cake isn't supposed to make you angry, al

On Sunday, I drove back to DC from home. I did it begrudgingly, and only after seriously considering calling in sick to work on Monday, and staying home an extra day. Ultimately I decided my guilty conscience would outweigh any benefits garnered from the extra day hiding out at home. 

So, after I unloaded the innumerable pounds of laundry I took home with me to wash, I forced myself to go to the grocery. Might as well get ALL the unpleasantness out in one day, I reasoned.  (I really hate grocery shopping, in case you don't know me and/or didn't know that about me)

At the grocery, I grabbed a jar of molasses and a bag of chocolate chips on a whim. They were on sale, I was still brain dead from driving 400 miles, and next thing I knew, they were in my increasingly full basket. I think my subconscious was reminding me that I've really been wanting to bake something gingerbread-y lately. Or something. Go with it. 

When I got back to my apartment, I googled around for a good recipe, but all the ones I found didn't really appeal to me. Since google typically only turns up results from places like allrecipes, food network, epicurious, and the like, I sometimes go elsewhere. In this case, "elsewhere" was the Williams-Sonoma site. Sometimes their recipes are a little too elaborate for my taste, but this chocolate chip gingerbread one seemed totally approachable. I realize when I was pulling all of the ingredients out of my tiny pantry that I didn't have cloves, but decided that wasn't the end of the world, and went for it anyways. 

I'm so glad I did. Of all the baked goods I've pawned off on coworkers, this was by far the biggest hit. I don't know if everyone was just in the mood for a holiday confection or what, but the little bundt cake got glowing reviews. And, it gave me a chance to give poor, neglected Kitty the Kitchenaid stripper some attention. A win all around.

 

wheeeeeee (butter, sugar, vanilla)

 

flour/cocoa/spice mixture, molasses, flour coated chocolate chips

 

the holiday scented batter, popped in the oven 

 

45 minutes later, it looks like this (or prettier, if you're skilled like the W-S cooks)

and tastes like gloriousness 

ps-the title comes from what became a funny moment with my boss. We were having a little communication breakdown over how an upcoming meeting will be conducted, and he got a little brusque. Then he noticed the cake on the ledge of my desk, and harumphed about it. I said "cake isn't supposed to make you angry, Al!" and the woman who sits across from me got the giggles, and next thing we knew, he had snuck a piece while we weren't looking. He later admitted that "it was alright, I guess" (from him, that's a compliment, believe me!).

my other family

When I go home, I get to do a few things that make me extraordinarily happy: see my family (actual blood relatives AND the "Charlotte" family), shop, sleep with no alarm set, and cook in a big kitchen. I got enough of all of that this past weekend that a coworker actually commented that I looked "really refreshed" today. Glorious. 

Anyways, our "Charlotte" family is comprised of people we've known since we moved to North Carolina when I was ten. Because my family moved so much when I was growing up, the Charlotte family are some of the people who've known me the longest in my life. When they first met me, I was learning cursive and algebra, and acting like a mini adult. Now, we talk about mortgages and 401k accounts, and they get a kick out of the fact that I'm finally a real adult (debatable). The mind boggles at all the things we've seen each other through in the past fifteen years. 

So when we all have time to get together, we like to make it count. And I like to bake in my parents' large, well-stocked kitchen. Which brings us to the chocolate cake with salted caramel icing that I referred to yesterday. It was fairly simple, despite my general aversion to cooking on an electric stove. Not boxed cake mix simple, but these are my people. They deserve more than Betty Crocker. 

We had everyone over to our house for a happy hour of sorts in front of the outdoor fireplace, then went out to dinner, and finally came back to the house for cake. Even our one family friend who hates sweets had a piece. AND LIKED IT. I can't tell you how exciting that is for me (because I'm a grown up now, and get excited about things like chocolate cake, paint chips, and furniture shopping).

So if you find yourself in need of a good chocolate cake recipe, and want to top it with the oh-so-popular right now salted caramel icing, click this link straight away. Her pictures are far prettier than mine, but here are a few from my parents' kitchen:

 

it always surprises me that sugary water turns in to...

 

this salty caramel deliciousness

 

yum. 

