The Fabulous Life of..."I [dot] J"

WTF?

2008-05-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

Oooh meeeee geeeee!

Mimi and Nick, what the hell is going on

5-Alarm/ 5-Bean Chili

2008-04-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

YUM-O (<-- all rights reserved by Rachel Ray) :)

Ok, so last night I tried my hand at chili.
Simple enough recipe, with my little spin on some "hot" ingredients.
I followed THIS RECIPE and simply added a few 'extra' items.

My alterations were:
2 lbs of ground beef
1 1/2 onion
1 14oz can of diced tomatoes (w/o jalapenos)
1 14oz can of stewed tomatoes
1 4oz can of diced jalapenos (I figured I get more heat this way)
2 habanero peppers (I KNEW I would get some heat by doing this)

(here's where you have to pay close attention)
I originally thought that I forgot to pick up the chili seasoning packets.
It wasn't until 1 hour into the cooking time that I even realized that I didn't season ANY of the chili. Panicking I immediately reached for my inventory of seasoning. Hmmmm, now what do I think goes into chili?
Paprika, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, seasoning salt, pepper...(you know this drill... just grab everything and hope that it'll taste good).
So while I was pulling different seasonings out of the cabinet (and at the same time adding them to the crock pot) I came across 1 packet of chili seasoning (from God knows where). Now what do I do? Oh, hell... just add it in and see what happens.

4 1/2 hours later, we have chili.... and DAMN good chili if I must say so. Damn good, HOT chili if you ask my son (who was sticking his tongue into his glass of water.

Maybe next time I'll just use 1 habanero

I challenge YOU to...

2008-04-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

...CHEESE CAKE POPS!
This month's DB challenge was a simple one. Simply make frozen pops out of cheesecake. Phew! I thought it was going to be all hard, but NOPE just take approximately 2 days to make a dessert (including prep, cook, cool, firm time). Then when you cheesecake is, well, cheesecake, roll into balls, insert the stick and freeze. Voila.

Now, I'm hoping that you sense a hint of sarcasm in my tone. DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS FOR ME TO WAIT TO EAT THIS DESSERT? Sheesh! First of all it's cheesecake (can we just pause for a minute and honor the inventor of this dessert). On top of waiting the normal timeframe, we added another 2 hours of freezing time and another 24 hours of "refrigerate until ready to serve" time.

I.am.dead.

Nah.... it was really fun. The funny part was that I remembered that my daughter had to complete a diarama (sp?) project last year for school and we purchased like 1000 popsicle sticks from (good ole) Michael's. This was the first DB challenge that I've done where I didn't have to purchase any of the ingredients needed. Making the cheesecake was a breeze and when it came time to "roll; insert; freeze" I was all set. Until I went to get the sticks from out of our art supplies container, and realized I threw away all of those damn sticks, thinking that I would never need them again (or more likely that I would just purchase another box if I needed to).
So while improvising I decided to use the 4 "poker designed" cocktail stirrers I just purchased for my husband's party. I only had four so the other balls were S.O.L.

Oh, well. This time I'm taking a more literal approach to the challenge, and I'll be "popping" these little balls into my mouth. I guess, then, we can still call them Cheesecake Pops!

Thanks "Elle" and "Deborah" for such a wonderfully fun challenge.

Devil's Food Cheesecake

2008-04-20T21:39:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I am taking this opportunity to say that I LOVE watching Bobby Flay's Throwdown Challenge, that comes on the Food Network. Ever since I've been watching this program I've learned a lot of new recipes for foods that I've always loved. About 2 weeks ago I watched him challenge Junior's Cheesecake to the best cheesecake. Bobby made a regular cheesecake with carmel apple topping (he actually won the challenge). Junior's, however, made a recently newly created Devil's Food Cheesecake that immediately caught my eye. The judges (on the show) said that, altough it was a great cake, the amount of chocolate used along with the cheesecake overpowered the cake. It was a "cheesecake challenge" so the cheesecake should have been more overpowering than the chocolate. (*scratching my head*)

All I have to say is that, chocolate is never a bad addition to anything.

Here's the recipe... Now even though the recipe does not create the same looking cake that is shown on Junior's website (the recipe states to make 3 9" cakes) the cake is still really good. I chose not to add more chocolate on the cake. Also, my fudge frosting did not come out as dark as shown on Junior's picture. I honestly think that they altered the recipe to save their originality. I can't say that I blame them either.

Clif's big BIRTHDAY weekend

2008-04-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

The big 3-0!
So the weekend of April 8-13th (and yes there are more than 2 days to this weekend) began with us celebrating the end of Clif's 20s. We had a small gathering of friends and family, with a small cake (see my previous post for details) to say goodbye to his 20s. We were joined by Aimee, Mariah, Kiara, Chynna, Porche and then our family.

4/9 began with Clif getting his birthday gift from the kids (a hat) and then dinner with some more friends for SAKE BOMBS. Richard, Porche, Uriah joined just the three of us.

4/10 (in lieu of Clif trying to set up an outing to Saddle Ranch) included our good friend Art surprising Clif by driving down from Northern Cal to spend some time with the birthday boy, and showing up at our door. That night Clif, Felix, Art and Jorge heading out to The Standard for an evening of male bonding, but ended up at Barney's and then to Lucky Strike for bowling.

4/11 started off real slow. I headed over to the laundry mat, while Clif and Chris slept in. Art gave Clif a call and wanted him to get him from the Palms area of LA. He then managed to get Clif out of the house so that I could set up for Clif's surprise party (Poker and Spades Party). At ~9:30 Clif walked through our house door to be surprised to see Tanya, Malika, Malcolm, Dontay, Felix, Aimee, Richard and Porche. Art, Tony and Jimmy were all with him so they were not as much of a surprise. The night was filled with poker (Clif took home the pot) and a long, interesting game of spades (as only Malika could make it).

4/12 began at 12:00p when Malcolm and Dontay arrived to join Clif and Art in a game of laser tag. Malika and Tanya showed up late for tag, but were early to hang out at Lucky Strike, which was our next destination. The 6 of us began a game of bowling and was soon joined by Felix, Yasi and Dariush. After Clif swallowed the surprise of seeing D and Yasi, in walked cousin Lucy (and her friend) for yet another surprise.

After a few games of bowling, good food and drinks we had to leave Lucky Strike to get ready for our next outing which was Saddle Ranch in Universal Citywalk. We arrived at 8:30p and it wasn't long before we signed our life away to be able to ride the mechanical bull. Shawna and I cheated (holding on with 2 hands) while Jimmy and Clif were honorable bull riders (Clif got tossed though).

4/13 arrived (sooner than we liked it) and we were off to meet up with the last of Clif's surprises for brunch in Hollywood. Patty, Garett, Mia and Cameron were unable to make the trip to the Griddle Cafe, so the 5 of us (Clif, Chris, Malika Tanya and I) ate enough to cover any loss food that was not ordered due to the shortened guest list.

We arrived home that afternoon EXHAUSTED but very fulfilled.

Here is a album of photos to enjoy of this past weekend. Enjoy.

Clif's Big 3-0 Weekend

The End of a Decade

2008-04-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Clif turning the big 3-0, I made a "Last Day in Your Twenties" cake for him and our neigbors. Since my group has been BIG on Dorie lately, I selected to make the cake that graces the cover of her book, From My Home to Yours (page 247).

This cake was a HUGE success and it was a great way for Clif to end his 20s on a high note. What he didn't know was that the upcoming weekend was going to be filled with parties, special guests and lots of surprises.

I now give you Devil Food's White-Out Cake

As you can see I have the book opened to the page in the book that shows the inside of the cake. This cake lasted all of 5 minutes, and so there were no "cut slice" pieces for me to photograph.

I'll definitely be making this again.

Bacon to DIE for

2008-04-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have to get all caught up on my posting, but I wanted to be sure and get this one out of the way. This past weekend was filled with partying (Clif turned the big 3-0) so coming up next is a full re-cap. Before I do that, I have 2 things that I must post about.

Thing 1:

BROWN SUGAR & PEPPER BACON
While watching Emeril Live (I so love the way that man cooks) he did an entire segment on "breakfast for dinner." Aside from his killer omeletts and fruit waffles, he made the most wonderful looking bacon I've ever seen. The next day (Friday) I couldn't help but make this wonderful creation to see if it tasted as good as it looked.

I'll never eat bacon the regular way again.

Recipe:
1/2 cup brown sugar (fresh, not hard and stale)
2 tsp of black pepper
bacon (however many slices you can drown in the sugar will (just about) do

Mix sugar and pepper in a bowl. Dip bacon in mixture. Place bacon on a wire rack, ontop of a cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 6-8 minutes. Enjoy.

Runner's, start your training!

2008-04-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

So a couple of friends and I decided to enter into the Nike Women's Marathon that is coming up this October, in San Francisco, CA. It sucks because I wouldn't have any known to sign up if it wasn't for my SFAMily members who are always on the ball. Their group didn't make the lottery cut (there were so many people that signed up last year, Nike decided to select runners via a lottery). I'll be walking/running/sweating with them in mind.

Let's see how all of my baking will come into play with me training for a full on marathon.

How to line a cake pan w/ parchment

2008-04-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I was watching a YouTube video of how to line a cake pan. This task is what keeps me from actually lining the bottom of a cake pan in lieu of just oil/flouring it.

So, here goes:
1 Take a piece of parchment paper (wider the the size of the pan that you're using.
2 Fold in half.
3 Fold into a triangle (using the bottom as an edge).
4 Fold into another triangle (again, using the bottom). You will have something that looks like this:

5 Take the (almost paper airplane looking thing) over to the back side of the pan.
Place the point in the middle of the pan, and allow the rest of the paper to rest on the pan. (here's a visual)

6 cut the paper where it meets with the edge of the pan.

7 Unfold and YOU HAVE LINED THE BOTTOM OF THE PAN.
(looky-looky)

Perfect Cake (for a little party)

2008-04-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

So, I'm a few days late (3 to be exact) with my Daring Bakers challenge post this month. My apologies. I finished my cakes yesterday and was able to surprise a couple of gals in the snackbar of my daughter's softball league, with these cute treats. They loved them... and so did I later on last night after I returned from the gym.

*Warning: never bake a cake and leave the house to run an errand. I went over to the field to prep the snack bar for last night's game. I took my cooking timer and everything. When I returned the cake was in the over about 5 minutes too long. Which resulted in me making "mini" cakes (the sides were over done).

Lemon Zest

Lemon + sugar = lemon sugar :)

Cakes (after cut into little circles)

Strawberry preserves

Buttercream filling/frosting

Little sammiches

Viola!... all decorated with coconut and topped with more preserves!

Here's the recipe... and thanks to Morven for the challenge.

PERFECT PARTY CAKE
From Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours (pages 250-252)

Words from Dorie
Stick a bright-coloured Post-it to this page, so you’ll always know where to turn for a just-right cake for any celebration. The original recipe was given to me by my great dear friend Nick Malgieri, of baking fame, and since getting it, I’ve found endless opportunities to make it – you will too. The cake is snow white, with an elegant tight crumb and an easygoing nature: it always bakes up perfectly; it is delicate on the tongue but sturdy in the kitchen – no fussing when it comes to slicing the layers in half or cutting tall, beautiful wedges for serving; and, it tastes just as you’d want a party cake to taste – special. The base recipe is for a cake flavoured with lemon, layered with a little raspberry jam and filled and frosted with a classic (and so simple) pure white lemony hot-meringue buttercream but, because the elements are so fundamental, they lend themselves to variation (see Playing Around), making the cake not just perfect, but also versatile.

For the Cake
2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Whisk together the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in more lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Playing Around
Since lemon is such a friendly flavour, feel free to make changes in the preserves: other red preserves – cherry or strawberry – look especially nice, but you can even use plum or blueberry jam.

Fresh Berry Party Cake
If you will be serving the cake the day it is made, cover each layer of buttercream with fresh berries – use whole raspberries, sliced or halved strawberries or whole blackberries, and match the preserves to the fruit. You can replace the coconut on top of the cake with a crown of berries, or use both coconut and berries. You can also replace the buttercream between the layers with fairly firmly whipped sweetened cream and then either frost the cake with buttercream (the contrast between the lighter whipped cream and the firmer buttercream is nice) or finish it with more whipped cream. If you use whipped cream, you’ll have to store the cake the in the refrigerator – let it sit for about 20 minutes at room temperature before serving.

