Now I'm Just Making Shit Up

Today was a big day for Ophelia and me -- we had our first dinner party at our new house. We've had guests over, but this was our first major event with more than a couple of people. I have some really nice new colleagues here, so I thought it would be nice to bring some of them together for a little party. I had a great time. I hope I speak for everyone. :)

So, what you're seeing with this post is a cake that I just made up. Ok, well, it's not that ingenious, but whatever. I'm calling it "Inverted Oreo" -- chocolate with a whipped cream and oreo filling/frosting. It was hella good. And hella messy. Ophelia did a bang up job with the chocolate cake and the frosting -- you can see her in the background after having just worked super hard. She's posing, spatula on her hip and everything. What a show off. I suppose she's entitled.

In other news, I tried to light my kitchen on fire tonight, too. Apparently it's a bad idea to set a towel on a burner you forgot to turn off. Huh. Lesson learned. Of course, one of my new colleagues was in the kitchen talking to me, and as I'm thinking "huh, something smells weird," she's yelling, "holy shit, fire!" and taking the towel off the stove and throwing it in the sink. And all these years I thought I was really reactionary. I guess not. A little embarrassing. Also one of my favorite towels. I also told said guests that they needed to kind of fend for themselves with drinks, etc. -- it was just too many needs for me to handle. I am not, as it turns out, the hostess with the mostest. Whoops.

I am also failing, miserably, with this whole "cake of the week" business. I think I might have to re-group and come back at it in January. Too much going on, I tell you. Ophelia doesn't mind, she says -- she's still getting used to her new perch, anyway.

Hopefully we'll have more next week, and we'll still have a house standing around us. :)

Love,
M&O Productions

Put a lime in the coconut...

This is my new colleague, D. We just had eaten a wonderful meal of homemade Indian food, and I was to bring dessert. When I got back from having a pedicure (yay, pedicure before school starts!), my plan was to make a coconut cream cake. But, I had no cream cheese, and I kind of wanted trifle. So, I made this recipe up. First, Ophelia and I made a white cake with macerated coconut. Then, we began toasting some coconut for texture. Then, we made some coconut pudding, and some whipped cream. Then, we put it all together. And seriously, it was amazing. I might have had, um, 3 servings. Normally I don't like anything we make that much, but this was really light and good and coconutty. YUM.

We were a little late with this post this week -- lots happening! It's meetings week here, and I sent off my first full article for review to a journal! I am sure it will get rejected, but those who know me know that even just sending it off was a big deal. I'm still working on syllabi, of course, because when do I not work on things up until they are due? I also finally have my office set up, I think -- now I just need to put some pictures in it.

Tomorrow I head to Chicago to see T&A (yep, that's right) and go to a Train concert. Should be great. I have missed Chicago, horribly, and will be glad to drive up Lakeshore once again. It's good to be a gangsta. Wait, I meant back in the Midwest.

This week also marked my Grams' 87th birthday. She visited our new house, and even commented on how nicely the kitchen color matched Ophelia. And she ate a cookie or two -- Ophelia was flattered.

More to come next week -- we sound so boring these days! We're tired; sorry. Hopefully once we get in the groove, things will get a little easier and we'll be a little more humorous. :)

More soon!

Love,
M&O Productions

Good, Good, Good, Good Intentions...

Well, O. and I started out with good intentions. We made a carrot cake, earlier than the deadline we gave ourselves for the year-o-cakes. Then I ran out of time to decorate it, so we thought we'd wait and make another. We thought we'd bookend with cakes we knew we were good at. So, our second was a chocolate and peanut butter cake. Yum. And these were pretty good, although it's clear we are still getting used to the new stove (which burns SO hot, whoa). But, again, we ran out of time for decorating. Why? Well, let us tell you.

Painting. Painting takes SO long. Well, so long when you're not exactly color adept and think you keep your paint swatches straight, but you so don't. And since we've moved in, we've painted four rooms, one of them twice. The sheer stupidity of that astounds me, but we're both much happier with the second kitchen color, which you'll see in the next post.

These cakes were good for our first cakes in our kitchen. Some new colleagues got to taste both of them, and they seemed to like them. I am still having a thing for the cookies, however. Oh those cookies, those sweet, chocolatey cookies...

We'll tell more in our next post -- we've been making cakes, just not writing about them! Sheesh.

Love to all,
M&O Productions

Kick, Push, Coast...

