When I went a few years ago to a Food Blogger Conference I was in awe of how many people told me I was just like I was on my blog. This didn’t make any sense to me as of course I was like how I was on my blog, it’s my blog. Until I started to mingle with other people. People who’s blogs I read and realized that many of them in real life are much quieter in person and reserved compared to their blogs. In a way their blog is their way of letting out their inner extrovert. This was facsinating to me but also a good lesson. It’s a good lesson to remember if you follow me on Pinterest.

Let’s review a few emails involving Pinterest. I’m just posting this one but I can assure you that this question gets asked A LOT:

“This comes from a place of love even if it’s nosey. I follow you on Pinterest and you pin bunches and bunches of wedding dresses, are you getting married? Oh please say yes, I would love for you to be getting married and be happy.”

First off, I do realize that when I get email like this or others inquiring about if I am getting any that you guys just want me to be happy. Yes, I pin a lot of wedding dresses. My friend S is getting married at the end of September in a place where it will still be warmish. She wanted help with finding a short wedding dress or highly detailed dresses and we figured pinning was the easiest way to show dresses off. But here is the thing with wedding dresses…OMG are they gorgeous. I am a girlie girl. I love me some gorgeous dresses, wedding or not. Just because I post wedding dresses doesn’t mean I am getting married. No one asked if I lost a ton of weight and plan on wearing bikinis all summer long because I have a bunch of bikinis on there….just think they are cute. Or if I won the lottery to pay for the $4000 designer coat I pinned on there. Oh and for the record…you don’t have to be married to be happy.

“I started following you on Pinsterst and this will sound racist but hopefully not too bad as I am Asian myself, but are you secretly Asian?”

Hmmm, no not secretly Asian but this did amuse me greatly. Maybe because I post a lot of Hello Kitty stuff? That could also mean I am secretly 5 years old. Which I hope I’m not because I don’t really want to go through high school and junior high again.

“How can you stand to be on Pinterest and see all that yummy food? I don’t have the will power for that.”

The yummy food is one of the main reasons I go there to get inspired (like the banana bread in this post). Also I spend a lot of time reading other people’s inspirational quotes and posting workouts to get Carrie Underwood’s legs and other stuff they will never do…so I burn calories that way. So it all evens out. Seriously though people…want to be fit? For every one of those I’m not saying goodbye to my fat because it’s not coming back or 2011 is that last year I am fat pins…do 100 jumping jacks.

Anyway this bread does come from Pinterest. I was a little nervous about it at first because it didn’t seem to have as much flour but it was crazy good and very, very banana filled.

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

For the bread:
3-4 over-ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
dash of salt
1 1/2 cups flour
For the swirl:
1/3 cup sugar
1 TBSP cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a loaf pan (9-x-5). Just keep a close eye on it in the oven, and adjust the time as needed.
Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together. sprinkle baking soda and salt around on top of the banana mixture. Then gently stir in flour. Be careful not to over-mix!
In a small dish, mix together the 1/3 cup sugar and 1 TBSP cinnamon.
Add 1/2 of the batter to the loaf pan and then sprinkle half, or a little more than half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture all over the batter in the pan. Add the rest of the batter, and then sprinkle the leftover cinnamon-sugar on top.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, but remember, if you’re using a different-sized loaf pan, be careful and keep a close eyeball on it!

Recipe from SandwichHoss

I was in a rare cleaning frenzy on Friday. Like dig stuff out from the back of the closet kind of cleaning. It resulted in my finding a few things. I purse I forgot I owned, always a fun find. Six dollars and seventeen cents US dollars and $5 Canadian dollars. A bag of gummy bears that were a little stale…but still edible (don’t judge). And a crumpled up wedding veil. Now I didn’t wear a wedding veil at my wedding. I actually wore it to bowl the night before. I didn’t have a rehearsal dinner, we went bowling instead…cheaper and more fun. Anyway the veil was just a cheapy one, the kind that if you had a bachelorette party of something along those lines you might buy.

Anyway I was being goofy and put it on and decided I would put on a little Madonna’s like a Virgin and dance around. When the song was done I remembered to turn off the iPod but kept the veil on (it was a short one so it wasn’t really in the way). I got to cleaning and cleaning and the next thing you know there is a knock at the door. I go open the door and it’s my UPS guy. We have the same one (well actually two…there’s a morning guy and an afternoon guy). I give my morning guy treats (shhh, don’t tell the afternoon guy). So he looks up and is trying not to laugh and says to me “I’m not really looking for a commitment right now” and then we both started laughing as I realized I still had the veil on.

