Pretty Fall Colors

So, my degree is in Interior Design. I spent four years designing hypothetical spaces in school then four months designing real spaces at a design firm before the economy took a nose dive. I am now in the corporate world doing corporate things with very little artistic outlet. Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I am VERY thankful that I am able to pay the bills even though life doesn't look like "The plan".

However... I yearn for a creative outlet. My recent interest in cake decorating has been fun and I really love the cool things I am learning. I also find culinary art to be really fulfilling. Making an amazing dessert or savory dinner satisfies that need to create. But, I have to say, I still get the itch to design living spaces! Consequently, various rooms in my apartment get redone from time to time. I kind of wonder about the timing because it is very odd. Last year, I got sick for about a week and the next week I redid my bathroom. Coincidently, last week I was sick all week and then I got a sudden burst of energy and redid my kitchen this week. I wonder if I react against the inactivity of being sick or something. Weird.

Anyway, so I repainted my kitchen cabinets and the walls in my kitchen and dining room. Before you go looking at the pictures I will tell you that my favorite season is Fall and I live in Southern California that doesn't really have much of a Fall (or any season, for that matter). It is quite sad, really. I find that my home decor is pretty much all Fall colors: golds, greens, browns and orange. I suppose I am trying to simulate seasons that I am not actually experiencing. So my kitchen and dining room now look very much like a Fall day. I kind of love it!

Here is my kitchen before:

And here is my kitchen after:

Here is my dining room before:

And here is my dining room after:

I am REALLY happy with how it turned out. The cabinets now match all the rest of the wood in my house and pulls everything together. It also just feels warmer. I am all about warm and cozy right now. Gearing up for the holidays (I know... already!) Speaking of, here are two more "Fall things" that are totally awesome:

Trader Joes mini pumpkin bouquets. My favorite thing about October - LOVE THEM!!!

And this delightful recipe I found on Pinterest to make my house smell amazing!

one orange

1/2 cup cranberries

1 Tbs. whole cloves

3 sticks of cinnamon 

a pinch of grated nutmeg 

Quarter the orange.  Put all the ingredients into a crock pot or a saucepan.  Fill pan with water.  Place on the stove on the smallest burner, on the lowest setting.  Refill water as needed.

This stuff is awesome. My house looks and smells like Fall should. Now if only the leaves would actually change... 

The blog you have all been waiting for... THE WEDDING CAKE

Today was Dave and Ellie's wedding. It was absolutely beautiful. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. I was a bit worried about it being hot since it was about thirty minutes inland and the weather channel was predicting mid-80's. Fortunately, it was in the low 70's and very comfortable. Their colors were variances of greens, beiges, and golds... very Fall-like. They got married in a beautiful park under a HUGE tree and there were leaves all over the ground. It couldn't have felt Fallier. (yes, I just made up a word, when you have your own blog, you can do that)

Anyway, as you know, I made the wedding cake for their big day. It was my first wedding cake and I was very nervous about it. I mean, when I really think about it, a wedding cake is simply a few normal cakes that you put on top of each other, no big deal. But I guess the fact that it is a WEDDING and the fact that I have never done one before put a bit of pressure on. I really didn't want to screw up! Especially since I offered to make the cake for them, I would have hated if that was the one flop among an otherwise magical day.

I am happy to say that it turned out perfectly! It came together to be just what Dave and Ellie asked for and exactly how I pictured it in my mind. I made the leaves out of gum-paste, which is like sweet, edible, play dough that hardens when it dries. The colors of the leaves turned out to be really complimentary to the wedding colors. I gave the cake some vertical texture on the sides because when we were looking at inspiration pictures, Dave and Ellie really liked that look. I used a slice of a tree trunk as the base for the cake because it gave it a rustic look and fit in perfectly with the feel of the wedding.

Anyway, enough description of the cake, I will just show you the pictures:

Here are the gum-paste leaves before they were scattered on the cake. These were definitely the most time consuming part of the cake. I probably spent 7-8 hours in total making them. I love how they turned out though, very natural!

There were only 18 pieces left which was great! A lot of times, there is a LOT of leftover cake and I was a little worried that there would be a lot of waste. 

There were two flavors, chocolate with raspberry mousse filling and red velvet with cream cheese filling. Both turned out well and both were a big hit! All in all, my first wedding cake experience was great! I am so glad I was able to give this to Dave and Ellie and SO glad that it turned out well. YAY!

