Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
April 6, 2010
It finally happened - I missed a day. I worked until 12:30 in the morning on an emergency doc review project and just completely forgot. Dang it. Paul's response: "Well, it was fun while it lasted." I think I am not going to give up so easily.
Monday, April 5, 2010
April 5, 2010
I eat these panini for lunch almost every day at the office. We have an excellent cafeteria on-site that changes the panini each day - I have a hard time resisting.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
April 4, 2010
Easter Sunday. I enjoyed putting together an easter basket for Paul. I'm not sure what was so satisfying about it, but it was just fun.
Paul went to Japantown in San Jose and got me one of my favorite treats - strawberry pocky sticks.
Also, I made cupcakes - Fresh Strawberry and Chocolate Fudge with Sweet Tooth Fairy Frosting - then we took them around to neighbors and to easter dinner.
Here are the recipes. Try the strawberry - they never fail to impress. Only be careful not to add too many strawberries to your frosting or it will be really runny. If I am taking the time to make homemade frosting, I usually like to put it in a plastic bag, snip off the end, and pipe it onto the cupcakes. The chocolate cupcakes were just a Duncan Hines mix.
Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups cake flour* (I never have cake flour on hand, but you can make your own by mixing 1/4 cup cornstarch with 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour to get the 2 1/2 cups flour you need for this recipe)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar (or a little less)
2 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup chopped strawberries
Fresh Strawberry Frosting
1/4 cup strawberries
1/2 tsp lemon juice
4 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1/2 stick butter, room temp
3 cups powdered sugar (or more - I haven't perfected the measurements on this frosting yet)
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp coconut extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 cupcake pans. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl. In bowl of mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla until combined. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in berries.
Fill cupcake pans 3/4 way. Bake for 20 minutes.
For frosting, mix cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add sugar, then vanilla. Add berries until smooth. Frost cupcakes when they are completely cooled.
Sweet Tooth Fairy Frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp milk
Cream butter and cream cheese. Add flavorings, milk and powdered sugar and whip. This is my go-to frosting that I pair with chocolate cupcakes or vanilla or coconut cupcakes. I will sometimes toast coconut and roll the frosted cupcake in the coconut right after frosting it.
After spending the day listening to General Conference and spending time with Paul's aunt, uncle and cousins in Dublin, we came home and packed up the easter eggs.
Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups cake flour* (I never have cake flour on hand, but you can make your own by mixing 1/4 cup cornstarch with 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour to get the 2 1/2 cups flour you need for this recipe)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar (or a little less)
2 eggs
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup chopped strawberries
Fresh Strawberry Frosting
1/4 cup strawberries
1/2 tsp lemon juice
4 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1/2 stick butter, room temp
3 cups powdered sugar (or more - I haven't perfected the measurements on this frosting yet)
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp coconut extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 cupcake pans. Sift flour, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl. In bowl of mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla until combined. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in berries.
Fill cupcake pans 3/4 way. Bake for 20 minutes.
For frosting, mix cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add sugar, then vanilla. Add berries until smooth. Frost cupcakes when they are completely cooled.
Sweet Tooth Fairy Frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp coconut extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp milk
Cream butter and cream cheese. Add flavorings, milk and powdered sugar and whip. This is my go-to frosting that I pair with chocolate cupcakes or vanilla or coconut cupcakes. I will sometimes toast coconut and roll the frosted cupcake in the coconut right after frosting it.
After spending the day listening to General Conference and spending time with Paul's aunt, uncle and cousins in Dublin, we came home and packed up the easter eggs.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
April 3, 2010
BAKESHOW! You rock my socks! My MTC companion/best amiga totally surprised me with a carrot themed package with carrot suckers, carrot bubbles, carrot jellybean containers, etc. The card is addressed to "Casebolty", which was what she called me. I called her Bakeshow. This awesome easter surprise absolutely made my weekend and it is only Saturday morning. I love you Bakeshow!
Friday, April 2, 2010
April 2, 2010
This doesn't happen often, so we had to capture it on camera. I actually cleaned the tub. There is something about cleaning the bathtub/shower that exasperates me - how does it get so dirty? I feel like somebody is playing a trick on me whenever I finally realize that this chore really needs to be done. This is just maybe one of my least favorite chores.
Oh, and this is my running hairdo - I always pin back the hairs that want to come loose.
Oh, and this is my running hairdo - I always pin back the hairs that want to come loose.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
April 1, 2010
April Fool's Day - I tried and tried to come up with something funny to do - to anybody - but with no success. So I just went for a run - first one in over a week. Sometimes the hardest thing about working out is getting committed to a schedule. Tonight's run was hard just because for three days I had been saying that I was going, but this was the first night that I actually did it.
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