Thursday, November 21, 2013

Eat a Sweet Potato: Cupcake Edition

As I mentioned before, last weekend was Susanna's birthday. Birthdays are great because it's an opportunity to bake. Not that an excuse is needed, but the event provides extra incentive. I have made these sweet potato cupcakes once before, I could not find the original recipe again, here is an updated one from Annie's Eats.

There are a couple extra steps involved with these cupcakes (pureeing the sweet potato, making the icing) so I wouldn't make these if pressed for time, but if you are in the mood to try something new and a little different go for this if you've got a slow afternoon. 


I do believe the toasted frosting makes the cupcake.


While the cupcakes are cooling make the frosting. This took me quite a while. You have to separate the yolks from whites and then heat the whites on the stove up to 160. If I make these again I'd just buy pasteurized egg whites to speed this step along. Then I whipped them up with some sugar, vanilla, and cream of tartar until I have fluffy marshmallow wonderfulness. 


I almost always use gallon sized ziploc bags to ice cupcakes and the work well to get a nice swirl on there.

Yum


If you are lucky enough to have a kitchen torch now is your big chance to use it. Have fun, and watch out for those cupcake papers, they burn. 


Cupcakes in full birthday glory. Along with whatever else was on the table at the grad student dorm. 

One more tip- definitely refrigerate over night because of the egg intensive frosting. Happy baking!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Florida Safari

This past weekend we went on a little adventure. Our friend Susanna (former grad student at David's station) was down and it ended up being her birthday weekend, so it was a perfect time to do something new. David, Susanna, other grad students, interns and I went to Lion Country Safari.

Lion Country Safari is one of those places where you could drive through and see different animals up close. The day was a little rainy and you had to keep windows closed, the pictures might not be the best, but we theorized that because it was a little rainy and hence cooler, the animals were a little more active than they might have been otherwise.

Water Buffalo

Some kind of large antelope

The Lions! I was hoping the wouldn't be behind a fence, but alas that was safest.

Two lions rolling around like little kitties. 

Gemsbok (I think)

Really cool cattle breed

This guy!

Could not miss the giraffe feeding opportunity

David of coarse did a little tug of war with his lettuce piece.

And who knew we would get to see an alpaca fight during the walk through part of the park?

WHAM

And finally, the ever popular strangle-you-with-my-own-neck technique. Don't worry about these guys, they survived and their fight cooled off by the time we left

Finally the sign for the park, probably would have made a great first picture. Ah well.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this place for a fun afternoon. The park was a little pricier than most activities we would do so it's probably not something we'll go to again, but for sure a fun one time thing. A season pass would be well worth it for families with kids. 

One time on vacation when I was younger (I think maybe Canada?) my family went to a safari park. Have you ever been to one of these? What did you think, cheesy? fun? better/worse than a zoo? 

Friday, November 15, 2013

Twitterature

twitterature monthly reading linkup short reviews

Once again I'm  linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy, this time to share short reviews of books I've read in the last month and a half. Thanks Candice for encouraging me to do this! Lately Candice and I have been comparing every book we read to the type of food it would be, so I'll put in their food counterparts too.

What Alice Forgot: Moriarty, Liane 
What Alice Forgot Liane Moriarty
A story about changing relationships throughout life and how different we might become in one decade. The story was meaningful without being too heavy. Great for a fun read. Highly recommend. Read this with my cross country book club of college friends. 
If this book were a food: Lemon Meringue Pie

Side note about the book club- there are 8 of us who participate, we all went to church together in college. We have members in Washington, Oklahoma, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia. Such a perfect way to keep in touch.


Southern story set in Georgia. Many colorful characters. Something that stuck out was the perfect food descriptions, I wanted to eat everything they described in any of the kitchen scenes. 
If this book were a food: Comfort food

Bread and Wine Shauna Niequist

I finally got on board and read this. The author shares life moments, and the meals that are associated with those times in life. Many recipes are included and I've already made the risotto which was amazing. The book read like a letter from a friend. 
If this book were a food: Duh, Bread and Wine

Gone Girl Gillian Flynn

Dark. The book became more disturbing the further I got into it. Wife goes missing, and we learn the story of her disappearance throughout the book. This one I got through in less than a week, certainly a page turner. I recommend this one for people who are looking for something that will bend their mind. Disclaimer: if you are turned off by foul language, this book isn't for you. 
If this book were a food: Black coffee that someone secretly added a shot of alcohol to. 

Are there any good books you have been reading lately that I should look into? If you have read any of these books, what did you think?

