I never got the whole deal about risotto on cooking shows. Come on. It's rice.
Then I found a recipe I wanted to try that happened to use it. It wasn't a bad price, so I figured, "Why not?" And let me tell you: My life will never be the same.
Arborio rice is the color in land of Oz. It's the marshmallows in Lucky Charms. It's the unexpected snow day. It's the still-wrapped, whole crayon in a box of broken ones. It's the spiral slide on an ordinarily dull playground. Put simply, Arborio rice straight-A student of the rice family.
When I was first trying to figure out how to cook the stuff, I looked at a number of recipes for the basics. One commonality was that almost all of them were seemingly apologetic for the amount of work that went into making risotto. When it comes down to it though, it's not that much. Really. Trust me. Basically, you just add liquid every few minutes as the rest of the liquid gets sucked up by the rice. The creamy texture and flexibility of flavoring is worth every carbohydrate (if you care about such things).
Suffice it to say, I get it now. My culinary world will never be the same.
5.30.2012
5.28.2012
Insomnia
Few things exist that are more irritating to me than laying in bed, unable to sleep. Over the past five years, I have struggled with bouts of insomnia and I have only been able to pinpoint one sure-fire way to put myself to sleep. Pride and Prejudice. Not the six-hour nonsense, but the two-hour, Americanized version that ends with the only kiss in the whole film. Over the past five years, I have had to resort to this so often that I have virtually every detail of the movie memorized. I don't have to actually watch it because I can picture each scene as I listen to it and drift off to sleep.
On the occasions, however, when my own Mr. Darcy is sound asleep and I opt not to wake him up by putting the movie on, if I cannot fall asleep, I sometimes just give up and go do something productive. This morning was one of those days. Because I will be directing a four-week long summer camp and already know that my motivation to spend any length of time cooking at the end of each day, I have decided to spend the next month stocking the freezer with a host of reheatable or partially made meals.
It's strange what lack-of-sleep does to me. I was overcome with the obsession to make and freeze waffles. So, at 3:00 when I was finally over the idea of sleeping at all, I got up and made almond whole wheat waffles. Then I made a couple of quarts of marinara sauce. While that was simmering for an hour, I put together two things of pizza dough, a double-batch of cheesy garlic roll dough, made four diffent chicken marinades, mixed and cooked pineapple vanilla baked oatmeal, unloaded the dishwasher, drank two mugs of tea, organized my least favorite kitchen cabinet, and washed the counter way too many times.
Anyone have any favorite freezable meals, by the way?
So now it is 7:00 and I am absolutely exhausted. Invariably I always reach this point and then wrestle with the to-sleep or not-to-sleep-because-I-won't-be-able-to-sleep-later predicament. Oh to have a glorified body someday that will not battle insomnia...
On the occasions, however, when my own Mr. Darcy is sound asleep and I opt not to wake him up by putting the movie on, if I cannot fall asleep, I sometimes just give up and go do something productive. This morning was one of those days. Because I will be directing a four-week long summer camp and already know that my motivation to spend any length of time cooking at the end of each day, I have decided to spend the next month stocking the freezer with a host of reheatable or partially made meals.
It's strange what lack-of-sleep does to me. I was overcome with the obsession to make and freeze waffles. So, at 3:00 when I was finally over the idea of sleeping at all, I got up and made almond whole wheat waffles. Then I made a couple of quarts of marinara sauce. While that was simmering for an hour, I put together two things of pizza dough, a double-batch of cheesy garlic roll dough, made four diffent chicken marinades, mixed and cooked pineapple vanilla baked oatmeal, unloaded the dishwasher, drank two mugs of tea, organized my least favorite kitchen cabinet, and washed the counter way too many times.
Anyone have any favorite freezable meals, by the way?
5.25.2012
Happy Towel Day!
In case you need a bit of explanation as to the origins of Towel Day:
Here's how we celebrated... in the nerdiest thing we've ever done:
5.24.2012
Who Sees To It
Since graduating from college five years ago (wow, already?!) I have yet to have a full-time job. When I became blessed with the gift of marriage two years ago, my husband went from an incredibly stressful full-time position to a part-time one in a better situation. Last year, I left my part-time teaching position and started a 15-hr/wk job. We live in a notoriously expensive real estate area, pay monthly credit card bills on a card that hasn't been used in more than two years, slowly chip away at school loans, and are trying to save up to purchase a house in the near future. While we are aware that so many people struggle so much more than we do, financially, life isn't a cakewalk.
Since accumulating some unexpected surgical bills and high owed taxes in the past few months, I have been increasingly aware of God's desire to show Himself to me as "the one who sees to it," often translated as Jehovah-Jireh. In countless small ways in the past several months, small amounts of money or opportunities to make extra cash have showed up unexpectedly. It has happened entirely too much to be coincidence.