DB challenge to come!

2008-03-30T10:03:00.001-07:00

Hey... I'm still working on it!

Give me a break already :)

My (most humble) apology!

2008-03-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

I've been gone for far too long. This past month and a half have taken a toll on me. There's been illness, death, robberies, etc. that has kept me away from my blog for some time now. All I can say is that I've miss you all and that I hope to gain your interest back. Due to my home being robbed, I no longer have a digital camera. I'm limited to what all I can show you, so just bare with me. Mr. J did say that it was ok to get another one.... so we'll see.

I received a phone call today from Ms. K.H. (I'm not going to insert her name, but she knows who she is). She told me that she was looking at my site and commented that I purchased my HOMEMADE pies at Marie Calender's. I'll kick her butt later for this comment, but it made me think about how long it's been since I blogged. Way too long, so I'm back... I hope you missed me.

-----
(about my phone call)
To know KH is to love her. This is Ms. "1RUFRYD"/ "RUFRYDR"/ 'You Remind Me of My Jeep' in the flesh (she owned a Jeep Wrangler when it was COOL). This crazy ass woman that introduced me to 3 things that I'll never forget: The Mirage (a strip club in LA/Inglewood, circa 1992), frozen peach cobbler (only sold at the Ralph's by our house) and how eating always made everything better (she also showed me how to truly piss off my uncle by painting his toe nails while he slept). I can't tell you how fun my first year of working out at LAX was because of my mom, my uncle and KH. Late nights and early mornings would have never been the same if it wasn't for all the ignorant stuff we use to do.

I acknowledge my learning to wear high heels, hoochie mama shorts and low-cut, revealing shirts to both KH and Be-Be, her sister (may she rest in peace). We would get up early on Sunday, attend church (at Mt Zion, off Broadway and Manchester), go back to Be-Be's house, eat, eat some more, sleep, make peach cobbler, get dressed and head out to the Mirage (all in one day). These women had all of the men in this place drooling all over them, and they never minded having a "young buck" hanging out with them. I was learning the ropes from the best...and I learned A LOT! (I spare you the details of how a friend of ours obtained the nickname of "screamer")

KH's favorite words back then were "E-e-e-a-s-s-y Tiger!"... a saying that I still use today.

Thanks KH for the call, I needed the boost.
P.s. Give the recipe for that damn gumbo!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T15:15:00.001-08:00

From me to you!

Do I look 1 years old?

2008-02-05T18:40:00.001-08:00

..and now the Cake!

2008-02-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

So, Chris' birthday party was wonderful. Inspite of the rain, we had a packed house filled with friends and family. Thank you to everyone who made the trip in the rain, and waited patiently for me to finish the cake (that damn cake). Grandma, Jerome, Sindhu and Prasidini came ALL THE WAY from S.D.; Grandpa drove in from Temecula; G-Mama came in from Lawndale; Shawna, Jim and Maya came from Lakewood; Carla and Jayla came all the way from Hawhtorne (;>)and Aimee, Mariah and Chynna came from next door! Uncle Tom mailed in a beautiful blanket (he lives in Palm Springs but the blanket came from Alaska.

We dined on pigs in a blanket, sliders, spinach/artichoke dip, vegetables, etc.

It was truly a blessing to have you all in our home. We hope to see you all real soon.

So ON TO THE CAKE.
What started off as being a simple 2-layer chocolate cake in the shape of a football, turned into a 4-layer, 2-flavor cake, in the shape of a football.
Anyway, Chris didn't seem to mind, he loved it:

Here's the cake assembled...

crumb coated...

cutting into the cake...

fondant applied... (look at the swirl effect -that I wasn't trying to achieve)

The recipes came out of this book, which I recieved as a Christmas gift. I truly love this book.

Happy Birthday "Christian"

2008-02-03T07:17:00.001-08:00

We made it!
Today we will be celebrating Chris turning 1 years old. It's truly a blessing for us to make it to this milestone. He's such a wonderful baby and more handsome than we could have hoped for. 1 year ago today (at 7:..am) I was eagerly waiting for the doctor to tell me to "push." It had been a long night with no progress in labor (I stayed at 3 cm for about 13+ hours). After 8:38 nothing else mattered as we were able to hold our little guy for the first time.

Here was chris' first diaper change (by his mommy):

...and here is the famous picture of our cable remote kicking Chris' butt (look how big that remote looks compared to the baby):

Well, I'll be back later. It's raining outside but I still have to prepare for Chris' 1st birthday party. It's a Super Bowl themed one (duh) complete with a football cake (that I'm making myself). Wish me luck.

T minus 2 (days) and counting!

2008-02-01T15:38:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it? Chris will be turning 1 years old on Sunday (02.03.08).
This year has certainly gone by way too quickly. Watching him walk around, kicking
balls and trying to play with his big brother and sister is truly amazing.

Now begins the hectic "Pre-Party Shopping" to get ready for Sunday.

Wish me luck, I'm planning some cool treats and food for the day, Super Bowl style.
(Yooo Hooo TRISH!... we will be partaking on the dip, so I'll tell you how it turned out)

Challenge #3: Done and done!

2008-01-28T10:22:00.000-08:00

The DBs strike again, this time it's a charm for me (get it, my third challenge?)

Hello?! Is this mic on?

Anyhoot, if I thought baking was fun before, this challenged sure did cement this belief into my mind, forever. This month's challenge was Lemon Meringue Pie. I've always loved this pie. It ranks right up there with apple, sweet potato, banana and SCRAWberry (from Marie Calendar's). So I was happy as heck to find out I'd finally learn how to make it.

First the crust:
(I truly prefer buying ready-made crust, but the DB Police would fine me big time, if I tried that crap!)

Next is the filling:
(It would truly help to purchase more than enough lemons, to squeeze for this recipe. I purchased 3 and was about to [fill-in the curse word here] bricks when it seemed like I didn't have enough.

Here's the meringue:
(don't you just love saying this word? Spelling it,... not so much!)

There was some discussion on our boards about the proper way to fill the crust to prevent "soggy-ness". I solved this problem, but trying to make everything all at the same time, which ended up me pouring the filling and the meringue (at the same time). No time to get soggy here!

All in all, it was great experience.

Look at the hills on this bad boy! :)

Even if I did start baking this challenge at 9:00am THIS MORNING <--- true insanity!

Recipe:
Lemon Meringue Pie
Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:
¾ cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
⅓ cup (80 mL) ice water

For the Filling:
2 cups (475 mL) water
1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
½ cup (120 mL) cornstarch
5 egg yolks, beaten
¼ cup (60 mL) butter
¾ cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

For the Meringue:
5 egg whites, room temperature
½ tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
½ tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
¾ cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

For the Crust: Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of ⅛ inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about ½ inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.

For the Filling: Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated.

Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

For the Meringue: Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

Truly, truly, truly outrageous!

2008-01-26T15:41:00.001-08:00

Ooooh, Jem!
Shizzam, do you remember this cartoon? She had some BAD ASS pink hair, didn't she!
Aw man, I loved Jem (not so much the Missfits thought - but oh well). I was watching Family Guy last night (we have all of seasons 1-3) and Peter was laying on the bed watching an episode. I almost spit out my Diet Dr Pepper when he started singing the theme song. Wow... cartoon is just not the same.

Who was the guy that like Jem?

and now back to the weather, Bob!

2008-01-26T15:18:00.000-08:00

Dude... just as I thought, no rain today. Of course there was 'suppose' to be rain today. I planned for rain today. I cancelled all of my plans because it was going to rain today. Was there rain today? Hell-to-the-nah!

Gosdarnit, it was even pretty sunny out. No 90 degrees sunny, but a perfect fly your kite-type sunny.

Will the weatherman ever get it right? I bet $5 that they never do.

Tornado watch?!?

2008-01-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, wait.. I live in Torrance, not Kansas!

I was talking to a neighbor about the wet weather situation, and they asked if I heard about the Tornado Watch that was issued to our city yesterday. "What?"

I just 'Google'd' it and found this.

Ok, now it's gone too far.

Enough is enough already, sheesh!

2008-01-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

SoCal has been hit with a pretty big storm over the past couple of days. In my neck of the woods, we're expecting to get (at least) 3 more days of the "wet stuff" so the tunnel is still looking a little dark. I know that we need it, "we" being CAH-LEE-FURN-YA, because rain is something that we don't get much 'round this here parts.

I'm always conflicted because "rain" comes with such a high price. I mean, outdoor plans get cancelled (I have lots of those); automobile accidents increase, which in turns means I don't like to drive with ya'll crazy asschumps (further cancelling my "plans"); and my clothes (mostly my pants) always get wet because I don't have the wardrobe that handles it effectively.

Take for instance driving my kids to school this morning. My ONLY pair of rain boots (wait, define rain boots? These are my Timberland-like boots that I wear in the rain) were left outside yesterday because I was cleaning up around the building. Well, I didn't put them far enough back on the porch, and they were soaked this morning when I tried to slip them on. I had to put on my "All Day I Dream About Sex (<---80's shout out!) and try and stay dry. Of course my feet ended up getting all wet because 'sneakers' aren't made for puddles.

And you know what will happen next right? I'll go out and by the REAL rain boots, and it'll be 90+ degrees for the next 5 years.

Could you use some romance?

2008-01-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

How about spicing up this coming V-Day with some heart-shaped treats for your sweet. Check out this blog to participate in the challenge, or to get some ideas. Posting date is between now and V-Day, so I'll see you then.

Proud "Mama" moment

2008-01-21T01:00:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of my children. Just on an average they do things that make me proud to be a mom. Now, don't get me wrong... they also do things that make me want to scream profanity out of my car window, but I could never imagine my life without them.

Ryann had her softball evaluations this past Saturday and she ROCKED! This will be her 3rd season playing for NTGSL, and she's really coming into her own. During the evals she was: thrown 3 pop flies (she caught all 3); hit 3 ground balls (she fielded all 3); given 3 balls to throw from shortstop to 1st base (perfect throws) and she hit 3 out of the 5 balls the pitching machine shot to her. The damn machine wasn't working good and had to be adjusted to speed up the pitches.

Mommy just sat in the dugout and let her baby do her "thang"... she even knew she kicked butt. That's my girl!

My first test from the THE BOOK

2008-01-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

I've decided to attempt to make delicious desserts at LEAST once a month. Of course this dessert doesn't include whatever my monthly challenge is from the DB, so make that at LEAST two treats for the house. After getting, and partially reading, the Cake Bible, I asked Clif to pick out the first recipe that I was going to attempt. He chose the "Golden Butter Cream Cake" and it turned out to be a nice cake.

This cake is a simple cake. It only bakes up to be 1 3/8 inches so it's a relatively short cake. Berambaum was right on when she described the crust of the cake, very buttery and flaky. The cake taste was a bit surprising though, it almost had a 'cracker-type' feel to it, it kind of dissolves in your mouth. At first bite it seemed dry, but if you took another bite it wasn't bad. You can definitely taste the butter which is why she says "if you love butter, you'll love this cake."

My opinion: next time I will frost the cake with a whipped cream topping, something light since the cake itself is light.

Apple Zeppole w/ Cinnamon Whipped Cream

2008-01-09T10:02:00.000-08:00

So a few days back I was watching the food network (imagine that?) and the big-head Italian lady (you know who I'm talking about) made this delicious treat. They were everything she said they would be, and the whipped cream was the perfect compliment.

Recipe is HERE:

grated apple:

dough in the saucepan:

add the eggs:

add the grated apple:

scoop up the dough:

fry up the batter:

sprinkle w/sugar and serve with whipped cream:

Tip #1:
Be sure and use Granny Smith Apples for that sour contrast.
Tip #2:
Be sure and have enough oil to fry. I didn't, and the result was mini-pancakes, instead of round balls.
Tip #3:
Powdered sugar will dissolve quickly on the zeppole, if you don't eat them right away, the pretty decoration will be gone!

Enjoy!

I now have the BIBLE

2008-01-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

If you were to take a look at the blogs I have listed on my site, you'd notice two things right off the bat: 1 - most of my top blog sites are of my SFAMily sisters. This is a great group of women that I met during my wedding planning stage. We all live (or we all did at one point - one of us is gone away - but still in daily contact) in or around the LA area. We stretch from the 101, 210, 5, 10, 710, 110 and the 5. If you ANYTHING about SoCal you know this is a large area. If you ever needed to know anything about planning a wedding, decorations, photography, catering, CUPCAKES or simply WHERE TO EAT... you really just need to ask one of my sisters. We're a worldly bunch.

