or fork) the seam to make sure it is closed. Deep-fry the Pastel at 350 °F for about 8 minutes or until golden brown. Pat dry in a paper towel and serve.

We really enjoyed these, next time we are going to try them with salsa and a filling of chives, oregano and maybe some pepper-jack cheese. Let me know if you try any other delicious combinations!

A friend from book club gave me the recipe for chocolate chip meringues, which I hope to try out sometime next week! This weekend is going to be pretty busy. I am meeting with Diane from Parsons Photography to work on my Photoshop skills and then it's straight from there to pick up my sister in Boston. Once we get home, we will be greeted by friends. I'm convinced that they are throwing the party in our honor and not just because they want to have a Good Friday get together! The next morning we are again going to Diane's to do more photo stuff and after that there will be an Easter0 egg hunt at our friend Liss' place! And then, of course, we have to come home and color eggs for our own Easter celebration on Sunday. All of this on top of making not one but two pairs of long fingerless gloves. The second pair is going to be in a charity auction for the West Hartford Rotary!

I don't believe I will get much reading or cooking done this weekend. :)

A New Attitude

I have been feeling sort of blah this past week (hence the no posting) but I'm finally over it! I think it has to do in part with my new rock star haircut! I have wanted to cut my hair short for some time now, but  just haven't had the courage until yesterday. My mom and friend both got their hair cut this week and it gave me the push I needed to make the change.

In cooking news, I made some delicious cinnamon cranberry mini muffins for our book club meeting last night. I want to try to make some meringues because there were some delicious chocolate ones available last night that I would love to be able to duplicate. I wonder if they're as hard to make as I think they are. We shall see!

I am a little obsessed with feather head pieces lately. I hope to make some to wear this weekend. They will look really cute with my new 'do! This cut is an inspiration in itself and I can't wait to make accessories to match my new style!

Spinach Bars and Molasses Crinkles

My mom and I had a Dining for Women dinner last night and we had to bring a dish. By we, I of course mean me. So I decided to try my hand at Spinach Bars...what goes best with that? Molasses Crinkles! Yes, it may be an odd combination but they were served at different times so it worked!  The spinach bars are basically a spinach quiche without the crust. Surprises of surprises it was a hit at the dinner! One woman even said she would hire me to cook for her. Possible career change? No, probably not, but it does means that my hubby won't have to cook all the time.

My mom came home while I was making the molasses crinkles and was shocked that I was still making them. They take about 10 minutes to cook. We only had 45 minutes before the dinner! She decided that we might be able to make them in time :) I couldn't seem to get a uniform size from the cookies.

I tried to make them smaller but  then the very next one would be about 2x the size! Oh well, I'll just have to cook some more to get more practice.
When I told my hubby that my food was a hit, he said he always knew I could cook with a recipe, especially when it didn't involve heating water. No risk of burning it (yes, that really happened!).

Until next time, craftily yours!

Rainy Weekend

What a rainy weekend! I was in Hartford's St. Patty's Day Parade on Saturday and it wore me out! It turned out to be a pretty do nothing weekend. I finished up a crochet project that I was working on. It's a baby sling/photo prop. I only frogged it 2 times before I got it the way I wanted! 
My plans for this week include more bread (yummy!), finishing a bag for a friend and  making more arm cosies. I am going to head for the library too. All this rain makes me want to read a good book and curl up by the fire. I just finished $64 Tomato. It was a funny read, one I highly recommend!

Carrot Soup

I have really been craving some carrot soup lately. We used to have it a friend's house during Christmas every year, but this year they changed it up with a lobster bisque. Still delicious, but not what I wanted! I mean, I still ate it of course...you can't be rude! I decided to take the plunge and make my own with the carrots we had growing in our fridge. I found a recipe online and modified it to our ingredients on hand.

Voila! Carrot soup. I think I should have followed the recipe a little more exactly because it turn out a little peppery and more like a carrot puree until I added more chicken stock!

What goes better with carrot soup than freshly made bread?! Nothing, so I made bread. It was a little underdone, but I completely blame the bread machine and not my lack of cooking skills for that one! Overall it was a nice meal, if a little peppery. Next time I'll know to a. use less pepper and b. make more bread!