I was making a batch of Chewy Granola Bars, and it was looking a bit dry after I added in the oatmeal & the 2 cups of stuff... so I pondered. Instead of vanilla I had used a lemon extract, I was thinking of adding a tablespoon of peanut butter to add a bit more wet to the mix.
Does peanut butter & lemon go together? I gave this 30 seconds of thought before deciding not to find out in this batch of baking.
I'm not very experienced in what goes with what. I know peanut butter & chocolate go together, I know chocolate & lemon can go together but I don't know if peanut butter & lemon would make a good mix.
I think when we were pondering frostings to put on our lemon wedding cupcakes (oh does our baker make awesome lemon cake), we fell back on Vanilla Buttercream because we didn't know what would go really well with the lemon. At the cake tasting she was pretty busy with all the groups coming in & giving final or first instructions.
I'm happy with our choice of cupcakes. I can't wait to taste them!
In other news, with work being rather slow I've been thinking of doodling what the cookies will look like. I only have round cookie cutters, and I was thinking I wouldn't mind a fluted round, square or fluted square to add to this mix. I did end up going to the store in town to get the Americolor gels & they were less expensive than I thought THEN there was a 10% discount on them. WOOT.
I also picked up a whoopie pie pan, my first batch of those will be for the Hen Party.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Soup & more wedding stuffs
I like cooking & baking, this is fully evident on my increasing waist size. Unfortunately, I do not have Giada De Laurentiis genes. I've sort of put away the baking pans now so I don't look like a stuffed pickle at my wedding.
I made butternut squash soup this past week (or was it the week before?). The way I've done it is cut my squash in half & in half again. Microwave it for a few minutes, scoop out the goodness into a blender and blended. I don't have an immersion blender & really I don't think I need one. We have a blender that does a great job. A tip though, remove the top part properly or you'll have freshly blended squash/onion all over your counter.
As my counters were clean & I was going to be putting this back on the burner I slid most of it into the pot. I was then very careful to make sure I was twisting off in the correct direction. It turned out really well.
Another day, thanks to our freezer full of meat, I made ribs & my Sweetie made ribs. I like the sweet saucy kind so I stumbled around AllRecipes for awhile & mashed a few together with what I had on hand. They turned out quite well. Both of us claiming victory in our kitchen stadium ;)
Today I went with my mom, my sister & my friend Jo to pick up bridesmaid dresses, have lunch & check out the Crocs store at West Edmonton Mall. The dresses fit, both bunched at the butt which was expected because of some weird thing with the liner. Easily taken care of by a seamstress. We then marched past Bourbon Street to the Croc store. I'm a big fan of Crocs ever since they saved my feet in Vegas a few years ago. I currently have two pair, one is the classic croc and the other is a strappy dress shoe croc. If you didn't know they weren't crocs you wouldn't think they were.
With this already being a non traditional wedding, and with me being more about comfort than looks; I decided to check out Crocs to see if I can get a wedding shoe. There were a few styles I saw online that I liked that I wanted to check out. The WEM Croc store was small, luckily they're moving 2 doors down to a bigger one. I didn't find the shoe that I really wanted to try so I'll wait a week until the new store opens to see if they have it in stock then. I could order it online but I figure it'd be best to try it on first. I tried a pair of 2" heel Crocs a year or two ago & they looked fabulous but I kept sliding in them. I don't want to break an ankle on my wedding day.
For our honeymoon, we will be spending a few days in Banff. Sweetie has wanted to hike Tunnel Mountain for awhile now & last summer when we went we got as far as it's base before I pleaded for him to retire to the comfort of the hotel hot tub. I am not a fit person, but I plan on being more fit for the honeymoon. Anyway, Croc makes a nice sporty shoe too! I didn't see it under the ladies section but as I'm a size 7ish mens I'm sure I can find a pair to fit. Walking in WEM on all that concrete/tile really takes it out of a foot so I wore my classic Crocs in preparation of walking from one end to the other.
*Crocs don't know who I am, I just really love their product*
I made butternut squash soup this past week (or was it the week before?). The way I've done it is cut my squash in half & in half again. Microwave it for a few minutes, scoop out the goodness into a blender and blended. I don't have an immersion blender & really I don't think I need one. We have a blender that does a great job. A tip though, remove the top part properly or you'll have freshly blended squash/onion all over your counter.