The second thing you'd notice is that the next group of blog sites (immediately after the FAM BAM) is what I believe to be some of the best bakers in the world. I say this because... I don't know any chefs, I haven't travelled too much to think differently (some are international sites, so I can say 'the world') and if the pictures of their desserts represent anything about what it tastes like... they are truly the best.

Julian is one of my all time favorites. I don't know what he does in his 9-5, but HONEY CHILE, he should be getting paid for baking and creating. He talks about a really great book that breaks down baking to a science. Think I'm playin? Here's a quote from THE CAKE BIBLE,

"Problems with cake baking usually begin at over three thousand feet. Lower air pressure causes water to boil at a lower temperature so that more evaporation takes place during baking and cakes may be dry. If too much evaporation takes place, there will not be adequate moisture to fully gelatinize the starch and set the structure..."

The author of this book wrote her masters dissertation on whether sifting affects the quality of a yellow cake. WTF? I now have, what I believe to be, two great books to bake with. Thanks Winnie and Julian.

Resolutions

2008-01-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

Nothing too "big" for me this year.

My Top 5 go a little something like this:

1 - Develop a closer, more personal relationship with God.
2 - Be a better, more involved wife, mother and daughter (yes, it's possible).
3 - Believe in my abilities to do GREAT things, with my life.
4 - Take the risk of starting and continuing my own business.
5 - Hang out with family and friends more (I didn't see y'all much in '07).

My follow up 5 goes like this:

6 - Lose 8 pounds in '08 (it's a start)
7 - Take a "family" vacation (anywhere... even if it's locally)
8 - Save money
9 - Learn more about topics that interest me (baking, etc.)
10 - Create a BETTER LOOKING BLOG PAGE :)

BE GREAT IN '08... that's what it is all about.

Damnit, I am NOT a quitter!

2008-01-06T13:13:00.001-08:00

Ok, so my previous post talked about me not participating in last month's DB challenge. I really was pumped up about making something I had never even heard of. I ran out a purchased all the ingredients I would need, and then I jsut became too busy during the holiday season. But who isn't? The rest of the DBers didn't let that stop them, so why am I the exception? I'm not!

So on that note, I give to you THE YULE LOG
(Click here for the recipe)

I was scaaared.

2008-01-06T02:02:00.000-08:00

I did not participate in last month's Daring Bakers challenge. I had all these good intentions on making the log, I even talked about it at the SFAM gtg. I was even going to still make it late, but the way I'v been feeling lately, I'm just not in a mental mind state to pull it of. Maybe I'll try to do it this week, for shits & giggles sake.

Take a look here, at what it is suppose to look at. Trust me when I tell you that mine will not come out looking this good.

Uh oh, I was shopping at Michael's

2008-01-06T01:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's not the smartest thing for someone to let me loose inside Michael's. I swear that I can find "something that I need" each and every time I'm in that store. Like this handy dandy 'chocolate melter thingy'. Oh yeah, it may sound funny now, but when Clif and the gang (those would be my next door neighbors) got a taste of these homemade truffles that I made... they were very happy that I got it.

White Truffles:
2 tbsp heavy cream
7 oz white chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp Irish cream liquor
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz bittersweet or dark chocolate

Place cream in 'handy dandy machine' until hot. Add white chocolate. Stir frequently until smooth. Whisk in vanilla and liquor. Cover and chill for 1 hour. Chocolate will be firm and easy to scoop.

Meanwhile, place bittersweet or dark chocolate, inside your 'handy dandy machine' and melt until smooth.

Using a cookie scooper, scoop out the chocolate and roll into balls on parchment paper. Drizzle dark chocolate over the top of the truffles and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve at room temperature. Enjoy!

Royal Icing

2008-01-06T01:06:00.000-08:00

I seriously think this frosting/icing earned it's name because it is a ROYAL pain in the a** to make. Now, maybe I'm doing something wrong for following the recipe to a "T", but if in the side notes it would have said to add a little bit of water to help with the mixing process, I would have an entirely different view of this beast.

Royal (stiff) icing is what's used in order to 'pipe' a border around cookies. It helps to keep your Royal (loose) icing on the cookie after you flood the top of the cookie. Am I losing anyone?

So, I recieved a great gift at the SFAM Holiday Hoorah this year. Winnie gave me this book which I have been wanting for almost 6 months now. Inside the book it talks about the proper way to frost the top of a cookie.

Basically you use royal icing to pipe a border around the cookie. You then use a loose royal icing to flood the top of the cookie and then use a toothpick to kind of guide the loose icing all over the top of the cookie. The stiff icing holds everything in place and allows the top of your cookie to look "almost" perfectly frosted.

Royal Icing Recipe:
3 Pasteurized egg whites
4 1/2 cups Sifted confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp Lemon juice

With an electric mixer (with paddle attachment) beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add in sugar (1/2 cup at a time). Scrap down bowl. Add in lemon juice and beat for about 6-8 minutes.
*AT THIS POINT... YOUR ARM WILL FALL OFF. JUST ADD A LITTLE BIT OF WATER*
Use immediately or refrigerate. Icing should be at room temperature before use.

Loose Royal Icing, is just royal icing thinned out with water. It should have a runny consistency.

I almost forgot...

2008-01-06T01:05:00.001-08:00

Happy New Years!

I hope 2008 is great for all those that read this blog, and for all of those who don't (but how would you know that this is my wish for you?)

May all of your dreams begin to come true, and I pray for countless blessings for all.

Oh my, how time flies!

2008-01-06T00:56:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a little while since my last post. My intentions then were to fully catch you up on all the things that have been happening, all the sweets I've cooked, etc, etc. Why I ended up doing was loading a bunch of photos, cut and crop "some" them, write a brief summary about those that made the cut, and then get too tired to finish. I apologize, this holiday season did a number on me.

I know that most of you can relate, but I've just been really busy. The holidays tend to take a lot out of me, and recovering from them is just as time consuming. Lately I've been trying to hang low, and not do too much on the pc. Even tonight (this morning) as I'm writing this, I really just want to lie down and finish watching the food network (<--- I love this channel).

Clif is out of town on business. He had to go to stupid-dumb Tulsa,OK for the weekend because some stupid-dumb contractor didn't want to do their job during normal business hours/days (asschumps). Anyhoot, me and Chris have just been hanging low, messing up the house. He's asleep (for now), but now I feel all alone.

Aw, now I just want to eat a pint of ice cream, and 1/2 dozen chocolate chip cookies.

woo.is.me!

Dear Santa,

2007-12-30T02:08:00.001-08:00

Thank you so much for such a wonderful Christmas. Thanks (to all our family and friends) for such wonderful gifts. We received games, toys, gift cards, clothes, books and countless cards and pictures of all of those dearest in our lives. We hope that everyone's holiday was as great and blessed as ours.
Ryann:

Raye (too busy opening gifts to look at the camera):

Chris (poor thing didn't know what to do):

Clif received a new bike from Santa *cough*:

...and mommy got a couple of *ahem* nice gifts from Santa also:

Little Santa also put (inside the purse) a wristlet for mommy to have. Yay for Christmas!

It wouldn't be Christmas without...

2007-12-30T01:28:00.000-08:00

Eggnog and Rum cake.
So, I absolutely love eggnog. I know that some people have this weird aversion to warmed eggs in a drinkable sauce, but not me. Since a wee-widdle-lad my mom would always have her favorite brand of eggnog during the holidays. Of course, she would spike hers to make it even more special for her. What I remember is that it was thick and creamy, like drinking ice cream after it has melted in your bowl. Well, I don't know what it is, but I've always wanted to make a batch from scratch, and this holiday was my time to do so. After receiving THIS book from my friend, I found a recipe that I couldn't wait to try. It was actually a recipe for a 'Chocolate Cookie Crusted Eggnog Cheesecake.' I'll get to that recipe later, but I found a homemade recipe for eggnog within it.

Sorry, no "making-the-recipe-in-progress" photos this time, only a dark shot of the finished product. I've converted 2 non-eggnog drinkers into full-on egg-a-holics.

Recipe:
3 1/2 c heavy cream
6 large eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
pinch of kosher salt
1/4 c Myer's dark rum
1/2 c whiskey (preferably Crown Royal) or bourbon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Heat 2 1/2 c of cream over medium-low heat. Whisk the eggs with the sugar and salt. Measure out 1 cup of the hot cream and gradually pout into egg mixture, whisk constantly. Slowly pour the egg-cream mixture back into saucepan with hot cream. Continue to cook until the mixture thickens (until it coats a back of a spoon ~ 5 minutes). Strain mixture through fine-meshed sieve into large bowl. Let mixture stand for 15 minutes (stirring occasionally). Stir in rum, whiskey, vanilla and nutmeg. (at this point you can refrigerate for up to 3 days).

Use an electric mixer with whisk attachment to beat last 1 c up cream until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into eggnog mixture. Serve immediately.
**************************************************************
I call this next recipe: Rum-Da-Da-Dum Cake
This cake truly caught me off guard. Not only was this a very tasty cake... it was easy to make and had a wonderful flavor and aroma. The recipe is from HERE.

Chopped pecans (in the bottom of bundt pan)

Finished cake (cooling)

Rum glaze (cooking)

Finished (GLAZED) cake

Don't mind me...

2007-12-30T01:22:00.001-08:00

... I'm just playing "catch up" with you all.

Let's see:
First there was the carrrot cake. Recipe here

I love the way the mixture looks

Here's the finished product, with a little chopped walnuts on the side

Ahh, gotta love cream cheese frosting...it's truly the best.

One small step for man...

2007-12-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

... one GIANT step for Christian.

Chris took 4-6 steps on Wednesday (while hanging out with his favorite baby sitters).

Last night Chris took 3-5 steps while watching mommy and daddy play Mario & Sonic at the Olympics on WII.

Yeah... he's all growed up!

SFAMily Holiday Hoorah 2007

2007-12-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday was the SFAMily Holiday Hoorah 2007 gathering at Wan's house. Thank you sweetie pie for opening up your home to us crazy gals. By far the best picture of the day was this one (and it's many variations)
Check out "K's" do!

The brunch was filled with great food, great conversation and even better presents. We exchanged 'normal' gifts as well as 'white elephant' gifts. Which I think is the only animal that was not given away as a poop dispenser

We even had our very own MIMOSA FAIRY

Check out the rest of the

SFAMily Holiday Hoorah 2007

(way too many to post here)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2007-12-18T20:20:00.000-08:00

Our family ornament this year!
This year I stayed home and anxiously awaiting what my family would select as this year's holiday tree. Approximately one hour after leaving the house, the troops returned with Helen (I named our tree). She's beautifully FLOCKED (I love that word) and sits perfectly in the designated corner in our livingroom.
Here's pictures of Clif as he brought it into the house.

It was his idea to get a flocked tree.

It was the princess' turn to place the angel on the tree.

Our angel watches over us.

I love the way ornaments shine off of a tree at night.

What a get picture.

Fabulous Caramel Cake!

2007-12-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

I got an early Christmas present from my good friend Amie. Her mom, who knows that I love to cook gave her an extra set of cook books to give to me. The books are all about Southern cakes, and let me tell you there are some SERIOUS recipes in this book.

My first trial was at this caramel cake. I have now learned the importance of having (2) of the same sized baking pans so that the end result isn't a cake that has 1 size significantly bigger than the other (oh, and it would help if I didn't use only one pan also - truly lazy).

Overall the cake was good. Very, very, very sweet though, so be careful. It was like biting into a sugar cube - seriously.

Recipe:
Yellow Cake -
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup milk
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Carmael Icing -
1 lb (2 3/4 cups) light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
7 tbsp evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 325. Grease (2) 9" pans. Combine butter and sugar in saucepan, and cook over low heat until butter melts. Stir well and let cool to room temperature. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl, stir with fork and mix well. Combine eggs and sugar, beat on high speed, until light yellow and thick. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture only until flour disappears. Add the cooled milk mixture and the vanilla, stir well.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until cake is golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then cool completely on wire racks.

In heavy saucepan combine brown sugar, butter, evaporated milk and vanilla. Bring to a boil, stir well and adjust heat so the frosting boils and bubbles gently for 7 minutes. Let it cool for 5 minutes. Beat icing with wooden spoon until it thickens.

