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!
The baby blocks are back! They’re almost square and kinda cute and this time they have Hebrew letters! Yup, I free-handed those puppies myself. Bonus points to anyone who can read what they say.
There were supposed to be only six blocks, but apparently my engineering background and long years of higher education left me unable to divide twelve by three correctly. Turns out three goes into twelve four times. Alas, I ended up with eight blocks which worked out perfectly since Cody’s Hebrew name (oops, did I just give it away?) has eight letters in it. I guess this time two wrongs did make a right.
And what do you do when you have lots and lots of leftover cake? You have a cake fight! I’m not sure if I can fully describe the feeling of smooshing cake and icing into someone’s face. But it’s totally satisfying and I highly recommend it. (Plus, then you smell delicious.) (And icing does wonders for your skin. (Ok, I’m totally making that up. I have no idea if icing has any positive or negative effects on your skin. Perhaps ask your friendly dermatologist?))
Right, so in real life I’m an engineer. I work for a company and we build spacecraft. No joke.
In college I worked on a satellite. It’s called CUSat and it’s supposed to go to space. No joke.
This is a CUSat cake. We’re going to launch it on a brownie rocket. No joke. OK, that was a joke. And a bad one at that.
I’ve recently become obsessed with kettle corn. It’s sweet, it’s salty, and I can’t get enough. Except apparently short of a state fair, street festival, or amusement park, kettle corn is hard to find. I managed to snag a bag from Trader Joe’s last week and then I may or may not (or may) have sat on the couch and devoured the entire bag.
So today when I had yet another hankering , I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. For some reason the guys at the fairs with the huge copper kettles, giant wooden spoons, and large open flames led me to believe that making kettle corn was hard. Turns out it’s not. It takes four ingredients and 15 minutes. 21 minutes if you include how long it takes to eat the entire bowl.
Kettle Corn
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
- salt to taste
Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat. We knew the oil was ready by sprinkling a few drops of water and hearing them pop.
In a separate bowl, combine the popcorn kernels and the sugar.
When the oil is hot, pour the kernels and sugar into the pot and cover.
Shake, shake, shake (your groove thing) so the sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot and create a giant mess. Sometimes we got tired of shaking so we set the pot down for a few seconds. It appeared to not have an adverse effect on the popcorn.
Continue shaking as the popcorn begins to pop. Don’t stop shaking until the popping slows down to one pop every two or three seconds. Remove the popcorn from heat so it doesn’t burn.
Salt the popcorn as you like it. Holy cow I think I need to go make some more right now.
…and it’s your birthday. Ice cream cake was involved too. I feel so loved.
