I've been MIA from xanga and just about everything else in life because I've been busy either throwing up, passing out from exhaustion or trying to life some resemblance of a normal life after getting pregnant. The best part of being pregnant? Finding out today that we're having a baby girl. YAY! The worst part of being pregnant? My commute. I hate traveling from NJ to Wall Street. I secretly dream about interviewing at P.r.o.s.k.a.u.e.r. because they moved to Times Square and the commute would be so sweet! Is that crazy? That I'd be willing to go back to a hostile work environment just to make my commute easier?
I've been secretly stalking everyone I know with kids on xanga and FB to try to figure out what life will be like with kids. I think the hubs and I still haven't fully registered that we're going to be parents soon. Mostly because I go into mild panic attacks about being a parent and a mom.
Hopefully I'll be able to chronicle my life more on xanga now that this pregnancy is no longer kicking my butt and I feel more like a person.
I will be baking all Saturday night and Sunday morning. Plus I'm also going to be using my super ripe bananas I squirreled away in my freezer to make banana split cupcakes. I was going to make banana walnut muffins but I'm not much a of a breakfast eater and they'd end up in the freezer and the whole point was for me to use the bananas in the freezer! HA!
After a lot of changing schedules and rearranging timelines, the hubs and I ended up having the day to spend by ourselves. This is of course after I woke up at 6AM to bake my nephew's cake and after it was decided that I would not try to carve the cake (for the record, I wouldn't want my birthday cake to be a test cake either). After dealing with trying to handle a moist cake (IMPOSSIBLE TO MOVE AROUND), frost, refrigerate, ice, pipe, sprinkle and then piping on "Happy 9th Birthday Daniel (after the hubs guilted me into it) - we were finally ready to head on over to the birthday site. It was a seriously nutty morning. The cake was being delivered upstate so we decided that we would go apple picking (since it was something I've been wanting to do) and we're practically there already ... so .... the hubs and I had a nice date!
Applewood Orchards:
Afterwards, we went to Bellevale Ice Creamery where they have the best ice cream and an incredible view:
My nephew's 9th birthday cake (before I piped on the words on the cake because my hubs said it would be disappointing otherwise):
I've been photographing a lot of food lately and I guess it's true what they say ... the more you practice the better you become. Not that I'm anywhere near as good as I'd like to be ... but I definitely see improvement.
My favorite tool for photographing food has been my tripod. Cause I'll never be as steady as my tripod. And my remote shutter, cause even the slightest shake causes me to mutter curses ... sometimes quite loud.
And I've found the beauty of tethering my camera to my laptop so I can see my photos instantaneously. Because really, the photos you see on your tiny LCD screen on your camera is NOTHING like what it really looks like on your computer screen.
So now I've come to crossroads where I want to photograph more but it requires me to cook more ... and I'm not sure if my lazy ass can handle the up in cooking/baking all for the sake of taking photos. And besides, what the heck am I going to do with all the sweets anyways? I can't keep forcing the hubs to take them to work ... and all the assistants on my floor have called me their diet enemy and tell me to limit the sweets to once every few weeks.
I have pages and pages of recipes I want to try .... I have post-its written all over the recipes with adjustments I want to try to adapt them to more my liking .... but I'm always stunted by the logistics of it all .....
So frosting is something that's pretty tricky. Everybody has a favorite type of frosting. Some like Magnolia's thick thick sweet sweet frosting (I don't like it cause it's gritty). Some like a dense and sweet (but not gritty) frosting. Others like a whipped frosting. And other still like a marshmallowy gooey frosting.
Me? I like it smooth, silky and less sweet than most people. I've tinkered with a lot of frosting recipes to figure out how much of the sugar I can actually remove without compromising the integrity of the frosting. Cause people ... frosting is nothing but a simple ratio of fat to sugar. If you remove too much sugar you end up with a buttery tasting frosting. Too much sugar and it's almost cloyingly sweet.
My go to frosting of all time is SMBC (swiss meringue buttercream). It's a pain in the ass to make because it involves egg whites and a double boiler. The two things I hate to use the most in the kitchen. I hate separate eggs because what the hell do I do with the other half? And double boiler means I'm going to get a steam bath as I'm whipping up whatever it is that needs to be melted. But it only takes 6 minutes on the stove and the rest is done by the electric mixer, so in this case, the end result trumps my personal convenience.
My favorite version of SMBC:
1/2 cup sugar 2 large egg whites 1 1/2 sticks butter (12 Tbsp) at room temperature. 1/2 tsp vanilla
Put the sugar and egg whites into a double boiler and mix. The water in the pot under the double boiler should be simmering, not boiling. Mix the egg mixture for about 6 minutes (your arms will hate you) until the sugar dissolves and the mixture looks almost milky marshmallowy.
Pour the egg mixture into your electric mixer bowl and whip it until it starts to look like marshmallow. Then add 1/2 stick of butter at a time into the mixer until it fully incorporates into the mixture.