*************************WARNING********************************
This was my first experience with an icing that begins to harden when you start spreading it on the cake. You MUST frost the cake while the icing is a little runny. Otherwise you'll pull the sides of the cake apart trying to 'smear' the icing along the top and sides.
If the icing becomes too hard re-warm it back up with a little bit of evaporated milk.

Lemon Drop Martini, please!

2007-12-18T19:27:00.000-08:00

So, the first pics from my new "snazzy" camera are of the perfect lemon drop martini. Now, I could have worked on the lemon garnish, but TRUST ME, the drink itself was great without it.

Recipe:
1 1/2 shots of Absolut Vodka Citron
3 shots of Newman's Virgin lemonade
1 tsp of Baker's sugar
2 tsp of fresh lemon juice

Combine all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake and pour into martini glass. Garnish with lemon peel.... and enjoy.

Thanks JE for good eats

2007-12-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

Me and the hub went to his department holiday party last night. His boss took the group out to 21 Oceanfront restaurant in Newport Beach. The restaurant was elegantly decorated and the general mood of everyone was good also. It's always nice to hear how your husband acts while away from home. Very interesting to know that he eats more cheeseburgers and fries than he lets on about. *shruggin shoulders*

The food was delicious (no pics because I didn't want Clif to have to hear about it today at work). We ordered the clam chowder (yum), the apple almond salad, swordfish (clif) and bone-in ribeye (me). For desert we had the Chocolate Fantasy and the Caramel Banana, both were good. I dont' really care for dark chocolate and the fantasy's cake was made using some. The caramel thingy was great because it combine homemade caramel (I am an expert) and alcohol - yay! The best part of dinner was after we sampled the desserts and my hubby told me that my dessert tastes better. *smile*
I LOVE MY HUSBAND!

It was also nice to drive by the location of our wedding. We couldn't see our yacht (well, not our yacht, but you know) but we did see the harbor and the Christmas decoration they have floating in the waters. We really should go back at there more often, it's been over 1 1/2 years already.

YAY for me!

2007-12-14T11:05:00.000-08:00

I'm 100 blogs in the books.
I guess this wouldn't count the 100+ posts I had on my other site. I think I'm off to a pretty good start.

Hey... leave me some words of encouragement (why don'tcha)

Best of, huh?

2007-12-14T11:00:00.001-08:00

So... I've been invited to participate in this years.."Best Of"
How cool!

I'm not sure yet, what recipe of mine I'm going to submit... maybe I'll make something new, and blog about that. Either way, stay tuned.

Back in business

2007-12-13T13:52:00.000-08:00

Although I haven't posted anything substantial this past week (or so) I've wanted to.
Who knew that picture taking was such a big part of bloggin'! *YOWZER*
I mean, everything I wanted to blog about, I wanted to take a picture of, and therefore I either a) didn't do what I wanted to eventually blog about, or b) didn't bother blogging about what I did because I had NO pics to share.

Oh well... that dilemna is now over with. I got my camera the other day (yes.. I've had it for a couple of days, but I've been reading the owner's manual :nerd:)

I'll be back to my old self real soon. Tonight we have a company dinner, so I don't know just how much I'll be able to write/snap/upload/blog about, but I sure will try.

*cross my heart*

If my grandfather could see me now!

2007-12-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

So, as you all know... I can't take pictures of anything right now. My camera is DEAD and all of the stuff that I'm cooking has lost a little bit of it's purpose (damn cooking because you're hungry, right?). Today when I arrived home from running my many errands, I found 4 boxes on my door step. I figured it was boxes of stuff that my tenants must have ordered, to my surprise some of the the items that I ordered off of HSN came in...... Saaaah-weeeet! The cool part is they were having a "Wolfgang Puck" day on the show, they were offering up some cool prices FOR THAT DAY ONLY.

(if only the damn camera was one of those things)

Here's what came in (of course these pictures came from another source)
My Wolfgang Puck Bistro 700-watt stand mixer (can you say.. bring on the challenges?)
and
My Wolfgang Puck Bistro 900-Watt food processor (um, yeah.. I'll be chopping the hell out of something real soon!)

Hopefully, THIS will be coming in soon, and I'll be able to share some photos of me and all of my new toys.

Merry Ho-Ho!

sniff-sniff

2007-12-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

My d-camera has been dead now for the past 3-4 days.
We can not find the battery charger and therefore I can't share any food photos with you, nor can I take pictures of the foods that I've been preparing. The whole experience just has me in a Bah-Humbug time of mood.

To cheer me up, I went shopping at HSN yesterday and picked up some new toys. Let's just say that between now and December 14th I'll have another UBER-COOL camera to start back taking photos with. Shoot, now I'm even going to be able to see the damn pictures before taking 20. :)

Stay tuned for more pictures.

Cupcake Hero results are in...

2007-12-02T23:00:00.001-08:00

...and I did not win (*pout*)

Nah.. I had a good time coming up with a recipe for the frosting. I'll be back at it again soon. To take a look at who participate and who won the cool t-shirt, click here.

DMBLGIT, huh?

2007-12-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

I participated in this month's "does my blog look good in this?" challenge.[smacking myself upside the head]

What was I thinking? I was truly proud of the sandwich that I made. When I saw the invitation, I said to myself "what the heck? I'll submit THIS picture. It wasn't too bad of a pic, I was kind of proud of myself, since I'm still learning how to take a picture. I mean, I know how to take a picture, but when you take a look at the other entries, I clearly DO NOT KNOW how to take a picture.

Oh well, there's always next month. I'll let you know if I get any kind of recognition, maybe from the 'Picture Least Likely to get an Award' category.

Take a look at the other entries here...

I've been tagged!

2007-12-01T23:58:00.001-08:00

One of the most inspiring bakers that I know (and I'm studying, reading and watching this blog like a hawk) Julius has tagged me with a "meme?" Did I say that right? It's like a chain letter that we are suppose to answer and then pass along to someone who we think will answer/read. I noramlly don't like chain letter but this one is kind of cool, so I graciously accept. So, as I told Julius, here goes:

What were you cooking/baking ten years ago?

Baking? Ha! I think the only thing I might have been baking 10 years ago would have been boxed cakes. I've always loved eating uncooked cake mix (even so much that I've gotten in trouble numberous times from my mom) I've ruined so many of them by eating over 1/2 of the mixture.

What were you cooking/baking one year ago?

I was definitely baking 1 year ago. About 2 years ago I was introduce to Sprinkle cupcakes. Almost immediately afterwards I began trying to come up with my own creatios for cupcakes (it was so the "in" thing). Besides cupcakes, I've been steadily baking cookies and regular cakes.

The snack you enjoy the most:

SNICKERS! I can eat one of these bars on anyday and at any time.

A culinary luxury you would indulge in if you were a millionaire:

I would love to spend a month in Europe learning how to create authentic pastries.

What do you bake the most?

Cupcakes, cookies and cobblers (the 3C's).

One thing you cannot/will not eat:

(I'm sorry if I piss someone off) Liver. I can't stand the way it looks!

Favourite culinary toy:

(owned) Hand held torch
(wanted) KitchenAid 5 qt mixer (w/flame designs all over - like on FoodNetwork)

A must on your “last meal” menu:

Ribeye Steak or Brazilian-style steak.

Five recipes you know by heart:

Stuffed mushrooms w/italian sausage, etc.
Cream cheese pound cake
Jamacian Jerk chicken wings
Triple chocolate chip cookies w/pecans
Twiced baked potatoes
(so as you can see, it's NORAML recipes the consume my life *sigh*)

Happy food memories:

1. Me and my mom having an egg fight (hey... eggs are food)
2. While giving birth to my first child, my mom place a Snickers (see, there I go again) at the front of the room, to aid me with my focal point. It worked.
3. My husband making me a romantic dinner from scratch.
4. My mom use to get me Carver, numbered, ice-cream cakes for my birthday. I continuted the tradition with my first born (sorry later children)

Well, that's it. I'm going to pass this little assignment onto Nanner, WeMo, my girl "R", the big Potato and "Wan"-erific blogger. Take it away gang!

Did you ever know that you're my hero?

2007-12-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

Yup, I did it. I entered into this month's CUPCAKE HERO contest, and I'm proud of myself. Not only did I enter into the contest, but I also 'kinda' created my own frosting. Well, I warmed up some cranberries; soaked them in rum (Don Q. to be exact), re-warmed them back up again until they started to juice out onto the pan.
Then I just combined the cranberries to a standard buttercream frosting mix, and WOALA!
I mixed the ingredients for a white cake, for the cupcakes...
Here is the final product. It was hard as 'H-E-double hockey sticks' to pipe through, which is the reason why the weird frosting technique. Maybe next time we use "cranberries" as the secret recipe... I'll leave the cranberries whole.

Anyway... it sure was good to eat; not too sweet and not too tart.

Can you bake pudding?

2007-12-01T16:19:00.001-08:00

I'm truly psyched to get to participate in the latest SHF.
I'm looking forward to enhancing my "pudding makin' skills" or creating some new ones.

Stay tuned for what is bound to be something VERY INTERESTING (mmuuuuuuuaaaaaa)
[rubbing my hands in a circular motion like an evil genius]

Slick Rick in da house

2007-11-29T18:34:00.000-08:00

Are you talking to me?

Did you hear me? I saaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiid, are you talking to me?

Food 9-1-1

2007-11-28T15:53:00.001-08:00

I had dinner all planned out. I saw this killer recipe for sirloin stir fry inside one of (many) Rachel Ray magazines at my house. It's in the insert that has the 7 recipes for 7 days (if you know the pages). Anyhoot, me, Ryann and the baby went to the best grocery store in the world (I've ranted about this place before) to pick up all the ingredients. Once we left the store if was off to pay some bills and then home to start dinner.

Once we arrived at home, and started unloading bags I looked for the recipe.
*GULP* I had left it inside the shopping cart. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, however I was making stir fry that included abnormal ingredients (i.e. sun-dried tomatoes). What was I going to do?

After dropping Ryann off at her dad's house (after soccer practice) I headed home to cook. I remembered that it was only suppose to take 15 minutes of prep time and 20 minutes to cook this meal (or was it vice versa). I simply apologized to Clifton, in advance, and made sure there was some cereal to eat (in the event this turned out to be a disaster) and then began to create.

I did get a chance to glance over the recipe. The only thing I remembered was that I was suppose to use 3 tbsp of soy sauce, 1-2 cherry hot peppers and 1 cup of beef broth. In stir fry? Sheesh.

Here's what I did (sorry Rachel if I butchered this recipe's directions badly):

3 tbsp soy sauce
1 bunch of broccoli (use stem and heads)
2 habenero peppers
3 tbsp sun dried tomatoes (packaged in oil and garlic)
4-5 stems of scallions (cut into 1 in pieces)
1 1/2 lbs of sirloin
4 cloves garlic (diced)
1 cup of beef broth
Angel hair pasta (enough to feed 3-4 people)

Brown sirloin in large skillet with 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce. Drain and wipe skillet clean w/ paper towel. (brown 4 minutes each side) Set meat aside.

Meantime cook angel hair pasta per directions on package. Drain and set aside.

Saute broccoli, scallions, garlic in 1 tbsp of soy sauce. Cook for 2-3 minutes total. Drain and wipe skillet clean w/ paper towel. Set veggies aside.

Cook sun-dried tomatoes and peppers in the garlic oil of the tomatoes. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain 1/2 of juices.

Heat up broth in skill and left over juices from tomato/pepper mixture. Add sirloin. Cook for 4 minutes or until meat is tender. Drain all juices.
Add all ingredients together in skillet and mix together. Cook for 1-2 minutes.

Plate pasta and top with stir fry.

ENJOY!

I guess Clif enjoyed it...

Why didn't you tell me?

2007-11-27T13:17:00.001-08:00

All this time I've been using that handy-dandy 'label' box at the bottom of all of my post to enter in "catchy" phrases to help me to remember what the hell I was blogging about. I just NOW figured out it is a way to help find a particular blog pertaining to a subject I write about mostly (i.e. food, family, etc.)

Thanks a lot ALL OF YOU THAT KNEW THIS AND DIDN'T SHARE.

Now I have to go back and read through all of my past posts and correct.

I finished my first challenge (yay)

2007-11-26T18:03:00.000-08:00

My first challenge was: TENDER POTATO BREAD

Well, the secret may be out already. My new group of friends; those crazy guys and gals that have won over my heart and my kitchen; a contributing factor to why I've been baking like a mad-woman lately is... ... THE DARING BAKERS.

