I know I told you I was going to tell you about sweet blueberry action, but it’s not ready. I have just about half the post all written up and ready to go, but then I got distracted.
Not too long ago I told you about a major life event. It was pretty exciting and I felt like it was a real stepping stone in my life as an adult.
Well, this weekend I took another step forward.
I bought a car.
(Ok, ok, this one is probably a bit more significant than buying a desk chair, but it was probably just as exciting (I got a lot of grief about that chair).)
It was sad to see the Corolla go. We named him (her? Are cars like boats and always girls?) Little Red just in time to see him (better late than never for a name, eh?) off to a new home.
(please excuse the crappy picture, apparently I don’t know how to use the camera on my phone)
I got Little Red in January of freshman year of college. I remember my only stipulations for a car were four doors and not red. (Apparently I don’t stand by my convictions very well…probably why I’m a terrible negotiator.) Since then, this car has taken me all over the place:
- To 13 states
- To and from college too many times to count
- Home after college graduation
- Moved me to Maryland
- Moved me two more times since coming to Maryland
- To my first day of work at my first real job
- To the fateful snowboarding trip where I fell on my face on the first run of the day and spent New Year’s Eve with a huge black eye swollen shut
- Endless trips between Baltimore and DC
- To the beach
- Road trips up and down the East Coast
- Took The Jackster and me to the Outer Banks
But there are a few things I won’t miss:
- Having to use one key to unlock the doors and a different key to start the car
- The peeling trim, the CD console held shut by a bottle, the broken arm rest, and the general disintegration of the interior of my car
- The feeling of wind blowing through my hair (with the windows up…)
- The broken window that would go down, but wouldn’t go back up
- Broken struts, dead batteries, new sensors, replacement belts…every month (although, I must say, my mechanic and I are quite chummy)
It’s been a fun ride (heehee), but I’m excited for my new wheels. Please say hello to Big Red:
Boy I look sheepish in that picture…ah well…cake is awesome though.
(Oh yeah…Big Red is a Subaru Outback…gotta support my active lifestyle! (and cake schlepping))
I just came back from a week at Lake Tahoe. The weather was beautiful, the water was clear, and the company delightful.
It was a perfect vacation of reading, hiking, water skiing, relaxing, and eating. While I was there I took my first foray into high altitude baking and whipped up a batch of ginger snaps and a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t change the chocolate chip recipe at all, but I did reduce the baking soda in the ginger snaps to 3 tsp.
At one point there were 18 of us in the cabin and we managed to devour upwards of 300 cookies in a day and a half. I feel like I should be concerned about this mass consumption, but instead I’m impressed. Who says cookies can’t be eaten for breakfast? (Well, me, but that’s a different story.)
We had a couple of visits from the friendly neighborhood bears who must have known we were having too much fun and eating too many cookies. Sadly I slept through the excitement so I didn’t get to see them. I did wake up at 5 AM the first night I was there to the sounds of what surely was a large woodland creature rifling through my suitcase. However, by the time I managed to get this guy to protect me from the vicious beast, he had escaped while returning all of my stuff to its appropriate place. Turns out those Lake Tahoe animals are quite polite.
Alas, vacation cannot last forever. We’ve returned back to our regularly scheduled lives which means late night baking is back. Tuesday night, me and some blueberries spent some quality time together. It was magical. A post is soon to follow.
We’ve had record breaking temperatures here in Maryland for the last…what seems like forever. When I moved here people would warn me of the hot summers down here to which I would respond, “Pshaw, I can take the heat.”
Ok, I admit, I started writing this post like a week and a half ago when it was still sweltering. Temperatures have fallen to double digits and I can walk to from my car to my office without having to change my shirt. But just because it isn’t ridiculously hot, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some ridiculously good ice cream. (Also, I maintain that slightly cooler temperatures are better for eating ice cream so you don’t have to race to beat the heat before it melts. As a notoriously slow eater, this is important to me.)
