Happy Valentine's Day!

I made mini pies last night to celebrate. Aren't they so cute? 

If I could, I'd give you one for Valentine's Day too.

Here's hoping you have a lovely day filled with lots of love and fun, 

and that if you're like me and don't have a Valentine this year,  hopefully you'll have one next.

Love,

Lauren Kay

3D, TV Shows, Sick Days and Mini Cake

I wish I had a really awesome funny story to tell. I don't.

I frequently catch the bus now because I have an iPhone that helps track when the next bus will be coming. So there aren't any funny running to the bus stories.

I'm not in love with my job (that's sugar coating the fact that I don't like my job at all) so 40 hours a week is spent doing something I practically despise. Good thing I get paid.

I've been sick for the last two days so my brain is extra cloudy. I forgot my lunch, cell phone and badge this morning. But I'm feeling a lot better despite sounding like Ursula the Sea Witch.

So here's the real update:

I've seen two 3D movies in the past week, which is funny because I think 3D is over rated. First, we took Lisa's niece to her first movie: Beauty and the Beast. It was her birthday, she had a princess party, and she loved it. (Note how the popcorn bucket is bigger than she is.)

Then, last Saturday after dropping Lisa off at the airport for her flight to Africa, Debbie and I met up with my sister Jess and her husband Michael to see an IMAX movie at the Natural History Museum. We didn't know it was in 3D until we got there, and we got to sport these sweet frames, definitely an improvement from the AMC 3D glasses I think:

Sunday was a low key day but the real excitement is us watching Downton Abbey. Are you watching? We're so hooked on it. I know you can buy Season 2 online and watch it ahead of time, but I kind of really like having people over every week to watch together.

And to continue on the same vein of TV shows I like, I spent my sick day on Monday getting all caught up on Revenge. Do you watch that one? Because I'm totally hooked on that one too. And How I Met Your Mother (that's all on Netflix). I'm finally caught up to the current season.

Yesterday after taking a mid day shower I noticed some serious improvement in the state of my sore throat and stuffy sinuses (TMI?) so I went to the store and bought a mini cake pan to make a birthday cake for Roommate Lindi. Look how cute that cake is!

I tried a new cake recipe and the frosting has marshmallow cream in it. I'm totally hooked. It's awesome frosting. And I'm hooked on the mini cake pan. It's so cute!

I'll have to try and do something stupid so you can have something to laugh at. In the mean time, you'll have to content yourself to this boring post.

Salted Caramel

A few months ago Laney and I were in Bethesda and decided to stop into their branch of Georgetown Cupcake before dinner. (Great idea to have dessert first. Also, side note about the Bethesda branch of the cupcake store? Zero line. It was awesome. I will never wait in the Georgetown Cupcake line.* Its WAY too long.) Anyway, they had a Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcake and it was divine. We loved it.

So when I asked Laney what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday last month, she asked for a Salted Caramel Cake. And Martha Stewart helped me out when I googled for a recipe and I ended up making the Sweet and Salty Cake by Baked Bakery in New York City.

The real cake, the one make by Baked Bakery is SO much prettier than mine. Check it out HERE.

I also want one of those spinning cake stands, but isn't this blue one cute?

I think this is my favorite picture of the cake. It was so rich the pieces had to be really thin.

And now the cake was totally destroyed but the layers were thick and the frosting was delicious.

Things I want to get better at:

• making frosting. I don't know why but mine wasn't that smooth, and I had it mixing forEVER. Maybe my butter was too cold. But next time, I want it to look like professional frosting. 
• frosting cakes in general. I don't think I'm BAD at it, but I'm not good either. I need a spinning cake stand and a frosting spatula.
• making caramel. I may have burned it BAD and ruined a pot. It took me three tries to get it correct.

Would I do it again? Oh, you bet. It was really fun.

P.S. All pictures taken by the lovely Debbie.

