Thanksgiving came and went. Jesse and I had three of them to get through so it was pretty hectic. We were up till 4 in the morning the night before making enough food to be able to take to each. Doubling and tripling recipes gets crazy. There was also a lot of driving since we had one in sandy, downtown, and bountiful, not to mention they all pretty much started at the same time. Seriously, I cannot wait to have my own house and do my own Thanksgiving so I won't have to run everywhere else. There is always one aspect of the holiday that tends to linger too long, the need to eat a lot! And it's not hard at all with all of the leftovers just sitting around. It's not just the eating, it's the sitting around recovering from all of the eating that makes the whole entire weekend nonsense and completely unproductive. Jesse and I have honestly been sitting at home since Friday eating leftovers every hour and watching movies. Then there's the cold, gray weather that puts you in a gray mood where food is once again, your savior. It's a vicious cycle.

I made my first attempt at pie and it was fantastic! The process was long at 2 am but I felt like a kid again, playing with dough. Our results were better than I had hoped and I even managed a nice, rustic lattice top that I was pretty impressed with. Considering that I don't really like apple pie or pie in general, it was pretty good and people really liked it. There are definitely a few changes I will make to the recipe when I attempt to make pie a second time but for now, I'm pretty happy with my first pie experience. Next on the list is Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake with a Gingersnap crust that I've been putting a recipe together for. First attempt at cheesecake which happens to be mine and my mom's favorite dessert, so she'll definitely be loving it if I'm successful. Pics and post to come with that but for now, enjoy thanksgiving photos.

{apple pie before oven}


{apple pie after oven}


{pumpkin cupcakes before oven}


{pumpkin cupcakes after oven}


{jesse found these liners in fall colors that were perfect for thanksgiving}


{pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting & a glazed pecan}

autumn special edition

There have been many thoughts occupying my mind lately and many endeavors I've been attempting to undertake. I've taken the first steps into launching something big, which will make its appearance in months to come I hope. This autumn has proven to be quite an inspiring one as I've dug out my boxes bursting of old Vogue's and subscribed for new ones once again. Inspiration has also led to a frenzied whipping up of baked goods especially now that the holiday season is in full bloom. And birthdays seem to be happening about every other week. We just celebrated Jesse's 25th in a classic way and this time I have pictures to prove it. Since his day landed on a Tuesday this year, family came first and on Saturday we celebrated with friends. I made his favorite (although everything I make is his favorite of course!) Pumpkin Cake but opted to marble it with chocolate to add a little something nice, and finished with a classic cream cheese frosting. Three layered and delicious, it went along with an all natural Vegan Apple-Apricot Cake for Joshua that was perfectly Fall and surprisingly rich. I wanted something that would be special for my old man and inclusive for Joshua. On Saturday, though I'll never tire of Fall flavors, I made Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with both chocolate frosting and cream cheese frosting to go along with a black and white theme. They turned out so well with a slight almond-y flavor and smelled so amazing! Did I mention that along with all of this deliciousness, we went to Harry Potter twice? Yes we did! and we're taking today to recover before we take on Thanksgiving in t-minus 4 1/2 days...eeeeee!

Going to my recurring obsession with Vogue, I've, in the past weeks, taken to an obsession with finding my perfect red lipstick. Those who have tried, understand that it isn't as simple as it sounds, finding the perfect red. They're broken into yellow-orange toned reds, blue toned reds (which whiten your teeth), pink-toned reds, and the elusive true red that is hardly ever made anymore. The rule of thumb is picking a tone that is the opposite of your skin tone. So, I'm yellow toned and therefore, should look for a blue-toned/true red lipstick. Since I began my search I've purchased four different reds, three of them drugstore brands. I finally ended up buying the infamous Russian Red by MAC based on numerous reviews that have labeled it a red that looks good on everyone, and also because it was a blue toned red, I thought it'd be perfect. Well it definitely was. It's the perfect pin-up, statement red that is super flattering and classic. Now, I'm looking for a more muted and daytime-wear red so the search will continue. As a result, I've decided to do a Red Review every blog on red lipsticks (and probably other makeup products) that I am trying just for my own reminding and also as a guide for someone who's also interested in finding their own perfect red or whatever. I'll most likely start this in my next entry because I'm a sucker for organization so be excited for that.

