anti-leftovers

I'm not a fan of leftovers... period. Whether it be take-out, homemade meals, or remaining ingredients in cooking/baking e.g. remaining 1/2c heavy cream, 1/4tsp butter, 1c chocolate chips.

Yeah, I can keep things in the fridge/pantry until the next time I'll consume them, but honestly... I won't. So why waste the space and mental consciousness.

Recipes I've looked up precisely tell you how much of whatever cup-wise you'll need. I am over that... especially for marshmallow treats.

No-Leftovers Lucky Charms Marshmallow Treats
1 bag (160z) mini marshmallows
1 bag (the 14-15 oz size) Lucky Charms cereal
1 stick (1/2c) butter

Melt butter in large pot. Add marshmallows to melt.
Then dump in cereal. Stir and mix until evenly coated.
Scrape the mixture into a parchment lined 9x13 pan (excess hanging over edges for easy removal). Press firmly down and into corners. Let cool and harden.
Cut into square or whatever to share!

Notes: use a sturdy mixing spoon... not a wimpy plastic spatula that will snap in the middle of the mixing. OOPS.

Echo Love Chamber

LOVE THEM TO DEATH!
Caught them at Hurricane's in Huntington Beach...
and if their rendition of I Want You To Want Me does nothing to your insides... then you're dead.

Band Website

"dieting"

On days I like to be healthy and not eat a greasy fatty dinner, and am REALLY lazy (more so than usual), I slice up a container of tofu into cubes, boil, then eat with cold ponzu dipping sauce.

Yumyum.

take 2

I decided to make another batch of cookies for the party... everything went so much better!

so DO keep hands wet when rolling pudges, roll pudges and drop them in a big pot of powdered sugar in batches and then its smooth sailing from there!

I made a dozen for each batch I rolled since I have 2 sheet pans with 6 cookies each.

The time I used for this round was 15minutes... I guess I'm still working on figuring that out.

Chill

The story begins:

1 fail + 2 fail

equals

Chill
DOB: December 23, 2007

a new baby for the penguin family!

(... to make myself feel better.)

patience is a virtue... and then some...

I baked today!
Unfortunately for me and my Friday funtime tomorrow... it was not a success, in my opinion anyways.
(I guess I should have been less lazy on Monday and done a trial run.)

Chef's Powdered Sugar Cake Cookies aka Cool Whip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 Box Cake Mix (pick your favorite... I used lemon)
1 8oz. Container Cool Whip (or the generic kind if you want to be cheap. I am, and I did)
Powdered Sugar
1 egg (I've seen this in recipes online... but I opted out. Perhaps that's where the problem lies)

Mix cake mix and THAWED Cool Whip together.
Thawed creamy creamy!!! Not "outside edges look creamy straight home from the grocery store freezer section creamy". Its not a big deal if its only semi-thawed like I used since I started baking right when I got home from the store. But it just makes stirring THAT much harder. SOOO MUCH HARDER. So THAW people THAW!!


Once cake mix and cool whip are thoroughly combined, scoop into small equal sized balls. (I like to call them pudges... like pudgy, but not.) Then roll in powdered sugar.

This was the messy and annoying part. The batter is VERY sticky. I would maybe suggest using a small ice cream scooper, one that will release the pudges without any excessive finger poking or scraping. I have the lame-o cookie scoop that much resembles a tablespoon with the flexible round bottom that "supposedly" allows you to just press and the dough will pop right out. Yeah RIGHT. It didn't work for this... and I do kinda doubt that it'll work for any dough. I've tried freezing the batter a bit, that don't work. The best bet is to keep your hands WET. Some batter will still stick... but not as bad. And if it starts to REALLY stick, time to re-wet your hands! Rolling in powdered sugar is pretty easy... I would have just done a BIG BIG dish... casserole or larger would have worked AWESOME. The small dish I used could only roll 4-5 pudges. The whole going back and forth between sticky batter and dry powdery sugar is time consuming, since I had to go wash off any residual batter before handling the pudges in sugar. PAIN IN THE BUTT! So, boys and girls, keep hands wet when making the pudges... make them all in one go... drop each one into a LARGE dish of powdered sugar... then roll away!

Place each rolled pudge on a parchment lined baking sheet, 1-1/2 inches apart.
These will SPREAD. So no cramming the last one or two between rows. That will not do... at least not if you care about presentation.


Bake at 350 for approx. 20min. Don't forget to pre-heat... DUH.
I don't know the exact time since I experimented with different intervals.
10-13 min = CHEWY (maybe undone) cookies
18-20 min = Probably the "right" range... I didn't break these apart to check though, since I was running low on presentable cookies.
20-22 min = NOPE. The cookies come out over-done and crispy.
(Not a fan of that blue baking thingymajig... I used parchment on the other pan. CLEAN UP IS SOOO MUCH FASTER. Just crumple and toss!

I'll post reviews after my guinea pigs have tasted. Oh, and they taste FINE to me. Just that the right amount of doneness needs to be addressed... we all eat raw cookie dough anyways, don't we?

COLORS!

120 colors of eyeshadow.... and somehow I know I still wouldn't be satisfied.
(There are no deep reds... for example. Tsk tsk.)

damn you urban outfitters...

... how i love you so...

my lovelies...

lazy monday

I didn't do much of anything today... and most definitely did not get around to baking those cookies. I WILL be doing some baking/cooking for a bbq this weekend though... so hopefully I can get those up! But for now... nada.