WARNING: your frosting may look like its curdling while you're mixing. This is NORMAL. Just keep mixing. It will magically come together. The longer you mix, the firmer and nicer the texture will be. I have my mixer going for about 12-15 minutes. 2ND WARNING: If your butter is too soft your frosting will be "runny". All you need to do is stick your bowl into the fridge for about 30 minutes and then start to mix again. All will be well. 3RD WARNING: If your butter is too cold, you will definitely see curdling. Again, this is normal. Just keep mixing.
When your frosting looks glossy and purty, add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.
This is good for a batch of cupcakes. If you want to use it for cakes, this recipe doubles like a champ.
I've added a whole crap load of stuff to this frosting (home made strawberry preserves) to make strawberry frosting, pulverized freeze dried blueberries to make blueberry frosting .... and the frosting takes the additions and holds up. It's honestly the world's most perfect SMBC recipe. I feel like this is the perfect ratio of sugar, egg whites and butter.
SMBC is fluffy, silky and not overly sweet.
My favorite regular buttercream:
1 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 8 cups icing sugar (otherwise known as powdered sugar, confectioner's sugar) 1/2 cup whipping cream 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract 1 tablespoon water pinch of salt
Beat the butter and icing sugar in an electric mixer on low with the paddle attachment for about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla, water, whipping cream, salt and whip on high speed until fluffy and smooth--about 4 minutes. If consistency is too thick, add more water 1 teaspoon at a time, then whip again for 30 seconds or so.
Makes enough to fill and frost a 5-6 thin layer (or 3 regular layer) 9" cake.
My favorite tastes just like whipped cream frosting: <-- This recipe calls for flour. Please don't think I'm crazy. The texture of this frosting is seriously amazing.
5 Tbsp flour 1 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar (not powdered sugar, the regular kind)
In a sauce pan, add the flour and milk and stir it until it becomes thick. It should be like brownie mix thick. Remove the pan from heat and let it cool to room temperature. Or you can be impatient like me and let it sit in a sink full of cold water for a few minutes. Add your vanilla to the mixture.
In your electric mixture, cream and butter and sugar until the sugar has COMPLETELY incorporated into the butter. The more you beat your butter and sugar now, the better your texture will be in the end. Add your completely cooled flour mixture to your butter mixture. Remember, your flour mixture MUST BE COOLED DOWN or it will melt your butter.
Mix. Mix. Mix. Until it looks like whipped cream. I'd say I mixed mine for a good 4 minutes. On high.
It tastes like whipped cream and it holds up nicely. But because it has similar texture to whipped cream, its not ideal for decorating cakes or making roses. It IS good for topping cupcakes and the insides of cakes, however.
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//
// *** Smiley Script V 2.2 ***
//
// (c)2003 by EasterEgg, http://www.xanga.com/easteregg
//
// You can use this code freely, as long as the entire script remains intact.
//
// WHAT'S NEW?
//
// 1.0 (February 11, 2003)
// - initial release
//
// 2.0 (May 12, 2003)
// - cross browser: it runs in IE, Netscape, Mozilla and Opera
// - ready for the upcoming (beta tested) changes at Xanga
// - clickable smileys, even for non-IE users, displayed in buttons
// - customizable number of smileys displayed in one row
// - customizable smiley button size
// - easily adjustable: only two arrays to maintain
//
// 2.1 (May 12, 2003)
// - preloading images for faster performance
// - XP Bugfix
//
// 2.2 (May 17, 2003)
// - necessary adjustments made because of recent changes at Xanga
// - made suitable for Mac users!
// - runs only at the comment page for increased performance
//
// HOW TO USE:
// For use at Xanga only. Copy this entire code (including the script tags)
// and paste in the Website Stats box at your Look and Feel page. Make sure
// the previous version of this script (if any) is completely removed first.
//
// The script contains two arrays: "textSmileys" and "realSmileys". The items
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// as you see fit, as long as both arrays keep the exact same number of items.
//
// For example, suppose you want to add some smiley to the script... that would mean
// in "textSmileys" you would add a shorthand like ":some_smiley:" or {somesmiley},
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//
// SETTINGS:
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// - "buttonSize": size of the smiley buttons in pixels. 30 px by default.
//
// AVAILABILITY:
// The script has been tested in the latest versions of IE, Netscape,
// Mozilla and Opera (Windows 98).
//
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":wha:",
":yes:",
":sleepy:",
":rolleyes:",
":lookaround:",
":eek:",
":confused:",
":nono:",
":fun:",
":goodjob:",
":giggle:",
":cry:",
":shysmile:",
":jealous:",
":whocares:",
":spinning:",
":coolman:",
":littlekiss:",
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"http://i.xanga.com/Alice/Smileylol.gif",
"http://i.xanga.com/Alice/7_mad.gif",
"http://i.xanga.com/Alice/heartbeating.gif",
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"http://i.xanga.com/Alice/sunnySmiley.gif",
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';
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Premium
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