The Royalty!

Well, I'm sure the WHOLE WORLD was aware that Kate and William got hitched in April, and a couple million people watched the wedding and dresses, and Kate, and fascinators, and blah blah blah. I'm also sure everyone is tired of hearing about it too. I'm sorry to bother you even more.

I was kind of uninterested in it, except the dresses. God I love the dresses. I did absolutely adore Kate Middleton's Alexander McQueen wedding dress designed by Sarah Burton. I thought it was very tastefully done. It was a modern take on a classic wedding dress. Love the lace and the simplicity of it.

Jealous.

But beyond the fact that it was an extremely expensive wedding (I heard about $10 million dollar cost?), and the world is weirdly fascinated with Pippa Middleton's ass, I've garnered some respect for Kate as the time has passed.

First of all, she dresses pretty classy, and I'm really enjoying her picks (I wonder if she has someone pick them out herself, or has someone who does). But beyond that, she has a decent head on her shoulders.

Again, jealous. Gown by Jenny Packham.

The news has been going around that she won't accept free dresses from designers. I applaud her. I know almost every designer is falling over themselves to give her dresses, and she's made Reiss a ton of revenue by wearing two dresses she's purchased, so that would have more than covered a few free dresses.

One of the Reiss dresses in question.

That dress sold out in 24 hours. 24. And Reiss's site crashed. This woman is obviously a cash cow for fashion, more so than Michelle Obama. Sorry Michelle.

I digress some. Most celebs receive free things all the time and often you hear of the celebs not returning those pricey items and being sued and whatnot. I really think that Kate has done the right thing by paying for the dresses. By NO means is she in want for money, it's probably no skin off her back, but it still seems like a goodwill move on her part. They, of course, won't discuss prices of clothing items, but that's silly considering once Kate wears something it's immediately researched, sold out, and copied by others.

I'm intrigued to see what else comes from her or the royal family.

Besides talking about Pippa's ass. Seriously, it's flat, and they're both a liiiiitttle too thin.

~H

My 23rd Birthday!

Over the weekend was my 23rd birthday. It's weird to say 23. I learned a few things over the weekend.

1) I never thought I would say this, but sometimes I wish I lived at home. I miss being able to ask my mom a question on a whim and have her answer, which, ya know, I could do over the phone I suppose.

2) What YOU think as a sweet potato, is not really a sweet potato. What you think it a sweet potato, is a yam.

Left; yam. Right; sweet potato.

3) It's nice to dress up and go out every now and then, which is what I did for my birthday.

4) Almost everything tastes better homemade.

Well, for my birthday I was pretty much a bum the entire day until my dinner. My boyfriend and I went to Sullivan's a steakhouse by me. I ate too much food. Mac & Cheese done steak house style (which is always the best), blackened salmon, shrimp, and crab fried rice. And then,

probably the largest crème brûlée I've ever seen.

I also, for some odd reason, I felt the huge need to make my own cake. Who does that for birthdays? Well, me for numerous reasons. I kind of get control freak and indifferent about my birthday. So I made my own tiramisu because it's one of my favorite desserts.

It.

Step one, clean your kitchen.

Was.

Set your self up with a movie to watch while you bake.

A.

Making marscapone cheese.

Pain.

Zabaglione sauce was quite interesting. Had some decent port in it.

In.

My set up to put my cake together.

My.

First layer of lady fingers lightly dabbed with coffee.

Ass.

This is the finished piece!

However, I did learn a lot and the cake was great.

I got my recipe from here: Sprinkle Bakes. Her site is so fun. I want to be her. Go forth and learn from her!

Until next time!

~H

Something Every Woman Should Know

I know everyone has seen this tag line before. 10 Things Women Should Know! 5 Things Women Should Never Forget! Etc, etc, etc. But I've had an epiphany of a new one.

Liquor, wine, beers, cordials, etc. I know this is an odd one of all the things you should probably know, but think about it...

1) You really don't want to order a drink you know nothing about to find out you strongly dislike it, which could ruin a mood.

2) If you know basic info about all alcohols, it makes you look cultured, and that's always a bonus.

Although, I would like to note here, that there can be a fine line between sounding cultured, and sounding like a drunkard. i.e. "Red wine is only red because the pigments from the skin were included in the fermenting. You can make good white wine from 'black' grapes, which are traditionally red wine grapes by withholding the skins." is good. "Yeah, I had a whole bottle of that at the last party I attended. It was tasty. I think. I don't really remember it." or "I drink a lot of X." is not good! Also, Budweiser is not a good beer, Carlo Rossi is not wine, and McCormick's is TERRIBLE vodka.

