It's Been a Long, Long Time... (or) The First Thanksgiving

Wow. What a whirlwind fall it has been. Job market stuff, teaching courses, working on the dissertation, trying to cook, not being very successful, obviously. I think Ophelia has shunned me, and is now looking to outsource herself to try to save her job. The guilt abounds.

Anyway, a by-product of the busy that is the fall this year, I decided not to head home for Thanksgiving. This is the first Thanksgiving in 30 years that I have not been home with my family. Boy, do I miss them. Right about now, I would be at my brother's house, rocking out to some Rock Band, or watching he and my cousin-in-law duel it out on some game that I completely don't understand but is very entertaining to watch. Or, we'd be playing some game called "Killer Bunnies" or something of the sort. I'd be getting my ass kicked, but loving it, because there is nothing quite like hanging out with my crazy awesome family.

This is not to say that Thanksgiving here isn't going to be freaking amazing. I get to spend time with some great friends. Plus, K&P's dog B is awesome, and I love hanging out with him. So, it will be a great day. K & P are smoking a turkey, making potatoes, rolls and salad (YUM and YUM), so I am in charge of stuffing, veggies, pies. As you can see from the pictures above, I'm on it. It's the night before Thanksgiving, and I have a pie, shortbread (yes, apparently the Scottish got in on the Thanksgiving act), cornbread (for stuffing), and stuffing bread cut up, ready to be made tomorrow. In true Hathaway fashion, I freaked out and worried that I wasn't going to have enough to feed everyone, so went a little overboard with the stuffing bread. However, this stuffing bread is the shiz. I got it from Great Harvest Bread Co. It was a hoot, actually -- I went in once Tuesday and bought a bunch of stuff, and then had to come back for the stuffing bread when it came out of the oven at 1. We got there around 1:10, and I got 3 of the last 8 loaves. Apparently, people are serious about this stuff. I'm stoked to try it. I had my aunt send me her recipe. We'll see what happens. KSH is coming over to help cook in the morning, so I had better get to bed. I just had to post, since it had been so long. Will take more pics tomorrow during the creation process.

Oh, the chocolate pictures are Martha Stewart's brownies. They are awesome. Sometimes, though, I want to forgo the brownies and drink the melted chocolate. Is that normal?

Everyone, wish A. a Happy, Happy Birthday!

Today is my good friend A.E.R.'s birthday! YEA! If you see her, make sure to wish her a happy birthday! Apparently, Ophelia and I have decided that we only get our shit together for special appearances for people's birthdays these days. So, if you have a birthday, maybe let us know? That way, we'll bake more. Ophelia has been so upset with me that pictures of her have been absolutely out of the question. Um, also pictures of the kitchen, and most of the rest of the house, and me, and my car, are also completely out of the question. Yeah. That's how the job market and dissertation stuff have been going.:P No need to ask.

As you can tell from the photos, things didn't turn out exactly as we had intended them. Is anyone surprised? For weeks now, I've been planning on making A. a CubbieCake, since she is such a huge Cubbies fan. As someone who understands very deeply the connection with sports teams, I was all for this. A. likes cakes that aren't chocolate heavy, so I was going to make a white cake, dye it red, and then put the logo on the top. Um, yeah, that was what I was going to do. Instead, I couldn't get the cake to be red, so it turned out pink. I didn't want it to taste crazy weird because of the food dye, so I had to stop. A. isn't exactly a "pink" person, so that was strike number one. As you can see from previous posts, I like to make things that remind me of the people who I am making them for, so I tried to do the best with what I had. Initially, as you can see from the photos I had intended to do balloons or flowers or something on the top. But, that's just not A. If you know her, you know what I am talking about. She's smart, funny, kind, has a ton of energy, is hard-working, but most importantly, is unique. You'll never meet another person like A. I love her company, and the company of her fiance and two loveable dogs (one of whom we joke is my biological daughter the way she is all over me when I'm there:). With A., it's very easy to go from 0 to silly to serious to silly again. I just couldn't put standard flowers or balloons on her cake. She's anything but standard. So, what happened is my attempt to capture A. in a cake -- colorful, bright, complex, unique, wonderful. Can't wait to have some soon! Happy Birthday A. -- I'm so glad to know you!

Today is K's Birthday -- Hip Hip Hooray!

About a month ago, Ophelia reminded me that my BFF K's birthday was coming up. And, since K and his awesome wife P are how Ophelia and I came to be, Ophelia wanted to do something special for K on his birthday. We decided that for Ks birthday party, we'd make cakes. Two, to be exact, with some peanut butter bars thrown in for good measure at the beginning of the 7 days of K. Why celebrate once, Ophelia says, when you can celebrate for a whole week? I agreed.

