What Have I Been Up To?

Sadly, not a lot of art being made around here.  Mom and I did take a class that I enjoyed, doing a Tim Holtz project:

It's not really my own ideas and design, so I can't really claim much credit, but I like it, and the class was fun.

At home, I've been focused on other stuff, though, and it seems that my mind has room for only one creative pursuit at a time.  Currently, that creative pursuit is Middle Eastern dance.  I started taking lessons last year, and I'm really enjoying it.  And while I don't practice perhaps as often as I should, I'm starting to put things together on my own a bit.  And I'm designing costumes in my head, which I'll actually sew once I get myself to settle on some fabrics.  There's a sale on at JoAnn Fabrics this weekend, and while I don't usually shop Memorial Day sales (too crowded, and our vets didn't die for 50% off at Stuff-Mart), I might actually get that going.

I've also established a tiny little garden in pots on our balcony.  I wanted to grow tomatoes and herbs this year, along with my one pot of lavender.  And since the only one of our balconies that gets sun is the one off our master bedroom, our tiny little kitchen garden is upstairs instead of near the kitchen.  That's okay, once we get tomatoes on the plant, then if I wake up hungry I can roll out of bed and pick breakfast ;)  Mom and Dad came over and planted it with me last weekend, since I squandered my youth not helping them in the garden and therefore don't know my way around a potting shed.  Here are some glamor shots:

The newly planted tomatoes are in the red-covered Earth Box with some marigolds; lavender in the center and herbs in the pots to the sides.  Parsley, rosemary,thyme, chives, and mint.  Still have to get my basil.

My lavender, and marigolds on the downstairs balcony.  I've been playing with Instagram, too.

This weekend, work is closed Friday and Monday so I've got a forced long weekend.  I've got quite a long to-do list for myself, which includes cleaning up the Spare Oom so I can more comfortably get back to my art, finishing up a couple of art projects I started ages ago, and a few culinary adventures.  The first of those culinary adventures is done:  lavender lemonade!

First you pick your lavender lemons:

Just kidding.  That's a tiny lemon that didn't get used, I couldn't resist posing it in my lavender.  It nestled in so nicely!

Anyway, what you really do is make a simple syrup and steep dried lavender in it for about 10 minutes, then strain it.  Then you proceed to make your lemonade with equal parts syrup and fresh squeezed lemon juice (borrowed my mother-in-law's electric juicer - so much easier!), and dilute it with water til it tastes the way you want it.  It turns out looking something like this:

I'm sad I can't share some with you all.  It's delicious.  It's even Mr. Pocket Approved.  The herbal/floral flavor of the lavender is a really nice accent to the lemon.  I'll definitely be making it again.

I'll try to post more this weekend, with my continuing adventures in the pocket-sized kitchen.  And yes, our kitchen is pocket-sized.  Anyway, coming up next is bread, to be baked in my enameled cast iron dutch oven... here's a teaser...

Happy Pi Day!

To celebrate Pi Day, and to celebrate the two March birthdays in my office, my coworkers and I all made pies for lunch.  Mine was cherry.

Ok, so it was the easy way out, all I had to do was use Pillsbury pie crusts and a couple cans of cherry pie filling, but I'd been wanting cherry pie, so I finally had some.  I also had...

Mixed berry pie, banana cream pie, quiche, and pineapple/blueberry pudding pie.  There weren't as many different dishes as there once were at our office food days, but hey, there are only 5 people left in my department.  It was still quite delicious.  And there was a lot left over...

So this is a pretty short post, with not a lot to show.  But there will be more later this week, because I've started a sewing project.  Yay!  It's just a couple of lengths of fabric at the moment, but it'll be something much better in a couple of days.  Once I get my hands on an iron.  And the right color thread.  Hey, at least I've got my sewing machine.

Adventures in Cupcakery

Settle in, this one is long.  Today I spent all afternoon baking and icing cupcakes in preparation for our upcoming nuptuals.  See, two of my aunts are baking Mr. Pocket's and my wedding cake, and have been asking me what kind of cake we want.  My friend Joyce had posted a link last week to this blog:  http://flour-child.net/2011/02/14/happy-valentines-day/.  When she posted the link, I thought it looked so delicious and so festive that perhaps we could use that as our wedding cake recipe.  Since my aunts live across the country, I figured I'd test drive the recipe myself.  Mr. Pocket was very much in favor of this idea - he's generally in favor of any idea that comes with cupcakes.  We decided that since we had no idea what champagne icing would taste like, I would make a half batch of the champagne icing, and a half batch of plain buttercream.  That way, not all the cupcakes would be ruined if the champagne icing was awful.  So with a plan, a trip to the grocery store, and my new electric hand mixer, I was off...

And making a colossal mess.  Lowest setting on the hand mixer is "spray whatever you're mixing all over the place."  And I'm already incapable of baking anything without making a huge mess.  So I needed a solution.

Baking parchment to the rescue!

So now I was free to move about the mixing bowl without spraying the counter with butter and sugar.  Fantastic.  Rolling right along, I love baking, everything's great, I even found a way to keep my eggs from rolling all over the counter while I added them one-at-a-time:

Cozy?

No more problems, the batter comes together beautifully (and quite tastily, as of course I had to taste-test as I went along) and I'm filling the cupcake cups...

w00t!

And... oops.  Dropped the spoon.  And it bounced off my shoe on the way to the floor.  Don't worry, I got a clean one to continue filling cupcake cups.

"Cleanup, aisle me."

