7 Quick Tuesday Takes - links edition

For this week's 7 Quick Tuesday Takes, I want to highlight some sites that I have recently stumbled across in my web browsings and am now totally in love with and addicted to.

1. Tumblr
What is Tumblr?  It's another social networking site, sort of.  It's kind of like a mix between Wordpress and Twitter.  It functions like Twitter in that you post a list of things which can be random and only related by the fact that you posted them.  You can have your blog feed in; you can link to Twitter, post pictures, links, anything.  How it functions for me is that it lets me post nifty or interesting things I find that I don't want to clog up Wordpress or Twitter with (even though I'm having Tumblr feed to Twitter, hm).  So far I'm enjoying it; we'll see where it goes.

2. The Sartorialist
Simply stunning fashion photography.  It's inspirational to me that there are people out there really trying to, as I see it, make themselves into art.  If we were food, they'd be five star cuisine and I'd be Wendy's.  Must work on this.

3. The Daily Puppy
Every day brings a new photo of an utterly adorable puppy that I want to take home and just hug until I fall asleep.  Seriously cute stuff (way cuter than Cute Overload, even).

4. This Week's Menu
This blog features the details and photos of the writer's (Andrea) meal plan for the week.  The photos are always beautiful and the food sounds totally scrumptious.  I envy the people who make a serious, full-week meal plan on a regular basis.  Must adopt that life skill.  (The first post on the page as of this blog entry is for Shells and White Cheddar with Fresh Corn, Thyme and Burst Tomatoes.  Excuse me while I lick my monitor.)

5. Pajamas and Coffee
This writer and mother of four is totally hilarious - AND she named her blog after two of my very favorite things in life.  (One day when I am at a loss for blog topics, I will post about my obsession with pajamas.)  Just go to her About Me Page (amusingly titled, "Who are you? Who? Who?") and read the descriptions of the "players" in her blog (i.e. her family members) to get a glimpse into her humor.  I haven't gone back and read old posts yet, but I will be at some point soon.

6. Mighty Girl
Yes, another Mommy Blogger (found her through Momversation) - but she and her blog are so much more than that, actually.  The whole picture is that she's Mighty Maggie - and she has the Mighty Closet, a great number of things to say, and the Mighty Life List (kind of like a 101 in 1001/bucket list) - which has recently been picked up and sponsored by Intel, no kidding!  Lucky gal!  Her pictures are great; her clothes are great; her ideas are interesting - what more could you want from a blog?

7. Food & Fizz
People submit their food and beverage photos to this site, then the site owners choose the best and post them daily.  They have a really helpful food tag cloud that lets readers find the posts that interest them or you could just click "Randomize" and see what you get.  It's an adventure every time! So I hope this was helpful and interesting and that you find at least one new site to read, explore, and possibly follow.

Note: I view all of these blogs (and many, many more) by using Google Reader.  No, Google is not paying me or forcing me or even encouraging me to point you their way (but, boy, wouldn't that be great to be paid by Google?).  Still, I highly, highly suggest that you get yourself logged in to Google Reader and use it to manage all the blogs you read. The bonus is that every day when you wake up, you get to log in to your Google Reader and see who's posted new blog entries.  It's like a little list of presents waiting for you, every day!  (Seriously, that is how it feels.  It's wonderful.)

Happy reading!

Macarons, BBQ, and Hare Krishnas, oh my!

Delightfully Sweet* has been on a hunt for authentic macarons (the French kind, not the coconut macaroon kind) so yesterday we headed into NYC to the Madeleine Patisserie**.  The window display was totally mouth-watering:

I opted for a lemon one, an orange one, a pistachio one, a pear tart, a mini lemon tart, and an iced coffee:

Well, let me correct that.  I had half of the macarons, some of Delightfully Sweet's and a bite of her chocolate croissant... and that was enough sugar for me so I got the pear tart wrapped up for home.  I'm still looking forward to eating it (hm, dessert tonight?).

After the patisserie, we decided to walk around and ran into 101.9 and Snapple's Big Apple BBQ.  Free Snapple, Snapple Sno-Cones, and lots of cheap beer, apple cider, and BBQ.  We just partook of the Snapple ice and went along our way - right into a Hare Krishna parade!  (What?)