In honor of moving, my blue girl and I have been listening to some Lupe Fiasco. Ok, so we have no idea what that has to do with moving. We just find him pretty awesome. We love us some "Kick, Push" and that's exactly what we're doin' -- Kick, Push, and Coastin' our way outta here!

So, we're on the move again. Ophelia is glad I kept her box -- she feels snug as a bug in there, see pic. No, that beefy hand is not mine, although it really could be, at the rate I've been taping and lifting boxes these days. Nope, that's V., the infamous Dad who has come to drive the truck back to WI. He's also the reason I didn't get an "Ophelia moving action shot" -- and I quote -- "what the heck are you doing? Taking pictures of your mixer? Dumbest thing I ever heard. Go pack a box." I told him I was telling Ophelia's minions he said that. Let him know what's up the next time you see him.

So, complete with a "Fragile" sticker (we big girls always are :) ), Ophelia and I are ready for the next adventure in our lives. So long, NC -- it's been real, and it's been fun, but not real fun. Wisconsin holds a lot more snow, cakes, and pies for both of us.

Much love, and more as we move!

M. and O.

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!

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.:)

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!

On Leaps, Longings and Lemons...

So, my super duper awesome friend D. has had a lot of changes in these past months. She has a new job, a new house, and a new car. She'll soon meet lots of new people, and experience lots of new things. She's no longer a graduate student. She's Dr. D. now. I admire her so much, and as you can see from previous posts, I'm so, so proud of her, and proud to be her friend. I'm thrilled, as well, to have been lucky enough to watch her leap and succeed. It's no small feat, I think, to follow a dream through, to have the ability to work hard and get what you've worked for. So, to celebrate, D. and M. are throwing a housewarming/celebration party, to welcome the changes in their lives and to celebrate with the people around them.

I'm SO happy to celebrate these accomplishments and changes with them. As we speak, I'm making lemon bars to take to their party. More on that later. I have to say, though, that I find myself tinged with a little bit of sadness, as well. Any change is like that, really. Lots to celebrate, and lots to reminisce about, along with some sadness about letting go of one thing to follow another. This will be the first year of my Ph.D. I have gone through without D. My first orientation without her there. We have done this together for so long that, sometimes, I find myself unsure how to do it without her. Any project, any conference presentation, any major or minor detail, we did together. So much of our stuff intertwines that I often forget what's hers and what's mine. I will miss her presence at school. Of course, we will still work together and help each other, because we can and she isn't moving across country, in fact she is staying very close. I am lucky, as often this is not the case. This isn't to say that I don't have many wonderful friends and people at school. I do. But, I will miss her presence, the daily of our routines. I will miss her as she moves into this wonderful, new position in her life. I know she will do great. She always does.

And, so, I make lemon bars. I thought they were appropriate -- plus, D. loves them. A lemon bar can be truly unique -- the lemon, initially, tart and bitter, but eventually sweet, the reward of the sweet far outweighing the initial tart bitterness. And, they leave you wanting another, and another, and another. I know it will be that way for D. -- the difficulties of starting anew now will give way to the sweetness of being a professor, of living somewhere with space and breathing room, of driving a trustworthy car, of having achieved something that seems so unattainable in these limbo years of our lives.

These bars are easy to make, really. It's a recipe from a town cookbook, a tried and true easy Midwestern recipe. We do love our cake mixes. Ophelia beat this filling like a champ. Boy do I love her. Plus, how can you go wrong with blue and yellow?:)

1 box yellow cake mix
1/3 c. oil
1 egg

Mix until crumbly. Remove 3/4 c. from mixture, and press the rest into 9x13 pan. Bake for 12 min. at 350 degrees.

1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/3 c. sugar
juice of one lemon
grated lemon rind (to taste)

Beat until smooth. Add to top of hot baked crust. Sprinkle with reserved crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 min.

Enjoy!

Ace of Cakes I'm not...yet

Well, folks, this was our first attempt at a multi-layered cake. Ophelia and I are quite proud of ourselves, if we do say so. As you can see from the pictures -- success! More on that later. You see, P.'s parents are in town this week, so I wanted to have them over to celebrate and enjoy. I'd met them last night, and they are a hoot! I really enjoyed them. I can see now where P. gets her sense of humor and all around good/sweet nature. Her dad reminds me of many of the members of my family (tonight he taught us all about the new "Air Car," not to mention the fact that he rocks socks with crocs), and her mom is just as sweet as can be (she made me an amazingly cute apron -- what a perfect gift! Ophelia and I are totally decked out now). They made homemade applesauce yesterday and gave me some (YUM, eat your hearts out!), we worked on crochet (that's a story for another time, I am such a bad crochet teacher -- thanks for bailing us out, T!), went out to eat and tooled around for a while. So, tonight I wanted to welcome them to my home with a very heart-felt welcome and with many thanks. And how do Ophelia and I do that? Yes, that's right, with food. But not just any food -- something special.