Now, K and P appear on this blog, and in my life, often -- we have lots of fun times together, going to movies, eating good food, watching pretty people with problems, playing games, witnessing Bruchi's antics, and most importantly, looking in our mirrors. It's unfortunate for them that they have to spend so much time with me, but since I bake lots, including cakes like those pictured above, I hope they feel like they break even. Of the cakes, actually of all the cakes I've made, the dark chocolate raspberry one is K's favorite. It's a complex cake -- in fact, it's one of the most complex things I've ever made. There are many parts to it, but it is worth the work. Initially, it's a little bittersweet, followed by a prominence and constant of full-on sweet and fruit. Its texture is highly unique, as well -- a crackly, crunchy crust that easily falls away into a softness that melts into the center of every bite. That complexity is what makes the cake as good as it is -- the unexpected surprise it holds makes every single taste exciting. I can see why K likes it; in many ways, it reminds me of him, although a cake could never embody his sense of humor. G.D.M.;)

I wish for everyone they could have a friend like K. I don't have words to explain what that means, but if you're lucky enough to know him or to have a friend who is a good friend like he is, you'll understand what I'm saying. In my humble opinion, the best way to celebrate someone's life is to tell them how much you enjoy and appreciate them, and to eat cake. Here's to you, K -- I hope you had a great birthday, my friend! I am glad to know you. Enjoy your cake!

This Blog Should Be Called Neglecting Ophelia

Ophelia has asked me to post and convey my deepest apologies for neglecting her. You see, since the nasty "Carbomb Cake" incident, I haven't been baking much. I made some cookies, whoopie do, and some peanut butter bars for one of my BFF's (K) birthday week (yea for the 7 days of K. -- tomorrow's present is awesome!). In truth, I've barely been functioning, as evidenced by forgotten or unreturned emails, stacks of ungraded papers, job materials that are in sore need of attention, oh, and that whole, you know, write a dissertation thing. Yes I would like cheese with my whine, make it gouda.;) I love gouda. Mostly I think I just like saying it. Anywho...it's the general neglect that comes with too many things and not enough M.'s. Unfortunately, the bogged-downess of it all now means that I wake up every day wondering why in the world I think I want to do this (academia) for the rest of my life. Am I crazy? Don't answer that question. I think I already know the answer.;) I know it's the standard response, and that everyone at this stage experiences it. Whatever, it will be fine, but I just can't wait until it's over. It's a bad couple of weeks when I don't bake. The worst of it is I have apples on the counter that I must do something with. My friend KSH is coming over tomorrow to help me/learn how to make apple crisp, so that will help at least in keeping the apple population to a minimum.

I just wanted everyone to know that I wasn't holding Ophelia hostage, so if she calls you and begs you to come take her away from this place, know it's not as bad as it seems. I'm workin' on it.

Carbomb come alive/And it's coming after you...

My brother was once a huge Slipknot fan, so when I first saw this recipe, entitled "Carbomb" cake, I thought of him, and the song "Car Bomb," featuring Slipknot, from which the above title hails. Frankly, I found them a little creepy, but you know, to each their own. But, I thought freaky was also appropriate for a post about this cake. This was a new adventure, one I wasn't sure I wanted to tackle. It looked so crazy good in the picture, though. It's called a "Carbomb" cake because of the drink, as well. Apparently, you sink a shot of Irish Cream into a glass of Guinness and chug the thing. I remember doing root beer barrels, but I had never heard of a "carbomb" -- I guess we can all learn something.;)

This cake includes three different kinds of alcohol -- Whiskey, Guinness, Irish Cream. The chocolate cake itself is made with a can of Guinness, the frosting with Irish Cream, and the caramel sauce with Whiskey. Now, it's not bad, although the whiskey caramel sauce is so, well, whiskey-ie, I can almost not eat it, and I love whiskey. It's strong. It looks so pretty, though -- do you see the decorating job? Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. So, I was super excited and forced my celebrity taste testers to come over to my house to marvel at the three story wonder, and of course to have a piece. I sliced it, and it was a mess to serve (it's so tall). But, once we got it all under control, we sat down, and had a bite. I expected to be overwhelmed. Instead, I was underwhelmed. I always thought I liked buttercream frosting, but as it turns out, I don't, at least not the way the homemade ones tell you to make it. It's not dense enough, nor is it flavorful enough. The cake overpowered the frosting, and the Whiskey overpowered everything. Aargh. I think Ophelia is glad I didn't implicate her in this one. Oops, did I just do so...:) Since I have thumbs, I can do what I want.

