52 Week Photo Project [Week 5]

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

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.

(Source)

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]

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

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]

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

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]

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.