Candy Cane Cookies

I made these cookies on a day off and had high hopes.  They kinda sucked.  I know this because that is how my mom described them.  There are broken up candy canes in chocolate chip cookies.  I did not crush the candy canes fine enough and there were huge chunks.  Chunks that got gummy yet crunchy while baking.  Not my finest effort.  I would throw them to the birds but I am not really sure they would eat them. 

Ornage Item of the Week

Thanksgiving.  We all have to do it, whether we want to or not.  I often thing that really Thanksgiving is a form of revenge from Native Americans.  They knew land was going to get stolen, and why not force future generations to get together once a year, eat odd food and then visit relatives.  Who knows what the turkey population did to piss them off. 

For all my grousing, this year was not that bad.  I had to work on midnight on black friday, so my mom decided to keep it simple.  We had brunch instead of the whole turkey extravaganza thing.  It was nice, bread pudding from Ina Garten's Fool Proof.  Amazballs.  We also had a salad, ham and pumpkin squares.  It was nice.  Plus I also had Aunt Marcia there :)  So my Orange Item of the Week is the Mimosas we drank.  I hope we do brunch now every year. 

Peppermint Cookies

Since I was supposed to make more than one item for the cookie try, I made these peppermint cookies from the Tate Cookbook, also a New York staple.  I think I over baked them a little, but they are minty and kind of perky.  While I am still kind of pissed, these helped.  They have chocolate chips in them, and I am wondering about putting in either candy cane bit or minty chips for the holidays. 

Fat Witch Coconut Bars

 
Today is my last day off for over a week, so I thought I might finally get around to baking my own birthday cake (yes, i was cranky when I typed that.  Seriously, I did not get one last year and for all of the complaining I do you would think my mother would just go out and buy me a damn cake.  But NO....So when I finally get around to making it, it will in fact be BITTER flavored.)  My mother called and felt the need to ask me to bake an order for her (yup, still bitter.) for her damn Fall Fest Raffle.  So I cranked out these Coconut bars from the Fat Witch Cookbook.  Fat Witch Brownies is an amazing bakery located at the Chelsea Market.  They were ahead of the brownie trend a few years back, and have manged to stay in business though the following cupcake and macaroon trends.   So freaking good, and a taste of home, the even put a smile on this cranky face.  I also included one of my glass turkeys.  They get put out for a few hours between Halloween and Christmas. 

Orange Item of the Week

I picked this sweater out at Target.  It is cute and all, but I have got to learn not to wear stripes when getting my picture taken. 

Cardamon Cake

Every year on the first snow, I make a cardamom  cake.  This years offering came from the Tate's Bakery Cook Book.  It was a hit with my parents.  There is a layer of almonds on top and the cardimom was really warm and tasty.  Most Cardamom cakes have orange and this one did not.  Becase of this cake, Athena did not totally suck.  Just mostly. 

Athena

Here is my opinion of Athena.

My mother assures me that my chin is not this shape.  I am not sure. 

 

This is what it looked like outside when I left for work at 3:30 last night.  I was not impressed.  

Orange Item of the Week

Here it is, the best one yet (besides Stanley) My mother made this for me when I was 18, and have worn it every year since.  It is showing its age, but I love it.  I wore it to work on Halloween, and made a BIG impression.  The great thing about this picture, my mother caught me in mid eye roll. 

Hurricane Sandy, the aftermath

So, we lived through Sandy, we lost power for about two days.  It was not horrible, but not fun.  The plus side was that we had a gas stove.  I made Sweet Potato Soup, from Betty Rosebottom's book, Sunday Soups.  I changed it a little, she made it with ginger, I used curry.  Since most blackout foods are sweet or salty, the heat was a nice counterpoint.  I did not get a picture, things were a little crazy....

The cause of bad weather?

When we got Livi two years ago, none of us really knew what we were getting into.  Since we have had her, we have had record breaking snowfall, two hurricanes, a freak snowstorm in October, a week long blackout, a crazy hot summer and a flood in our basement.  I am not sure if it is coincidence, but I bought her six toys in a effort to keep the power on.  I also let her sleep in a pile of my scarves. 

