A Delicious Day Off

Thanks to my mom's post about stuffed french toast, Nick and I simply couldn't go on without making some of our own. Since I didn't have any cream cheese on hand, I went with the un-stuffed variety, but next time around I'll make sure I have the cream cheese!

A few points:

My mom followed the recipe over at The Flour Alchemist, which calls for blending vanilla extract in with the cream cheese. If you're using cherry topping like my mom did, I would definitely recommend using almond extract instead of vanilla - cherry and almond go beautifully together! Also, I would probably blend some of the strained cherries into the filling, then just use the juice as a syrup on top - I love a chunky filling!

Now, for my un-stuffed version, I decided to use a topping that I learned at school, homemade moreno cherries. The most amazing thing you've ever tasted - it will change your life, I promise.

Moreno Cherries

3 cups frozen cherries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon almond extract

Put all ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer on low, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved and sauce is thickened.

I served this on top of my french toast, but it would also be excellent on ice cream or cheese cake. It also saves really well in the refrigerator.

New Favorite Site!

Via Jewshi:

"I could almost cry brothy tears just thinking about that fact that the majority of Americans think ramen is nothing more than a 10 cent packet of culinary desperation, eaten primarily and shamefully by college students who'd rather spend their parent-supplied grocery money on cases of Keystone Ice."

My List

In no particular order:

1. Try out at least one new recipe each week - I have a collection of bookmarked recipes in new cookbooks, as well as an entire file of printouts and emails saved with recipes that I have yet to try!

2. Lose 40 pounds by my birthday.

3. Keep the weight off for the rest of the year.

4. Maintain a company-ready level of clean at home.

5. Expand my daily clothing choices to more than jeans and tshirts.

6. More yoga, less sitting. More rice, less pasta. More healthy beverages, less booze.

7. Send out more timely thank-you notes.

Share your list in the comments!

Today's Lovely Thing

If you do nothing else today, watch this video!

In the words of Dooce, This is not the official video, but something someone made in his spare time out of the love of what he does. I don't know much about this guy, his name is Gabe Askew, but I hope whoever employs him pays him a lot of money.

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew

How unbelievable and beautiful is that?

Awwww Yeah!

I'm on summer break! Even though my program goes for the full year, there's a 5 week break between summer and fall quarters. I'm on day 2 and have already had to remind myself what day it is. Probably a good sign of my stress level.

My sister Michelle came up for the weekend for a cake tasting! She is getting married next weekend and is brave enough to let me tackle the cake. She came up with her fiance and they loved everything, but somehow managed to limit themselves to 3 flavors. We're going with almond cake with lemon curd filling, vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream filling, and german chocolate with coconut pecan filling. Sounds delightful, no?

After they left to go back home to Portland this afternoon, I checked the mail and was happy to see an item I have been waiting for...a letter from the financial aid department at school! Opened it and I am just OVER THE MOON! They are giving me enough in grant money to fully cover tuition for the next 3 quarters!

Things are good!

Wishing the buttercream roses trend would come back to the cake world

The best of school this week.....Roses and multi-colored pearls were all hand-painted!

Cake Party!!

Had to share pictures of the totally adorable cakes that I made this week. They totaled about 2 inches tall - SO CUTE. Of course, the small size made the decorating especially tedious - but the results made it totally worthwhile.

If It's Too Hot in The Kitchen....

I recently celebrated my 29th birthday! My friend Zak offered to host a party at his house so that I could invite more people to celebrate. I had a summer dress-up cocktail and Hors D'Oeuvers party. About 25 people showed up, all with amazing offerings of appetizers, wine and cocktail fixings! Unfortunately no one took pictures at the party, but trust me, it was an amazing time!

