Langes Fädchen, Faules Mädchen

52 Week Photo Project [Week 5]

2012-02-04T12:09:00.005-05:00

All by myself...

This week's Paint the Moon theme was inspired by Annie's realization that she doesn't come out from behind the camera often enough. All of her family photos are missing one important thing: her. I was touched by her story about losing her brother and regretting not taking more pictures of him on the sly. He was so camera shy she was left with very few pictures of someone she'd cherished and lost. I adore my family and spend lots of time flipping through old photos of us all.

That said, while I liked the idea behind the theme I also struggled with it. It only served to remind me that I'm all alone without close family or friends near me. All I have are oodles and oodles of pictures of those I love. At least I could get those photographs to pose with me without complaint. Not one complained about looking fat or having a bad hair day!

What I'm Loving

2012-02-02T14:00:00.001-05:00

I have a bunch of recipe posts I should be putting up but I haven't gotten around to editing the photos and actually writing those posts. In lieu of a proper post I'll give you a quick recap of what I'm loving in life right now.

I am loving that we found a forever home for our foster dog. In a matter of days a friend of a friend, who just so happened to be looking for a dog to add to her family, got in touch and we arranged for her to pick Major up two days ago. I've been missing him terribly since then but know that he's in a much, much better place. He's got a big yard to run around in, an owner who clearly fell in love with him at first sight (and how could she not?), and two dog siblings to play with. He no longer has to sleep in his crate at night so it sounds like he's got it pretty good.

And as much as I enjoyed his presence I now know that we are not meant to have a dog in our home. The cats never really adjusted and seem so much happier and freer now that he's gone. Not to mention that owning a dog is a completely different experience from owning a cat. 'Nuff said.

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I am loving Game of Thrones. I know I'm about a year behind in discovering the joys of this wonderfully done fantasy series full of murder, intrigue, political drama, and heroic mutant wolves and I am kicking myself for waiting this long to tune in. Although this means that I'll only have to wait a few months between finishing season one and watching season two when it begins airing in April. I'd enjoyed Peter Dinklage in films before but have completely fallen for his character here. I've already been warned that there are many character deaths in the series so I'm trying to not get too attached to any of them but that's been impossible with him. Does it get any better than the scene where he begins recounting his "crimes" from childhood on? I had to laugh aloud as we were all left in suspense by never getting to hear the end of this sordid confession: "I once brought a jackass and a honeycomb into a brothel..."

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I am loving Essie's Smokin' Hot nail polish. As with all Essie polishes I've tried the color in the bottle isn't what actually shows up on your nails. That's not necessarily a bad thing as the results are always great. Sometimes it's a fun surprise. But I know to do a quick image search online before buying any to see how it looks on others' nails. What I love about Essie's colors is that they're utterly unique. Smokin' Hot is hard to categorize as it's a deep purple with a gray tone. Almost works as a neutral because of that. Anyway, that was my girly post for the year. You'll rarely see me talk about makeup or clothes since I don't think I'm an authority on those subjects. In fact, the reason why I had to steal someone else's photo is because my own nails look like a kindergartener's art project.

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I'm loving Life, on the Line by Grant Achatz. I'd been wanting to read it since before it came out as I was hearing great reviews from the get go. My library finally got a copy and I have eagerly been picking it up every night to read more and more of it. But, like a fine meal, I find myself wanting to savor it rather than tear through the 400 pages as I normally would. Grant Achatz is the co-founder of Alinea, regularly ranked as one of the best restaurants in the world. It's one I've had on my list of places to one day visit for years but reading this book has catapulted it to the top of the list.

The guy's had a fantastic career including a brief stint at Charlie Trotter's and he learned a lot from his time at The French Laundry, the restaurant I visited to celebrate my 30th birthday last year. Once he set off on his own to run his own kitchen is when the real innovation began. I find myself drooling at the descriptions of his dishes, part Thomas Keller-inspired fine dining meals and part molecular gastronomy experiments. I also find myself woefully disappointed in everything I'm having to eat during the course of reading the book as my meals pale in comparison. No offense to my cooking, but thawed out leftovers of that buffalo chicken pasta casserole I made three weeks ago just aren't going to make me happy when reading about Achatz's take on the classic pb&j. Only his version consists of peeled grapes, still on the vine, wrapped in a paper-thin layer of toast with peanut butter magically nestled within. Or his version of pepperoni pizza, a bite-sized nugget made with spices and powders meant to emulate the taste of pepperoni (tomato powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and fennel pollen). The mozzarella is then browned in a pan and the rendered fat set aside to cool until it solidifies into a butter-like substance that can be spread onto a potato-starch "crust." Genius! And can you imagine the joy of cutting into an inflated mozzarella balloon filled with tomato water for his version of a caprese salad? I love the idea of having fun with food like that. Not to mention his passion for cooking, which is something I'm developing a new appreciation for as I get older. Where's the fun in life if you're not passionate about something?

I haven't even gotten to the real meat of the book, Achatz's struggles with mouth cancer that threatened to impair his ability to taste assuming he survived the treatments. Obviously he did survive to tell the tale, and what a tale it is! If I could drive to your house and force you to read one book this year it would be Life, on the Line.

52 Week Photo Project [Week 4]

2012-01-29T12:11:00.002-05:00

Alas, poor Yorick!

This week's Paint the Moon theme is "sparkle." I just so happen to own a glitter-covered skull that I thought would fit the theme. Of course, I suspect there are all sorts of tricks to capturing sparkly stuff in low light that I don't know. At least I got a chance to play around with my Bokeh Masters Kit.

Triple-Layer Coffee Cream & Ganache Brownies

2012-01-22T16:19:00.007-05:00

Today's post is brought to you by a special guest blogger. That's right; I've asked our foster dog to write a post explaining why I felt I deserved these decadent three-layer brownies after putting up with him for a week. These brownies covered with coffee frosting and a thick layer of ganache almost make up for the trauma.
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Hi, this is Major. What an exciting week I've had with my foster family! Yes, I like to overuse exclamation points just like my foster mommy. I'm not entirely sure why she's is huddled in the corner with a pan of brownies and a fork but I would like to tell you about all of the fun things I've been up to since I moved in:

1) Tore up a pillow case and attempted to impregnate the pillow

2) Tore open a blanket and ravaged the stuffing

3) Destroyed a rubber chicken dressed as a prostitute bunny

4) Ate foster daddy's Prickle toy he's had for 15 years

5) Pulled down the curtain rod in the living room

6) Took several walks with foster mommy where I displayed that I am not at all leash trained and that, despite the fact that she outweighs me by about 90 pounds, I can pull her along the sidewalk at my own pace. Also timed my bathroom break in a neighbor's yard so I hunkered down just as they were coming out of their house. I am just that talented.

7) Played fetch with sticks and tennis balls

8) Stuck my head into the shower so I could watch foster daddy shower, then licked his ankles when he got out (what? is that weird?)

9) Chased cats. Had a few altercations where they expressed their displeasure with me with the use of claws and lots of hissing. What did I do wrong? It's as if they're instinctively driven to hate me or something.

10) Got lots of new toys & treats. Ate most of them (in both categories).

11) Learned that the couch is for people and the chair is for doggies

12) Almost learned to stop jumping on people when they're standing up, but I get too excited sometimes and forget

13) Cleaned the floor for foster mommy when she dropped a pan of bacon

14) Stole a bag of foster mommy's Pfeffernusse cookies from the kitchen and brought them to foster daddy upstairs. (I don't know, he seemed like he needed them.)

15) Got barked at by the neighbor's tiny, pathetic excuse for a dog

16) Learned to sleep quietly through the night in my crate

17) Licked and nibbled everything in sight

18) Learned to use a spiral staircase (after days of having to be carried down the stairs by foster mommy and daddy)

19) Prevented foster mommy from working out unless I'm passed out asleep on another floor of the house. All that jumping around and waving of her arms is obviously an invitation to me to play and bite, right? Besides, she's already skinny enough so clearly doesn't need to exercise.

20) Helped foster mommy take pictures for her blog. Her pictures were lacking a certain je ne sais quoi until I inserted my furry face into the frame.

21) Tried to steal a neighbor's trash can lid and drag it home with me

22) Did a little interior decorating by moving the draft stopper to the dining room, moved the dustpan brush to the living room, and moved the cats' newest toy upstairs. Really helped the feng shui of the place.

23) Gave foster mommy a 2" bruise on her thigh when I got too excited and thought we were doing attack dog training. I sunk my teeth in but fortunately didn't break the skin. Next time she should probably wear one of those padded suits. Silly girl!

24) Made friends with this adorable little creature that I found under the back deck He's not much of a conversationalist but he's fun to play fetch with.

So there you have it! Only three more weeks to go with my foster family but I'm hoping to accomplish a lot more in the time to come. Until my next blog post you can entertain yourself by making some of these brownies for yourself because it doesn't look as if foster mommy's going to share hers.

Coffee Cream Brownies
Recipe adapted from Crustabakes

For the brownies:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 ounces chopped chocolate (I used semisweet)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda

For the coffee filling:
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 tsp instant coffee granules
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 cups confectioner’s sugar

For the ganache:
1 cup ( 6 ounces ) chocolate chips (I used bittersweet)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1. In a microwave or small saucepan, melt butter and chocolate. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly. In a small bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla. Stir in chocolate mixture. Combine flour and baking soda, gradually add to the chocolate mixture.

2. Spread into a greased 8 inch square baking pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

3. For the filling, heat cream in the microwave for about 15 seconds or until lukewarm. Add coffee granules and stir until the coffee is dissolved. Using a mixer, beat butter and confectioners sugar until combined. Beat in coffee mixture until combined. Increase speed to medium-high and and beat until light and fluffy. Spread over brownies. Put pan in the refrigerator while you make the ganache.

4. In a small saucepan, combine chips and cream. Cook and stir over very low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is thickened. Cool slightly. Carefully spread over filling. Let stand for 30 minutes or until glaze is set. Cut into squares. Store in refrigerator.

52 Week Photo Project [Week 3]

2012-01-21T13:47:00.003-05:00

So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

I so need to buy myself more shoes. I only own one pair of real heels so I had to work with what I got.

This week's Paint the Moon theme is "white space." I had so much success with the "overexposed" theme last year that I wanted to tie the two together. And, uh, I wanted to do something a little different from the perfect photos of cute kids that seem to dominate the Paint the Moon Flickr group. I think we can agree this is pretty much the polar opposite of showing off one's adorable offspring. I so don't fit in there but I'm going to plow on with the project for my own sake, not because I think I'll ever get recognition there.

Pseudo Churro Cupcakes

2012-01-18T21:54:00.002-05:00

I've been feeling uninspired when it comes to baking now that I and my waistline are trying to recover from the holidays. But with a book club meeting last Monday I knew I had to come up with something. The book we were discussing, The Night Circus, is full of beautiful, evocative language describing the magical circus that mysteriously appears and only opens its doors at dusk, bringing with it exotic sights, sounds, and smells that waft through the night air. One of the treats they serve is described as layers of pastry with cinnamon and sugar (described much better than I just did, of course), which got me thinking that I should try to whip up something with those flavors. But between coping with a puppy in the house and the sugar detox I'm currently going through I couldn't convince myself to go all out with these cupcakes. I considered adding a filling, dulce de leche, perhaps, or cinnamon strudel, but instead opted to keep it simple. I settled on cinnamon maple cake studded with some of King Arthur Flour's tiny cinnamon chips, cinnamon cream cheese frosting, and a little surprise on top in the form of fried tortilla strips sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Churros came up almost right away when I was searching for cinnamon sugar dessert ideas and one quick Google search later I found I wasn't the first person to want to incorporate that idea into a cupcake. Not so sure I accomplished that as, other than having the same flavors, these don't really qualify as churro-like. I toyed with the idea of actually making mini churros as toppers but wrote it off as too time consuming. Why did no one tell me a puppy would take up so much of my time and energy?! I kid, I kid. Instead I took the idea for something in the same vein but much easier from The Curvy Carrot. It still involved frying, which is something I hate to do, but I wanted to try something to step it up. In fact, this brings the total number of times I have fried food at home to three. Yes, I am revoking my Southerner membership card as we speak.

While these cupcakes didn't knock anyone's socks off, especially those accustomed to my usual over-the-top fare, everyone went home happy. I may have previously set the bar too high for myself. Still, this is a nice, simple fallback for those times when you're feeling too lazy to tackle a fancy cupcake recipe. You really can't screw anything up with this recipe and the toppers made for a fun, crunchy treat.

Pseudo Churro Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs
1 tsp maple extract
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup King Arthur Flour cinnamon chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 paper liners.
2) In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
3) In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs until smooth. Whisk in maple extract. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour and two of milk, beating just until combined. Fold in cinnamon chips.
4) Scoop batter into prepared pan. Baked 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes

4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

1) In a bowl using an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat together cream cheese, butter, and salt until creamy. With mixer on low speed, beat in confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Add cinnamon and vanilla and mix until combined, then increase speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Fried Tortilla Topping
Recipe from The Curvy Carrot

One 8-inch flour tortilla, cut into 1/2-inch wide strips about 2"-3" long
Oil, for frying (I used canola)
Mixture of ground cinnamon and granulated sugar, mixed to your liking of desired sweetness

1) In a deep frying pan, heat the oil (about 3/4-inch in depth) on medium heat until very hot.***I tested this by putting in a small piece of tortilla to make sure it would fry.
2) Fry only a few of the tortilla strips at a time, turning them with tongs until lightly browned on both sides (about 5-10 seconds on each side).
3) Place the strips on paper towel, and, while they are still warm, sprinkle both sides generously with the cinnamon-sugar combination.
4) Repeat with the remaining tortilla strips.

52 Week Photo Project [Week 2]

2012-01-15T19:37:00.004-05:00

This week's Paint the Moon theme is "open." I'd originally planned to do something involving a book (super original, I know) but then yesterday we had a little change around here that fit the theme perfectly. We've opened our home and our hearts to a foster dog. I'm still not convinced this is a good idea as two out of our three cats seem petrified but I'm hoping they'll adjust.

Major's a rambunctious lab and terrier mix who's still got a lot of puppy in him at only seven months. But he's a real sweetheart and adorable to boot. It's fun having a dog in the house and a walking partner who can keep up with my pace. Even if we have to stop for frequent bathroom breaks in the neighbors' yards along the way. Mostly for his sake, of course.