Before he left I gave him some leftover cupcakes and joked “see if you like this flavor for our cake”. To which he laughed again and said fine but that his groom’s cake should be German chocolate. FYI- his wife reads my blog so it’s all in good fun…he knows I’m only slightly crazy.

I figured I best throw out (it’s not in good shape to donate) the veil before I scare off another UPS man. I have a knack for having interesting incidents with UPS men. Three times I have flashed them thanks to the dog jumping up on me and pulling down what were baggy shorts/pants. So the men in brown love me. So that’s how we will tie these muffins in and say the little strawberry heart is for all the love the UPS men have for me. Ha!

If you don’t have Meyer lemons you can use regular lemons though I would add another 1/3 cup of sugar though. The strawberries aren’t really necessary either but considering the fact that Arizona Statehood Day is coming up (you know it as Valentine’s Day) I would try and be festive. Some of the batter eats the strawberries as they bake up and some survive…I guess like relationships (wow, I’m deep )

Meyer Lemon Love Muffins

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of one Meyer lemon
Juice of 3 Meyer lemons
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 and ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 and ¼ cup sour cream
Decorative sugar
12 strawberries, hulled, and cut in half and then in the shape of a heart

Mix together the oil and sugar on medium speed for three minutes.

Add in the lemon juice, zest, and vanilla.

Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until each is incorporated.

In a separate, mix together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add the flour mixture and the sour cream alternately to the egg-oil mixture in the additions. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Scrape the bowl occasionally. Mix until just all the ingredients are together but try not to over mix.

Portion the muffin batter into greased tins (I use an ice cream scoop). Depending on the size of your tins, you should get about 12 muffins.

Sprinkle with decorative sugar and place strawberry heart into middle of muffin, don’t press too hard they will sink during baking.

Bake them for approx. 22-24 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

I must have missed the memo that said it was email Peabody questions week. Holy cow. I am used to getting quite a bit of email but this week must have been REALLY slow at people’s work. None of them really hate mail either (so refreshing ) but some definitely quirky ones. So let’s answer a few shall we:

We will start with my favorite question which won’t be addressed but was too interesting not to post:

“I was just wondering if you were getting laid yet? If not, my brother’s roommate is a super nice guy with a good job. He loves the food I make for them from your website and says he finds you attractive. We live in the Seattle area. If you are interested, I can give you his info”.

Wow. That is all.

“What is your biggest pet peeve?”

Well that’s kind of hard to say as it really changes daily depending on my mood. But since it’s the beginning of the year I have to say all the low carb people. I realize you lose weight doing it. I watch many a friend lose doing it. And many a friend gains it all back once they go back to carbs. Why not just pick something that will allow you to fit a fun sized Skittles pack a couple times into your week? The only friends that I have that have ever lost weight and truly keptit off were people who had a very realistic timeline (the Biggest Loser has really made people have an F-ed up view of how much weight you should lose in a week) and kept all of their favorite foods in their diet throughout their diet.

Oh and the other one is cryptic people on Facebook who do things like everyone send good vibes my world is coming to an end…and then never answer you when you ask what is up. Just a bunch of drama llama attention whores.

“Whatever happened to your friend that was dating the much older guy?”

For those not familiar with what this reader was talking about go here. The answer is happily that they are still together. Her family has come around now as they realize that he was not just some creeper older guy trying to be with a younger gal. They have a house together and spend their free time playing hockey together.

“I follow you on Pinterest and have to say that you are way more girly than I would think of a hockey player to be.”

This was really more of a statement than a question but I will address it nonetheless. While I am often in a hoodie and jeans due to my large amount of time spent at hockey rinks, I do love to dress girly. I love Anthropolgie (the store) and anything that has a bow on it. I’m a big sucker for a bow, which is maybe why I love Hello Kitty so much (I own Hello Kitty Vans). When I taught school I was the one in ruffled skirts and heels. And my favorite color is pink.

“Do you floss?”

Only when food is stuck. I’m bad I know.

“Do you miss your kitchen you had when you were married?”

Oh my goodness yes. I miss the counter space and cupboards alone. And I miss cooking with gas big time. I miss the whole house in general. I’m very much a homebody so I miss having a home so to speak. I can’t actually bring myself to look at photos of my house even after all this time. And knowing I probably won’t be in a house of my own for a very long time, if ever, is a little sad to be honest.