So I got the cupcakes in the oven and they're baking happily away and I even managed to cope with my stunning lack of cooling racks (2 small ones is not enough for 31 cupcakes, in case you've ever wondered).  Cupcake mixing bowls and utensils are all clean so now it's time to rock out with the icing, right?  So on to the cheap champagne...

This stuff had a screw cap.  Oh well.  I got it free, regifted from one of Mr. Pocket's coworkers.  What could I expect?

So you're supposed to boil the champagne to reduce it to a super thick, super concentrated, syrupy sort of stuff.  Mmm.  Kind of disgusting by itself, actually.  But I got the bubbly bubbling away on the stove...

Bubble, bubble, toil and... nevermind.

And while that's going and then cooling, I proceed to follow the blogger's directions for the basic buttercream icing that it's to be added to.  Butter, powdered sugar, whisk attatchment, ok, here we go...

Oh, dear.  What ensued was what I have dubbed "The Great Buttercreamsplosiontastrophe of 2011."  An event that shall live in infamy.

Say it with me, folks:  Fail-boat!

So, I did what any self-respecting inexperienced baker with a problem she can't quite solve would do:  I called my mother.  Apparently, using a whisk for anything involving butter is a less-than-awesome idea.  Instead of starting over entirely and wasting 2 sticks of butter and 2.5 cups of powdered sugar (at least, more of them than was all over the counter, cabinets, stovetop, wall, toaster, sugar boxes... you get the idea), I switched to the beater attachments and tried to salvage it, per Mom's advice.  My mother is a genius, because it worked.  The butter and sugar creamed together, and I was able to add the champagne-syrup-stuff.

Isn't it a pretty color?

Well, the finished icing was more butter and champagne than anything else (even after I added more sugar), but it successfully covered the cupcakes:

Ta-Daa!

The half-batch of normal buttercream icing, following the instructions on the box of sugar, was a far less eventful experience.  I may have added a little too much milk, which may have been due to just wanting to be finished and therefore just eyeballing the quantity of milk, but it tastes good and wasn't too runny even if I did add perhaps a splash more milk than I should have.

YUM.

Behold the cupcake. 



The final verdict is that the strawberry cupcake recipe is a keeper, but the jury is hung up on the icing.  It's good, but also kinda weird.  I might have to try it with a slightly less cheap champagne and see if it's better.  I actually am really tempted to try it with a still wine instead, specifically Riesling, because that's my favorite and I think it goes nicely with strawberries :)  For now, though, Mr. Pocket and I are enjoying these little cuppiecakes just the way they are.

Well, maybe I could add a strawberry on top...

Snoverwhelmed

Snow days make for a productive time here in the Pocket.  Not getting useful stuff done, necessarily (like cleaning, organizing, homework...) but getting fun stuff done.  Like knitting, and sewing, and baking.  You've seen my Valentines from the first blizzard of the week.  Between then and now, I've finished a scarf, an applique, and a batch of cupcakes.  Woohoo!

Pics of the scarf in its completely finished state are forthcoming after it's blocked, but here's a general idea:


Imagine that with a crocheted lace border, and you have a preview of the finished finished object.

Today I had time to do a bit of a fix that I'd been planning on. See, I found this adorable t-shirt at Target:


Now, I'm definitely not that cynical about romance. In fact, quite the opposite. But how could I pass up that squirrel? So with the help of FusiKnit, Misty Fuse, a black long-sleeved t-shirt, and some perle cotton, I ended up with this:


And, of course, because I can't let an opportunity for cupcakes go by, I made amazing cupcakes of Win.


Want a closeup?


Mmmmm nom nom nom...

It's the first time I've tried 7-minute Frosting. I'm totally sold. And anyone with a snowmobile or snowshoes or a dogsled is welcome to come over and help me eat these, because I don't know how my parents and I are going to manage to eat all 24 of them ourselves before they go stale...

What have you done with your snow day?

S'meeptopia

Nom.

Happy Easter!

You Deserve Pie.

I promised pictures, and pictures you shall have. But they shall not be of fiber. Oh no. They shall be pictures of the one thing more glorious than any fiber imaginable. They shall be pictures of food.

Yes, my friends, I can cook. It's not a thing I do often, as I am, ya know, rarely home (notice the lack of regularity on the blog?). But at work, anytime one of us in the department has a birthday, we celebrate by having a "food day" which means gorging ourselves over the course of a very long lunch. Everyone brings something and our potluck is often themed. For my birthday I requested Mediterranean cuisine. Someone else asked for an international food day. This time, the birthday boy requested Southern food. Hmm...

Now, I have always wanted to try sweet potato pie, ever since I knew such a thing existed. But no such pie ever presented itself, and I never was brave enough to try and bake one myself. Well, a Southern food day was the perfect opportunity to step up and bake my first pie ever.

I think it turned out pretty well. Do me a favor: imagine "Also Sprach Zarathustra" playing here. Okay?

Dunnn...


DUNNN...


DUNNNN...


DUN-NAAAHHHH!!!!!!


Heehee... okay, I'm dun. That's just what I thought of when I saw those pictures all lined up on my flickr page. I'm melodramatic, what can I say?

Anyway, I'm sure you're all wondering what that mouth-wateringly golden awesomeness tasted like. Well, it tasted like slightly different pumpkin pie. Which is what I was told to expect, so I'm guessing I did pretty well. Also, there wasn't any left. I take that, too, as a good sign.

I shall now leave you to meditate upon the glory of pie.