Favorite Books of 2011

2012-01-09T16:00:00.000-05:00

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I doubt anyone actually noticed but at some point during 2011 I slipped a little list into my sidebar to keep track of books I read throughout the year. This was mostly for my own benefit as, ever the efficient German American, I like lists and being able to look back and see what I was reading a year ago. Since reading is such a big part of my life I can often look back and see where I was as a person based on what I was reading at the time. Sometimes it's my life that directs my book selection; sometimes it's the book that molds my life.

Note that these aren't all books published in 2011, just books I read during the year.

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My Life in France
by Julia Child

I started the year off with a book I'm kicking myself for not reading sooner: My Life in France. I of course knew of Julia from reruns of her cooking show on PBS as I was growing up and my mother's own amused recollections of certain episodes, but this book shows how much more there was to her than just cooking. Her enthusiasm for life, her ability to roll with the punches and make the best out of every situation, and her spirit of adventure all shine through in this gem of a book. She was truly a marvel and a great role model for anyone looking to squeeze as much out of life as possible.

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Room
by Emma Donoghue

I follow a few literary prizes to get book recommendations and The Man Booker prize is one I rely on a lot. I carefully go through the list and read reviews and descriptions of each nominee before deciding to read one, and even with those precautions I occasionally wind up with an unenjoyable read. Happy to say that Room did not fall into that category. The basic premise is something we've recently seen in the news: a woman is abducted, held captive for years, and impregnated by her captor. What Donoghue does with that setup is clever, unexpected in many ways, and well thought out. Through her choice of narrator and her focus on the victims Donoghue takes a disturbing subject and keeps it from turning into something tawdry and exploitative. I'm avoiding describing the plot in too much detail as I think it's one of those books that's best to encounter without any prior information. I later had my book club read this and everyone came away feeling impressed by the book.

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The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

2011 was the year I finally caught up to the rest of the world and read The Hunger Games. I'd been hearing people recommend them for over a year but dragged my feet for fear it was another Twilight-like series, i.e., popular without merit. Of course, once I broke down (partially based on hearing recommendations from friends with verified good taste in books) I couldn't stop until I'd torn through the entire series. It's one of the rare series I wouldn't mind re-reading and I find myself eagerly awaiting the movie along with what seems like everyone else in the world.

We Need to Talk About Kevin
by Lionel Shriver

Another book I can't wait to see as a movie is We Need to Talk About Kevin. A subtly creepy book that, like Room, takes a unique angle on the sort of thing we see in the news all too often.

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The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood

As I write this post I'm seeing a trend. It seemed to be a year of catching up on books I should have read long ago. The Handmaid's Tale is another of those modern classics that turns up on "best of" lists all the time but I managed to ignore until last year. It actually wasn't the first of Atwood's books I'd encountered. I was introduced to Oryx and Crake as a book club read and loved her style of dystopian fiction informed by Atwood's knowledge about our current world, both its science and its society. They are two very different books and, despite The Handmaid's Tale's notoriety, I found I enjoyed Oryx and Crake a little more. Which isn't to say that The Handmaid's Tale isn't worth your time, just that you should read them both. As with any good dystopian novel it's easy to see how our world could end up in such a state with the path that we're currently on. Atwood is a brilliant writer and excels in creating these potential future societies in a way that makes them believable and chilling.

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A Novel Bookstore
by Laurence Cossee

A Novel Bookstore, translated from the original French, tries to be a bit like The Elegance of the Hedgehog but never quite succeeds. It was an enjoyable enough read for me as a bibliophile but some of the plot fell short. The premise is great: a bookstore is opened in Paris that promises to only sell "good" books. That is, books that teach us, enlighten us, enchant us, and, most importantly, move us.

"We have no time to waste on insignificant books, hollow books, books that are here to please. We have no time for those sloppy, hurried books of the ‘Go on, I need it for July, and in September we’ll give you a proper launch and sell 100,000 copies, it’s in the bag’ variety. We want books that are written for those of us who doubt everything, who cry over the least little thing, who are startled by the slightest noise. We want books that cost their authors a great deal, books where you can feel the years of work, the backache, the writer’s block, the author’s panic at the thought that he might be lost: his discouragement, his courage, his anguish, his stubbornness, the risk of failure that he has taken. We want splendid books, books that immerse us in the splendor of reality and keep us there; books that prove to us that love is at work in the world next to evil, right up against it, at times indistinctly, and that it always will be, just the way that suffering will always ravage hearts. We want good novels."
-A Novel Bookstore

The proprietors of the shop are ordinary people struggling with various issues in life who retreat to books for comfort. Who can't relate to that at times? What I got out of this was how far behind my reading education is as I'd only read a handful of the books they included in the store. I kept notes as I read and later discovered that the publisher has a website up listing many more "good" books.

A Frozen Woman
by Annie Ernaux

That list led directly to my next book selection: A Frozen Woman. I'm not usually so bold in my proclamations but I will say that I loved this book. That said, I can see how this could be a divisive book, that many readers wouldn't "get" it. I think one's enjoyment of the novel is dependent on where the reader is in life and she he/she has experienced. Heck, it might not be a book for men at all as the mind of a women is already such a strange and complicated place beyond their comprehension. And this particular woman makes some decisions and reacts to life in ways not every woman can sympathize with. Still, I have a hard time imagining that anyone but the most sheltered woman wouldn't find at least one passage, one stage of the character's life that she can relate to. It's a deeply emotional book full of the resentment and apathy that life can force upon us. Honestly, it's the sort of book that the twenty-year-old version of me wouldn't have liked. Amazing how living life a little more opens up a whole new world of understanding.

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The Magicians and The Magician King
by Lev Grossman

I heard The Magicians described as Harry Potter for adults, and while we won't even get into the issue of how Harry Potter is for all ages and has many dark themes, I have to agree that The Magicians seems a little more... mature. Perhaps because it's more explicit about things like sex and jealousy, perhaps because the characters are a little less lovable and affable, but the connection to Harry Potter will always be made because it too takes place at a school for, you guessed it, magicians. This particular school is for college-aged magicians and while there are elements of other-worldly things much of the book is about the struggles any kid would face at that age. It's less fantastical than your average book full of wizards and spells. It may not be a perfect book as even the main character started to irk me by the end, but both this and its sequel, The Magician King, are worth a read if you're into that genre. In fact, I found my opinion of the first book improved upon reading the sequel as I saw how certain plot points in the first set up the story in the sequel.

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Feynman
by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick

What an interesting idea to present a biography of physicist Richard Feynman in a graphic novel format. If you or anyone in your life is unfamiliar with the genius that was Feynman and his unique way of looking at and explaining the world this would be a great place to start. He's long been a fascinating person to me between his role in the Challenger explosion inquiry and his work on the Manhattan Project so it was nice to learn a little more about him in this easy-to-read format.

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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs

I wanted to love this book so much. It's right up my alley what with a WWII subplot, the sort of characters you'd see in a circus sideshow, and funky vintage photos interspersed throughout of the peculiar children displaying their various peculiarities. My favorite scenes were the ones that took place at the school, encountering new peculiar inhabitants and learning their stories. The overall plot of the book, however, was a little dull and lacked in creativity. I also felt as if I was reading a YA book, which is usually not the case with the YA books I choose to read. This one felt simplistic, as if the language and story were deliberately dumbed down for that audience. Disappointing because I couldn't help comparing it to Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which is also written for children/young adults but manages to do so in a way that elevates the reader, whatever his/her age. That said, I hope the author's writing improves in subsequent novels as I like what he was trying to do.

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The Night Circus
by Emily Morgenstern

Ended the year with a bang by reading our book club's latest selection. Now this is a book that sets up a fantastical, magical world and populates it with interesting characters and a compelling story. Reminds me a bit of The Prestige as two talented magicians battle it out but there are unique elements to The Night Circus that let it stand on its own. It's the kind of book that sucks the reader into its world, a world infinitely more interesting than our own. I don't even know how to describe the plot, which just means that you'll have to read it for yourself to figure it all out. A lovely, lovely book!

How about you? Read anything interesting lately?

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Books read in 2011:

• Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

• My Life in France

• Salem Brownstone

• Dead End Gene Pool

• Room

• Bespelling Jane Austen

• The Hunger Games

• Catching Fire

• Lullabies for Little Criminals

• Mockingjay

• Zombie Raccoons & Killer Bunnies

• The Beach

• The Handmaid's Tale

• Out Stealing Horses

• The Gates

• My Last Supper

• A Novel Bookstore

• A Frozen Woman

• A Scattering

• The Magicians

• I Capture the Castle

• The Woman in White

• Vanilla Ride

• Infected

• The Psychopath Test

• We Need to Talk About Kevin

• Through Black Spruce

• Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

• Spiced

• How Hard Can it Be?

• Jane and the Canterbury Tale

• The Magician King

• The Hare with Amber Eyes

• A Jane Austen Education

• Packing for Mars

• The Sea

• Feynman

• The Night Circus

52 Week Photo Project [Week 1]

2012-01-05T11:30:00.001-05:00

I am officially back in business! As you may have noticed, my photography adventures have been rather sporadic and sparse since the blissful day when I completed my 365 project. Now, I'm not big on making resolutions or huge goals for myself at the start of the year as I think I'm pretty disciplined and in tune with what needs to be fixed in my life throughout the year. Still, there's something nice about starting a new project with the new year. I've decided to join in the 52 week photography challenge at Paint the Moon. She'll have weekly themes to guide us and a Flickr group to share our pictures. I'm excited to have another project to work on and am looking forward to joining another photography community even though I can already tell I'm outclassed by many others in the group.

Feel free to join in yourself! Fifty-two photos for the year should be much more doable and less of a strain than 365.

This week we've been given two themes to choose from, "sharing" or "natural." I chose "natural," as in my fluffy 100% cotton towel and the strange figure in the background, presumably posing au natural. :)

A Photo A Day [Days 395-396] - New York City Edition

2012-01-04T09:30:00.001-05:00

Day 395

The famous Radio City Music Hall. Didn't actually see a show there on this trip but I've done plenty of the Christmas shows in the past. To be honest, I'd much rather see a play than a singing/dancing extravaganza. Which is exactly what I did. Although tickets were pricey I treated my family to a viewing of the drool-worthy Alan Rickman in Seminar, which proved to be fun for the whole family. Well, that might only hold true if your family's as weird and highbrow as mine. *adjusts monocle*

Day 396

A stolen moment captured on camera. Two lovers embrace while a zebra looks on disapprovingly. A serial killer lurches into frame. You can only imagine what happens next. My camera will never tell...

Our hotel was conveniently located just half a block off of 5th Avenue, the shopping mecca of NYC. While most of the stores were beyond my budget it did make for some nice photo opportunities. The best part is, we were able to sneak out of the hotel at night once the stores were shut and the crowds were gone so I could take photos of the impressive window displays at Bergdorf Goodman. This is but a sampling of the oddities they had to offer:

This last shot was such a lucky one, snapped just before we got on the bus to return home. While waiting for the bus to arrive I started to look around to see what photography mischief I could get up to and the perfect New York scene presented itself. Goodbye, New York! For now.

A Photo A Day [Day 394]

2011-12-29T21:22:00.003-05:00

You may say I'm a dreamer

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I played host to my mom and little brother and we took a brief jaunt up to NYC for a few days after Christmas. Got to see Alan Rickman on Broadway where I managed to refrain from drooling. Did lots of shopping, hit my favorite book store (Strand), and ate so much delicious food in just two days.

This was taken on a walk through Central Park on our way to the Museum of Natural History. I didn't even realize it was the famous Dakota Building until later. I just liked the way it peeked through the bare branches of the trees up the winding path.

Mint Oreo Mocha Cupcakes

2011-12-19T23:24:00.003-05:00

I'm back, baby! Back with the zany, madcap cupcake recipes. 'Tis the season for overindulgence, right? At least that's the excuse I'm going with for eating these cupcakes. When I saw Baker Royale's Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes I knew they'd be delicious. Of course, somewhere between deciding to make them and actually heading to the kitchen for an afternoon of baking I changed them up a bit to make them even more indulgent.

To start, I reused the idea from my Oreo Truffle Cupcakes to line the bottom of each cupcake with half of an Oreo, this time a mint Oreo for some of that holiday flavor, and nestled a mint Oreo truffle in the center of each cupcake before baking. This resulted in an ooey, gooey, minty center with a fun crunch from the cookie on the bottom. It was like eating a molten mint brownie. Since I lack the patience to make Swiss meringue buttercream and am not too fond of the stuff anyway, I substituted my favorite mint buttercream recipe, the same one that topped my world-famous Thin Mint Cupcakes. Ok, that famous claim might be a bit untrue but that is the most popular recipe on my blog. For good reason. Although I think these new cupcakes might be even better.

I also left the peppermint extract out of the cupcake batter as they were already overloaded with mint from the Oreos and the Andes baking chips. This was probably a good call as the mocha flavor is pretty much overpowered by the mint as it is. The coffee in the batter just seems to enhance the richness of the chocolate flavor rather than standing out as its own flavor. Which is fine with me. The original recipe calls for an extra drizzle of chocolate sauce on top, which looks quite pretty but seems unnecessary to me when there's already so much chocolate in the cake. So I omitted that but if you're up for consuming some extra calories and fat you can snag the recipe for that from Baker Royale.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'll also admit that even though I keep referring to them as "Oreos" I actually used a knockoff version that Aldi sells this time of year. Trader Joe's also has a similar seasonal cookie so anything that vaguely resembles an Oreo with mint flavor should work just fine.

I feel as if I've truly got my baking mojo back with these beauties. They were a hit with my book club tonight and since there are any left I might share one or two with my family. We'll see...

Mint Oreo Truffle Filling
Recipe adapted from Inside BruCrew Life

11 Mint Oreo cookies (or similar), finely crushed
2 ounces cream cheese, softened

Blend crushed Oreos and cream cheese until fully mixed. Shape into 1" balls, place on a baking sheet, and refrigerate while making the batter.

