Friday, September 29, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
No, you do not need to take my temperature.
So, since all my husband hears (and all most of you in the blogosphere hear) is *whine* *whine* *whine*, especially when it comes to the moving issue, I thought I would be positive for once and post reasons that I would like to go back to northern alabama.
1. I would kill to be able to waste my money on the panoply choreography competition again.
2. I would love to be back at my old dance schools and with my old pilates teacher.
3. The bead biz is the best and cheapest suplier of beads I've ever found anywhere.
4. Gelato
5. Bruster's
6. I actually have friends I've kept up with since I moved that I didn't meet through my husband. Let me clarify--I love all my husband's friends, but I've always been soemone who meets friends via someone else and is too shy to be forward enough to pave my own way with friendships. I also am historically horrible with keeping up with friendships for more than a couple months if at all.
7. GOOD FUCKING MEXICAN FOOD.
8. GOOD FUCKING CHINESE FOOD.
9. GOOD FUCKING BARBECUE. LOTS OF IT.
10. Roly Poly -- very yummy and very good for the diet.
11. Good Concerts--both local and big name
12. Don't need as many sweaters, flannel lined jeans, coats, etc.
13. People to play games with.
14. Holidays near family--even better if I get to cook for some of them.
15. Thai garden
16. Can go incognito to hide from people I don't like if I want--most people won't recognize me since I've lost almost 50 pounds.
17. Weight watcher's meetings, dance classes, pilates, craft classes, etc at almost any time I could want them.
1. I would kill to be able to waste my money on the panoply choreography competition again.
2. I would love to be back at my old dance schools and with my old pilates teacher.
3. The bead biz is the best and cheapest suplier of beads I've ever found anywhere.
4. Gelato
5. Bruster's
6. I actually have friends I've kept up with since I moved that I didn't meet through my husband. Let me clarify--I love all my husband's friends, but I've always been soemone who meets friends via someone else and is too shy to be forward enough to pave my own way with friendships. I also am historically horrible with keeping up with friendships for more than a couple months if at all.
7. GOOD FUCKING MEXICAN FOOD.
8. GOOD FUCKING CHINESE FOOD.
9. GOOD FUCKING BARBECUE. LOTS OF IT.
10. Roly Poly -- very yummy and very good for the diet.
11. Good Concerts--both local and big name
12. Don't need as many sweaters, flannel lined jeans, coats, etc.
13. People to play games with.
14. Holidays near family--even better if I get to cook for some of them.
15. Thai garden
16. Can go incognito to hide from people I don't like if I want--most people won't recognize me since I've lost almost 50 pounds.
17. Weight watcher's meetings, dance classes, pilates, craft classes, etc at almost any time I could want them.
Friday, September 8, 2006
I am a baking powder junkie
A few weeks ago, I was pondering the fact that cake and a diet often don't get along, And the fact that I had, at that moment, an insatiable craving for cake. So, after trips to two different stores, I found weight watcher's snack cakes, which are fairly tasty, very small and ridiculously priced. So I said to myself, "I wonder if one could make higher fiber, lowfat cake themselves for less than $3.75 for 6 tiny ass cakes?", and I set out to answer that question.
I read ingredient information and cake recipes until I got bored and then went into the kitchen and cake out with something that had the texture, structure and appearance of chocolate cake. The flavor... well, it was... odd. It was by no means horrible, and was very edible, but was not the type of thing your average person would pick out as thier favorite cake. But the cake had potential.
It was that night that I realized that I could bake without a recipe. I had walked into the kitchen with an idea and a bunch of ingredients and had come out with something that was 3/4's of the way to what I wanted it to be without a recipe to guide me. From then on, I was obsessed. Every chance I got to ignore my husband and my dog to bake something instead, I took it, and still do. My eyes sparkle when I go to the store to discover that they have whole wheat cake flour or lecithin granules in the bulk bins. I spent half of vacation wishing I could cook something and the other half coming up with ideas of things I could cook when I got home. My freezer is presently filled with ziplock bags full of recent projects and I just filled another ziplock bag tonight.
I am being a little ridiculous with the whole thing, but I am determined, and I'm actually kind of good at what I'm doing. Sometimes I wonder if this new obsession combined with the eventual move back south will somehow magically launch a catering business for me or something. Somehow I doubt that I will ever be good enough to be a caterer without formal training epsecially while still being a social worker. You can't easily have a day job and develop a talent so much that you could solely live off of it. In addition, if I tried to pursue everything I was good at and could potentially develop into pocket change, I would still never get half the things I wanted to done, even if I had no job.