One of the best gifts I received was from Nick, of course. I have been talking about betta fish for some time --- he surprised me on my birthday with a whole setup for two! I have a red and a blue. They're in the same tank, but there's a plastic grate between, so they can't get at each other -- not that attempts haven't been made! They have natural rocks and they each have their own houseplant! I'd like to introduce you to Bebop and Rocksteady:

The coolest fish ever! I've mentioned the attempted aggression - they are both pretty fiesty! They both come up to the glass when I touch it, and they even come up to the surface for a pet when I dangle my finger in the water!

As most of you know, we're having a bit of a heat wave in the NW these days. Last Wednesday hit 103 in my neighborhood, 112 not too far away. Friday only hit 99 and it was a bit of a relief, actually. It's currently 80 degrees at 9pm. Crazy by normal standards, but damn refreshing in Seattle these days.

Of course, when it rains it pours, so to speak. Last week when we were in the midst of our high temps, the AC went out at school. Let me remind you that my schooling involves baking. with ovens. hot ovens. lots of them.

In spite of the heat, amazing things are happening. Take Exibit A:

Unfortunately this is not my handiwork, but a fellow student. One day... ;>

To beat the heat, Nick and I took an overnight trip to Anacortes, WA this weekend. We have a friend who has parents who own a house. What an amazing trip. Beautiful house on amazing property, right on a serene lake. We were there for less than 24 hours, but felt we had been gone for several days by the end. It was so rejuvinating, it seemed we had been on a mini vacation! While we were there, our friend Zak took this great shot:

So, that's this week's update! I hope it has been as enjoyable to read as it has been to retell!

Holy Update, Batman!

Good grief, has it really been that long??? I've received a number of comments lately that my site updates are particularly enjoyable, which has only made me feel guilty, regardless of the intent!

SO! Nick and I took a really amazing trip at the beginning of the summer! We went camping for a week and saw some really cool things. We started our trip at Glacier National Park, and ended at Jasper National Park, with a midway stop at Banff National Park. It was quite the week! I took some great pictures, as evidenced below. Also, as an added bonus, we stopped at campgrounds the entire way, so we're a good reference for what is good and what isn't worth your time along the way!

For more great pictures from the trip, please visit my Flickr album.

Also, I have been baking! No big surprise, I'm sure! I hosted a cake tasting for some very good friends who are getting married in September. I made and decorated 6 different cakes - we celebrated with champagne! The happy couple were made even happier with my creations, and they walked away with 3 flavor choices for their special day! I also made graduation cake for a friend. Rather than making a typical graduation sheet cake, I decided to make something to fit the barbeque theme:

Yes, those are made out of cake, and yes, I did fool a few people! I had several moms stop me on the way to our picnic site to take a look at my creations, and I had more than one person tell me that if I hadn't been in attendance they would have been totally fooled!

So, that's what I've been up to...Oh! And my garden, of course:

I have four MONSTER tomato plants - I can see tons of tomatoes, and they aren't even ripe yet - can't wait to see what my harvest will be once they start turning color and I can actually see them in that mess! I also have a red pepper plant, basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme and strawberries!

What a Girl Wants

It's birthday time again! My special day is right around the corner! This year's list:

• Shampoo and Conditioner. My favorite right now!
• Gift Card for Victoria's Secret. I am poor and need new underwear.
• Gift Card for Old Navy. I am poor and need new jeans - Old Navy is one of the only places I'm guaranteed to find jeans that fit for a good price.
• Any jewelry made by my good friend. She makes amazing stuff!
• Cash Money!!! As most of you know, I am a poor student these days. Would be great to have some money to go towards tuition and/or books and/or groceries!
• Please note that I do not have any room for kitchen items!!! I know it's super tempting when you find something interesting, but I seriously don't have anywhere to put it! (I'm currently storing some items in my bedroom closet!!!)

Product Placement

Nick and I are driving home from breakfast, and as we're pulling up to a red light we see a bumper sticker that says, "Nice truck. Sorry about your small penis". Three cars later, at the same red light, a 4X4 "off road" truck with a window sticker that says, "It's not how deep you fish, it's how you wiggle your worm."

Huh.