Mint Mocha Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Bakers Royale

6 Mint Oreos (or similar substitute)
1 cup (4.5 ounces) all purpose flour
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1.5 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and warm
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7.3 ounces) sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant coffee (recommended: Starbucks Via)
1/2 cup hot coffee
3/4 cup Andes baking chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 F and line 12 cupcake wells with paper liners.
2) Divide each Oreo into two halves and place each half into the bottom of each paper liner, frosting side up.
3) In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
4) In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat at medium speed about 40 seconds.
5) Scrape the sides of the bowl and add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat briefly until mixed in. Add 1/4 cup of hot coffee and 1/2 tablespoon of instant coffee. Beat and repeat with 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by the remainder of the coffee and instant coffee. Finish with the last 1/3 of flour mixture. Fold in Andes baking chips
6) Spoon a small amount of batter into the bottom of each well, enough to cover the Oreo cookie. Add one Oreo truffle to the center of each cupcake and top with enough batter to completely cover the truffle.
(You may wind up with a little extra batter as the original recipe didn't use the truffle filling. I made two extra cupcakes in a separate pan without any Oreo filling.)
7) Bake at 350 for 23-26 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Mint Buttercream
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil
Red food coloring (optional)

1) In a large mixing bowl, cream butter for 45-60 seconds.
2) Add powdered sugar and beat at a low speed until the mixture comes together.
3) Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add heavy cream and peppermint oil. Beat until combined and then beat an additional 45 seconds. If necessary, add more powdered sugar for desired consistency.
4) If desired, divide the frosting into two separate bowls and add red food coloring to one. Using a spatula or flat butter knife, "paint" one side of a pastry bag with the red buttercream and the other side with the white buttercream and pipe evenly onto cupcakes.

A Photo A Day [Days 390-392]

2011-12-13T20:09:00.004-05:00

Another one of those photos where it didn't turn out as I'd planned so I forced it to work with the aid of Photoshop.

Over the weekend I dragged my husband to go see a cabaret/burlesque version of The Nutcracker being performed in Philadelphia. It was a fun enough time that was sort of ruined by the misery we had to suffer upon returning home.

It was shortly after 10:00 PM on a cold winter's evening when we discovered that our front door no longer wanted to open. It was as if the doorknob wouldn't turn far enough to unlock. Called an emergency locksmith who, because our doorknob is old and weird like everything else in our house, was unable to use any of the usual methods to get the door open. In fact, every time we have someone out to repair something the worker always comments on how he's never had to work with a __ (fill in the blank) so strange and difficult to fix. Over the course of the next hour the locksmith wound up hacking the entire doorknob to pieces, bit by bit, using a drill, metal cutters, and a saw. I'm sure our neighbors loved us for the sound of power tools echoing through the peaceful neighborhood at midnight. Let's not even talk about how bloody cold it was locked out of our house as frost formed on the grass and cars. Let's really not talk about how much the entire thing cost us by the end of the ordeal. Still, I was never so grateful to see the inside of my house. The poor cats who were inside when this all went down were petrified beyond belief and didn't recover until the next day.

Hark! Glory to my new-found holiday-flavored milk! What to my wondering eye did appear while wandering the aisles of Target than this red velvet chocolate milk. Yes, it is as odd and tasty as you'd imagine. I simply couldn't resist buying it for my husband.

Gift Giving Guide for the Weirdos In Your Life

2011-12-13T15:00:00.005-05:00

I know the posts around here have been few and far between lately. The truth of the matter is I've been keeping busy in real life and don't always find the time to blog. On top of that, I've been baking less and my crafting has mostly consisted of making presents for others. So I have to keep those under wraps.

Instead of a typical post I will share with you some of the holiday ideas that I've been enjoying this year. I'll begin with a helpful gift guide for any weirdos in your life. This list is, of course, based on the sorts of things I would like.

First up is this $24 cupcake cookie jar from Sourpuss. Sure, it has a skull on top but it's an awfully cute skull, right? See that tiny little bow? Not too threatening.

While you're there, you could also pick up some of these X-ray hand paper napkins for your upcoming holiday soiree. Very festive! At the very least they would get your guests talking. I could so go on a huge shopping spree at Sourpuss. My kind of stuff!

What girl doesn't love a bit of jewelry? Again, in keeping with the weirdo theme you could give the gift of one of these artsy skull pendants from Pamela Love for $70. That may seem like a lot but compared to the $920 talon cuff that first attracted me to her designs it's a bargain.

I have absolutely no idea what I'd do with my own personal library kit but as a librarian's daughter there's something appealing about it. It is a little scary that I grew up using libraries with card catalogs and checkout cards and now those things qualify as novelty vintage items. But oh, the power I could wield with my very own due date stamp!

If I had sassier co-workers I'd buy a batch of Bluntcard mousepads as fun office gifts. Heck, I'm tempted to get the one on the left for myself.

I am dying to get my hands on some of these dessert-themed chocolate bars from Dylan's Candy Bar with flavors like red velvet cake, banana cream pie, and tiramisu. At $8.50 for the set they're not badly priced but it's the shipping expense that kills me. Hopefully you're not as stingy as I when it comes to spending money on your loved ones.

Who in your life doesn't need Star Wars light saber chopsticks? Hmmm? Isn't $12.99 a pittance to pay for something this awesome? Available from Think Geek, another great site for a shopping spree.

It is a little-known fact that Christmas is based on a pagan holiday honoring the undead who have risen from the grave in search of tasty brains. Our tradition of leaving out cookies for Santa actually derives from the ancient practice of leaving tender morsels of brain matter out on December 24th in an attempt to sate the the zombies' hunger for another year. Back then, no one got so ridiculously caught up in the commercialism of the holiday as everyone's sole Christmas wish was that the zombies would stop eating the children of the village. There was no need for any other gift. Following that tradition, I present to you this zombie Christmas ornament from Neatoshop. They have a few other zombie-themed ornaments to choose from for those of us who remember the true spirit of the holiday.

Lastly, what Christmas season would be complete without a visit from some Gremlins? Yes, technically this is a Mogwai, the pre-Gremlin form, but odds are you'll accidentally spill some water on this adorable little ornament while watering your Christmas tree, the Mogwais will get loose late at night and eat the cookies you left out for Santa, and then you know what you'll wind up with. If you're willing to take that chance for an opportunity to display this cutie on your tree head over to Urban Outfitters to buy your very own Gremlin ornament. Pick up one for me too while you're at it!

Dark Chocolate Chip Comfort Cookies

2011-11-28T21:00:00.001-05:00

Since I scaled down our Thanksgiving meal to the point where it wasn't much more complicated to make than a typical weeknight dinner, I uncharacteristically found myself with a lot of free time Thanksgiving morning. That meant I got to lounge around on the sofa watching the parade and putting together silly Photoshopped pictures for a friend.

Exhibit A of my boredom:

Exhibit B:

And Exhibit C for a different friend:

But once the parade was over, the cranberry sauce for our fabulous turkey burgers was made and chilling in the fridge, and my husband was taking a pre-Thanksgiving meal nap I found myself even more bored than before. What to do, what to do?

I'd been craving chocolate chip cookies for weeks and had just bookmarked an intriguing-looking recipe from Bakerella for chocolate cookies made with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips that are otherwise similar to the chocolate chip cookies I'd been craving. So I decided to whip up a batch. This turned out to be a wonderful decision as they were just as easy to make as chocolate chip cookies but the addition of that peanut butter elevates them to a whole new level. Frankly, I probably would have passed up the Nestle dark chocolate chips in favor of something a little fancier but because Bakerella seemed to be such a big fan of them I picked up a bag when we were doing our Thanksgiving grocery shopping. Boy am I glad I did. These cookies wouldn't be nearly as impressive without that flavor balance.

Since I was incapable of following instructions for any of the recipes I made this weekend, I also changed things up a little with these. I tossed in a few peanut butter chips to go along with the peanut butter in the dough and added some cinnamon since I adore the combination of cinnamon with chocolate. I didn't bother to roll them into perfectly formed balls before baking either, but I'll go ahead and admit that that's because I didn't bother to thoroughly read the directions. Instead I used a cookie scoop and just plopped the blobs of dough onto cookie sheets. The cookies seem none the worse for wear as a result of my mistake as the cookie scoop not only kept the cookies to a uniform size but it also helped shape the dough a bit. I'm also not a huge fan of nuts in cookies so I skipped the optional step of coating each cookie in chopped pecans. If you want to go that route head over to Bakerella's post for all of the details. I refuse to sully my blog with such a thing!

The best part is that my husband's not a big fan of chocolate so I get to keep these all to myself. Which is a good thing because they're so good I think blood might spill if he were to try to take some. Half of the batch went straight into the freezer and I will happily nosh on them in the weeks to come. I suspect that when that supply runs out I'll go ahead and make some more. This recipe just might replace plain old chocolate chip cookies in my baking repertoire when I want to make some easy comfort food.

Dark Chocolate Chip Comfort Cookies
Recipe adapted from Bakerella

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, slightly softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
10 oz. dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) In a small bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon using a wire whisk and set aside.
3) In another bowl, cream butter, sugar and peanut butter until light and fluffy.
4) Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
5) Add flour mixture to creamed mixture and mix until combined.
6) Stir in dark chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.
7) Roll cookie dough into 1-1/4 inch balls. (Or not. Be a rebel like me.)
8) Place on parchment paper covered baking sheet and bake 10 minutes.
9) Place cookies on cookie rack to cool.
Makes about 30 2-inch cookies.

Overnight Blueberry French Toast

2011-11-28T11:00:00.005-05:00

What holiday weekend would be complete without an indulgent breakfast or two? Or, in my case, four. By the time my husband and I got done working our way through the half dozen donuts from the Amish market (best donuts ever!) and the cinnamon buns we bought on impulse because they were in the day old section it was already Saturday and the loaf of bread I'd bought to make French toast had aged quite a bit. No worries, since the recipe I was planning to use would only be improved by the aging process. I wanted to make a French toast casserole I could prepare the night before and bake first thing in the morning, so the extra dryness of the bread only helped with the overnight soaking process.

I used a recipe for overnight blueberry French toast from Real Mom Kitchen as my jumping off point but made quite a few changes from the original recipe. For one, I omitted the blueberry syrup since I'm a traditionalist and prefer maple syrup instead. I also reduced the amount of cream cheese to four ounces since the entire package seemed to be an excessive amount. I like to save on calories and fat wherever I can and still got plenty of little bites of cream cheese in each serving. In addition, I couldn't bear to empty out the entire carton of eggs as the recipe called for 12 so I checked out some similar recipes online and based on those only used eight. I added a tiny bit more liquid to compensate but honestly couldn't tell anything was missing or wrong with the finished product as a result of that change. To enhance the flavor I added some vanilla extract and a dash of King Arthur Flour's unique citrus and vanilla flavoring, Fiori di Sicilia. Finally, because it was Thanksgiving weekend, I threw in some cranberries along with the blueberries for good measure and topped the entire thing with a dusting of cinnamon.

The dish does have to bake for an hour so it was good to be able to get all of the prep work done the night before. The end result was a perfectly baked dish with slightly crispy bites on top and moist bites from the middle. I had no problems with sogginess, as some French toast casserole recipes sometimes suffer from. The amount of fruit called for is perfect and those small bits of cream cheese are a clever addition. What I'm happiest with were my flavor additions as I really think they made the dish something special. I'll admit that I even had some for dessert later in the day because I couldn't stop craving it.

Overnight Blueberry French Toast
Recipe adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

12 slices bread, cut into cubes (I used a 16 oz. loaf of French bread, Texas toast also works well)
4 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)
8 large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups milk (I used 1 1/4 cups skim milk and 1 cup cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or more if desired)

Arrange 1/2 of the bread cubes in a greased 9 x 13 pan.
Sprinkle cream cheese cubes, blueberries, and cranberries evenly over the bread cubes.
Top with remaining bread cubes.
Mix together eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and Fiori di Sicilia.
Pour over bread cubes, sprinkle cinnamon on top, and cover pan with foil. Let chill in refrigerator overnight.
Bake covered with foil at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes or until fluffy and golden. Serve with maple syrup. Serves 8.

Pumpkin Crème Brûlée

2011-11-27T19:41:00.001-05:00

Obviously this information comes a little too late for you, but I can report that pumpkin crème brûlée makes for a unique and delicious Thanksgiving dessert. My Thanksgiving meal this year was nontraditional what with a main course of herbed turkey burgers with goat cheese and cranberry sauce so why should the dessert follow the traditional rules? Not to mention that I hate making pie crust so this seemed like a much better dessert option for the day. Why muck about with a fussy pie crust when I can play with a blowtorch instead?

I halved Emeril Lagasse's recipe from Food Network since it has such rave reviews. Sure enough, it was creamy and perfectly flavored and practically foolproof. I did wind up with slightly dark tops that tasted a little burnt, but that was easily scraped off with a spoon before adding the crisp sugar topping. I also used more than the paltry amount of sugar called for on top so there could be a nice, thick crisp layer to break through. Yum yum! No need to wait until next Thanksgiving to make this for yourself.

The Cupcake Recipe That Lied to Me

2011-11-23T20:10:00.000-05:00

Oh yes, this is quite the tale of deceit. It is the story of an innocent little baker, eager to please her book club group with some tantalizing seasonal cupcakes. She scoured the internet searching for the perfect recipe and slaved away in the kitchen, only to be crushed by sadness at the discovery that her cupcakes tasted nothing like the ingredients she'd put into them. It is a dramatic tale of loss and betrayal, worthy of being ranked with Shakespeare's best. Or not. Perhaps it's just another all too common story of trying out an recipe from a random blog and coming up with something less than stellar. Reminds me that it's sometimes best to stick with recipes from published cookbooks.

The recipe in question was meant to be Eggnog Cranberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Spiced Buttercream from Your Cup of Cake. From my book club's taste test the only flavors that could be detected in the finished product were the cranberry and the spice. Disappointing because my husband loves white chocolate and we both love eggnog, so I was hoping for a great combination of seasonal flavors here. Unfortunately, the eggnog flavor disappeared completely and there wasn't enough white chocolate in the frosting to actually give it that flavor. Still, the amount of spice is spot on and the frosting is nice and fluffy. If I hadn't told anyone what the cupcake was supposed to be they would have happily assumed I'd served them spiced cranberry cupcakes.

