....is a Magnetic Chalkboard (Part II)

A few years back I helped Mrs. M make a magnetic chalkboard. We found the perfect frame at an antique shop near my house at the time, we cut down sheet metal to fit the frame, made our own chalkboard paint and voilà! Her Magnetic chalk board was complete. I intended to immediately make one for myself & CPB, and I did (eventually) this past Christmas. 

....is a Golden Birthday Party with Homemade Marshmallow S'mores!

Earlier in the year I was at happy hour with Janae where discussions turned to our upcoming birthdays. We met in school at UC Davis and quickly bonded over glitter, San Diego and our shared March birthdays. (She is also the reason I made Tutus for Bachelorette Bowling and this wonderful Save-the-Date, one of my favorite projects to date.)

In college our birthdays fell near the end of spring break and for four years we held joint celebrations at home withour families and back at school in the first week of Spring Quarter. For the few years I was away for our birthdays, thru grad school and for work we always managed to have a shared birthday celebration. One year we had 'March in May' and went out to celebrate two months later. Together we have shared many messy sundaes, pizzookies and sparkles.

This year was a special year for Janae, her Golden Birthday! (Golden Birthday: When the year and the birthday day match.) We again decided to combine celebrations and I adopted her Golden Birthday as my own. My Golden Birthday was spent huddled over a studio desk int he last few weeks of grad scool preparing for my final review. This celebration was bound to be much more fun, gold & glitter filled than my actual Golden Birthday.

Naturally, we started planning months in advance with a shared Pinterst Board:

All That Glitters is Gold - Our Golden Birthday

Our men were even kind enough to humor us by wearing sparkly gold suspenders!

Here's some of what we created to shamelessly celebrate ourselves, glitter & all things golden.

....is Coq au Riesling

May Grey is finally here in San Diego, I ususally grumble thru the cloudy start to summer (May Grey followed by June Gloom and occaisionally a misty July). But, it's a welcome change to the 100 plus degrees and wildfires we had last week. I used the oven and stove sparingly during the Santa Ana heat wave. We don't have air conditioning or even good cross ventalation to help cool the kitchen. Luckily San Diego tends to cool off in the evening and helps keep our home (with the help of a few fans) relatively comfortable.

This past winter I learned about braising, the slow simmer allows flavors to develop and keeps meats tender & juicy. So, I took the break from the heat to make Coq au Riesling, a heart warming and delicious meal. There are typically three parts to braising, the ingredients can vary but the result is always wonderful.

1. Brown the Meat

(and set aside)

2. Saute Aromatic Vegetables

3. Add Liquid

(bring to a boil & simmer)

I'm heading up to Sacramento today. I'm meeting my brother & cousin up there to visit family and I get the added bonus of visiting with a few of my college roomates. Over the weekend I plan to make this dish and a big batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies to share.

....is Samoa Adjacent

It was a bitter sweet moment when I realized Girl Scouts were no longer standing outside every grocery store tempting me with cute smiles and devilish boxes of deliciousness. I waited, maybe a week, to scour Pinterest trying to find a recipe for homemade Samoas. I love these cookies, they are my favorite second only to the classic Chocolate Chip Cookie but I will probably leave them to the Little Brownie Bakery from now on. There's a lot of time between each step and I like the two steps it takes to open the box and eat a cookie. I did learn how to paint with caramel & chocolate when dipping was too difficult. I got to choose the shape of my Samoa, a circle, a dog, a star & a fleur de lis. (Why do they cheat you out of the hole in the center? That's just more room for caramel, coconut & chocolate!) Overall it was a lovely afternoon with MMcK, while I waited for the cable company.

....is Béchamel, Sausage & Peperoncini Pizza

Two weeks ago I celebrated my birthday (with an amazing shared Golden Birthday party!) and this post features two of the lovely gifts I received. CPB found a cookbook for a pizza place in New York, Roberta's, the pictures and recipes are wonderful and the stories of their adventures starting a restaurant are entertaining. This is the best dough recipe I have yet to make. I usually have to par-bake the pizza without the toppings but this one was the perfect amount of crunch and chew baked with the toppings. It was so good we've made this pizza three times since I got the book. 

We made it the third time this weekend so I could get pictures in daylight and have a chance to try out my new lens from Pops, he may have received an anonymous tip in his inbox but it was the perfect gift. I'm still learning the manual setting on my DSLR (most of my blog pictures are taken with my iPhone, for convenience) but from my first attempt I already have a crush on this lens.

(Thank you Lauren for the recommendation! Side note: If you're looking for a photographer in San Diego or Texas check out her blog, she captures amazing moments from military homecomings, family sessions, weddings and underwater photography!)

....is Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

I squash season over already?!

This winter I fell in love with roasting vegetables. They are just as wonderful by themselves but I would use them in salads or pasta too. I even had Spaghetti Squash for the first time! (I'm a little behind on this wonderful gourd.) I completely undercooked it the first time I tried roasting one. The oven temperature was too low and I may have been  definitely was impatient with the roasting process. 

The first recipe I made was literally turning the squash into a classic spaghetti dish. Roasted Squash, filled with Red Gravy (also known as spaghetti sauce) and fresh Mozzarella. The squash roasts alone until tender and then again with sauce and cheese is warm and until it's wonderfully melty. The 'pasta' is eaten right out of the half of squash, the scooped out center serves as a bowl for the red gravy & cheese. After a few times attempts at this meal, I learned a helpful tip to roasting the Spaghetti Squash perfectly. Roasting it upside down lets the water from the Squash it turn to steam and speeds up the cooking process.

One afternoon, I was talking to Mrs. S on the phone about life and squash recipes (a fairly normal conversation). I asked for her favorite Spaghetti Squash recipe. She didn't have a specific recipe but she loves using the squash to make a gluten free Pad Thai (my recipe was inspired by version I found on the blog 'A Couple Cooks'). The Squash works just like noodles and does a wonderful job holding onto the Thai spices and flavors. I couldn't wait to give it a try!

....is King Cake for Mardi Gras

Happy belated Mardi Gras!

To celebrate last week I decided to make a King Cake. I was a little nervous so about making this for CPB (a New Orleans native) even though I've had good luck with some of their other classics like Beignets, Gumbo and Jambalaya. A King Cake is essentially a Brioche Cinnamon Roll, instead of cutting the roll and baking individual slices spiral side up the roll remains intact, is formed into a ring and baked. I tried to find a recipe with only basic ingredients, some call for sour cream or cream cheese filling, but I wanted to go a more traditional route. There are a few notes I have that will hopefully help anyone trying to make this for the first time.

1. The Sanding Sugar is the only item I couldn't find in a typical grocery. I located it in a specialty baking shop (Do It with Icing), it's finer than typical sprinkles, which will work just fine or there are a few recipes online that show how to color granular sugar for the topping.
2. Creating a King Cake requires some waiting time, I recommend making the dough the day before and leave it in the fridge overnight. Just let it sit out on the counter to warm up slightly before rolling out the dough.
3. The tradition includes placing a plastic baby (represnting baby Jesus) into the cake. Whoever ends up with this slice is supposed to hold the King Cake Party the following year. Instead of a figurine, I chose to use a pecan half BUT if you are using a plastic baby, put the baby in AFTER you've baked the cake. No one wants to bite into a melty baby Jesus.

It took a little more patience than I expected but the result was wonderful. This is a delicious tradition I plan on repeating next year!