"I lie spread out on the floor looking at these things and most of them are yours"

I'm not exactly a grinch, but I'm not a huge fan of Christmas either. Usually, I avoid the holiday until it comes time to sitting around with friends and family playing board games and eating copious amounts of food. Thanksgiving hasn't even reared it's head and already I'm finding myself wandering into the Christmas isle.
This is I may just get into the spirit. I make no promises of santa hats.... but definitely garland, decorations, baked goods and a tiny tree.





My favorite part of fall are pumpkins. I love everything about them. Their big ol' rippled bellies, cute little stumps, nummy seeds and meat. So I made pumpkin bread. I'm lazy so I used canned pumpkin. The bread was aboslutely delicious. It was very very moist and the recipe made two loaves. Woot! It's not too sweet, despite it's 3 cups of sugar. I also didn't have any ground cloves on hand so I left them out. If you like pumpkin bread, you have to try this recipe. It's so damn good. Mmhmm.




Pumpkin Bread

1 15 oz can of pure pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 large eggs
3 ½ cup all-purpose flour
3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/8 ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8”x5” loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, oil, water and eggs. Mix with electric mixer on low until smooth and incorporated.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Gradually add to pumpkin mixture. Mix well.

Pour between the two pan equally. Bake for 55- 1 hour 5 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let pans cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and let cool completely on wire rack before wrapping up.



I have a few things on the to do list and a full schedule at work, so let's see what gets done. Till then!

....that's why, the lady is...a tramp.

For this year's Dragon Con I made chipotle cheddar biscuits, banana espresso chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins and apple muffins. I cheated with the blueberry and apple muffins. I used...boxed. Gasp! Pictured to our left, are the chipotle biscuits. They are soo yummy and spicy. The recipe will be at the end of this post. I sprinkled some alpine smoked salt on top before baking them.



Here, we have the banana espresso chocolate chip muffins. Dense like a muffin, but sweet like a cupcake. If you can't find the instant espresso, take a look in the "ethnic food section" A few brands from Mexico have the strange little grains you're looking for.



Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins (from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 medium)
1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cups whole milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant espresso
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (6 ounces) semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup pan muffin with non-stick cooking spray. In a medium bowl stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg. Set aside.
In another medium bowl whisk together the flour, espresso, baking soda, and salt together. Make a well in the center of the flour bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate.
Divide the batter among the muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 15 minutes before removing. Then finishing cooling on a wire rack. Muffins can be kept in an airtight container for 2 days.


Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits (from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking)

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp chipotle powder
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled
2 cups grated and tightly packed sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/4 cups butter milk
1 large egg
kosher salt or smoked salt for topping

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, pepper, chipotle, sugra, baking powder, cream of tartar and the 1 tsp of salt.

Add the butter and, using your hands or the back of a wooden spoon, work the butter into the dough. The mixture should look like coarse sand. Add the cheese and stir to thoroughly incorporate it into the dough.

In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Don't overmix.

Use a small ice cream scoop or a smaller measuring cup to scoop the dough and drop it into mounds onto the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with the salt and bake in the center of the oven for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking time, until golden brown and toothpick inserted in the center of a biscuit comes out clean.

Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack. The biscuits can be served slightly warm or at room temperature. Store in an airtight containter for up to 2 days.

Till the next time!!

Mini Top Hats

So, my friend requested this "tutorial", so I decided to post it here for everyone to see. Whoever everyone is. This is for mini top hats. They're a little larger than the ones you see on lolita outfits.
You'll need some sort of awesome fabric, I used velvet, paper to do your pattern on, stiff double sided interfacing, some bias tape or ribbon, hot glue gun, or a strong hand and thread.


1.The center of my brim measured 4" in diameter. Brim measured 2 1/2". The diameter of the entire brim on mine was 8 1/2". The top of my hat measures 5". Now for the "stove" of the hat, I cut out four trapezoids and taped them together. Mine were 4 1/2" high 4" wide at the top and 3" wide at the bottom.

2. I placed everything out on the interfacing so I knew how much I would need. Then I ironed my fabric on to both sides of the interfacing.