I'm guessing everyone is excited for Thanksgiving and this year, I'm looking to contribute my usual offerings with something new that I've yet to attempt: Pie. Homemade Mac & Cheese, Pumpkin Cupcakes, and Apple Pie. I'm a little nervous because I want so badly to master pie-making (so classic and homey!) and especially since this first attempt is making its appearance during the grandest food holiday of the year..have to pull out all the stops. So that's coming up in the next few days and then before you know it, the semester is over and it'll be Christmas!

Enjoy the picss since they're ever so rare.

{pumpkin swirl cakes}


{frosted}


{vegan apple-apricot cake}


{glowing cakes}


{make a wish}


{dry mix & dark cocoa mix}


{dark chocolate..mm}


{onetwoThree sticks of butter}


{lots o sugar}


{ready to go}


{almost done}


{black & white cupcakes}


{close up}


{more!}


{everyone got a candle for luck}

Can you believe it's October? It is part one of my favorite three months of the year. I get all giddy and fluttery when the leaves turn orange and pumpkins are out and it starts raining and smelling like christmas. Oh man. I think about writing something every day but school is kicking my tush and I am just too lazy to upload pics I have taken..but it will happen.

The past months have been crazy busy. Summer ended far too quickly and school won't end fast enough. I turned 21, and surprisingly haven't really felt that different. My car got slammed into which marks my first accident I've ever been in since I started driving. Thank god it wasn't my fault. I experienced my first gambling trip to wendover, one of the best nights of this year. Baking happens occasionally but I NEED to get back into it. I think about it all the time, but actually doing it is difficult especially when I have homework and when I just want to sleep when I don't have homework. I cannot actually believe that it is a week into October and I haven't made any of my pumpkin cupcakes or pumpkin chocolate cookies or peanut butter cup cookies to eat! I haven't even talked about our newest addition: my espresso machine!

Well I promise all to come, especially the photos. I will also be attempting to make caramel popcorn this month so be excited for that post. Other than that I am looking forward to fall break in Cali this weekend with my family and jesse so definitely photos from that!

yay for autumn

For some reason that is completely beyond me (mostly), I always get semi depressed around my birthday. So I felt like I had to blog something and I'm super embarrassed that my last one was from May. Well we've been in Moab since Wednesday night to visit Jennet and Josh and Emma while they're house sitting for Jesse's aunt. It's really nice to be back and go on some adventures. We went boating down the river yesterday (which was the first experience of that kind for me) and it was so much fun to just relax and catch the scenery. Moab is beautiful! Except the horseflies. I HATE horseflies. It stings when they bite you and for some reason my bites are bigger and itchier than everyone elses. Damn horseflies.

We're heading back to slc tonight and tomorrow will be a full day and then I'm turning 21 on Monday! I was excited like a month ago but as it draws closer and closer I'm dreading it. Not the actual aging part, just the thought of having to do something on that day and what to do and who the hell to do it with. I really hate planning my own birthday party because I feel like a self absorbed brat and this year I genuinely do NOT want any presents which throws people, like my boyfriend, completely off. Then they start making themselves believe that "I'm just saying that" and I really do want presents. While it's no question that I love getting presents, I'm just not into it this time. Part of that is because Jesse quit his job and we are both going to school full on this fall so we both need to save money. So perhaps that can be my present!