I first started seeing the amazing creations that this group flooded Blogger with back in August. I innocently stumbled onto a page with the most amazing photographs of food. I think at that time the monthly challenge was cinnamon rolls and sticky buns. Oh.... I'm a sucker for sweet bread of any kind. Three months later I could hardly hold back my desire to want to be apart of this group.

As a November newbie I couludn't wait to participate in my first challenge. So much in fact that I think I finished up way back in the beginning of the month. Anyhoot, I'm truly excited at the level that my baking skills are about to increase too. Stay tuned for those amazing photographs of our monthly challenges. I'm off.

So, this was my second attempt at working with yeast (the first time being with those buns above). I don't think I can even begin to describe the stick-i-ness that this dough created. The closest thing I could compare it to is if you'd pop a whole pack of Big League Chew into your mouth; spit it out onto the counter and attempt to form some kind of pastry out of it.

4 hours later and sans 1 cup of the recommended 6 1/2 - 8 1/2 cups of flour. The recipe is below, given to us by our lovely Tanna. Thanks again for challenging my SKILLS! :)

Here are my rolls:

...and here is my loaf:

Tender Potato Bread
(from Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour & Tradition Around the World by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid; who also wrote Hot Sour Salty Sweet)
Daring Bakers Challenge #13: November 2007

Host: Tanna (My Kitchen in Half Cups)
Post Date: Monday, November 26

Makes 1 large tender-crumbed pan loaf AND something more; one 10X15 inch crusty yet tender foccacia, 12 soft dinner rolls, or a small pan loaf

Allowed Modifications for Unleashing Your Daring Baker :

You must follow the recipe as written until you get to shaping the bread.
This bread must be savory and not sweet.
You must knead by hand (medical exception allowed)
You can not use a biga, sponge, or starter method.
Recipe ingredient exception allowed only if allergy or an ingredient not available or cost prohibitive in your region.
You may shape this dough anyway you would like: as a loaf, as rolls, as focaccia. You can braid it, twist it whatever.
You may season this bread in any way you see fit: maybe it becomes your turkey stuffing. Maybe you season some sandwich bread for great turkey sandwiches.
You can fill it if you think that will work for you. Think calzone or anything with a savory filling. Again however it must be savory and not sweet.

Suggested Toppings:

For Loaves and Rolls: melted butter (optional)

For Foccacia: olive oil, coarse salt, and rosemary leaves (optional; also see variation)

For Anchovy-Onion Focaccia: Instead of oil, salt, and rosemary, top with onions slow-cooked in olive oil or bacon fat, a scattering of chopped anchovy fillets, and flat-leafed parsley leaves.

Alternate fillings, seasons, shapes are up to you.

Some additional notes about this challenge, recipe and the dough:

If you are new to bread and already your whisks are shaking (or is that your boots), you may bake the bread (or one of it’s variations) just as written.

There are no pictures. I give you the recipe. I cannot give you a photo or drawing of the recipe because that part is yours. That being said there are lots of pictures of other bread recipes that will provide great ideas for you if you decide to unleash that aspect of this recipe.

Potatoes and potato water give this bread wonderful flavor and texture. The dough is very soft and moist and might feel a little scary if you’ve never handled soft dough before. But don’t worry: Leaving it on parchment or wax paper to proof and to bake makes it easy to handle.

Once baked, the crumb is tender and airy, with tiny soft pieces of potato in it and a fine flecking of whole wheat. The loaves have a fabulous crisp texture on the outside and a slightly flat-topped shape. They make great toast and tender yet strong sliced bread for sandwiches. The dinner rolls are soft and inviting, and the focaccia is memorable.

I have chosen this recipe because it gives directions for different ways of shaping the dough and provides oven times and temperatures for those variations.

Some Notes about Flour:
King Arthur Artisan Organic All-Purpose Flour is fairly new in the markets in the US now and is advertised to be best for making European-style hearth breads with a protein level of 11.3%

Conversion Chart for yeast:
1 oz/ 1 Tablespoon of fresh yeast = 0.4 oz/ 1.25 teaspoon active or instant dry yeast = 0.33 oz / 1 teaspoon instant or rapid rise (bread machine) yeast. Reference: Crust & Crumb by Peter Reinhart

Link to online conversion chart for converting recipes from Imperial to Metric: Cooking Conversion Online (http://www.convert-me.com/en/convert/cooking)

Remember, being a Daring Baker is about trying new recipes, techniques and taking risks. It’s reaching just beyond your comfort zone.

This is a Daring Baker Challenge, not a contest and not a competition because at its heart and soul is support and sharing the how to of the baking we do.

Challenge Recipe:

Metric measurements are from the European edition. Thank you Linda (Linda.kovacevic.nl) from Make Life Sweeter

Ingredients:

4 medium to large floury (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks.
Tanna Note: For the beginner bread baker I suggest no more than 8 ounces of potato; for the more advanced no more than 16 ounces. The variety of potatoes you might want to use would include Idaho, Russet & Yukon gold, there are others.

4 cups(950 ml) water, reserve cooking water
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
6 ½ cups to 8 ½ cups (1 kg to 1350g) unbleached all-purpose
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (130g) whole wheat flour

Making the Dough (Directions will be for making by hand):

Put the potatoes and 4 cups water in a sauce pan and bring to boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and cook, half covered, until the potatoes are very tender.

Drain the potatoes, SAVE THE POTATO WATER, and mash the potatoes well. Tanna Note: I have a food mill I will run my potatoes through to mash them.

Measure out 3 cups(750ml) of the reserved potato water. Add extra water if needed to make 3 cups. Place the water and mashed potatoes in the bowl you plan to mix the bread dough in. Let cool to lukewarm (70-80°F/21 - 29°C) – stir well before testing the temperature – it should feel barely warm to your hand. You should be able to submerge you hand in the mix and not be uncomfortable.

Add yeast to 2 cups all-purpose flour and whisk. Add yeast and flour to the cooled mashed potatoes & water and mix well. Allow to rest/sit 5 minutes.

Note about Adding Yeast: If using Active Dry Yeast or Fresh yeast, mix & stir yeast into cooled water and mashed potatoes & water and let stand 5 minutes. Then add 2 cups of flour to the yeast mix and allow to rest several minutes. If using Instant Dry Yeast, add yeast to 2 cups all-purpose flour and whisk. Add yeast and flour to the cooled mashed potatoes & water and mix well. Allow to rest/sit 5 minutes.

Sprinkle in the remaining 1 tablespoon salt and the softened butter; mix well. Add the 1 cup whole wheat flour, stir briefly.

Add 2 cups of the unbleached all-purpose flour and stir until all the flour has been incorporated.
Tanna Note: At this point you have used 4 cups of the possible 8 ½ cups suggested by the recipe.

Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, incorporating flour as needed to prevent sticking. The dough will be very sticky to begin with, but as it takes up more flour from the kneading surface, it will become easier to handle; use a dough scraper to keep your surface clean. The kneaded dough will still be very soft. Place the dough in a large clean bowl or your rising container of choice, cover with plastic wrap or lid, and let rise about 2 hours or until doubled in volume.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead gently several minutes. It will be moist and a little sticky.

Forming the Bread:
Tanna Note: It is at this point you are requested to Unleash the Daring Baker within. The following is as the recipe is written. You are now free to follow as written or push it to a new level.

Divide the dough into 2 unequal pieces in a proportion of one-third and two-thirds (one will be twice as large as the other). Place the smaller piece to one side and cover loosely.

To shape the large loaf:
Butter a 9 x 5 x 2.5 inch loaf/bread pan. Flatten the larger piece of dough on the floured surface to an approximate 12 x 8 inch oval, then roll it up from a narrow end to form a loaf. Pinch the seam closed and gently place seam side down in the buttered pan. The dough should come about three-quarters of the way up the sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 35 to 45 minutes, until puffy and almost doubled in volume.

To make a small loaf with the remainder:
Butter an 8x4X2 inch bread pan. Shape and proof the loaf the same way as the large loaf.

To make rolls:
Butter a 13 x 9 inch sheet cake pan or a shallow cake pan. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each into a ball under the palm of your floured hand and place on the baking sheet, leaving 1/2 inch between the balls. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 35 minutes, until puffy and almost doubled.

To make focaccia:
Flatten out the dough to a rectangle about 10 x 15 inches with your palms and fingertips. Tear off a piece of parchment paper or wax paper a little longer than the dough and dust it generously with flour. Transfer the focaccia to the paper. Brush the top of the dough generously with olive oil, sprinkle on a little coarse sea salt, as well as some rosemary leaves, if you wish and then finally dimple all over with your fingertips. Cover with plastic and let rise for 20 minutes.

Baking the bread(s):

Note about baking order: bake the flat-bread before you bake the loaf; bake the rolls at the same time as the loaf.

Note about Baking Temps: I believe that 450°F(230°C) is going to prove to be too hot for the either the large or small loaf of bread for the entire 40/50 minutes. I am going to put the loaves in at 450°(230°C) for 10 minutes and then turn the oven down to 375°F (190 °C) for the remaining time.

Note about cooling times: Let all the breads cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Rolls can be served warm or at room temperature.

For loaves and rolls:
Dust risen loaves and rolls with a little all-purpose flour or lightly brush the tops with a little melted butter or olive oil (the butter will give a golden/browned crust). Slash loaves crosswise two or three times with a razor blade or very sharp knife and immediately place on the stone, tiles or baking sheet in the oven. Place the rolls next to the loaf in the oven.

Bake rolls until golden, about 30 minutes. Bake the small loaf for about 40 minutes. Bake the large loaf for about 50 minutes.

Transfer the rolls to a rack when done to cool. When the loaf or loaves have baked for the specified time, remove from the pans and place back on the stone, tiles or baking sheet for another 5 to 10 minutes. The corners should be firm when pinched and the bread should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

For foccaia:
Place a baking stone or unglazed quarry tiles, if you have them, if not use a no edged baking/sheet (you want to be able to slide the shaped dough on the parchment paper onto the stone or baking sheet and an edge complicates things). Place the stone or cookie sheet on a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450°F/230°C.

If making foccacia, just before baking, dimple the bread all over again with your fingertips. Leaving it on the paper, transfer to the hot baking stone, tiles or baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack (remove paper) and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Check out what the rest of our fabulous and fierce bakers are up to, the Daring Baker Blogroll.

Stress-free trip to S.D.

2007-11-26T02:07:00.001-08:00

Since we didn't head down to San Diego for Thanksgiving, we knew that we needed to go hang out with the family at some point this weekend. We opted to go on Saturday so that there was no mad rush to get home on Sunday, and still prepare for work.

Again, we slept in late, slowly getting ready for the 2 hour trip. At about 2p we finally loaded up the car and started on our journey. I have to admit that the drive wasn't all that bad. Except for the part when we needed to pull over because I felt like I was going to blow junks (and NO, I'm not pregnant) and also when we were passing areas that were burned during last month's fire (including the area right next to the San Onofre NUCLEAR plant <---- that may not have been good).

It was nice hanging out for a few hours with our SD family. Playing with the kids and talking about everything from Patty's coyote scare, Sindhu's fear of mice, Prasadini and Mia's motherly advise to be quiet (while they watched "Annie"), why Cameron decided to hang out in the Cohiba lounge (auntie Maria's bedroom, sans cigar) and why Clif LIED to me about catching that doggone lizard.

It was a great visit. We were sorry that we couldn't see our buddies Lucy, Jaime and Rosalina. We still haven't seen Johnny, April and Riley (since earlier this year). We hope to see you all real soon.

size does MATTER!

2007-11-26T01:28:00.000-08:00

Whoever started that crap about 'size does not matter' must have been on drugs. I mean, you've never heard of someone say, "Waiter, can you please put back that large lobster tail, and bring me the smallest one instead?" Or, "I'm sorry honey, this diamond ring you to me is way too large. Can you please give me a smaller one?" Even better, "Boss!? I think the raise that you gave to me was too big. Can you give me a smaller raise? I don't feel comfortable with this large amount."

Granted if you're on a diet, you may not pertake with that 2nd helping of cake. You may want to fit into that smaller dress size, and you want a smaller shoe size instead of looking like Big Foot in your size 11 shoe (I wear a 10 by the way). But when it comes down to most things that are worth having... ... you want the BIG STUFF! Bring on the big hotel rooms, flower bouquets and gifts under the Christmas tree.