I mean, it's not horrible, as cake is cake, but this won't be one I try again. Back to the job market stuff.:) Do you think that it's ok to offer cakes as a part of your job packet? If I ship a cake with my CV, it couldn't hurt, right? Right? Just not this one.:)

We're Running So Fast to Keep from Falling Behind...

Holy production, Batman. I've been so busy baking that I haven't been able to do any blogging. What is this world coming to? It's coming down to me trying to get a job, which has seriously curtailed my free time. Whose bright idea is it to have a job market that whose process is over 8 months long? Do they not understand that I have cakes to make and a life to have? I mean really -- job or devil's food cake? Job or peanut butter cake? Did someone say cake? I'm sorry, the cake wins every single time. Anyone want to back me for a new bakery? "M.'s Morsels." or "Morsels with M." I like them both -- any other suggestions? I'm giving serious consideration to this alternate employment future.

Anywho, as you can see from the pictures, my photography skills have also been lacking -- no action shots, Ophelia is being ignored, general havoc and mayhem have overtaken the kitchen. Ophelia is pissed. She's become a faceless workhorse. I will have to remedy that, and soon. No need to have her angry with me, too.

So, starting in order of the photos, first came my friend M.'s birthday cake. It was also my first foray into decorating with color. Cake = awesome. Frosting = divine. Decorating = D+ for effort. It looks distinctly like I first had a lobotomy and then attempted to to decorate the cake. Apparently writing with colored frosting now looks remarkably similar to learning to write in cursive in third grade, completely with the mis-matched scallops that I was convinced would make the stupid thing look better. Poor M. At least the cake tasted good. I cut the cake to transport so M. didn't have to see the completely monstrosity that was her birthday cake.

Next, we had the peanut butter cup cake. Literally, it was an inverted peanut butter cup. Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. I love peanut butter frosting. I love peanut butter. No, I do not have all kinds of peanut butter frosting my fridge that I have been eating on and off for the last couple of days. No, I have not gained 20 pounds since Ophelia came into my life. Please stop spreading those nasty rumors. I could sue for defamation, you know. If Brit can do it, so can I. Moving on -- the peanut butter cake was a hit. A. and S. came over for dinner last night, and this was the treat. We had a great time, although I learned that I don't get nearly the sports channels that I thought I did. With a little help from A. and S. and K. and P., the cake is already gone and out of my house, which is how I like things.:)

Next came a peach galette. This came about this afternoon because I had peaches that had to be used up, like, whoa, yesterday. Not wanting to make a pie, I made the galette instead. It looks great, but I made a huge mess with it. It leaked (well, because I shoved too many peaches in it because I wanted to get them all used up) and while I realized that this would likely make a mess, somewhere in my head I didn't think that the sugary sauce would burn. My logic defies all, well, common sense. No, M., sugary sauces don't burn when you stick them in a hot, hot oven, not at all, and when they don't burn, they don't set off your smoke alarm and won't make your house smell like you set your hair on fire. Not that I would have any idea what that smelled like, either. Anyway, it was a mess. But, the galette itself didn't burn, so I sent that off home with my celebrity taste testers (well, with K. -- poor P. was at class). It looked good, but I just wasn't that interested in it.

Finally, the apple tartlets. Now, what would possess me to try to make these little buggers tonight? Well, in trying to patch the galette before it went wicked out of control, I had to hack into another pastry to do so. Rather than waste it, I decided to make these. For no recipe, and just winging it, I think I did pretty good. I actually ate one of these tonight, and it was quite yummy.

Up next for Ophelia and I -- a spice cake and a maple cake!:) Stay tuned!

Decisions, Decisions...

Sometimes, Ophelia and I just can't decide. So, instead of deciding, we just go for it. Tonight, we went for it, indeed.:) Two of our specialties -- Barefoot Contessa's Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars, and my mother's Dutch Apple Pie. Both have undergone some revising, but Ophelia and I aren't telling.:) Like we said before, we have to keep some secrets, or we'd lose our fan base. Yes, we're crazy like that.