On top of that I took the trouble to leave a comment on the blog post basically saying that while the cupcakes were good they were not as advertised/what I expected so I was left disappointed. I didn't intend for it to be a mean comment or anything, just trying to help other readers out in case they're tempted to try this recipe. When I visited the page again later in the day to work on this blog post I noticed that the blogger had deleted my comment. That makes me a little mad. That's pretty poor blogging behavior right there, to censor things so only comments from adoring fans are shown and "real" comments from people who have tested the recipe get deleted. Despite the number of other delicious-looking cupcake recipes on her blog I don't think I can trust that her blog posts or the comments are honest and helpful so I'll pass on making anything else from her blog.

DIY Harry Potter Wands

2011-11-17T09:30:00.006-05:00

To cement my status as the nerdiest nerd who ever lived not only did I, a fully-fledged adult, visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter but I also made magic wands for my friend and me to carry around the theme park. I found a few online tutorials and used them as a jumping off point but pretty much made it up as I went along.

Casting a spell on the Hogwarts Express

I started with a humble chopstick, which I rolled into the center of a tube of construction paper, rolled to be slightly narrower at one end. The tutorials I found said to fill the tube with oodles of hot glue, which is a fine idea in theory but turned out to be difficult to do in reality. I did my best but even after redoing one of the wands there were still a few empty pockets where the hot glue didn't reach before it hardened. Still, I figure that between the chopstick and all of the paint the wands will hold up just fine for casual use. I'll avoid casting Unforgivable Curses with these wands just to be on the safe side.

I snagged the idea to add glass stones at the end from a tutorial at Kate's Escapades with the added idea to personalize each wand with different images Mod Podged to the underside of each glass stone. I'd done something similar in the past making magnets from this tutorial at Sew Woodsy. I just clipped the images from catalogs, hers a sequined green fabric from Boden and mine a cross from an image of the Queen's crown in some British catalog I receive.

From there it was just a matter of adding paint and some decorative details with more hot glue. There's no right or wrong way to do this so I got creative and did the best I could with my unwieldy glue gun. Because my friend and I have such different personalities I thought I'd make her wand a nice brown "wood" with green and silver accents. My wand, on the other hand, would have to be dark and evil as befits a wizard like myself. I painted hers brown, piped on some hot glue in swirly patterns (lots of great ideas for different patterns here), and painted over those details with silver and green metallic paint. To give it a more textured look I used a sponge brush and lightly painted over the entire thing with a mixture of dark gray paint and water. Mine was done the same way with dark gray paint and silver accents.

I'm happy to report that the wands worked perfectly. Here I am getting ready to use mine in a crowded store to compel this woman to move out of my way:

Alright, alright. I felt a little goofy walking around brandishing my magic wand but we wound up getting a few compliments on our homemade wands. We even got one from someone who works there and proclaimed that they looked nicer than the ones they sell in the gift shop for $30. The cutest part was when my friend was sternly warned by the conductor of the Hogwarts Express to be careful when waving her wand about as wand safety is so very important. Too true. I guess we have a lot to learn before we're fully qualified to use these things.

I know it looks like I'm casting a spell on my friend's armpit. That's because I am. If it works, she'll never grow hair there again! Guess I should have been considerate and cast the spell on her other armpit as well. Oops.

A Photo A Day [Days 385-389]

2011-11-14T20:54:00.003-05:00

Golly gee, I have a lot of catching up to do around here. I have been absent for far too long. October turned out to be quite a busy month for me what with turning 30 for the first time, visiting Napa, CA and dining at one of the finest restaurants out there, the French Laundry, and taking a second vacation to a place I've been dying to visit ever since it opened: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. What better way to both celebrate and ignore the fact that I'm getting old? So many adventures meant blogging took a back seat to my going out and actually living my life.

Luckily for you I have many photos to share. The photo above is from the amazing replica of Hogsmeade village they've created for the theme park. Being there was truly like walking into the pages of the books. Below you can see one of my favorite parts of the park, the inside of Hog's Head pub. There they served all of the treats from the books including butterbeer, pumpkin juice, and imported British beers. Not to mention the place was tastefully decorated, as you can see.

The highlight of the trip was getting to experience all of this with my best friend. Jessica and I have known each other for almost 20 years, and when I realized the number was that big I was a little shocked. She's such a great person with fun spirit so I couldn't imagine a better companion for the trip. As you can see, she has no shame when it comes to enjoying herself.

I also decided to shake things up a bit and try a new hairdo. I'm not 100% happy with it but my attitude about my hair is that it'll always grow back. No harm in trying something different now and then. Here you see my true nature shining through:

This last picture has nothing to do with my trips but I felt like getting back in the Photoshop groove and put this together.

A Photo A Day [Day 384]

2011-10-29T18:59:00.000-04:00

The Zombie Invasion Has Begun!

2011-10-24T10:30:00.001-04:00

A photography friend of mine, known on Flickr as Eyebrows 360 even though I know his true secret identity to be something much more normal, witnessed the dreaded zombie invasion and managed to survive long enough to post pictures online. It has begun. All of those hours I spent carefully studying zombie movies and reading survival guides will come in handy in the days to come. Sure, this invasion took place in Brighton, England, but it's only a matter of time before the infection spreads to our shores. Expect to see scenes as horrifying as these soon:

How cool is that?! All photos are from Eyebrows 360. Be sure to check out his Flickr set for more gory shots from the day.

In I-shouldn't-be-as-sad-about-this-as-I-am news, it looks like running in this year's zombie 5k in my hometown of Charlottesville, VA isn't in the cards for me. Initially, I thought it would be a convenient jaunt as we're going to be in northern Virginia that weekend for a family event, but between the University of Virginia having family weekend, thus filling the area hotels, and some UFC pay-per-view event the night before that my husband simply can't miss (thus ruling out a stay at my mom's cable-free house) it looks to be more trouble than it's worth. Besides, why add an extra four-hour drive to our trip just so I can do a 35-minute run? At least that's what I'm trying to tell myself when I get all teary eyed at the thought of missing it. All those weeks of training for nothing. At least I know that it's something I could do if geography weren't an issue. That's nowhere near as good as the sense of accomplishment I'd feel if I actually did the race but it's the best I'll get.

A Photo A Day [Days 381-383]

2011-10-19T14:30:00.001-04:00

I've been furiously working to sort and process my numerous vacation photos and have managed to come up with a few of my favorites. We were lucky to have a chance to visit one of my cousins and her two cute kids. Tristan is the youngest but even at his age he's already developed some impressive boxing skills. Here he is delivering an uppercut to my brother's jaw. I didn't even have to bribe the kid or anything; he did this all on his own!

We spent a few days in beautiful Napa, a place I can't wait to visit again. Because my older brother's into nature we tracked down a walking trail and explored a bit. He even found some grapes growing wild in the woods and managed to pick a nice haul.

Things got a bit out of control when it came to processing this photo from Yountville, CA in the Napa area.

My Preciousssss: The Story of a Girl and Her Jo Totes Bag

2011-10-19T10:00:00.004-04:00

Guess who is the proud and extremely happy owner of her very own Jo Totes camera bag? Thanks to my amazing and thoughtful aunt, uncle, and cousins I am! I took a belated birthday trip to California last week to visit my family in Monterey and play around in Napa. While I was there, they not only surprised me with a delicious meal at a fancy restaurant and a yummy marzipan-covered cake, but they also gave one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten. I can't tell you how shocked I was when I opened my wonderful gift. To understand how thrilling this acquisition is to me, allow me to share the saga of my quest for a Jo Totes bag:

A long time ago in a galaxy pretty much exactly where I am now, I started seeing giveaways for a pretty camera bag making the rounds in the blog world. The bag is not only sturdy with padded inserts that can be rearranged to suit one's camera configuration, but it's also absolutely adorable. It comes in all sorts of trendy colors and styles with cute contrasting interior fabrics. A much nicer alternative to the plain, androgynous camera bags that dominate the market. Just the thing a budding photographer like myself needs in her life. For over a year I've been dutifully entering every giveaway I can track down but the bag always goes to some other lucky soul. Why couldn't it be me?!

I will admit that there came a time when I began to despair that the big prize would forever elude me. Coincidentally, this was around Christmas last year so I started dropping subtle hints for my husband that what I hoped to receive from Santa was this bag. Christmas came and went with no bag. Then I saw that some fortunate ladies were bequeathed the bag by their mates for Valentine's Day. Again with the hints. February came and went. Still no bag. Down but not out, I rallied again for our anniversary in June but my pleas fell on deaf ears. As a final resort, I went ahead and put together a birthday wish list for my milestone 30th birthday and sent it to my husband. I even prioritized the various items on the list with the bag at the #1 spot. I also made sure to mention it a few times on Facebook in case that still wasn't obvious enough for him. Alas, I knew all of my plotting had failed when I heard him in the other room surveying my wish list and he said, "Ninety dollars for a camera bag?! That's not going to happen!" Hey, at least I had that warning so I didn't wake up on my birthday expecting one.

The good thing is that someone did notice my shameless begging on Facebook: my lovely relatives. They sneakily went ahead and picked out the perfect bag for me without my having a clue! The best part is that I was torn between two colors, teal and sugarplum, so they kindly made that tough decision for me. As you can see, I couldn't wait to start using my new bag and carted it around Napa with me. It's such a beautiful area that I simply couldn't leave the hotel without my camera and what better way to carry it than in this stylish bag? I hope my family reads this so they can know how very happy they made me. Love them!

My slightly undignified look of glee

A Photo A Day [Days 379 & 380]

2011-10-05T20:31:00.004-04:00

The first hint of fall.

In case you missed my previous post with my pumpkin spice pull-apart bread.

Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread

2011-10-03T18:58:00.001-04:00

Shortly after I became tragically addicted to Pinterest, I discovered and made what was to become one of my favorite recipes of all time: Lemon pull-apart bread. To. Die. For. Imagine how thrilled I was when fall rolled around and I started seeing a pumpkin version cropping up.

Since I'm training for that 5k I'm trying to be good and cut back on sweets, but as Saturday was my 30th birthday I needed to have something special for my birthday breakfast, right? The basic steps of the recipe are the same as the lemon bread with the major change being the addition of pumpkin to the dough and the use of browned butter in place of plain old butter. The filling is perfect for the season with a little nutmeg mixed in with the cinnamon, sugar, and browned butter. Now, for the topping I decided to change things up from the original recipe, which called for a butter rum glaze. As I'm not a huge fan of rum and I've been craving cinnamon rolls lately I instead went with the maple glaze from The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. In keeping with the browned butter theme I went ahead and browned the butter for that as well, which gave the topping a stronger flavor. I think I'll also use that trick from now on whenever I make those cinnamon rolls.

Now it's time for me to confess where I messed this up. In an effort to do as much the night before and have less to do the day of my birthday I sliced the dough, layered it, and put it in the pan overnight. All this to save a measly 30-40 minutes. The dough continued to rise nicely in the fridge but the problem was that the butter and sugar ran to the bottom of the pan and formed a syrup. As a result, my layers didn't stick together as well as they should have and I'm sure the loaf wasn't as ooey gooey as it would have been otherwise. Oh well. It still tasted delicious and the combination of flavors was there, not to mention that there was plenty of added moisture from the glaze. It was a great fix for that pumpkin craving I always get this time of year. Just like the lemon pull-apart bread, this stuff didn't last long in our house.

Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread
Recipe adapted from Willow Bird Baking

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups bread flour

Filling Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Maple Browned Butter Glaze Ingredients:
Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar (plus more if necessary)
1/2 teaspoon maple flavor
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 tablespoons brewed coffee

Directions:
Make the pull-apart bread dough: Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, brown the 2 tablespoons of butter. Let it bubble and foam and when you see it start to brown, stir it so that it browns evenly. When it’s the color of dark honey, remove it from the heat and pour it into a large heat-safe mixer bowl to cool. In the same saucepan over medium-low heat, warm the milk until it bubbles. Remove it from the heat and pour it into the bowl with the butter. Let these cool until they’re about 100-110 degrees F (use a candy thermometer to check).

Stir the sugar and yeast into the milk/butter mixture and let it sit for a few minutes. Stir in pumpkin, salt, and 1 cup flour. If you haven’t already, fit your mixer with a dough hook. Add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring between each addition. When the dough is combined, knead on low speed with a dough hook until smooth and elastic (about 4 minutes with a mixer).

Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for about an hour until it doubles in size (After it rises, you can put it in the fridge overnight to use it in the morning, but let it sit out for half an hour before rolling if you do.)

Make the filling: While the dough is rising, whisk the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Toward the end of the rising time, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter for the filling in the saucepan over medium-high heat and brown it as directed above. Put it in a small heat-safe bowl to cool for use later.

Shape and bake pull-apart bread: Knead a sprinkling of flour (about 1 tablespoon) into the dough, deflating it, and recover it. Let it sit to relax for 5 minutes. Flour a large work surface and turn your rested dough out onto it. Roll it out to a 20 inch long and 12 inch wide rectangle, lifting corners periodically to make sure it’s not sticking. If it seems to be snapping back, cover it with your damp towel and let it rest for 5 minutes before continuing (I had to do this twice during the process).

Spread the browned butter over the surface of the dough with a pastry brush and then sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top, patting it down to ensure it mostly sticks. Joy the Baker encourages you to use it all even though it seems like a ton, but I admit I got squeamish at the amount and only used most. It was fine despite my nerves. Go ahead and pile it on.

With the long edge of the rectangle toward you, cut it into 6 strips (do this by cutting the rectangle in half, then cutting each half into equal thirds. I used a pizza cutter). Stack these strips on top of one another and cut the resulting stack into 6 even portions (again, cut it in half, and then cut the halves into equal thirds). Place these portions one at a time into your greased loaf pan, pressing them up against each other to fit them all in. Cover the pan with your damp cloth and place it in a warm place for 30-45 minutes to double in size.

While dough rises, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or 325 if you have a glass loaf dish instead of a metal pan). When it’s risen, place the loaf in the center of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until dark golden brown on top (if you take it out at light golden brown, it’s liable to be raw in the middle, so let it get good and dark). Cool for 15-20 minutes on a cooling rack in the loaf pan while you make the glaze.

Make the glaze: Brown the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat as directed above. Mix together all ingredients and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Remove loaf from pan and generously drizzle glaze over the warm loaf.

