Keeping it simple

Just wanted to put up a quick post about this past weekend. I cooked quite a lot for this little pool party we had and would love to share the recipe for mini cheeseburger puff pastries, salted caramel ice cream, chocolate ice cream or the might tasty slow cooker pulled pork that Max threw together. However, in the interest of time I am going to just mention the simple salad I made.

The veggies from the farm box have been outstanding all summer. I love yellow squash, zucchini, fresh tomatoes and cucumbers...oh and the BASIL is to die for and comes to me in bunches 8 times larger than those that you buy at the store. So, I took advantage of everything I got on Friday and made the following easy as can be recipe. I've made this before but I feel like each time I bring it to a party people just love it and ask what went in to it. Well...here you go:

3-4 large cucumbers, large dice
4-5 medium/large tomatoes, large dice
3 fist fulls of fresh basil, sliced up (ok a chiffonade if I MUST say it)
2 balls (2-3 oz each prob) of fresh mozzarella cheese, large dice
1 medium purple onion, sliced very thin
olive oil (just a couple of turns around the bowl, maybe 2 TBS)
balsamic vinegar (same as above)
salt
pepper

Mix it up, let it chill out for a half an hour and serve. Deeeelicious. It's great with diced avocado added in as well.

Enjoy!

The Good Life

Ok, so this has absolutely nothing to do with cooking but I haven't blogged in such a long time. So, here I am, trying to get back in the groove of things.

I have been cooking quite a bit - the fresh produce here in the summer is unbelievable. We have been graced with tomatoes, watermelon, peaches, plums, basil, cucumbers, squash and zucchini among other wonderful things. It's so easy to eat healthy with food like this at my fingertips.

Well...ok you caught me...it's easy to eat healthy if we eat at our HOUSE but Austin still has way too much good/bad for you food out there that I need to get my lips around. I've been indulging in moderation though, I promise.

Also, I started doing Zumba a few weeks ago at a dance studio down the street from our house and am completely obsessed. I've been going at least once a week, two if I can and I bought the dvd's online last week. Such a great workout, it's insane.

All I have to report other than those little things is that I am completely, unabashedly happy. You know those moments that we all have from time to time where you are just filled with happiness to your brim feel like you might burst? Those moments are becoming more close together every day. I can't think of a time in the recent past where I was down (well, my stepdad had a heart attack and that took me off guard but he recovered and so did we all).

I made this move to become closer to my family and focus on my personal life outside of work and that is exactly what has happened. Work is good here but more importantly my life is just aaaamazing. Max and I are beyond great and we have made some solid friends in town so we actually socialize with people...WHOA! I know.

Anyway...that's all I have for now. Tata!

-Ashley

Mint Julep Cupcakes - Derby Time!

This past weekend Max and I went to a Kentucky Derby Party. Now, I have never been to the actual derby or a party celebrating it but for some reason I got REALLY excited about this party. I just bought a few new dresses this year and I was looking for an excuse to get dolled up and hang out with strangers. So not me, I know...not sure what's gotten into me lately.

So, in addition to donning a lovely blue and white sun dress and a big white hat I decided to make a special treat. I found these yummy looking mint julep cupcakes online - here's the recipe.

I even dressed them up like the pictures there with icing, green sprinkles, a little piece of mint and a mini green straw. Someone at the party said "so what's up with the straws?" Um, cuteness is what's up is what I said.

Anyway, these are really really tasty and were a total hit. However, they do contain quite a bit of alcohol. Bourbon and creme de menthe to be exact - 1/2 cup of each. A full cup of alcohol seemed like a lot but honestly they are good...but you can TASTE it when you bite in to it. A few people actually took a bite and went "whoa...there's alcohol in these." Yup, they aren't just died green vanilla cuties.


Next time you go to a derby party or better yet...if there are any other occasions where you can see people wanting to eat mint julep flavored treats then MAKE THESE!

Life is Peachy (well, maybe more like Strawberry)

Life has been a whirlwind lately! I think I will just update you on personal stuff for now and cooking later.