Well, the same is true when it comes to televisions.

Clif and I decided to do a little bit of Green (or Black) Friday shopping. Oh, how we planned on getting up at 3am, but when the alarm went off WE went right back to sleep. Finally waking up at around 9am (ahh, the good life) we got dressed. I talked to my mom who was PISSED at not getting a laptop that she wanted and then we headed to the Circuit City in Rolling Hills. Our plans were to grab me a new d-camera. Nothing TOO fancy, I think Clif just wanted to finally shut me and stop my constant hints at wanting one. We arrived in the store and of course it was a mad house. Cruising past all of the hostile shoppers we decided to head over to the television section to 'take a peak.' What ended up catching our eyes was a 40" plasma for (hold your breath) $699. Of course this price was too good to be true because just as we saw the display sign, we heard the announcement that the "6 hour sale" was over (we also found out that they no longer had any of those sets left). *sigh*

We left out of CC and headed over to Kohl's. Our intent was to pick up some thermos for Clif, but after looking at the line (and the poor selection) we left the store.

Walking past CC again we had a sour taste in our mouth. Suddenly "a new television" was on our mind. We decided to go down the street to the BestBuy. Giving ourselves a time limit to find a parking space (anything more than 10 minutes and we were to abandon the idea) we pulled into the parking lot. 2 mintutes later we found a spot and were out of the car. After a few 'ooohs' and 'awwwws' (made by me only) at some of the selection of tubes, we came across an intelligent Magnolia rep who answered all of my husband's questions about 1 t.v. that caught our eyes. 5 sets were available when we first arrived; 0 were left after we grabbed ours and headed to the cashier.

T.V., mounting unit, new HD cable-ready box, HDMI cable and HD dvd player purchase followed, and I'm happy to say that WE HAVE A NEW TELE. :)
(did I say that I loved my husband? I do!)

Here's our latest toy:

(we even mounted it to the wall ourselves. Afterwards we had a Coke toast to our latest home improvement project)

I'm very Thankful!

2007-11-26T01:20:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday (I hope you all did too). My hubbie and I decided to stay home this holiday and enjoy turkey day from the comfort of our own home. It felt great to wake up, have a great breakfast with my mom and all the kiddies and then relax for the rest of the day. Ryann and Raye headed over to their dad's house at around 2p; Clif, Chris and I took a little nap, and then our neighbor friends came over and we all had dinner together. They too decided not to do the usual holiday traveling and we all sat around stuffed our face.

Some friends visiting from the Bay Area also stopped by later on in the night for some good old Chappelle comedy. The requested skit of the evening was "I'm Rick James B--ch!"... when helped to end our evening on a great note.

Oh, did I forgot to mention that we watched Soul Plane. Yeah, I know... but it really is a funny movie after you've forced yourself to sit through it for the 3rd time.

I'm truly thankful for the health of my family and friends. I'm blessed to have so many wonderful people around me. :P)

How to defrost a turkey

2007-11-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

OK, so if you're like me, you do not have 4-5 full days to defrost your bird in the refrigerator; nor do you have the room. I have learned a few ways to thaw out these suckers and wanted to spread my 'wealth of knowledge' to all who plan on preparing our 'gobble-gobble' friends this coming "Turkey Day."

*Warning* - this method is SERIOUSLY more labor intensive!!!

Place Mr. Turkey in a pot of cold water (or stop up your sink with cold water). Allow your bird to soak for 1/2 hour per pound (meaning a 25-pound turkey will thaw in half a day). IMPORTANT - Replace the water every half hour. Make sure that your turkey is in leak-proof packaging; turkey meat can absorb moisture and become watery.

There you have it... ... I just gave you more "labor" to do on your already labor-filled day.

Take care... and good eats.

USH the 3rd time!

2007-11-19T20:53:00.000-08:00

Ok, so if anyone is keeping track, my family has gone to USH 3 times this year (so far). Our adventure began back in July/August when we had to spend damn near $300 to get in to this place. wtf? (is what we say each and every time we remember dropping that wad). Anyhoot, we've been pretty hell-bent on getting our money's worth from those season passes. The score is definitely turning in our favor. I think we have at least 2 more trips before this year is up. This time we decided to check out the 'Studio Tour' and 'Shrek 4D' Bring something to wipe off your glasses with, after seeing this show; you're in for a real treat :)

1st trip - $70/person
2nd trip - $35/person
3rd trip - $23.33/person

..at this rate USH will be paying us to go to the park. Now if only we could stop spending money when we get there.

Knock-Knock. Gracie, it's me!

2007-11-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

I've been invited!
Yes, I have been invited to a 'virtual housewarming party' for my newest friend, Gracie. She has been blessed with a new home (I can only dream in this crazy housing market), and I'm all too happy to bring a dish.

My choice is an appetizer. I saw this recipe in EveryDay with RR and couldn't pass on it. I love Po-Ta-Toes and all things bite-sized! Appetizers are a great to eat, and easy to chat and mingle with. I love being able to walk around, hold a drink and talk to everyone. Since I'm the 'new kid on the block' in my sorority, I knew I had to bring something to mix-n-mingle.

Recipe:
4 red potatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt
1/2 lb. bacon
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup cream cheese
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

Preheat the oven to 375.
Toss potato rounds w/olive oil and salt; arrange in single layer on a cookie sheet.
Bake 25 minutes; flip and bake another 10 minutes.
Cook bacon until crisp; crumble and set aside.
Stir cream cheese and sour cream together in medium bowl.
Arrange potato slices on a platter; dollup w/sour cream mixture, bacon and chives.
Serve warm!

The best (simple) cookie

2007-11-14T23:21:00.000-08:00

So 'tis the season to be baking.
Everyone will be baking pies, cakes, cookies, etc. Every so often I like to bake the classic chocolate chip cookie because, well, it's still one of my favorites of all time.

Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup pecans (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 325; grease cookie sheets or line w/ parchment paper
Sift flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in egg, egg yolk and vanilla until light and creamy.
Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
Stir in chocolate chips with wooden spoon. Stir in nuts.
Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time about 3 inches apart.
Bake 15-17 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

GOT MILK?

GOT KIDS? (if you do, they'll love this recipe)

Dinner is served (Indian style)

2007-11-14T23:07:00.000-08:00

I love my husband. He has opened up my eyes to so many different types of things, food being one of them. On any given night we can go for anything, not just the normal burger, fries and a coke.

Last night we decided on Indian. We revisited this place not too far from the kid's school, India's Tandoori. We picked up the food to go and were happy to find out that they deliver to our neck of the woods. The food was great and here are some of our recommendations:

- Samosas (they're huge and hearty)
- Chicken Tikka Masala
- Matar Paneer
- Bhindi Bhaji (ask for 'spicy')
- Garlic Naan

~enjoy!

How'd it happen?

2007-11-14T22:53:00.000-08:00

This blog was suppose to be all about my family my daily life as mom, wife, daugter, friend, etc. It's turning more and more into a food blog. Could it be that I'm becoming a 'foodie?' Was I always one? Have I lived a sheltered life not able to talk, cook or write about all of the fab food in my life. Dunno, but I do know that I'm having WAY TOO MUCH FUN now.

So for those of you who were only expecting to see/read about what normally happens in my Fab life, be prepared to see what Fab treats I'm eagerly cooking up.

Marathon baking weekend

2007-11-12T09:24:00.000-08:00

The inspiration for me going COMPLETELY INSANE this weekend in my baking was my husband's trip to both Temecula and TJ (yes, Tijuana) for a bachelor party weekend. To keep myself from being that insane wife on the 405/5 Fwy at 2am looking for a group of men that resembled my husband's friend, I chose to invite over a group of my friends to enjoy some of my baked goods.

Friday got started early with me baking some Perfectly Chocolate Cupcakes with 3 Muskateers and Milky Ways in the center. I froze some of the candies and crumbled them up on top for even more chocolate-ty goodness.

(the ladies in the office really appreciated these little babies)

Later that night I got up enough nerve to complete some past challenges issued by my new sorority/fraternity group of bakers. First up....
Bostini Cream Pie, here's the recipe.

Then, onto the Buttery Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cupcakes sans frosting (where I got the recipe was from here)

Salted Carmel Cheesecake (sans crust) followed the peanut buttery goodness. I served this dessert in a glass with apple slices to spoon out the goodness. YUM! I found this recipe here, but she found the recipe here...

This was it for Friday night. Thanks to the "Friday" crew for coming through and eating it all up! Special thanks to Kristen for bringing over the Chandon champagne.

----------

After going to the San Pedro Girls Softball Turkey Tournament with my daughter (where her team kicked Bellflower's butt) on Saturday morning (she is North Torrance 10U #1). I came home and began doing a much needed cleaning up around the house. Chris took an extended nap, and I was free to clean and re-arrange all I wanted. Afterwards, I was all pumped up to bake up something even better than the night before for my next taste testers.

First up, Pumpkin spice cake w/ butterscotch walnut filling and brown sugar icing. I picked up this recipe from here, but she scored it from here...

While the cake was in the oven, I made the crust for the Milk Chocolate Carmel Tart I'd finish up this weekend with. The crust is made with hazelnuts (which I could ONLY find at Bristol Farms - thank goodness). You have to allow the crust to sit in the bowl overnight and then press it into the pan when you're ready to use it. Here is the recipe for this chocolate/caramel sensation.

(ontop of the that tart are carmel fragments that are suppose to be decoration. Mine seem to look like a damn not-so-happy face (I assure you this was not my intent).

All in all I think I had a pretty successful baking weekend. All that sampled were impressed and thankful.

On to my next challenge.

Question?

2007-11-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

Am I the only one that gets blog-writer's block? I mean there are so many things that go on in my life, on a daily basis, that I could literally blog about anything (mostly things that you'd not be interested in) all day long.

My friend Nanner said it best that bloggers want to write about things that are interesting for all to read, not just a bunch of crap. I mean, what else makes a blog interesting. Aside from a cool layout, beautiful pictures and snazzy sidebars inforomation; the only reason people keep coming back to your page is to read your thoughts (or out of obligation).

Anyhoot, I'm still trying to be selective about waht I put on this page. I mean, I could literally fill up an entire page with my daily routine of property management, limo driving the kids to and from school/practice and tips on keeping my sanity while raising 3 kids.

I've been accepted.

2007-11-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

Although I can't blog about my recent induction to a woman group of exceptional women, please know that I WILL be bloggin' (at the end of November) about my recent acheivement.

I know, I know. I hate it when people begin to tell me something and then don't. It really ruffles my feathers and I normally don't do it. Just believe that I TRULY want to tell you, but I can't. I'm sworn to secrecy until I prove myself worthy.

In the end it will all be worth it, I'll even have a cool new LOGO to post on my page... ... WOO HOO!

Can't wait.

Gosh darn it!

2007-11-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

Clif had a Holiday Boo Bash celebartion at his job this past Tuesday. Co-workers were all to pitch in and bring a dessert treat to the 'shingdig' (the execs were springing for - wait for it - PIZZA).

We decided to make a carrot cake (w/ orange-colored, cream cheese frosting) and decorate it as a jack-o-latern.

Here's the cake (during the designing stage):

Here's what it looked like after I put it in the car; drove to Long Beach (from Torrance); sat in the car for a few minutes talking to Clif; watched daddy play with Chris during his short break... and then dropped it on the floor, of the Quest, right before handing it to Clif before he took it upstairs to share with his co-workers.

*&!%^/?$@# cake holding, tupperware dish)

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T22:51:00.001-07:00

So what... I'm one day late. Sue me!

Ok, so for the Spook-tacular we headed over to uncle Danny's house to trick for treats in a great little neighborhood.

First up... it's that stinky, onion-layered olgar - SHREK!

Raye was the webbed crusader - SPIDERMAN;
Ryann was the cutest, most angelic - DEVIL

The pigment-challenged little guy (as "R" so eloquently stated last year) is
our nephew Kevin, as - THE THING; and rounding out a our four-some is the nicest WITCH you'd ever want to meet - Jade.

We went around 2 entire blocks (approximately 20 houses - we didn't stop at every house). One of the most memorable moments was when one family gave Chris a book, instead of candy (say it with me now.... "awwwwwwwww")

All in all, the kids had a blast; Clif went trick or treating for the first time sent he was a kid,

... and grandma (G-mama) went along for her first Halloween with her grand-kiddies!