One of the things I did do today was EAT.
I had sushi again for dinner... but here's a new one:

the CRAZY california roll

tres bien

giganamous pizookie

imagine this...

x 4
= <PIZOOKIE^® PARTY PLATTER
Perfect for groups of five or more! This Pizookie contains ALL FOUR KINDS of cookies presented together on a large platter and topped with a mountain of vanilla bean ice cream. Also available in an all-Oreo^® cookie party platter.>

IT WAS HUGE! I didn't even finish my one slice of Great White deep-dish pizza... and suddenly this UFO sized pizookie lands in front of us with Oreo, Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Macadamia and Peanut Butter cookie with 10+ scoops of vanilla ice cream. OMFG. I was actually intimidated for a minute.

... then I got over it and dug in! (didn't get around to trying the Peanut Butter though... waaay to much sweetness in me by that time... astonishingly)

Tord Boontje

Hostess with the Mostess is an amazing site for contemporary entertaining ideas and some great gift ideas! But tonight, it has reconnected me with the past! Back in college, for a studio art class trip to the MOCA and the Geffen, the gift store displayed the AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL and purchase-able art of Tord Boontje. I WANT ONE.

the obsession continues...

bought this today... attracted me like a magnet:

Korean produced drink Bolo Bolo Pengus Cider Flavored "Sugar Free" and "Contains Xylitol"
...yum?

also found online...

Penguin Lamp from Flax Art

FLAX art & design is "where creative people shop"... of course, I will be making a visit the next time I am in San Francisco. Most definitely.

Hot Day Dessert

HOT HOT day today... thank goodness for A/C and cold desserts. I went to Phoenix Restaurant for dinner and of course had to have DESSERT!!

Almond Jello w/ Mini Cube-lettes of Watermelon and Honey Dew and Coconut Milk
SO good... even better since it was complementary.
The coconut milk (I think) added a sweetness and creaminess that was just right.
And the fresh fruit bits with that slight crunch of watermelon was a nice contrast to the gelatin consistency of the jello.

And since one dessert is never enough...

Soy Tofu with Tapioca and Mango (and sweet milk?)
YUM! The tapioca texture and the smooth tofu... so fun! Not too sweet, and refreshing with the fresh mango pieces.

I love pudding desserts... but if I make it myself, I just never finish the batch and it all ends up going to waste. Sometimes less is more. The individual portions were PERFECT. Gotta love the easy clean up too with disposable bowls.

Kettlecooked Chips & Ganache

My wonderfully healthy dinner this evening began with a strawberry shortcake cup leftover from work on Wednesday, followed by 2 slices of sausage and mushroom pizza (they got my order wrong!!) from Monday, then concluded with kettle chips and ganache. I guess I would have to admit that I'm disgusting and not only eat OLD food, but also WEIRD combinations of the old food.

It really just started with an innocent little nibble of ganache that's been sitting in the fridge since last week. THEN I wanted something to counteract the chocolatey richness... hence the chips. and BINGO! Chips + Ganache = PERFECTO

Can't be just any potato chip though, it needs to be Kettle Cooked. Lay's for example are too flimsy/thin. I usually use Lay's chips to mix in with my chocolate pudding (Another really good combination by the way). Actually, Lay's + Chocolate Pudding would be analogous to Kettle Cooked Chips + Ganache. Awesome. My tastes are more 'sophisticated' now.

Lesson learned: use fresh ganache that's still dippable. chips + spreadable (but firm) ganache = too slow a pace for inhaling this contrasting goodness.

First Official Blog

I feel like it takes FOREVER to setup any type of online dealio... layouts to choose, colors to pick, images to upload... if only I was a quick decision maker and didn't over think every little thing. I do wish I had some pictures to upload. Poor little bloggy will seem as bleak as a winter day (I wish it was winter RIGHT NOW). And I'm particularly bad about photographing anything. So hopefully, next time I make a TV cake for my boss, I'll remember to grab that damned camera.

Next baking day: tentatively Monday 6-23-2008
Chef's Powdered Cake Cookies

In the meantime, my latest (and passively on-going) endeavor is collecting recipes from ALL (and I mean 2-3 years worth) my back issues of Real Simple. Then, I'll "sell back" all hundred-million copies of this fantabulous magazine, and spend the few bucks I get back on a new star tip, or put that towards a gorgeous vintage cake stand. No need to get ahead of myself though, that transaction will be MONTHS off at the rate I'm going.

The List

I just can't keep up with all the amazing recipes I find online whilst following some of my favorite blogs! (And don't even get me started on the food mags and books I continue to collect too!)

So here is my never-ending and ruthlessly growing recipe "queue".
Credits of course go to those wonderful bloggers!

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

Powdered Strawberry and Vanilla Bean Macarons

Garlic-Herb Mac & Cheese (pictorial blog post)

Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies

Strawberry Jam Tarts

Earl Grey Brownies

Cranberry Vanilla Coffee Cake

Solstice Shortbread (pictorial blogpost)

Pie Pops

Fourteen Layer Cake with Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

Strawberry Salad with Stawberry Basil Dressing & Mozzarella Pesto Grilled Cheese

Grilled Chicken Satay with Peanut Butter Dipping Sauce

Almond Cake with Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote

Orange Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

Chocolate-Orange Cheesecake

Fudge Brownies

Pastry Cream