*source

Pie

I have this need to bake. I don't know what it is. Maybe its because I like to create. I should probably find a hobby that's more gentle, and forgiving on my waistline. Cake is good, and I feel like it's pretty hard to mess up a cake. Right? But pie? Pie is hard. Actually, let me rephrase that, pie CRUST is hard. There's a science to it, to make the crust flaky and buttery and hard enough that it doesn't all fall apart as you dish the pie up but also is easy enough to cut with the side of the fork.

via

If you haven't already guessed, today is Pi(e) Day (you know, 3.14 or March 14th) and my former aspirations of holding a party where everyone brings pie and maybe having a contest (ala Rockstar Diaries) totally didn't happen and I'm kind of bummed out about it. 

BUT, that being said, that doesn't mean I can't still attempt to perfect pie crust any time of the year.

Banana Pudding

Every time I go to New York City I want to stop by Magnolia Bakery for banana pudding. It's the creamiest, lightest, best tasting pudding ever. Kind of like banana cream pie, and I love banana cream pie. After one of these trips I decided I wanted to recreate the recipe for my roommates. And I made it, and it was good, but the texture wasn't right. It was delicious and pudding-y but it wasn't as light as the Magnolia Bakery version. Since it was good, I made it a few more times but it just never fully compared to the "real" stuff.

The "real" stuff. Photo from Flickr

Until this weekend when I basically hit the jackpot. And I think it was because I made the pudding and didn't use Jell-O. So, I'm going to share the happiness with you:

Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding
Adapted from Crepes of Wrath

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 egg, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature
2 cups whole milk
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large bananas, sliced
1 box nilla wafers (I didn't use them all but you'll want enough)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine the sugar, cornstarch, egg, egg yolk, whole milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Whisk together until combined, then continue whisking for 8-10 minutes, until the pudding begins to bubble like hot lava (thick pudding with bubbles that sound like a ‘plopping’ noise). Add in the unsalted butter, reduce heat to the lowest setting, and whisk until completely melted. Pour the pudding into a separate bowl, then allow to sit in the fridge until cool. (It's a couple hours.)

2. Whip the cream with powdered sugar and vanilla until very stiff.

3. When the pudding is cool and the whipped cream is finished, fold the cream and pudding together until there is no more visible yellow. Don't stir because you will loose some of the air in the cream.

4. When the pudding is ready, begin to layer your pudding. Alternate layers of pudding, Nilla wafers, and bananas until you have used all the pudding. Then let the whole thing sit for a few hours (overnight is best) until the Nilla Wafers are soft. 

Serves 8 but you might want to double it because it's so good.

Seriously, you should try it. I promise you won't be disappointed. And if you do try and you've had the real stuff, let me know how it compares. I'm really interested to know if it needs something else or if it's as close as I think it is.

2 weeks?

Guys, it has now been two full weeks since my last blog post. I'm usually a much better blogger than that. So, what's going on with me? Not much really.

• I had last Thursday off for Veteran's day and found myself at Shenandoah National Park for a nice hike. The leaves are gorgeous and the weather was even better. 
• Last Monday, I was added to the official federal employee list. I had to raise my right hand and solemnly swore to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; blah blah blah; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I entered, etc. Kind of intense. And kind of really cool. I actually really liked doing that and feeling really patriotic.
• Big news of the week, but not really news I guess, I'm really really excited for Harry Potter 7. And have a midnight showing ticket in my possession. I will be taking the wand I bought at Harry Potter World in Florida and sporting my Gryffindor Prefect badge.
• Speaking of Florida, I will post pictures when I get them. Something is wrong with my iPhoto and I can't upload any pictures on it. It really puts a damper on my picture postings.

And now for a poll. I am making cookies for our work bake sale tomorrow. Which cookies should I make?

1. Chocolate Caramel Cookies 
2. Brown Sugar Cookies with Maple Icing
3. Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I was going to put a couple more but decided to limit the options. That always makes it easier to choose. Right?

Now I'll end with a picture just for good measure, because blogs are a little more exciting with a picture, right?