3) The more you know, the more you'd be interested to try, and then you might discover you like something that you didn't think you ever would. For example, I never liked beer, but the more I found out about certain beers and continued to taste, I discovered that I actually quite like India Pale Ales.

4) Food and alcohol pairings. You don't always have to have a drink with dinner, but on occasion, it can make the subtle flavors of the foods pop, thus making a dinner much more enjoyable. You can stick with the usuals; red wine with red meats, fish with white wines, beer with hotdogs. Or, you can try some new pairings such as; sake with fish or certain red meats, white wine with burgers, or beers with fish even.

I bring this up because I have come to the realization, I no longer know much about alcohols. When I was a waitress in OK, I had to know basic info and it was always quite handy. Now that I've quit my job as an Operations Assistant at a spa to be a waitress and Brio Tucsan Grille and I need to know this again... I have discovered I forgot everything. It is heart wrenching to go into an interview and have to describe the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Merlot and not know. It was a miracle I got hired. Trying to brush up on your alcohol knowledge is quite painful. There is too much information in the internet. Waaaaayyyy too much. I don't know where to start.

Beyond my plight, it's still quite useful to know in my opinion.

Sorry for the lack of food with this post. I just quit my job and am waiting for my new one to start. For the first time in years, I won't be working. WTF kind of shit is that? This is super uncommon for me. I don't know what to do with myself. I've already tried to plan for extreme boredom during these next few weeks. Luckily I need to pack and move, so with my ample time, this will be a breeze. But this also means I have to be frugal with my food ration. Rice anyone? Ramen? I will keep you posted for my birthday though! I plan on making a delicious cake...

Also, I'd like to point out Jessica is a drama queen. One of her jobs is to be a lifeguard/swim coach, so she's swimming at least 3 days a week. That ramps up your metabolism like none other, so she can eat all of that stuff and not gain weight. And, to begin with she's a tiny woman so she'll never be "heavy" and I bet her fat jeans are my every day wear jeans, and I am by no means heavy, so she can eat all she wants and be fine. Although TV or movie stars a terrible people to compare yourself too. It's just not fair for many reasons.

~H

Acceptance is Delicious

I realized something today. Well, not exactly today. At 5'4 it's always been pretty obvious. I'm never going to be a model.

But as I was devouring a piece of toast, buttered and topped with cinnamon and sugar, while watching yet another episode of How I Met Your Mother (favorite show right now) I noticed that the girls that Barney and Ted were after were all twigs. (And/ or had big boobs, which I will never have short of surgery or pregnancy.)

Those girls in the show are beautiful. Girls envy them. Guys want them. And I wish I could eat all the pasta and tiramisu in the world and still look like that. Unfortunately, I am a normal human being. I have hips. I have a butt. I have this little tummy pudge. My boobs are nearly nonexistent. Waffles are delicious. I will never stop eating ice cream. And I would rather be fat than give up fried chicken and mashed potatoes! (Well, not fat exactly. But I'm willing to be forced into my "fat" jeans.)

I think the point of this post is, we all have priorities in life. Some people want to be the hottest ones at the party. Some people want to be the smartest. And some of us want to be well-fed. And if I have to work my butt off running and swimming so I can eat those waffles then so be it. I will display my curves with pride as I devour that delicious cheeseburger in front of those anorexic models. They can show off their bodies while I show off my utter lack of dieting. We can all be happy.

Maybe breakfast is a banana and lunch is a salad, dinner is brown rice and grilled chicken. But everyone needs to veg out sometimes. With that, I leave you with 2 delicious recipes. Both easy snacks that you can chow down on while you're being a couch potato.

Peanut butter popcorn (recipe from my boyfriend, who likes my butt)
1 bag popcorn, popped
3/4 cup honey (or sugar)
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Pop that popcorn. While popping, heat honey in a small pot until it starts to bubble a little.
Take the honey off the heat and stir in peanut butter and vanilla.
In a large bowl, mix PB & honey mixture into popped popcorn.
Eat with a spoon if it's still a mess. This is great after sitting in the refrigerator for a little while.


Cinnamon Sugar Toast
2 pieces of bread
Cinnamon
Sugar
Butter

Toast the bread. Butter the bread. Shake cinnamon and sugar on the buttered toast.
Enjoy.

Lent is OVER!!!

Did everyone enjoy their Easter? I know I did. Being Catholic, Easter meant the end of Lent. My boyfriend gave up sweets for Lent. I gave up gluten (which needs to be a permanent thing, but I like food too much) and eating out at restaurants.