As my counters were clean & I was going to be putting this back on the burner I slid most of it into the pot. I was then very careful to make sure I was twisting off in the correct direction. It turned out really well.
Another day, thanks to our freezer full of meat, I made ribs & my Sweetie made ribs. I like the sweet saucy kind so I stumbled around AllRecipes for awhile & mashed a few together with what I had on hand. They turned out quite well. Both of us claiming victory in our kitchen stadium ;)
Today I went with my mom, my sister & my friend Jo to pick up bridesmaid dresses, have lunch & check out the Crocs store at West Edmonton Mall. The dresses fit, both bunched at the butt which was expected because of some weird thing with the liner. Easily taken care of by a seamstress. We then marched past Bourbon Street to the Croc store. I'm a big fan of Crocs ever since they saved my feet in Vegas a few years ago. I currently have two pair, one is the classic croc and the other is a strappy dress shoe croc. If you didn't know they weren't crocs you wouldn't think they were.
With this already being a non traditional wedding, and with me being more about comfort than looks; I decided to check out Crocs to see if I can get a wedding shoe. There were a few styles I saw online that I liked that I wanted to check out. The WEM Croc store was small, luckily they're moving 2 doors down to a bigger one. I didn't find the shoe that I really wanted to try so I'll wait a week until the new store opens to see if they have it in stock then. I could order it online but I figure it'd be best to try it on first. I tried a pair of 2" heel Crocs a year or two ago & they looked fabulous but I kept sliding in them. I don't want to break an ankle on my wedding day.
For our honeymoon, we will be spending a few days in Banff. Sweetie has wanted to hike Tunnel Mountain for awhile now & last summer when we went we got as far as it's base before I pleaded for him to retire to the comfort of the hotel hot tub. I am not a fit person, but I plan on being more fit for the honeymoon. Anyway, Croc makes a nice sporty shoe too! I didn't see it under the ladies section but as I'm a size 7ish mens I'm sure I can find a pair to fit. Walking in WEM on all that concrete/tile really takes it out of a foot so I wore my classic Crocs in preparation of walking from one end to the other.
*Crocs don't know who I am, I just really love their product*
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Oh google images how you tempt me
I believe I said earlier that I was making cookies as my favors for my wedding. We have about 50 guests coming & I was planning on making 2 flavors of cookies with 2 designs. Then I went on Google to find me some clipart to make tent cards for the professionally made cupcakes we're having.
*BAM*
So now I have a couple other designs floating around in the ole noggin. I think I'll just keep to the 2 flavors, but I'll have 2 shapes to each flavor so that means I'll have 4 cookies per guest.... which now that I look at it is 200 cookies. Hmm.
Maybe just 3 cookies per bag... We shall see how much ambition I have come May.
*BAM*
So now I have a couple other designs floating around in the ole noggin. I think I'll just keep to the 2 flavors, but I'll have 2 shapes to each flavor so that means I'll have 4 cookies per guest.... which now that I look at it is 200 cookies. Hmm.
Maybe just 3 cookies per bag... We shall see how much ambition I have come May.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Birthday cookies
My old roommate, Jo had a birthday recently. I decided to be budget friendly & make her cookies. I asked her who her favorite Disney character was, she said Cinderella. I even printed off some Cinderella stuff. Here are the cookies. I ventured into non circular ones for the first time. I need to get some more cutters.
I also need better colors, I have Wilton colors. I don't like them. I tried to make red, it turned out pink so I thought I'd ad a tiny bit of another color to darken it up. No, it turned brownie burgandy. Orange was neon though, pink was very pink.
These ones were for one of the renters recovering from surgery & for my mom & aunt.
Close up of some of Jo's.
She likes Twilight (see howling wolf), Harry Potter (Hogwarts crest in pink with hearts on corners & wrong lightening bolt). The rest were sort of random & learning how to pipe better. While I'm happy with the majority of my lettering, I really need to do that on less of a slant.