And, of course, we had the chance to walk past and take some time to admire my absolutely two favorite buildings in all of NYC:

We stumbled upon a little historic church, a three-level store of Japanese items (manga, dolls, etc), and took some time to admire Bryant Park before hiking it back to Port Authority and onto the bus. I love NYC and could spend every day there.   I can't wait to go back to Madeleine's and can't wait for my next city adventure.  For now, I'm going to have my little pear tart and enjoy the little French piece of NYC I brought home.

*See Delightfully Sweet's page for better photos and more description.

**Madeleine Patisserie
128 W. 23rd Street
New York City

Nanananana... bread.

My nephew (age 15 months) says "nana" for banana... of course, he also calls one of his grandmothers "Nana"... so is he calling her bananas (i.e. crazy)?  I guess only time will tell.

I love bananas; I could eat one every day.  However, the hubby doesn't eat them so when I buy a bunch, I always end up with one or two bananas going brown.  This, however, isn't terrible because then I can make - dun dun da dun! - banana bread! 

So last night I set out to make (who else's?) Smitten Kitchen's Jacked-Up Banana Bread.  Except mine turned out to be more like low-jack banana bread - but still yummy. So I got all my stuff ready (note: those are not something gross - they're just REALLY brown bananas):

This was the first time I was going to use my mini-loaf pan so I was super excited about that.  (Those of you who know me IRL can expect a mini-loaf of something yummers for the holidays.  I have two of these so I can get EIGHT mini-loaves going at a time - rock on.)  And, yes, that is the cheap vanilla I'm using.  I'm trying to use it up in recipes where the vanilla isn't the star so its quality isn't of utmost importance (I bought it in a crunch one day for emergency vanilla use). So I got to mashing and mixing and just loved how the scoops of brown sugar kept a sand-castle-like appearance as I added them to the mix:

I also love that the recipe insists that you use a wooden spoon.  I don't know enough about the science of baking to know why you should use a wooden spoon for this, but it makes it feel extra special that it's required (although I would have used one anyway just because I love them and they mix really well).

However, here is where the banana bread went from jacked-up to low-jack.  I was opting out of the bourbon (I'm not a fan of alcohol in baked goods most of the time - I just don't enjoy the taste) and then also realized that I did not have nutmeg OR clove on hand!  What?  Ugh!  What happened to all of my baking supplies??  I could have sworn I had both spices on hand.  I swear, I am usually ready for any baking situation.  So, alas, my banana bread was going to be single spice instead of triple spice.  I figured it would still be good, though, so I soldiered on.

Aren't they cute?  So teeny!  I forced myself to let them cool before I sliced into one.  The hubby hates both bananas AND cinnamon (*gasp* - I know, right?) so these are aaaaaall mine.  Yum yum.  Except that my sister-in-law's eyes lit up when I mentioned this the other day, so I'm giving one mini-loaf to her.  The other one will be fully devoured by the end of today and I really don't need to be eating two whole mini-loaves myself in the span of two days (which is exactly what would happen).

I really love to bake - and I'm really beginning to love cooking now, too - I just wish I had more occasion to do so.  Money is always an issue, but I'm contemplating making a significant change in my diet in order to eat less meat.  I don't think I could ever be a vegan because the idea of giving up cheese makes me want to just quit life, but I have a lot of issues with the contemporary diet, its affect on human health, and how the industrial farming complex in this country works, so it's something I'm pondering.  I would love to get the hubby on board, but that won't happen so this is going to take a lot of resolve, something I've never exactly been full of when it comes to food.  More thoughts on this to come, I'm sure. But for now, back to nibbling on the banana bread.

I might just lick my computer.

Have you seen The Chocolate Peanut Butter Gallery?  It's a site dedicated to recipes with, you guessed it, chocolate and peanut butter.  Oh holy yum.

I have only had a chance to skim a teeny, tiny amount of the site but the drool on my desk is becoming a problem so I'm going to have to go put on a bib and then come back.

