Baby Bzzzz

I've mentioned before that I am a bzzagent. I get great stuff free from http://www.bzzagent.com and all I have to do is tell you about it - so far, I've liked everything I've been sent. Right now, I am participating in a promotion for the movie Babies. I am under no delusions that I will win the traffic contest. (although, maybe with all the foodies from my listing on the Foodies Blogroll can help . . .).

Everybody loves... BABIES. Coming to theatres this Mother's Day Weekend (May 7th), this visually stunning new movie simultaneously follows four babies around the world - from first breath to first steps. From Mongolia to Namibia to San Francisco to Tokyo, BABIES joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all. Check out the trailer!

Disaster!

Goal 100. I will participate in the Daring Baker eight months for every twelve months of the 101 goals, not missing two consecutive months. {2/12}~{0/12}~{0/12}


That word describes both the state of my kitchen and this month's Daring Baker results.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Things seemed to go wrong from the beginning.  I bought the wrong kind of oranges and had to do another run, I forgot to add the marmalade in the second to last step.  I waited too long to mix the gelatin in with the whipped cream.  I decided to go family style with my springform pan because I didn't have enough little cookie cutters.  Sigh.  And I don't really care for citrus desserts.  I was hoping I would like it as it was quite a bit of work.  But I don't really.  On the upside, I know how to make marmalade and how to segment an orange.  I didn't even know I didn't know how to segment an orange before.  I was going to deviate and go with a chocolate and strawberries yumminess. But I went with the original. In the end, I am still glad I did it!  It was fun making such a mess of my kitchen!  

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread - Yums!

I had some time on my hands and some bananas on the counter. This meant it was time to test another recipe from the Joy of Cooking. This time it was Banana Bread Cockaigne, page 628. I usually make banana bread from my Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook.

According to wikipedia, "Cockaigne or Cockayne (pronounced /kɒˈkeɪn/) is a medieval mythical land of plenty, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist." What a delicious concept!

As always with baking, it is best to start with all ingredients at room temperature.  I don't usually plan enough ahead to achieve this.  Someday, I will.

 

I really need to work on taking pictures of food.  I am not that good at it. This does not look as delicious as it was!

It wasn't as banana'y as I would have liked.  Maybe next time, I'll add a fourth banana.  I also left out the lemon zest and added a teaspoon of vanilla.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable shortening or butter (I used butter)
1 to 2 large eggs (I used 2)
3/4 teaspoon lemon zest (no lemons on hand so I skipped this part)
1 to 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional and I don't add nuts)
1/4 finely chopped dried apricots (also optional and not found in my banana bread, maybe someday)
8 ounces of chopped semi sweet chocolate

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease bread pan.
2. Whisk together all dry ingredients in a small-ish mixing bowl.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, butter, and vanilla until creamy.  Then beat in 2 large beaten eggs.
4. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, beating until smooth with each addition.  Fold in the nuts, apricots or chocolate, if desired. 
5.  Pour into greased bread pan and bake for about 60 minutes or until a knife comes out mostly clean.  The melted chocolate will give you trouble with the clean knife, but you should be able to tell if the banana bread is done with the knife.
6. Cool slightly before unmolding (otherwise it doesn't come out of the pan quite right). 

The book says to cool completely before serving, but that is nonsense.  I love warm, fresh banana bread, especially with a little bit of butter!  Yums!

Sloppy Joes!

The last Blog Improvement Project assignment was to work on creative post titles. Clearly, I am not implementing that particular advice yet.

Last night, I cooked for the first time in a long time. I was not feeling that creative and really wanted some comfort food. What I wanted was Manwich, I love Manwich. But we are trying to have more home cooked food. So I quickly googled martha stewart sloppy joes. Loaded the recipe on my iphone (I don't have the Martha app yet, I was just browsing in Safari).  It turned out pretty good with minor changes to the recipe.

6:33 pm We started with 1onion, 1/2 green pepper, 1 celery stalk and 2 cloves of garlic, all finely chopped. Okay, it wasn't really that finely chopped.

6:50 pm Add of this to heated pan with a tablespoon of olive oil.

 

 I added some McCormick's Hamburger Seasoning to the onion mix.

 

6:55 pm Put the frozen broccoli in the microwave.