Braaaaaains! Zombies want brains. And exercise?

2011-09-28T09:45:00.000-04:00

Looks like I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna lace up my sneakers and enter the world of competitive running. Just last month I posted a picture for my photography project about how I should get off my lazy butt and start running again to shed the pounds my regular workouts weren't getting rid of. I knew that by publicly posting that I wouldn't be able to make any more excuses. So for weeks I've added piddly little two-mile runs to my regular workout routine. No results yet, alas, but upon discovering that there will be a zombie-themed 5k in my hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia I got to thinking that perhaps it's something I can do. Even stranger is that I find myself actually wanting to do it, excited about the idea.

Of course, my nascent running "skills" involve my crawling along at a snail's pace so I don't expect anything from myself but to finish the run. Not to mention that Charlottesville has a huge running community so I'll be up against pros. Oh, and did I mention the hills? Oh yes, the wonderful hills that made learning to drive stick shift that much more fun will also add an extra challenge to the run. One which I can't train for since I live in New Jersey now. Instead I'll count on an even slower time and more fatigue than I'm accustomed to. No matter how poor my time will be I'm still happy to have something to work toward and can't wait to see the zombies out and about in costume. It should be a blast!

A Photo A Day [Days 376-378]

2011-09-25T19:23:00.003-04:00

I've been missing taking photos lately even though I've lost my creative mojo. Today I went on a treasure hunt around the house trying to find something interesting to photograph. Here's one of a bat silhouette we bought to decorate our spooky house.

These last two are attempts to make something ordinary look interesting. It's harder than you'd think.

A Photo A Day [Day 375]

2011-09-18T15:11:00.004-04:00

My husband and I are thinking of adopting. Now it's just a matter of deciding which of these precious angels to bring home with us.

I think we may have found a winner with this one. The resemblance to my husband is uncanny.

Awww. Have you ever seen a more adorable baby? Don't you just want to pinch his chubby little cheeks?

The Best Pizza Dough Ever?

2011-09-13T17:00:00.000-04:00

I found a recipe touting itself as the "best pizza dough ever" floating around Pinterest. Since I've tried many a dough recipe and have yet to find "the one" I was willing to accept the challenge and try out this recipe for myself.

The first thing I noticed was that there is a lot of information in the instructions. I don't know what it says about me that I prefer that over simple, sometimes non-specific directions but in this case it was a huge plus. The biggest difference between this and other recipes I've tried is that both the flour and water need to be chilled. I'd never had a recipe specify that before. I'm fascinated by this difference and would be interested in learning more about the science behind it but I guess for that I'd have to buy the book the recipe came from, Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread. Which, incidentally, has been on my Amazon wish list for some time.

Because of the specificity of the instructions I was a little daunted by the recipe. But if you've made dough before nothing's really all that different as far as the basic procedure is concerned. I mixed the dough first by hand and then kneaded it with my KitchenAid, which the poor mixer seemed to struggle with a bit. I noticed the motor got really hot in the process when I went to put it away afterwards. I both liked and hated that after mixing the dough it needs to sit overnight in the fridge. I started craving pizza on Sunday but had to wait until Monday to eat the fruits of my labor. Obviously next time I'll know and will plan ahead accordingly. I'm not usually an instant gratification sort of person but when it comes to food cravings I am helpless. However, I do like that I can whip up the dough the night before and have less to do the day of the pizza baking.

Of course, the real test is obviously in the taste. I followed the instructions to not overload the dough with toppings, opting for a light layer of red sauce, chunks of soft mozzarella, a few slivers of onion, and then a dusting of basil and Parmesan once it came out of the oven. I did use my pizza stone and wound up with a crust that was both crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside, which happens to be my ideal. There weren't any soggy bits and the crust, while thin, was sturdy enough to support the toppings. Those are both things previous recipes I've tried have struggled with so that's two big pluses in my book.

While I'm not bold enough to claim this is the best pizza dough ever, I can say it's the best one I've ever made. I wouldn't change a thing about the recipe and look forward to the remaining five pizzas I'll get out of this batch of dough. Another winner from Pinterest!

So-Called Best Pizza Dough Ever
Recipe from 101 Cookbooks, originally from The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread

4 1/2 cups (20.25 ounces) unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour, chilled (I used bread flour)
1 3/4 (.44 ounce) teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
1/4 cup (2 ounces) olive oil (optional, I included this)
1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) water, ice cold (40°F)
Semolina flour OR cornmeal for dusting

1. Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment), If you are mixing by hand, repeatedly dip one of your hands or the metal spoon into cold water and use it, much like a dough hook, to work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand. Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn't come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55F.

2. Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment and misting the parchment with spray oil (or lightly oil the parchment). Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you are comfortable shaping large pizzas), You can dip the scraper into the water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it, Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan, Mist the dough generously with spray oil and slip the pan into a food-grade plastic bag.

3. Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to 3 days. (Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to 3 months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.)

4. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Before letting the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours, dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. Now let rest for 2 hours.

5. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone either on the floor of the oven (for gas ovens), or on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven as hot as possible, up to 800F (most home ovens will go only to 500 to 550F, but some will go higher). If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.

6. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal. Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands, including the backs of your hands and knuckles, in flour and lift I piece of dough by getting under it with a pastry scraper. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. If it begins to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue shaping it. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss as shown on page 208. If you have trouble tossing the dough, or if the dough keeps springing back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax, and try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, though this isn't as effective as the toss method.

7. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 9 to 12 inches in diameter for a 6-ounce piece of dough), lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with sauce and then with your other top- pings, remembering that the best pizzas are topped with a less-is-more philosophy. The American "kitchen sink" approach is counterproductive, as it makes the crust more difficult to bake. A few, usually no more than 3 or 4 toppings, including sauce and cheese is sufficient.

8. Slide the topped pizza onto the stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan) and close the door. Wait 2 minutes, then take a peek. If it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for even baking, do so. The pizza should take about 5 to 8 minutes to bake. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone to a lower self before the next round. if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone for subsequent bakes.

9. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before slicing and serving, to allow the cheese to set slightly.

Makes six 6-ounce pizza crusts.

A Photo A Day [Day 374]

2011-09-13T10:30:00.000-04:00

A sneak peek at the pizza I made last night. Recipe post to follow soon. It's probably my favorite dough recipe of all the ones I've tried. This shot, however, is not my favorite. I think I overdid it a tad with the processing. I'll be sure to upload a more normal shot with the recipe later today.

Fall Baking at King Arthur Flour

2011-09-12T15:40:00.000-04:00

We had a teaser of fall-like weather last week before temps returned to the 80s. That teaser was enough to get me thinking about fall and everything that comes along with it: crisp, cool weather, cozy sweaters, fall baking, and Halloween, my favorite holiday of the year. I can't say enough good things about King Arthur Flour so when I got an email from them featuring their fall and Halloween recipes and products I knew I just had to share it with you.

First up is a lovely fall recipe full of the best flavors of the season: Caramel apple mini cakes. The apple flavor comes from a combination of apples, applesauce, and apple juice or cider with a little cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar in the batter. The cakes are topped with a homemade caramel icing for a perfect flavor combination. While they're pictured as dense little squares made in a pop-up pan, if you lack the fancy equipment a muffin pan will do. As soon as I saw these I added them to my to-bake list.

In lieu of going on a real shopping spree I've gone on a virtual one and picked out my favorites from their fall/Halloween line. While I certainly don't need any more cupcake liners these cute polka dot Halloween liners are hard to resist:

I'm intrigued by their black cocoa, which not only promises to be incredibly rich but it will also lend a dark tint to your Halloween-themed treats:

By far my favorite flavor of the season is apple. I'd love to get my hands on some of this boiled cider, which works both as a flavor enhancer in recipes and as a standalone sauce to drizzle on ice cream or other goodies. Yum!

As far as Halloween is concerned, they've got a whole page of decorating ideas including these spooky little fondant ghosts and eyeballs:

Ooh, I'm starting to get really excited about the season!

Obviously there are many more items and ideas I haven't featured so be sure to stop by King Arthur Flour for your fall baking fix.

All photos from King Arthur Flour

A Photo A Day [Days 372 & 373]

2011-09-10T13:55:00.004-04:00

I went a little cat crazy this morning and took over 200 photos of my critters. Of course, being cats they weren't so good about sitting still or looking at the camera so only a handful are usable. I narrowed them down to my two favorites and simply couldn't decide between the two, so I took advantage of some gaps in my project to upload two today.

Punky knows she rules the roost around here. In this shot she's surveying her kingdom and her humble subjects:

Loofy has been featured in my project before but never this well. Why, she hardly looks cross-eyed at all in this shot! Now if only her whiskers weren't so long I could have fit them all into the frame. She's like the Wilford Brimley of the cat world.

A Photo A Day [Day 371]

2011-09-09T21:45:00.003-04:00

"It takes a long time to become young."
-Pablo Picasso

Like Picasso, I am apparently entering my blue period.

Ooey Gooey Banana Nutella Bread

2011-09-08T18:47:00.000-04:00

Some recipes you see and just have to make immediately. Impulse baking, if you will. This was one of those recipes, although I'm sure the dreary, rainy weather contributed to my desire for a warm, freshly baked treat.

Now, I've made Nutella banana bread in the past and liked it well enough. But this recipe takes that idea to a whole new level with the use of 3/4 cup of the stuff and the ingenious idea to mix it with a little of the batter to help it mix in and bake up better. Not surprising that it should be so deliciously laden with Nutella as I got the recipe from a girl who received a 12-pound jar of Nutella as a present and documented the various ways she used it up. I dream of receiving a gift like that, although I can also understand the great responsibility and heavy burden that comes with such a dispensation.

Do I really need to say more to convince you to try this recipe? The Nutella bits are wonderfully chocolatey and the entire cake is moist and full of flavor. What more do you need to hear?

Nutella Banana Bread
Recipe from Nutella Every Day

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup skim milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 heaping cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8×4-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda & salt.

3. In a separate large bowl, beat sugar and butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, milk and vanilla. Beat until blended.

4. Add flour mixture, beat at low speed just until flour is incorporated (don’t over mix).

5. Spoon Nutella into a small dish and soften in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Add 1 cup of the banana bread batter to the Nutella and stir until blended well. Spoon Nutella batter alternately with plain banana bread batter into the prepared pan. Swirl batters together with a knife.

5. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, it will seem a tiny bit undercooked but that’s what makes it good. Cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

A Photo A Day [Day 369]

2011-09-06T20:10:00.001-04:00

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves

Today was a dreary, rainy day. The sort of day that requires a warm cup of coffee, soft, cozy blankets, and a hint of sparkle to brighten things up. I tried playing around with bokeh to get a little of that sparkle and shine in my photo. Didn't get it exactly right but this one cheered me a bit.

I can't claim credit for the idea as I stole it from here via Pinterest. Her version is much better than mine. Which just goes to show that even if you're stealing an idea the execution can be just as much work as the idea itself.

A Photo A Day [Day 368]

2011-09-05T19:39:00.001-04:00

A Study in Scarlet

"There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."

Sherlock Holmes, in "A Study in Scarlet"

A Photo A Day [Day 367]

2011-09-03T16:46:00.002-04:00

I am on a roll! Took pictures two days in a row. I guess old habits die hard.

Tried something today that didn't work out so I wound up with this.

A Photo A Day [Day 366]

2011-09-03T09:48:00.002-04:00

That's right. I'm back! Seems my hiatus didn't last as long as I'd expected. I guess I'm so vain that I missed photographing myself. Picked up my camera for the first time since I finished my project so I could show off (if that's even the right word) my latest selfie. :)

A Photo A Day [Day 365]

2011-08-30T19:29:00.004-04:00

Goodbye and hello, as always

Do you see that number there? The big 3-6-5? That means I am finally done! I did it!

I know I'm hardly the first person to successfully finish a 365 project but I thought I'd take this opportunity to distill some of my thoughts on the venture. I missed every milestone along the way, mostly because I was busy focusing on the idea for my next photo rather than the numbers, but this is one milestone I can't help but notice.

It's amazing to see how far I've come from my first crappy photos, even if I can compare myself to some of the talent out there and see that I still have much to improve. That said, it's the days (and sometimes months) when I was feeling down or life was hectic and my shots often suffered as a result that I'm the proudest of. I got through an entire year of ups and downs and managed to stick to this promise to myself. As I look forward to celebrating my 30th birthday in a few weeks it's one of the accomplishments I can carry with me into the next decade. Although at my age I probably shouldn't be carrying anything heavy lest I slip and break a hip. :)

While I can't say I ever doubted that I would finish out the year I was hoping for a much more triumphant conclusion. As it is, I find myself limping and dragging myself over the finish line, grateful for it to finally be over. I knew my obsessive German personality wouldn't let me allow myself the luxury of quitting, even at the toughest times, but the enthusiasm and creative drive that carried me through many months seems to have petered out. I still love my camera, love the process of coming up with ideas and coming up with a shot to match, and I wouldn't give up photography for the world. However, the days when it's a struggle to carve out the time to take a decent photo are becoming more and more frequent. It feels too much like an obligation, a chore to add to the vacuuming and laundry that awaits me at the end of each day. For that reason, I'll be happy to step back from my project and loosen the rules for myself in the year(s?) to come.

For one, and this is the part that makes me happiest, it will no longer be about quantity over quality. If I can't think of a good idea for a shot or if none of my shots pan out I won't feel compelled to post yet another blurry picture of my cats to fill the gap. I can already hear your sigh of relief. I know I still have a long way to go skill-wise but at least I'll have the luxury of waiting another day until the lighting's right or inspiration strikes.

I want to be sure to thank all of you who went on this journey with me. Let's face it; without your awesome, supportive comments I might have wound up hating this project but thanks to you it's been rewarding and wonderful. Your comments have meant a lot to me so thank you for each and every one!

Hope to see you all soon with photo #366. Now then, where's my celebratory cake?

A Photo A Day [Day 364]

2011-08-29T19:05:00.001-04:00

Because I do not hope

"At the first turning of the second stair
I turned and saw below
The same shape twisted on the banister
Under the vapour in the fetid air
Struggling with the devil of the stairs who wears
The deceitful face of hope and of despair.