I made me (and I say me, because I’m pretty sure I ate this entire batch by myself) some mint chocolate chip ice cream. Please note: mint chocolate chip ice cream requires PEPPERMINT extract. Don’t buy mint extract unless you want to eat a bowl of frozen toothpaste.
I love this ice cream. I used fancy-schmancy dark chocolate, but it was still light and refreshing. It’s the kind of ice cream you want to eat on a hot summer day while sitting in a Norman Rockwell painting.
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp PEPPERMINT extract
- 4 oz of dark chocolate, finely chopped
Ice cream is so easy to make.
Combine all of the ingredients except the chocolate in a large bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes if not more. Getting the ice cream mixture really cold before freezing helps keep it creamy.
Pour the ice cream mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream has thickened add the chocolate. Spoon into an airtight container and freeze until hardened. Wax nostalgic.
Been too busy playing this:
And traveling and moving and doing triathlons. I’ll try to be better.
Technically this is a mixed berry bundt cake. There are two, count ‘em, two raspberries in this cake as well. If you find them, you win a prize. It’s awesome.
This cake is also awesome. And I finally, finally, got to use my new bundt pan. And by new, I mean I got it two Thanksgivings ago and it’s been sitting in my cupboard ever since. It’s not that I don’t like bundt cakes though. In fact, I think bundt cakes are the bee’s knees. It’s just that I have high standards for bundt cakes, so I couldn’t just use any recipe for the inaugural baking with my new pan.
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Elise came to visit this weekend from Chicago! Melissa, Elise, and I all lived together senior year of college and while our apartment lacked 36 packs of Bud Light and rows of shot glasses, we did have a pasta maker and panini press. Let’s just say we like to cook.
So when Foodbuzz came a-knocking for ideas for this month’s 24×24, we jumped at the opportunity.
We’ve been out of college for four years now and I must say, the reality of growing up is starting to sink in. Somehow, without us really realizing it, we’re supposed to be adults. When the heck did this happen? But amid the responsibilities and bills there are some perks to growing up. Our palettes have matured beyond the years of Wonder Bread and bologna (thank goodness) and we can stay up past 10.
We decided to update a few of our favorite childhood foods with more grown-up versions while reminiscing of the good old days of bad haircuts, eighth grade dances, and bad early nineties music. Oh wait, we made a “Gin Blossoms Playlist” on Pandora. Maybe we haven’t come that far.
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Perhaps the whole chair thing was a bit of letdown for you. Well, I promise this is actually exciting. Check back tomorrow and I’ll give you the full scoop. I’m excited!
Yes, you read it correctly. It’s amazing! It’s wonderful! It’s about time!
I finally got a new desk chair.
What? You don’t think that qualifies as a giant, unbelievable, exciting, major life event? But look at it! It has wheels! And arm rests! And padding!
Still no?
Ok, well, let me show you what I have been sitting on for the past six years:
And this is the upgraded version. For most of college it was just a metal folding chair.
I have no good reason for sitting in that chair for so long except pure laziness. I’m kind of afraid my new plush chair is going to lead to even more laziness. How many more episodes of Mad Men do I have to watch?
I really wish I could grow things. I have somehow managed to defy the laws of nature and genetics and have inherited The Jackster’s (non)ability to grow…anything. I mean, I’ve killed bamboo! I’m pretty sure all you have to do to keep bamboo alive is give it water every two weeks or so. And somehow I’ve even failed at that. My poor bamboo is now just one pathetic, withering stalk, sadly hanging on for dear life having outlasted it’s less robust comrades. I once broke an orchid in half taking it out of the plastic container protecting the flower. Plants do not like me.
Lucky for me, rarely does anyone ask me to take care of plants for them. I believe I was once asked to take care of a basil plant and I think we can all guess how that turned out. Warning: do not ask me to take care of plants for you if you actually want to have a living plant when you return.
I have a bit more luck with flowers that are…well…not actually alive. This garden cake was for a first birthday and its myriad of flowers and adorable animals is definitely more my garden style. I only wish I could have actual plants this cheery and fun (and alive), but for now I’ll stick to the cake versions. I feel like they can’t help but put a smile on your face!