Well enough with that, let’s talk cupcakes. Lucky for me one of the good parts about going to Physical Therapy is that I have people to bring snacks to. I asked if they would like any treats and I got a very large yes! So yay! These are basically devils food cupcakes with a banana added to them with a yummy fudge frosting. I went with minis because I was giving them to several people…plus people don’t feel so guilty when they are bite size.

And one last reader question: “You always call yourself lazy yet you seem to always be doing something, baking takes time. Are you really lazy?” Yes. Yes I am. I am so lazy that instead of taking down the Christmas tree I just threw new ornaments on there and called it a Valentine’s Tree. I’m considering a Spring one next.

Chocolate Banana Mini Cupcakes with Fudgy Salted Caramel Frosting

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 super crazy ripe banana, mashed
12 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
9 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (use a double boiler)
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour two muffin pans (hold 24 cupcakes each).

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

In a separate small bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored, about 2 minutes. Add the beaten yolks to the butter mixture and beat well.

Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated.

Add the banana and beat well, until fully incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

In a separate small bowl, beat the egg whites on the high speed of an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold into the batter. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when you touch them. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Fudgy Salted Caramel Frosting

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
5 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup salted caramel sauce (I used Trader Joe’s)
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Chop chocolates and transfer into a heat proof bowl. Add caramel sauce.

Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate and caramel.

Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.

Add butter and vanilla and stir until combined.

Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixture and let cool for 10 minutes.

Sift powdered sugar into the mixture and beat until combined. Add more sugar if needed.

Continue to beat with an electric mixer until lighter in color and creamy.

I don’t think best friends work for most adults. I don’t really think they work all that well for kids either but right now I am focusing on the adults. A friend of mine basically started a discussion on how we don’t really have best friends. Most of us had concluded that we had someone we called our best friend but they were back from college or even high school days and in reality knew very little about what was actually going on in our day to day lives. And we all concluded that no one we know lived like a Friends episode.

I have this too. The female that most people assume is my best friend still lives in Phoenix. I probably speak to her physically on the phone maybe once a year and we text maybe a few times a month. How is it that this person is expected to be my best friend? It’s a good question and the one that we have been mulling over.

I think one thing that comes into play is that people end up marrying their best friend kind of thing. When you used to run and tell your best female friend all your stuff you find yourself telling your spouse instead…unless of course you are complaining about your spouse. But in some ways that spot gets filled. And while when you were single your girlfriends were there for you, it all really changes when you are in a relationship. And this is why for adults the concept doesn’t work all that well.

It doesn’t work well for kids just for the fact that it just causes super drama. Girls get upset about being left out. Or thinking they were someone’s best friend only to find out that they weren’t when they see them wearing the other half of the BFF forever necklace.

What about you? Do you have a best friend? Or do you have a collection of close friends? And if you do have a best friend are they the same sex as you? If you read the blog you know that most of my friends are guys. Though I do have female friends as well, I just tend to hang with the guys much more.

If you don’t have any friends and want to make some, maybe you should make some bread pudding. Nothing says be my friend like carby-sugary-comforting bread pudding. I used Hawaiian rolls because they are sweeter and just all around awesome but you can use regular dinner rolls. Since the orange and chocolate chip loaf went over so well a while back I thought I would make it into bread pudding form. Glad I did. Share it with a friend today.

Orange-Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

1 (12 pack) package King’s Hawaiian Rolls (or dinner rolls), on the stale side, torn into pieces

1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup orange juice concentrate
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease a 8-x-8-inch pan.

Place bread pieces into pan to cover bottom.

Mix the egg s, egg yolk, sugar, orange juice concentrate and salt in a large bowl. Then stir in the heavy cream and milk. Whisk until fully incorporated.

Pour the custard over the bread layer. Press down the bread pieces until the bread is soaked with the custard. Sprinkle ½ the chocolate chips.

Make another layer of bread. Pour custard over second bread layer. Repeat as many times as you have ingredients and room. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips.

You will most likely have extra custard depending on how stale your bread is. Don’t feel like you have to use all the custard.

Place pan into another pan that will hold a water bath. Bake the bread pudding for 45-55 minutes until golden on top, and custard isn’t running in the middle. Cool 10 minutes and serve warm with orange toffee sauce.

Orange Toffee Sauce
2 TBSP orange juice concentrate
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup whipping cream

Stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Add cream and orange juice concentrate and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

Serve over bread pudding warm.