7:02 pm Add meat to pan, brown until no longer pink. Sadly, for the next few steps, my phone was in use so I don't have pictures of the adding and browning of 1 pound of beef.

7:13 pm Add 15 oz of tomato sauce, 1/4 cup of ketchup, and 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.

7:15 pm Set the table.

 

Next time I make this instead of ketchup I might use tomato paste.  My goal is to make it more Manwich like.  Manwich seems to have less vegs and more tomato taste and feel.   

~ 1 tablespoon olive oil
~ 1 medium onion, finely chopped
~ 1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
~ 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
~ 2 cloves garlic, minced
~ Coarse salt and ground pepper
~ 1 pound ground beef
~ 1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
~ 1/4 cup ketchup
~ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
~ 4 hamburger buns, split and toasted


1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes.

2. Add ground beef to skillet. Cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until it is no longer pink, 6 to 8 minutes.

3. Stir tomato sauce, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce into beef mixture in skillet. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes.

4. Season the mixture with more salt and pepper, as desired. Spoon onto buns, and serve immediately.

Captivated

"This place where you are right now, God circled on a map for you."
~Hafez 14th Century Persian Poet

I found this quote while reading Lucy March's blog. It is really resonating with me today as I am constantly looking for and applying for new jobs, trying to work out a more permanent future for my career. Although this position is not permanent, right now, it is where I need to be.  I just wish I could see the map God was looking at.

International Badge Day!

Today is International Badge Day! So I am wearing my badge on my blog and my suit jacket.

I am aware of image of greek orgs and sororities in popular culture and media.  That image is nothing like the reality I experienced as a member of Alpha Sigma Tau.  I attended a predominately male university.  I think the male to female ratio was 3:1, but it could have been 4:1.  I started out thinking I was going to be a chemistry teacher.  Turned out, I don't actually care for chemistry or science or math.  I appreciate them, I just don't want to study these things.   It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with my career (okay, I'm still not quite sure). I know what I want to do with my life, I'm not sure how my career fits into that.  So I waffled around a while in college, didn't study like I should have, was not a great student.  However, I kept my grade point respectable so that I could stay in the sorority.  I stayed in college so I could stay in the sorority.  I learned a lot about myself and other people while living in a house with 4 phone lines, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 2 televisions, and 20 women.  I learned quite a bit about politics without ever talking about politics or government.  I learned about leadership by living without any, attempting to be a leader and by watching leaders in action.  I learned the most from leaders who weren't trying to be leaders, just trying to do the right thing.  My membership in Alpha Sigma Tau helped me become the woman I am today.

Online television & The Vampire Diaries

I am a supernatural/sci-fi addict.{And I'm okay with that.} I also don't currently have cable or satellite.  We haven't had it since April of 2008.  It has been a while.  But thanks to hulu.com I have been able to watch a good number of shows I love Pysch, Monk, Stargate, Bones. . . I have also been able to discover old shows I had never heard of like Day Break.

Hulu is nice because you only have one commercial at each break.  The commercial stays at full screen. And there is some variety within the commercials.  You can watch multiple episodes of the same show and not be hit with the same commercial over and over again.  This weekend I discovered CW's The Vampire Diaries.  There are one four episodes up and they are all on CW's site.  I have seen more trailers for The Crazies than I ever wanted to see.  I think there are two of them and they alternate with the episode.  There are two commercials at each break.  I was also hit with a heavy dose of tmobile's my touch (I think that is what it is called, all those commercials and I'm not sure I remember). 

If you are looking to kill some time or to find an episode you missed, hulu.com is probably the place to go first.  I found The Vampire Diaries through fancast.com. 

Books I enjoyed last week

see more Lolcats and funny pictures
My leisurely life of reading and snacking is over. Yes, that's right, I get to go back to work on Monday (finally!)! I am part-time until Wednesday when I hope the doctor will say I can go back full time.  Keep your fingers crossed! Last week, I did quite a bit of reading. Here are the grades with extended reviews likely to come soon on a few of them.

• James Patterson's I, Alex Cross, ~ decent read. ~ B/B+
• Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant's Steamed, Simmer Down, Turn Up the Heat, and Fed up. ~ B/B+
• Kate Carlisle's Homocide in Hardcover ~ A-/A
• P.C. Cast + Kristin Cast Tempted ~ A+
• J. R. Ward Covet - A
• Tanya Huff's Blood Lines & Blood Pact (read The Enchantment Emporium a week or so back, that one was an A+) ~ A
• Jennifer Crusie The Cinderella Deal ~ A

The reviews will have to be from memory and with some help from plot summaries online.  I want new books and can only have 50 out at a time.  I still have a few books to finish and Kate & Mom always get books too.