Orange Item of the Week

This week Slim is bringing you an orange candle purchased from Target.  If I am forced to live by candlelight for a few days, I want fabulous candles.  Olivia is in the background smelling all of the new stuff I got. 

Hurricane Sandy

First off I can not freaking believe that we are facing another blackout over Halloween.  Secondly, I shudder at the thought that we are about to get our asses kicked by a storm name after a character in Grease.  So Sandy, she is about to hit us tomorrow.  Since last year we were caught unaware, I have been preparing like my life depends on it.  Target was a nightmare, there is no bread in the tristate area.  Also, there is no more bottles of water or regular candles.  Open empty shelves were the de rigueur in Target.  Thank god I am not working.  We are doing all of the laundry, dishes and making food for the week.  Slim had to be brought inside, so now he is chilling at the dinning room table.  We have no idea what Halloween will be like, so we don't want to put everything away just yet.  I really want to see trick or treaters. Here is Slim with a portion of our supplies.  I think he is just happy to be out of the rain. 

Pumpkin Apple Cake

It is dreary outside: cold, rainy and gray.  Sadly this is how all of my days off seem to be lately.  So I thought I would see what I have in the house to bake.  The answer?  Tate's Bakery Apple Pumpkin Cake.  I took some somewhat passed apples and made this DELICIOUS cake!   It turned out even after I forgot to put the oven on and it sat for like an hour (laundry, glee and reading, I was way distracted.)  It has a secret ingredient, wheat germ, making it more healthy.  Clearly, I will be keeping this fact from my parents.  I made it in three bundt cake pans, and of course only only one turned out.  I then proceeded to eat the stuck parts of the pan with my bare hands.  It was crazy good, even if my esophagus is a little singed.  A little powdered sugar would make it prettier...but truthfully I can't be bothered. 

Orange Item of the Week

Christmas is killing me.  Already.  Seriously.  Boxes and boxes of crap arrive at Target and I have to deal with them.  I am a little late for my orange item of the week.  Here it is, my orange globe light purchased from target.  It keeps slim looking great. I like to think of it as a disco light. 

Pumpkin Cookies

 

After sleeping for fifteen hours I worked this morning.  Then I came home and made cookies from Tate's Cookbook.  They hit the spot and soothed my cranky worn out soul.  These taste great, and are a mouthful of fall: pumpkin, cranberries and pecans. 

My mom got me this cookbook a couple of weeks ago, and have been wanting to try it out.  I have tried the cookies in New York.  They are available in any bodega and are crazy tasty.  I have yet to make the trademark chocolate chip cookies, but they are on my list.  

Hot Milk Cake

 

 
 I have been working like a demon for the past few weeks, and did not have a chance to try out my new professional grade bake ware.  Luckily I had two days off in a row.  It is designed to bake faster and with less heat.  It is like cooking in a ferrari!  My mom got me the Miette Cookbook named after the bakery in San Francisco, so I thought now would be a good time to whip up a cake.  First off, this was the most complicated cake I have ever made.  I needed to warm milk to 88 degrees, cook eggs milk in sugar in a bain marie until they were 125 degrees, pass it through a sieve, whip it again until everything was 88 degrees, then stir the whole mixture four times counterclockwise.  The whole cake was only six inches across, everything in the book is tiny. 

Then, there was frosting to be made with a candy thermometer.  I did not have enough eggs, so I went with a classic butter cream made with meringue powder.  Both parents loved the cake, I thought it was a little dry.  (Getting used to the ferrari pans...)  I would make it again and am looking forward to making others from the book :)

My cake is lopsided.  

Here the Fat Daddio pans!  They have a special coating, so I can only use butter, no Pam.

Sundays with Slim

He's back!  After  driving around in my car for a few weeks, Slim is back on the porch.  He looks handsome, but I kind of miss him in the passenger side of my car. But, at least we can still enjoy a starbucks together while stooping.  Oy, why did I wear horizontal stripes on camera?