Now, I must admit that my mother and I are known for this pie all over the place. She's been making it since I was a little girl. You don't need to know how long that is, for both our sakes. People far and wide in MN know this pie -- people ask for it at get-togethers. She gives it as birthday presents, and makes it for any major holiday. I absolutely love this freaking pie. It's like a little slice of home for me. I've been making it since my last full-time teaching gig in Iowa when I figured out that hey, I like to bake, and I'm not too shabby at it, and thus can have a slice of home wherever I am. Plus, then I get to share a little bit of my Minnesota with others, too. So, I have a wide range of fans for this pie. The peanut butter bars are more recent, but Ophelia and I have perfected them. Plus, we're obsessed with The Barefoot Contessa. Ok, I'm obsessed about Ina Garten and Ophelia has to listen to me talk about her all the time while we cook. I fawn over her cookbooks and her show. I will make any recipe if it comes from Ina's kitchen. When I grow up, I want to be Ina Garten. I think, if I could make money doing this for a living, I totally would. For now, I'll have to stick with gushing over Ina and creeping my friends out with my strange obsession for this woman I've never met. Whatever.

I've also found that peanut butter bars and apple pie are just the ticket when you've had a "God Damn Mongolians" day. To understand what I mean, see here: South Park's "God Damn Mongolians". I love South Park.

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Free...

Now, I'm not sure what the peaches in the PoUSA song represent, but in this case, I really am talking about peaches, my friends. I am finally, finally making good on my promise for a peach pie.

My mother was so upset she couldn't be here for it. She loves her some peach pie. Plue, it was the first peach pie I'd ever made. It was also my first attempt at a lattice topped pie. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Well, for a first try, anyway. My celebrity taste testers agreed.:) I thought it was ok. It wasn't great (would have been better had the peaches been more ripe).

The pie itself was fairly easy -- I blanched the peaches first to get the skin off, and then sliced 10 peaches fairly thin. Mix that with 1/2 c. white sugar, 1/2 c. brown sugar, 1/3 c. flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, my secret ingredient (which you'll notice in my cast of character's photo, I turned around -- a girl has to keep some secrets:), and a tablespoon of cornstarch. Put into unbaked pie crust. Put lattice on top, wash with egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 350 for 45 min.-1 hour (mine was closer to one hour). I also left the pie in the oven when I turned it off at an hour to make sure the sauce thickened.

I also made candy today (caramels). I love caramel. Between caramel and butterscotch, I could be set for life. It was also a simple, simple recipe. To be posted later.

Serve the pie with ice cream, for sure!

Ophelia was a little sad she couldn't participate in today's fun, but she understood. Sometimes she just has a little too much power for what is necessary.:)

I'd Just Like To Try Some Carrot Cake and Wine...

Ah, love me some Stereophonics. I also loves me some good carrot cake. So, tonight I combined the two. I think Wednesdays and Saturdays are going to be my baking days. I know I had said I was coming down off the cake, but for some reason really wanted to make a carrot cake tonight. It also could have been that I had some carrots to use up. Whatever.

Now, for carrot cake you have to shred a ton of carrots. I didn't want to do that by hand, and then remembered that K and P, in addition to orchestrating the appearance of Ophelia in my life and the awesome party that came with that appearance, also gifted me an attachment for Ophelia. An attachment that shreds things. Carrot like things. Ok, carrots. And fingers if you're not careful, but mostly carrots and other various veggies, fruits, etc. It is the coolest thing in the world. Well, next to Ophelia. Don't tell her I said that.

So, in the various pictures above you'll see some shredding, some baking, and some frosting. I think the frosting on this cake didn't turn out as well as the last cake. I used a recipe that was a little bit different, and I don't like it as well. It's fine, but not amazing like the one from the chocolate cake.

Also, you'll see in the pictures that I invested in a new product. This is a Wilton product, and Ophelia and I are doing our best Vana White's in showing it off. This was before I tried to pry the cakes out of their pans. What a waste of 5 bucks. 2 of the 3 cakes broke trying to get them out of the pans. The product claimed that it would greased and flour the pans all in one, just to put a bit in the pan, brush all over, and go to town. Answer: false. This did little other than to create headaches for me and ruin my pretty cakes. Now, before I go completely blaming the product, it may have a been a user fault. I didn't place parchment because I thought the cake goo (aka Wilton product) would take care of it. My bad. However, I am getting really, really good at putting cakes back together.;)

Will update later on the turn out. Notice that I'm getting less and less funny as the semester goes on. I have a feeling December is gonna be something else.;)

Suzy Creamcheese, What's Got Into Ya?

So, I decided that if I'm really going to let Ophelia talk me into doing this cake stuff, I'd better start taking it seriously. She gets torked when I jack around baking. I'm sure it has something to do with her horsepower being wound a little too tight. Whatever.