That's where this cake comes in. It's called the "Perfect Party Cake" -- Ophelia and I, of course, wanted it to be the perfect party, so that's what we chose. It was a day of firsts for us, Ophelia and I. I'd never done a 4 layer cake. I'd also never made a true buttercream frosting before. Ophelia was as green as I was. If she was nervous, though, she didn't show it. What a champ. And thus the challenge began.

First, the cake -- it's a lemon-ish white cake, made with cake flour, lemon zest, butter, egg whites, baking powder. As you can see from the pictures, they turned out really well. It was much easier to deal with these cakes as opposed to the chocolate cakes I made for D.'s defense. I am sure it is because these were much less dense. So, while the cakes cooked, I began the buttercream frosting. In a double-boiler, I cooked 4 egg whites with 1 1/2 cups sugar. The directions told me to cook it for 3 min. or until it looked like shiny marshmallow spread. I likely cooked it for 5 min. because I wanted to make sure it was hot enough to actually cook. And, I also really like to put stuff in a double boiler. I have no idea why. I mean, whoever thought to do that kind of stuff?

So, once I did that, I was to let Ophelia at it. Ophelia was to beat the mixture for 5 min. or so until it almost tripled in size. Man, is she good at her jobs. I wish I was that competent. I think she likes that I'm a tad bit jealous of her strength and abilities. Notice she let me photograph her today. I don't think that the ego boost and the photograph is a coincidence. Just sayin'. Then, comes the butter. I almost had a coronary just looking at how much butter went into this frosting. I don't even think I can admit it here. Let's just say that Paula would be proud, very proud. And, I feel like I am doing my part to support the dairy farmers here in the Midwest. So, it's ok, right? Right?

Then, the final test for Ophelia -- just beat the shit out of this frosting for like 10 min., aerate it to the point of doubling, and then you're ready to frost. Ophelia handled it like a trooper. Sometimes, I swear I hear her whisper "bring it, bitch." It would figure my mixer would have an attitude.

And, then came the part I was dreading -- separating the cake layers. Now, I had never done that before, and considering how difficult the chocolate cake was to deal with, I was very, very afraid. But, then I figured if nothing else, I had ingredients to still make the brownies I had on hand as my backup, so I just went for it. Surprisingly, it was fairly easy to separate the layers. You can see that in the photos, as well.

Now, where the recipe divulged a bit from the original was with the frosting. It was to be a lemon buttercream frosting. Well, I made it a raspberry-lemon buttercream. Why, you may ask? Well, yes, Ophelia and both do enjoy pink very much. We also thought it looked very nice with the raspberries. And, while we could lie to you and tell you that's why, lying's really not our style. We let our crazy hang all out there.

I screwed up. Bottom line. I got the jam for the middle layers too close to the outside and knew that if I tried to spread that white buttercream frosting on the outside, I'd end up with pink streaks that were obviously not meant to be there. So, instead, we opted for a pink frosting that we made just by mixing in a few tablespoons of seedless raspberry jam.

Now, I will admit that this cake, for all the butter, is actually very light in taste. In fact, I might have liked a little bit heavier (in terms of weight and sweetness) buttercream. But, all in all, quite the party, and quite the party cake. Ophelia is sending me to an orchard tomorrow to get some apples and peaches, so stay tuned!

We Be Jammin'

Anyone who knows me knows that I really hate summer for the most part. Put a big white girl in the heat and humidity, and boy does she get crabby and out of sorts. Walk outside, and within 20 minutes, I am a lobster. SPF 75 doesn't cut it for me. There is also nothing like trickles of sweat running down my body (in places when I was thin I couldn't even imagine existed) to make a big girl just love the summer. Yes I just said that out loud. Just tryin' to keep it real. Yes I just said that, too. Ok, I'll stop now. I promise.