At the second turning of the second stair
I left them twisting, turning below;
There were no more faces and the stair was dark,
Damp, jagged, like an old man's mouth driveling, beyond repair,
Or the toothed gullet of an aged shark. "
-T. S. Eliot

I've been wanting to do a shot inspired by this poem using my spiral staircase for the better part of this year. I figured it's high time I got around to it with only two days left to go in my project.

A Photo A Day [Day 363]

2011-08-28T16:58:00.003-04:00

As you can see, I survived the dreaded hurricane unscathed. In fact, I managed to sleep through most of it as it didn't amount to much more than an abundance of rain and wind. Fortunately, we don't live in a flood-prone area so no harm was done.

Part of my pre-hurricane preparations involved bringing in everything from outside the house that wasn't nailed down, including a mat outside our back door. This morning I noticed that some algae had grown in the areas not covered by the mat. Before I cleaned it up I figured it would make for a neat shot for the day.

A Photo A Day [Days 361 & 362]

2011-08-27T21:02:00.002-04:00

Be mine?

My Snape Lego man and I had a touching moment yesterday. I think he loves me.

A processed version of one of my pictures of my latest baking experiment, peanut butter brownie cups.

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups

2011-08-27T15:46:00.000-04:00

With Hurricane Irene bearing down on us the natives are getting restless. Their panic is driving them to the stores to stock up on water and fill their tanks with gas. My panic, on the other hand, is driving me straight to the kitchen. What if there's a power outage that lasts for days? Sure, I've got plenty of non-perishable foods to sustain me but what if I have to go all that time without getting to eat freshly baked goods?! The horror, the horror.

This morning I rushed downstairs to bake something to satisfy my craving for chocolate and peanut butter. These brownie nuggets are baked with both chocolate and peanut butter chips. To make them incredibly indulgent I deviated from the original recipe and topped them with both rich chocolate ganache and peanut butter frosting. I don't even want to consider the calorie count but can tell you these sure worked to satisfy that craving.

So don't worry about me in the days to come as the rain and winds buffet my home. As you can see, I am all set to weather the storm.

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups
Recipe adapted from Cookies & Cups

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon water
1 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips separated as follows: 3/4 cup (to melt), 1/2 cup (to stir in)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 12 cup muffin pan.
2) Combine sugar, butter and water in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute or until butter is melted.
3) Add 3/4 cup semi-sweet chips; stir until melted.
4) Add egg and vanilla extract and stir well. Add flour and baking soda and stir until blended. Allow to cool to room temperature.
5) Stir in 1/2 cup each of PB chips and semi-sweet chips. Spoon a heaping tablespoon batter into each prepared muffin cup.
6) Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top is set and wooden pick inserted center comes out still slightly wet.
7) Place muffin pan on wire rack. Centers of brownies will fall upon cooling. If some do not, with back of teaspoon, tap center to make a hole.

Chocolate Ganache Filling
Recipe adapted from Crustabakes

3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

1) In a small saucepan, combine chips and cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is thickened. Cool slightly. Spoon into hollows in the center of each brownie cup.

Peanut Butter Frosting
Recipe adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tbsp heavy cream or milk

1) In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together confectioner's sugar and butter until creamy. Add peanut butter, beating well, Add milk and beat until smooth and creamy. Pipe onto brownie cups.

A Photo A Day [Day 360]

2011-08-25T23:04:00.001-04:00

Pleased to meet you.

A Photo A Day [Day 359] - Sweet Rolls

2011-08-24T21:41:00.003-04:00

I made these rolls to accompany tonight's dinner. I halved the recipe below and wound up with 16 tasty rolls. Click the link if you're interested in trying the sweet butter meant to accompany it. I'm trying to be good and cut back on sugar so I skipped that part.

Texas Roadhouse Sweet Rolls
Recipe from Chef in Training

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
6-8 cups flour
2 Tbsp. melted butter
2 whole eggs
2 tsp salt

Activate yeast in warm water with a tsp. of sugar.

While yeast is activating, scald milk and cool to lukewarm.

Once yeast has doubled in volume, add yeast, sugar, and milk to a large bowl and enough flour to make a medium batter. (medium batter is about the consistency of pancake batter). Beat thoroughly. Let stand alone until light and fluffy.

Add melted butter (which has been cooled), eggs, and salt. Beat well. Add enough flour to make flour to form soft dough.

Sprinkle small amount of flour on counter and set down on it to rest. Meanwhile, clean out the bowl and grease clean surface down with crisco. Place dough in bowl and flip over to grease the top as well. Knead dough until smooth and satiny.

Cover and let rise in a warm area until double in size.

Once double in size punch down. Turn out on floured board. Divide into portions for shaping and let rest for 10 minutes.

Once dough has raised, shape dough into desired forms. Place on greased baking sheets and let rise until doubled.

Bake at 350 F for 10-15 minutes.

A Photo A Day [Day 358]

2011-08-23T19:49:00.002-04:00

What follows is a true story from my traumatic childhood. Growing up with two brothers I had to become accustomed to a certain amount of teasing. And by "certain amount" I mean a never-ending barrage of insults that to this day remains our primary form of communication. My dad found this ugly little critter at a yard sale and brought it home for his offspring to enjoy. I'm not sure what my mother's reaction was but we kids loved it. Even if I had to endure variations of the following on a regular basis:

Brother #1: "What's that?"
Brother #2: "It's a brain sucker." *puts creature onto my head*
Brother #1: "What's it doing?"
Brother #2: "Starving."

Har. Har. Har.

A Photo A Day [Day 357]

2011-08-22T22:00:00.003-04:00

Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

A Photo A Day [Day 356]

2011-08-21T21:27:00.002-04:00

The happy couple

Aww. Ain't love grand?

It's just too bad their arms are too short for them to hug. I guess a kiss will have to do for now.

A Photo A Day [Day 355]

2011-08-20T17:30:00.002-04:00

Sorry for my tiny, crappy handwriting. And my strange alien-like face.

A Photo A Day [Day 354]

2011-08-19T22:17:00.005-04:00

Here you get two challenges for the price of one! Not only am I doing another copycat photo but I'm also doing my first abstract shot. I think. I'm still a little unclear about what constitutes an abstract image. I hope this qualifies. Since so many others at 365 Project have been devoting the month of August to abstract shots I figured it was high time I gave it a go.

The inspiration for this photo came from this shot of a piece of licorice candy, of all things:

Photo by Marinda

A Photo A Day [Day 353]

2011-08-18T21:24:00.003-04:00

Some of the gals and I at 365 Project, triggered by a recent discussion about the difference between being inspired by someone's work and outright copying it, are trying our hand at imitating each others' photos. For today I chose to take the idea from this picture and put my own macabre twist on it:

Photo by Amy Hughes

I may do some more of these imitation shots in the future. It's a fun challenge, I think.

A Photo A Day [Day 352]

2011-08-17T19:59:00.001-04:00

Just a random critter from around my house and some more Hobby Lobby scrapbook paper in the background. Thought I'd take advantage of the shaft of sunlight coming through to the living room from two rooms away.

A Photo A Day [Days 350 & 351]

2011-08-16T20:45:00.004-04:00

Yesterday's picture was of the mocha pound cake cupcakes I made on Sunday, blogged about here.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page."

And yes, in my house I use foreign currency as a decoration.

Theme: Money

A Photo A Day [Day 349]

2011-08-14T20:21:00.001-04:00

I'd never before heard of the artist for this week's artist challenge but couldn't help but enjoy Chema Madoz's clever way of showing the unexpected. I've wanted to try this idea all week but had no idea how to set up the shoot. Photoshop came to the rescue by letting me take a photo of one of our angelic-looking figures, a photo of one of our devils in silhouette, and arrange them just so. The background I stole since this stairway to heaven seemed perfect. Despite the Photoshop time involved it was easier to do than I'd feared.

Brown Sugar Mocha Pound Cake Cupcakes

2011-08-14T20:10:00.001-04:00

Finally I came up with a legitimate excuse to bake a batch of cupcakes. Ever since glutting myself while on vacation I've tried to avoid dessert, which means I also need to avoid baking. I've missed my time in the kitchen so was glad that my upcoming book club meeting gave me an excuse to whip up something sugary.

Ever since King Arthur Flour generously sent me some of their mini cinnamon chips to try out I've been wanting to use them in a coffee-flavored treat. Something about the combination seems comforting and appealing. A little bitterness from the coffee and a little spice from the cinnamon. What's not to like?

I nabbed a recipe from my Pinterest board for a bundt cake, halved it and added the cinnamon chips plus my favorite coffee buttercream. The cake is as dense as you'd expect a pound cake to be and they rise so much that they come out of the oven as huge specimens. I definitely felt full after eating just one. Still, the combination of flavors is, to use a cliche, like a party in your mouth. Chocolate? Check. Subtle cinnamon? Check. A hint of maple in a brown sugary cake? Check. The coffee buttercream really ties the whole thing together and adds that creamy element these dense cupcakes need. I hope you try them out for yourself the next time you can convince yourself that you deserve a treat.

Oh, and can I just say how much I love Hobby Lobby? I don't think I've ever been in one as there aren't any within driving distance of where I live but while on vacation we stumbled across one. I've put myself on a strict budget so I didn't go crazy with the purchases but I did take advantage of their extensive scrapbook paper collection to grab a few new backgrounds for my cupcake photos. I'll have to experiment with moving the cupcakes a little closer to the background so you can really make out that fun houndstooth print.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon & Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from Wives With Knives

5 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini cinnamon chips
1 1/2 cups flour, divided
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cups golden brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 cupcake wells with paper liners.
2) Mix chocolate chips and cinnamon chips with 1 tablespoon of the flour in medium bowl. Sift remaining flour with baking soda, baking powder and salt into another medium bowl.
3) Using electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla extract and maple extract. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
4) Mix in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
5) Scoop into prepared pan and bake 17-22 minutes until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Coffee Buttercream
Recipe adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 tablespoon instant coffee granules
1 teaspoon hot coffee
Chocolate-covered coffee beans (optional garnish)

1) In a small bowl, mix together coffee granulates and hot coffee. Stir until coffee granules are dissolved. Let cool completely.
2) In a small bowl, using an electric miser on low speed, beat together butter, sugar, and salt until well combined. Increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, beating until frosting is smooth.
3) Add cooled coffee to butter mixture, beating until smooth, creamy, and well mixed. You will need to scrape down sides of the bowl several times while mixing.
4) Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and garnish with chocolate-covered coffee beans, if desired.

A Photo A Day [Day 348]

2011-08-14T02:41:00.003-04:00

Well, this was not the shot I was working for today. As this week's theme is "eyes" I've been seeing others post all sorts of stunning close-ups of their peepers. I was hoping to get something similar but now realize I must lack the necessary macro lens or fancy equipment to make it so. Instead you get this slightly silly outtake from today's shoot.

A Photo A Day [Day 347]

2011-08-12T20:49:00.002-04:00

One day I will...

I've been thinking about getting back into running. I keep telling myself tomorrow will be the day and then tomorrow always comes and goes.

I'm inspired by my aunt who ran the Big Sur Marathon last fall and my best friend who ran her first half marathon last month but can't quite talk myself into doing it. It's not that I lack motivation since I already make sure to get my 30-45 minutes of exercise in six or seven days a week. It's not that I don't know what great exercise it can be as it was how I once lost 90 pounds. I just hate the idea of exercising in public. Silly, I know, but it's the main reason I never lace up these shoes and head out the door.

A Photo A Day [Day 346]

2011-08-11T20:11:00.001-04:00

Spaghetti & Eyeballs

I hate that I ruined my rubber eyeballs for this photo. They're now all stained orange from the tomato sauce. :( I was planning to make a cheery, festive Halloween wreath out of them this year after hunting them down in the post-Halloween sales last year. Guess that plan's gone down the toilet now.

Theme: Eyes

A Photo A Day [Day 345]

2011-08-10T19:18:00.004-04:00

"It's best to kill the ones that matter, render blind the ones who see."
-Counting Crows

This shot was clearly inspired by a bizarre book I just finished reading, Infected by Scott Sigler. It's full of jaw-dropping gory scenes of a man doing his darnedest to remove the infected bits of his body, cutting them out of himself one piece at a time. Those scenes tended to coincide with my lunch break when I would try to squeeze in a few extra pages every day. So while chowing down on a nice turkey sandwich I'd get to read about the man hacking away at his oozing pustules, complete with blood and vomit spewing in all directions. Anyway, I had this idea as soon as I saw the theme and even though, once again, my finished product isn't exactly as I'd envisioned I think I've captured the spirit of my idea.

Theme: Eyes

A Photo A Day [Day 344]

2011-08-09T18:02:00.000-04:00

Mmm, my favorite afternoon treat is a sip of pickled eyeball juice. Perks me right up.

Theme: Eyes

A Photo A Day [Day 343]

2011-08-09T07:00:00.002-04:00

I'm the master and you're the puppet

This week's theme is "eyes." I've got all sorts of evil creatures around the house with dramatic eyes perfect for the theme. Unfortunately, I had such a huge headache yesterday that I couldn't figure out how to stage this or do more than a close-up of this dude's evil dead eyes. So this is what you get.

In light of a some recent discussions I've had and the discovery of the amusing You Are Not a Photographer I'm feeling extra critical and hate that part of this is out of focus. Clearly I have a long way to go skill-wise.

A Photo A Day [Day 342]

2011-08-07T22:50:00.005-04:00

Ministry of Silly Walks

This was an incredibly embarrassing photo shoot. I'm convinced that in addition to the people driving by who saw me exhibiting my craziness there was probably a CCTV camera capturing it all as well. Oh well, I guess it's a small price to pay for paying tribute to one of my favorite TV shows of all time: Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Oh, and this is much harder to do than you'd think. As if I didn't already have mad respect for John Cleese his ability to do this without toppling over earns him even more esteem.

A Photo A Day [Day 341]

2011-08-06T19:24:00.003-04:00

The Eye of the Beholder

It shouldn't surprise you one bit that that one of my favorite TV shows is The Twilight Zone. Quirky? Weird? Clever? Yup, suits me to a T. I've loved it since I was a kid and my brothers and I would huddle around the television for the annual New Year's marathon, struggling to stay awake as long as possible. I can watch the same episodes over and over again with the same glee and amazement at the creativity that went into each story.