I left Live Nation where I have worked since basically FOREVER it seems (on/off and mostly on since 2004) and started a new job at Front Gate Tickets here in Austin. This week round out my 4th full week at the new job and things are going very well. No more crazy drama and worrying about my future at the company...things are pretty chill here which is just what the doctor ordered. The office is only a mile from our house so I can still go home for lunch to hang out with Clementine.

How is Clem you ask? She's still a dog and doing fine. We went camping a few weeks ago and I think she was so scared out of her mind that we were able to leave her off leash and she stayed in the area with us...it was fabulous. However, it made me think she was a better dog than she really is because then over Easter weekend I decided to let her out in my mom's front yard with no leash to do her business and SHE RAN AWAY! She bolted about two blocks away and we couldn't find her for a few minutes. Luckily, my step dad jumped in his truck and spotted her down the street. He only had to yell CLEM! once and she bolted straight back to the house and waited at the door. Never again I tell you...that dog will NEVER be allowed off her leash again.

How is Max? He is also doing great! He quit smoking shortly before his 30th birthday just like he always promised he would do and is going on 3 full weeks off the things now. I always told people that he was pretty much a perfect boyfriend other than the fact that he smoked so...guess what...now he's perfect! Ha...no pressure dear. :)

The cooking situation has slowed down considerably since starting the new job. I haven't been cooking anything as much as I was before but hopefully I'll dig myself out of the "I'm too tired" mentality pretty soon. After all, summer is right around the corner and the weather has been fabulous. I have 6 tomato plants and 4 bell pepper plants growing in our backyard (and a withering eggplant that I'll pretend I have not failed at growing) and the tomato plants already come up to my shoulders and have some tiny guys growing already. I CAN'T WAIT! I'm going to can tomato sauce like crazy this summer.

Last weekend was the Poteet Strawberry Festival. For those of you that do not know, though I went to middle and high school in San Antonio the town of Poteet is where I truly grew up and where my mom/grandma/many other family members still live. My favorite memories in life are pretty much all in Poteet. It's a pretty small town and I'm fairly certain that the festival is the most exciting thing that happens there all year. The star of the show is, of course, strawberries! I have consumed so many berries the past two weeks that I might soon turn in to one. My uncle has a small farm outside of town where he grows berries and over Easter weekend Max and I went out there and picked a few (10!) pints to take home with us. That's a lot of berries! What did I do with all of those you ask? Well...you'll have to stay tuned to find out!

Last thing...spring in Texas is beautiful. I completely forgot this as I missed it the past 8 years! There are so many wild flowers growing alongside the roads here. It's just breath taking really. Here are some pictures - an Indian paintbrush up close, bluebonnets in a field with Indian paintbrushes and a bluebonnet with a purty moth on top.

Maple Bacon Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I have been deliquent about posting this week. I've been too busy doing things like getting a new job and hanging out with real people away from my computer! How dare I, I know.

Earlier this week I made bacon chocolate chunk cookies. They were absolutely fabulous. I have been obsessed lately with the idea of salty and sweet together so I knew I would love this combination. Also, it seems like everywhere you look these days bacon is making a come back as the most popular item on every menu in town, including the dessert menu!

I adapted this recipe from the Noble Pig blog. I tried to make them a little less horrible for me but honestly, they still come in at about 3 Weight Watchers point a cookie. I allowed myself to eat about one a day...and I gained half a pound this week. So, don't think this is diet food. It's just GOOD food.

Here's the recipe:
8 strips of bacon, cooked. 5 should be mixed in the dough and 3 crumbled and pressed on top of the dough before cooking. Noble Pig said this was optional but I really think it's necessary or you don't taste the bacon in the cookies enough.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (I used stick margarine)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used 1/4 cup Splenda/Sugar combo)
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon maple extract
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until browned and cooked through. Drain on a paper-towel lined plate and chop finely.