Anyway, the thing I like most about baking is that I rarely screw it up. It's something I can do when I need a break, or when I'm trying to take my mind off of more cerebral things. So, tonight, after I taught, I came home and got to work. I've done a fruit-theme cake (raspberry and lemon), a peanut butter cake (so, so good), and a deep, deep chocolate cake. What should I try, I asked Ophelia. She didn't want to make a cake tonight, but frosting was ok. So, it is...a Chocolate Amaretto cake with a Fluffy Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting. I have no idea how it tastes. It's in my fridge, and frankly, once I make them I'm kind of done with them. Plus, I love frosting so much that I can't help myself from trying to inhale any left over frosting, of which there is often much. In fact, I think I've had so much sugar tonight I may need to take a couple laps around the house to get to sleep. Anyone want some cake? Seriously. If you want some, you got some. Ophelia also takes requests, though she does reserve veto power. Just don't request anything with raisins. They gross her out.

Anyway, we decided we really didn't care about the cake so much tonight as we did the frosting. So, much more attention was paid to the consistency and taste of the frosting, and to the technique. After watching some DIY videos on cake decorating (totally helpful, I loves me the Internets:), we set off to work. I'd also gotten some professional cake decorating equipment, so I was antsy to try it out. The photos above show the outcome. Not too shabby for the first time out with them, I don't think. The bottom of the cake needs some work, yes. Ophelia wants me to note that the decorating was my part, the making of the frosting hers. She's got such an ego.

The recipe here isn't necessary, I don't think. It's not impressive, and I don't know how the cake is, but what I wanted to chronicle was the decorating skills as they (hopefully) get better. You'll see that Mindy invited me to join her for a cake decorating class, which I'm totally getting in on. The funny thing is that this is the what, fifth cake that I've made and decorated, and I think this is my worst one, aesthetically. I dumped some shaved chocolate on the top of it in an effort to cover up the bad decorating job, but I'm not sure it did any good.:) I'll let you know.

Ophelia wants off the cake for a week now (makes us sound like addicts -- we're getting off the sauce. Yes, I said sauce. I'm from the Midwest, where cake is our sauce and we say sauce. What?), so early next week when I return from my cousin Tiff's wedding (Huzzah! We love Tiff and her soon-to-be husband Dan!), we'll tackle something else. I've been eying this peach tart. I keep talking about peaches and never following through.:) It must be next time, it must.

*Update -- cake GOOD! The frosting recipe is a recipe I made up, and it's actually really good! I'll be trying this one again. The amaretto syrup I made was really good with it, too. Yummers, to quote A.!*

The Magic of Peanut Butter

Since I was a little girl, I have had an affinity for peanut butter. Perhaps it was watching my father make the only thing he knows how to make in the kitchen (peanut butter sandwiches with enough peanut butter to choke someone), or perhaps it was watching my Grandma M. make peanut butter cookies from scratch with no measurements. Anyway, I loves me some peanut butter. The more I can do with it, the better.

So, when I found this recipe for a peanut butter cake with a peanut butter frosting, I jumped at the chance. Ophelia had been on vacation for a little while, because of the start of school and all, so she was rested and ready. I was a little nervous, though. The frosting was unlike anything I'd made before, and I wanted to decorate it nicely (when I get out of hell, er, school, my first action is going to be to take a cake decorating class. Ok maybe my second, but certainly my second). Plus, with my love of peanut butter, I didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize the wonder that is peanut butter.

So, here we go. Now, the recipe had me cheat a bit -- I was to use a box cake mix. Now, I wouldn't normally do this, but since it was my first time with this recipe, I followed it step by step and will mess with it later, depending upon how it tastes. I'll post on that later. *Update* YUMMY! It's ok to have peanut butter cake and diet pepsi for breakfast, right? Right?

Recipe (from allrecipes.com)

Cake:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c peanut butter (I doubled this to a c. because, well, I love peanut butter:)
1 box butter cake mix
2/3 c. water

Frosting:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. peanut butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. heavy cream (I found I had to use more, like almost 2/3 c to get the frosting to spread correctly)

For cakes: Mix first two ingredients for cake in your mixer (go Ophelia, go!) with the paddle attachment until fluffy and creamy. Add cake mix and water intermittently until mixed. Grease two 9-inch cake pans. Split cake mix evenly into the two pans. Smooth off top and bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 min. until done. Cool for 10 min. in pans, remove from pans and cook completely on racks.

For frosting: Cream together butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and cream (use cream sparingly just until frosting is spreadable) in small doses until combined.

Frost cakes when cool, with one layer of frosting in the middle. Chop peanut butter cups for decoration.

SO yummy, also very rich! Ophelia says enough with the peanut butter already, so we'll be moving onto something else (perhaps some bread) this weekend/week!