So, I haven't really been baking for over a month now.

In celebration of Easter, I made cake balls decorated like Easter eggs. I've made these many times now, but I'll still give Bakerella credit for the idea. If you haven't heard of Bakerella, shame on you. Go look at her cake balls and cake pops.

Cake balls= piece of cake. Make a cake. Let it cool. Mash it up with a container of frosting. Roll the mush into balls. Freeze them. Dip them in chocolate/ almond bark. Let them cool. Decorate.

Over spring break, a guy at Rocky Mountain Fudge in the Galleria mall made me write down the directions for these on the back of a receipt so he could make them. I tell you, these things are highly addicting, and if you are trying to be healthy, get rid of them ASAP or you'll be constantly tempted by the deceptively small size, unaware of how many you've eaten until the tray is almost empty. You've been warned.

This was the Easter basket I made for my boyfriend.

Vanilla cake balls in semi-sweet chocolate, chocolate cake balls in white chocolate.

And Thin Mints that he's never tried and didn't particularly like.

I had an Easter lunch of ham and other fixins with my family on Saturday. I had to drag my boyfriend to church Sunday morning (he was grumpy because of the people who only go to church twice a year), and then I spent Easter baking and laying around, and eating PIZZA from Papa John's and watching How I Met Your Mother with the boy.

Next on the agenda, I need a cheeseburger. It's been so long...

Brain Dead

I am brain dead. Really brain dead. I'm also quite ill, so that might have something to do with it. I hate being sick, with a passion. My nose is stuffed, throat is sore, and I'm mouth breathing... ew. I also get super needy and it's not fun. Did I also mention I become super brain dead?? I just was trawling through the archives of Confessions of A Cookbook Queen's blog for a good 45 minutes. It was good mindless entertainment. I need someone to bring me soup while I watch Dr Who sneak peeks and get judged or nosed violently by my rabbit.

Yikes. Judgmental beady-eyed albino rabbit.

But besides whining about being brain dead (which I keep misspelling), I actually have something to say.

So after my last post about being poor, I remembered something. I have enough ingredients to make angel food cake, which is my favorite food ever.

However, I decided to dress it up and make it fun this time around.

That is a lovely angel food cake covered with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut. It was so good. I half got the inspiration from Get Off Your Butt And Bake! who made a coconut cream cheese lime angel food cake.

So fluffy.

And, let me geek out about this for a second.

Love that more than anything. I'm such a nerd, but that's what makes good angel food cake.

Traditionally, angel food cake pans come with legs to help support the cake as you let it cool upside down so it doesn't deflate. Mine doesn't come with just spiffy legs, so I have to improvise with whatever I have laying around.

Tabasco to the rescue!

And then a few days ago I made these.

By the time I finally managed to take a picture they've been pretty much devoured. These are a batch of chocolate chip cookies with walnuts. I got the recipe here at AllRecipes.com. They were really good, a little hard, but I think a little more butter could fix that.

My last week was pretty good. I also bought myself a new dress too. Again, I'm glad maxi dresses are still in style.

And it has pockets!

Well, I'm off to take more musinex and hope my sinus clear.

~H

Improvisation

Wow, it's been a while. I've been busy and pretty poor. No me gusta. So I haven't been able to upload as much baking/cooking pictures as I would like.

I have been doing a lot of cooking with whatever I can find in my pantry. Usually, this leads to why I think I could be a great chef, or one of the worst.

So, I suffer from this terrible habit when it comes to cooking. I improvise. A lot. I do it all the time, even with new recipes. Here is an example of said improvising recipe.

This WAS supposed to be oven baked fried chicken. Something looks off... It's not supposed to look like that! Mind you, I've never battered or fried anything so I'm pretty sure I had my processes wrong.

It still came out great and tasted pretty damn tasty, even though it looks like it hasn't been cooked at all.

So, in case anyone is actually wondering how to make it; here it is.

1 lb of skinless chicken breasts

1 c of Japanese Panko crumbs

1/3 c of whole wheat flour

1/2 c of liquid substitute egg (I used a real egg)

Salt and Pepper or your own seasoning, I used Sata seasonings from Penzy's.

Preheat to 425, bake for 25 minutes

Mix flour and seasoning in a gallaon bag, the panko bread crumbs in another, and the egg in a bowl.

First, place the chicken in the bag full of flour and seasoning and shake. Then take out and dip in the egg, and then the panko crumbs, and place into a pan and bake.

