Five Foot Two

Where did February go?

My favorite month passed within a blink of an eye. 

I haven't posted in a while and I apologize, I guess I was just out having too much fun.... 

I baked this little chocolate number for my valentine. As you can see I was barely even able to get a photo of it before it was consumed by him....

For breakfast on Valentines, I made chocolate chip muffins. I can honestly say I did not even try them. chocolate is just not my thing.

It is his thing. And boy did he have a lot of it that day.... spoiled rotten.....

But i love the heart designed paper muffin cups. : )

I just can't believe February is over already! Okay Spring let's see your stuff. I have been waiting and dancing in between the raindrops this past week.....

Peanut Butter Cup love...

I was browsing through the blog world and ran into this blog. With a recipe using ingredients that I already had in the cupboard.

The easiest tasty treat I have ever made, homemade peanut butter cups. Go on have one....

They hit the spot every time.

Cupcake pop disaster...

So, feeling confident in my abilities to make the very famous cupcake pops, I agreed to make some for a very darling little girls third birthday party. I was thrilled.  what a disaster.

I am not sure what happened. They were way too moist. Causing the pops to fall right off of the sticks. horrible. So a few tears later, (embarrassing to be crying about a poor baking disaster) and wonderful hugs and kisses from my hubby. 

I made cupcake bites instead.

 They just fell apart as soon as you bit in to them. bummer. 

So with a stop to a beautiful bakery for some delicious sweets to make up for the disaster, I was on my way to the party....

I am so sorry birthday girl e, and party planner extraordinare N, Your party was excellent anyway!!! Despite my poor efforts.....

Next stop....

cupcake pop perfection. i promise.

Double dark chocolate sorbet...

I wanted to make the dh (darling husband) some homemade dark chocolate gelato. It is his FAVORITE. Well actually dark chocolate and raspberry together are his favorite. My favorite is lemon and raspberry... yummy!  (sweet and tart). But this post is not about me..... well, it kind of is, but it was not meant to be. i promise.

Back to the gelato attempt.....

I have a Cuisanart ice cream, yogurt, sorbet maker. I have used it once. I actually purchased it myself, it was not a wedding gift. No comment about this post, where I had only used my kitchen aid mixer once as well. Shame on me. I am trying to be a better housewife. gag me. oops did i write that? 

Back to the gelato attempt....

I was looking online and I found this recipe for dark chocolate sorbet. I decided to give it a whirl. It is the middle of summer, it's warm out, the timing is perfect for home made ice cream. I had great expectations so I bought the ingredients for red raspberry sorbet as well, from this recipe I found.

I had frozen the bowl from the maker.... very important. All was going well until I had to add in the cocoa powder. 

Bottom line, I think I ended up with four times the amount of cocoa than was needed. I had trouble converting cups from ounces.--------- Let's not talk about the fact at work I convert ml's, cc, ounces, grams, kilograms, milligrams, micrograms on an almost hourly basis.--------- So what happens when i leave work and enter my kitchen? My brain turns to ______.

Okay so back to the gelato attempt.....

I realize I have done something very wrong when the sugar solution is soooo so saturated with cocoa, I can barely stir it.

I decide to double the recipe to at least make it out with only double the amount of cocoa...... 

The end result was loved (not really- but so sweet in trying to pretend that it was good)  by the dh, who could only have four bites because he feared he would be so wired with caffeine he would not be able to sleep that night.

Meanwhile the girls at work want me to bring in my super chocolaty dark chocolate sorbet to share. i am embarrassed.  i don't want them to taste it and get grossed out. So we will see. They keep hounding me to bring it in.....

I am going to try a new batch this week. With the appropriate amount of chocolate. geezzzzzz. 

I never got around to making the raspberry sorbet because someone (who shall remain nameless, DH) ate all of the fresh raspberries on his cereal this week. errrrrrr. But this post was not about me, was it?

Berries anyone...

 

Last week a group of friends from work, gathered together to go Olalliberry picking. The Olalliberry is a California berry that is a cross between a youngberry and a loganberry. If you want to read more about it, here is a link. The berries are ready to pick in the months of June and July.

We journeyed up the California Coast Highway One north from Santa Cruz. We watched for signs that read "berry picking" and pulled into a darling spot really close to Ano Nuevo State Park. The whole experience was wonderful. It was peaceful and productive. I plan to make some jam. PLAN to make some jam. My Mother in law is a resident expert in canning. Do you remember she made the jam as the favors for our wedding? Anyhow, she wants to help me. I think I really need to take her up on it. So look forward to a later post about my adventure in olalliberry jam making. ehh gadds..... now i really feel like martha.

We then drove north to the town of Pescadero and enjoyed lunch at the famous Duarte's tavern. I had been there before with the DH's family. We made a special trip just for their Abalone sandwiches. Yep, you guessed it... i passed on the seafood. This visit, I was adventurous and had a taste of thier delicious warm Artichoke soup. It was yummy, even for this picky eater. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake-off...