Other than that I don't really know what this lull means in recent years and even lately. I wonder if maybe there's some statistic on it somewhere or if this happens to other people around their birthday or if I'm just being utterly odd. Maybe there's just nothing to it and it has nothing to do with my birthday arriving. I just happen to be consistently depressed at the same time every year. I guess there's a full moon tomorrow. Maybe it's the moon.

i have sooo not been available these past couple weeks. Summer has started but not really since I have summer school and I have a new job and we just took in a litter of kittens and their momma! We had to take them in so we could fix the mom and protect the kittens from predators. At first we had to bottle feed the kittens because we had to separate them and we weren't sure if the mom was feral, but she's fine. Oh man bottle feeding three kittens is pretty much like having three little babies. Formula every 4 hours, then burping, washing, and helping them go potty..equals no sleep for anybody. We decided to re-introduce the kittens to their mom this week since it will be 2 weeks till we get her fixed, and things have been a lot easier. She's awesome with her babies and she's getting more used to us. Pictures will come soon since they are super adorable. We have found one kitten a home and we are hoping to find the other two homes but jesse and I love the little grey one (i want to name her wednesday) so we will see what happens. If anyone desires a little cutie, please tell me, they're going to be awesome cats.

Another event occurred last week that has become a huge moment in my baking career. I made my first Tiramisu which turned out to be a ginormous success (amazingly!). It was for my stepmom's birthday since she loves tiramisu so much and it was delicious. I didn't buy enough lady fingers so the cake wasn't very pretty to look at (authentically kept in a covered bowl-in my case, tupperware) and since I didn't have any of my baking stuff (park city lays claim to 80% of my things) I had to make it the old fashioned way, no mixer! I still am amazed that it turned out but not only that, that it was so delicious. It is important to let it sit overnight in the fridge so all that whipping doesn't go to waste, and to use good mascarpone cheese. I swear by REAL mascarpone. Some people use a mixture of cream cheese and sour cream as a substitute because it is a little expensive (about $6-$8 for 8oz) but since it's all about the mascarpone cream in the cake, it'd be silly to not use actual mascarpone. This goes back to the brownie blog and using good quality chocolate for something that's all about chocolate. I took some pics but I since I will be making a second attempt for a prettier version, I'm going to post those pics up instead. Wait and see.

It's been a minute hasn't it? well things are certainly different. No need to dwell. This shall be new beginnings.

Plan on seeing me around campus a lot this fall. Me and my new bike that is. The one that will be arriving by post this week. I'm sure there will be pictures taken because I'm just so darn excited.

Well, I thought I'd write this post on how "bad ass cranberry juice is". Not the ocean spray juice cocktail shit, not even the 100% juice cranberry juice that they try to pass as legit (look closely and you'll find apple juice and grape juice right in there with it). I'm saying Just Cranberry juice, pure and friendly. Just $8 a quart. The stuff is glorious..not your every day glorious, definitely with a little kick, but glorious nonetheless.

Lots of decisions have been set in motion recently which makes for a lot of changes. Unfortunately blogging or baking hasn't been of interest lately but just wanted to write something to let you (whoever reads this..) know that I'm ok. I'll be back to my old self in no time. And I'll update you (again whoever you are..) on all the news.

Currently listening to The Sea and Cake and it put me in the mood to do some blogging. Recently, I've discovered a glorious internet joy called Pandora. I'm sure EVERYONE has been using it for the past 8 three years already but I was always skeptical (Music Genome Project as in DNA? HA!) How could the internet know and understand my musical depth?? How could it know what I liked and didn't?? All I can say now is that I'm extremely impressed. Not only does it access a fantastic amount of lesser known songs, it shows you artists that you've never even heard of who fit into your tastes. I know this is probably old news for some but I just thought I'd give an ode to this genius.

I guess there's been some interesting things going on since my last blog 5 days ago. I am now jobless..which is liberating and scary at the same time since my livelihood depends on a steady income. There are a couple jobs lined up so I'm not that worried...but I always have a habit of worrying so I didn't want to disappoint anyone. I won't talk in detail because I don't want to jinx it but I can honestly say that it will be the best thing to happen to me in awhile if I get this job. This is me seriously asking someone...anyone out there to pray for me :) Right now though, I'm excessively enjoying my time off.


