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Jul
11th
Sat
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WIU Week 2: Guilty Pleasures

What’s more of a Guilty Pleasure than yummy things and alcohol?

This weekend, I’m attending a pool party and knew that my signature sangria recipe was required. And then I wondered, what else goes great with sangria chocked with fruit? More alcohol-soaked fruit!

I got this recipe from my blog-friend (and soon to be BlogHer Roomie), Rhiannon… http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/tequila-soaked-watermelon-wedges

Since I didn’t have enough tequila, I used white rum and some grape brandy for my alcohol, with a squirt of key lime juice i had leftover from last week’s Key Lime Pie Ice Cream.

This recipe couldn’t be any easier. Chop up a watermelon, combine the alcohols and water (I doubled the alcohol, per Rhi’s suggestion), let sit overnight and serve!

I’ll update the results of the taste-testing when I get back… I haven’t even snuck a piece yet!

UPDATE: The watermelon was a HUGE hit! In fact, there is no more left out of a party of 10 people. Yeah, I think I will *definitely* make it again!

Jul
6th
Mon
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WIU Week 1: Holiday Favorites

So this week’s challenge suggestion was to create something that was reminiscent of a Holiday. July 4th being the obvious one, I thought back to the cookouts at my grandparents’ farm and the one thing that we always did: take turns at cranking the ice cream bucket.

My grandfather always made the best ice cream. Usually fresh fruit (peaches, strawberries, blackberries), and always perfect for a hot day on the farm. The one rule was that if you didn’t help crank, you didn’t get to help eat.

That was my inspiration for Key Lime Pie Ice Cream (KLP for short). Seeing as KLP is one of my favorite desserts (in addition to cheesecake and baklava), I had to try it.

Key Lime Pie Ingredients

The recipe I referenced is here: http://homecooking.about.com/od/dessertrecipes/r/bldes92.htm

I say referenced, since, like last year, I always modify everything to suit my tastes. In addition to this recipe, I upped the key lime juice to 2/3c (I like my pie tart) and added about half of a graham cracker crust recipe, which I froze before adding to the dasher to prevent it from getting soggy in the ice cream, and about 2oz of chopped white chocolate.

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream Finished

Was the recipe easy to follow?
Absolutely. Since I’ve taken a class on ice cream, sorbets and gelatos, I knew all of the basics when it came to timing and how the egg custard should appear. For a newbie trying out ice cream for the first time, my biggest suggestion is to keep the heat low and don’t leave it unattended. Those eggs can go from custard to scrambled in no time. Oh, and I use my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. No cranking for me.

Did the dish taste good?
YES. It tastes exactly like my favorite KLP recipe - has all the same creaminess and tartness of the real thing. Which also means I can enjoy it in small portions.

Would you make it again?
Again, yes. I love KLP and ice cream, so the meeting was a beautiful thing.

Jun
22nd
Mon
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Getting Whipped...

Just like last year we’re bringing back a new season of “Whip It Up” - a blogger cooking challenge that lasts over 6 weeks. Its fun, forces me to try new things, and I get to brag about my mad cooking skillz. (And then force the results on my unsuspecting boyfriend and coworkers.)

To add to the amusement factor, half of my recipes will be completed in my current apartment, and the other half will be at my bf’s house. His house doesn’t have half the cool equipment that mine does, nor the plethora of spices I carry. I guess I’ll have to be choosy about what goes into my storage unit while I wait for my townhome to be finished… and he’ll have to make some space in the pantry for me.

So yeah, check back here for entries, starting next week!
Mar
2nd
Mon
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- Photo by Amber Rhea Ok, Northerners, we get it. You don’t understand why schools were closed for this little sprinkling of snow. You scoff at people getting worried and rushing to buy bread and milk at the grocery store. You laugh while folks avoid the roads in these conditions while you fly at 80mph down the interstate. But here’s the thing. The superiority thing? Yeah, its getting old. I’m not technically from the South. I’m from the West - the desert. Where massive amounts of rain freaks people out, leaving any bit of driving knowledge draining into a culvert on the highway. And I don’t react the way that many Southerners/Westerners do when they find themselves confronted with precipitation they’re not familiar with. And that’s the point. They’re not familiar with it. They haven’t mastered the proper reaction of what to do if you hit a patch of ice and start sliding. Its a rare thing that anyone has salt for their driveways, or even ice scrapers for their windshields. If you had some sort of weather phenomenon that you only encountered once a year - and maye the extreme version of it once every 10 years - you may not be so sure of yourselves, either. So keep your irritating, another way Southerners are backwards, superior attitudes to yourself. Or pack up and head back the way you came.