Now, I definitely do not adhere to the "health and wealth" or "prosperity gospel," but I am becoming more and more aware of how God delights in delighting His children. Right now, it seems He is delighting in seeing to our financial needs. Tithing doesn't come easily these days. It is also the only place in the Bible where God challenges us TO put Him to the test. My heart has overflowed as I have witnessed Him proving Himself to us as our Provider who takes care of every little detail of our lives.
Since accumulating some unexpected surgical bills and high owed taxes in the past few months, I have been increasingly aware of God's desire to show Himself to me as "the one who sees to it," often translated as Jehovah-Jireh. In countless small ways in the past several months, small amounts of money or opportunities to make extra cash have showed up unexpectedly. It has happened entirely too much to be coincidence.
Now, I definitely do not adhere to the "health and wealth" or "prosperity gospel," but I am becoming more and more aware of how God delights in delighting His children. Right now, it seems He is delighting in seeing to our financial needs. Tithing doesn't come easily these days. It is also the only place in the Bible where God challenges us TO put Him to the test. My heart has overflowed as I have witnessed Him proving Himself to us as our Provider who takes care of every little detail of our lives.
5.16.2012
Where's My Cup of Water?
I'm going to lay all of my cards on the table: It has been a discouraging couple of days. I don't want to allow this blog to convey the sense that I have all of my hypothetical ducks in a row, donning ironed Oxford shirts and matching khaki pants. Quite frankly, I'm a mess.
And I feel like it now, more so than usual. A 10-pound bag of onions sits on my counter, still unchopped, unsliced, and unfrozen a week after being purchased for those reasons. My sweaty, dirt-stained soccer socks are still in a bag by the door from my game on Monday evening. The floors of every room look like our apartment is home to five children, not two adults. I just killed a spider on the armrest of the couch with the remote control. It's nearly 5AM-- I gave up trying to sleep about two hours ago. Conclusion: I'm a tired mess.
I am very aware that the contents of my encouragement-cup seem to have mysteriously evaporated... either that, or it sprung a leak when I wasn't looking. I've started to serious question whether what I'm doing is actually what I'm supposed to be doing because discouragement has slammed me like an unmarked dead end. Hence, I am a tired, soul-parched mess.
There is something freeing about stating that, simple though it may be. It serves as a reminder that I am nothing special. How many other people do I know who could use a cool, refreshing swig of encouragement in their uphill life marathon? Forget that whole "misery loves company" stuff-- I need to remember that in filling others' need for encouragement, mine starts to re-accumulate drops as well.
But I'll still be a mess.
And I feel like it now, more so than usual. A 10-pound bag of onions sits on my counter, still unchopped, unsliced, and unfrozen a week after being purchased for those reasons. My sweaty, dirt-stained soccer socks are still in a bag by the door from my game on Monday evening. The floors of every room look like our apartment is home to five children, not two adults. I just killed a spider on the armrest of the couch with the remote control. It's nearly 5AM-- I gave up trying to sleep about two hours ago. Conclusion: I'm a tired mess.
I am very aware that the contents of my encouragement-cup seem to have mysteriously evaporated... either that, or it sprung a leak when I wasn't looking. I've started to serious question whether what I'm doing is actually what I'm supposed to be doing because discouragement has slammed me like an unmarked dead end. Hence, I am a tired, soul-parched mess.
There is something freeing about stating that, simple though it may be. It serves as a reminder that I am nothing special. How many other people do I know who could use a cool, refreshing swig of encouragement in their uphill life marathon? Forget that whole "misery loves company" stuff-- I need to remember that in filling others' need for encouragement, mine starts to re-accumulate drops as well.
But I'll still be a mess.
5.04.2012
Final Project
Here is the promised, finished cake! Since I starting the decorating classes, this was the warmest, most humid the temperature has been and I am discovering the irritating melting effect it has on the icing. The buttercream I used to ice the cake was nearly melting as I was working with it. Couple that with a dark chocolate cake already prone to crumbing and... yeah.... but overall, I was fairly pleased with how it turned out.
5.03.2012
Teaser
Once again, I find that it has been days since I've been able to sit down to update, but life has been incredibly full and I refuse to apologize for that. But a great big "howdy!" to the blogging world once more.
Tonight is my final class on Cake Design & Royal Icing Flowers, so here's a teaser on my final project (which is a 2-tiered Dark Chocolate Strawberry cake):
Tonight is my final class on Cake Design & Royal Icing Flowers, so here's a teaser on my final project (which is a 2-tiered Dark Chocolate Strawberry cake):
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