This weekend was pretty busy with Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day, and a couple playdates planned out. On Thursday, Jennet and Josh invited us to Wiseguys to see one of their friends do a show. It was actually really enjoyable and I definitely think it would be nice to go every once in awhile just to laugh a little. We spent the day on Saturday hanging out with Jennet, Josh, Emma, and Jesse's mom. Then we had a hot pot get together at my Dad's for Chinese New Year (hot pot YUM!) For Valentine's Day Jesse made me breakfast (French Toast and Fruit) then we just spent the day shopping for one another and watching movies. He'll be buying me a sweet pair of cream colored Toms that I can't help but love. I couldn't get them in the store because the sales people were rude but I will be getting them. After our busy day, I made us dinner. We had:

Butternut Squash Soup
Salmon with Potatoes and Roasted Garlic Broccoli
Molten Chocolate Cakes with Vanilla Ice Cream

The cakes were divine. SO easy to make and SO delicious. I might be biased on the level of skill because I had Pistachio on hand to make sure everything was o.k. but honestly, totally easy and totally rewarding. It makes it look like you spent hours on this chic dessert that people order at 5 star restaurants in Manhattan. Jesse was definitely impressed and again, Domestic Goddess points! The key part is to pop them out of the custard cups right out of the oven without breaking them. Obviously with burning hot glass against you, thoroughly buttering the cups in the beginning is SO important. Anyways, the recipe said you could use whipped cream to cut the chocolate since it's so rich but I decided to use ice cream to make it a hot and cold dessert which I definitely think is the way to go.

I'm going to go back and put up some pictures of the brownies I made last week on that earlier post as I promised, and also a few pics from dinner and such. We also decided that Valentine's will be our chosen holiday when we go all out and send people cards since we're too good for Christmas and any other holiday that people typically send cards on. We handmade each one and it was so much fun since I've never handmade a pretty card before! I'll post pictures of thee pictures we had in them too. This weekend is when we're planning on doing the Post-Sundance dinner since it's been so busy for the last couple of weeks but more on that menu later.

Valentine's Dinner



Molten Cake


Jesse all done


The card is pretty self explanatory. These are the pics we didn't use.

Ok so I have to admit that I've done something bad. Usually I am a healthy baker, very conscious of what I'm incorporating and trying for the healthiest and freshest ingredients. Tonight, I unknowingly (or by some miracle) got myself deep into a brownie recipe that literally pulled out all of the stops. First, I scanned the recipe for the basics like checking to see if I had most of the ingredients, how long it would take, and if it was very labor intensive. It seemed pretty straightforward and I was excited because I haven't really tested any brownie recipes. I ran to the store and stood in the baking aisle for a good 15 minutes contemplating the idea of getting high quality bittersweet chocolate which is excessively expensive and therefore, something I've never done. Using the freshest and highest quality ingredients, especially for dishes that are all about one ingredient (brownies=chocolate) is the best way to get the best results. So I decided to splurge and totally went for it.


It wasn't until I got home and actually started melting the chocolate that I realized (after reading it 7 times) that I was supposed melt about a pound of butter along with it. Not only that, the recipe called for 6-count them SIX-eggs. Well needless to say this recipe has cleaned out my pantry staples but I am so happy I knocked down my biggest, unhealthiest, recipe of the year so far.

Now as I sit in bed with the smell of warm chocolate still wafting in the air, I actually feel like a Domestic Goddess (Thanks Nigella!) Jesse is in utter bliss with my brownie adventure and I have made him promise to let me freeze them so we can eat them slowly as not to kill over in heart attacks. Different variations to come in the the near future, but now that I've conquered a good basic brownie recipe those shouldn't be too hard. Lesson learned today: USE the best quality chocolate for the best quality brownie! It is totally true and I promise you won't regret it.

Look at that pound of butter...

..and how it all melts away!

Go Saints! Not because I like them...but since both of my teams didn't come close to making the Superbowl and the fact that I HATE the Colts..the Saints become the natural choice. Plus it's nice to have an "underdog" come and make Peyton eat it. We're going to Jeff and Andrea's house today for the game and I'm bringing a grasshopper sheet cake. It's basically a chocolate cake with mint frosting. The added detail that makes it Superbowl worthy are Andes mints in the shape of little footballs on each individual piece. You just have to cut the corners off of the mints and voila! Easy peasy. I was going to make the cake from scratch along with a new method of making frosting that I read about and wanted to try, but I am in Sandy at Jesse's dad's house today without my mixer (which henceforth shall be called Pistachio). Since the frosting involves warming egg whites then whipping them into oblivion (which is an amazing concept that makes the frosting fluffy yet firm with no raw egg-age) a hand held whisk would've taken me to the next century, and alas, no hand held mixer in Sandy.