In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars; about three minutes. Add egg and maple extract and beat until just blended. Add the dry ingredients; beat until just incorporated and the flour is dissolved. Stir in the chocolate chips, walnuts and bacon.

Drop one large Tablespoon of cookie dough 2-3 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes in a 350 degree oven only until the edges are brown and slightly soft in the center. Mine did not spread out that much but I only did about 8 cookies per tray.

Boy oh boy were these gems a hit! I tasted this almost exact cookie at a trendy eatery the week before and I have to say - MINE WERE WAY BETTER!

Make them, eat them, love them. Be sure to tell people they have bacon in them before you hand them over because whops, some people do still keep kosher these days...even in Texas. I'm going to try these again but without chocolate. I want to taste the bacon even more and I think a simple maple and walnut bacon cookie would really do the trick.

Key Lime Cupcakes

As far back as I can remember my dad has loved Key Lime pie. I remember it was always his dessert of choice when we went out to eat pretty much anywhere. So, when his birthday rolled around this year I contemplated just making him the straight up pie...or maybe even key lime bars. But then I came across this recipe for Key Lime Cupcakes. It was love at first sight...and eventually at first bite.

The recipe was pretty straight forward and after making cupcakes from scratch the week before I felt like a total pro already. I diligently zested and juiced more key limes than I have ever seen in my life (and gosh, I still have about 30 of them leftover...). I have to say that the addition of real lime juice and zest to this recipe put it over the top. It was just SO amazingly zingy, tangy, citrusy...limey. You get my point.

The batter was a bit runnier than the chocolate cupcakes I made previously but honestly I think these came out much more fluffy and moist.

Oh...did I mention I didn't mess with the recipe at all? That's right...full fat butter, cream cheese, etc. And I ate 2 of them. I will not measure my waistline this week.

I think my favorite part of this recipe was the frosting. I'm a total sucker for cream cheese. You could spread it on pretty much anything and it will be my favorite dish ever. I was happy to learn how to make a traditional-ish cream cheese frosting since it seems many cupcakes are topped with that.

Look at how green they are! In the future, I might not add the food coloring. I imagine the coloring was added to punch home the idea that they are LIME but you can smell it and taste it so I just don't think the fake green was necessary. Fun to buy the little McCormick's box of colors though!

Adventures with Candy - Divinity and Buckeyes

Last week was my Dad's birthday. Every year I have no idea what to buy him (this goes for most people actually). Luckily, thanks to my new hobby, I did not even think of buying him a thing this year. He LOVES sweets of all kinds so I figured I would take a stab at some of his favorite items.

First, I attempted to make divinity. I'm not incredibly familiar with this candy but I remembered that he likes it so I gave it a shot. Wikipedia says that "Divinity is a nougat-like confectionery made mainly with egg white, corn syrup, and sugar." I could tell just from the description that this could not be made in to a healthy treat so I did not even try. After all, I wasn't really planning on eating these. I used a recipe from Paula Deen that you can find here. However, I would recommend doing more internet research than just this recipe because after the fact I found more information on how hot to heat the syrup and I think maybe I shouldn't have just blindly trusted Mrs. Deen in this case.

The process was unlike anything I have ever done. First of all I have NEVER used white corn syrup in my kitchen. I have also never beaten egg whites to stiff peaks (though I have seen it done on TV many times). I think I got the egg whites portion down...at least they seemed like stiff peaks to me.


Melting the sugar, corn syrup and water together was rather exciting. I loved seeing it bubble and using my new candy thermometer. The recipe said to use a heavy bottom pot so I chose to use my enameled cast iron pot. In retrospect this was not a great idea since the pot was too heavy to lift off the stove and pour the scalding hot sugar in to the mixer. I ended up using a ladle which worked OK but might have contributed to the gooey outcome I suppose.



