Dainty Kitty

Baby, I'm-A Want You

The bread turned out absolutely amazing and with this tutorial/recipe it was so easy. 

A couple of late night photographs....

The cats and I are going to have a French themed morning tomorrow.  I'm going to make French toast with my homemade bread and flip through books on Paris, making lists of sites to see, while they sit at my feet and, um, miaou.

I really need to knit myself a beret....

Danger Cake

Ravelry is good for more than just yarny goodness.  I was just perusing the forums and found this thread with this recipe:

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons cake flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tsp oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips(optional)
a small splash of vanilla essence
1 coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla essence, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake  will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

Art & The Great Cake Mistake

This weekend I crossed a couple of things off my 101 in 1001 list.  I decided to get out of the apartment early and drive over to The Dayton Art Institute to write with the Monet...

On the way there, though, I decided that I would just go ahead and join the museum as a little birthday gift to myself.  As a member I get to go to all of the exhibits for free so I checked out the Ken Butler exhibit...

The museum was deserted so I got to play with the Projection Grand Piano without people pushing or making noise.  With each key you pressed, it projected light and shadows on the wall of objects and mirrors (including a small disco ball) that were inside.  It was pretty much silent and rather interesting but the effect wouldn't be the same if there were people around.

Matt suggested that I treat myself to a little picnic which I thought was a perfect idea so after I walked around and did a little writing, I found a nice shady spot on the grounds of the museum.   Peaches are so tasty right now...

Speaking of food - I'll wrap this up with another episode of Cooking Disasters with Emily.   Yesterday I attempted to bake the Orange Dreamsicle cake from a cookbook from a restaurant called The Grit in Athens, GA that Kim sent me.   Key word: attempted.  This is what happens when you get the recipe for the icing and the cake mixed up and end up putting two sticks of butter in both even though the icing calls for only one...

Apartments, Decorating, Yadda Yadda Yadda

Sock update: the embossed barley corn pattern = a pain in the ass.  I'm going to have to try it on straight needles with regular yarn because as it is, I'm ending up with giant holes and am now in the midst of backing up four rows because it just looks terrible.  Grrr.   At least my  second attempt at the heel turned out much better.

Tonight I also baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from this recipe by Pink of Perfection and highly recommend it.   They were perfectly tasty...although I'm going to add more chocolate chips next time.  I like a bit of chocolate in every bite.

I'm going to eat one more and take my grumpy ass to bed with Water for Elephants which I just picked up today....

And I couldn't take another post without a photo so here's some graffiti from Charleston, SC.    

Tuesday This and That

The Pub. I tried The Pub at the Greene (not to be confused with the Dublin Pub) Friday night for the first time.  It was good but the portions are giant: I had FISH and chips.  Seriously, it was the biggest piece of fish I'd ever seen.  I'm not fond of heavy meals and giant portions.  I liked the Tavern Crisps, though - homemade potato chips covered in cheese and bacon with a BBQ dipping sauce. 

So, yeah, I thought it was okay.  Beer is a bit steep, too - $6 for a pint. I had two pints and a Knob Creek while we were waiting for our table and our bar bill was a ridiculous $19. 

Aha!  Another portion of my list complete!  Number 41. Try four new restaurants in Dayton - two down, two to go. 

Friends. The best part of the night, though, happened as I was walking in.  A close friend from college that I had lost touch with was walking out.  Nikki was always kind of tough - after college she became a cop - so it was kind of funny to find out that now she's a stay at home mom with three kids and and MA in Literature.  Anyway, we exchanged phone numbers but I'd be kind of surprised if we actually get together.  Still, it was really nice to see her again. 

Saturday night I went to Craig and Lisa's for a St. Patrick's Day party.  It's been over a year since I'd been to one of their parties and it was so wonderful to connect with everyone again and feel that kind of...well, love.  And who knew Skky Vodka and a green Hawaiian Punch could be so good....

Knitting. The yarn I ordered to make the Leaf Lace Scarf shipped today.  I like to search Ravelry for info on online yarn websites that I'm thinking about using and I read nothing but good stuff about Eat.Sleep.Knit which I'd have to agree with since I just placed my order yesterday afternoon.  Hooray for speedy delivery and a good chance that I'll have a new project to work on this weekend.  I didn't notice until after I'd ordered it that I'd bought the exact shade they use in the pattern - I do love green.  This'll be my first lace project and my first charted project as well but I've read that this is a good starter pattern.  It looks easy enough. 

I also started the Dream Swatch Head Scarf last week with some gifted Socks That Rock (thanks again, Bertha!) and am a little over halfway done.  It would be a nice beach vacation project, too - lightweight and easy to carry but still kind of fun to work on. 

Veganomicon.  I heart the book Veganomicon and I'm far from a vegan.  I picked it up at the library late last week after reading a review in Bust and have already checked to see if Books & Co. has it (they do) because I've already decided to purchase it.  Heck, that was before I'd made anything from it.  Last night I made a potato and greens soup that was wonderful and there's a tomato bisque a few pages away that looks good, too.  Oh, and blueberry brownies...mmm.  It's well written and a little funny and I think it will also help me explore the herb and spice world as well as open me up to new vegetables (if I can find them).  It even has a few basics that would be handy to have as a reference as well. 

Oh, and in the world of cooking - my parents bought a KitchenAid mixer (sigh, I'm so jealous) this past weekend and had to get rid of a few things in order to make it fit in the cabinet so I own a fairly nice steamer now. 

