Ah Oktoberfest, yet another US adopted "holiday" with the soul purpose(in the US that is) to get drunk. Boy we sure do love our excuses to get drunk here in the States. St. Patrick's Day, Cinco De Mayo and of course, Oktoberfest(which is even better since that lasts for 16 days). Now if you ask anyone at your local pub what any of these holiday/festivals are for Oktoberfest is the only one that they seem to come close to knowing about...but usually they just say it's about drinking beer. Which is close enough :) . So one would assume that my tribute to Oktoberfest would involve beer. You would be wrong. I went to my first Oktoberfest when I was 15 years old. The oh so authentic version of course.....it was a giant tent(with the traditional Budweiser logo on it) in the middle of a parking lot with a really bad polka band playing. That is Oktoberfest in Phoenix, AZ ladies and gentlemen. We sat at long picnic tables decorated in spilled beer and I sat and wondered what was so … [Read more...]
SHF#23 Surprise, Surprise!
I have sugar cookie dough. Tons and tons of sugar cookie dough. I made circus cookies the other day and had a ton of cookie dough left over from that(and that was after making 180 animal cookies). So I wrapped it up in to 4 balls and stored it in the fridge vowing to do something with it later this week. Well my dough is mulitplying, I am quite sure of it. I keep going to the fridge to see if I can hear Barry White music in the background because my sugar cookie dough is multiplying. No lie, I have made two more things using the dough....and yet the same amount seems to still be there. It is never going to go away. Perhaps my sugar cookie dough is like a lizards tail, pull some off, and more just grows back. Anyway, in needing to use up some of my magic, reproducing dough I decided to do something with it for SHF. This months theme is Surprise, Surprise. I will admit that I went pretty boring with this one but they are quite tasty. Buttery sugar cookie dough with creamy Nutella is … [Read more...]
PUMP(kin) it up
Ah, my first pumpkin post(one of many I can only assume). Yesterday I was in a bit of a baking/cooking frenzy I should say. Much more than usual. I know in part to the gorgeous(to me) 58 degree weather we were having. I made muffins, cookies, some sort of apple thing that I still don't know what to call it, cheese tortes(to take to a housewarming) and my own Maple Syrup BBQ sauce(to go with pork chops). It seemed as if I were in a revolving door of make something, clean the kitchen. Make something, clean the kitchen. And so on. Both the dog and my husband were very confused and both probably wondered if I was ever going to make it out of there....obviously I did. I don't know what it is about pumpkin. I love the smell, I love the taste(both sweet and savory...but not raw :) ). I love their color and variety of shapes they are. And of course going out each year to the pumpkin patch to find just the right one. This muffin is about as healthy as I get in my baking...meaning I … [Read more...]
Portable Brunch
I'll never forget the first time I had a Monte Cristo Sandwich. My mom and I had gotten dressed up to go to the Tennis/Golf Club for lunch. This was a nerve racking experience to me because my mom and I were not exactly their usual partitioners. We belonged to the Tennis Club because each year my family would pick a sport(tennis was by far our most athletic one we picked) and we would play together every Saturday morning(or more depending). My parents were the only ones at the club with wooden rackets(I begged for a graphite one). They played with used balls and really could care less. We would schlep out there in our baggy t-shirts and baggy shorts and play around. It was really bad when my brother would come home from college and come out and play with us. His version of tennis was to hit the ball as hard as he could and scream "ACE" at the top of his lungs. My parents almost always knocked their ball into other people's court while they were in play. It got so bad my parents … [Read more...]