Jones vs. Simpsons

2007-10-30T22:50:00.000-07:00

With the Halloween holiday approaching, Clif and I were sitting around thinking about who we may want to dress up as. One thing led to another and we got on the topic of the Simpsons. I was thinking about submitting a tape to AFV with our family remaking the opening scene of the Simpson's television show (you know the scene where Homer almost gets run over by Marge in the driveway, while Bart skateboards on top of his car and the whole family enters into the livingroom and every week there's something "new" in that last scene?)

The skit would work out so perfectly, we thought, because we have the same 'make-up' as the family on the Simpson's. The only difference about our family is Ryann is older than Raye and Chris is not a girl. Other than that... we could give it a shot. Doh! Did I forget to mention that Clif doesn't really like sweets? I may have to re-think this whole idea... I mean Homer not eating jelly donuts? Huh?

So, here's our pictures with our television-like family/friends:
Chris with Maggie (Clif and Homer are watching over them so carefully)

Raye with Lisa

Ryann with Patricia Selma Bouvier (Marge's sister)

Me with Selma Bouvier (Marge's other sister)

...and Clif with Barney

Good thing for season passes

2007-10-30T21:52:00.000-07:00

Have you been to Universal Studios Hollywood lately? I think the last time I was there the Backdraft attraction was the new 'it' thing to se. Man have things changed! The first thing you can't help but notice is the price... YIKES! We took the kids here in the summer, shortly after Chris' arrival. We thought that it would be a good way to spend time with the family and have some fun. What we weren't planning on doing was spending almost $300 just to get in the front gate.

I think it was something like $65/person for a daily pass and $70 for a yearly pass. This price was the same for all of us, even 6 year old Raye (wth?). Oh well, we bit the bullet and paid to get in. The plan was to come back as often as possible to get our money's worth (we suck at 'getting our money's worth').

So the Sunday before Raye's birthday we decided to head back up to Universal for some more "fun in-da sun." We decided to skip a day of sporting games and have some good, old fashion family fun.

Boy did it feel good to just whip out those season passes, flash them to the teeny-boppers that work part-time over the weekend, look at the suckers who were standing in line to pay, and cruise into the park, without having to touch our wallet/purse. [Hmphf, take that stupid poo-poo heads that raised the price of admission]
First up... Nickeloden Zone This is where all the kids seem to forget that this place is not a water park. All around us were kids that flung off their clothes (but kept on their shoes) while they ran around to get soaking wet by a giant rocket that gushed water out of it's butt! My kids also participated in this madness, so much so that we couldn't find them for a few minutes and we were getting ready to head into the rocket madness to look for them (lucky for us they appeared - right as the count down began).
Needless to say we were having a grand ol' time waiting around, with the other parents, for the kids to finish having 'self fun,' and for them to want to have 'family fun' (hence the reason for this damn trip)

After the kids dried off, we decided to take a casual walk around the park. This "casual" walk turned into slight chaos when we found out that the park closed at 6:00 pm. Did I forget to mention that this trip wasn't really planned out thoroughly and resulted in us leaving Torrance at around 3:30 pm? Oh well, it was free right? [*shrugging shoulders*] That's all that mattered. To our surprise most of what we wanted to see was closed/closing; we decided to pick 1 ride/attraction and GO FOR IT! I mean, we are going to be coming back, so we can see the rest later. Right?!

Jurrasic Park the ride is what we chose; now all we had to do is find it. 4 flights of escalators riding; 1 quick picture for the hell of it, and 1 crazy "guess that showtune song" music interlude later and we were at the ride. I sat out the ride because 'someone had to watch Chris' while the others made a mad dash into the line. A few minutes later, everyone was standing in front of me because the two youngest kids (that would be Ryann and Raye) were too afraid to get on the ride. The oldest kid (this would be Clif) still wanted to go and had that 'look' on his face. We finally convinced Ryann to ride with him, and off they went (again) like two freed birds from a cage.
While waiting for my two oldest kids to emerge from the mountain (where they'll spring out and then drop into the water) Raye and Chris had a "kodak" moment It's so wonderful to watch these two together. Chris really loves his big brother, and big brother loves to show little brother all the things that 'he'll be able to do as soon as he is 6.' (yay!) Finally off of the ride, wet and looking like they wanted to say "one more time mommy, please?", it was now 5:50. All of the other attractions were (almost) simultaneously closing down, so off we went (again) on the 4-escalator ride journey (again listening to the same showtune contest)
After leaving the park we headed over to EB Games to play around (some more) and fool the kids into thinking we were actually going to buy some Wii games. Little did they know Clif had already picked up some games for Raye's birthday. We're so cruel. Dinner at Buca di Beppo and then it was time to drive home and get ready for school the next day.

Bye USH, see you next time (and by next time I mean some time before the end of the year) :)

(who the hell do they get to wear these costumes anyway? it was like 100 degrees outside)

Now where was I?

2007-10-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, before I was so rudely interupted by this stinkin' stomach virus, flu, cold; I was talking about my son turning 7. It's funny how kids want to celebrate their birthday for as long as they can. How dare they?

My son wanted a 'Last Day Being 6' cake (which was triple layer chocolate cake).This cake came complete with a song ("happy last day of being 6 to you...")

At 4:30am, Clif and I woke Raye up to open up some new toys (Spiderman Wii game and a Power Ranger helmet - Raye was so psyched!)
On his actual birthday Raye was surprised by mommy at school. I took some red velvet cupcakes to his class with juice and a toy for all of his friends
(His teacher has never heard of 'red velvet' before). Later that day the family came over to sing 'happy birthday' to Raye

and play the new game. Nana even came by and kicked his butt (see his face)

Fast forward to Saturday, where we had his official birthday party at Skate Depot in Cerritos. I made chocolate cupcakes from scratch and arranged them to spell "Raye"

Happy birthday baby... let's do it again next year

Happy 7th birthday, Donald Raye (III)

2007-10-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

Seven years ago today (almost exactly) I sat, alone, inside of my hospital room holding my newborn son, smiling. He weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was the cutest baby boy I'd ever seen. He slept in my arms and all I could do was lie there and watch him. He was truly a gift from God.

Rewind 5 months back to that day in the doctor's office when me and my ex were told that 'he' was going to be a 'she.' "What?" my ex replied. "You mean I'm going to have to walk through the mall with 2 little girls? Ugh!" Of course he was still happy to hear that baby was healthy and that we were both doing fine. He still was a little upset that he wouldn't be shopping for anything blue anytime soon.
"I think you're wrong Dr. Lu. I feel like this is going to be a boy," is what I said. My doctor politely nodded that 'I graduated from USC School of Medicine and I know what the hell I'm talking about' nod at me. He went on to tell me that ultrasounds do not normally mistake a boy for a girl, it's the other way around. He gave me his confidence that the baby would be a girl.

Fastforward through all of the follow up doctor's apppointments and ultrasounds, all of which turned out to confirm that his previous diagnosis was correct. Every single picture and ultrasound seemed to point out that we were having another girl. Still, I kept telling my ex, and anyone that would listen, that I felt differently about this pregnancy, and that I believed that I was carrying a boy.

Monday, October 23rd at 11:42am, as I pushed for only the 2nd time, appeared (upside down) my beautiful baby with a head full of hair and very strong lungs. Starting from the bottom up (I had forgotten it was upside down) looked the baby over and then yelled "I told you.... it's a BOY!" Dr. Lu then formed that look of defeat across his face and smiled. When I turned to look at my ex... WAIT... where did he go? He made a mad dash down the hospital hallway, to let every know (the 2 people who decided to come to the hospital for this birth) that it was a boy. He didn't even make sure that I was ok. He just bolted out of the room and began making phone calls in all of the excitement. I think he came back into the room about 5 minutes later, just in enough time to cut the cord (which means it probably wasn't that long).

Slowly but surely all of the family began to arrive to the hospital; all sad that they were not there to witness Donald Raye being born. They were all there when Ryann emerged and having 'another' girl just didn't seem to be all that exciting to them; they all opted to hear about the birth over the phone.

Eventually I kicked all of there asses out shortly after 2p and told them they had to wait until he came home....I didn't want to share my special little guy with any of those non-believers.

Homemade Sunday

2007-10-21T12:50:00.001-07:00

The first thing out of my kids mouths on the weekend is "what's for breakfast?"
With this on my mind, I remember that we didn't go grocery shopping to pick up something to cook. What is in the kitchen for me to make to shut my kids up?Pancakes... but not (box) pancake mix... a recipe for HOMEMADE PANCAKES.(seriously not as hard as you might think).

Here is the recipe. After adding mixing together all of the ingredients, they come out just as easy as the box mix (sans having to go to the store to begin cooking). The mix yields about 2 cups of batter; sadly, we had an early causalty. This cake had no sugar included in it's mix and therefore was tossed into the trash.

Here is Ryann helping mommy out in the kitchen:

Here is Chris and Clif giving me the "hurry up, I'm hungry" look:

Oh... and homemade pancakes would not be complete if .... (say it with me) they are not served with HOMEMADE SYRUP! Yup... I made syrup. The funny part is that we had ample syrup already in the house.

Pancakes are good... pancakes are our friend.

Soccer-Free Saturday

2007-10-21T12:03:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo!
We opted not to allow the kids to participate in the "Gopher Classic" for soccer this year. I think they've been playing their tales off this year, so I wanted them to have a little break from sports this weekend. Raye's little friend, Charles, had his 7 year old birthday celebration at Pa's Pumpkin Patch in Long Beach. We headed out to the patch for some pumpkin fun, and enjoyed an afternoon with the carnies (one of those weird carnival folks even came up to the party and asked for a cupcake).

Here's the family:

Here is my attempt to get Raye and his friends on one of those 'spinning cup' rides (I was dizzy just looking at them spin around):

1 crusty crabcake please!

2007-10-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

Oh, boy... I completely forgot about blogging about my attempt to make crabcakes. Me and Clif, a while back, went to the Chart House for dinner. We had the most amazing crabcake (yes... we shared 1- crabcake) for an appetizer. After this encounter I decided I would try to make some. How hard could it be? It's just crabmeat, seasoning and oil.

First, I had to decide what type of crab to purchase. I hate imitation crabmeat, so that was out. Was I really going to buy some legs and then remove the meat.... HELL TO THE NAH! So the next best thing was to by the REAL meat. At Bristol Farms they had a good selection, and I ended up buying Blue Star lump crab meat. I also pikced up some shrimp to add into the cakes.

Add some seasoning, mayo, mustard.... and... "Houston, we have crabcakes!"

I even made a homemade sauce to go with it. The sauce was made of mayo, mustard, lemon juice and some of the same seasoning I used in the crabcakes.

Friday (10/19) update:

2007-10-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Friday was a pretty ok day. Nothing to exciting happened during the day.
Wake up.
Get kids ready for school.
Visit properties.
Pick kids up from school.
Come home and try to unwind.

Clif came home early from work (early being 5p) and was in a playful mood.
We decided to take the kids bowling for a night of fun.
First up, Gable House Bowl. This is always a fun place to go and bowl. Rock N Glow bowl is uber-cool with really low lights, loud music and lots of booz :). As great as it is, it's not the most ideal place to take kids on a Friday night, because the lanes fill up pretty quickly (which is why we ended up at another place).

Palos Verdes bowl offered what Gable didn't... a lane to bowl on. Now, granted every worker in this place was over 60 years old, which mean just getting through the door was a task. Can you imagine what it's like to wait on your drinks, food, etc. when a 75 year old waitress has to carry everything? Or if your ball gets stuck in the (warped) bumpers, how long it takes a 81 year old man to go and retrieve it? Let's just say it was a long night (and not because we played a lot of games).

Bowling came to an end when Ryann got a very bad nose bleed. Now, in the past my daughter use to go booger hunting 'causing these episodes. I think she's outgrown this hobby, so I truly do not know what caused the sudden burst of blood from her nose. All I know is I looked up, and she had her hand cupped under her nose catching what was coming out. We made a mad dash to the bathroom (I tried to be as careful as possible not to get blood anywhere). 10 minutes later we were able to leave the bathroom and head home. I swear I was ready to head straight to the ER.

Ok Wan... you win

2007-10-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Wan and the cutest Monkey ever have convinced me to NOT BLOG & DRIVE!
(it had so much potential too! - oh well)

Because of this decision, and being extremely busy all week long, I haven't been able to blog like I've wanted. Man, do I have some catching up to do. Nothing too exciting, just the normal stuff in the Fabulous Life of I[dot]J

Bloggin' while drivin'

2007-10-15T17:28:00.001-07:00

So, you know how they have those commercials with people putting on make-up while driving, shaving and even putting on clothes while driving? Well, I've upped the anty on things. I got this cool new Sprint Aircard that allows me to have access to the internet, anywhere (a middle finger to those who have had this gadget for a while now).