 

stacked cooling racks (i'm in love)

 

exactly the right size for our crowd (plus small leftovers for mom, dad, and i)

 

once again, pardon my poor food photography skills 

(it's far tastier than this makes it look)

 

really wish i didn't live 400 miles from this set up

PS-I'm on a roll with the baked goods lately. Check back soon for the gingerbread cake I made last night!

little (kitchen that could) milestones

Huzzah! This is my 100th post on this blog. I don't know about the handful of you that read this sucker, but I must say I'm a little surprised that I've managed to keep rambling for this long after the LKTC Lent experiment first hit the internet. But here we are, 100 posts later. If you're still with me, well, thanks for that. I'm having fun making disaster (in the kitchen? in life? you decide). Hope you've enjoyed the ups, the downs, and the poor quality food photos from the comfort of your couch. 


I've always thought blogging was more than a little self-indulgent, but, I like writing, and my day job isn't exactly infusing a wealth of joy into my life, so, I'm going to just go with it for now. Once I owned the fact that I'm one of a billion bloggers out there, and that I don't plan on quitting any time soon, I decided to beef up the blog just a touch. Ironic, as I'm not eating meat on a regular basis right now. But I digress. 


Up there towards the top of the page, you'll see two new tabs: "About the LKTC" and "LKTC-tested recipes."  (Note: google reader audience, you'll have to click the links and/or go to the homepage to see what I'm talking about here). Since I believe my primary audience is people who are related to me, I'm going to guess that most of you are pretty familiar with a)my (little) kitchen, b)why I started this blog, c)me in general. But I get an awful lot of hits from people who have googled some variation of "how to make a saran wrap dress." So in case the brethren of you who want to be clad in saran wrap also want to know the backstory here, you're welcome. Side note: why are there so many people out there who want a dress made of saran wrap? Googlers, please enlighten me. (In case you don't remember, it's all because of this post)


That second new tab, the running list of recipes, is to compensate, in part, for the fact that I never really got in the habit of including full recipes in my posts. Instead of going back and editing every post, I put together what will be a running list of recipes I've tried. So if you remember reading about that tiramisu I won't shut up about, or that bolognese from a Sunday dinner long ago, but don't remember the original sources, now you can just click that tab at the top and find links to all the stuff I've made. Don't worry, the list is actually manageably short. 


On another note entirely, I felt my grasp on sanity becoming a little less solid, which tends to happen after too many consecutive months in DC, so I headed home for the long weekend. While there, I made a pitch-perfect chocolate cake with salted caramel icing. So cliche and trendy, I know. And yes, I'm bragging in a not so humble fashion, but for so, so many reasons, I could just use a win right now, so direct those judge-y stares elsewhere, people. 


Anyways, check back in a day or two for post #101, in which I will tell you alllll about the dessert-y goodness. For now, here are some pretty pictures of trees near my parents' house.  

backyard

yacht club parking lot

down the street from home

enjoying the view with the geese

little gracie, my sweet dog (and slow walking companion)

nostalgia wednesday(s)

Ok, people, here's the deal: I'm all about some nostalgia. Pictures from when my sister and I were little, home movies my parents recently put on DVDs for us, my albums from my times in Europe, you name it. If it reminds me of the "good old days" (am I old enough to say that yet?), I will cling to it. 

So something new is happening here every Wednesday. And it's all about nostalgia. I will do my best to also link it to food (although if it's regular cooking-related posts you're after, I imagine you abandoned this blog long ago). It's just my small effort to break up my monotonous work week, and to snap out of this majorly blah mood I've been in lately.

I'm starting with the place I found myself in exactly three years ago today: Salzburg. 

 

the beginning of The Sound of Music tour

 

the trees from which Maria and Von Trapp children sang

 

proof that I occasionally embrace my real hair color 

 

the strudel-peddling restaurant that was probably a tourist trap, but

a very welcome one after a day of traipsing around in the cold rain

Salzburg was the third of four stops on a ten-day trip away from Venice in the fall of 2008 (which was when I was living in Italy and serving as student assistant to 20 college kids). I didn't know it at the time, but I was about to come down with a nasty cold, probably due to nearly ten days of traveling in the frigid weather, eating poorly, and sleeping even worse. 