So to the horror of myself, my boyfriend, and probably you, dear reader, I will be buying Pillsbury Devil's Food Cake Mix, which will stand in for my chocolate cake, and Pillsbury Vanilla Frosting which I will flavor with Peppermint extract as a ginormous substitute to the whipped-egg-creme de menthe-concept. I felt that I needed to confess this travesty to someone or something and here it is..in cyberspace. On a brighter note this will fulfill a strict personal belief that I have developed. Based on a past experience that will irk me till the day I die: Always ALWAYS bring something to a party/event/social gathering that you were personally invited to and that you did not help plan. It doesn't matter if it's a present, a bottle of wine, or food enough to share, just something. Even if the host says to bring nothing, you bring something anyways. It is just basic thoughtfulness, and to be honest (based on this past experience) I think it's ridiculously rude not to. Of course there may be exceptions, but very rare exceptions. In fact I think the guidelines mentioned earlier pretty much cover any exceptions.
Bring something if:
1. You did not plan or help plan the party.
2. You were invited, not doing the inviting.

I must sound pretty anal sometimes..but everyone has their pet peeves and personal preferences for everything. Well I'm off to the store for my cake. Pics up soon. Go Saints!

There's no one here these days since Sundance started. Jesse is definitely working for the money he's about to make. On the first day, we were up at 7 to pick up the car he would be driving and he wasn't home till 3am that night. That's pretty much been the same every day since Sundance started. At first we thought there would be breaks while waiting for people when we'd be able to see each other but so far it's been impossible. Like at Andrew's birthday dinner last Saturday, he said he would be able to stay for three minutes and it really was just three minutes, including walking in and walking out time. Needless to say I'm a bit frustrated with the whole situation but I keep thinking money money money, I must think $$$ if I'm going to get through this week.

He's been meeting some interesting people though. Just yesterday, he was driving around the director of this environmental documentary. They got to talking about the film and what Jesse was interested in doing which is working for the UN doing population statistics etc. This director, his name is Michael Nash, whips out his cell phone and calls this lady name Coco from theUN who is at the moment having lunch with Al Gore and Lester Brown. The four of them chat for a second and in the middle of Al Gore saying something, Nash interrupts and tells Coco about Jesse and his UN hopes. She promises that she will give him an internship and once he graduates, a job, all they have to do is stay in contact. Can you believe that? Al Gore got interrupted!! Obviously we are ecstatic about this news and if all goes well, we will be moving to New York (UN headquarters) or some European city in the next couple years. OMG! Stay tuned.

I've been keeping myself busy I would say. Planning Andrew's dinner, Andrew's birthday, hanging out with friends I haven't seen in awhile, homework, babysitting, work, watching Coraline and Julie and Julia for the fifth time in a row etc (Both amazing movies by the way.) The house is a mess and for some reason I cannot bring myself to clean it. Perhaps today's the day.

Let me just take this moment to say that Financial Aid at the University is beyond ridiculous. I've been dealing with getting my financial aid through for the past 6 months and it is out to get me till the very end. Has anyone tried calling the Financial Aid Dept? Everytime I attempt to call a message comes on almost immediately saying "Thank you for calling the University of Utah office of financial aid and scholarships. Currently we are experiencing a high volume of calls and we ask that you call back at a later time." Then it goes on to say that they are open Mon, Wed, and Fri with LIMITED HOURS on Tues and Thurs. Even if you do somehow manage to get through, you are put on hold for 20 min at least. Why don't they think of getting more people to man the phones if they are busy like this all the time. Even if you try other depts, they always refer you back to the financial aid dept, why doesn't the University use it's vast array of resources and do something about it!