3. I pinned my makeshift pattern on the newly iron fabric interfacing and cut out all the pieces.

4. Now here comes the parts where you may be able to improvise. Well all of it you can. If you find easier ways, please let me know. I used bias tape of a contrasting color to line all of the edges to make them neater. My basic style sewing machine didnt seem to have any problems taking the thickness.

5. I stitched together the ends of the "stove". I used cutesy little x's. Next, I glued the larger circle to the wider part of the stove and attach the smaller part of the stove to the brim opening.


For the most part, you're done. My room mate and I glued just about everything we could find to the darn things. Leaves, flowers, springs, bells and tulle. Heh heh.

Next up. My first time with donuts! Paula Deen has this awesome sweet potato donuts recipe. They were very very yummy the first night. Link to awesome.

Naked close up



Okay, I know what it
looks like, but it was
very yummy. Promise.




What else? Erm. Well. Till things get awesome....

So. What else do I blog about? My baking has come to a sputtering halt, life has made sure of that. I could review albums but I lack the street cred. (I found myself "rocking" out to a Miley Cyrus song. I know. Special hell. Shunned by indie snobs) hmm. Vinyl toys? Nerdy updates? Well dammit. I'll keep thinking.....

"You know that black river water is as black as sin.."

Bleargh. Nothing new!! Sewing, sewing, sewing. Worrying about Dragon Con. Cleaning the house and doing laundry. Turns out I have ten pillows and one trout shaped body pillow on my bed though....ha ha I hadn't noticed there were that many. Pillow fort time. Pizzazz is done, so soon I'll have my "progress" pictures up of this year's costumes. We will see....
...till then.

Put your suitcase down and leave your shoes, gently by the door, in a puddle with your blues

It sure has been a while. Ill be honest... My suicide girls blog has been receiving most of my loving. Hmmm... Lately, everything has been pretty hectic, so there hasn't been much creative cooking or baking. I only have a about a month before Dragon*Con, so I've been working on costumes. I think this year will be a pretty easy one. Last year, I made a dress out of Monopoly money, a Professor Umbridge, a wench and a Mrs. Lovetts costume. This year, I'm going to be Pizzazz, the lead singer from the Misfits from Jem and the Holograms, Umbridge, and I believe a burlesque character and a wench or gypsy. It's just time for me to put the final outfits together and see what I'm digging. I did make two mini top hats. One for my room mate and one for me.


There wasn't any real strategy to constructing them.
Mostly trial and error and the good ol 2rPi. Ha ha.
I used very stiff, double-sided interfacing and some left over velvet. Of course, if anyone cares to give it a try, let me know, and Ill post a detailed tutorial on how I did it.


Hmm... What other news do I have?
Derby season is soon to come to an end, but we're trying to schedule
some scrimmages between now and February.
We've been doing amazing.
Our team has been working so hard towards communicating and working together. It's paying off. A little picture of a ref and I talking inbetween periods. That's Wille B. Faire. I'm usually inside line, so not many diginfied in action pictures have been taken.

For my birthday, my friends pooled together and gave me a bun ton
of Webber Street Studio tattoos gift certificates.
I just recently used
them. Ha ha. I don't have a wonderful picture yet,
but here's a preview. The picture doesn't do it justice.
The colors are bright and beautiful. It was inspired by a
Susan Crawford piece. She does some very cool mixed
media pieces.

Alright, I'll just dump a few random bits in here... New Superchunk album is ahhhhmmmaaaazzziiinnngggg. Jon Favreau still makes my heart twitterpated. I love roller derby, I hate my job and our house is finally looking like a semi-normal house again. Now I have a blooger app on my iphone, let's see if that helps me update just a bit more.

No one's making us do what we're supposed to so lie here in my arms.

So, between derby and work, the only free time that Ive had has been devoted to sleeping and showering. But I'll update some things that I have tried lately. The blanco pan on the left is my failed attempt at marshmallows. Turns out it's a thousand and three times easier if you have a stand up mixer. Well, more necessary. They never quite set, but man were they yummy. They were also very fun to play with and difficult to cut or manage. The obvious brownies on the right are ammmaaaazzzing. They're from the Baked cookbook. Sadly, I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, but even I find myself craving one ocassionally. Moist and fudgy brownies. Nom Nom.
For dinner recently, I made Chicken with Mustard Pan Sauce from the How To Boil Water cookbook. It's a great beginners cookbook. I'm usually terrified when baking chicken in breast form. I usually...chicken out and slice or cube everything. I'm getting better about it though! It was tangy and very tasty.