I am actually kind of odd in that I am reasonably good at a lot of creative things whereas most people are fabulously good at one or two things. If I tried to develop all these talents at once, I would never sleep and I would still never get any one of them very far developed. So, I'll never be on foodtv, never win a contest for wedding cakes and never own my own catering business, but this realization will not stop me from filling up one more ziplock bag and one more and one more until there's no more room in the freezer fridge or cabinets. Right now, I really love baking. Almost as much as I love my cute husband.
Since I love baking, I should share one of the recipes I've been working on with you guys. Most people seem to think the cupcakes are awsome as is, but I noted some modifications I'd like to try the next time I make spice cupcakes (it was chocolate tonight).
Vo0’s Diet Spice Caramel Cupcakes (a work in progress)
1 C Wheat Pastry/Cake Flour (available at health food stores and places where they have nifty bulk bins)
½ TSP Baking Soda
½ TSP Baking Powder
¾ TSP Salt
¾ TSP allspice
¾ TSP Nutmeg
1 TSP Cinnamon
6 TBL Super-fine/Caster's Granulated Sugar
2 Egg Whites
3 TBL Honey
1 ½ TSP Vanilla or Vanilla Extract
½ C Fat Free Sour Cream
2 TBL Melted Butter
½ C Apple Juice
½ C Rolled Oats or other Rolled hot cereal flakes (I used 7 grain flakes)
1 TBL flax seeds (optional)
¼ C Chopped Walnuts (optional)
4 TBL Smucker’s Sugar Free Caramel Ice Cream Topping (smucker’s with the sugar in is the wrong consistency, but other brands with sugar in may be substituted if they are thick and not at all runny)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray mini or regular sized non-stick muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or place muffin cups in tin.
Sift Together first 7 ingredients in a medium to large sized bowl or carefully whisk them together if a sifter is not available.
Beat egg whites with a wire whisk or fork in a seperate large glass bowl until very foamy. Add sugar slowly while continuing to beat eggs. Add next 4 ingredients in the same way.
Add flour mixture and remaining ingredients except caramel sauce. Stir just enough to moisten evenly.
Put a teaspoon of batter into the bottom of each mini muffin tin or 2 teaspoons if using regular muffin tins. Place ½ teaspoon of caramel sauce in the middle of each cupcake or use 1 teaspoon if you are making regular sized cupcakes. Use remaining batter to fill cupcake tins at least ¾ of the way full.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until fork inserted into cupcakes comes out with no batter on it (caramel sauce may stick to form regardless of doneness).
Mini cupcakes are right around 100 calories each(with or without flax and nuts). Big cupcakes are in the range of 150-180 calories each.
Possible modifications (things I might try changing since this recipe is a work in progress):
will definitely add more leavening (like maybe 3/4 tsp of baking powder and soda)--I accidentally added too much to a recipe I made tonight and I love the texture I ended up with.
Replacing 1 TBL of honey with 1 TBL brown sugar (additional apple juice might be necessary in this case)
Replacing ½ C of the wheat cake/pastry flour with ½ C of white cake/pastry flour
The problems I keep coming accross are that a. the texure is a little dense and chewy for my taste(although everyone else seems to think they're fine) and b. the wheat flavor is a little strong and the flavor of the cupcakes could be a little "smoother" overall.
Try them and tell me what you think. If you try the modifications, tell me how those worked.
I read ingredient information and cake recipes until I got bored and then went into the kitchen and cake out with something that had the texture, structure and appearance of chocolate cake. The flavor... well, it was... odd. It was by no means horrible, and was very edible, but was not the type of thing your average person would pick out as thier favorite cake. But the cake had potential.
It was that night that I realized that I could bake without a recipe. I had walked into the kitchen with an idea and a bunch of ingredients and had come out with something that was 3/4's of the way to what I wanted it to be without a recipe to guide me. From then on, I was obsessed. Every chance I got to ignore my husband and my dog to bake something instead, I took it, and still do. My eyes sparkle when I go to the store to discover that they have whole wheat cake flour or lecithin granules in the bulk bins. I spent half of vacation wishing I could cook something and the other half coming up with ideas of things I could cook when I got home. My freezer is presently filled with ziplock bags full of recent projects and I just filled another ziplock bag tonight.
