Daring Baker April - Chickie Pops

Ok - Really - these are cheescake pops - DELICIOUS and (although time consuming, yet easy). This month I was finally challenged to bake in a water bath (not being a fan of flan, or brulee, or any such such, I've never really had much reason for a water bath).

At any rate - on with the show:

This is finally in the pan. Because I made a half a batch (this month's challenge happened the same weekend as my daughter's birthday - and THAT much dessert in the house is dangerous at best) I opted to use my hand mixer instead of my Kitchenaid. It was a bit of a strain on the poor thing, but it worked well. Out of the oven. I think I MIGHT have cooked it a wee bit too long, but it smelled awesome! After this, it was left to cool to room temp, then wrapped up and thrown in the fridge overnight.

After all of the "chillin'" (overnight in the fridge) there was some scooping (which didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped/anticipated, but tidied up after a little cool-palmed rolling). Then back into the cold (this time the freezer) for a number of hours. Then a nice warm chocolate dip (making me think a lot of the nordic sauna process) and a roll in the pretty pretty, and voila - yummy deliciousness in a tidy little bite size. My family LOVED these... me too!

Daring Baker March - Perfect Party Cake

A day late.

or two

and THIS is all that was left.

honestly.

i turned my back and before the frosting, before the fruit, she was at it.

it was good...

belive me.

and if you don't believe me -

ask my daughter, the chomper

FLAKEY air-head Baker

I had this stuff done on the 27th and totallly forgot to post.

February's Daring Bakers challenge was Julia Child's French Bread

8+ hours for three loaves of very nice tasty bread (that didn't have as many gaping holes as I would have liked) but BOY isn't it pretty?

Down with Winter

I am officially done.
I don't want any more cold and grey.
I have completely steeped myself in hot tea (and drowned my sorrows in almond cookies) and I don't want any more.
Bring on the sunshine and warmth - and yes, even the sloggy wetness that is spring.

SOMEONE - threaten me with the promise of bathing suit season to awaken my urgency in this pursuit of the ever-elusive "healthy lifestyle."

I want to walk on a beach,
I want to CHOOSE not to wear shorts.
I want bare feet and the chore of mowing the lawn.
I want lemonade and grilled meat-stuffs.

ah.
sigh.

as an aside

just looked back at my sweeney todd post
and it occurred to me
that johnny depp has a very beautiful skull.

blu

lost a friend over the weekend
a precious light, too soon snuffed

my heart is heavy
and i'm screaming-at-the-soul angry with him
and i'm tired of knowing too many dead

still too sad for many words.

my january daring baking

I LOVE lemon meringue pie. It's absolutely KILLNG me that I haven't eaten it yet, but I'm waiting for MT to get home.

I didn't like making the crust at all - - i'm not used to using butter in my pie crust, and mixing it in the food processor didn't work the way i thought it would (the Barefoot Contessa makes it look so easy). Still, I'm thinking it's going to taste great - - i hope the butter gives it a nuttiness that a Crisco crust doesn'thave.

The lemon curd i DID taste, and HO-Doggie, is that stuff good. I've never had vanilla in a lemon curd before, and man am i nuts abou tit. This is DEFINITELY going to be my new curd recipe!

I've seen some great things trolling the other bakers blogs and I'm geeked to give them a try!

the approach

my birthday is coming.
it's a "nine"
which is right on par with the "fives" for bad birthdays.
unlike most of the rest of the world, i embrace the decades, as they have always felt, to me, like a fresh start on a new chapter.

i came across this song in my iTunes and it made me smile. i think i have the lyrics right.
it's taking myself too seriously, of course, but isn't that what approaching birthdays are for?

The Darkest Star

oh you sad one
playing the angel
isn't so easy where you're from

oh you wild one
devil's companion
you won't stay satisfied for long

i don't want you to change anything you do
i don't want you to be someone else for me

oh you dark one
eternal and silent
caught in the spider's web you've spun

oh you blind one
gentle and kind one
seeing the world as a loaded gun

i don't want you to change anything you do
i don't want you to be someone else for me

stay as you are
the darkest star
shining for me
majestically

~ depeche mode

and a li'ol of the Mr. Todd dunnit hurt much neevah...

oh yeah - - and we saw Sweeney Todd the demon barber of Fleet Street on Sunday to boot.