And to top off my dump pictures in a plcae post... Megan and I made home made tortilla chips. It was so much fun! Plus salsa tastes so very nummy on dinosaur and unicorn tortilla chips.

Right now, there are candied citrus peels drying in my oven. Grapefruit, lemon and oranges. I'm pretty excited to roll the little suckers in sugar. 14eleven studio is having a(nother) Grand opening. So Thursday and Friday day, I'm going to go into full time baking mode and finish up sewing projects so they can have a whole lot of things to sell and give away. Also, Harvest of Hope music festival is this weekend, so at some point I have to pack for the weekend. Josh and I are going to see Lucero in Ybor Friday night after the gallery opening. We're going to come home, sleep for a couple of hours and wake up super early to leave for the festival in St. Augustine( about a five hours drive) stay the night Saturday and leave Sunday about midnight. Poor Josh has to be at work Monday morning at six. Looking at who's playing, it should all be worth it. Lucero, Against Me!, Gaslight Anthem, Harlem Shakes to name a few. Alright enough for this update! Till next time.

"Dammit Elvis, don't he know he ain't no Johnny Cash"

So, I haven't updated in a while. It figures, since in the last post I declared I was going to get better at it. I fibbed. It's been pretty busy in our neck of the woods. Food service is actually experiencing it's season right now, so I've been busy. Megan and I had Sean visiting from Boston this past week, so we pretty much dragged him everywhere Florida would allow us in a week. Depending on my energy level later tonight I'll blog about the oreo balls and peanut butter cookies that are currently in the making. I also started full on with Roller Derby so that's taking up at least two to three days a week. All the girls I've met so far have been really nice and helpful. But I have timers ringing and laundry that isn't doing itself sadly. So till the next post....

In what space sir?! In what space!

That being said, I was trying to keep this blog strictly baking and crafting related but I've decided to break my own rules. So for anyone actually reading this...well, keep reading. Perry fella recently moved into his own place, so I made him meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting and crushed frito sprinkles... He loved them. I just used a very basic meatloaf recipe and they cooked for about 40 minutes...

Friday night, a group of us went to Pasttimes Pub to see The Downshifters (pictured), Hillbilly Hellcats, and Johnny Fire. We had an amazing night full of friends, dancing, and large amounts of alcohol. I also got to take the occasional gander at the taken stand up bass player of The Downshifters, again, pictured.




Here are Perry and Dean looking gorgeous of course. And here's a name drop... They recently opened their own gallery in the Village of The Arts community in Bradenton, Fl. The name of the gallery is Studio 14eleven.
You should definitely go see what they're all about... If you're in the area, the first weekend of every month there is an artist walk. A whole neighborhood of amazing galleries.


From left to right, we have
Jill, Perry fella and myself.
Jill knows how to have fun
like nobody's busniess. She's
fantastic. And I have already
made clear that Perry fella
is the Man.



I was trying to explain
to Perry that this was
my dance space, and
he seemed care very
little.






This is Josh, one of the prettiest men I know and my best friend. He's a photographer, an indie music snob and quite possibly drunk in this picture...


And this, THIS is my favorite picture of the evening. The two prettiest men I know (Josh and Perry). Perry was trying to drink a beer out of Josh's chest.





Alright, being none of that was crafty or bake worthy here are two aprons I whipped up the other day. I'm trying to get a good amount of aprons done for Girl Perry's gallery walk for December. I was trying to get some embroidery done, but it's just too time consuming considering my schedule right now. I pinned the aprons on the wall because I didn't have any one around to be my model at the time and sadly I am without a dressform.



Here is a simple green wallpaper print ruffled apron. It looks lovely on the wall, doesn't it?


Oh how I love this apron. It's a two layered apron with two pockets.