Despite the impending cold, Salzburg was beautiful, still showing some colorful signs of fall while people simultaneously geared up for the ubiquitous outdoor Christmas markets. We went on a whirlwind Sound of Music tour with a crazy guide and a few funny van-mates. After a flurry of piling in and out of the van, snapping umbrellas open and closed, and taking a million pictures, we all packed in to a small little restaurant supposedly famous for its apple strudel. 

If I remember rightly, the strudel was pretty overpriced, and we recognized it as a tourist trap off the bat. But we were our little fingers and toes were frozen solid, and we were tired, and hungry. It was subsequently the best strudel we'd ever tasted. Just thinking about how warm and sugary and restorative that snack was makes me want to give this strudel recipe a shot. 

Because my family didn't ever place a huge emphasis on cooking, nostalgia wasn't really something that was linked to food for me before I lived abroad. Now I eat a good bolognese and think of all the times we went to the neighborhood restaurant in Venice and were served by what I think must've been the island's most hilarious family. I eat a certain type of pizza and remember all the late night visits to the little shop near all of the bars we would go to. I get my hands on authentic gelato and I remember the innumerable cones we consumed in our effort to determine the best gelateria in the city. 

Anyways, speaking of travel, I'm doing just that for the long weekend. Nothing as glamorous as Salzburg, but an impromptu trip home. An effort to snap out of the aforementioned mood I've been in lately. A weekend to make some strudel.

something old, something new

So, my lazy Sunday was a semi-success. I did pass a somewhat excessive number of hours at Starbucks, watching a few episodes of tv on Hulu, sipping my overpriced drip coffee, marveling at the relentless deluge of customers, and generally ignoring all of the things stressing me out in my life right now. 

But then, around lunch time, I gave in to my "must stay busy" tendencies and popped in to Whole Foods to pick up the ingredients for this pasta with roasted red pepper sauce recipe. I walked home, picked up my apartment a bit (no, really, HOW does it get so messy every week?), and made my bajillionth loaf of banana bread ever. Yum. 

 

{Side note...in composing a list of LKTC-tested recipes, I came to the realization that I haven't actually tried all that many new recipes. I think that's partially by virtue of the fact that I've done a lot of group meals in which I provide just a dish or two, and partially due to the fact that I'm a creature of habit (a pattern I've also noticed in the places I choose to eat out and/or go to happy hour)}

So I hesitated to make my bajillionth loaf of banana bread, but the nearly expired bananas staring me in the face made the decision fairly easy. I consoled myself that the roasted red pepper pasta sauce would be the "something new" to balance the trusty old banana bread recipe.  

After I made the bread, cleaned the kitchen, and avoided the raging temptation to cut in to the warm, chocolate chip-filled loaf, I got started on the sauce. 

I bought a pack of three small red peppers at the store, and from outside the pack, they looked perfect. Once I opened them, however, I realized one was all moldy at the top, so I settled for two (while cursing Whole Foods and swearing to call them up and complain...which I never did end up doing). I threw them on a cookie sheet and subjected them to whatever passes for "broil" in a gas oven. 

 

They say impatience is one of a cook's biggest enemies, and I have to agree...I pulled

these out before they were sufficiently charred 

 

mmmm, toasted pine nuts!

 

the aftermath of peeling and de-seeding steaming hot peppers

 

pureed peppers and pine nuts, yum!

 

garlic, olive oil, onions...aka my idea of heaven

 

the finished product!

So, I have to say this wasn't my favorite pasta sauce, but I blame myself. I didn't roast the peppers long enough (see: lack of patience), and my pine nut to roasted pepper ratio was off. I also used too many onions for what is a pretty thick sauce. It was by no means gross, it just didn't look anything like the Pioneer Woman dish (which is where I got the recipe), and I'm a raging perfectionist. 

I'm convinced I'm cursed. I never can seem to master two kitchen feats in one day. Then again, maybe that's what I get for refusing to embrace the lazy Sunday concept.  

occupy starbucks

The lazy weekend is a concept that's kind of lost on me. I'm pretty much biologically incapable of sleeping past 7 am, and I inherited my dad's unrelenting need to be a)in motion, and b)accomplishing a task. 