And oh, but doesn't a little Johnny Depp (and a dash of Alan Rickman) do a girl's heart a world of good?

I'm ridiculously drunk on blinkety blink blink....

nothing's broken but can't be fixed...

i have been BLUE lately.

just miserable unhappy sad and down.

i've been blaming it on post-holiday-stress-disorder

i've been blaming it on the weather

i've been ridiculous

no one and nothing to blame it on but me

God love him, my husband bought me the Marie Antoinette soundtrack.

There are songs in here that - for a wild-child of the 80's - are an actual balm for the soul.

(yes, for me - the AntGirl - Kings of the Wild Frontier is the number one among these)

In the hour that it took me to drive to work, listening all the way I could feel the blues peeling off me like layers of onion skin.

Am i 100% happy and full of teen-aged bliss?

Hell no.

But I have a new (royal family) outlook on how to get there.

And it involves a little bit of flirting with the world

and a LOT of AntMusic!

Look out world...

Bad bad fin

i'm too on vacation.
i haven't done anything (including my daring bakers challenge - - but I think i'm going to apologize for that one beg clemency and move on).

the house is only barely livable.

i think we're on the verge of eating the pets - - or resorting to cannibalism. I'm worried for my husband, since there is more of him, with less fat, and well, there are two girls in the house... majority rule and all that. besides the only alternative for me would be to eat the baby, and she was too much work to make.

ok - - i'm starting to sound like a Palahniuk book. Time to be serious.

I've been having a delightful time with my husband, daughter, and pets. We've plenty of food, and I'm already struggling with the thought of returning to work.

sigh....

Fa La La Flllt...

Long days at work prevent me from enjoying the long evenings of the approaching winter.
(i'm a die hard - - regardless of the freezing and whatnot, it is Autumn until the 21st, dammit)

I have a long list, as well, of things to do and make and wrap. I'm fortunate that this year it doesn't (yet) include a long list of "things to attend" as well. I'm about out of attend-tion right now. I'm looking forward to tea and wrapping and holiday music. I'm not sure I'll get it, but I really like the thought of it. More likely, it will be another year of Christmas Eve marathon "wrapping" in bags. I really wanted to avoid that this year - - saving the bags for those odd (read - jacked up) shaped gifts that don't lend themselves to wrapping.

The worst part is that I still have shopping to do. My husband and I have to brave the toy store (or the equivalent) to collect the pieces left for our daughter. There are quite a few, too. I determined myself, this year, that I wouldn't run out and do it all myself - - allowing my DH to participate, with me, in the joy that is shopping for children. We have a few gifts for friends that hover on the horizon as well... these vex me most of all, because at least for the Foo we have a list. For them .... not so much.

End of humbug...

should be...

- wrapping the presents i do have.
- making presents still on my list.
- making a list of the other stuff I still need to get.
- deciding what to put on the list of stuff that I still need to get.

- having some breakfast before my brain melts.

New Daring Baker

I'm a newbie to the Daring Bakers - - this month, my first month - - and a great experiment with Tender Potato Bread.

I've been baking since I was knee-high, and love it. I grew up on home baked bread (didn't know from WonderBread until my friend introduced me - - i'm still not a fan). This summer I decided that our "main loaf" of bread in the house - at all times - would be home made. And yet, this was my first foray into Potato Bread.

The photos below should tell you why:

The recipe and the spud - who knew ONE potato could weigh enough to feed an entire loaf of bread?

Sponge - nice and yeasty and full of bubbley goodness. So far, things are looking great, and I'm wondering why those braver than I were complaining about this recipe.

The source of all complaining. This was the gummiest, stickest, meanest "ball" of bread dough that I've ever laid hands on. The "ewww" factor here was palpable. For the better part of an hour I was NOT AT ALL friendly to anyone even coming near the kitchen.

