in honor of the first day of summer...

I'm finally going to post some spring pics. What can I say, timeliness is not one of my virtues. The top one is my favorite b/c I didn't think Mr. Bee would come out as anything but a blur. When I uploaded the pic to the computer, I was thrilled!







If you want to see a few fall and winter pics, I just updated my flickr photostream. (I figure posting winter pics on June 21st would just be too pathetic, even for me!)

Uh, Happy Summer!

M-O-O-N spells moon

I have always had trouble taking any worthwhile pictures of our beloved satellite, but with a few tips I picked up, I had some (very) moderate success.

I like the spookiness of the B&W.


But I also like the true color here, and the branch is a nice touch.



With the aid of my trusty photoshop, I was able to create a more artistic rendering.



And again. This one is my favorite, evocative and moody.


I know I'm not around much these days. Work and, of course, life-in-general, haven't left me much time or energy for my hobbies lately. Hopefully I will post more regularly soon, I'm just not sure yet when "soon" will be. If you're still checking in on me, I thank you!

hell hath no fury like... uh, hail

Here are some cool pics from the major hailstorm we had last week.

B took these as it was happening:

And these just after it stopped:

I took these when I got home from work (almost 2 hours later!!):

And these the next morning:

There was still hail on the ground over 15 hours later!

Ní hé lá na gaoithe lá na scolb.

That's an Irish proverb, meaning "A windy day is not the day to be fixing your thatch (roof)." (If google is to be trusted, that is.) Sounds like good advice to me. In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I'm putting up the following recipe, but just a warning/apology: I sent this exact thing out by email last year, so if you got it then, you've already seen it. But not everyone will have gotten it then (and I didn't make anything this year) so I'm posting it. Plus, it's totally repeat-worthy!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

While chocolate cake may not spring to mind as a particularly Irish dish, this one has Guinness in it, which is Irish enough for me! It is truly delectable - moist, rich, not too sweet.

CHOCOLATE STOUT CAKE
Bon Appétit September 2002
Servings: Makes 12 servings.
My notes are in green (but of course).

(** I halved the entire recipe and used two 9-inch cake pans. What's below is the original recipe, though, so adjust accordingly depending on how much cake you want. **)

Ingredients

Cake:

2 cups stout (such as Guinness) (which is what I used)
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (The recipe actually says Dutch-process cocoa is best, but I used my regular Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa powder and it was fine.)
4 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sour cream

Icing:

2 cups whipping cream
1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghiradelli bittersweet chips)

Preparation
For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. Butter paper. (I just coated my pans with baking spray, nothing else, and they were fine.) Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.

For icing:
Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours. Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with second cake layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake. (** I put raspberry preserves in between the layers instead, then spread the ganache over the top and sides. **)

another winter passes

Goodbye...

love is for suckers

What did you think I meant?

Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

can't... resist... sleeping... kitty

our annual New Year's Day (ish) meal

It's January 11th you say? Well, we didn't even eat this until Jan. 5th, so... that's just how I roll. But we eat this a few other times during the year, no need to wait till next January before trying it for yourself!

First, make a pot of black eyed pea soup. Then bake up some cornbread, and at the very end saute some baby spinach. Yuh-hu-hummy!

Black Eyed Pea Soup:

The soup is based on a recipe a co-worker gave me, and I changed it up a little bit. (I'm going to write it conversational style because I don't have an actual recipe.)

Chop an onion and about the same amount of celery and a couple cloves of garlic. In a soup pot, saute all that in some olive oil for a few minutes. Also, add a few twists of freshly ground black pepper and a couple shakes of red pepper flakes. After the veggies have softened a bit, add in one sliced link of kielbasa type sausage (the pre-cooked kind). Saute that for a few minutes. Then add in:

2 cans of drained & rinsed black eyed peas

1 can of drained black eyed peas with jalapenos (I don't rinse those to better keep the heat & jalapeno flavor)

3 cups water

1 cube chicken bullion

1 package of grape tomatoes, each sliced in half

And any more seasoning that you want, like I usually add more black & red pepper and some salt and some garlic powder. Stir and bring everything to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 25 minutes or so, till thick and creamy. (Like most soups, don't judge this one till it's done, the whole is way more than the sum of its parts.) Taste, and tweak seasonings if necessary.

Now, while that's cooking, make your cornbread. I admit here in front of god and everybody that I use Jiffy cornbread mix and I love it! So sue me. I do make a double batch in one pan to make it thicker and fluffier. I use a bit more milk than called for and start checking for doneness way before the recommended time. (Do not overbake! Otherwise it will get dry and icky.) Of course you should put a big ol' pat of butter on it before you eat it. I also like to take some and put it right in my soup.

