i'm dying

when i start to feel unwell... and there is no "obvious" reason for it... i start to worry about randomly dying and realize i need to give my nearest and dearest emergency contacts for any unfortunate events.

so, with that, i have been having MAJOR bad headaches these past two days (IN A ROW!). It starts off as a niggle at work... and I'm too busy to take tylenol until I get home, which by then it is a total full blow HELMET of pain.

did i cook any dinner? no. did i do any baking? no.

I did instant! Yay for instant - add water, heat and stir foods.

Instant Strawberries and Cream Oatmeal

and Spahetti O's with Meatballs

I have a couple blocks of cream cheese sitting in the fridge... so I hope to be making some cheesecake (or something) soon!

eulogy for the hoodie

this is in no way food related... i am just super proud of myself.

I BOUGHT A NEW HOODIE.

It is time to finally retire my black hoodie circa college year #2...


with another black hoodie that already looks worn out. huurah!


Black hoodie #1 has seen lots of bar nights, date nights, makeups and break-ups, parties and work days, rain and shine. Oh hoodie. How I'll miss you.

Dinner and a Cookie

Ever impatient, I couldn't wait the 30 min to reheat the full round pan of leftovers from Two Guys from Italy, so I scooped a hunk into a ramekin and nuked my Baked Gnocchi with Tomato Cream Sauce and Ricotta and Mozzarella.

I added some red pepper flakes and fresh basil from by own little basil plant.

And since I beat traffic, and had some time... I baked! again! In like 3 days! OMG WOW!

Potato Chip Cookies from justJENN recipes

I only had 1 bag of chips, so I halved the recipe.
1 Stick Butter
1/4 C Packed Brown Sugar
1/4 C Sugar
1/2 an egg (this was a toughie)
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 C Flour
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/16 salt (another toughie... I "pinched" this one)
3/4C crushed potato chips (1 snack sized bag - I used Lay's)

Cream butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla.
Combine dry ingredients. Add to butter mixture.
Mix in by hand crushed potato chips.
Drop teaspoon dollops onto parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Notes: The cookies are SUPER buttery. They melt down quickly and bubble a lot. Once removed from the oven, they're still soft. Let stand to firm up a bit before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

I planned to drizzle with chocolate. But they weren't as salty as I thought (wanted) them to come out to be. I should have used a different kind of chip - maybe kettlecooked, or just a thicker chip.

Cookie Brownie Bars

I was browsing Bakerella's blog (which inspired me to get off my giant depressed ass to start baking again) and came across this WONDERFUL idea of combining cookies and brownies!

I went to buy the "ingredients" aka mixes... and smack dab in front of me was this:

So the internal debate began... do I buy separate mixes of brownie and cookie dough, or buy this one with everything I would need to make the same thing?
I went for the separate mixes.

uh oh.

I sense an inordinate amount of spending coming up...

This year...

It has been a tough valentine's day this year... but great friends really helped me keep it together.


Handmade Frame (and below) from Kate

Hand Decorated Candles.

Cute photo cube!

Tulips - my favorite flower - from Josh

Yummy Cheesecake squares from Ila

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

I am not adept at working with chocolate... and so I planned to have someone else dip strawberries for me, but then after buying the strawberries, I decided - what the hell, I'll do it myself. With my stockpile of valentine themed sprinkles/sugars, I wanted to make some extra special treats!

The starting line...

... mini chocolate chips... pink sanding sugar (which is really pretty since it has an iridescence to it)

Tip: Use "baby plates" since they have compartments for several different toppings.

Red sugar and nonpareils shown here.

Freshly dipped and decorated:

Sanding sugar does not show up well on these.
Mini Chocolate Chips look really nice, adds a different visual texture that is more than just sprinkles or nonpareils.


This poor soldier lost its hat.


Ready to eat!

I planned to melt white chocolate and drizzle over the plain chocolate ones, but technical difficulties occurred - and I gave up.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I hope all those who have someone special in their lives have a good one... and to those of us who don't, thank god it's almost over.

Also... Kate will be one of the recipients of these yummies... sweets for a sweetie! :)

She awarded me the "Love Ya" award. So cute.