Showing posts with label Jenn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jenn. Show all posts

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Matteo and Tiramisu

My first Colorado bestie turned 30 recently. Of course there was a little shindig for him because he should be celebrated. I was asked to make a cake or cupcakes for the dessert portion of his party. I obviously said yes, because, Uh hello....it's for Matteo!! I wanted to make him something special and came up with quite a few ideas. Then it came to me...Matteo's Italian and he loves his Italian roots. So it had to be none other than tiramisu cupcakes. I thought that would be a great way to honor him for his special day.

Now I like baking. I like cupcakes. I like tiramisu. However, I have never made tiramisu in full cake form; yet, I decide to embark on 3 dozen mini ones. Yeppers. Why do I do this to myself? I know not. I look up recipes and try to find one that will be delectable and not overly hard to make. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I was hoping to find something I could make on my first try. Let me tell you that Tiramisu is a daunting and a time stealing baking endeavor. But in short, and via photo, it went a little something like this....

First you have about a million ingredients. Yes, I'm prone to the dramatic. Below is just a few of those ingredients.



Then you start the cake portion....



Again...mixing with the hand mixer. That Kitchenaid is so elusive in my life. So sad!!



Plus you need to have a handy dandy assistant. Love you Jenn! Look at her separate those yolks and whites.



Once all the mixing is done you get this yummyness. I could have eaten the batter on its own. Yeah, I said it. Deal.



Then you put your batter in the pans and bake.



While the cupcakes are baking, you begin the decadence. The icing. Which the primary ingredients are marcapone cheese and heavy whipping cream.



On to the mixing of the icing....again, using that hand mixer. When all is said and done, you come up with this sweet, delectable, oh my gosh I'm going to eat this whole bowl icing. Just look at that photo. I was proud of myself. And mind you, I used a hand mixer. It was a hard task, but I managed. It was so yummy you would have to pause and ponder the goodness of it all.



Once the cupcakes have cooled and while your amazing, i'm going to eat the whole bowl and not feel guilty, icing is chilling you layer on the kahlua, rum and espresso mix onto the tops of cupcakes.



After that you pipe on the to die for icing and then garnish to your liking. I chose chocolate shavings and a chocolate covered espresso bean to top it all off.

Ta da....!!




These cupcakes, I can confidently stay, were fan-flippin-tastic. Everyone loved them and I felt accomplished and proud of myself--and Jenn, my patient helper. But apparently, I'm much more relaxed than I used to be. At least Jenn noted that from my easy response from when we had a few mishaps. I believe with the first problem, instead of freaking out, I said..."Uh, Houston, we have a problem!" And when Jenn appeared, she saw that the ease of how I stated my sentence was not in accordance with the disaster brewing in the oven. Note to you and to self: when you are getting a recipe from a random stranger, sometimes they leave out very important facts about how much tiramisu can rise. Yeah!! (insert the roll of my eyes right here!) But I handled it with gusto and calm, then we began again with baking..this time modifying to what we knew would happen. Overall it was a great experience. Most importantly, Matteo loved them.

That's all that matters, right?! Right.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Oh my!! My newest obsession

So, there I was, minding my own business, thinking about random things--aka, pretending to work--when I decided to start a wee google chat with Jenn that went like this....

me: i'm going to tell you something....don't judge me....
Jennifer: haha. never!! what is it??
me: i kinda want to see the miley cyrus movie
Jennifer: lol! I don't judge. i'm sure it's a good movie, being based on Nicholas Sparks. those are all good. i just don't think i could get past miley cyrus' acting. and her voice. lol
me: ha ha....i know....but the suspense is sorta killing me
Jennifer: suspense?
me: of just knowing what that movie is about
Jennifer: lol. you could just read the book! ;)
me: with a name like "last song"
Jennifer: true
me: and nicholas sparks?! who knows?
Jennifer: it sounds good

and THEN it happened. the conversation turned to this.....

Jennifer: have I told you about The Pioneer Woman and my slight obsession with her and her website?
me: No! What???
Jennifer: it's thepioneerwoman.com and I'm in love with her. she's in Oklahoma, and she has this cooking/everything under the sun website that now gets like 20 million hits a month. she's a "city girl turned cattle rancher's wife"
me: ha....i must read this

So, I took a little stroll over to The Pioneer Woman's page and immediately knew I was going to love it. Blogging. Photography. Cooking. Home and Garden. And more. Her writing is fantastic and completely pulls you. I won't lie. After reading her story of her romance with the Marlboro Man, aptly titled "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels", I decided I MUST marry a cowboy and live on a ranch. Yep, I said it. This is what the Pioneer Woman has done to me. Lord, help me!!!