Shhhhhh

Okay, so yesterday I did not follow my own advice.  I did not alter my own behavior, instead trying to aggravate the hubby into altering his.  So, yeah, that didn't work.  I slept on it and apologized this morning, but I still wanted to do something nice for the hubby.  I thought about buying him flowers, to be a little cheesy, but that didn't quite fit what I wanted  to do.  I couldn't think of anything before I came home from work so I just gave up on the idea. Then I went to my parents' house to do laundry and he went to work.  Since tomorrow is going to be 75 degrees, I'm going to be wearing flip-flops and so I needed a pedicure.  On my way back to my parents' house, the radio station was giving away tickets to a concert for Road Recovery, a group of professional musicians that helps other musicians overcome addiction:

They were giving away tickets to caller number nine so I figured, "What the hell" and broke the law, making the call while driving through town. 

Call 1: busy. 

Call 2: busy.

Call 3: ring, ring, "Hello, 101.9." Me:  "Oh, uh, hi - I'm calling for the tickets?" 101.9: "What's your name?" Me: *trying not to drive into something* "Candice" 101.9: "Okay, Candice, can you make some kind of exclamation letting us know you're happy about winning two tickets to the Road Recovery concert?" Me: "No way!!  WOO HOO!!!!"  *finally pulls over to give DJ mailing info*

So, yeah - ta friggin' da!!  Best make-up-to-hubby gift ever.  Oh, and I have brownie pudding baking in the oven.  I'm hoping it turns out yummy; so far the batter tasted super yummy. But he doesn't know any of this because he's not home from work yet... so shhhhhhhh!  :-D

The long and tart of it

Well, the tart turned out to be edible, yay!  I would change a few things for next time, though.  I think I need a higher quality lemon and to grind the sugar longer so the tart filling is less granular and smoother instead.  It wasn't the sort of thing you make where after one bite you're like, "MMmmm, oh this is GOOD!" (which is my favorite reaction).  It was good, maybe fair, but definitely not great - needs some work.  My dad and hubby ate up their slices, though, so at least it was good enough to eat.

I found the Oscars to be really enjoyable, but then I even enjoy the so-called "boring" ones.  I don't understand the reviews today saying that the show was even worse than ever.  I don't know what people expect; it's an awards show - it's a bunch of grossly overpaid people congratulating each other on one of the cushiest jobs one can have in our country.  How exciting is that going to be?  (But, ooh, I love the fashion and all the gossip-y-ness of the whole thing.)

My second job begins today.  I teach at a community college and their semester starts late, i.e. today.  I'm always nervous on the first day of any semester, but the first day is so easy - introductions, syllabus review, blah blah blah.  It's the first "real" lesson that's always the scariest... the first day where you ask your best, well-prepared discussion question... and all you hear is silence.  That's the scary moment yet to come.

I love teaching evening students, though - I find them to be so uniquely motivated and driven (not all, of course, but more so than the majority of traditional age, day students I know).  I'm excited to meet the new group I'll be spending four hours a week with until May.

Adventures in Baking

One of the best parts of having our own place is that I have my own kitchen again - not that my mother ever stopped me from doing anything in the kitchen that I wanted, but I really enjoy having the whole space to myself and puttering around, making things, and feeling free to fail with no one watching.  I get very nervous when someone watches me cook or bake.

Last Friday, as a pre-Valentine's Day thing, I made a whole dinner and dessert for the hubby.  I started with the dessert - Martha Stewart's chocolate cherry crumb bars:

The problem?  I didn't like them that much.  The hubby said he did, but he ate one and the rest sat in a container on our countertop until I threw them out last night - so I'm guessing he wasn't a big fan.  I was bummed.

Last night, I decided to make Martha Stewart's chewy chocolate chip cookies for the hubby.  He and I spent all day yesterday helping his brother move.  I carried a lot of boxes and small things while the two of them carried all the huge stuff (sofas, tables, etc).  I was tired at the end, but the hubby was beat so I figured he deserved a treat.  I decided to make these because we're always debating the merits of crispy vs. chewy chocolate chip cookies (me=fan of crispy, crunchy; him=fan of chewy).

The only problem this time?  I forgot to put the brown sugar in the cookies.  le sigh  So they turned out white white white and bland.  He says they're edible but we'll see.  I do not think they are edible at all.

So I am even more nervous about my other baking venture from last night: Smitten Kitchen's Whole Lemon Tart.  I have never made a tart before; in fact, I didn't even own a tart pan so I bought one just for this recipe!  You know, no pressure.