P.S.

A huge shout out to Abby and Cheryl for helping me cut and serve the cake! I appreciate you girls!

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!

Last night our community group had an Italian Dinner with chocolate cake for dessert. It was Ben's birthday and he requested chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. I happen to have a delicious chocolate cake recipe from my mom. It is the same cake I am making for Dave and Ellie's wedding in a few weeks. The great thing is it is so versatile. You can fill it with chocolate mousse, raspberry mousse, whipped cream, anything! It is a very dense and moist cake. I also got to use my new mad cake decorating skills to make it look elegant. I think it was a hit!

Chocolate Cake
Cake:

9 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tbs. vegetable oil
2½ cups brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
½ cup butter
½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup milk w/ 1 Tbs. vinegar)
2¼ cups flour
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup boiling water

Frosting:

⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 Tbs. vegetable oil
¼ cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
⅓ cup warm water
1½ tsp. vanilla


Mix cocoa and vegetable oil. Cream brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and butter. Add cocoa and mix well.
Mix flour, salt, and baking powder. Alternately add buttermilk and flour mixture to batter. Mix well. Add 1 cup of boiling water. Pour into two greased and floured 8" round pans. Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes. Cool cake and fill with filling of choice. Mix together all ingredients for the frosting and frost the outside of the cake.

Zuppa Toscana

Last week I bought some kale so I could try making kale chips. I have heard several people rave about kale chips. I have to say though, not my cup of tea. They had a very strong taste and after about three, I threw the rest away. I was left with a lot of kale left and no idea what to do with it (have you ever tried raw kale? blech!!!). I asked for some suggestions on Facebook and several people raved about this Italian soup - Zuppa Toscana. I had never heard of this soup before but it sounded good and since my community group was having an Italian potluck this week, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to try it out. Conclusion - yummy!

Zuppa Toscana

5 Italian sweet sausages
1½ tsp. crushed red peppers
1 large diced white onion
6 slices bacon
2 tsp. minced garlic
10 cups water
3 cubes of chicken bouillon
1 cup heavy whipping cream
5 red potatoes

1 small bunch of kale (about 3 cups)
Poke a couple of small holes in the sausages and fry in medium pan on medium heat until done. Remove from pan and cut lengthwise then into ½" slices. Cook bacon in same pan used for sausages. Remove bacon and crumble. Cook onions and garlic in the same pan. Drain grease and set aside. Add chicken bouillon and water to a pot and heat until it starts to boil. Add the onions and garlic and sliced potatoes. Cook until soft, about half an hour. Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated. Stir in the sausage, the kale, and the crumbled bacon. Let the soup heat through and serve.

Cheesecake in a Jar

Last night my girls group made cheesecake in a jar (yes, we are that cool!). The little cheesecakes turned out awesome! Kelly got the idea off of Pinterest which is our newest addiction. I wish I would have kept track of how many times we mentioned something cool that we saw on Pinterest - it was a lot! What can I say? There are such creative things there. So fun! Anyway, you have to try this. Here is the recipe:

Cheesecake in a Jar

24 4 oz. regular mouth jars

2 cups graham cracker crumbs (16 whole graham crackers, ground)

2 Tbs. sugar

8 Tbs. butter, melted 

4 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

1 cup sour cream

1/4 tsp. vanilla bean paste

zest of 1 lemon

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

Spray the jelly jars with non-stick cooking spray, making sure to spray the bottoms so the crust doesn't stick.

Blend the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter in a bowl.  Place about 1 heaping tablespoon of the crumbs into each jelly jar and tamp down to make the crust.

In a large mixer bowl, mix the room temperature cream cheese with the sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well.  Add the sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest and mix until well incorporated. Fill each jelly jar with about 1/3 cup of the filling, leaving room at the top for your topping.

Place the jars in a large roasting pan or two deep baking dishes.  Fill the pan with hot water halfway up the jelly jars.  Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove jars and place on a wire rack to cool.

Top with fruit filling or chocolate or caramel or anything you want!

Awesome cake!

Here are some pictures of the cake I helped Jen, from No More Boring Cakes, with last week. It was a groom's cake for a man who finds rare coins and things with his hobby of metal detecting. The cake is a treasure chest surrounded by sand and coins and stuff. 

