baking

thirty-four

July 3, 2018 Marie Leave a Comment

Well, here we are. 34 years old. This getting older thing gets easier, I tell you. I’m sure that might somehow go away, but I much prefer my 30s to my 20s (though admittedly that first few years in my 30s were hard mostly because I was still adjusting to motherhood and everything about it that consumes my life). Last year I was more embracing of my age, and this year it feels that way even more so.

The day was pretty low-key. Breakfast at Bob Evans. BMV trip to get my car tags renewed. Trying to hide in the craft room a bit to knit and watch Outlander after not getting to knit for a few weeks. Then off to my college class for a few hours before coming home and enjoying some bourbon and fresh-picked raspberries from my little urban homestead on the porch.

Most years I make my own birthday cake as a tradition. This year, the Little Mr wanted to bake me a cake. We’ve been watching a lot of cooking shows, and he had this whole vision of what, exactly, he wanted to make for me. So we had chocolate cherry coconut cake for my birthday, which was quite delicious! (and even if it wasn’t, I’d still eat it because he was so proud of himself!).

Imperfect but still delicious

April 1, 2017 Marie Leave a Comment

Lemon Souffle Cheesecake. I’ve never used a springform pan before, so there was a bit of a learning curve on how to line it with parchment paper. The cake didn’t come out as brown on top as the recipe showed, so I’m a tad worried it’s not done enough. But the middle wasn’t jiggly anymore and I feared that if I baked it too long the thing would burn. The edges pulled some of the parchment off as I tried to peel it off – I’m thinking maybe I should have buttered the parchment after I stuck it to the pan?

Regardless of how ugly it actually looks (to me), the bits I have tasted are dreamy, and will go lovely with the blueberry cardamom sauce I have in the fridge waiting to be drizzled over top of a slice. I might try to make this again later this week and do the parchment differently, line my pan better (it’s kind of stuck to the bottom of the springform base even though I have parchment on the bottom of THAT).

Now, off to relax a bit before the knitting group comes over for some much-needed time with my friends.

Happy (early) birthday to me!

June 30, 2016 Marie Leave a Comment

pie-plate pie-plate-detail

Today has not been a very good day, thanks to some nasty stomach pain that I’m pretty sure might be a gallbladder issue and a low grade fever (luckily my new insurance from the job change kicks in tomorrow, so if it persists then it’s off to the doctor.) I actually left work at 12:30, because I had some time to use up from working on Sunday, and had all these plans to go home and get things done. Bake a bit, knit a bit, etc. But then I changed out of my uniform, laid in bed, and before I knew it the clock said 3:30 and it was time to find some motivation to get up and pick up the toddler. Not that I should be complaining about a nap, but I wish it had been on better terms.

Anyway, the mail was delivered and, with it, this lovely “mini” pie plate from Leslie Freeman. A month or so ago I had picked up a Baking for Two magazine, and in it was a recipe for a 6″ pie. I don’t even own a pie plate, let alone a 6″ one, but I love the idea of desserts that are better portioned so I don’t feel a. obligated to eat the whole thing before it goes bad and b. like I’m wasting food by throwing what’s left away. I wasn’t really a fan of the ones I could find on Amazon, and I like handmade, anyway, so I took to Etsy and discovered Leslie’s shop. And that’s when I fell in love with the white crackle. Well, actually, I fell in love with all the pie plates… but this whole downsizing/minimizing my things/paring back thing has been weighing on me and I realized it was better to go with white than a color I may at some point fall out of love with. White is classic. And that crackle? Gorgeous. It matches so well to my marble slab and rolling pin, too (not that it really matters).

So maybe, instead of a birthday cake, I’ll be making a birthday pie. Preferably raspberry, though those I posted yesterday? The ones I had just picked from our bushes? My kid found them in the fridge this morning and ate them all up before we headed out the door. I’m not sure I’ll have enough this weekend to justify even a small pie… but I might try. Or mix it with some peaches or something.

One.

August 8, 2015 Marie 3 Comments

A year ago today this kid made his grand appearance. This last year has been rough with many highs and lows, but we survived. We’ve all survived. But I’m especially proud of myself and that survival thing.

This kid is officially one and we celebrated with Peter Rabbit and carrot cake. I’ve promised the husband that I won’t go so overboard on the future. I really couldn’t help it, though – Peter Rabbit is just about my favorite kids book ever and Declan really loves the bunnies in the books we have and the one I knit him. And, truthfully, I didn’t really go THAT overboard – I had probably 100 different ideas for food and whatnot and ended up keeping all of that simple. So, really, he should thank me for not doing all the things I wanted to do.

Peter Rabbit will be making an appearance from now on every Easter, especially since we don’t celebrate the religious aspect of the holiday, so I can’t wait to dig all these decorations back out next Spring (see, it can’t count as going overboard if you’re going to actually re-use the decorations every year for a holiday, right?). The bunny cake was… eh. I don’t understand how to bake with these fancy pans – the instructions say to make the sides of the cake higher than the middle… but, hello, gravity called: they’re breaking up with your silly directions. I don’t know, maybe I’m doing something wrong? The one half of the bunny had broken ears, and there was no way I was going to be able to shave the sides down to piece this thing together to make the 3D cake I imagined. But, you know? I don’t even care – it looks damn adorable sitting on a bed of kale on my cake plate regardless.

Meatballs & Muffins

July 12, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

I found some inspiration to cook a bit more this weekend, fueled by both watching MasterChef and seeing how much we’ve been spending on eating out lately. Our weekday routine is pretty hectic with me trying to work out so there’s been a lot of fast food runs and I’m not proud or happy about it. Since we didn’t have anything on the schedule for the weekend I decided to make these Thai pork & veggie meatballs. I made them a while ago and loved them, but never really made them again afterward. It’s not like they’re hard – just sometimes the idea of cooking a meal seems more daunting than it really is. Since the recipe makes more than enough for us, I divided the meat mixture in half and froze one part for later. That way – hopefully – I won’t be hitting the fast food line the next time we’re in a pinch.

This morning I tried getting back into my Breakfast Sunday routine. Homemade raspberry muffins with garden-fresh berries I picked the other day. Every year I think I should just rip those canes out – they’re probably going to destroy the foundation of the house – but then every year I get these delicious berries and forget about that idea. The muffin recipe itself is lacking – it came from a Better Homes & Gardens cookbook in the cabinet that I never use because every time I do I realize why I ignore it. So my new goal is to find a muffin recipe I love that is good enough to go in the family recipes cookbook with the other tried-and-true favorites.

Rain is coming our way again. So no outdoor spinning. I did manage to finish one bobbin last night, which was one half of the 4oz braid. I’m trying to spin it thicker than normal on my lace flyer so it’ll add twist faster. I’m a bit nervous about what the finished product is going to end up being, but it sure looks pretty at the moment on the bobbin. The fact that this has spun up fairly quickly since I’m not trying to go for thin specifically has me thinking about ordering a few braids of fiber on Etsy and making a throw blanket for the guest bedroom/craft room that I’m working on. I just have to figure out what colors I want – everything in my house is some sort of blue or green since it’s so calming, and I’m not sure if I should stick with that or if I should try to incorporate some other color into it. Maybe I’ll kill some time on Etsy and see what jumps out at me.