Yes, Please.

p.s. I have 2 sunday night supper club & 3 baking blogs coming. so so so busy with school stuff & baking.

Deleting all my pop-punk (okay, just 98% of it) music off my Zune. I realized today that I skipped over almost every song because it just doesn't make me happy or match my mood. It's just too juvenile for me. I like substance, I guess. Guess I'm just a melancholy indie chick now.




Don't worry, I still love The Maine. And Saves The Day doesn't count because everyone likes them, even hipsters.

Beep Beep!

This is mine!! My dad was working at a franchising expo at the Minneapolis Convention Center this past weekend for his company and got to know the guy from RS Motorsports at the booth across from his. They had this scooter on display and the guy offered to sell it to my dad for $800! It was too good to refuse and I've been looking for a way to get around, especially to work, grocery shop, and get to Uptown to see A without taking an hour's worth of buses. I had to pay the $800, but I had been willing to pay $1000 for a car. Once I'm gone to England in the fall, my mom can use it to get to work. I'm going to make her pay for it, of course!

It goes up to 35 MPH, gets around 100 MPG, and is cute to boot! I'm a little nervous about riding this, but I'm going to practice in parking lots with my dad until I feel comfortable enough to zoom around the city. Wish me luck & look for me flying by soon!

Strawberry Shortcakes

For Italian Night for Sunday Night Supper Club last week (see previous post), I wanted to do something lighter to go with our carb-heavy meal. I decided to do mini strawberry shortcakes, using vanilla cupcakes as the base. I got the recipe from my Cupcake daily calendar. I did cheat by looking ahead at a December recipe for a basic vanilla cupcake. I liked the density of the cake, but they dried out quickly. I'll have to add a little oil next time. I knew they had the possibility of drying out because the batter going into the cupcake tin was more like cookie dough than cake batter. I also forgot to pick up more cupcake liners at the store, so I just greased the cupcake tins. That could have contributed to them drying out.

I also bought some baker's sugar to see if it made a noticeable difference in my baking. It was almost the same price as regular sugar so I knew it'd be worth it. Boy, was it! My batter was so smooth and creamy; no grains at all! I will never go back.

To transform these into shortcakes, I sliced open the cakes and spooned some whipped cream on the bottom half, adding a couple of strawberry slices. I put on the top, then adding a bit more whipped cream and strawberries.

I'm trying to become a better baking blogger, so I tried to take pictures of the entire process of making these. I forgot most of the time, but hopefully I'll get better at it.


The ingredients, plus my heart-shaped measuring utensils to add a little love. :)


Beating the butter and sugar.


Cooling.


Yum!

Sunday Night Supper Club 2/8

This week was Italian Night. We made eggplant parmesan with spaghetti and marinara and vodka sauces, salad with Italian dressing, and bread twists made by my good friend David. Blake and Molly had the bright idea to bring sparkling water and strawberry nectar to make Italian sodas. I also made mini strawberry shortcakes for dessert. My mom had brought over some huge chucks of triple chocolate bundt cake, so i cut that into manageable slices to use for the shortcake if someone preferred that over the vanilla cupcakes I made. (Another post on those to follow.) We stuffed ourselves silly since we made so many eggplant slices.

Why I Was Named Yvonne (According To My Dad)

The 1976 cover of Sports Illustrated:

Yvonne's on the right. My dad thought that Yvonne was hot and I guess it stuck with him until '89, when I was born.

Coconut Special K "Cookies"

I put cookies in quotation marks because these were more just copious amounts of coconut and sugar mixed with egg whites. I had an intense craving for coconut, so I found this recipe. I substituted Special K for cornflakes because that's what I had on hand. These were somewhat like macaroons, I guess. I drizzled half of them with milk chocolate for even more sweetness.


I honestly ate 4 of these right after they came out of the oven. I couldn't help myself. They were really gooey and not quite set in the middle, but I didn't care. The next day they had firmed up more, so I ate the remaining 8. I can't believe myself, but they were simply irresistible. So light and airy (due to the whipped egg whites) and sweet. If you aren't obsessed with sugar, definitely cut the amount in half or use even less than that. I will probably make these again when another craving hits!

Ayo Technology

I just got one of those little tab pictures instead of the boring Blogger 'B' thanks to this site. A little complicated but it was worth it!

Also, Pixlr.com is my new best friend. I've been whining internally about how I don't have photoshop on my computer anymore but this is just as good & free!

On the Mississippi

Today I convinced A to take a long walk with my be the Mississippi since it was so nice outside - a balmy 33 degrees and sunny. I lugged on my old winter boots (the first time all season, I admit) to make myself unstoppable in the slush and puddles.

It's nice to walk along the Mississippi, but it's even nicer to walk ON it! I wish I had brought my camera along to document our escapades on the melting river. Maybe I'll bring my camera along with me tomorrow when I take a walk if I don't work.

I love walking. I have knee/back/lung problems that prevent me from running so walking is the next best thing for me. I can cover a lot of ground and I'm known as a superfast speed walker! I hope to do it a lot more as the weather gets nicer out.

Magic

I love whimsical, magical, fantastical things. Not in a nerd way, but in a little kid way. I went to see Coraline in 3D last night and I loved it an unbelievable amount. Definitely spend the extra bucks for the 3D experience because I feel it definitely added to the film. There were so many extra touches that made me break out into a wide grin. I was squeezing A's arm every time anything extra cute happened. Go see it!

To build on whimsy, I posted before about Pushing Daisies. I just got Season 1: Disc 1 from Netflix today and watched all the episodes right in a row! It is so cute, so fanciful, so colorful, so.... everything I love in a movie or TV show! There were many times I teared up. The actress who plays Chuck has a birthday the day after mine, so maybe that's how I can identify with that character so well? Anyway, I wish this show hadn't have been cancelled so it could go on forever and ever. I wish I lived in Couer d'Couers. I want to be enveloped in that world - much like how Coraline was enraptured with alternate reality! I don't think my life would be in imminent danger if I stayed there, though.

I really want to make an apple pie with Gruyere baked right into the crust after watching that last episode.