Once everything was mixed together I had no idea if it was done. The recipe says to "beat until mixture holds its shape." No clue what that means...what shape? I beat it for about 5 minutes and decided it seemed fluffy and stopped. I think that was my mistake right there. Once I started to spoon everything on to the parchment paper it just oozed everywhere. Disaster. I tried to put some in to muffin tins...even after letting them sit for a day and a half they were still gooey and would not come out. In the end, a few of the thinner candies did dry out and tasted pretty good. Most of the mixture ended up in a Ziploc bag. It has the texture of marshmallow cream. I'm going to try to use it this week to make cookie sandwiches or something...I just hate to waste it. So, Divinity - 1 Ashley - 0.

Luckily, I think I redeemed myself slightly with the second candy attempt: Buckeyes. These were SO easy it was wonderful. Unfortunately, my non baker self kicked in and neglected to read or learn anything about melting chocolate correctly. I had seen it done a zillion times on the Food Network with the whole double boiler situation so I got that setup and dumped in the chopped up chocolate (I used half milk, half semi sweet). It started to melt but never got to the consistency necessary to dip the peanut butter balls in. So, I added a couple tablespoons of coffee (Ina Garten always uses coffee in her chocolate!) and it loosened up a bit but still not enough. So, I added a couple splashes of milk and voila! - I could easily dip the balls. Unfortunately, I guess adding all that liquid made it more of a ganache so it never really got very hard. They firmed up enough to be mighty delicious and pretty though so I didn't cry over it too much. Lesson learned for next time.



The last thing I made for him were Key Lime Cupcakes. But...you'll have to wait to hear about those as they definitely deserve their very own entry.

New favorite things: turkey tenderloin and the mandolin slicer

I cooked so much last week that I couldn't find the time to blog about it. What a problem to have!

I finished out the week of veggies with a couple of great dishes and some not so great. I never did make the carrot soup...I'm going to get to that today hopefully and I have an entirely new bunch of carrots to add to it from the box this past Friday.

On Tuesday I had to use those mustard greens that we attempted to eat as a salad the night before. I have to say...they weren't my favorite things ever. I mixed in the greens from the beets and added some red wine vinegar which helped but they were just meh. That night I roasted a turkey tenderloin which was a new addition to my normal repertoire. I'm a fan! This meat is so low in calories and fat that I could eat 8 ounces of it for under 5 Weight Watchers points - that same amount of chicken breast is 8 points! I have no idea how it is so much leaner than chicken breast but I'm going to go along with it and use it more often. The leftovers made great sandwiches mixed up like chicken salad. That same night I cooked brown rice and put in some diced up carrots and...BACON! Yum. It was only 1 slice but gave the rice a great flavor.


Wednesday and Thursday we went out for dinner but made up for it on Friday with a blowout vegetable and shrimp stir fry. We make this a lot and it's always a hit. I used up the brocolli, some carrots, spinach, leftover brown rice and we threw in some shelled edamame and shrimp as well. And LOOK - Max and I finally learned how to use our mandolin slicer to make perfect stir fry carrots. Very exciting, I know.


After all of the things I cooked last week, how much I indulged AND the fact that I did not exercise even once, I still lost 2 ounces. I know that might not seem like a lot but I had at least 3 HUGE and ridiculously calorie heavy meals out this week so if it wasn't for my healthy cooking during the week the situation would be much worse. :)

I have to get the pictures together of the treats I made for my dad...some turned out great and others not so much. Stay tuned if you have a sweet tooth!

Beets and dill and mustard greens...OH MY!

Every Friday afternoon I pick up a box of organic vegetables from my local certified organic farm. Here's a clip from their site: "Johnson's Backyard Garden is a 20-acre certified organic farm just five miles east of Downtown Austin owned by Brenton and Beth Johnson. We have a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program which serves 650 families in Austin year-round with fresh, organic vegetables, herbs and flowers." You can visit them here.

