rhubarb mac and cookies

but not all together.  cos that would be horrific. 

ridic easy rhubarb bars.. which the roommate and i ate in great quantities, alone on a plate or with froyo. 

franksgiving!

aka the best holiday of the year!

big ass cookies

i've never claimed reading comprehension is a strong suit of mine.  most recently my mom, sister, and i were trying to find a restaurant in augusta for lunch.  that is augusta, maine, mind you.  not augusta, georgia.  i googled "restaurants in augusta" and chose the midprice range.  what?  indian?  tapas?  burritos?  more burritos?  a sweetery?  i sent several links and some menus to the fam and the reply was "well those are all very nice looking but were not driving to augusta georgia.."

shit. 

spritz lessons learned

so cute and tasty!  and ..such a learning curve

food and pretty things

in case you dont follow me on the fb or the ig... here are some pictures of food.

portland farmer's market

happenings, aka the haps

i stumbled across a delightful blog awhile ago, harper's happenings back when mandy was doing hott - high on thrifting thursdays.  even though she stopped the thrift linkup, i keep reading.  mandy's writing is pretty delightful and entertaining [she swears much less than i do] and she manages to keep the OMG MY BABIES ARE THE BEST EVER to a minimum.  also, no religious propaganda shoved in your face.  check it yo.

but my haps.

i gots a new boiler and converted my heat and hot water from oil to natural gas.  i dont necessarily believe in and support the ways that natural gas is harvested/collected/obtained... but its the lesser of two evils at the moment.  slightly.  and its cheaper.

peanut butter pixies

growing up in the midwest.. peanut butter pixie day at lunch was the best friggin day of the week!  i googled my favorite childhood treat in the hopes there was an easy recipe at my fingertips.  weeell if i wanted to make 60 servings and could easily obtain over 3 pounds of peanut butter and a mixer that can handle it... i found my recipe.

andes mint chip whoopie pies

aka coworker crack.

how to rescue a chocolate cake

made: german chocolate cake [without the traditional coconut filling] with meyer lemon curd
problem: dry cake/crumb
solution: chocolate pudding

::record scratch:: whaaaat?

pro tip of the day

rolos are amazing.  chewy caramel coated in chocolate and pressed into a weird little not quite cylindrical trapezoid shape.  unwrapped mini rolos in ~1 cup bags are even better.

DO NOT BAKE WITH THEM. 

just eat them out of the bag.  or in ice cream.  or out of the bag.  by the handful

fortunately my sink disposal can handle chunks of rock hard scorched caramelized ..caramel.  and the cookies tasted pretty delectable... but i had to hack things off my spatula and quite a few cookies looked like someone had sampled them.  but really they just fell apart in gooey lumpy gobs.  and there were crumbs EVERYWHERE.

bahh.

cooking failure and later unrelated success

looks pretty interesting no?  orange zest vanilla bean sugar.  for "creamsicle orange curd".  like lemon curd/pudding.  only...

flatbread and cookies

i know my abcs.  they stand for arugula bacon chili flatbread.  a-mazing.  and why chili instead of tomato sauce?  cos i didnt have any.  and i was too lazy to boil down a can of tomatoes.  and i had some chili in the fridge.  get off my back.  youre just jealous.

pumpkin gingerbread cranberry cupcakes

pan prep

mixer action shots

some baking near fails

chocolate banana brownies!

meyer lemon & key lime curds

curd is such a horrid word.  just the sound of it makes you think of sour chunks of dairy product.  but this is lemon pudding sauce filling semi-gel stuff.  infinitely better than gone-off milk and comparably as awesome as wisconsin cheese curds. 

jello shot booze cake

whenever there's cake, there is bound to be a party.  if it's booze cake... well you do the math.

rum balls

or more appropriately, no-bake mocha bonbons.

2 T rum
2 T instant coffee
9 oz package chocolate wafers [famous chocolate if you can find them]
1 stick butter [room temp]
1 teas salt

mix rum and coffee and set aside.  crush wafers in food processor or using my graham cracker crust method until finely ground.  set aside just under 1/4 cup.  cream butter, coffee mixture, and salt until combined, add crumb and mix until uniform.  using small cookie scoop, portion out 24 balls and roll until rounded.  freeze about 10 minutes and then roll in remaining chocolate crumbs.  refrigerate whatever you dont immediately eat.  and/or share.. 

i also made short-stack cookies.  basically sugar cookies with maple syrup thrown in for flavoring.  and yes they do taste like buttery fluffy pancakes.  with just a little crisp around the edges.  im pretty sure i got the recipe out of a baking-mystery-book but i cant guarantee anything.

3/4 C butter [softened]
1 C sugar
1 egg
1/4 C syrup
2 teas baking soda
1 teas salt
1 teas vanilla
2 C flour
1/4 C sugar [extra]

cream butter and sugar, add egg, syrup, soda, salt, vanilla, and mix well.  slowly add flour, scraping down sides as needed.  chill dough for half hour.  using small cookie scoop, portion out walnut-sized blobs, roll in sugar, flatten slightly, and arrange with atleast 1" of space around each.  [they flatten out quite a bit]  bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until just darkened on the edges.  immediately remove from cookie sheet and cool on rack.

linking up to ftlob and 33 shades of green's tasty tuesdays

mess-free graham cracker crust

pie pan, 4 cup measuring cup, small glass with flat bottom

dump in 1 package graham crackers, smush with glass until powdery

1 1/2 cup crumbs
add 6 T melted butter, 1/3 C sugar

mix into sand, squish in pie pan, bake at 375 for 7 min

let cool and fill with deliciousness

in this case-vanilla pudding with some cranberry applesauce mixed in.

linking up to 33 shades of green's tasty tuesday!

baking with pumpkin

pumpkin bread and pumpkin whoopie pies!

cookie scoop + not being a spazz = uniform whoopie pie halves

mmm naked whoopie pies

assembled and ready for the eatin

autumn in nyc

union square park from the 4th floor of filene's basement

trying to balance the ridiculously sunny day and the brilliant blue sky.  lighting fail.

 an amazing east village bakery you should visit

click to enlarge the awesomeness.  i had a mini hazelnut tart as a pre-dinner snack.  slightly crispy base filled with hazelnut creme, topped with chopped hazelnuts and a dollop of nutella.  bella e delicioso!

and we found a great place for dinner: mexicana mama

• ~$30 for drink and entree
• decor: a bit dim but not gaudy
• music: overly loud
• service: quite good
• chips and guac: excellente [not greasy or overly salty]
• portions: what normal people should eat [read: not chipotle sized]

we had happy hour drinks [blood orange margarita] and i admired the rainbow of jarritos behind the bar.  reading reviews post-visit, i realize we were quite lucky to get a table. we met at 6:45 on a tuesday, so probably earlier than the regular dinner crowd.  we were one of 3 tables when we started eating, and after an average-length meal the other 8 tables were at capacity.

plus there was quite the assortment of pickled jalapenos and cans of unknown dulces.  for actual food i had the taco de puerco-chili pork with cheese and beans, a side of rice and guac.  many of the foods are purported to be made with "chihuahua cheese" which...is not nearly as frightening as it sounds.  in fact it is not made of dogs.  or by dogs.  its...ooey gooey goodness.

in a nutshell: teeny tiny restaurant, good food, a little pricey.