Well, the great unshrinkable sweet tart shell seems to have turned out great.  It smelled great coming out of the oven and looked perfect - and the little crumb that fell off tasted great (*grin*).  So, if nothing else, I know I have a great tart shell recipe.

I overfilled the tart because I missed the note on the recipe saying to leave 1/4" room at the top - oops.  So while baking, it spilled over the edges of the tart and onto the silpat - but it was easy to clean because yay silpat!  But the tart looks promising:

Right now it's chilling in the refrigerator - I'm hoping it firms up a bit more and is really dense when I bring it over to my parents' house later.  Before doing so, I'm going to sprinkle confectioner's sugar over the top.  I really, really hope it tastes good because I really enjoyed baking it.

After all that stress, though, I decided to go for something I hoped would be as simple as it seemed: Delightfully Sweet's German Pancakes.  Neither the hubby nor I are huge pancake fans, but these looked so good that I was dying to try them.  I really enjoy thin pancakes (like crepes) so these looked like the type I'd like.  The bonus fun part is that they look funny when baking up - like a pancake bowl:

They quickly deflate, though (so I made sure to show the hubby how cool they looked pre-deflation).  I promptly buttered and syruped up the pancake and made sure to take one last picture before devouring:

Okay, so my camera and picture-taking technique don't quite match up to Delightfully Sweet's, but that's okay - the pancakes still tasted very yummy - both the hubby and I totally enjoyed them.  That plus my blueberry coffee has made for a great start to the day.

This afternoon/evening the hubby and I are taking our laundry, the lemon tart, and the pupper to my parents' house for dinner and the Oscars.  I LOVE the Oscars red carpet pre-show stuff; I will watch it all from start to finish!  The E! pre-show starts at 2pm EST so I better start getting ready!

1. Lose 45 pounds. (2/45)

That's right - I have lost TWO POUNDS!  RAH RAH!

We're having a "Biggest Winner" competition at work, so I joined and got weighed in last week - totally depressed about that number.  I didn't do much this week to work on it, but with the move, I wasn't sitting around snacking and I was up and about lifting things and moving around more than usual.  So, it really was the old "eat less, move more" plan.  Now the real work begins.  The hubby and I are pretty much settled into our kitchen so it's time to start planning meals, including what to take to work for lunch and snacks, etc.  It's also time to hook up the Wii Fit and see how that goes.

This weekend isn't the weekend for being super strict, though, since we're going out for Valentine's Day tomorrow and I'm making the hubby a super yummy dinner and dessert tonight.  More details on that to follow!  Will hopefully be posting: photos of successful dinner and dessert creations.  Will hopefully not be posting: photos involving flames or any type of charring.

I am the problem with the economy... but, ooh, new stuff.

So, it's mid-month bill paying time and so the hubby and I are scraping together the pennies to pay credit cards, student loans, and a part of our security deposit.  Money is always on my mind, even when I'm not the most responsible about it.

I.E. - I should not be allowed in Williams-Sonoma without an escort and a wallet lock.

I went there on my lunch hour to exchange the bundt cake carrier I got at my bridal shower (it had several cracks on the bottom). (Btw, am I the only one who still thinks of My Big Fat Greek Wedding every time she hears the word "bundt"??)

Anyway, since I recently unpacked all my kitchen stuff, I was fully aware that I had no baking/cookie sheets to speak of (the ones I had were wretched, cheap, and got thrown out).  Well, why wouldn't I want to invest in some ultra great WS ones?  They'll last a lifetime!  And while I was tempted to get both baking sheets AND cookie sheets, I was good and refrained from getting the cookie sheets.  I've been baking cookies on baking sheets since I started baking; I can keep on doing so until I have the money for cookie sheets.

Especially since I got this nifty spatula to help maneuver cookies off the baking sheets (I got the small one, but in red):

And an additional silpat (I only got one at my shower but always use two baking sheets at a time):

{yay, no stick!}

See?  Totally useful and practical.  I needed baking sheets - can't live without them - and saved myself a $50+ purchase by getting a new spatula instead of cookie sheets.  Brilliant!  And the silpat will help ensure that my baking sheets stay in optimum condition.