I joined their program shortly after moving to Austin and learning how supportive the Austin area is of not only local businesses but local agriculture as well. I love the idea of the whole Slow Food movement and I wanted to join in the fun. It has been an amazing decision so far. Each Friday I feel like a kid waiting to be taken to the candy shop for a surprise bag of treats. Except I'm not a kid and these are vegetables...but, it is still a surprise that I love opening. They post a list of what might be in your box each week but you still never really know. Getting this box has really helped me challenge my creativity in the kitchen. I mean...what do you do with 2 pounds of carrots on a weekly basis? And dill...don't get me started with the dill. I've been freezing it in hopes that this summer they will deliver lots of cucumbers. ;)

This week the box had: an avocado, grapefruits, oranges, broccoli, beets with their greens, lettuce, dill, spinach, spring onions, carrots and mustard greens.


The avocado and citrus I haven't gotten too creative with. We eat the citrus and they are AMAZING...so juicy...and I used some of the juice this week to make a citrus vinaigrette for salads. The avocado so far is just getting sliced up in salads and on sandwiches.

On Sunday I made Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Peppers from Cooking Light and to go along with it made mashed potatoes with broccoli.


Basically, I just boiled a large baking potato (cubed up) like you do when making mashed potatoes and in the last few minutes I threw in about 1.5 cups of broccoli to cook with it. I drained everything together, mashed and threw in some sour cream, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. These were a HUGE hit with the man and I would highly recommend the chicken dish. It had some very unique and different flavors. My second favorite part of this dish, after eating it, was eating it again reinvented for lunch today. I used the chicken and leftover onion/bell pepper mixture and shoved it in some pita bread with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. YUM.

Monday night I sauteed up shrimp with garlic, butter and lemon juice and to go with it an Israeli couscous dish with roasted beets, carrots and goat cheese. This dish took a little more time but it was well worth it. I roasted the beets and carrots in two separate aluminum foil packages (about 1.5 cups of each) in a 375 degree oven for oh...about an hour I would say. I let them cool, peeled the beets and diced everything up. Later, I cooked the Israeli couscous in some chicken stock and when it was done I simply mixed the veggies in along with 2 ounces of goat cheese. Again, HUGE hit. We had never had Israeli couscous before but boy was it tasty.


We did have one little snafu on Monday night. Sometimes when I get the vegetables I can't quite tell what they are. I make assumptions, look up pictures and go with it. Mostly this works out. However, last night I instructed Max to wash up this lettuce we got to make a big salad. He did and made his favorite balsamic dressing and brought it to the table. He took a huge bite...chewed...chewed...and ran to the trash can to spit it out. I knew the lettuce was a bit spicy but we figured it was some sort of arugula. Um, no. It was mustard greens. OUCH. Too spicy to eat raw...worse than horseradish actually. We set it aside to saute up with Tuesday nights dinner. Live and learn...now we know what mustard greens are I guess.

More dishes to come...tonight I am roasting a turkey tenderloin, tossing together the mustard and beet greens and making some sort of brown rice dish. Oh, and maybe carrot bisque for lunch today or tomorrow. Hopefully everything is edible.

Sunday Morning + Berry Scones

It's official - nothing beats a lazy Sunday and some fresh baked goods to go along with it. I woke up this past Sunday ready to bake! I had been thinking about what to try next all week and decided on scones. Why, I have no idea, especially considering that I do not even LIKE scones! Or, at least I thought I didn't like them.

In my mind scones are big, dry crumbly things that make my mouth very unhappy and my shirt very dirty. No thanks. And yet, they are at nearly every coffee shop you visit these days so I figured there must be something there that I was missing. I decided to stick with the angel on my shoulder and try out a recipe I found on weightwatchers.com. Three Berry Scones. Very simple. I can do this!

Here are the players:
2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 cup(s) buttermilk (I used 1 cup of skim milk with 1 tablespoon of vinegar...let it sit on the counter for 30 minutes or so before using. Mine sat in the fridge overnight)
1 1/2 cup(s) frozen unsweetened mixed berries
2 serving(s) butter-flavor cooking spray


Here are the oh so simple instructions:
* Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
* In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix in butter until mixture is size of fine crumbs. Stir in buttermilk and then stir in berries.
* Shape dough into two 7-inch circles on prepared baking sheet. Cut each circle into 6 wedges and coat with cooking spray.
* Bake until cooked through and golden, about 20 minutes. Yields one wedge per serving.