Thursday, November 14, 2013

A few more things

Just a couple more pre-wedding snapshots I thought were worth sharing


Me with my new best friend. I can't even describe how excited I was for this wedding gift. My bridesmaids pitched in and got me a Kitchen Aid mixer together. I was shocked, awed, amazed, thrilled. Since before I met David I've been dreaming about a Kitchen Aid mixer, so this was awesome. The mixer has already been put to work making donuts, crusty bread, banana bread, whipped cream, and cheesecake. Wow, listing all that together in less than a month sounds really unhealthy. But don't worry, I've been exercising too. Last week I dedicated a run to wine and cheesecake. 

This is the back of Emily's head

We played around with her hair to figure out a simple cute style. All we did was make a low ponytail, flip it through once, flip it through again, and tuck in the ends and secure with bobby pins. Easy peasy. Also, to me this looks like a way that Mary Crawley from Downton Abbey might wear her hair. If Lady Mary would wear her hair like this, we should too. 


Allie was our manicure expert and did a stellar job helping with all the nail doing. I got in trouble because I kept touching things or almost touching things and messing up my drying nails. Oops. Also here you get to see Emily's face, she has a nice face and the back of the head picture did not do it justice.


This picture of my mom is the only picture on my camera from the day of the wedding. (Doesn't she look pretty!). Love the slippers with the dress look. She did remember to change shoes before the ceremony if anyone was wondering. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

What's on Your Bookshelf?

Over on Modern Mrs. Darcy there is a link-up to share bookshelves. Either what is on yours, a list of favorites, or just a look at the way you store books.

Here are a few snapshots of mine:

This first one, the bookshelf by the stairs is multi-purpose. It is for games, old textbooks and notebooks, and some fiction and non-fiction thrown in there. The middle shelf is currently where I'm throwing all the stuff I don't know what to do with.


This next shelf is in the corner of my bedroom. This is my most loved little spot that I almost never use. Knitting and books all in one corner...what more could one want. This shelf is mostly fiction. I've probably read about 70% of these books, so I've still got a nice handful of fiction passed down from mom that is on my to-read list. The bottom shelf is my collection of A Series of Unfortunate Events


Finally,  this bookshelf, is in the corner of what I call the office/dining room/kitchen storage area of the apartment. Please note the food processor attachments and exercise ball. This shelf is for cookbooks, scrapbooks, yearbooks, Norman Rockwell books, Bibles, a little more fiction that has yet to be read, and a few other odds and ends. 

Hope you enjoyed the bookshelf tour. What is on yours?

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Some More Wedding Prep

For wedding favors David and I decided we would like to bake cookies for our guests. Chocolate Chip is a classic, and I have a recipe I've used at parties a few times that has gotten rave reviews, so our troops spent an evening and morning mixing, measuring, baking and bagging cookies. Since baking is one of my top loves in life I was in heaven at this point. 

We also tied people's seating cards to apples, which turned into quite a project in itself. BIG thanks to Allie and Mom for getting those done while I was throwing flour and sugar around the kitchen. I'll let the pictures tell the story from here. 

Random, but I couldn't not take a picture of this chicken dish my mom made. YUM. 

My arm was so tired after all the mixing. 

As you can see this wasn't the healthiest thing anyone has ever eaten.


Me enjoying my life


Allie and Mom hard at work. Allie was one of my bridesmaids. BFFs since kindergarten.

Looks like David is doing some measuring.

The final step in our assembly line, bagging.


She was good at honoring my bridezilla request of trying to have different apple varieties at each table. Thanks Allie!

We may have all eaten more than the recommended number of cookie servings in a day. This is evidence that Erik was kind enough to make sure the cookies would be safe for guests.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Pre-Wedding Festivities

Hi Blog, since we last met I got married. And I've got a lot of things to share. I guess I'll start with a few of the pre-wedding festivities. If I update about the wedding for the next month this is me apologizing in advance.

After we were picked up from the airport a few days before the wedding we were greeted with a beautiful cake mom made.

This is the man I married. On the way to pick up tuxes he kept himself entertained with things he found in the backseat of Erik's car. 

Trip to Bobby's Burger Palace. A laid back Bobby Flay restaurant.

We went on an excursion to get some wedding decorations and most importantly apples to use as seating cards.

The stems on these pumpkins were HUGE.

I loved getting to experience some real fall. I have missed the changing seasons.

Some huge squash that looks like a cross between a goose-neck gourd and a butternut.

The time spent in Maryland before the wedding was very refreshing. We were kept busy with various errands and to-dos but it wasn't too overwhelming. Having a chance to spend a few days with family was nice, I can't wait until the trip up at Christmas!