The majority of anything I craft is soft. It's the thing I look for first when I'm buying fabric, I usually shop with my hands alone. I love finding hideous patterns and unusual colors. I'm still not entirely comfortable with ordering fabric online, but I will be trying it soon. Alright, I've got the rest of my week ahead of me and small hopes of whipping up some yummy cookies before the weekend. I'll be sure to post relatively sooner.... Goodnight!!

Avoiding sleep...

I have been rearranging the house, cleaning, and working all week, so no sewing, baking, or cooking lately. I did make a new craft table quick like, so I'll post pictures of that later. But while winding down I did this survey. Sadly, it was a lot of fun.



Instructions
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Venison- Quite a bit actually. I grew up slightly country and I wasn't afraid to try everything.
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros- I actually prefer mine divorced...
4. Steak tartare- Never again though.
5. Crocodile- Again, slightly country
6. Black pudding- ha ha I'm assuming not the D&D monster...
7. Cheese fondue - ooooooh yes.
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush- I'm not a fan of eggplant
11. Calamari - Yummy
12. Pho- Mmmm rare beef soup
13. PB&J sandwich - Well of course.
14. Aloo gobi - I am lead to believe I'm allergic to curry
15. Hot dog from a street cart - The best kind
16. Epoisses- I would love to, but it's a smelly cheese I can't afford.
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes- Honey Mead included? Either way, yes.
19. Steamed pork buns- Nooo.
20. Pistachio ice cream - Not my favorite, but it doesn't suck
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries - Yes! My friend Kevin's parents made an awesome birthday breakfast for me including black berries!
23. Foie gras- Mmmm so barbaric but so tasty.
24. Rice and beans - On maaannnyy ocassions
25. Brawn, or head cheese - With german family close, yes, and blech
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper- Oh good god no.
27. Dulce de leche - Good with fried bread pudding
28. Oysters - Oh, how I love you.
29. Baklava - I've tried it time and time again, and never really liked it, it's a shame, I love honey!
30. Bagna cauda- No, but I would love to try it
31. Wasabi peas - My mother loves them. I do not.
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl- I don't care what I'm eating it out of, yes.
33. Salted Lassi- No part of that sounds good to me...
34. Sauerkraut - Yes! Always. Yes.
35. Root beer float - Great in cupcake form as well!
36. Cognac with a fat cigar- I don't smoke
37. Clotted cream tea - And in England, on the Parliment Porch
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O - Properly made? No. But definately my fair share.
39. Gumbo- Several times
40. Oxtail- In a soup, it was disgusting
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects- Worms, ants, and grasshoppers.
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk - Many times
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more- The pricest that has touched my lips was Glen Ord...12 year? I'm not sure.
46. Fugu - I'd joke about killing for sushi, I however, would never die for it.
47. Chicken tikka masala - I'm just not huge fan of indian food
48. Eel - Mmmmmmm
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - Yes. But never had the honor of eating one fresh
50. Sea urchin- In soup form.
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer- Kind of scary cheese...
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal - I even worked at Mc Donlads and I havent ever had a Big Mac.
56. Spaetzle- Mmm with beans and bratwurst.
57. Dirty gin martini- I'm not a huge fan of gin.
58. Beer above 8% ABV- The majority that I drink...
59. Poutine- Ha ha ha, in Sarnia.
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores - Who doesn't love burning marshmallows?
62. Sweetbreads- Once, and it was baaad, but I would gladly try it again.
63. Kaolin.....I googled this, it's clay. I've eaten playdoh....
64. Currywurst
65. Durian- I would love to give it a whirl
66. Frog legs- Yeah and they don't taste like chicken.
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake - Yes, oh very yes, yes, and yes.
68. Haggis- I would try it.
69. Fried plantain- I loooove fried plantains.
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini- Not my thing
73. Louche absinthe- I'm not sure that's what it's called.
74. Gjetost, or brunost- Not yet, but woo goat cheese!
75. Roadkill - Never that I was aware of.
76. Baijiu- I havent, but Anthony Bourdain seems to be a fan
77. Hostess Fruit Pie - Unfortunately
78. Snail- Chewy.
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict- Only if it's homemade, the idea of hollandaise sitting in a bowl for hours at a restaurant gives me the willies.
83. Pocky - Not my first choice, but some days at Dragon Con, that's your only glimpse of food.
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef - Heaven in my mouth. There is this restaurant that serves barely seared Kobe.
86. Hare
87. Goulash - Of course, poor man's dish
88. Flowers - My grandma used to make rose petal ice cream
89. Horse- Even I draw the line somewhere
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam - I would like this to be banned to Hawaii. And never allowed to return.
92. Soft shell crab- So yummy.
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish - With lemon and hot sauce
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox - Makes for a happy tummy
97. Lobster Thermidor- If I could ever afford it, I would be all over that.
98. Polenta- Not bad, but why do ritzy restaurants pick up peasant food and say "hey, I can make this pretentious somehow can't i?"
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake- As both jerky and fired.