I decided to use my hands this time since it was still early and I was feeling too lazy to clean the stand mixer. Not a good idea...this was a DENSE dough. Once the flour came in to the equation the whisk was utterly useless. I ended up folding it with my hands which was awful because it was so sticky! Plus, the frozen berries started to melt from the warmth caused by handling. I'm sure the chilled and small pieces of butter also did not like my hands - they're always saying on the Food Network that cold butter is the key to successful pastry. Next time I'll use the mixer, I promise.

Also, next time I won't bake from a Weight Watchers recipe. They really don't explain things enough. I had to dust some flour on the dough to work with it in order to form it in to the discs...I just can't see that it would have been possible otherwise. When it came time to cut in to 6 wedges each I kept thinking...am I meant to separate these wedges or leave them together? Due to the fact that everything was so sticky I left them together. Fail. They baked in to two large discs...NOT 12 lovely wedges. Doh. I had to slice them immediately after removing from the oven to make the wedges which wasn't a huge deal but a more detailed recipe could have prevented this.


Somehow in the end everything worked out. In fact, it more than worked out since I previously thought I hated scones and I still can't stop munching on these. They were not dry at all and though the berries mostly fell to the bottom of each wedge they offered a great tart contrast. They remind me of biscuits actually...not wedges of chalk which is what scones always were in my mind. In fact, I just did some research online and discovered that it's mainly in the US that scones are dry...in the UK and other such places apparently they are more like what I created. GOOD TO KNOW! Give them a try if you were as tricked by Starbucks as I have been!

BIG week coming up as far as baking goes. It's my dad's birthday and instead of buying him useless junk that he doesn't need I'm going to clog his arteries with sweets. That's real love. <3

Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes = Heaven

On Saturday I began my great quest to learn how to bake like a pro. We were meeting up with my step brother and his family for game night and I decided to bring dessert. I have to admit, I was slightly nervous to bring any treats that I created to a family get together seeing as it was truly one of my first attempts at baking something from scratch. I’ve made muffins before and Max and I did attempt those popovers last week but mostly anything I have ever baked came from a box. So, I jumped on the World Wide Web and found a recipe that seemed simple enough: Martha Stewart’s Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes. You can get the recipe here.

Aren’t they cute? Like little homemade Hostess Cupcakes. So, I gathered all of the necessary ingredients and sat down to figure out just how horrible these things were for me. As some of you might know I participate in Weight Watchers in my eternal quest to lose weight – I’ve lost 40 pounds at this point and I don’t want my new obsession with baking to unravel all of that success! So, I used the Weight Watchers recipe builder to add in the ingredients and come up with the nutrition info. OH MY GOSH – it was horrific. First of all, Martha suggested these be made in jumbo muffin tins. With everything as the recipe stated one jumbo cream-filled chocolate cupcake was going to cost me 13 points! For those of you not following the points system that’s probably about 600 something calories. Um, no thanks. So, I got out my thinking cap and did some internet research on how to successfully substitute things without ruining what you are baking. I also decided to use normal sized muffin tins to reduce the serving size.

Since this was my first venture in to the world of cupcakes I did not want to go overboard with substitutions. I carefully examined how “worth it” some subs were and decided to stick with the full fat butter in the actual cake batter. I substituted reduced fat (NOT fat free!) sour cream for the full fat version and used 1 cup of Splenda/Sugar Blend in replacement for 2 cups of normal sugar and used cake flour instead of all purpose since I read in many places that this helped keep the cakes light and fluffy when you mess with the fat content of a recipe. Finally, I used a reduced fat margarine for the icing instead of full fat butter. I figured that wouldn’t make too big of a difference since it was on the outside of the cupcake.