What a relief that this week's "TV show" theme came along and I was finally able to do a self-portrait without having to spend hours Photoshopping my face. Here you can see the real me. I'm sure you'll all agree that I'm quite beautiful.

A Photo A Day [Days 339 & 340]

2011-08-05T19:29:00.003-04:00

Well then. This photo sure didn't turn out at all like I'd wanted.

Here I am reading "The Woman in White." It's a Victorian mystery/thriller with part of the suspense coming from the mysterious woman in white. Who is she? Where has she gone? Will we ever see her again? Why, she could be hiding right behind you at this very moment!

This week's theme is TV shows, which I'd be having a ball with if my schedule allowed it. I watch a lot of TV so it's the perfect theme but I just haven't had the time to brainstorm and put together appropriate shots.

This is a tribute to Black Books, one of my favorite TV shows. It takes place not only in London but in a book store. Two of my favorite places in one package! It may sound like the set up for a boring series but the charm is in the lunacy of the characters and the fantastic main actors: Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey, and Tamsin Greig.

To give you a little taste, this description was taken from Wikipedia about Dylan Moran's character, Bernard:
"A central theme is Bernard's odd position as a belligerent and openly hostile shopkeeper who has a loathing of the outside world and all the people who inhabit it."

I like to think that's exactly what I would be like if I didn't have the horrid flaw of caring about other people's feelings now and then.

Yesterday I was in the right frame of mind for this shot after having to deal with several difficult customers on the phone. That plus a massive headache were sure to help me nail the appropriate expression. Although I didn't quite manage to fully evoke the soul-wrenching despair that comes with having to work in customer service I feel like I've done some justice to poor downtrodden Bernard. Ignore the fact that it looks like I also have a black eye. I have no idea why it looks like that but trust me that my day wasn't *that* bad.

A Photo A Day [Vacation Edition Part Deux]

2011-08-03T19:59:00.005-04:00

Never fear, these are the last shots from my trip. I've been using them as fillers for the past few days as I decided to use the time I'd ordinarily spend photographing and processing that day's photo to instead sort through and process my vacation shots instead. Otherwise I suspect those pictures would still be sitting on my hard drive weeks from now.

Dead End

I'm so pleased with how the processing turned out on this one. I had an imperfect shot of a West Virginian road and couldn't figure out how to make it more interesting, until I stumbled across the ghoulish picture I had saved on my hard drive from a previous project.

Another one from my husband's former elementary school, now a charmingly dilapidated building falling apart and peeling to pieces.

On a Pale Horse

One of the best things we did on the trip was go for an hour-long horse ride through a state park. I can't remember the last time I rode a horse, probably not since the few pony rides I took as a child. We both had a blast even if my horse was a bit of a slowpoke.

A Photo A Day [Day 333]

2011-08-02T17:16:00.003-04:00

Can't you see my walls are crumbling?

During our trip to WV my husband was eager to see some of his old haunts. Unfortunately, because his childhood was so long ago many of them are more likely to be the home of haunts and ghosts than living persons now. We intended to merely poke around the outside of this building, one of the elementary schools he attended, but upon finding an unlocked door he was curious to see inside. The building was full of debris, peeling paint, and abandoned furniture and fixtures. Not to mention some extremely curious graffiti honoring Bob Hope. Don't ask. I have no idea why either.

Unfortunately, I didn't make the most of those prime conditions so most of my shots were too dark or blurry as a result of the darkness. A shame because I would have loved for my first attempt at photographing a derelict building to have turned out better. Oh well, at least now I have some idea of where I went wrong and I learned the #1 most important lesson about traipsing around an abandoned building: make sure to wear close-toed shoes. I'm lucky I didn't slice my feet open on all of the broken glass everywhere.

A Photo A Day [Day 335]

2011-08-01T21:06:00.002-04:00

The Tree of Life

Another shot from my trip, this one taken on the road from Berkeley Springs to our rental cabin.

Ok, now it's time to prepare yourself for a pseudo rant. Ready? Read on.

So I once read an interview with a photographer saying that with the proliferation of inexpensive digital cameras many folks fancy themselves to be good photographers without having any actual training or skills. To him, a proper photographer understands how to set up a shot and takes the time to do so, whereas those of us clicking away with our cameras hoping that one shot out of ten will be usable aren't real photographers. I believe it was the same guy who said that if a photo is taken from a moving car while driving down the street it's not going to impress him as any idiot could take the same shot. I'm not terribly offended by this assertion but I do have to wonder if what he's talking about is all there is to photography. I will admit that I took over 50 photos while my husband was driving down the road as much of our trip was spent in the car. I will also admit that most of those were blurry, composed badly, focused on the wrong thing, etc. But doesn't it take some sort of skill, some sort of artistic eye to be able to sort through the duds and find one worth using? I feel like I managed to do that with a few of my shots, figuring out how to crop or process it to bring out the beauty of the scene. Which I hope is what I did here. Anyway, rant over. I'll go back to my haphazard method of photography and hope there's some merit in my work after all. :)

A Photo A Day [Vacation Edition]

2011-07-30T23:36:00.012-04:00

I'm skipping around when it comes to processing my photos so here are a few from my trip with a gap or two in between. In other words, more are to come. I know you can hardly contain your excitement.

Our West Virginia adventure took us from Harpers Ferry and Shepherdstown (seen here) to Fayetteville, Oak Hill, Beckley, and Charleston. Finally we've made it to the tail end of our vacation in Berkeley Springs. Most of those are tiny towns in one of the nation's least popular states so you'd be forgiven for never having heard of them before.

Tuesday found us in Beckley where we finally saw the final Harry Potter movie (yes, tears were shed) and we revisited a little bistro we'd enjoyed over four years ago when we were last there.

This is but one example of why I'll probably come home from this vacation ten pounds heavier.

I've never been one to shy away from a challenge, especially when it comes to eating. In this case the challenge took the form of this gigantic piece of rich chocolate peanut butter cake. I suspect it's my mother's post-war upbringing that was in turn instilled in me that makes it impossible for me to throw any food away uneaten. Because my husband's not a fan of chocolate I was on my own here and our plans did not allow for a doggie bag. It was quite a battle but I persevered in the end. :)

On Wednesday we headed to Charleston and poked around the city. Just as I was beginning to fret that none of my pictures from our trip to the state's capitol was worthy of sharing online I discovered that combining a horribly overexposed shot of this downtown building with one of the better shots I took resulted in this funky final product. Looks almost like a sketch, doesn't it?

This last one was taken yesterday here in Berkeley Springs. This is what passes for a mansion in West Virginia and I suspect this one comes with a ghost or two to boot. You gotta watch out for those hillbilly ghosts. They're usually so drunk on moonshine that it only makes them meaner than regular ghosts.

We're heading back home tomorrow so it's back to reality for me then. It was a fun vacation while it lasted.

A Photo A Day [Day 329 & 330]

2011-07-25T22:19:00.003-04:00

Greetings from my West Virginia vacation. Yesterday saw us pass through Harpers Ferry on the way to Shepherdstown, where we stayed in The Bavarian Inn and noshed on German food. This is the view of the Potomac River from Harpers Ferry.

Before leaving Shepherdstown this morning we stopped in an old cemetery with lots of interesting Civil War history.

A Photo A Day [Day 328]

2011-07-23T23:05:00.004-04:00

Yet another random self-portrait. I'm off tomorrow for a week-long vacation to the wilds of West Virginia. I'll consider it a good trip if I don't get eaten by cannibalistic hillbillies.

Only joking. No offense to anyone from WV. You know all those jokes you make about Kentucky? Those of us from Virginia make the exact same jokes about WV. No harm intended!

Style Stitches Sew Along: Key Keeper Coin Purse

2011-07-23T10:31:00.001-04:00

Whoo hoo! I finally sewed something again! I can't explain my reluctance to hunker down with the sewing machine for the past few months but it was nice that this month's sew along project was a simple one to help me ease my way back in. Even better that I had a friend's birthday coming up and needed something to give her as a gift. Perfect timing.

I'm going to jump right in and start bitching about the pattern. I officially hate the way the book has us sew zippers. HATE. I made five of the Origami Bags and could never get it right. I assumed this was simply due to a lack of skill on my part but after reading others' reviews about their frustrations I plan to give up on this method for good. The ends don't look nearly as neat and tidy as they did in the zippered pouches I made from Noodlehead's free pattern. That pattern uses pretty little tabs on each end of the zipper and I much prefer that method and the finished look. Next time I shall give that a try instead. Bree from My Crafty Crap (hosting the sew along) did that with her coin purse and I think it looks perfect. She's planning to post a tutorial about how to do it once she gets a few other items off of her to-do list. Like, you know, giving birth to her first baby. I guess everyone has her own priorities. :P

Rant over, I have to admit that this is a cute little bag that sews together quickly. I hope to make one for myself since I can always use more pouches to organize the junk that keeps accumulating in my purse. I'm glad I'm back in the saddle again when it comes to sewing because I did miss the process and the satisfaction that comes with creating something.

The best part is the bag is the perfect size for storing those extra eyeballs we all have lying around the house. I'm sure that alone convinces you that you need to make one for yourself.

A Photo A Day [Day 327]

2011-07-22T22:21:00.000-04:00

I made this little coin purse as a gift for a friend. It's the perfect size for storing those spare eyeballs we all have lying around the house.

A Photo A Day [Day 326]

2011-07-21T21:34:00.002-04:00

We're in the middle of a heat wave so I lacked the motivation to think of something cool to photograph today. Instead I processed a photo from the vault for your enjoyment. Here I am evaporating in the heat.

A Photo A Day [Day 325]

2011-07-20T19:42:00.001-04:00

Mmm! Now that's what I call finger lickin' good!

In completely unrelated news, I made a delicious batch of blackberry jam last night.

A Photo A Day [Days 323 & 324]

2011-07-19T23:09:00.004-04:00

Completely random picture. Sorry, it was a busy day with little time for photos so this is what you get. I still think it's a little intriguing.

Even monsters have to do their chores...

Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice Cream

2011-07-19T14:15:00.000-04:00

It's always a struggle to clear out enough room in my freezer for the giant ice cream maker bowl but the results are always well worth the effort. This peanut butter and jelly ice cream is no exception.

For some reason I've been craving peanut butter desserts lately so I dug into the archives of bookmarked recipes for this gem. The ice cream is wonderfully creamy and full of peanut butter flavor with the added bonus of sweet jam. It really does taste like all the best parts of a PB&J sandwich. I used some of my favorite raspberry jam from Trader Joe's and this really hit the spot. Yum!

Amusingly, after I'd mixed the ingredients together and set it in the fridge to cool I went out to a specialty ice cream shop and they just so happened to have peanut butter and jelly ice cream on their menu. See? It's not a totally unheard of idea!

Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice Cream
Recipe from Steph's Bite by Bite

2/3 cup sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (not the natural kind)
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Jam – however much you like and whatever flavor of jam you want

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine), mix together the sugar and creamy peanut butter on medium low speed until combined. On low speed, add in the milk. Then add in the heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract and mix to completely combine. Use a whisk to finish mixing the ingredients together.

Pour the mixture in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours or chill overnight (recommended).

Turn your ice cream maker on and pour the mixture into the ice cream maker. Freeze according to your manufacturer’s instructions.

Once the ice cream is done churning, spread a layer of the ice cream in the bottom of a container. Add some jam on top and swirl it. Spread some more ice cream on top. Add more jam and swirl again. Finally spread on the last layer of ice cream.

Cover the ice cream and freeze for a couple of hours or more.

A Photo A Day [Days 320-322]

2011-07-17T22:10:00.005-04:00

Peanut butter and jelly ice cream. Recipe post coming soon.

Harry Potter-themed Butterbeer cupcakes.

I dragged my husband back to the walking trail we discovered a few weeks ago so we could pick wild blackberries growing along the path. I haven't officially measured our haul but I'd reckon we came home with over three cups of berries. Guess I need to take a crash course on how to make blackberry jam.

Harry Potter Butterbeer Cupcakes

2011-07-17T21:32:00.002-04:00

It is truly the end of an era for those of us who (sorta) grew up with the Harry Potter books and films. I've been a fan since the beginning and have so many fond memories of sharing the books and going to see the movies with my friends over the years. While I don't have the patience to put up with the lines and crowds associated with opening night I wanted to do something to commemorate the release of the final Harry Potter film. Also, since I know I'll cry like a baby, especially when my favorite character dies, I prefer to go when there are as few witnesses as possible.

I have a trip to the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios planned for this November and I have to admit that one of the biggest draws for me is getting to taste some of the delicious treats talked about in the books. Chief among those is Butterbeer, a butterscotch-flavored beverage with a frothy foam on top. But why wait to enjoy one when I can recreate the flavors in my kitchen in the form of butterscotch-filled, buttery cupcakes?

The recipe I found not only uses plenty of butterscotch but also something I never thought I'd buy: artificial butter flavor. Despite my reservations about it I have to say that the cupcakes wouldn't be half as magical without it. The buttery flavor meshes wonderfully with the sweetness and saltiness of the butterscotch to create a smooth, almost creamy flavored cupcake. If that makes any sense. If it doesn't I guess you'll just have to make these yourself to see what I mean.

Since I'm a DIY snob and prefer to make as much from scratch as I can, I swapped out the original recipe's butterscotch filling made by melting butterscotch baking chips and cream and made homemade butterscotch for the first time. I should admit that I've never been a big fan of butterscotch but after making my own I have become a convert. The flavor of real, homemade butterscotch is a thousand times better than the artificial flavor you get in candies and baking chips. And compared to making caramel this was a piece of cake. There is a much greater margin of error so I didn't have to stand over the stove fretting that I would miss the small window of opportunity between undercooked, flavorless caramel and burnt sugar. If you're a novice I'd suggest clicking the link below for the butterscotch recipe for helpful step-by-step photos. Or, if doing the extra work isn't your thing, head to amyBITES to see how you can use butterscotch chips to make the necessary filling.

In case you can't tell from the photos, I have a bit of a fangirl crush on Severus Snape. There's nothing natural, sensible, or healthy about this obsession so the less I say about it the better. Just know that these cupcakes were a wonderful way to say goodbye to a series I grew to love.

