Snow Bomb 2011!!

Week for once the weather report was right!

Standby to find out if work is canceled (well for me anyway)!!

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Cooking and Baking 102

Although I still have a ton to learn about cooking and baking, I have been practicing a lot more lately and I think I can say I am moving on from the 101 level....but only to 102...maybe...

Here are a few of my latest adventures.

Home made soft pretzels:

These were a lot of work. They started out great but one step in the directions made them take a turn for the worst. It had me boil them in a soda bath- baking soda- for one minute. All it did was make the uncooked dough soggy and smashed the pretzel shape so it was unidentifiable. After the first two, I decided to not soak the other two and it worked out much better. My only other problem at that point was I put the cinnamon-sugar on before it went in the oven and then it proceeded to burn. Again, not my fault- the directions said to. So in the future I would just sprinkle it on afterward. All in all, I might not be making these again soon but maybe someday. They did taste good though.


Pizza Balls:

So easy and delicious and fun!

I got the recipe off of a blog, which one I can't remember. All you do is make/take a pizza dough, roll it out, cut it into squares (it says 24) and put cheese and the toppings in the center of each. Don't put any sauce. Then you roll them up and pinch them closed, place them all in a greased pie dish, or something similar. Sprinkle italian seasoning and garlic powder and parmesan cheese.
Bake for about 10-12-15 minutes (my oven is quick).

Serve with marinara to dip in. So yummy!!


Other adventures:

I made the home-made chocolate cake, home-made fondant roses and home-made frosting. All were mentioned and shown in my valentine's post.

Apple Pie- also mentioned and shown in V-day post. Again, I have yet to master the pie crust. Any advice and/or tips are welcome.

Home made pancakes, pink and heart shaped. Not too brag worthy but still fun. Shown in v-day post.

Home-made chicken tortilla soup. Yum! No pictures sorry. If you want the recipe, let me know, though! It's really good!

Home-made pizza- turned out excellent but no pictures again, sorry.

Cowboy Quesadillas. SO good. One of our new favorites. In fact, I think I'll give that recipe in a separate post soon, that's how much I like it.

Chocolate Lava Cakes- DIVINE. I got the recipe from Emily in our family cook book and it's phenomenal!! Let me know if you want it or need it! (because lava cakes can most definitely be a necessity)



I can't remember anything else that has been recent. If I think of something good, I'll come back and share the recipe. In the meantime, thank you for your support and encouragement as I try and learn how to make yummy food! Most of all, thank you for your patience with any questions I might have bugged you with, and for being excited for me when I blog about my lame attempts in the kitchen. haha.

Decor 101

I finally figured out what to do with these shelves!

It helped that my handy man found some screws that hold the shelves up a lot better and they can actually support weight now.


I painted these blocks.


What do ya think?

The Day Of Love: 4th Edition

To start this post, I will show you the pictures of my latest obsession: these kitchen gadgets!

I've seen them in Target since New Years and I was just loving them so much! Finally, KR let me get them one night and I am so happy! It takes a lot to use them though because I don't want them to get dirty! But I have to prove they were worth it by using them.... so, as you'll see later in this post, I did and will continue to. So cute right?

So leading up to the big day, I decided I wanted to play with fondant. I saw some pretty roses on a blog and decided to try!

There was definitely a learning curve, but after practice, I got pretty good at it. (Note: there are no pictures of the ugly ones for a reason haha)

Then I had to put them on something to make it worth it. So, I made a pink cake! It was my first chocolate cake from scratch and I think it turned out tasting pretty yummy too. The frosting, well it didn't mix up right and tasted gross, but luckily I am not a fan of frosting anyway, so I only put a thin layer on. You couldn't even tell.

Then on the Saturday before, KR and I finally had the day off, so I decided a Valentine's breakfast was in order. Naturally, I had to dress up again, earrings included. I love pink!

The breakfast was only pancakes. But not just ANY pancakes. Pink pancakes. Heart-shaped pink pancakes.

oh, here I am with my adorable gadgets!

Again, there was a learning curve. But I finally got a good one!

Once I got better, I decided to become a master! muahahaha. No seriously, this is pretty impressive, if I do say so myself.

He loves me :)

On Valentine's day, I got to work, and these pretty pink ladies were on my desk! (for those of you who don't know, KR and I work for the same company and he gets in to the office before me, before he leaves for his route). I was seriously so shocked and surprised! So sweet!!
I heart attacked KR before he got home from work (it's tough doing that when you're married. I had to cut the hearts out way ahead of time and hide them!)

My love table!

I made KR a pie. Ok so I am horrible at pie crust. This is the second time where I just couldn't get it to look right. It tasted delicious but don't look too close! haha.

Then we got all dressed up in our fancy clothes and went out to dinner. I finally got to wear my glamorous earrings I've been waiting to wear for months.

We went to a romantic, cozy cafe on the water (it was a lake). We had such a nice time just being us, together.

After dinner, I vowed to get a picture of us that wasn't arm's length away. We had someone take our picture and she zoomed in! Look how close! We could have done that! But thank you for trying :)

We attempted another one ourselves with the water and fountain in the background (notice it's actually further away than the one she took?)

Then we got home and I took another one with our love banner in the background. Yes, this has been hanging there since late January.

Finally, I resorted to self timer, in our living room. Not bad. hahah .

KR then surprised me with a delicious valentine drink which was pink! I love it! I call it love juice.

Even though my valentine is so good at showing me he loves me all year long, it was so nice to have a day that was a little more special than others to celebrate how much we love each other. He was very thoughtful and made it perfect! I hope everyone had as wonderful of a "love day" as I did!


(oh and coming soon: pictures of the gorgeous pearls my parents sent me! They have family living in China and got the hook ups for authentic pearls! They are so beautiful! I am so grateful for them and also the other valentine's day surprise from them and the one from my grandma ;) thank you all of you. I love you and we are grateful for you)

Wild West

Wild West by Mrs.Stevens featuring crochet skirts

Golden Summer

Golden Summer by Mrs.Stevens featuring rocket dog shoes

Polyvore

I came across this site from another blog and I am addicted!! You can browse through thousands of clothes, accessories, designs,  makeup, perfume, backgrounds and text and make your own "design palette" as I am calling it. It also tells you what website the item is from and even how much it costs! I know it doesn't have any real purpose but it's fun to be creative! Plus, some of these things are so pretty!!

Untitled by Mrs.Stevens featuring pink shoulder bags