At my shower, I also got a super awesome full set of Calphalon pots and pans (I mean, seriously, pots and pans I don't even fully know what to do with yet!).  Well, these pots and pans are far better than any I've ever used or owned before, so I want to make sure I use them properly and take the best care of them so I read all the instructions that came with them.  Apparently, they are so awesome that you don't need to use non-stick spray in them.  In fact, using non-stick spray could actually harm them!  gasp But I have this serious fear of food sticking to cookware, especially meats, and the instructions said that if necessary, you can use a spritzer of cooking oil (veg, olive, etc).  Well, golly, then I need a spritzer!  So I picked that up (can't find a picture of it).

I also didn't own a sifter!  Now I do.  I also didn't have a 9 inch square pan.  Now I do:

Since we had/have a registry at WS, we get a discount for six months following the wedding on anything we buy off the list (and I think a discount off stuff we get off the list, too, but I'm not sure) - so, really, this was relatively smart shopping for things I need.  It went on a card that isn't being paid until over a month from now, so it's just something I have to budget into next month.  And, really, I do think of these as investment pieces.  These are things I don't foresee having to replace for a very, very long time.

Why do I need a 9 inch square pan?  Ah, such things I cannot yet share just in case my hubby finally decides to take a look at this blog.  With my luck, I'd write a whole entry on here about the dinner I'm planning for Friday night, only to have him decide this is the week he'll start reading my blog.  (Note: No, he hasn't ever read this even though I've mentioned it a bunch of times.  Yes, I find it odd that he doesn't care what his wife writes online; however, I also know it just means that he trusts me and doesn't expect that I'm writing anything that will embarrass either myself or him.)

Friday I get out of work early because I am working a long day today, so I am taking that opportunity to take my first crack at our new kitchen and make the hubby a yummy pre-Valentine dinner and dessert.  I canNOT wait to use all my new pots and pans and utensils.

Cupcake failure but anticipated joy

My friend Kate makes these really yummy self-filled cupcakes and I, being a very lucky friend, was given the recipe and have been making these cupcakes for many years now.  Kate has said that the cupcakes have failed her once in a while, but I hadn't had it happen before.  Granted, I don't make these as often as Kate, but I have made them often enough to know that the filling has not done it's whole "self-fill" job:

As you can see, these cupcakes have filling fail.  As Kate put it, these are "self-frost" cupcakes instead of self-fill.  Alas.  I'm sure they still taste good, though.

Why was I making cupcakes, by the way?  I was (well, am) scheduled to be in a meeting at 2pm tomorrow.  This means I could not take a day off tomorrow to stay home and watch the inauguration.  Today I received an email stating that the inauguration will be playing all day in the room next to where I sit and that we're all getting lunch ordered in for us.  Hurrah!  To illustrate my joy, I decided to bake and bring in self-filled self-frosted cupcakes.

I am overjoyed for the inauguration tomorrow.  Watching yesterday's concert on HBO, I felt like there was this spirit of uprising - like a population had revolted and overthrown the king.  It really IS the end of an era (or "error" like one of my favorite bumper stickers says).  Time will tell how this administration is judged, but if I had to guess... I'm guessing that many historians will check the box stating "worst ever".

It's relatively small potatoes compared to the wars in the Middle East, the current economic situation, the job losses, the credit crunch, the probably permanent damage done to the environment and wildlife, and so on - but I am SO very happy to have a president (as of tomorrow) who loves to read and values the role of literature and poetry in one's life.  Bush apparently read quite a lot (in competition with Karl Rove) but he didn't make it part of his job to encourage his (HIS!!) country to read.  Laura Bush's cause was going to be literacy, I believe, and I know she works very quietly and wouldn't have made a big show of anything she did, but I wish more was done.  Reading levels have gone up over the past five years or so, but most articles attribute that to kids who grew up reading Harry Potter (yay Harry Potter!) and then went on to be reading adults.  I hope that's true, but I hope even more is done in the coming years.

I signed up online for a library card today (so I spend less money on books but can still read current ones) but I did the application online and so I need to go to the library with a picture ID to pick up the actual card.  Then that'll be one more item done on the 101 in 1001, yay!  I have a whole box of books of my own to read, but sometimes I want to read something I don't own before I read something I do and our town library is really great about having new releases.

Library card: success

Cupcakes: (semi) failure

Inauguration viewing: expected success

Anticipated mood tomorrow: total joy - like how I would feel if it had just been cloudy for years and the sun has finally come out.  This land is your land, this land is my land... once again.