FINALLY rising - and looking (and feeling) something like I've come to expect bread to feel. I have to admit that *I* feel, here, like I've conquered the beast, and am finally in control of my kitchen again.

Finally done...

the rolls, and the bread bowls - filled with a really nice homemade chili and served warm. This was the best.

oh - and an update

i got my bulbs in the ground. we had a decent day last saturday. the special added bonus was that the ones that i thought were bound to be mostly wrecked, actually turned out to be mostly ok. so i planted them too.

if only i would have had just a leeeetle more gumption - - i would have taken down the purple halloween lights.

that has to happen this week. while it's not frigid outside. so the red and white ones can go up.

i'm not turning them on though (like so many of my neighbors) - -at least not until the first of the month.

for pete's sake.

swingin' with monkeys

my friend belle sent me an inter-office mailer this week.

inside is a card with a photo of a girl on a swing with a chimp and a quote from HDT -
"There is no remedy for love but to love."

it's nice.

it makes me think of "Love is love's reward."

simple.

reminders about what my heart is about... and has been, all along.

she's good that way.

where did my autumn go?

ok - so one day it's halloween, and i turn around and the next thing i know i'm in the living room with a blanket on my lap and debating what to bake to help keep the house warm.

it's not even 40 degrees outside. WHAT is up with this?

i don't have my bulbs in the ground.
which means freezing my fingers in wretched cold dirt to get them all nestled in for their long winter's nap. pleh.

and Christmas shopping?
Don't even make me laugh.

bah

by the bye

my Wii age = 75

of course, i believe this is 75 in "gamer years" which puts me at probably about 25.
and i'm good with that

no - really - - they 'figure' your age based on your ability to return virtual tennis balls, hit a virtual baseball, and bowling. it's all about timing and aim - -with the Wii-stick

if boxing were included in their fitness test, i'd probably be 90.

boxing

i have been beaten up by our Wii.

we've had it for a while - - maybe almost a month now. but mostly i've been doing things like bowling, and Zelda, and a whole lot of watching (my favorite video game activity). on Sunday, though, miss foo asked me to play the boxing game. and i did - and had a blast - for three rounds. after that i was (out of shape) panting and tired. it felt like a good workout, and i was glad to be done... but i wasn't sore.

saturday we went to the terrorfied forest and had a blast. it was just as spooky (if not more so) as i remembered. i was giddy. i loved it (and was SO mad at myself for having missed the HauntCon walk through this summer) and only suffered a little pain in my shoulders from the grabbing and pulling and holding.

sunday was the boxing incident.

last night, while grocery shopping, my muscles quit working and i felt like i wasn't able to breathe or reach or really, move so much. and, of course, as one so disconnected from regular exercise, for my life i couldn't figure out why. later, it dawned on me.

i told my husband that i'm never playing that game again.
being the sage that he is, he recommended i play it three times a week.

sha...

Heat and Haunt

Dang but it was hot this past weekend.

Our local community held their apple/harvest festival, and basically it was a slew of sweaty, (mostly) smoking folk crowding the streets, looking at "crafts" and eating absolute JUNK. Apart from the smoking part, that included me, too. I'm quite certain my arteries still haven't forgiven me for the elephant ear.

Oh, and we went through the spook house too - - i don't think i've laughed that hard at something that was supposed to be scary in I don't know how long. It was a ride (with tin "doom-buggies") that circled three times past the same (mostly unlit) scenes of skully heads and LOTS of clanging of doors and gears and who-knows-what. Our three year old wasn't even really scared - - granted, she's a brave one.

The rest of the weekend was really just watching, with some astonishment, the traffic (mostly on foot) up and down our street from wherever they were parking to an entry point into the fray.

This weekend - - HalloWeekends at Cedar Point. I have the adult tickets (thanks to discount at work) and we'll be getting the little one when we get there. This is HER trip... and I'm geeked. I know she wants to go on rides. I know she wants to play games (and win a big guitar!). For me? It's watching her learn to love this kind of fun. The weather looks like it's going to be friendly. All that's left is making a warm "costume" for her (a sweatsuit pony maybe?) so she can feel double plus special.

Ok - so that's all the good news for the morning...