I love that she lives in the Great State of Oklahoma. Oh, how I utterly adore that she is a fellow Oklahoman. It sorta makes me want to move back to my home State. I just know she and I would be Besties!! We would take photos, make crass jokes, wrangle kids and sit on the front porch drinking sweet tea and laughing about the randomness of life, (Insert those beautiful Oklahoma sunsets here.), all while our cowboy husbands farmed the land.

I have a friend crush. It's true.

Thank you, Jenn for introducing me to my newest obsession. I long to be a Pioneer Woman now. I'm thinking about trading in my Steve Madden's for a life on the ranch. But, I guess I deserve it; after all, I did introduce you to him....




Poor Steve. He didn't see this one coming!!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Big Fat Cupcake

Today Jenn and I made our way to Denver so we could try some yummy goodness from Big Fat Cupcake. Of course, not thinking, we went the day before Valentine's Day and the choices were few and far between. The atmosphere was pleasing and made you feel downright giddy, the employees were friendly and most importantly, the cupcakes were divine.




Jenn's cupcake of choice was the Strawberry; and I chose Monkey Love--a Banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting! Both were topped off with edible glitter with conversation hearts and/or valentine sprinkles.



I was curious to try....but they were sold out of the Tiger Wood's cupcake, which is apparently available 'till he starts talking.'




It was scrumdiddlyumpcious. If you're ever in North Cherry Creek in Denver you should stop in and give it a try. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Celebrating Jenn!!

It was 2 weeks after the fact--thanks for your patience Jenn--but tonight we finally got around to celebrating Jenn and her 25th year. We thought a little down home feel was needed to make it fabulous. What do you do? Well you head on over to Cracker Barrel for a yummyliscious-home cookin'-full of carbs-oh my gosh i'll never eat again dinner.

We (Sarah, Jenn & I) had a great time laughing, reminiscing of home...aka Oklahoma...and trying to get a high score on the peg game that supposedly tests your IQ. Which I sucked at horribly. Shhhh, don't say it. After many attempts at getting past the 3 remaining pegs mark I was stuck at, I believe I commented on the fact that I needed to work on some left brain skills such as logic problems, and what not. Sarah suggested we write with our left hand more often.



Regardless of my epic failure at becoming a genius on the peg game, much fun was had by all. Especially when our carb filled yumminess arrived, the peg game was forgotten as we noshed on mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, fried okra, dumplings and chicken fried steak. It was a smorgasbord of southern comfort. I can honestly say that I agree with Sarah when she noted that we are not conditioned to eat that way anymore. It was delicious, but after the fact...I was, no scratch that, I AM in pain. Especially since I've been working with a trainer. I just know that when I meet Peggy tomorrow I will be sweating out gravy and butter from my pores. That's going to go over well. But I digress....

We had a blast and enjoyed each other's company. I relished the fact that tonight, as I've been missing my family and my Great State of Oklahoma, I was able to feel a bit more at 'home' than I've felt in awhile. When Jenn, Sarah and I are together life somehow makes sense and a piece of what's missing or lacking in my life gets nourished by the goodness of friends who know me, love me and have journeyed with me--not only figuratively, but literally.


Again, Happy Birthday Jenn. You are loved and adored. I'm blessed by your friendship. I hope Steve enjoys Robbie P as much as you, as I know you'll have him on the flat screen often. wink wink!!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Happy Birthday, Jenn!!!

Thanks for always being such an amazing friend.
I pray your 25th year is the best yet; and that you find your dreams and desires coming true.


Blessings in abundance to you today.






Live it up, Marlow!!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Do Re Mi

My friend Jenn posted this video on her blog earlier today. I loved it so much, I felt the need to post it too. This is absolutely fantastic. Apparently, in Belgium, over 200 dancers put this little dance together in only 2 rehearsals. It's a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of "The Sound of Music".



Man, I totally love musicals and everything they do for them!!
Yes, Rebecca, that's what I said. I LOVE THEM!!