And on that note, goodnight.....ya'll. hee.

I haven't had any reason to bake....

So, I haven't really made anything. It's only the two of us,(Megan and I) so things go to waste if there's more than like three. So I made french toast cupcakes uploaded by Bake and Destroy. They were so yummy and I actually didn't bother making the frosting this time around. But with the maple cream cheese frosting, they're very sweet and more of a once in a while treat. Eh maybe I'll meet some cute eager boys this upcoming week that will want oodles of baked goods.
I've been looking into becoming a derby girl. I think I might be a little late for sign up for this season, but I am hoping to help through out the season. I have also been moving the house around and it has been kicking my ass. But hopefully I'll be cranking out pictures of the newly cleaned house, baked goods, possible roller derby, and maybe even a few crafts. I have been working on knitting some legwarmers but I have to keep playing with sizes. And later on this week, I'll start on some of the new embroidery projects.

The Big Bang Theory...

Is a hilarious show. My room mate and I watched the entire season in less than twelve hours. They're so...uncomfortable and adorable. I love geeky guys. Also, Barenaked Ladies sing the theme song. I assume They Might Be Giants were busy. So, during our "breaks" we were allowing ourselves, I tried a recipe for Donut Muffins that Cupcake Rehab posted. She's very thorough and talks about yummy and interesting things. She curses occasionally and it makes me giggle. Never will I get tired of seeing the eff word printed. Donut muffins! Focus. They were delicious and so very easy to make. I think next time I will make them in a mini muffin pan. Oh, how I love mini muffins. Alrighty, I am have plans for the beach in the morning, so I am heading to bed. Ni-ni!

I just said Bakin' blog outloud...

And it made me giggle. Then immediately googled bacon blogs, and completely amazed at how many people lurve their bacon. Ha.
Well, I am going to try this bake blog out. I'll bake, take pictures, and post them. Soooo...I finally tried out the infamous Magnolia's Red Velvet recipe. I looooved the cake itself, but I havent found a cream cheese or a butter cream I am in love with. And I am completely ashamed that I prefer the store bought stuff the majority of the time. But here we go....



I bake in an incredibly small area. But I have a large kitchen, weird. haha I'll show you pictures later I'm sure. Mine turned out to be light red velvet cupcakes because i underestimated how much food coloring I would need. But they puffed up like little fantastic pieces of heaven.








Even my nesting cutie cups felt the wrath of the slightly red cupcakes.






I don't know how you enjoy your red velvet but I enjoy mine with woodchuck. The first cupcake was enjoyed with milk. Perry did his version of helping me (standing very close until things look like batter or actually cupcake form)




This is Perry enjoying his post cupcake milk. Despite his face, he is actually enjoying it.



Alrighty, I am going to bed, there should be baking a little later in the week...

So close, so close

In my recent searches for a job, I came across a part time mystery position for Wired Whisk Bakery which was posted only hours before I came across it. I replied immediately and tried not to sound like a screaming, squealing little girl (which I so was). I received a reply back today that was a mass " We got so many replies, if we find you worthy we'll find you" So I'm just going to pretend I never applied, unless they call me and say " hey we love you, we need you, come become all amazing and such." So, to retaliate, in the morning, I am going to aim in making some frenchtoast cupcakes to give a big boo yah to my day. Since this is the first post in my blog, and I haven't told anyone that this thing exists, I can babble with no pictures. So nyah.