So, with the ingredient decisions behind me I laced up my oh so cute apron from Anthropologie and got to baking. First you butter and dust the muffin tins with cocoa powder. What a mess I made…I’ve got to figure out a better way to do this next time. It sounded so easy to tap out the excess but um…the excess went all over the counter and not in to the bowl where I was aiming. Doh.


The recipe suggested I whisk together the dry ingredients but I recalled my magical flour sifter that I have never used…not once in the YEARS that I have owned it since my mom gave it to me. So, I sifted the ingredients together over a piece of parchment paper. I learned that trick from the good old Food Network. Use the parchment paper because you can easily add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet versus attempted to push the dry out of a bowl. It worked swimmingly and look at how pretty the pile of stuff was.



Next, though I had attempted to let my butter sit and come to room temperature the temp in my house is COLD so it just did not work. I think this was one of the big no nos of the experience – I zapped my butter in the microwave to heat it up. It wasn’t too bad...not melty or anything so the world did not end but in the future I’ll leave the butter out well before I begin the baking process. After creaming the butter and sugar together and adding in one egg at a time I started to add in the dry ingredients. My old Sunbeam mixer struggled a bit but I just helped it by turning the bowl and we were in business! The batter was DEVINE. It tasted like a light and fluffy chocolate truffle. I could have stopped there and been happy.


But, I continued on. The batter did not quite make enough for 24 small muffins so I did 12 small and 4 large in the jumbo tin. The jumbo took maybe 5 minutes longer to bake than the small. I had to keep an eye on the small ones since I wasn’t sure exactly when they would be done. They all came out perfectly moist though so YAY. Note to self: I need wire racks for cooling baked goods...the random stuff I found just barely worked!


The last step was the mix together the marshmallow fluff and butter to make the icing. Then, you use a melon baller to scoop out a small plug on the bottom and then hollow out some space for the crème. I used a plain old Ziploc bag filled with the crème, the corner cut off as a pastry bag and filled those suckers up! Then, a little squiggle on top and TADA they were done.



These things were DELICIOUS and oh so cute. Everyone loved them and no one could tell they were lower in calories (I got them down to about 8 points a cake…or roughly 400 calories).

SUCCESS! I can’t wait to bake something else this week...I’m already on the search for some new recipes. Isn't he the cutest?

Blog revamp

So...I'm pretty much settled in here in Austin so I'm going to revamp this blog a bit to just simply be about whatever the hell I want it to be about! I have a feeling it will mostly be about cooking since we all know that's my favorite hobby.

Mostly I'm really excited to learn how to bake. I've never been much of a baker...I'm impatient and tend to not thoroughly read instructions for recipes. But, I've had this dream for a while now to open my own coffee shop / eatery and I think it's important that I learn how to bake if I ever hope to make that dream come true. With everything happening at work lately I just decided to stop thinking about doing these things and DO them!

So, sorry to be cliche and join the rest of the world out there in their foodie blogs but BAH I don't care! It will make me happy and that's what counts.

Yesterday, Max and I made popovers. We didn't follow the instructions and they still came out really well. This weekend I will be making mini cheesecake bites and cream-filled chocolate cupcakes for game night with my family. Stay tuned!

Work

So, I figure that since I am still employed I’m not really at liberty to trash talk work too much. However, this has been such a horrible week that I feel inclined to say SOMETHING at least.

About 2 years ago I was hired to help Live Nation start their own ticketing company using a German platform called CTS. We stopped selling our tickets via Ticketmaster and took everything in-house. I would be lying if I didn’t say that the last two years have been rough. We all worked long hours and poured a lot (no, I mean A LOT.) in to this ticketing company only to realize that it would never really be what we dreamed it would be. The software just wasn’t...well, I think I’m man enough to admit that what we were all thinking was that it just wasn’t Ticketmaster. But shit, we gave it our best and I was at least mildly proud of the product. Or maybe I was proud that we took this software that was ENTIRELY in GERMAN when we got it and figured out how the hell to use it here in America.