Spark Recipes "Fried" Chicken Recipe

~H

Back to Reality

Sad. I find myself in the same place again, instead of continuing to enjoy a vacation a completely different state. I ate so much chocolate, pie, cheese, wine, and curry with my best friend. It was the best 3 days of my life.

Best friends should not see each other only once a year, it's just inhumane.

While I long for Texas or beaches for the remainder of my break, I bake banana bread and watch No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. I don't know how this alleviates my pain, but it's helped.

It's helped mostly because, it's delicious! But still not a suitable replacement for best friends...

I've always found comfort in banana bread. It was one of the first things I've mastered and I've made it many different ways. I went crazy with this one and added lemon extract and poppy seeds. It's a little different but still has a very nice banana flavor. 

I will devour this loaf. Come share it with me?

Shortest Weekend Ever

It's Wednesday. Pain and Panic have been separated by the realities of life. A great time was had, but all good things must come to an end.

A quick recap of this weekend's activities:

I found my Hannah.

We tasted different olive oils and went to a chocolate festival.

 We wandered around in boutiques and tried on lots of hats.

We ate, drank, and were merry. We even went to the rodeo.

And.... We may have been little troublemakers. 

As usual, a good amount of time was spent at the mall, and we baked pies for Pi Day.

I had a great weekend. Best friends shouldn't have to go so long without seeing each other.

Pain and Panic

So it begins tomorrow... Copious amount of goofy photos, food, and back to back activities.

Woo hoo! Spring break with Jessica!

Too Much To Say

That's how I feel about life right now. Even though this is a blog about fashion and baking, I would like to point out a few things, some actually pertaining to this.

1. Jessica posted this on her Facebook a few days ago.
http://www.anneofcarversville.com/body-politics/lizzie-miller-body-image-model-and-beauty-debate-update.html
Really? Cindy Crawford too fat to model? I could only hope to be half as beautiful as her when I'm her age. But what does that say about models these days? One must be anorexic to model successfully? One must have the body of a lanky 12 year old boy? I don't know about you guys, but I'm 5'3", wear a size 2-4, am by no means overweight or chubby, but sometimes have a hard time accepting my body because I am bombarded with the atypical 4% of women who are of model quality. So, I feel, thanks to these glossy photos I see in magazines, that nothing but a burlap sack will look good on me,

And all of this dictated by men.

Speaking of men...

2. No. I seriously  hope this is a joke.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/16/gop-women-kids/
I'm sorry, when American society dictates that I must stay at home, bake, clean, and take care of kids, I'm leaving. End of story. I bake because I enjoy it. It's fun, it gives me great pleasure to create something, sit down, by myself, and eat it because I want it. Not because I must. I make food for my boyfriend because I want to, and he allows me to experiment with food on him. Again, not because it is a societal contractual obligation.

3. I'm seriously hoping this one is a joke too. I'll take number 2 over this list any day.
http://pol.moveon.org/waronwomen/?rc=fb
Redefining rape, to make it sound like we're back in the middle 20th century where rape was regardless a woman's fault because she let her assailant rape her by "leading him on"? Allowing me to die if the unborn child I have inside me is going to kill me instead of allowing me to live?

4. Planned Parenthood is gone.
Regardless of the stigma attached to Planned Parenthood, they were a great help to me when I had no health insurance. No, I never went there for a certain procedure, but I went there because when I had no health insurance. I'm at high risk for cervical cancer, if I don't get checked every 4-6 months, it could mean tumors and health issues beyond my control and wallet. It's inconceivable to me that our government took that away from countless women who needed it.

5.This is just an interesting opinion of a man and what Conservatives are doing.
http://georgelakoff.com/2011/02/19/what-conservatives-really-want/

6. This one is disheartening.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110301/us_yblog_thelookout/5-graphs-about-american-women
I hope this one changes in my future, or seriously, my effort in gaining an education is being wasted. Yes I'll make more than a woman who only has a high school degree, but I'll apparently still never amount to the men I work with. Hooray for $.75 for their $1.

7. I can't find the link, but when I do, I'll post it.
For a while, and I don't know how I missed this, but they wanted to take away women's rights to birth control. Luckily, that one was shot down. Birth Control pills, IUDs, etc, have been available to women for almost 60 years. So, my mom was allowed to have access but I'm not? What the hell? I practice safe sex, I don't strictly use birth control to have wild crazy, unprotected sex with every man that comes my way. It's helped my cramps, blood flow (I know, sorry, TMI), and acne. My roommate uses it because her cramps are so bad, she often cannot get out of bed. The birth control helps that, and allows her to go to school. The government almost told her she couldn't have it because they expect her to have promiscuous sex, when in fact she's taking it for medical reasons. Sorry men, often, Midol just can't cover that shit.