The doll house.  Sorry everyone was disappointed in the lack of a bathroom.  :-)  I'll admit that tiny tubs and sinks and itsy bitsy rolls of toilet paper are cute but it just didn't work with the layout.  Plus I can make most of the craft room bits with things I have on hand - the idea of purchasing a lot more is a bit daunting right now (seriously, that wood was stupid expensive).  I think I'm going to pick up some pinstriping tape and a little more trim wood tonight to start working on the windows.  My biggest conundrum is the roof.  I'm not sure if I should paint it or use the shingles I already have from the cheap kit I abandoned.  And if I did use the shingles I'm not sure what color I would paint them either...or if I'd just use stain.  Any suggestions?

Yikes!  Holy long post, Batman!

Further Proof That I Cannot Read Directions

I gave the Pavlova (I can't find the individual recipe I used) a test run last week and they turned out tasty.  The meringue wasn't as thick as I thought it should be but I'm pretty sure that was because I forgot to turn the oven on before I started up the blender so it had to sit for a bit before the oven was ready. 

Since I had some leftover strawberries and a kiwi, I decided to make a second batch last night.  This time I remembered to turn the oven on.  I measured my vinegar and egg whites into the bowl and set the bowl a blendin'.  The result was beautiful!  It just whipped up in no time, white and fluffy.  I dipped my finger in to check for peaks and when I placed said finger in my mouth I was met by a shocking, bitter surprise.  The meringue was...vinegary.

So I checked my recipe and can you guess what I did?  Even though I'd already made the damn things once?

I had added 1/4 cup of vinegar when the recipe called for 1/4 teaspoon. 

At least this mistake made me laugh.  The night before I'd gotten the steps mixed up in a spaghetti carbonera recipe and mixed the Parmesan cheese into the cream/egg mixture while it was still just raw eggs and cream rather than cooked in with the ham and I felt overwhelmingly defeated.  But this one was funny.  Thank goodness.

So I started again and when I was finished I checked the oven which had been heating up to 250 for at least an hour...and it wasn't hot enough.  I hate my oven.  Usually it's hotter than the thermometer reads (hence the slightly burnt chicken barbeque pizza we had for dinner which also left me feeling a bit defeated).  I even bought a new oven thermometer thinking that my old once was the culprit.  Nope.  It wavers between 50 to 100 degrees hotter than what the thermometer reads and it's never consistent.  I don't think the oven ever got up to 250 because the Pavlovas never really got crunchy on the outside.  They were still tasty but they lacked that marshmallow roasted over the fire taste. 

Rick asked me last night if I was a bad cook.  No, I'm just a cook with an unreliable oven who can't read directions.  I don't think that makes me a bad cook.  At least he likes my salads (which, of course, require no reading and no stove).  He thinks I have salad talent because I chop everything into tasty bite-sized morsels and use the best dressing (Paul Newman's Sun Dried Tomato - it really is wonderful).  Like this is something no one else ever does or possibly could do. 

Of course, I'm not going to let on that this isn't true.  I very obviously have some faults I have to make up for, after all.

There Really is a Point to All of This

When I cook, my meals usually consist of one dish.  There's a very simple reason for this.  Two reasons, actually.  One, I feel like cooking a full meal for myself is just silly and two, I have a lot of trouble making sure everything comes out at least remotely close to the same time.  This was reiterated in my mind when I made Sicilian spaghetti last night.

I turned on the oven, started the pasta water and washed some dishes.  Then I diced up the garlic (I never use enough - next time I'm just going to cut up the whole head) and didn't start the oil until I was finished because the water wasn't even close to boiling.  I even took a little break at this point and sat on the couch to watch a little tv.  I was trying, really.   

Back to the kitchen to heat up a generous amount of olive oil in a large skillet.  I rinsed the shrimp for several minutes to thaw them out.  Then I roasted the garlic a little too much.  I need to use even more olive oil next time.  Jake taught me how to make this and his garlic always turned out perfect - I'm still learning.  I put the garlic and oil in a little bowl and heated a bit more oil in which to cook the shrimp.  The water was nearly boiling so I threw in the fusilli pasta and then spent some time with the shrimp.  When they were pretty and pink, I tossed them in a dish with the garlic and oil and then checked the label on the garlic bread.  Thirty minutes?  No, no, no - I've made this bread before - it didn't taken that long!  Argh.  I sat down to drink to watch a little more tv.

A few minutes later, I checked the garlic bread label one more time and found that I was reading the directions for soft bread.  Crunchy bread only takes eight to ten minutes and higher heat.  I very obviously have problems with written directions.  I turned the heat up, rinsed the pasta and poured it in with the shrimp along with a bit of reserved pasta water which I managed to slosh on the floor.  Then I looked at the spaghetti and realized something vital was missing.  I didn't remember this dish looking so plain....

Now, I've wanted to make this dish since Thanksgiving but there's been an asparagus drought in Dayton, Ohio.  I usually buy it from Trader Joe's but when I found that they were out I checked a couple of other places...empty shelves.  Friday night I finally found it at Joe's again, thank goodness.

I forgot about the asparagus. 

I threw some more water on the stove to heat, put the garlic bread in even though the oven wasn't ready and chopped up the asparagus.

All in all, it was pretty close.  The spaghetti was ready about ten minutes before the bread which wasn't my worst but still...it's a skill I might never master.  Along with reading directions.  That's a very recent development, though.