Orange Item of the Week

Here is what could be the last picture of Stanley before I return him to the Humane Society by the Roosevelt Island Tram.  I worked a grueling eight hour shift-- I got in early at 3:00am and got home at 11:30am, only to discover he had thrown up on both of my quilts.  Really, sending him back for a refund seems like the right thing to do.  Here is Stan, on the orange tablecloth my mom mad for Halloween.  It was right after the vomiting incident, so I was telling him to look at mommy while she is threatening him.  He does not seem that worried.

Orange Item of the week

I made my first two batches of soup today.  One a chicken and dumpling and the other a butternut squash.  Frankly, they both kind of sucked.  Dumplings are sort of hard to make, and they joined together in the pan into one large morman family sized dumpling.  My squash soup tasted like squash... and nothing else.  My leeks were old, I found them in the back of the fridge.  They might have been left over from last fall.  BUT, fear not, my pumpkin shaped Dutch oven is out and ready for better soups.  This is why it is the Orange Item of the Week! 

Caramel Scones

Last week I made Pumpkin scones from the Alice's Teacup cookbook.  Alice's Teacup is a West Village institution, specializing in scones, cookies, sandwich and soups.  Delish!  Since I have fall  fever (?) I wanted to dive into some new pumpkin recipes.  This one is great: a spicy scone in a sea of caramel sauce.  My mother loved the caramel so much she lied to my father and said they did not turn out.  She felt guilty and finally told him after two days.  By then she had eaten most of it, on scones, ice cream and just dipping her fingers in.  She really is a pirate. 

Caramel sauce is amazing, and not that hard to make.

Yup, full of caramel sauce.

Orange Item of Last Week

Ug, I have been putting in hours like a crazy person at Target.  I missed last week's orange item.  So sad.  This one comes from Aundria, who customized my mom's pumpkin coffee cup with, what else, an orange pumpkin :)  Sine it is Aundria's birthday tomorrow, let's all give her a big shout out! 

Butterscotch Cake

My mother declared her love for me after tasting my Butterscotch Cake.  It is from the Back in the Day cookbook.  Right now I have tried three recipes and two are outstanding.  I can not believe I made butterscotch.  It was amazing!  Joann wants me to think of other uses, ice cream, cookies and maybe pastry.  She even took me to Sephora. 

The Death of my Hats

Yup, Olivia has decided that hats are for her.  That they are the best place to take a summer nap.  I am not thrilled.

Treasures from Target

I could not believe that these were at Target this morning.  There I was, seven am at the end of my shift when I saw these!  There is a huge Andy Warhol exhibit at the Met in honor of the 50th Anniversary of his work.  Campbells jumped in on this too and came out with these special labels-- clearly some one was awake at teh wheel.  I shouted with glee and pointed!  At which point some one said "Whose Andy Warhol?"  A little bit of my soul died.

Donuts

I made these donuts from a mix last sunday.  I know I cheated with the mix, but they were amazing.  Totally worth it and Ina Garten is a freaking genius. You bake the dount, dip it in melted butter and then drag it through sugar.  FREAKING GENIUS.  I plan on tasting other flavors. 

Orange Item of the Week

This week's orange item comes from my mother's closet.  I totally stole it.  It looks cute on me and really what kind of daughter would I be if I did not raid my mother's things.  Best not to let her get too comfortable.

Emergency Cupcakes

I got the call to make something sweet for a funral.  (It is a small town thing, everyone bakes, even if you don't know the person or their family.)  In an effort to make my life kind of easy, my mom decided I should make these from Semi Homemade's Sandra Brown.  It was not a good idea.  It was merely exhaustion from my job that allowed me to be bamboozled by Joann.  These were hands down one of the grossest things I have ever made.  There are cherries inside that caused the top to collapse, or as my mother said gave them "gun shot wounds."  Joann wanted to keep the magazine, but after shooting her the look of death she agreed to recycle it and never but it again.  The upswing was that they were crazy cute, and the people at the funeral liked them. 

Pumpkin Squares

It was cold last week, so I jumped aboard the Autumn train.  My mom just bought me the Back in the Day cookbook.  I made these amazing pumpkin squares.  After the last one was gone my mom asked for another pan right away.  She even mentioned forgoing pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving in favor of these.  They are a bite of everything that is good in the world.