Connection

I'm walking to the bus stop downtown to catch my next bus and I notice a sweet smoke smell - reminiscent of camp fire. I spend several minutes trying to figure out what on earth would be burning in downtown Seattle at 6am that would cause that smell. Finally look over to see a man with a fire extinguisher who has just put out a fire in a newspaper box. A newspaper box that I walked by on my way to the bus stop. I start to recall incidents where I have slept through and/or not noticed things like earthquakes and ants nests.

Who Knew Legos Could Be So Amusing...

Cake or Death (via Cakewrecks)

A Past Due Update

First, my most recent Facebook Status, for those of you who aren't on Facebook:

"Suggested orange tea cakes instead of lemon. After some convincing Chef let us experiment with the recipe. The next day he tried our new creation and liked it! He said, "Kim, I think you're on to something!", then made orange tea cakes a regular part of the weekly rotation. The End. PS - King of the lab!!!"

And, some pictures!

Hat Cakes:

We got about halfway through decorating the second one before it really started to take on the Minnie Pearl vibe...so we threw the price tag on for good measure.

And purse cakes!

Apparently accessory cakes are HUGE around Mother's Day....

Endearing

"I take this class because I want to get more knowledge about the nutrition. In this way, I can have a chance to serve my future customers more knowledgeable in cooking the delicious dishes."

Heads Up

School is going well and I'm learning a LOT of neat stuff. Check out the bagels I made at home today:

So, going forward, if you're invited over to my place for brunch, you probably won't want to miss it!

Plan C???

I just received the unfortunate news that a second cosigner for my student loan was not approved. Anyone out there with good credit wanna put their financial future on the line and help me get funding for school?

In Passing

IM Conversation:

Me: Ah! I'm brilliant!
T: ?
Me: So...I have an idea for a "alcohol abuse affects those around you" commercial
Me: It opens with a couple having a party...so many people bring beer that they have to store it in a cooler out on the deck...
Me: One night, the boyfriend decides to get a beer.
Me: We'll call him Nick
T: ok...
Me: The next morning, the girlfriend gets out of bed and sees a soaking wet, very unhappy cat locked out on the deck.
Me: We'll call the girlfriend "Kim" and the cat "Cricket"
T: Ahhahaaha
Me: Dood. She won't come out of hiding from the litter box.
T: Oh man
T: Poor cat
T: lol

Like Fresh Snow Without Footprints

I started school last week and I'm really really enjoying it. I've always hated school, but the passion I have for what I'm doing seems to make all the difference. I made enough chocolate chip cookie dough this week to bake 1,000 cookies! I learned a new recipe and put my own spin on it at home over the weekend!

I'm on spring break for the next week and a half, though it won't be too much of a break for me - I have 15 dozen cupcakes to bake for a wedding this week. This is something that I would dread to a certain extent if I were still working full time at my office job, but now that baking is my whole focus, I'm really excited to get started!

Don't get me wrong, there are certainly some challenges. Take for example my alarm that goes off at 4:30am. No, seriously. 4:30am every single morning. It's all I can do to keep my eyes open until 8pm at night! Anyone who knows me even a little bit would tell you what an anti-morning person I am, but I've been getting up to my alarm every morning, sometimes even waking up 5-10 minutes before it goes off!

Then there are the other students. Let me be the first to tell you if you don't already know: There is a HUGE difference between 28 and 18. HUGE. There are a variety of ages in my program, including retirees, career changers, and those fresh out of high school, and it seems that the later is the majority. Lockers are decorated with pictures of characters from High School Musical. Conversation consists of Britney Spears and "My parents suck so bad you don't even KNOW." (Nevermind that said parents are paying your full tuition AND letting you live at home rent-free AND driving you to and from school every day. God.)

But. I digress.

So, school is awesome sofar. Here's hoping that it's not just the same way I feel about a new job until the novelty wears off.

A First 1st!

Birthday, that is! Check out the pictures of the 1st birthday cake I made for friend's daughter:

And...what post would be complete without pictures of cupcakes I made for a wedding tasting???