So excited to get this on the books. This idea has been tossed around in my head for awhile. Well, since my DH (darling husband) mentioned how he would really like to EAT great homemade chocolate chip cookies. (You mean the toll house slice and bake aren't yummy enough?) Martha Stewart, close your eyes.... I really don't have a good recipe, so I decided to host a luncheon and chocolate chip cookie bake-off! The invite is going up at work and it should be fun. I will fill you in on all the details as the bake-off approaches.
Meanwhile the DH will continue to enjoy his slice and bakes........
poor baby.

Have you seen these CUPCAKE POPS!

Oh my! What a hit. I first saw them on this website. But I could not understand how Angie made them. Then she announced on her website that martha had found them and she was going to be on martha to explain how to make them. I was all over my TIVO to tape the show. The next day I was at work making them. They were loved for their cuteness (by my coworkers) and for the yummy factor- (by the DH-darling husband) All I can say is: baby showers, bridal showers, birthday partys here we come........

Here is how, at two places
#1. Bakerella.com
#2 Martha Stewart- with video and all!

Check out Angies site at bakerella.com she really has some neat treat ideas!
Enjoy.....

Butterflies and hearts....

Up in the middle of the night again. That is what night shift does to a person (without children). Those on night shift with children are so exhausted they can sleep all day and all night easliy. I should not really talk because that is what I did yesteday and for most of friday. I slept, slept and slept some more. Every once and a while, I just need about 18 hours of sleep. CRAZY. Snuggly.

After all that sleep I was in a creative spirit. I always talk about my favorite scrapbooker ali edwards. On her blog she has a weekend creative project. I have been inspired by some of them and tonights project was taken from her blog. I had made a christmas project like it a couple of years back. Remember this?

So this project reuses this frame and it becomes artwork for the spring time.

The finished project. Kind of cute, clean lines, and refreshing.

It was really easy. I just used a butterfly punch (by Martha of course) found at michaels, and different pattern and solid papers. The dh (darling husband) wanted to know how I colored all the paper. So cute. I didn't. I bought it. :>

Speaking of cute, how can I not love the dh when he wears this t-shirt?

He is not afraid to wear it out of the house either. I don't like him too. It is a tad embarrasing. His friends teased him to no end when he wore it out for his bachelor party. I swear I had nothing to do with it. But man did he earn some points. So beside writing all the wedding thank you's and wearing this t-shirt out in public. He has earned plenty of points. Which is equal to most of my heart. So I made him a heart chocolate cake for {heart} day.

He loved it. (It is a good thing, since I don't like chocolate, he will need to eat all of it!) I picked up the heart shaped rubber pan in the dollar bin at Target. It is the first neoprene pan I have used and I have found that you need to cook it for almost twice as long as usual. It must have something to do with the pan not heating up like a metal one. Does anybody know why?

A pineapple upside down cake recipe & A little home improvement...

Pineapple upside down cake is my mom's favorite. So I searched a blog that a friend had recently turned me on to and found this great recipe. It called for ground almonds, so I needed to get out my cuisinart power duet. That was really fun!

Like my Kitchen Aid, I have not really had a chance to use the Cuisinart that much. Okay, Okay, if I cooked more, I would have had an opportunity to use it. I must admit, I am really really spoiled in the not having to cook department. : > Love that dh. But, someday I know my cooking days will come. Oh, how I dread it already. (hee-hee) Martha Stewart- close your ears.

So in rounding out my ultimate home making, keeping and home improvement abilities, yeah right...... my mom helped me install molding or chair rails to a room in the house. It was relatively easy (when you have a pseudo professional woodworker with you). It only took one evening and the next morning to complete. I am considering continuing the look to the dining room next door. Dh close your ears. : >
The whole project cost was $80. AWESOME. Here are some pictures.

My mom and I are available for hire! j/k

Hello 2008....

The new year welcomes a storm, some new year cleaning, and a yummy cinnamon crumb cake. The house was filled with cinnamon aroma, while the cake was baking.

It makes me want to clean up, and stay at home today. The day is cold, rainy, and really windy. Luckily we were able to take down the x-mas lights and the tree yesterday before the storm hit. I feel the urge to purge the house, and to redecorate. I love redecorating! The dh groans.....

As for our New Years eve festivities, we spent the night with friends, belly laughing about days gone by, and we sang a little karaoke. Why not?

Man, my dh can sing some great country songs. Christmas carols on the other hand, well you will have to ask the bf- J about that. As for myself, I can not carry a tune (little sad about that). I love to listen and watch others belt out the melodies. Perhaps that is why I enjoy the American Idol phenomenon so much. I think a new season will be starting soon! AL and JD keep me posted!!

I am off to clean....

Oh by the way, I love seeing comments. When you have a moment please leave one. They make me happy!

Now, I am really off to clean..... and have a piece of crumb cake. : >