Good God men.

But I post these things because the way the men in our government want it, they want us all to be child rearing bloggers, blogging about cooking for our husbands, and not earning a dime of our own. I want to carry this blog knowing this is a choice for me, not as an outlet because I've cleaned my house, took care of my kids, and am waiting for my husband to get home.

Speaking of, there was another paper posted saying that women who have careers often have over weight kids because they're not there to take care of their kids properly. What about the spouses? Family support? That paper was almost incredibly anti-empowered workforce woman.

Granted, there are women who chose that life style, who want to stay at home and nurture. Good for them, they're probably doing something I couldn't. Everyone has different ideas of how to live their life. I just don't appreciate mine being dictated for me.

I promise my next post will be happier.

Valentine's Day... A little late.

Hannah is much more on top of things when it comes to updating this blog. And incidentally, I always remember it after she's posted something. Must be those telepathic signals I get from her all the time.

Now then, I am FINALLY getting to tell you about my Valentine's Day fun. I baked, my boyfriend cooked, and we watched a movie. Aaaand.... This awesome package came in the mail for him while we were watching the movie.

Thanks to Hannah, my boyfriend got these at a great price.

And the food he cooks with them is goooood.

My boyfriend didn't tell me what he was going to be cooking for me on V Day. My favorite food is Thai, but he isn't a fan of most kinds of Asian food, so I was going to be content with whatever he made.

It's ok. You can be jealous.

He ended up making pad thai with shrimp AND lamb steaks with feta crumbles. It was all quite yummy.

He knows I'm not shy about eating.

Meanwhile, I made a delicious Italian cream cake.

Recipe from the food genius, Emeril.

So dinner was a mix of Greek and Thai, dessert was Italian, and then we watched a Swedish movie, Let the Right One In. We're quite the multicultural couple.  And then French kissing? ;)  Can I count that too?

All in all, it was a good, laid-back Valentine's Day. I'm not really the romantic type, and neither is he, so it's good that neither of us made it a big deal.

My Peruvian roommate, however... He's the kind of guy that wants to tell everyone what romantic escapades he has in store for his lucky girlfriend. Extravagant dates, dancing on the top of a parking garage under the stars, lots of thought put into buying her presents, et cetera. I always laugh when he starts to tell me, and then I feel a little bad. Just a slight twang of guilt. Someone needs to bring his ass back down from the clouds. I'm more than happy to be that person.

Buffalo Exchange

With Fashion Week in full swing, seeing all of the clothes being previewed for next fall makes me want to rip out my entire closet and buy an entirely new wardrobe. Then I remember I'm pretty much broke. Damn.

So, I've decided to find a better option. Which if you're like me, needs to be pretty damn inexpensive. I have many options stemming from that. Initially, I think Target, H & M, American Eagle, Charlotte Russe, etc. However, I kinda like super cheap, not spending money, and potentially trading in my closet for more clothes. So I need to stick to Buffalo Exchange or Goodwill, which is just cheap as cheap can be. But I like Buffalo Exchange, which was founded in Arizona. It's a buy/sell/trade used fashion for cheap retail store. And since I'm by the University of Arizona with about 37,000 undergrad students... You can bet there are a ton of clothes there. The fashionability of some of the items are totally questionable though. I try not to judge harshly. However, the largest group of buyers are Buffalo Exchange are hipsters. I'm sorry, your cut off t-shirt with cowboy boots and mullet/unkempt mo-hawk is not fashionable. I really loathe that fashion, and it sours my experience to see them some. So, to say none the less, sometimes I really avoid that place like the plague.

If you're willing to put in the effort, and look, and look, and look, you can find some great deals.

H & M

White House Black Market, initially about $80, now, $9.50.

Jones New York. I'm pleasantly surprised by the style of this dress, and grateful that maxi dresses/skirts are still in style.

So, out of all of this, I see how much of an athletic frame I have, and I now own a weird amount of White House Black Market dresses (which will be another post)... But for 6 dress (thank god I live in AZ where I can wear dresses almost 10 months out of the year) and one cardigan, I really spent about $39.54 beyond the clothes, shoes, and accessories I traded- in that I never wore. At most, the most expensive dress was $17.00. Which is still pretty damn good, even places like Target, Macy's, or Sears, where the dresses are a minimum of $20+.

So, sometimes spending the time to really look, you can find some pretty good deals if you're like me and you're trying to keep your spending to a minimum. Or, you can go because you're too lazy to do laundry and you need new clothes.