whoops

A thousand humble apologies, there has been near non-existence all week, but there wasn't too much missed in that time. I have been working on a lot of cross stitching. With movie quotes and pop culture and stuff. This is a tester but I am currently re-printing the frames and re-designing the overall look. So this is more like taster/teaser. More later

I did also have one evening when I looked into my refrigerator and saw such a gloriously expansive smorgasbord of vegetative matter that I was forced to create something yummy.

So I thought, pot pie, or some vague version of it. Which had among other things, asparagus and broccoli, carrots and potatoes and yams, oh and also green beans, onions, peppers, and chicken. It was so much vegetable that I was forced to use a second dish. Not that anyone puts up too much of a fuss about leftovers.

And the crust was made out of stars. Fanciful but pretty. And why not.

And there was a little bit more crust leftover so I cut some about-to-turn apples into paper thin slices and mixed them with honey and cinnamon and lemon and spooned them into small rounds of extra dough to make mini turnovers. A little flaky but cute as well.
There has also been a bit of expansive block-printing and shoe-painting and more macaroni and cheese (I am continuously modifying my 'recipe') but for now I will leave it with this, and get back to work. I mean there are three days of weekend, just think of everything I could get done in that amount of time!!

victory dance

one:

two:

three:

enchillada pie!!!!!!

I have been talking about this mythic epic beast for a while now, a cross between enchilladas and lasagna maybe, with some sort of nightshade veggie (in this case zuccini) all layered and baked to perfection. Well last night was the night, and I would say (seconded by my ever-enthusiastic roommate) it was an unquestionable success. Slay the dragon I did. Cheesy and spicy and full of veggies and ground beef that I cooked in some leftover salsa from the weekend on a whim, and then baked, until all that cheese oozed through all the layers and it was done. I was told by the roommate she could smell it outside. And it smelled good.

I even felt up to a bit of baking, so while this experimental masterpiece was in the oven, I mixed up some cookie dough and rolled it in a sugar and cinnamon mix inspired by snickerdoodles, but judging by the small and pudgy nature of the finished product, I was inspired to call them snickerdudettes. The snickerdoodles smaller and less known distant cousin. But still yummy.

And bite sized at not much more than an inch across. So cute. Over all, a successful Monday if I do say so myself. Which I do.

rearrange us

This is how I rearrange furniture. My secret tool, I started making them when I was little, and changing my room around every month, in between painting and repainting and taking down wallpaper. Since I was unable to move the larger furniture without help, I would make a map first so that I knew what would fit and had a plan when my assistants arrived.

It was time to move around the living room, the place we spend most of our time (other than the kitchen which, being that everything is bolted to the wall, I am unable to rearrange, or even paint or change the hardware. I try not to think about it) so, what did I do but make a map. We actually realized that we had just sort of plopped everything down when we moved and not ever thought about the fact that it may not have been arranged in the most comfortable and sensible way. So it was time for a change.

And might I say, we have a very large collection of books, and they are just everywhere. At least they are pretty.
And this is how I eat leftovers:

That would be sausage and asparagus crepes with pesto and mozzarella and home fries. It is all about re-purposing stuff so it doesn't seem like leftovers, but something new. Also putting stuff in crepes works out real well. Feels fancy. Yum.

spring rain and experimental pie

It was a chilly spring day, to break up all the super sunny almost summery days that have been rolling past recently, cold enough to warrant some cozy socks of a striped variety.

And since I had an unexpected weekday off (in exchange for working a Saturday) I decided to use it to be all homey and get some stuff done. Like a major errand run and some serious refrigerator restocking (the cupboards were very bare there, to the point where roommate and I were forced-er-needed to get indian take-out) and then an inspired bout of cooking and baking to fill the house with comfort food. First a large pot of soup, with coconut milk and romenesco and chicken among other things.

Then some super flakey and cheese-filled biscuits. I experimented this time with forming them into rounds and then scoring the tops, to better be able to split them into sections and distribute a bit of butter.

This combo resulted in a very cozy and delectable dinner, perfect for a chillier spring day. The rain fell on and off throughout the day, making it all seem even more appropriate of a meal to be cooking. Very tasty. I particularly like having something to dunk in my soup.

Finally there was a bit of pie-action. Spotted some early peaches at the market and just couldn't resist their smell. So I combined them with some pink lady apples (love the color) and made a quick pie. The crust was turning out particularly flaky and uncooperative so I decided to make up a 'leaf' style crust for the top. Seemed to work out ok. And taste good, which is after all, the main goal of any pie.

So now, with errands and some projects finished, and a productive day-off drawing to a close, I am gonna sit and enjoy my pie and a cup of tea, and perhaps a bit more rain. Love that sound.

it's spring! plus some muffins

Don't know if this is just the sunshine playing tricks on me but it sure is beautiful! And very much moved into springtime here (with maybe a hint of summery-ness I mean, I am putting sunscreen on again) and that means tons of green. And one of my favorite snacks. Peas!!!

Also a bit of use-a-whole-bunch-of-stuff-in-the-fridge and something-to-motivate-me-to-get-up-and-go-to-work-on-a-saturday baking.

Muffins specifically, though not created with and sort of plan, just adding as I go. Had lemons and sliced almonds so theres that, and very tangy they are. Hopefully I can foist them off on unsuspecting co-workers tomorrow morning.

And past that, no real plans. Maybe I'll paint a bookshelf or form a rock and roll band, or just lay on the grass in the sun and read. Not sure yet. Happy Weekend!

mid-week: three good things again

some potato pancakes,


also some trays that I found at a rummage sale.

which I spraypainted (note the awesome styraphone overspray walls)

which have become the top of my coffee table.

And lastly some awesome cinco de mayo stir fry!

in an octopus's garden with you

I am still not sure what prompted this particular baking adventure. I may have seen a cake shaped like a sea creature somewhere, at some previous time but I think I just really wanted to make a shaped cake, in some sort of need to challenge myself, and of course make something totally awesome looking. I figured if I was going to make an octopus cake I should have a plan. So I drew an octopus and then thought about how to go about this baking adventure. I figured I would cook a few basic cakes,

of course sheet cakes would have been sort of more practical, but I only have round pans. And then I started cutting the cakes, and building the head and body,

and finally the many tentacles, arranging them like puzzle pieces and when I had finally reached a configuration which appealed to me, I adhered them together with a basic butter cream frosting.

When it was all laid out (miss matched cause I ended up making two different kinds of cake, cause I couldn't decide) it looked a bit patchwork and iffy, and I wasn't sure what was gonna come of this mad experiment, but I figured I might as well keep going.

So I started adding color to the alarming amount of frosting I had mixed. The cake recipient picked orange and so I started adding red and yellow until I reached the brightest melon color and was very excited, I also added some almond extract, cause it makes basic butter cream just a little bit more exciting.

And then I painstakingly frosted the behemoth beast of a cake. All the curves and edges and tentacles proved quite a challenge, and at one point I was reduced to using the smallest possible knife edge to distribute frosting into the curves of some of the tentacles.

At this point I had to take a break and walk away for a bit. I felt like I was preforming surgery, it was exhausting, but having put this much into it, I was of course required to continue. Keep strong and carry on with visions of a glorious finished product. So I mixed another batch of frosting, this time in the palest blue shade.

And sorted out my decorating paraphernalia, including cherrio cereals for the tentacles and sprinkles for texture on the face. Which I sorted. By color. I swear I'm not crazy.

And finally, after piping accent frosting around the beast, to distinguish the various tentacles and add some more depth as it were, I was ready to unveil my creation.
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And despite this being a mostly-for-show creation, it did taste good too.
Happy Birthday!