It's been a couple of months since I have updated anything on this here blog. I promise there's a good reason.
Aside from the busyness of the holidays, I've been working on a pretty massive project. A really massively boring project. A really massive project I've been working on the better part of a year.
A quilt.
Not just any quilt, but a collection of tapestries that hold the memories my boyfriend and I created, together and separately, in over 6 years of combined service in Apple retail.
That's right, a very large detailed quilt composed purely of Apple Tshirts. The front, the back, the trim - every inch of this king sized beast (with the exception of the fluffy batting) is 100% soft cozy American apparel tshirt cotton.
About a month ago, I finally got to this point:
Over 300 different sized squares all pieces together to form 98 12x12 squares.
And then I changed my mind and decided to completely change the way the back would be. Resulting in over 100 new squares to be traced and cut, and an additional very large, detailed tapestry.
I have finally gotten back to the place where I am ready to simply piece everything together.
Let's just hope I keep my mind in this direction.
Either way, enjoy the coming pictures of my progress.
Finally, I have completed the first page of my "Culinary Portfolio". So jump on over, and take a look at my delicious bakes!
Anyone who has ever been a kid, loves amusement parks. Even if you don't like Roller Coasters, there's that inner giddy-ness that amusement parks bring, no matter what age you are.
It's been about 7 years (YIKES) since I have been to an amusement park. It's been on the list for the last few years (along with camping, snowboarding, and golf lessons) but time just flies by too quickly, and before we know it, another year has passed.
Well, since the end of my reign in retail in February, I actually have weekends off. So this past Saturday my boyfriend and I headed south to meet our friends Bethany & Josh (Bethany Squared, as we call our group) and ride down to Kings Dominion for the Halloween Haunt.
Even the frustration of having to buy tickets on our phones with next to no phone service, in order to save $20 a ticket from buying it in cash at the park, NOTHING could stop this inner excitement. We're spending the afternoon drinking beers, riding roller coasters, and watching overly nervous people get scared at the Zombie employees walking around.
Then an hour later, spirit crushing was achieved.
So it got us all to thinking; the amusement park industry is missing a fantastic opportunity for the children-at-heart crowd.
When you're in your mid 20's and don't have kids, and won't have school aged kids in the next decade, fighting off screaming children and spending 45 minutes in line behind the overly anxious 11 year olds, is anything but fun.
To top it off, beer was only found in two places in the entire park, and they had to be consumed on site.
We kept hoping as it got later, the kids would abide by their state ordained curfews, but it almost seemed as if MORE kids were there the later it was.
About 3.5 hours after we arrived, having ridden only 1 roller coaster, attempting to ride another but giving up 30 minutes into the wait, 1 haunted house, 1 beer consumption, and a cold ride on the ferris wheel, we decided to call it quits.
The ride home my boyfriend talked about how puzzled we were that we spent the better part of our day, $80 on tickets, and $25 on three beers just to leave feeling nothing but incredible disappointment. What happened to this amusement park in the years since we've gone?
No one likes to wait in a line, and it is definitely unavoidable, but if amusement parks were to intentionally attract the 20-30 something crowd, it could reinvent the entire amusement park experience.
What would have made our trip better?
For starters, we should have paid the $20 extra to cut the lines. The catch 22 of this is if too many people buy these passes, the "fast lane" will turn into a big wait itself.
BEER. When you compare Kings Dominion to Busch Gardens, what makes Busch Gardens infinitely better than Kings Dominion? Especially when referring to the aforementioned demographic, is that there are BG employees walking around the entire park with beer carts, allowing people to purchase $10 beers to make the wait in line that much more tolerable.
With a company like Anheuser-Busch holding the upper-hand in the amusement park industry, I am kinda surprised there is no "21 & up" amusement park.
There doesn't even need to be an entire park only for the drinking crowd, but maybe certain hours of "Adult Swim". And they can even keep the kiddy side of the parks open, for those who may be more than 3 sheets into the wind...
I don't even want patenting rights or any rewards for the idea, I just want to enjoy some Roller Coasters with some beer and no children.
Please Busch Gardens, Kings Dominion & Six Flags... Adults need days to be a kid too!
It's that time of year... Pumpkin!
And anyone who knows me well knows that means pumpkin cheesecake time.
For many many years, I have been making pumpkin cheesecakes with ginger snap and pecan crust.
Until last year Pillsbury published a recipe using that same crust.
So this year I challenged myself even more and asked "how can I make this cheesecake even better?"
If you've had any of my cheesecakes, you know they can be pretty elaborate. I tend to pride myself on this.
What's this years secret?
Well, without giving away all the secrets, here's the epic Pumpkin & Cream cheesecake I made, layer by layer.
Crust:
Maple Cookie and Toasted Pecan
First layer:
Pumpkin Spice with clove, nutmeg & ginger.
Second Layer:
Fresh chopped vanilla bean
Third layer:
Pumpkin spice with Pecan pieces
Then to top it all off:
A brown sugar meringue with crushed pecans.