Life changing I tell you, LIFE CHANGING

I can not for the life of my figure out why these two are on the cover.  Amazing recipes, not super photogenic.   And why in god's name did they allow him to wear those socks???? OY!

Cupcake Class

I finally got to teach my kids how to make fishbowl cupcakes!  It was a hit.  Everyone (including me) had fun and we can't wait for next month when I do another class.  I am not sure doing what, but I have a few days to think about it!  It was great getting back into the library swing of things.

I told them to act natural.

Treasures from Target

Getting to work at Target means I get to look at all the cute stuff!  Here is a really cute owl sweater!  (Also featured in this month's O magazine.  Gotta love Oprah.)  The new line of Shops from Target comes out September 9th.  I have no insider information and people loo at me strangely when I ask questions.  Since it is an owl on the front, I wanted to look like I was hooting :)  I had just gotten home for work, so I was exhausted.  You'll note my eyes are different sizes and my hair is doing something weird. 

Peach Cake #4... well sorta..

The last peach cake is actually peach muffins from the Back in the Day cookbook.  They tasted a little bland out of the oven, but are getting better.  Still, they are not as good as the Beekman's Buttery peach cake.  It is the winner of the summer and the first out of the gate.  I am thinking what my next experiment should be, I am anxious for fall, I miss my jeans, boots and jackets.  (No worries, in about six months I will be yammering for summer with my cute dresses, flip flops and fresh fruit.) 

Orange Item of the Week

This week's orange item is the pompom my mom made for me!  It is a key ring to her new car, because she gave me her old one!  That's right people, Betty White, a 2007 Saturn Vue is all mine!  Complete with a yoga mat in the back and several spare target shirts.  Woo! 

Orange Item of the Week

Thought I would get to my orange item early this week, it is the orange Goldfish Cracker that I used on these fishbowl cupcakes!  Somehow I think of goldfish as summer themed.  Not sure why.  They are a test run for the library, and since they are so easy, I think they are a winner!  Since I have been working exhaustion is an issue, I slept 12 hours today and woke up at 9:15 at night.  My parents were not impressed.  These are a little messy, I made them at 3:00 before work (I go in at 4:30 today.)  I keep on asking about Halloween merchandise and I am told any day now.  I will be keeping you all updated! 

Worst Sous Chef Ever

NOT helpful when baking in the middle of the night.

Peach cakes

My mother felt the need to bring in a huge bag of  peaches.  She mentioned that I needed to make a crisp for her.  Keep in mind I am so tired most of the time I can not see strait.  So, I got all of my baking done in one go at midnight.  You might notice a theme of midnight baking.  I fear for christmas cookies.  

Goldfish Caupcakes/ Orange Item of the week

Oy, working, it is tough!  no wonder why I avoided it for so long.  I go in at 3:00am and get home at 8.  The shift is short, thankfully since I am lifting heavy stuff the whole time.  I get home drenched in sweat and ready for bed.  I now literally sleep all day waking up to the smells of dinner.  Since I am not awake to make it, my mom is in charge.  Let's say the quality of meals has gone down since Joann is in charge.  But I am exhausted, so I really don't care.  It is a big adjustment, and I am finally baking again!  Here are goldfish cupcakes, that  happen to be ORANGE!  I am volunteering at the East Granby library doing teen programming.  (Hopefully it will lead to a job somewhere at a library.)  These cupcakes are a test run for a class I am running in a few weeks for teens.  Let me know what you think!  Not bad for putting them together at 1:00am.

Ina's Peach Cake

Cake number three is from Ina Garten aka The Barefoot Contessa.  This one came from How Easy Is That, Ina's latest book.  Simply called Peach Cake I churned two of these out last night.  They are pretty easy to make, but really not fruity enough: I would add more fresh peaches next time.  I also wish it had another flavor like cinnamon or ginger to compliment the peaches.   My parents liked it, but not like how the raved over cake number one from the Beekman's.  I still have more peach cakes to make, the summer is not over yet.