I'd love to be on vacation right now. Picture taken at Malbork Castle, Poland. Summer 2007.

Cooking

Last Sunday I went to a Fall potluck at the house of some friends. I have been really into cooking and more importantly, baking lately so I decided to make a butternut squash soup. I found a recipe for Butternut Squash and Apple soup and took it to the potluck. I think it turned out really good. (Probably because I added some left over heavy cream...) But it was an easy recipe so I decided to make it again last night so that Lisa and I have soup to take to work this week. (Yep! Lisa is back from India/Philippines!) But unfortunately I wasn't thinking late Saturday night at the grocery store about what I needed. I forgot to buy onions. And, that soup needs something to cut the sweetness in the squash and apples. So, unfortunately we aren't eating the soup today for lunch but will tomorrow after I cook up those onions tonight.

Yesterday I also made the most delicious, chewy cookies. They're almost like candy. (Not kidding.) Brown Sugar Cookies with Maple Icing. Mmmm!

And, thanks to Miss Lisa, I have been watching Veronica Mars on Netflix. I'm really late to this band wagon, but it's good. And addicting. (I'm thanking Lisa because it's her netflix account.)

Update

I've been slacking a bit on the blogging. Lets see, what's the quick update:

1. Went to the DC Independent Film Festival last Friday with Debbie. We saw Tenure which I thought was pretty hilarious. Luke Wilson looked cute too. And I haven't been thinking he looked very good lately in those AT&T commercials.

2. Went to the Young Single Adult Combined Ward Chili-Cook Off and Hoe Down. As I walked into the stake center I was shocked at how many people were there. They were getting the dancing started and there were about a hundred people dancing around doing dosey-dos and line dancing. It was so fantastically hilarious. Just so cliche Mormon. I didn't dance. I stood on the side and mocked it with my friend Erin. Did I wish I was out there dancing? Just a titch. But that was only because someone made the off-handed comment that this was how the Celestial Kingdom would be. (Too many women to men.) And that was depressing when I realized I was one on the sideline.

3. Watched the Oscars. Was extra happy about The Young Victoria winning best costume design. Wasn't very happy however about the acceptance speech. It sounded something like, "This is my third Oscar and since some of you will never get one, I'll dedicate it to you." Somehow that just struck me wrong. But whatever. I loved The Young Victoria.

PS. Did you know Rupert Friend is dating Keira Knightly? (It's true, Google it.) Apparently Wickham and Elizabeth get together after all!

4. Went to The Dairy Godmother last night with Erin for their flavor of the day. How much do you just love that name? I love my bus driver too. He stopped at my bus stop even though I was continuing on down the hill to meet Erin at her apartment. Isn't that so nice! I kind of felt bad I wasn't getting off! Now I feel like I have a chauffeur. And that's a good reason to ride the bus!

5. The weather has been so absolutely gorgeous! It feels like Spring! Though there may be some rain coming on, I'm ok with that when the weather is upper 50s and low 60s. It just seems heavenly after all that snow!

Delicious!

I made cupcakes for our new Sunday roommate dinner tradition. They were delicious. So delicious.

The recipe was found here.

Hm...

I have lots of things I want to blog about but for some reason don't really feel like doing it. But I'm going to force myself to write a few things down now:

1. I came home from a run Saturday afternoon and my dad was watching Mean Girls. It made me laugh and it made me laugh harder when he was cracking up during certain parts. (None of which I can remember exactly now--maybe the getting hit by the bus part? or the creepy/gangster-wanna-be Mathlete guy)

2. Sunday was the five year anniversary of Brooke Wilberger's disappearance. It's hard to believe it was so long ago because I can still remember vividly what I was doing and where I was when we got the phone call asking for my dad's help to search for her the day she went missing. I remember I had just come home for the summer after my sophomore year at BYU, I sat withBrooke at church the day before. We discussed "her missionary" and my impending study abroad to Vienna. This Sunday I talked with the mother-in-law of Brooke's sister at church on Sunday about it and how I miss her and have been thinking of her a lot this week. Brooke's family is incredible. They are still strong and so positive. It makes me really grateful for my church and our doctrine.

3. I made a cake for our Memorial Day swim party yesterday. It was the Flag Cake from Ina Garten but was featured in Martha Stewart a few years ago. I think it turned out pretty good but I can't find the cord to hook the camera to the computer so there will be no picture, but just remember, I did the cake pretty dang good, and the cake and the frosting part were delicious alone but with a little added raspberry and blueberry it was divine. I probably could have eaten all the batter and frosting as they were. Not kidding, they were that good.

4. I graduated over a month ago. And I have done nothing. I can't tell if that's fabulous and wonderful or slightly pathetic and depressing. We'll see.

5. I'm trying to get back into shape. I felt really good about myself that summer Brooke went missing but after going to Vienna, I lost the good habits I had formed and slowly got back to how I was before Vienna. I guess the fact that I love to try new food didn't help at all, but Vienna + England + France + 18 months in Poland + summer Europe trip + back in Provo gotta try all the foods I loved and missed + Jerusalem, got me so off track from where I had once been that it wasn't even a habit to eat healthy or eat right. I found myself eating lots of high fat foods, using food to socialize, using food to comfort (Ben and Jerry's, especially the new Marzipan one, Mint Cookies and Cream, the cake one, and Imagine WhirledPeace--although I might just like this one because it has peace sign chocolate pieces and I like the Beatles). I made ridiculous goals for myself like this, that I knew I couldn't keep and then got frustrated and down on myself when my unrealistic expectations couldn't be met. (Although, I do understand that my goal could be met with a little self control, it just isn't realistic for me to not eat sweets, I like them too much. Giving up being lazy would be a more realistic goal.) So, back to why I'm blogging about this. Well, actually I don't know why I'm blogging about it. I guess it's on my mind a lot today because I had a slight freak out to my mom when I stepped on the new scale we just bought and I appeared to have gained five pounds from the morning weigh in to the lunch-time-testing-the-new-scale-weigh in. I was not happy because clearly the scale I had previously been weighing myself on is off by about five pounds! I've since mellowed out and calmed down, and I still don't really know why I'm blogging about this. Do I really want people to read about this? I don't even know who reads this. I have a few loving commenters but most people don't comment (as much as I wish everyone would comment *hint hint*), I know I read blogs I don't dare comment on! But I guess maybe this is why I feel melancholy today.

That's a lot going on in my mind these past few days. There was more I swear there was more. And it was more good stuff than bad. Today though I feel like the slightly depressing over powered the good.

And I thought this was going to be a short post. Hm...

Edit May 31, 2009: I found the cord for the camera so here is a picture of the Flag Cake!

Cake!

Yesterday my parents hosted a lunch for all the cute old widows from church. I offered to make the dessert because I've been dying to make something lately. I almost made cookie dough to eat but decided that that was against my healthy eating plan. But I found a most delicious recipe for Lime Chiffon Cake in my mom's Cooking Light cookbook. It was absolutely delicious. I think I'd make it again.

Also, we went and saw Star Trek last night. I may be a total geek, but I loved it!

100

This is my 100th post yay!

I had a really busy weekend that didn't include school work at all!

Here's what went down:

Friday
1. Caught up with Amy and went over to the Sweet Tooth Fairy bakery. We got Peanut Butter Chocolate and Toasted Coconut Cupcakes to share. (Unfortunately I didn't have my camera.)
2. Dinner at Cafe Rio with Amy, Cath and Linds.
3. Mission reunion. Highlight of that is that I saw a bunch of people I haven't seen for a long time. I should have taken more pictures, but here are the best and cutest girls there.

Left: Three mission generations-- my trainee (Mary Clinger), me and my trainer (Cheryl Catts)
Right: Old roommates-- Natalie Jackson (now Pace) and Lacy Gibb

Saturday
1. Got up right before General Conference and sewed some books while I watched.
2. That night I went shopping at The Gateway in Salt Lake with my sister and cousin. I spent too much money but the highlights are a cute headband and some owl earrings.
3. I got talked into visiting Amy with the promise of getting a ride home. I'm easily persuaded and ended up spending the night at her house.

Sunday
1. Lots more Conference.
2. Delicious French Toast at my aunt and uncle's house.
3. Watched Slumdog Millionaire while I cleaned my room. And this is one of the best movies I have ever seen. It was incredibly good.

Monday
1. Work.
2. Class.
3. Dinner group. And I made this for dinner:

Chicken With Tomato, Orange and Rosemary Couscous

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)
¼ cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or water
1 cup sliced zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 can (14.5 ounces) chopped tomatoes, drained, or 1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1 teaspoon fresh or dried rosemary
1 package (5.8 ounces) Near East Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil Couscous mix
¾ cup peeled, seeded and chopped orange

1. Season chicken to taste with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add chicken; cook 5 to 6 minutes on each side, or until no longer pink inside.

2. Meanwhile, in large saucepan, combine wine, 1 cup water, zucchini, tomatoes and rosemary. Bring to a boil over high heat.

3. Stir in couscous and contents of Spice Sack. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand 5 minutes.

4. Fluff lightly with a fork. Stir in chopped orange and serve with chicken.

(I got it on the back of the Near East couscous package.)

And this for dessert. Both were delicious.

(This is my roommate Amy. She decorated them.)

17 March 2009

I watched House this afternoon while I did some Calligraphy homework. Have you ever watched that show? I LOVE it. I think House is hilarious. And the best part about the show today is that when House's team calls him on his cell phone the ring tone is MMMBop. I was dying.

I woke up at 7:52 this morning. I needed to be at work at 8. I was late.

I made an appointment at the Career Counseling Center today to figure out my life. I am not really that excited but hopefully it helps.

My roommate Amy made this cake yesterday for dinner group:

If you're interested, you can find the recipe here.
AND, it's low fat!

The weekend in Eugene brought back lots of memories. My best friend from high school came to visit me in Eugene while she was also in town for the weekend. I haven't seen her for years. We talked for six hours about our lives for the past few years. I told her I had found this picture:

This is Prom 2002. My date and I are in the center. I don't know why Melanie and her date aren't standing next to each other, but she gave me this picture in a 8x10 frame for a little graduation present. I re-found this picture frame a few weeks ago with another picture inside. I hoped that I had kept the prom picture in the back and was delighted when I saw I had. It made me laugh out loud and run to show my roommates. My date was a boy I had had a crush on during high school. I saw him this past weekend while he was home for Spring Break. I was not impressed. When telling the high school friend about this, I coined the term "love vision".

Love vision [ləv vi-zhən] noun. The clouding of rational thinking and actions due to being infatuated by a member of the opposite sex. Love vision generally disappears when the lovesickness fades. Use of this term usually is accompanied with this motion:

I can now say that all former love vision of my life is gone and "I can see clearly now the rain is gone!" Cheezy? Yes.

President Obama is going to be on Jay Leno Thursday. It bothers me that he's still doing things like that. I think he's more of a celebrity than my President. And we don't need anymore celebrities.

I'm planning on my final project for bookbinding. It's going to be fabulous. I'm going to bind my most favorite childhood "girl books". I'm excited. I want to do five books. I have four so far and and trying to decide on a fifth. Here's what I have so far: Ella Enchanted, Goose Girl, Walk Two Moons, and Matilda. But I need a fifth. (I just like odd numbers.) Any ideas?

Cupcakes

Dear Laura asked about the cupcakes I made a few weeks ago and so I thought I'd give my review:

Cupcake: I thought it was delicious and I wanted to eat five. Unfortunately for my taste buds my dinner group consumed most of them, but fortunately for my hips. If I made them again I would tweak the recipe a little bit. I thought it was dry. But then again, maybe I made an unintentional error and totally messed up the recipe.

Frosting: I love Nutella so I loved the frosting. Actually I thought the frosting didn't taste Nutella-y enough so I added more. It probably didn't taste Nutella-y enough because I had a spoonful of Nutella right before I tested the frosting. So I probably added about a fourth cup more Nutella than the recipe called for. It was delicious.

I had left over frosting and so a few days later I made these cupcakes and used the Nutella frosting. It was even better!

Lent

So a friend of mine in high school always did lent. She would give up ice cream, or TV or something she loved. I love sweets. Ice cream, candy, chocolate, cupcakes, cookies, nutella, hot chocolate. I will do anything to get a sugar fix. My friend does a sugar fast every other month and she says it helps her not feel so dependent on sweets. In an attempt to have more self control and to curb my self proclaimed sugar addiction, I am giving up treats for lent. Yeah lent is a non Mormon tradition and yes my Fat Tuesday was extended into a Fat Week because I didn't decide to start until this morning, but I decided to extend my not eating of treats into a long month. Hopefully I will gain an appreciation and love for fruit and other natural treats. So this is my public announcement to not feed me goodies otherwise I will be angry and have to exert some serious self control!

Yum

I'm tempted to make this 14 layer cake for next dinner group.

But I think I'm going to make these Vanilla Nutella Cupcakes instead:

Cake and recipe found here. Cupcakes and recipe found here.

Coconut

I love coconut. I like the flavor, I like the texture. Some people hate coconut. Yesterday was apparently National Pie Day. And I had aspirations to bake a pie. But after thinking about it for a little bit I opted instead to make a cake. My roommate suggested a coconut cake and I agreed that that would be a fantastic idea. I full intended to make that cake last night but when the suggestion of going to the volleyball game occurred, I decided to make that cake today. And I did. It's a three layer white cake with a delicious sour cream filling and a light whipped frosting. Paula Dean's cake looked like this:

It's perfectly level and looks delightfully delicious for coconut lovers like myself.

Unfortunately I decided to make one slight alteration with the final outcome of the cake. I like toasted coconut. But I didn't fully think out the repercussions that would cause for the presentation of the cake. Also my layers were not quite so level and they weren't even the same thickness. I swear I put the same amount of batter into each cake pan!

But after spending the afternoon to create my delicious Coconut Cake, I was thrilled with the taste of the cake.

If you are interested in making this cake (which I highly recommend) you can find it here.

Other than my cake extravaganza today I got up late, watched Bridget Jone's Diary on TBS while I ate breakfast, cleaned my room, did my part for our cleaning check, plucked my eyebrows, and searched for a quote for my Calligraphy project. It's been a successful day in my mind and will need to be supplemented slightly by a little homework and-- oh! My roommate is puppy sitting tonight for her brother and it just got here! Ha. There goes my night! Puppies! I love them! And coconut!

Yum!

Today was an interesting day, food wise. I woke up late and practically jumped out of bed and into the shower. I rushed to work this morning stopping to grab a yogurt as I ran out the door. But when I got to work, I almost immediately delved into the candy bowl full of Skittles. I ate so many that by the end of the morning I swear I looked like this guy:

I was definitely feeling a little sick from all the Skittles I had (which is a lot when you start at 8:30 in the morning). So I decided to get a salad for lunch until Nathan persuaded me to procrastinate writing my research paper proposal and get J-dawgs with him. So of course I got one! Not only do I love procrastinating, but I love J-dawgs, and I love hanging out with Nate! But despite the tastiness that my tummy was enjoying today, the best part was finishing class tonight and having my cereal.

I love cereal! I could eat any kind and I could probably eat it for every single meal. It is after all a meal and a beverage in one. I love it so much, I wish this was me:

Maybe just with the big bowl, not so much the ugly 80's hair and goofy facial expression.

I'm thinking that tomorrow I should eat some vegetables because when I eat too much junk I want more and more, and all I want right now is a big bowl of ice cream, or maybe some more cereal.