Butterbeer Cupcakes
Recipe from amyBITES

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream soda (DO NOT USE DIET)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with 18 paper liners. Combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream your butter until light and fluffy. Add your sugars and beat until well-combined. Beat in your eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then beat in your vanilla and butter flavoring.

Alternate adding your buttermilk, cream soda, and dry ingredients in alternating batches beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full then bake for 15 to 17 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and cake springs back to the touch. Cool in pans on wire racks for ten minutes, then remove from pans and cool cupcakes completely on racks.

Butterscotch Sauce
Recipe from Simply Recipes

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup of tightly packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (not ultra-pasteurized)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt (you might not use it all)

Butterscotch takes about a half an hour to make, from start to finish.

1) First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the brown sugar next to the pan, measured and waiting. Making butterscotch is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients.

2) In a heavy bottomed stainless steel 2 quart saucepan, melt butter over low to medium heat. Just before butter is melted, add all dark brown sugar at once and stir with wooden spoon until sugar is uniformly wet.

3) Stir infrequently until mixture goes from looking grainy to molten lava. Make sure to get into the corners of your pot, and watch closely to notice how the mixture changes. It will take about 3 to 5 minutes.

4) Right before you add the cream, the caramelizing brown sugar will begin to look and feel more like liquid and less like thick wet sand.

5) At this point add all the cream at once and replace your spoon with a whisk. Lower heat a little and whisk cream into mixture. When liquid is uniform, turn heat back to medium and whisk every few minutes for a total of 10 minutes.

6) After liquid has been boiling on the stove for its 10 minutes, turn heat off and let rest for a minute or two before transferring into a heatproof storage vessel. Cool to room temperature.

7) When butterscotch liquid is room temperature, take a small taste. It's important to know what cooked brown sugar and butter tastes like, and what happens when transforming that flat sweetness into real butterscotch flavor. Whisk in half the salt and vanilla extract. Taste again. Add more salt and vanilla extract until the marvelous taste of real butterscotch is achieved.

Butterbeer Frosting
Recipe from amyBITES
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup butterscotch sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 16-oz. package powdered sugar
Splash of milk or cream (as needed)

Cream butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add in butterscotch sauce, vanilla, butter flavoring, and salt and mix until well combined. Beat in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until reaching desired consistency. Add milk or cream by the tablespoon as needed.

Using the cone method fill each cupcake with a dollop of butterscotch sauce. Replace cones and frost cupcakes and top with a drizzle of butterscotch sauce. (I got lazy and didn't want to waste any more or my precious butterscotch sauce so I only drizzled half.)

A Photo A Day [Day 319]

2011-07-14T20:27:00.001-04:00

Just another random self-portrait. Taken while I tried to blind myself with the sun.

A Photo A Day [Day 318]

2011-07-13T23:16:00.000-04:00

Bats in the belfry

A Photo A Day [Day 317]

2011-07-12T20:48:00.001-04:00

Uh, yeah. Couldn't think of anything else for today so I decided to try something daring. At least I'm wearing clothes so no one will be scarred for life.

Browned Butter Caramel Banana Bread

2011-07-11T20:45:00.000-04:00

I'm always on the search for finding ways to use up overripe bananas in a more creative way than plain ol' banana bread. Banana and chocolate? Done it. Banana and peanut butter? Always a winning combination. This weekend I brainstormed and came up with a new combination to try: banana and caramel.

I had so many leftover bananas that I knew I'd have to make a loaf of banana bread based on my favorite recipe from a friend. The recipe uses an overabundance of bananas to create a super moist and flavorful loaf. The secret trick is to leave some of the banana chunks intact for surprise bites of banana goodness. Starting with that as my base I brainstormed ways to incorporate caramel flavor. My first plan was to make some caramel syrup and swirl it into the batter, but that alone didn't seem indulgent enough. Raiding the cupboard I found some Heath milk chocolate toffee bits to mix into the batter. OK, that's a step in the right direction but what's next? Then I remembered how the browned butter chocolate chip cookies I made a few months back had a distinct caramelized flavor thanks to that browned butter so I decided to brown the butter called for in this recipe. A genius idea, if I may say so myself.

The banana bread is definitely a step up from the usual. The caramel flavor is subtle, which makes it all the more fun when you hit a toffee bit or a bit of the caramel swirl and get a real burst of flavor. I'm very happy with what I came up with and even happier that I finally got rid of those nasty-looking bananas on my counter.

Caramel Filling
Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons heavy cream, at room temperature

1) Melt the sugar over medium heat in a large pot. With a wooden spoon, stir the sugar as it melts and cook until it becomes a deep amber color.

2) Add the butter and salt and stir it in until melted.

3) Pour in the heavy cream (mixture will foam) and whisk until you get a smooth sauce. You may have some lumps but keep stirring until they have melted. Remove from heat and let cool while you make the banana bread.

Banana Bread

1 cup of sugar
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs whisked
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
4-7 whole bananas (overly ripe and mashed up with a few un-mashed chunks left in)
3/4 to 1 cup chocolate-covered toffee bits (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan with butter or spray and lightly flour.

2) Heat butter in skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.

3) Combine sugar and melted butter in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add vanilla extract and stir.

4) Mix in eggs and stir until thoroughly combined.

5) Add the flour in three additions and the mashed banana in two additions, beginning and ending with flour. Stir until just combined. Fold in optional toffee bits.

6) Pour batter into prepared pan. Drizzle caramel on top and swirl into batter with the tip of a knife. Bake 50-70 minutes. The more bananas you use the longer it will take. Test bread by inserting a butter knife into the center to see if batter sticks. Continue to bake until no batter sticks to knife.

7) Cool completely in pan on rack. Once cool, invert onto rack and serve.

A Photo A Day [Days 314-316]

2011-07-11T19:34:00.005-04:00

Went to another car show on Saturday and wanted to try something different than the usual shots I've been taking. This is much more interesting, I think.

Orange cinnamon rolls. Recipe to come soon, I hope.

A friend sent me this lovely "Legalize Frostitution" sticker, perfect for a frosting fiend like me.

A Photo A Day [Day 313]

2011-07-08T20:14:00.001-04:00

Some say all his legs are hydraulic and that it takes a gallon of Turtle Wax for Mr. Orange to polish his helmet. All we know is he's called the Stig.

I totally stole the idea for this from this awesome series of Stormtrooper photos. Thought it'd be fun to try some with my own toys.

A Photo A Day [Day 312]

2011-07-07T19:56:00.001-04:00

Nothing thrilling to see here. Just a rainy view of my garden.

A Photo A Day [Days 309-311]

2011-07-06T18:24:00.005-04:00

Check out Lola's totally inappropriate "Booty Hunter" hat. I've asked her time and again to not wear it when we're out in public together but she refuses to cooperate.

Whenever I'm out of ideas I seem to take pictures of myself or the cats. So here's another of little Bunsen.

Who knew an oil refinery could look so good? I'll be sad when the fun space effects at Picnik aren't offered for free as I'm having so much fun with them. They even make this icky oil refinery near my house look somewhat magical.

A Photo A Day [Days 306-308]

2011-07-05T21:28:00.000-04:00

I'm still catching up on picture from the long weekend. Hope you all had a great holiday!

My husband and I took an impromptu trip to the beach. Of course, by the time we got there it was starting to get dark so we barely had time for a quick walk on the beach and a few photos. Still, it was nice to dip my toes in the ocean for the first time in a long while.

This is a highly edited photo from the beach using one of Picnik's featured effects. There's no rhyme or reason as to why I chose it other than that I like how it enhanced the original photo.

Went for a walk in a new (to us) area. Despite being assailed by flying bugs who seemed unable to avoid us it was a nice change of pace. Saw lots of Queen Anne's Lace as well as about 15 rabbits during our short walk. It's like they've been breeding like, well, rabbits!

A Photo A Day [Days 303-305]

2011-07-01T20:49:00.003-04:00

Like a bird on the wire

You'd think from the looks of it that this is a nice, picturesque park overlooking the river and Philadelphia. Unfortunately, because it's located in New Jersey, the scenery is accompanied by a noxious odor of chemicals and pollution spewed into the air by the nearby manufacturing facilities and oil refinery. This poor bird probably doesn't have long to live after breathing in that stuff.

See how classy the area where I live is? Alas, this was not a celebrity death match but a plain old boxing match. For only $20 you could have watched a woman who gave birth to eight kids when she couldn't afford the ones she already had get punched in the face by a local DJ. Needless to say, in the interviews she did with the news she mentioned several times that she's doing it all for the money but refused to say how much she was getting paid.

A Photo A Day [Days 301 & 302]

2011-06-27T19:48:00.002-04:00

I'll disappear just like magic

A Photo A Day [Day 300]

2011-06-25T21:21:00.003-04:00

I wandered lonely as a cloud

I've seen a lot of stunning clouds over the past two days so I snapped enough pics to put together a collage.

A Photo A Day [Day 299]

2011-06-24T20:20:00.001-04:00

Not that my lovely little grandmother will ever see this but I put together this collage to celebrate her 98th birthday. I made the difficult decision to not fly out to California this year to visit her and I'm more upset about that than I thought I'd be. And I'd anticipated quite a bit of unhappiness. Anyway, today's her big day and I'm happy to report that she's still going strong. Some of these pictures I took at previous years' birthday celebrations and others were obviously taken before my time.

She's had an amazing life and is a wonderful storyteller. Just when I think I've heard all of her tales about growing up in Germany, becoming a midwife (her midwife class is seen in the middle picture), surviving the war, emigrating to the United States, and making a life here she surprises me with something I've never heard before. My favorite new story is how she turned down marriage to a local boy, what would have been a stable, sensible match, because she knew she had too much of a sense of adventure to settle in the village. She wanted to see the world so worked to make that happen.

Anyway, I miss her as I miss my entire family and I'm glad to have had so many opportunities to spend time with her as I grew up.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies. Need I Say More?

2011-06-24T15:35:00.001-04:00

I've only been following Gingerbread Bagels for a few months but every recipe she posts has me drooling. If anything, her recipes have gotten better and better these past few months and she is the queen of coming up with wonky flavor combinations. A girl after my own heart! I already made one batch of baked goods using the irresistible chocolate-covered peanut butter-filled pretzel bites from Trade Joe's in some banana cupcakes but thought Gingerbread Bagels' idea to combine them with brownies would be even better.

It's rare for me to make chocolatey desserts since my husband's not a fan, but with my book club coming over last week I thought that was the perfect excuse to give these a whirl. Now I'm kicking myself for not making them sooner. Put these at the top of your to-bake list and you won't be sorry, I promise. The brownies themselves are full of delicious chocolate flavor but it's the light, airy peanut butter frosting that is the kicker. Combine that with the saltiness of the pretzel bites and this is a winner.

Despite what I'm sure is an alarmingly high calorie count I'm glad my group left a few behind so I could freeze them and savor them over the next few weeks. I think I'll be making these again and again when chocolate-loving guests come over.

Chubby Hubby Brownies
Recipe from Gingerbread Bagels

15 chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels, cut in half
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature

Sift together the flour, unsweetened cocoa powder and kosher salt. Set aside.

Take 15 chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels and cut them in half. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works too), mix together the packed light brown sugar, sugar, melted unsalted butter and vanilla extract on medium speed.
Add in the eggs one at a time.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients on low speed. Mix until just combined. Take a spatula and fold the ingredients together.

Throw in the chopped chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels and fold them in.

Spread the brownie batter into a lightly greased 8×8 inch baking pan. Bake the brownies at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Cool the brownies before frosting with the peanut butter frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels, cut into small pieces for garnish (however many you like)

Sift the powdered sugar. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works), combine the creamy peanut butter, softened unsalted butter and vanilla extract.

Slowly add in the powdered sugar and combine. Pour in the heavy whipping cream and mix until smooth.

Once the brownies are done cooling, frost them with a thick layer of peanut butter frosting. Cut some chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels into small pieces and sprinkle on top of the frosting. Cut into bars and enjoy!

A Photo A Day [Day 298]

2011-06-23T19:53:00.000-04:00

I was completely out of ideas today. My backup plan when nothing else works seems to be selfies. Unfortunately those days tend to happen when my hair's at its craziest and I'm not looking my best after a long day at work. Oh well.

A Photo A Day [Day 297]

2011-06-22T19:20:00.003-04:00

Reach out and touch faith

I guess this week my project is going to consist of photos inspired by song lyrics since I'm all out of other ideas.

A Photo A Day [Day 296]

2011-06-21T20:41:00.001-04:00

"Pass me that lovely little gun
My dear, my darling one
The cleaners are coming, one by one
You don't even want to let them start

They are knocking now upon your door
They measure the room, they know the score
They're mopping up the butcher's floor
Of your broken little hearts"

- Nick Cave

A Photo A Day [Day 295]

2011-06-20T20:11:00.002-04:00

Today you get a teaser pic for some fabulous brownies I plan to post about soon with the recipe included. For now you can drool over the thought of peanut butter pretzel brownies.

A Photo A Day [Day 294]

2011-06-19T09:16:00.000-04:00

Here's another one from yesterday's photo shoot that I think is even more Steve McCurry-esque. I think I got the lighting better on this one even though the cloudy skies made the entire day's shooting difficult. If nothing else this challenge has gotten me to learn more about lighting even if I haven't quite figured out how to apply those principles.

A Photo A Day [Day 293]

2011-06-18T20:54:00.001-04:00

This week's artist challenge is devoted to photographer Steve McCurry, someone I wasn't very familiar with before. I had a lot of trouble trying to get the pose right for my artist challenge picture because I hate looking directly at the camera, which is how most of his subjects are positioned. Something about being that exposed makes me feel too vulnerable and on top of that my face looks weird full on. It just wasn't "me," which is what he's all about capturing in his subjects. It wasn't until I twisted my body like I was getting ready to walk away and then turned to face the camera that I got a shot I was happy with.

I hope I got something of the expressiveness and color of his shots right.

A Photo A Day [Day 292]

2011-06-17T21:44:00.002-04:00

A Frozen Woman

This is my way of both coming up with an interesting shot for today and giving me an excuse to tell you how much this book kicks butt. It's the kind of book that makes me want to ignore all of my chores, shut off the TV, and curl up and read it cover to cover without stopping. I'm hoping to have a chance to do just that this weekend.