I must say, even after slicing this bad boy up, the presentation was still absolutely beautiful.
And the reviews? Well, lets just say, it was pretty freaking delicious.  My delicious pumpkin & cream cheesecake
If you don't have a logitech harmony remote, you should probably get one.
And, not all of them are $200. In fact, the one I have was only $30 and its the best remote I have ever had. Or, in the words of Logitech "the one touch wonder".
It's seriously the easiest thing to program. You plug it in your computer and tell you what you want it to do, and then you point it at your TV and it picks up the signals from the other devices.
Seriously, it even works with our soundbar, which NO OTHER universal remote on the planet will program with.
That being said, I went hunting on the review board today. 4.5 stars out of 47 reviews. So I had to read the poor ones. And I was not disappointed.
The first 4 star I saw, the person was from Lithuania, so let's just say the ease of use could be language barrier. And, there was only 1 1 star review, and the person's remarks were "I use a macs computer and macs computers are supposed to be the easiest and this remote would not program. don't buy it".
But, the best review, immediately following that, was this guy: YESSSSS Not only is this guy's occupation a SHARK HUNTER, he's SIXTY SIX YEARS OLD. The dude cannot spell, and does not know how to turn his caps off on his keyboard, and EVEN HE stated that the people who cannot program this remote must be on the dumb side.
So, Ladies and Gentleman, if you cannot go by my word on this is the best remote $30 can buy, go by the Shark Hunter's words, that he is finally a 1 remote owner.
These days, we seem to live in a world where great customer service is an infrequent occurrence. I feel I am one who definitely sees more of the bad experiences, but after my many years of working in "high end" retail, I do have high expectations.
Recently, my expectations have been blown away, and I feel I need to give credit where it is due.
Soap.com
If you haven't tried it yet, you should. You can order anything from soap, groceries, paper goods... anything you can think of. AND you can schedule recurring orders, so you never have to run to the store when you discover you just used the last roll of paper towels.
Another great benefit, is they almost always have BOGO deals going on. (Buy One Get One, for those not in the couponing world)
Last week, I found a great deal from slick deals, to buy 1 Shampoo, and get a free conditioner from soap.com.
I missed the fine print that said "limit one per order" and ordered 2 bottles of Shampoo. I had checked the "I want the free conditioner" deal, but when my package arrived a few days later, I only had two bottles of shampoo.
I called their customer service, and was very very pleasantly surprised.
It was not a very long wait at all, and the lady I talked to was incredibly chipper, and actually sounded like she wanted to help me.
To accommodate for the online confusion, they refunded me for one of the bottles of shampoo, and then sent me a free bottle of conditioner. Not only did I end up with a free bottle of conditioner AND shampoo, the box was delivered to my front doorstep LESS THAN 24 hours later!!!! What?!?!?!
When I opened up the happy bright colored box, I was then welcomed with a $10 credit off my next purchase.
If you haven't checked out Soap.com yet, do so!
(they also have a couple partner shops, like wag.com that has everything your little pup could ever desire!)
I haven't been as active on my blog the last couple of weeks, with the ending of summer, starting of a new job, and trying to maintain the household while balancing new job... I haven't had any time for extra projects! Anyway, I used to love ReadyMade Magazine. Sadly, just over a year ago, Meredith publishing decided to pull the magazine from production. ;-( However, they still have a website, which holds the archives of all their projects, along with new ideas. Today, I stumbled upon a great one! There aren't many thing Fezzi loves more than Frosty Paws! However, they can get pricey. As listed on the site, here is the recipe: 2 cups Vanilla nonfat yogurt 2 Tablespoons flax seed (or oats) and 1 of the following: 1 banana 1/2 cup Blueberries 1/2 cup Strawberries or 1/2 cup Peanut Butter Combine in a blender, then spoon into ice trays and freeze! Feeling lost without ReadyMade Magazine? Try subscribing to "Do It Yourself" magazine, published by Better Homes and Gardens!!!
| Being a vegetarian, I've always loved hummus. And kale, but separately. And to be honest, even being a vegetarian, I've never been fond of the idea of kale chips...
But being as my boyfriend doesn't like kale, I now have an abundance about to go bad. So I thought, what the hell, I'll try these "kale chip" things. Worst case scenario, I'll have some pita chips with my homemade hummus.
So, here's what I did. Roasted Chickpea Hummus
1 can chickpeas, drained
2 tbsp + {up to} 1/3 cup olive oil
2 + tbsp Lemon Juice
2 tsp chopped garlic
Sea salt, to taste
Ground Peppercorn, to taste
2 tsp dried parsley
Paprika {you got it, to taste}
Being as hummus is the only thing I would use tahini for, I find it ridiculous to pay $9 for a pint of it, because apparently, that's the only size stores carry it in.
Alright, so preheat your oven to 350. In a bowl, stir the chickpeas with 2 tbsp olive oil, and a little salt.
