Kitchen Jeopardy

Answer: Something TRS thought she could salvage for some use, possibly even dinner.

(She didn’t and ended up throwing out the concoction anyway)

Thawed

So, in my moving frenzy, I made a mistake last Sunday – I went to sleep. Here’s how last week shaped up:

Wednesday, August 8: everything from my storage unit was transferred to a truck and moved to my house in Indy.

Friday, August 10: I loaded a bunch of stuff into my RAV4, and my goal for the evening is sorting enough in my bedroom so I could sleep on my bed and see part of the floor.

Sunday, August 12: I pick up my remaining items in Bloomington, along with my fridge and freezer items. I promptly bring everything into the house, however, before I remember to put it in the freezer, I collapse on my bed. Since I haven’t been sleeping well the past week and a half, I was up at 4:30 or 5 AM.

My first thought: “Oh, crap! Freezer!”

Three Decades

Yesterday, I turned 30.

It’s funny how I had the same experiences this year and last year, in that at the beginning of July I felt depressed. I came downstairs a week before my 29th birthday, my roommate said “Good morning,” and I promptly burst into tears. Yet, the day of, I was fine. There’s not a thing you can do about turning a year older. All it does is mark the passage of time.

No rules exist which state that by 23 you MUST be graduated from college and be supporting yourself. Nor that you must be married by 27 and have babies by 30. Nor does anything say that you must get married and that if you don’t get married, your career needs to be of utmost fulfillment so you can have something to stave off those who give you that questioning look.

Anyway, 30 was okay. A few days before, I wasn’t a fan. There had been a lot of transition in the preceding weeks, so yet another milestone of change and life was before me. So, while a friend asked for my love and support in the trials of her life, I also selfishly asked for her support in mine. Misery didn’t love or need company. Two friends needed to share their rough times and know that each wasn’t alone.

DIY Project: Baking Extracts

I’ve been lost in the frenzy of summer, so please forgive me for the delay in postings.

Even with a limited and not-so-snazzy kitchen this summer, I have found some entertainment and joy in DIY Extracts.

Brownies: Study Distraction Extraordinaire!

So, I have some finals in the next few weeks. You know what that means? Baking and whining. Yep, those be my go-to vices for dealing with the stress of tests, work, and impending move. Yet, I know if there weren’t at least 3 important future events at all times in my life – well, nothing would get done!

I’ve been experimenting with brownie recipes lately – mostly inspired by this recipe for brownie frosting I found at work a few weeks ago. It was good, but after making it a few times, the frosting was too sweet. It’s brownies with fudge on top. One word: OVERLOAD!!! Seriously, I think I’ve lost a little weight in the past few months, and those suckers are not helping me maintain at all.

The second time I made the above frosting, I needed a different brownie recipe as I don’t have any boxes of brownie mix on hand and the previous brownie recipe was disappointing. I looked through my cookbooks and came across one called “Beat This!” by Ann Hodgman.

God bless that woman!

Catching up…

Yep, it’s been hectic around here again, folks. So, here’s another oldie while I continue studying. At least my mid-terms turned out well. I got A’s on both my Statistics and Physiology tests – much needed points for the rest of the semester. So, I’m off to my cloistered dining room with some tea where I will attempt to ignore the pile of dishes in my sink. Until a new update:

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Thursday, 10 June 2010

Blah. It gets exhausting not only making the tasty cake, but then to design it, take pictures, and write about my foibles for you all takes an act of sheer energy resilience. That and the overwhelming nature of life at this point have prevented me from showing my delicious experiments.

Get the Word Out:

Whoa! This is inspiring me for several lunch on the go ideas. I’ve made baking mixes in a jar (Mmmm…beer bread), yet packing a meal in a jar never occurred to me. I may have just found my next study distraction: how many of my favorite dishes can be packed artfully into a jar?  If you’ve seen my garage shelves lately, you know that I have no shortage of any size jar nor lack the ability to water-bath preserve whatever I put in a jar. Thoughts??

krista and jess

I want to introduce a new feature on the blog: the Jar Lunch! It’s like a bag lunch or a bento lunch, but the next big thing is lunch packed in a good ol’ mason jar. I have to microwave my lunch at work, so metal containers won’t work and heating up plastic has me worried. We often simply fill mason jars with leftovers, but sometimes it is fun to come up with a clever jar lunch and make a big batch. Lunch for the whole family is already packed.

I am pleased to introduce the first jar lunch; it was so much fun to make. Meet deconstructed sushi in a jar:

Might as well take advantage of the mason jar’s glass with some colorful layers. Levi is currently obsessed with all things Japan. He has been considering taking Japanese in addition to German. We sometimes splurge on the…

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The Cake Lessons Continue

Thanks for your patience while I still mix some old posts with new. I made this cake in early 2010. Oh was it good. Prepare to drool.

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The first lesson I learned from this cake was to specify the date needed rather than talk in terms of “upcoming,” or “next.”

Cake Intermission

Oops, I got my Facebook Migrants out of order. Blast! Anyway, here was Christmas 2009 and New Years 2009/2010. Two years ago already! Dang. Anyway….drool commencing in 3…2….

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Christmas and New Years Eve.

Let it snow…or not. I finally got to make these delightful things for Christmas.

Three Cake Weekend

I’m working on some current posts, but they involve some processing-before-publishing. Anyway, enjoy some pics and experiences from 2010 early summer!

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As promised in my last note, which was grossly behind schedule, the next events in the cake decor saga culminated in a three cake weekend. It should have been a two cake weekend, but I misunderstood a request, therefore had an extra.

To share some unrelated, but fun, happenings: I found a genuine four leaf clover on the All Saints property! Katie still has it in one of her books, so I haven’t see it since shortly after the picture was taken, but here it is: