…Archive for the ‘MISC’ Category…
11 Things
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
I know this is a slight departure from my regular food-centered posts but I thought it would be fun to do!
Beth from Getting By, Dreaming Big tagged me in her 11 Things post, so here goes…
Rules:
1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Tag them on Twitter, Facebook or their blog
11 Random Things About Me:
1. I’m not a US citizen.
2. I love all things pineapple. I don’t really know how this originated but I have several decorative pineapple items in my apartment. They are so yummy and pretty!
3. I’m a huge germaphobe. To the point where it annoys people. I try not to touch subway poles with the palm of my hand and I am constantly Lysol-ing people, I mean, things.
4.I think New York City sidewalks should have lanes – like on a highway. A fast lane for New Yorkers and a regular one for everyone else. I would be a less angry person if Mickey Bloomberg could get on board with this.
5. I’m moving in a couple months to an apartment that has internet, a TV, and wait for it… A MICROWAVE. This blog is going to be taken to new heights. (FYI – the reason I don’t have one now is because I don’t like to ruin my decor with appliances)
6. I haven’t done my own laundry in over two years. And no, I don’t drop it off at a laundromat 
7. I am obsessed with all things Lord of the Rings. I really don’t know why. Honestly. And no, it’s not because of Orlando Bloom.
8. I listen to Delilah on 106.7 Lite fm most weeknights for at least half an hour just to listen to dedications. I outwardly laugh at some of people’s romantic issues but then secretly get jealous when the dedications are super sweet.
9. About 80% of my wardrobe is black/white/grey/beige, 15% is blue, and the last 5% is random, muted colors.
10. When I grow up, I want to be Kate Middleton.
11. My personal space bubble is abnormally huge. If I let you get within 2 feet of me, I must REALLY like/trust you
Beth’s 11 Questions…
1. What is your favorite book of all time?
This is such a HARD question!!! The first book that comes to mind is Gone With the Wind (love stories about unrequited love) but I also loved Atlas Shrugged, 1Q84, and any Jane Austen book.
2. What food do you think you could not live without?
Butter.
3. What is your favorite place you have ever visited?
I’m a fan of Bartlett, New Hampshire – where my family vacations every summer – it’s gorgeous, there’s so much hiking to do, and it feels like a second home. It’s probably not the MOST scenic place I’ve been but the memories with my family make up for it.
4. What is the one place you are dying to visit?
I really want to visit an African country – like Tanzania, Morocco, or Seychelles.
5. What is favorite savory recipe?
Obviously, pizza.
6. What is your favorite sweet recipe?
I’m a big fan of chocolate chip biscotti and these pumpkin whoopie pies rank pretty high on my list, too (though next time I’m making it with cream cheese frosting).
7. What is your favorite Disney movie?
Beauty and the Beast. It’s actually my favorite movie of all time.
8. Do you think more about the past, the future or the present?
I think I have a healthy balance of thinking about all three equally – sorry if that’s a cop-out.
9. What author would you want to have a drink with?
Probably Margaret Atwood. I’d love to hear how she comes up with her plots and she seems like an interesting person in general who would probably be a good mentor for women.
10. What one cookbook can you not live without?
I’m not a big cookbook person because I just search online for recipes (mostly Cooking Light recipes on myrecipes.com), but one cookbook that I’ve gotten a LOT of use out of is Giada’s Everyday Italian. It’s no fuss and always delicious 
11. What is your favorite item in your home?
My bed, of course.
I’m going to have to break the rules because I don’t have any blogger friends who will fill this out. Sorry!!! But here are a few friends with awesome blogs:
Zach and Amanda, Two Cooks Cooking
Enjoy!
The Gift That Keeps On Giving…
Friday, June 24th, 2011
Spencer and Derek had gotten me a gift certificate for a cupcake class at Butter Lane Bakery for my birthday and I finally got the opportunity to redeem it last week.
We were greeted by this beautiful sight and were encouraged to chow down. I had a lovely lemon cupcake that was super moist and deliciously sweet.
Beth accompanied me
The 12 person class was split into 3 groups and each made a different cupcake and frosting. Our group made banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
I picked up a lot of tips including – to ripen bananas, you can take unripened naners, mash them up, and let them sit until they ripen. (How many more times could I have written “ripen”?) I usually wait until the skins are all brown but this seems like a faster method. Also, adding cream cheese to any frosting (chocolate, vanilla) will help make the consistency of the frosting perfect without having to add that much sugar. That said, we did add about 8 cups of sugar to our frosting 
The other teams made chocolate cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes, and chocolate and vanilla frosting.
Here’s Beth hard at work:
And then we had a frosting contest to see who could frost the most professional looking cupcake. Guess who won?
The above picture isn’t of my winning cupcakes (I think I did much better knowing I was going to be judged) but I received a gift certificate for 12 free cupcakes!
The class was pretty informative (although this class is probably for a beginner baker) and fun and the instructor knew what he was talking about. I even asked him for baking tips – telling him about how my brown sugar buttercream didn’t come together as I had hoped and he encouraged me to email him if I had any future baking questions. Score!
Thanks Spencer and Derek (and Beth) for a fun-filled evening!
Paris Eats
Thursday, June 9th, 2011
I’ve been meaning to write about my Paris eats for a while but it always seems so daunting but here it is…
I, of course, was excited to visit Paris to see Paris but to also eat my way through Paris. My friend Eli had thoughtfully greeted me with an authentic Paris chocolate croissant. I envisioned consuming quite a few of these in the coming days…
She also made this cute sign with my favorite European cookies that she got from a VENDING machine!!! Now, why can’t we have that option?? It would be much easier for me to make things like this.
Walking around Paris was awesome. I LOVE walkable cities. It’s so fun to just take everything in and snap away.
This is my future home, by the way.
The Rodin Museum. I plan on wearing corsets and taking walks in my garden every morning with a parasol and gloves.
We had a picnic by the Seine – complete with Paris ham, French butter, baguettes, and sparkling wine
More shots of the Eiffel in case you couldn’t get enough…
One of the highlights of the trip was going to Laduree to get traditional macarons.
I was in love with the shabby chic decorating and color schemes.
This was some type of praline pastry that was obviously delicious.
Espresso…
…and the macarons!
The green one was Lilly of the Valley, which tastes exactly how the flower smells, a lemon one, a raspberry, and a chocolate with lime macaron.
And yes, the picture above is the wallpaper for my phone.
We also split a strawberry millefeuille. Delicious and light!
Another highlight of the trip was dinner at Le Petit Prince in Paris. I’ll have to blog about that another day because I can’t seem to find the pictures to it. Stay tuned!