I am being a little ridiculous with the whole thing, but I am determined, and I'm actually kind of good at what I'm doing. Sometimes I wonder if this new obsession combined with the eventual move back south will somehow magically launch a catering business for me or something. Somehow I doubt that I will ever be good enough to be a caterer without formal training epsecially while still being a social worker. You can't easily have a day job and develop a talent so much that you could solely live off of it. In addition, if I tried to pursue everything I was good at and could potentially develop into pocket change, I would still never get half the things I wanted to done, even if I had no job.
I am actually kind of odd in that I am reasonably good at a lot of creative things whereas most people are fabulously good at one or two things. If I tried to develop all these talents at once, I would never sleep and I would still never get any one of them very far developed. So, I'll never be on foodtv, never win a contest for wedding cakes and never own my own catering business, but this realization will not stop me from filling up one more ziplock bag and one more and one more until there's no more room in the freezer fridge or cabinets. Right now, I really love baking. Almost as much as I love my cute husband.
Since I love baking, I should share one of the recipes I've been working on with you guys. Most people seem to think the cupcakes are awsome as is, but I noted some modifications I'd like to try the next time I make spice cupcakes (it was chocolate tonight).
Vo0’s Diet Spice Caramel Cupcakes (a work in progress)
1 C Wheat Pastry/Cake Flour (available at health food stores and places where they have nifty bulk bins)
½ TSP Baking Soda
½ TSP Baking Powder
¾ TSP Salt
¾ TSP allspice
¾ TSP Nutmeg
1 TSP Cinnamon
6 TBL Super-fine/Caster's Granulated Sugar
2 Egg Whites
3 TBL Honey
1 ½ TSP Vanilla or Vanilla Extract
½ C Fat Free Sour Cream
2 TBL Melted Butter
½ C Apple Juice
½ C Rolled Oats or other Rolled hot cereal flakes (I used 7 grain flakes)
1 TBL flax seeds (optional)
¼ C Chopped Walnuts (optional)
4 TBL Smucker’s Sugar Free Caramel Ice Cream Topping (smucker’s with the sugar in is the wrong consistency, but other brands with sugar in may be substituted if they are thick and not at all runny)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray mini or regular sized non-stick muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray or place muffin cups in tin.
Sift Together first 7 ingredients in a medium to large sized bowl or carefully whisk them together if a sifter is not available.
Beat egg whites with a wire whisk or fork in a seperate large glass bowl until very foamy. Add sugar slowly while continuing to beat eggs. Add next 4 ingredients in the same way.
Add flour mixture and remaining ingredients except caramel sauce. Stir just enough to moisten evenly.
Put a teaspoon of batter into the bottom of each mini muffin tin or 2 teaspoons if using regular muffin tins. Place ½ teaspoon of caramel sauce in the middle of each cupcake or use 1 teaspoon if you are making regular sized cupcakes. Use remaining batter to fill cupcake tins at least ¾ of the way full.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until fork inserted into cupcakes comes out with no batter on it (caramel sauce may stick to form regardless of doneness).
Mini cupcakes are right around 100 calories each(with or without flax and nuts). Big cupcakes are in the range of 150-180 calories each.
Possible modifications (things I might try changing since this recipe is a work in progress):
will definitely add more leavening (like maybe 3/4 tsp of baking powder and soda)--I accidentally added too much to a recipe I made tonight and I love the texture I ended up with.
Replacing 1 TBL of honey with 1 TBL brown sugar (additional apple juice might be necessary in this case)
Replacing ½ C of the wheat cake/pastry flour with ½ C of white cake/pastry flour
The problems I keep coming accross are that a. the texure is a little dense and chewy for my taste(although everyone else seems to think they're fine) and b. the wheat flavor is a little strong and the flavor of the cupcakes could be a little "smoother" overall.
Try them and tell me what you think. If you try the modifications, tell me how those worked.
Thursday, September 7, 2006
hm...
I seem to get uncomfortable and unhappy if I don't feel productive. I seem to yell and bight people's heads off if I feel uncomfortable and unhappy. Yeah... you can pretty well guess how vacation went for my husband.
Saturday, September 2, 2006
vacation
yes, I'm blogging on vacation, and yes, I am that lame. The whole vacation keeps bringing up those nasty mixed feelings on moving. Everywhere I go and in everything I do, I'm reminded of Reasons why I don't like it here: from the smoke in restaurants to the humidity in the air to the rediculously low temperature of air conditioning in EVERY GODDAMN BUILDING, it all makes me whine and cringe. Yes, I realize that some of this feeling may be due to my attitude coming into the whole thing, but I'm really trying to keep an open mind and find reasons to want to be back here (because I'm going to be back here soon, damnit). The whole mixed feelings issue is bad enough that I'm sitting on the fringes not saying anything to our friends not because I'm shy and never say anything (because that's much less true than it was a year ago), but because I don't want to start an arugment or sound like a drag (being an overreactionary bitch is another thing, however). So the feelings are strong enough that I just can't even talk to friends in any sort of coherent manner. HOWEVER, yesterday after spending a whole day with friends feeling like somewhat of an outsider and saying almost nothing because I didn't want to drag the group down, I woke up this morning and the first thing i felt was sad because i realized that the friends I saw yesterday were in birmingham and I was in huntsville. That makes a pretty strong statement about the whole "being in another city halfway across the country" (whether it's sandpoint, reno, or timbuktu) issue. That's all I really have to say on that issue right now. I'm honestly not sure where that perspective leads, but the trip has definitely given me another perspective.
Other notes on vacation are that I went shopping at a thrift store, bought some beads, am reading a romance novel (i love a good mindless story now and again), and ate so much sugary food that I should be in a coma right now. I'm not in a coma, but I am asking why the hell I did that. Aside from blowing my diet to hell, I am struggling with trying to figure out whether I'm hungry or full or what because of what a large amount of sweets after eating reduced amount of sweets for months does to my blood sugar. Sugar is good, but a huge ice cream sundae and cake all in one day is something else. OTher than that, I have been hanging out with my parents a lot, eating out al ot, and biting everyone's fucking head off (that seems to be my MO these days).
On another note altogether, my co-workers are all snide, cynical and snarky (in a good way) and pick on each other constantly. The last few weeks they've been making comments that I'm starting to fit in because I am snarky right back and apprently they seem to think I'm a little bit witty. I've always been sharp and fiery but I've never been good at quick wit and i've never been good at figuring out what's appropriate as far as snarkiness at work, so I just haven't been saying anything. Anyways, One of my co-workers says her favorite recent example is when she said something about being as innocent as the day is long and I said "The days just got a hell of a lot shorter". I think something I said today tops that one by about a mile especially given that my husband looked a little bit genuinely shocked that I said it. Chris was playing around when we were driving home from lunch and started saying that we should follow a funeral procession so that we could go to the "party" after the burial. His mother corrected him saying that it was usually called a "wake" or an "after funeral gathering". Chris replied "well, when *I* die people are oging to have a party" and I said "You're damn straight we are" in my best 'snarky exasperated wife' voice and the look on his face was priceless. My co-workers would be proud, but they didn't hear it because I'M ON MOTHERFUCKING VACATION BEEOTCH!
Other notes on vacation are that I went shopping at a thrift store, bought some beads, am reading a romance novel (i love a good mindless story now and again), and ate so much sugary food that I should be in a coma right now. I'm not in a coma, but I am asking why the hell I did that. Aside from blowing my diet to hell, I am struggling with trying to figure out whether I'm hungry or full or what because of what a large amount of sweets after eating reduced amount of sweets for months does to my blood sugar. Sugar is good, but a huge ice cream sundae and cake all in one day is something else. OTher than that, I have been hanging out with my parents a lot, eating out al ot, and biting everyone's fucking head off (that seems to be my MO these days).
On another note altogether, my co-workers are all snide, cynical and snarky (in a good way) and pick on each other constantly. The last few weeks they've been making comments that I'm starting to fit in because I am snarky right back and apprently they seem to think I'm a little bit witty. I've always been sharp and fiery but I've never been good at quick wit and i've never been good at figuring out what's appropriate as far as snarkiness at work, so I just haven't been saying anything. Anyways, One of my co-workers says her favorite recent example is when she said something about being as innocent as the day is long and I said "The days just got a hell of a lot shorter". I think something I said today tops that one by about a mile especially given that my husband looked a little bit genuinely shocked that I said it. Chris was playing around when we were driving home from lunch and started saying that we should follow a funeral procession so that we could go to the "party" after the burial. His mother corrected him saying that it was usually called a "wake" or an "after funeral gathering". Chris replied "well, when *I* die people are oging to have a party" and I said "You're damn straight we are" in my best 'snarky exasperated wife' voice and the look on his face was priceless. My co-workers would be proud, but they didn't hear it because I'M ON MOTHERFUCKING VACATION BEEOTCH!
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