- Photo by Amber Rhea

Ok, Northerners, we get it. You don’t understand why schools were closed for this little sprinkling of snow. You scoff at people getting worried and rushing to buy bread and milk at the grocery store. You laugh while folks avoid the roads in these conditions while you fly at 80mph down the interstate.

But here’s the thing. The superiority thing? Yeah, its getting old.

I’m not technically from the South. I’m from the West - the desert. Where massive amounts of rain freaks people out, leaving any bit of driving knowledge draining into a culvert on the highway. And I don’t react the way that many Southerners/Westerners do when they find themselves confronted with precipitation they’re not familiar with.

And that’s the point. They’re not familiar with it. They haven’t mastered the proper reaction of what to do if you hit a patch of ice and start sliding. Its a rare thing that anyone has salt for their driveways, or even ice scrapers for their windshields.

If you had some sort of weather phenomenon that you only encountered once a year - and maye the extreme version of it once every 10 years - you may not be so sure of yourselves, either.

So keep your irritating, another way Southerners are backwards, superior attitudes to yourself. Or pack up and head back the way you came.

Feb
28th
Sat
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Another one of those dreams

I dreamed that I was at a college dormatory, wandering through some sort of underwear party, when I came across Tom Colicchio (the head judge on Top Chef). Apparently, he decided he wanted to hang out with me, and got on an elevator and hugged me.

We then ended up in some crazy, overly packed, water park, making our way through the lazy river with a hundred other people, holding hands the entire time. At some point, I got pulled into the current and some random, gross redneck tried to grope me. Tom Colicchio did not appreciate that to much, and punched the guy. Chef Tom Colicchio punched a guy in a water park!

The next thing I knew, we were in a house that was apparently one I had been living in. Some old plantation house with all kinds of secret rooms and doors. I wanted to show Tom Colicchio the old slaves’ quarters, but when I opened the door, a party was going on. My bf’s family was there (with a very tiny baby that was not his nephew), and then my best friend’s in-laws were there. I got cake smeared on my face and then introduced Tom Colicchio as “my friend Tom.”

We went exploring the rest of the house (I got lost and couldn’t find my room), and then I suddenly turned next to me and it was no longer Tom Colicchio but one of the interns at my office. She handed me the earrings I let her borrow, and then I woke up.

BIZZARO!

Feb
23rd
Mon
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This is a fun way to waste 5-10 minutes (or more if you actually want to be creative). Make your band’s album cover meme: 1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band. 2 - Go to Quotations Page and select “random quotations” or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album. 3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. 4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

This is a fun way to waste 5-10 minutes (or more if you actually want to be creative).

Make your band’s album cover meme:

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select “random quotations”
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Feb
19th
Thu
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WTF?

Dreams have been weird the last two nights in a row. This one was so weird that I didn’t even bother telling the bf.

However, internets, I will confess to you that the result of my dream was thus:

High Fructose Corn Syrup = HFCS = Hosea, Fabio, Carla, Stefan - what was the final four of Top Chef this season.

WTF?

Feb
18th
Wed
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My morning

I got really crappy sleep last night. I tossed and turned and had weird dreams that involved Bahamian vacations and talk of the US Virgin Islands with people I don’t know. I woke up at 6:30, blew off my gym appointment this morning (my neck is killing me) and fell back asleep. The next time I looked at the clock, it was 8:50. And my alarm was still going off from 7:30.

I also discovered that I was topless. And I didn’t start out that way - I definitely went to bed in my yoga pants and my softest long-sleeved shirt. Yet I woke up with just the pants, and my shirt crumpled on the floor. And no bf to blame it on.

To top it off, I managed to sling my peanut butter & honey waffle off my plate and onto the remote control.

Let’s blame it on the rain. (Yeah, yeah.)

Feb
13th
Fri
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For the record: I am *so* ready for this weekend to start. Tonight dinner in Athens with my Leeselah. Tomorrow dinner and dancing with the girls while the bf is away. Sunday chick-flick movie time.

For the record: I am *so* ready for this weekend to start. Tonight dinner in Athens with my Leeselah. Tomorrow dinner and dancing with the girls while the bf is away. Sunday chick-flick movie time.