I used the chocolate sugar cookie recipe from Joy of Baking (the only thing I changed was extract I think), and a thinned down MP Buttercream from Karen's Cookies.
I have learned that I'm not liking the cleanup of icing with proper tips & couplers. I DO LOVE the control of them though, and that far out weighs the cleanup.
I found a local supplier for Americolor, unfortunately it's $30 for 12 small bottles. I think I'll go for it, since online they are WAY cheaper but adding in shipping/customs it's almost the same & I don't have to wait.
I also need better colors, I have Wilton colors. I don't like them. I tried to make red, it turned out pink so I thought I'd ad a tiny bit of another color to darken it up. No, it turned brownie burgandy. Orange was neon though, pink was very pink.
I used the chocolate sugar cookie recipe from Joy of Baking (the only thing I changed was extract I think), and a thinned down MP Buttercream from Karen's Cookies.
I have learned that I'm not liking the cleanup of icing with proper tips & couplers. I DO LOVE the control of them though, and that far out weighs the cleanup.
I found a local supplier for Americolor, unfortunately it's $30 for 12 small bottles. I think I'll go for it, since online they are WAY cheaper but adding in shipping/customs it's almost the same & I don't have to wait.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Child Cookies?
A co-worker asked me today if I'd be able to make alphabet cookies for her sons next birthday. It's in the middle of June, which is after the wedding so it should be doable. This is the first time anyone has asked me to bake anything for an event.
I'm not quite sure if I should charge her, she was the one who brought up payment. It's not like I have a lot of experience in decorating cookies. I'll definitely have to pick up Americolor gels. The Wilton colors I have just are too, meh. I don't like the color they give, red tends to be on the dark pink side no matter how much color is used. I want my red to be RED! These I'll have to get before the wedding as I'm not going to be using Wilton colors for that.
TGIF
Might remember to post pictures of Jo's birthday cookies I made last week, but as my camera is all-the-way-over-THERE. I won't be doing that tonight.
I'm not quite sure if I should charge her, she was the one who brought up payment. It's not like I have a lot of experience in decorating cookies. I'll definitely have to pick up Americolor gels. The Wilton colors I have just are too, meh. I don't like the color they give, red tends to be on the dark pink side no matter how much color is used. I want my red to be RED! These I'll have to get before the wedding as I'm not going to be using Wilton colors for that.
TGIF
Might remember to post pictures of Jo's birthday cookies I made last week, but as my camera is all-the-way-over-THERE. I won't be doing that tonight.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
RINGS!
The rings are here *bouncebouncebounce*
They're shiny & look AWESOME *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*
I highly recommend Mint & Richter Designs. People looked at me like I was crazy leaving it up to an Etsy shop for these important rings. Having searched a lot on the net to see what regular jewerly stores could do for us, these guys have what we wanted. I just thought I'd get the rings in a small envelope but they really put a lot of effort into the packaging.
*sigh*
Will post pics after the wedding in... 80 days... ok maybe after the honeymoon. OK probably after I got all caught up with work after the honeymoon.
They're shiny & look AWESOME *SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE*
I highly recommend Mint & Richter Designs. People looked at me like I was crazy leaving it up to an Etsy shop for these important rings. Having searched a lot on the net to see what regular jewerly stores could do for us, these guys have what we wanted. I just thought I'd get the rings in a small envelope but they really put a lot of effort into the packaging.
*sigh*
Will post pics after the wedding in... 80 days... ok maybe after the honeymoon. OK probably after I got all caught up with work after the honeymoon.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Mini Rant
FedEx Ground doesn't move on the weekend. What is the point of updating the tracking with "Departed FedEx location" if it actually isn't DRIVING anywhere. BOO.
One of my former employers had stuff shipped from Texas or the east coast ALL the time. Texas to Red Deer, AB was a 4 day trip. That's regular speed, if we wanted a team it was there in a couple days.
No wonder FedEx Ground is the unwanted step child.
One of my former employers had stuff shipped from Texas or the east coast ALL the time. Texas to Red Deer, AB was a 4 day trip. That's regular speed, if we wanted a team it was there in a couple days.
No wonder FedEx Ground is the unwanted step child.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)