My part was pretty small, to be honest. I made the rocks (look closely in the sand, they are there), the leaves, the lock and corner pieces on the chest, and the metal detector on the top of the chest (that is what that long, skinny thing is). Anyway, I am having a great time learning how to do this kind of thing and major props to Jen who is super talented! Seriously... isn't this cake the coolest thing? 

Here is a close up of my leaves:

And here is the actual cake:

I was duped!

Once, when I was in the fourth grade, I went through the cafeteria line at lunch and got a nice big scoop of applesauce. I love applesauce. It looked delicious! I saved it for the very end of my lunch. I figured it would be a nice palette cleanser to chase down my sloppy joe.  I took a nice big bite of the juicy sauce only to discover that it was sauerkraut! Being a mere fourth grader, this was my first experience with sauerkraut. It was an unpleasant one, to be sure! And honestly... who serves sauerkraut to kids in their school lunch?!? Talk about traumatizing their taste buds!

Anyway, this got me thinking, much of our enjoyment of things come from our expectations. When reality lines up with our expectation, we are happy. When things are different than what we were wanting, we are let down. This definitely is true with food. That is often why people want to know ahead of time what is for dinner. We want to get our taste buds ready for it. If I am expecting spicy, chicken enchiladas for dinner but then get served pot roast, I am not going to enjoy it as much. Not because I dislike pot roast, but because I was expecting Mexican food and my taste buds weren't prepared for pot roast.

I find that this is also true for entertainment. Movies in particular. I went and saw the movie "One Day" today. It just came out in theaters so I won't give away any spoilers or anything but let me just say, I felt a bit duped. From the previews, it looked like a quirky romantic comedy starring Anne Hathaway. I was in the mood for a feel-good movie. It was set in Europe and looked to be along the lines of "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" (two EXCELLENT movies, by the way) Well, I walked away with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes and a bit of resentment at the fact that I was now totally depressed.

I will admit, there is a morbid side of me that deliberately watches sad movies sometimes just to make myself cry. Sometimes I kind of want to be depressed and sob over a pint of Ben and Jerry's and just be miserable. Today was not that day, yet I was forced into misery. Thanks a lot Anne Hathaway. I am now depressed and teary and have no Ben and Jerry's because I was not prepared for this. I think I will go watch something ridiculously funny to pull myself out of the dumps. Any suggestions?

Oh, and by the way, "One Day" was a good movie. I recommend it, just don't expect to be happy when you leave the theater because you won't be.

Breaking out of the Cube

So for the last three years I have worked faithfully in cubical-land.

At first, I thought I would go crazy in an environment like that but it really wasn't too bad. I even had a window seat so I was able to watch the sun rise every morning from my cube. Yes, I said, watch the sun RISE. I went to work at 5:00 a.m. and have pretty much been living like the walking dead for the last few years. Fast forward to today - I got a promotion at work (woo-hoo) and am now a supervisor. Good bye 5:00 a.m.!!!

Yesterday was my last day in my old job and I got to move out of my cube into my new office! Well.... ok, it isn't really an office, I have to climb a little higher up the corporate ladder for that. But it is a cube that is about three times larger than my old one and it is raised up on a platform above all the other cubes so I can feel all high and mighty and stuff.

My OCD REALLY kicked in yesterday. I usually just think that I am mildly OCD and like any other person, I just like things neat and clean. Then there are days like yesterday when I think I might have a mental illness and should seek treatment! It started when I went to examine the space I was moving into. The guy who occupied the space before me was kind enough to leave anything and everything he wasn't taking with him. The space was filled with old papers, random cords and computer paraphernalia (side thought - isn't paraphernalia a cool way to say "stuff"?) and garbage. There was even old food left. I found a jar of pickles in the desk drawer! Who keeps pickles at work?!? Anyway, I disposed of all of this junk then started cleaning. I think I used a whole container of Clorox disinfectant wipes cleaning the desk.