Because of this delay, and because in 2010, the University and government systems are somehow NOT conveniently interconnected, my financial aid that finally came through wasn't applied to my tuition and I had to pay for it by myself in the end anyways. Doesn't this render the department useless? Don't people rely on this dept so they can go to school? Even though they know that I have financial aid coming through to cover my tuition and then some, they aren't able to defer my paying tuition and of course when I did pay it (with my dad's help dear old dad) it was the easiest thing in the world. Just a credit card number, an expiration, not even a CVV number, and ONE submit button, $1600 for two classes is taken in an instant. Sixteen hundred dollars for TWO classes...the University seems like the only place that is increasing in value with these hard economic times. One wonders, where does this money go? I have a few suggestions for where it should.

I'm glad I got that all out. Phew. Anyways, I've decided that I need to focus on something, such as a hobby of some sort. I haven't had much time lately to bake or cook and I want to get back on that. I was thinking of doing the Julie/Julia project sort of but with a different cookbook. Speaking of that, anyone who has seen the movie will agree with me, the food styling in that movie is amazing, I was famished by the end. The one thing that got me salivating excessively was the Tomato Bruschetta that Julie cooks in a scene and since then I've been trying to find the recipe. I finally did and it is the legit thing, originally published in Atlantic Magazine by Susan Spungen who also happened to be the Culinary Consultant and Food Stylist on Julie and Julia. I'm plannning on making a celebratory dinner in honor of Sundance ending and the good paycheck that will have made the ten days all worth it. I'll be making the bruschetta as a part of it. More on the Julie/Julia project I will be attempting, and pics to be up soon.

a new year

I cannot tell you how busy this past holiday season has been. Obviously there was no time for a blog because it's been a month and a half since my last post. I figured I should probably start up again before it is too late into 2010.

Since Thanksgiving, which went really well, Christmas took over my life. We decided this year, to have my parents come to my house instead of trekking to Park City since we wanted to do a smaller holiday than years past (no money!) and since it would be more convenient. Everything was chaotic with finishing school during the first half of the month that present shopping and holiday planning were pushed until a week and a half before. Since this was my first experience with having my family over at my house, I wanted everything to be perfect so I was stressing about all of it. The menu was:

Eggs Benedict with homemade Hollandaise
Cajun Potatoes
Mimosas
Strawberry Cake

My parents brought the Asian dishes like tofu with mushrooms and cabbage, chile wings, and leek buns. We had a really good mixture of everything. Along with cooking for my family, I also baked gingerbread for Jesse's Christmas that would be in the evening. On Christmas Eve, I cleaned the whole house, we wrapped presents, and cleaned some more. Vivian had her puppy Mochi with her that whole week so the cats were very unhappy and Andrew brought Kudo, my Aunt's dog, who he was babysitting. It was a crazy Christmas with all the animals chasing each other around my small house and all the cooking going on, but it was the best Christmas I've had in a while.

All the food

My family + Jesse (Viv is taking the pic)

the Strawberry Cake


our tree

the pups had to be separated

After Christmas at my house, Jesse and I hurried over to his sister's house for their Christmas. The gingerbread cookies turned out fantastic and everyone loved them. Best gingerbread recipe ever and definitely a keeper. We didn't make it home until 11 pm Christmas night and since I was up at 8, I was exhausted. It was a really great day and it helps me remember why I love Christmas despite it being incredibly busy.

For New Years, Hollie and I planned a party at their house. It was even better than last year's party with more people, more food, and more dancing. It was the perfect way to end a fantastic year and a memorable start of a new decade. I have now been a vegetarian and 1/2 vegan for a year now. I plan on keeping it up this year as well. Jesse will be working at Sundance and it's something we're both looking forward to because of the amazing pay and the experience. I plan on getting my CNA this month so I can get some hospital experience and quit my current job which is generally unfulfilling. This way I'm also working toward my bigger goal and not wasting anymore time! I've also decided on my major which will be Environmental Studies so I'm anxious to just get it done and graduate. Overall we're both optimistic about this upcoming year and can't wait for opportunities to surprise us.

PS. Christmas morning brought me a delightful package. Jesse splurged on me and got this to help me pursue my developing interest in baking. I'll be testing recipes now more than ever which means more blogs. This baby is going to change my life. (& isn't she pretty?)