But for the past three or so weeks, I've been operating at an unsustainable pace. Life has been a blur of all day training sessions, happy hours, dinners, brunches, movie nights, nights out, shopping, and fretting (about my living situation). 


So I put a moratorium on making any sort of plans past dinner time yesterday. After dinner, I went home, watched a little bit of football, and went to bed at an hour that most people my age would just be gearing up to leave for the night. And then I slept for an amount of time that I'm not entirely clear on (that whole fall back thing perplexes me more than I should admit). 


When I woke up, I decided to compromise with my overactive self, and spend a lazy morning at Starbucks (along with the rest of Arlington, it seemed). This has as much to do with my need to at least feel like I'm accomplishing something as it does with my recent frustration with my coffee pot (pictured below in an old LKTC photo). 

I've had the little 4-cup machine for probably two years now, and it makes decent enough coffee. Normally I'm not too discerning when it comes to brew quality, as I'm normally not conscious until after a full cup. But, the machine's output is veering from "acceptable" to "ick" pretty quickly. I'm finding more and more grounds in my coffee every day, and it just tastes blah. There have also been a few occasions in which the machine has tricked me in to thinking it was done brewing, then peeing coffee everywhere when I tried to remove the carafe to pour a cup. Tisk tisk. 


That is no way, I've decided, to treat the illy coffee that I brew every day these days. High quality beans demand a decent machine. I'm not sure what the best replacement is, though. I don't want something large, since I rarely, if ever, drink four cups of coffee, especially in the amount of time between alarm clock and departure. I'm thinking about going the super convenient (if a bit unnecessary) "pod" route. I know the Keurig machines are the most popular, but I have my eye on this guy (after all, he's RED!):  

sold by amazon

I know single serving coffee machines aren't the most economical, but, a girl can have her wish list, right? 

Speaking of wish list, in the spirit of having a plan-free, frivolous, lazy weekend morning (with a ground-free cup of Starbucks coffee in hand), I've been playing on Pinterest, adding things to my boards, including the "kitchen covets" one. If you've never been on Pinterest, I imagine I sound like I'm speaking in some sort of code. I have to admit, I heard of the site long before I actually allowed myself to explore it, so I'm a bit late in touting its virtues, but I'm here to tell you now that you should check it out. Be fully prepared to lose a few hours of your life, because it's like a black hole of recipes, creative ideas, and pretty pictures (which is precisely why I tried to hold out on exploring it). 

It's totally worth it, though. After all, it's a lazy Sunday... 

Stretching

Good news: my breakfast potato addiction seems to have abated. Bad news: it's been mostly replaced by a weird preoccupation with Corner Bakery's Asian Wonton salad (sans chicken, these days). I think I've eaten it that salad just about every week day for the past two weeks. 

But the point isn't that I have a one-track mind when it comes to food. The point is, I haven't done much in the way of cooking lately (too many happy hours and Corner Bakery salads, not enough time in the LKTC), so I don't have anything recipe-related to discuss. 

Unless you really want go for a stretch here, and call this a recipe for a 30th Anniversary Celebration Kit. And naturally, I do. 

About a month ago, we celebrated my parents' 30th wedding anniversary while in Vegas. In preparation, we put together a little gift box: 

"Picnic box" from Container store +

Lots of duct tape to reinforce it + 

(no, really, lots of duct tape!) + 

A photo album spanning from the time the 'rents met to present day +

Lots of their favorite things + 

A few craft supplies +

Personalized labels + 

Labels added to favorite things +

Incriminating photos + 

Even more incriminating photos 

A few recent photos +

A little happy hour fuel +

A few mixers +

A few finishing touches

The celebration kit made it safely across the country during the road trip, and was well received upon arrival. And don't worry, we got the parents a REAL gift, too! 

Oh and with Friendsgiving and maybe a holiday dinner party coming up, I'll make up for the obscene dearth of cooking-related posts lately, I promise. Riiiight after I find a place to live...