So far, this sounds pretty normal right? Just cleaning a dirty space. Well then it starts to get a bit weird. I notice that my computer keyboard is disgusting! Generally speaking I get totally skeeved out by things like a mouse, keyboard, and phone since they are germ magnets. I start working on the keyboard. I wadded up a disinfectant wipe into a tiny little point and started cleaning in between each individual key. For the dust that I just couldn't reach, I used an unwound paper clip to pick up the specks. If you can lift the speck out without touching a key you got it, if it touches the key it falls off and you have to try again. (it is kind of like playing Operation with dirt - super fun!) In my old cube, no one would notice me doing this because I was in my own little corner, but in this space, I am front and center and people were definitely noticing me spend an hour perfecting my keyboard. I started to realize that this might not be completely normal.

Once everything was clean enough for me to move in, I brought over all of my stuff. Being organized is just as important as being clean and I was going crazy that I had things like paper clips, push pins, and staples and just an open drawer to put them in. This simply would not work. After I got everything settled, I had a big pile of these random things that needed a home. So after work I drove down to the Container Store (which is a store designed specifically for people with OCD) and bought an desk drawer organizer. I then went back to work. Now keep in mind that I am done working for the day and don't have to be back until Thursday but being a bit sick in the head knew that I wouldn't be able to truly enjoy my day off knowing that there was a whole pile of junk on my desk that needed to be sorted. So I went back to work and finished organizing my desk.

When it was all said and done I was able to look at my sparkling clean and thoroughly organized desk and smile with satisfaction. Ok, NOW I can start my job... and maybe start looking for a therapist.

Camping Food

So, this blog is coming a little late. I just wasn't in a "bloggy" mood this week but this is a good recipe so I need to post it for those of you who collect good recipes! It is a recipe for homemade granola bars. I love making granola for my breakfast and it is so versatile. You can literally put anything in it and it tastes great. The same holds true for granola bars. This recipe is peanut butter/chocolate chip so it is on the sweet side, kind of a candy bar type of granola bar. But you could experiment with more nuts and dried fruit and make a healthier version. These bars are pretty hearty too. One will definitely last for a while. 


The reason I made homemade granola bars was that I went camping last weekend with a group of friends up to Yosemite National Park. I was in charge of the food. Four days/ nine people. It was quite an undertaking, let me tell you. It was fun though. The organizational part of me LOVED pre-cooking and pre-chopping all of the food and having everything labeled in ziplock bags and ready to pack. It was about three full days of prep work but when we were actually camping, meals were a breeze because so much was done ahead of time. It was definitely the way to go. 


We did a lot of hiking and sight seeing while we were there. The first day we hiked Yosemite Falls. Well, I hiked half of it anyway. It was a pretty big hike! Beautiful though!

The next day we hiked Sentinel Dome which was much less strenuous but had a killer view at the top. When we were initially planning our trip we were talking about hiking the Half Dome. I was all for it until I got there and saw it:

Yikes! That is a 17 mile hike with a good portion of it nearly vertical! Definitely not for me. You can't do everything and this is one of the things I can't do! But as you know, I can cook, so here is the recipe for the granola bars, enjoy!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

3 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup toasted coconut
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup oat bran
1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 1/2 cups honey
1/4 cup melted butter
8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13 inch pan with aluminum foil.
Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix in peanut butter, honey, and melted butter. Stir in chocolate chips. Press mixture firmly and evenly into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Let cool then refrigerate until hard, about 1 hour. Take out of pan and cut into bars (one 9x13 pan makes about 16 bars). Wrap each bar individually in Saran Wrap and freeze. This solidifies them so that they won’t crumble when you try to eat them.

OPA!

Last night our Community Group had a Greek dinner for Abby's birthday. We had a delicious spread! Kelly brought Souvlaki (grilled pork kebabs). Tricia made yogurt marinated kebabs, Colin did tzatziki sauce and Abby made homemade pita bread. Yuuummmm!
I brought dessert (as always) and made baklava. It turned out really good and it was very easy to make. Here is the recipe for those who might like to try a Greek dessert sometime.


Baklava
4 cups chopped walnuts
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. cloves
¾ cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup honey
1 cup water

Combine walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. Brush large glass rectangular baking dish with some of the melted butter. Layer 3 phyllo sheets, brush with butter, 2 more sheets, brush with butter.

Then place ⅓ of nut mixture on top. Repeat 2 more times.

Bake at 350°F for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, bring all ingredients for syrup to a boil, reduce heat and summer for 10 minutes.

Cut hot baklava into pieces with a sharp knife. Pour syrup evenly over baklava. Let stand for 2-3 hours.