Spread on a baking sheet. Cook about 7 minutes, just before they brown. We still want them soft.
Now, combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend well.
Refrigerate about an hour before serving. | Garlic & Parmesan Kale Chips
Bunch of Kale
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp garlic paste (crush chopped garlic under wide blade knife, then chop finely, until its a paste)
2 tsp grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400.
Mix olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan in mixing bowl. Thinly coat each piece of kale, and line on baking sheet. (double mixture as needed)
*if some pieces won't stay open, begin baking, and after 2 minutes they will be limp enough to fold, and stay, open*
Bake 5 -7 minutes, then turn over each piece, and bake an additional 5 minutes. |
 "Ranch Onion" Dip  Rosemary & Olive Oil chips | For as long as I can remember, I've not been a fan of ranch dressing. People call me unamerican for this, but l have stranger food tendencies.
Then, I used to work at a sports bar that made homemade ranch. And while I'm still not in love, homemade is the only way I like ranch.
When it comes to snacking, one of my favorites is some good 'ol French onion dip. But this rises a connundrum because my boyfriend is not an onion fan.
In order to compromise, I created a mesh of the two.
First, let's dice about 1/2 a cup of red onions. Caramelize them with 2 tbsp butter. This will take up to 20 minutes, so you can start the rest, and stir the onions occasionally.
Next, we want to make our "ranch spice" mix.
2 Tablespoons dried parsley
1 Teaspoon dried Dill
1/2 - 1 Teaspoon dried Basil
1/2 Teaspoon ground Peppercorns
1/2 Teaspoon crushed coriander
Stir in bowl until uniform mix.
Next, we mix the dairy.
Stir together 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup Mayo with olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon lemon or lime juice, and 1/2 Teaspoon crushed garlic.
Set everything aside until onions are done. Move them to a plate and let cool 5 minutes.
Then, add onions (and all the juices) to the base mix. Stir well. Then add 2 Tablespoons of the Ranch mix and salt to taste.
Refrigerate at least an hour before serving to allow everything to cool, and flavors to absorb.
Serve with your favorite chips. (I used homemade Rosemary & Olive oil chips) |
I should know by now to never tell my boyfriend what's for dinner, and just give it to him. This way he has no time to heighten his expectations for the meal he's "not very excited about".
If I said to most normal people "we're having baby ravioli with homemade pesto", they would be pretty anxious for this dinner.
The response I got instead *LOUD*SIGH* "ughh pasta?!? It's too hot! And there's never enough meat" (yes, I cook him meat, usually resulting in cooking two seperate dishes for dinner)
But when I presented him with a plate of baby ravioli perfectly coated in pesto, with roasted kielbasa, balsamic tomatoes and fresh sliced Parmesan, he had no words until his plate was clean.
 Pesto Ravioli with Veggie Sundried Tomato & Basil Kielbasa, caramelized pepper and onion, balsamic tomatoes, fresh sliced Parmesan and spinach arugula salad | Here's how I did it:
I purchased the baby ravioli from Whole Foods. $3 for a pound of baby ravioli? Not bad! I also purchased the fresh Parmesan from here. Then, I found some awesome Tofurkey brand sundried tomato and basil kielbasa, and some angus beef kielbasa from Harris Teeter.
Ingredients: - Cheese Ravioletta
- Parmesan
- Kielbasa (in this case two types)
- 1 beefsteak tomato, diced
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Sliced green peppers & onions (optional)
Pesto Ingredients: - 1/2 cup Basil Leaves
- 1/3 cup Lightly steamed Kale
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1/4 cup Green Pepper, chopped
- 1 tablespoon toasted cashews, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Ground Black pepper
- 1/4 tsp Clove
- 1/4 - 1/3 cup Olive Oil
- A couple pinches of fresh sliced Parmesan
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Fill bottom of a roasting pan half full with water. Pierce Kielbasa with fork a few times, and line on tray of roasting pan. Set aside. Place tomatoes and balsamic in a bowl, and set aside to soak. Bring a large pot of water to boil, with some coarse sea salt. Once it's to a boil, add ravioli. Once oven has preheated, place Kielbasa on top rack for 20 minutes. Purée all pesto ingredients in a blender or food processor until well blended. Once ravioli has all floated to the top of the pot, remove from heat and drain. Warm a medium skill with a little olive oil, and stir in the ravioli, coating evenly. In a small skillet, heat butter, and stir in peppers and onions. Keep over medium heat, stirring occassionally, until onions are transparent. Gradually stir pesto into ravioli, stirring gently to evenly coat. Once all is evenly coated, reduce heat to low and cover. When the kielbasas are done, bring them out of the oven, and slice into thick pieces. Stir kielbasa into peppers and onions, just to crisp the kielbasa. Stir in balsamic tomatoes. Mix ravioli and kielbasa together in a large bowl to mix evenly, and pour onto large plate. Garnish with fresh Parmesan. Serve with garlic bread. |
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