For the spinach, saute a small clove of chopped garlic (or half of a large clove, don't overdo it trust me) and some red pepper flakes in some olive oil. Stir continuously and cook on medium for just a minute or two, till the garlic is softened and fragrant but before anything burns. Then turn the heat down to medium low and throw in a bag of baby spinach. Gently stir and work in all the spinach so it gets coated with the oil and wilts a bit. This won't take long at all, so watch it or you'll have a big pan of spinach mush. (I'd still eat it though, yum.) Remove from heat and transfer to plates. Sprinkle with coarse salt. I used some grey Fleur de Sel that I bought on impulse and haven't known what to do with. Crunchy!

The soup and cornbread are great leftover, but make the spinach fresh if you have this for a second night.

This is easy-(black eyed) peasy, delicious and hopefully will bring all who eat it good luck and prosperity in the new year. If nothing else, it will bring them a few minutes of culinary pleasure, Southern style. Happy New Year!

have yourself a merry little christmas

Be safe and have fun!

~ Susie

(P.S. - It's unlikely I'll post anything over the next week as I'll be traveling around the southwest. Just thought I'd save y'all some mouse clicks. But be sure to come back next year!!)

ghost of christmas past?

So last year when I actually decorated the house for Christmas, I decided to take a bunch of pics so I'd have proof for the doubters but mostly so I could practice taking pics in low light. Which I still suck at. They're always blurry, so I guess I need a tripod and maybe a better camera too. Or something. Anyway, when I was going through them, something on one of them caught my eye...

In the picture below, there is a small dark humanoid form in front of the fireplace. What the hell is that???? Now let me say, I took a bunch of pics in a row and it's only on this one, there is no ordinary object inadvertently placed in front of the lens that could be mistaken for whatever this is, and I even showed it to B and some other friends (all skeptics) and none of them could figure out what it is either!


Here I've lightened the exposure and zoomed in, so you can get a better look.

Now I'm not saying I think it IS a shadow person or something like that (uh, that would be bad), but it's been a year and I still can't solve the mystery which is kind of creepy but in a fun way. We've had a handful of other unexplained phenomena happen here over the years, nothing scary just... unexplainable. I'll have to do a post about those things someday. But for now, any idea what this might be? It does appear to reflect light, supernatural beings probably don't do that... right? Can you see it???

cranberry crunch cookies & italian cookies

So our office party was pretty small & quiet this year (we were hoping for better), and there was way more food than hungry people, so my cookies were largely untouched. Which sucks ass because I spent three freaking nights baking them. At least, everyone who ate them seemed to like them, which is cool since I crave that sort of validation. All the cookies are very good, you can't go wrong with any of these, assuming you like what's in them.

The cranberry crunch cookies are chock full of goodies: dried cranberries, toasted almonds, oatmeal, and graham cracker crumbs which gives them a fun, unusual crispy/crunchiness. Yet they're chewy at the same time. Like I said, unusual and fun. I found this one here on Cookie Madness; Anna links to the original recipe on her post. (Which is what I used.) The prep on these is a bit of a pain compared to some cookies, as you have to toast the almonds, grind up the graham crackers, zest the orange. But there's nothing difficult about any of it. Also, these are pretty sweet, so I might skip rolling them in turbinado sugar (though that lends a pleasing sparkle and crunch) OR I might just cut back on the brown sugar some, if I make them again. But they're not cloyingly sweet or anything, I just personally prefer a bit less sweetness.

And I found these Italian cookies here on Noble Pig. Are these the cutest cookies in the universe or what? OK, maybe not, but they are definitely the cutest cookies I've ever made. I have a thing for sprinkles, what can I say. The original recipe calls for anise extract, but um, no I did not want licorice flavored cookies under my sprinkles, so I used lemon extract in both the dough and the glaze. Also, I added the zest of two lemons to the dough. Otherwise I think I followed the recipe exactly. When dipping the cooled cookies into the glaze, I did about 5 at a time, then sprinkled, then repeated. You want to get the sprinkles on there while the glaze is still wet. Oh, and this is my first foray into Crisco usage. It's a super small amount when you spread it over this many cookies, and I wanted to get the texture right, so I figured what the hell. (I am usually a butter purist.) No regrets with that here, though I will stick to butter-based recipes most of the time. Besides being adorable, these taste great, and they make your mouth happy because it thinks it is eating a teeny tiny cake - WITH SPRINKLES!!

happy happy joy joy happy happy joy joy...

peppermint bark chocolate cookies

Well, the wedding I was in was a rousing success, I had a nice visit with my folks who came down for the weekend, I got all my shopping done (I think), and I made one out of the three cookie recipes I need to have baked for the potluck on Thursday. I probably should make the second recipe tonight, but it's already 10:00 and it's just not going to happen. I'm still feeling overwhelmed, but it's good to know I have accomplished something.

These cookies are really good. They pretty much taste exactly like you'd expect, in a good way. The recipe can be found here. No surprise that I did the "bark" the lazy way: used a scant half cup of crushed 'soft' peppermint candies* and a heaping half cup of white chocolate chips. (This dough is thick; I think my 20 year old hand-me-down hand mixer was about to overheat! Someday you will be mine, KitchenAid stand mixer... someday.) Keep the dough in the fridge between batches. All my batches were done in 10 minutes, which never happens when I make cookies, so be sure to check these at 10. Oh, and someone in the comments suggested adding a bit of peppermint extract but I did not and I would not in the future. Too much mint is overwhelming, the candy adds plenty of it, trust me. I got about 46 cookies or so. I will wrap these in wax paper and put them in an airtight container, then freeze till Thurs so they stay fresh-tasting. I'll try to post the other cookie recipes later in the week, but no hard and fast promises! G'night.