However, summer does bring with it things that this big girl loves, too. Funnel cakes, for example, and mini donuts, corn on the cob, fried things on a stick (only in MN would we deep fat fry a Snickers bar), pork burgers, sno-cones, homemade ice cream, fairs and town celebrations (ask me about the Polka festival sometime -- yes, I polka. Don't knock it. It's a gift that comes in handy when you're drunk and at weddings. Trust me.), cool night walks, and most importantly, the fresh fruit. For the most part, I really don't like to eat fruit. But summer fruit and I have a special, special relationship. Oh, the berries, the sweet, juicy strawberries. The tiny, soft, lovely raspberries. The ripe, luscious peaches. Oh my. As my friend D. would say, somewhere there is a bottle of Tequila involved and she's likely screaming "inappropriate" at me. Ok, maybe at M. Maybe at both of us. It's worth it, my sweet, sweet berries...

Anyway, I got sidetracked for a second. I'm back. It was hot today, and my neighbors moved out really early this morning. Perhaps I'm delusional. Back to my point -- the berries. Earlier this summer, stubborn as I am, I managed to track down the last of the strawberry crop in a 3 state area (my research skillz are the bomb -- for berries, not for my dissertation). They were, hands down, the sweetest berries I think I've ever had. Minnesota berries are the best, I don't care what anyone else says. I made 28 jars of jam from those strawberries. I will never be the same.

I didn't get a picture of those, but I did catch the jamming bug. Bob Marley would be proud. So, after all my company left today and I cleaned up my kitchen, I decided, at 10 pm, to make some jam. No one ever claimed I was smart or logical, least of all me.

If you look closely at the pictures, yes, I cheated. I bought Driscoll's berries from the store. This was my trial run. If I like the jam, I'll go buy local berries. I found a couple of places to go for berries -- perhaps here or maybe here -- we'll see what happens. But, the test run was tonight. I'll give you the low-down on it in the next couple of days.

Ophelia oversaw the project, as you can see from the picture. She disapproved of my mashing methods, but otherwise I think she thought we did ok. I also think she didn't like me singing country to her, though I thought the Dixie Chicks were appropriate for jam-making. She's an alternative kinda girl, I think. Poor Ophelia.

As you can see, the fruit didn't yield much jam, but that's ok. Ophelia says to stay tuned for a peach pie soon -- Eckert's are in season, so a trip will be coming soon! If you want some jam, drop a line!

The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship...

Welcome to my new blog, chronicling my undying love and affection for my new, shiny, lovely Kitchenaid mixer Ophelia (see my account information for more on how Ophelia was named) and all things foodie (I'm sure there will also be snippets of life around here, as well). Yes, I'm jumping on the food blog wagon. Now, if it's anything like 4th grade and the Oregon Trail, I am going to kick ass at this.

Now, those of who you know me, know that I have a bit of an obsession with Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) and her amazing powers of food awesome. Yesterday, I made her chicken piccata with her roasted vegetable orzo salad. And then I spent the rest of the night in a lemon-induced Ina stupor. My friends topped the night off with brownies and this killer cookie dough frosting (P., I need this recipe, hint hint:). This was a good thing, as we then went to see Momma Mia. What a sour end to the night, although the music and company was good. So, I came home and baked. And then I baked some more the next day, as well. ABBA said to take a chance, so I thought I would. Story as follows:

Again, those of you who know me also know my consternation with cookies. I can bake bars like Martha Stewart on crack. Pies and cakes have nothing on these meaty Midwestern hands. But, cookies. Cookies, my friends, are the place in the trail where, instead of hiring a guide to get across the river, I consistently try to ford it myself, and sink every time. Every time I think it's going to be different. Every time I flunk out. I burn them, or leave them doughy. I make them uneven and flat, almost disgusting. How do you make disgusting chocolate chip cookies? Talent, I tell you. Talent and sheer dumb ass bad luck. Chocolate chip cookies are, quite literally, the bain of my existence. They taunt me in my sleep, the bag of chips calling me names from my kitchen and daring me to try to make them again. Never one to forgo a challenge, I always answer. I've tried the recipe on the back of the Toll House bag of chips, in my Good Housekeeping cookbook, on AllRecipes.com, from my family's own recipe stash. None of them have been successful. I made three, count them three, batches last night. All of them are not great. One is marginal, the other two down right ridiculous. Back to the drawing boards. Anyone have a great chocolate chip cookie recipe and dummy-proof instructions they'd care to share? Ophelia would appreciate it.

Signed,

Cookie Monster

PS -- to tide you over until I post some food pron, above is a picture of Ophelia at the start of our inappropriate relationship (read: my undying love, admiration and worshiping at poor Ophelia's shrine). Ophelia had no idea what she was getting into. My amazing friends have created a baking monster. At least I love her a lot.