Can you imagine what I can blog about at the drop of a dime now? I mean, seriously, being able to blog about WHATEVER while WHATEVER is going on is UBER COOL (to me).

ciao

Week 6 - FF update

2007-10-14T19:54:00.001-07:00

Man, just when I was on a winning streak, the NFL had to go and make all of my starters participate in a BYE week. I couldn't believe it. I was running around at the last minute (literally at 9:50a and 1:10p) trying to pick up players to help me win this week.

I'm just going to chalk this one up to experience I guess.

BLT... it's what's for dinner!

2007-10-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

So, I didn't really feel like preparing some big, elaborate meal for dinner tonight. While watching Raye's 3:00 pm baseball game, I flipping through one of those supermarket, quick meal fixing magazine. Inside the magazine was an article about a sandwich I use to love a lot, a B-L-T. I made it with sourdough bread and added in a few slices of avocado for some added flavor. I also baked up some onion rings for a little crunch. The sandwich turned out nice, and was a welcomed change said Clif.

Chuga-Chuga Choo-Choo baby

2007-10-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

So while I'm doin my thang in the kitchen, my kids find anyway possible to keep Chris, and themselves occupied. On this night they played train with Chris inside of our laundry baskets, while Raye decided he wanted to make an apple, grape, orange, carrots and lettuce salad.

Baking machine

2007-10-14T14:04:00.001-07:00

Ok, I think that it is safe to say that I love to bake. Funny enough I don't really ever get to enjoy all of the desserts that I make. I am (so) LUCKY enough to have 2 great kids (who are always will to sample something swee); a husband that loves all things non-chocolate; 4 adult neighbors that say I'm 1 movie deal away from being called "Big Mama" and another 3 kids that ask me all the time "what are you making today?"

With that being said I tried to create something a little new mixed with a lot of old. I thought to myself, how would it taste if I mixed Pilsbury cinnamon rolls with my apple cobbler recipe? So I tried it. Basically, I just opened up the rolls; chopped them up and placed them inside of my apple mixture; baked as normal; and shizzam!... it turned out pretty good.

Here are some pics (I apologize for somem of the angles)

Some-bod-day stop meh! (the Mask)

2007-10-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

I am seriously on a baking mission.
I don't know where this mission is going to take me (or my weight) but I'm
eager to keep going.

Last night I decided to make Molten Hot Lava cupcakes.
(patting myself on the back) they were de-lish-us. hmpf.

Ingredients:
chocolate cake batter
package of hot fudge

make cake batter per directions on box
add fudge to tops of cakes

bake as normal (less a few minutes)
flip cupcakes upside down after cooled

top with ice cream/whipped cream/powdered sugar

ENJOY!

Uriah's jokes

2007-10-11T07:56:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor's daughter, Uriah (~4 years old) came over last night to share some jokes that she just heard/made up.

U: Why did the banana go to the doctor?
I: I don't know. Why did the banana go to the doctor?

U: Because he was peeling bad!
--------------

U: Have you heard the joke about Humpty Dumpty?
I: No. What joke about Humpty Dumpty?

U: (putting her 'talk to the hand' hand up) Oh, wait, that one cracks me up.
Get it?

I: (puzzled look on my face) oh, yeah, I get it.

Fantasy football (FF) update

2007-10-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

So we are heading into week 6 and I'm now 2-3. I started off to a rough start but I've coming on strong now. Yeah team Lipstick Jocks.

Oh, I've told you the name of my team, but let me let you in on some of the other names of teams around my league and other leagues that Clif is involved in.

Two Hand Touch Champs
Cincinnati bowties
Cosmic Cows
Boston teabagers
iamYOURdaddy

I seriously could go on forever.

FF Rules.

Virtual suite?

2007-10-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

WTF?

Normal morning commute

2007-10-08T23:35:00.000-07:00

What does all of these pictures have in common?
Entering the freeway:

On the freeway:

In the carpool lane:

Exiting the freeway:

School drop off:

Going home:

Have you figured it out yet?

It's me! I'm the idiot sitting in all this damn traffic every single morning. I wish I had a helicopter, or a real "freeway" to drive on; not the dammed 405 N/S.

Clif is watching his son like a hawk!

2007-10-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

...while Chris watches mommy (and her damn camera) like a hawk!

Hot dad = Hot son

2007-10-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

Mom's great smile = Chris' great smile (since dad didn't tell mom that a shadow was in her face)

For that deep, down body thirst

2007-10-08T23:25:00.000-07:00

Watching his big sister and brother run around all day long, made Chris really thirsty.

Who needs ESPN when...

2007-10-08T23:11:00.000-07:00

...I get my SPORTS FIX every single weekend with two athletes running around my house.

Here's Ryann's soccer game:
Warm up

Her deadly kick (see the little girl in her way ;)

Ryann as goalie

Ryann stopping a goal (do you see my baby grabbing the ball?)

Here's my champion...

Now Raye also had a soccer game on Saturday. He also had a good game.
Raye as goalie

Raye defending the goal kick

Raye also had a GREAT KICK (look to the right of the purple ball on the ground - in the sky)

Oh, we're not finished yet folks. This Saturday was a quadrupple day. Ryann had (3) games: 1 soccer and 2 softball + Raye's soccer game.
Here's Ryann at bat

..and here is Ryann playing third base (also known as the "hot corner")

Hell's Kitchen

2007-10-08T23:05:00.001-07:00

So, you thought that my crazy Friday night only included me making sticky buns, huh? Oh but NO, when I want to drive myself insane I really go all out. In addition to make the buns, my husband also wanted me to try my hand out CREME BRULE.

Here are some pics:
Here is the cream

After the cream was done, it was pour into ceramic dishes, and given a water bath in the oven (at 300 degrees for 40 minutes). Then it was time to BURN...

Here's a pic of the crispy tops.... YUM!

Yeast doesn't hurt

2007-10-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

So with all the baking that I've been doing, I thought it was time to try my hand using some yeast. I mean, how hard can it be right?
I decided to make some STICKY BUNS from scratch on Friday night. After getting a recipe from Food Network, I was off to the store for the ingredients... Ah, yes... the Coors Light was definitely needed because it was going to take 4+ hours to make these damn things.
First came dissolving the yeast

At mixture to dough

Then came letting it rest (initally for 20 mins) Here is the resting dough

After oiling a bowl, and kneading the rested dough came, rubbing the dough in the bowl, and letting it rest for at least another 1 1/2 hours.
(can you see the difference in size)
Here's what the dough should look like after it 2 1/2 hours

Now you stretch the dough

Then you roll the dough

Here's what the cut buns look like inside the "sticky goodness"

Here are the cooked buns and the flipped buns....

ENJOY!

Gambling is not THAT bad!

2007-10-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend was filled with good surprises.
My Saturday was free for me to do whatever I wanted. Well first I had to take the kiddies to take soccer photos, but after that they were off to celebrate a very special 65th birthday with their great-Auntie Audrey.

I headed over to my girl Bren's house, and met up with her, KD and CW (little Cameron came along to hang out with the big girls - and Layla). We chatted a little bit about starting up a new business (stay tuned for more information). After that I headed out with my friend Amie, for a mani-pedi date. The men were watching football and seriously could care less where or what we were doing. On Sunday I was pleasantly surprised with FINALLY kicking my opponents BUTT in fantasy football. LIPSTICK JOCKS RULE!

Let's back up a little to Friday. My darling husband, who has every-other Friday off, and I were picking up the kids from school when he we made a small wager. He bet that our coffee pot at home held less than 8 cups. Don't ask me how we got on this subject, but we did and I accepted the bet. Of course I won, and his payment was to create a home cooked dinner for us, the way he used to. On the menu would be cornish game hens, cranberries and pizza (I know), plus whatever else he wanted to cook for me.

The original due date for this meal was Friday. It then got pushed to Saturday because we had a sudden urge to have Brazillan BBQ on Friday (that was never fulfilled - damn that Samba). Saturday came and went with us eating (I can't remember) for dinner. Sunday was a pretty busy day with 3 softball/baseball games, so needless to say we were too tired to cook on that night.

Fast forward to Tuesday evening. Clif came home and immediately started defrosting the hens. He left them in the fridge this whole time, but they were still a little frozen. At about 9:30p we sat down to a wonderfully flavored meal that my hubbie cooked all for me.

On the menu:
-Cornish game hens; cooked with cranberries, port wine, pine nuts and seasoning
-Pesto pizza: cooked on boboli bread, homemade pesto sauce, cheese, bacon and more pine nuts
-Ceasar salad
-Carmel covered monkey bread (for dessert)
-Glass-o-wine: Cabornet

Take a look at this:

my hubby serving me dinner

the main course

the cab

dessert (yum!)

Up and runnin'

2007-10-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, I love to see that Chris is a healthy, happy and growing baby boy.
Yes, I love to see him scampering around on the floor; moving like a faster-than-normal turle.
Yes, I even like the fact that now when he wakes up, if he's on the floor, he takes of without notice.

BUT...

...I think I could have waited a little longer for our little Tazmanian Devil to start making his way onto his feet and into everything else in the house.

Old Navy fashion

2007-10-03T21:59:00.000-07:00

So one day last week (yes, I'm playing catch up) dad and I decided to take a trip over to Old Navy, while we were waiting on the kids get out of school. Raye went to the park with his friend Shane, and we had a little under 1 hour to look for some clothes for Chris.

Dad is a picky shopper but we were able to find a couple of outfits that he liked.
Here's one of them... khakis+sweater+new socks
The "green binky" gave Chris some ATTITUDE!

(Clif actually didn't like this sweater at first - I did)

Happy Birf-day Kaitlyn!

2007-10-01T11:46:00.001-07:00

The Wan-arific had a mini Wan-tastic baby late last night/early this morning.
(you have to know the mom to understand the use of the prefix "Wan".

The SFAMily are ALL proud to report the birth of this Wan-derful addition to the family.

Mommy's blogpage is here... check out any blogpage to the right for more information.

The Fabulous Life of..."I [dot] J"

WTF?

5-Alarm/ 5-Bean Chili

I challenge YOU to...

Devil's Food Cheesecake

Clif's big BIRTHDAY weekend

The End of a Decade

Bacon to DIE for

Runner's, start your training!

How to line a cake pan w/ parchment

Perfect Cake (for a little party)

DB challenge to come!

My (most humble) apology!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Do I look 1 years old?

..and now the Cake!

Happy Birthday "Christian"

T minus 2 (days) and counting!

Challenge #3: Done and done!

Truly, truly, truly outrageous!

and now back to the weather, Bob!

Tornado watch?!?

Enough is enough already, sheesh!

Could you use some romance?

Proud "Mama" moment

My first test from the THE BOOK

Apple Zeppole w/ Cinnamon Whipped Cream

I now have the BIBLE

Resolutions

Damnit, I am NOT a quitter!

I was scaaared.

Uh oh, I was shopping at Michael's

Royal Icing

I almost forgot...

Oh my, how time flies!

Dear Santa,

It wouldn't be Christmas without...

Don't mind me...

One small step for man...

SFAMily Holiday Hoorah 2007

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Fabulous Caramel Cake!

Lemon Drop Martini, please!

Thanks JE for good eats

YAY for me!

Best of, huh?

Back in business

If my grandfather could see me now!

*sniff-sniff*

Cupcake Hero results are in...

DMBLGIT, huh?

I've been tagged!

Did you ever know that you're my hero?

Can you bake pudding?

Slick Rick in da house

Food 9-1-1

Why didn't you tell me?

I finished my first challenge (yay)

Stress-free trip to S.D.

size does MATTER!

I'm very Thankful!

How to defrost a turkey

USH the 3rd time!

Knock-Knock. Gracie, it's me!

The best (simple) cookie

Dinner is served (Indian style)

How'd it happen?

Marathon baking weekend

Question?

I've been accepted.

Gosh darn it!

Happy Halloween!

Jones vs. Simpsons

Good thing for season passes

Now where was I?

Happy 7th birthday, Donald Raye (III)

Homemade Sunday

Soccer-Free Saturday

1 crusty crabcake please!

Friday (10/19) update:

sniff-sniff