* Like these. They're hardish but sort of melty when you chew them. I wouldn't even think about using the totally hard kind; these were a pain enough to crush as it was. I unwrapped a bunch, put them in a freezer bag and went after it with a rolling pin. They crush better if you throw your weight into pressing the pin down on them, rather than bashing them.

super long post full of random things

Last night we had a power outage that lasted 3 hours. Something blew up on top of some pole and several blocks went down. Luckily it was back on by 11:30 so we didn't freeze too bad, but never mind all the stuff I was hoping to accomplish. The good thing is, the moon was bright and the stars were shining and I spent a long time gazing at them. Wouldn't have done that otherwise.

I am FREAKING OUT about Christmas. I haven't done a single card or bought a single gift. And I can't do much this weekend because I'm in a wedding. And I have to bake 3 kinds of cookies for my office potluck. At some point. FREAKING OUT. And I didn't even decorate this year. Y'all people with mad skilz in time management - HOW DO YOU DO IT??? Seriously. Please tell me how. (If you're wondering how I have time to write this post, the answer is, by writing it at work, of course! heh)

The foliage around Austin is unbelievably gorgeous these days. I guess drought is good for one thing. I like to commute on prettier roads, and all along Mopac and downtown in the Clarksville area it's a feast for the eyes. So many colors, some trees are just glowing I swear. Please look around if you haven't yet, it won't last much longer!! Here are a few pics I took in Dallas over the holiday weekend, more coming later from here at home. Maybe. (See above plea for help.)

Haagen Dazs has a Limited Edition out right now, which is Peppermint Bark. Holy crap is it good. I ate three-fourths of the pint in one sitting. No, I'm not proud of that.

Why do those "Classmates" and "Reunion" sites keep emailing me that people are searching for me or signing my guest book, but then they won't let me see who's searching or even see my own guestbook without paying for a subscription? Fuck you, classmates and reunion.

I wish I could take pictures of smells. The other morning some guys were chopping down a tree behind my office and the fresh lumber smelled so good, I wished I could capture it and share it somehow. Poor tree though.

Over Thanksgiving, I learned that my brother and I apparently have exceptionally small ears.

It was a good holiday. Everyone got along, there was no real drama (though one nephew did squeeze out a few tears after losing at monopoly), it was downright pleasant all around! Plus I won the pot, twice I think?, in the card game we always play at B's family get-togethers. Suckas.

Also over Thanksgiving, I went to half a bachelorette party and I had a birthday.

37 feels a lot older than 36. (Hence, the attendance of only half a bachelorette party.)

My mom made me my "signature" birthday cake: devilsfood cake with chocolate frosting with M&Ms all over it. YU-HUH-HUMMY!

On the way home from Thanksgiving, we hit terrible traffic. No shock there, but it sucked anyway. B wanted to try a new alternate route, east of 35, so we did do that for a while. It was great, no traffic, just country roads and farms and fields and sky and grass and trees. Really pretty area (east of Hillsboro basically). The dying grass along the highway was sort of glowing greenish white. We had vast unobstructed views of the sky, silverlined clouds heading on towards sunset. (So many times when I'm driving, I see things that would make beautiful photos, and I'm not in a position to take any. This is very disappointing, but I suppose the bright side is it forces me to just enjoy the moment without filtering it through the lens, which can cause a detachment from the situation happening in real life.) I wanted to get back on the highway before dark, so we went back to 35 and the rest of trip was congested and annoying. Except for two things: the atomic sunset and later, our view of the moon's alignment with Venus and Jupiter. That was awesome! (Can you see the smiley face created by this alignment? Pic from Astronomy Pic of the Day. I love that site. As you might can tell, I love the skies.)




How about some more pics from the holiday weekend, even though it was like two weeks ago. This is my parents' dog, Zelda. Isn't she cute? My aunt thinks she looks like Falcor from The Neverending Story. hee hee

Not so much here!

If you can't be with the one you love, hook him up to a webcam. (My nephew was sick this day so he stayed home, but he still got to join us!)

Here's another nephew, preparing for his performace of All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth. He's a method actor.

How many screens can one roomful of people look at? Is this weird?

Internet addiction starts young these days. And it's no wonder considering the environment. ^

B really likes pie. He ate two pieces of leftover pumpkin pie in a row, knowing that we were about to eat my birthday cake. He ate some of that too.

The formatting here on blogger drives me crazy!

Is that all for now? I think so. If any of you actually read the whole thing, I'm impressed. I mean it with those time management tips. I am in desperate need here. (After 37 years of extreme procrastination, though, it might just be too late.)