One month after we launched Live Nation Ticketing D Day came – Live Nation and Ticketmaster announced that they wanted to merge the two companies. Doh. That was a big punch in the gut. Thanks for your hard work guys, I know you haven’t had a personal life for quite some time but now we want to back track. So, ok, fine. We moved on and held our heads up and finished out the year still enhancing our system while the Department of Justice investigated if this merger was anti competitive. It took them a year but this past Monday they finally ruled that it was not anti competitive and allowed the merger to go through with relatively few concessions from either side. I do not think I will ever understand the decision that they made since it seemed so obvious to most people that the combined entity would have extreme power over the entire music industry. But, I will try to let that go and tell myself that I’m not a politician or a corporate minded individual at all so maybe this is just something I can not understand.

To top things off once the merger was approved and the ink was dry on all of the paperwork we were told that our ticketing company that we have worked so hard on for the past two years is just going to go away. I think we all assumed it would be a slow fade out, a gradual transition away from the software. But nope…it’s BAM completely over. Pack up those user manuals because the CTS train is official leaving the station. It was fun while it lasted (no, actually it wasn’t) but the party has to end at some point, right?

Here we all are 2 years later. When I started there were 2 people working exclusively on the ticketing system, me and one other girl. There was a small customer service team in Crozet – Max, another guy and some part time employees. Slowly but surely the team increased in size until we find ourselves today with 50 employees on the customer service team, 10 people with my same job, 14 or so programmers and probably 10 various other people in operations, etc. I guess we could all look back over the past two years and feel lucky that in this economy we all had jobs in what felt like a thriving company. Or, we could feel bitter for our company building this all up under us only to yank the rug out so soon and after so much hard work.

Now we are all faced with the prospect of either being laid off or being placed somewhere in this new merged company. I feel lucky to be one of the people that was not told flat out that I would be laid off. I feel so sad for those people that were told that. A lot of good, hard workers are going to go through some pretty tough times over the next couple of months. Our team might be displaced across the country – fit in to jobs in other cities. I’m not quite sure what is going to happen with me just yet. Currently, I feel sad. Maybe things will start looking up next week. Maybe not.

3 Weeks Later…

It’s been too long since I posted. I know there are probably about 3 people out there in the world wondering what I am doing. Or, maybe I’m kidding myself and no one cares.

It’s 2010! I think everyone might have noticed that by now. Honestly, I’m not a big New Year person. I stopped making resolutions years ago and just don’t seem to place as much importance on the change in calendars as I see other people do. So, I’ll spare you the “this year I’m going to…” entry and talk about something else.

We have been in our new house for 2 full weeks now since returning from Virginia. I think the traveling is done and I hope to stay put in Austin for at least a couple of months. I have been feeling so out of sorts since we moved 2 months ago and I just want to stay in this house and nest. Almost the entire house is unpacked and this past weekend we ventured out in search of frames to start decorating. Hopefully, by the end of this week there will be pictures on the walls and it will feel more like home.

So far, I love Austin and our new life. Working from home has posed its challenges (our bed and a TV are literally 20 feet behind me all day) but the positive side of it is that I do not feel completely exhausted at the end of each day. I want to get up and go out of the house and into the world. We have been exploring a lot – mostly my eating out too often but we have also gone on some nice walks around town. We even took country dance lessons at the Broken Spoke down the street from our house. That was a riot! The first thing the lady said was that the man needs to be in charge and that the ladies need to not boss them around and zip their mouths closed. For those of you that know me, that was a difficult thing to swallow! I think we almost killed each other but hopefully we learned something from it and next time will be able to work better together.

One of my favorite parts of being back home so far has been the ability to see my parents in short intervals. We met my dad and stepmom for BBQ over the weekend and will meet up again this week for dinner. My mom and stepdad came over one night and I made dinner and we played card games. I haven’t had time like this with them in years. My visits were always short and rushed and nothing was this casual. By the end I was always itching to get away again. These short meetings are so wonderful! We talk for a couple of hours and then go our separate ways. Parents in short doses = a great idea.