Before I can go to the library, I have to finish this week's menu and grocery list.  Last week, we strayed from the menu.  We are getting back on course and trying some new recipes!

Blog Improvement Project Task One - A blogging to do list

I love to do lists, I really do. I love the google task feature in my gmail. I can take the tasks and rearrange them, check them off, clear off the completed tasks.  Love task lists.

Yet, this task - making a blogging to do list, was a challenge. Kim & Jackie sent us over to Chris Brogan's 50 Ways to Take your Blog to the Next Level. The first item on his list is to make your goal and your target audience crystal clear.  Hmmm, I am not really a good foodie, I love food, I enjoy cooking, *but* and you knew there would be a but, it isn't all I do and I'm not a good cook.  I am learning, but frankly I don't do it enough.  I also love books, LOVE books, possibly a little more than food.  Only a little though. I also enjoy politics.  Quite a bit actually, perhaps not as much as food and books, but quite a bit.  I love my daughter (more than food and books). And, finally, I am trying to finish my 101 Goals in 1,001 days project (not trying as hard as I should). So I guess this blog is about me.  I have no idea who my target audience is.  I'd like to think it is smart funny people. :) Because I find this particular suggestion to be such a challenge, I am going to skip it.  Instead, I am going to write about what I want to write about and not worry about creating a niche or fitting into a niche.

So here is my list:

• Design (eg. template, colour scheme, sidebar content)
• I will create a unique design for my blog (or get someone to create said unique design).
• I will create a unique design for the Eaton County Humane Society's blog that is professional and friendly.
• Quality of posts (eg. post length, variety, images)
• Here my goal is both quality and quantity.
• I will post at least daily to my personal blog.
• I will vary my post topics and avoid simply reposting someone else's recipes, etc, expect when I think it improves my content or needs repeating.
• I will post three times a week to the Humane Society's blog. 
• Once a week a featured animal,
• Once a week a pet/animal health/happiness post/cross link, etc,
• Once a week a fundraising issue (sometimes subbed with a featured animal).
• I will include a photo or image with every ECHS post and in most of my posts.
• Social Media Integration (eg. Twitter, Facebook, Digg)
• I will twitter each update to both blogs. (maybe). {that sounds more task like than I will better utilize twitter. . . ).
• I will develop facebook as a promotion and information site for ECHS and the ECHS blog.
• Search Engine Optimization (eg. meta tags, keywords, page descriptions)
• I would like to learn about this. . . 
• Ease of subscribing (eg. RSS button, email subscription option)
• And this.
• Branding (eg. gravatar, favitar)
• Need help here too. 

So there is my to do list.  Some of it not very to do like more goal like, that's okay, that's where I am right now.

**update: first obvious task, fix list items so they aren't white and can be read. ug.**

Turns out pot roast is harder than it looks and I'm not so good with biscuits (but we knew that)

Tonight's culinary adventure was an effort to knock off number 19. Learn to make a good pot roast.

So we started with the basics, onions, potatoes, a pan, and a bag with seasonings.

Yes, that's right a bag with seasonings.  The first problem we hit is that the directions with the bag said it would be done in an hour and a half.  It wasn't even warm enough to be rare after an hour and a half.  So we did it for another 30 minutes and it was, eh, okay.  It was a tad on the tough side though.  Mom's theory was that she cut it wrong and it should have been cut on the grain which she couldn't locate.  Next time, I will try the crockpot method, recipe suggestions welcome!

I also made some biscuits, from a mix this time.  Still not that great, I am pretty sure I over-rolled them and probably over-floured the dough when I was kneading and rolling it.  In the end, the biscuits were okay.  We ate them first as we waited for the roast to get done.  Next time, I guess I will not roll them out so thin and I don't know what I will do about the over-stickiness factor (other than switch to freezer biscuits - aka surrender).

In other news today, I realized that if it weren't for CNN's emails and The Daily Show on hulu, I would have no idea what is going on in the world.  Being off work has apparently also meant being off of the news.  That doesn't seem good but I'm not compelled to do anything about it.