An Early Thursday Latelies: My Dad.

I’m not even sure where one starts, but I’ll try. After a very long and valiant battle with cancer, my dad passed away on January 17th. And I miss him terribly. I am also incredibly grateful to be Bobby’s daughter. This week, I am thankful for the man who raised me.

Since I’m pretty much unable to talk without crying, I am typing it out. That photo above was taken nearly 15 years ago. I was out with my dad and we saw a photo booth, and he wanted to jump in.

When I think about my father, it seems a flip book of images flashes through my mind. To me, he’ll be forever 30 years old, full of life, health and energy. I remember his 30th birthday, and him worrying about how old he was. It seemed so funny then, and it seems pretty hilarious now.

A man from humble beginnings – the son of a bricklayer, and the nephew of lobster fishermen (all Italian immigrants to Boston), my father valued hard work and education. He didn’t care if I never got married, if I never gave him grandchildren. So long as I went to graduate school, he said he would be happy. So, I did.

The biggest lessons I learned from my dad were: work hard and do the right thing. He would say “Just do the right thing, and hope other people do the right thing, too”.

He was my running partner, the man I called in any crisis, the voice of reason and moderation. He was strong and wanted to shield me from so much of his illness.

More than anything, he just wanted me to be happy. And I am. I took his advice to heart on that. I wish I had more time with my father, and I will treasure every memory I have, and remember him with the fondest of thoughts.

To the first man I loved – I love you, Dad.

Happy Thursday!

• Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Pencil in Jet Black
• MAC Cremesheen in Boy Bait
• Trader Joe’s Healthy 8 Veggies Mix
• The 10 Day Give – January 15-25 (Wanna do it?)
• Go over and see Bex!

I promise I don’t eat only sugar.

I really do promise I don’t just eat like, cans of frosting or something. I feel like I only showcase baked things and not what I think of as “real food” or things I actually eat.

In fact, I do an 80/20 primal split. No joke – I love it. I’ve been doing this about a year or more, and I know, I don’t usually talk about my diet on here.

Feeling like I needed to get back to myself (hey, I was brushing my teeth to avoid eating those amazing cinnamon buns!) I made this little happy meal. Ha.

Mustard Tempeh and Detox Salad

I took pretty much both recipes from one I saw on Cate’s World Kitchen, minus the polenta she paired with it.

I made minor changes to the salad (from Oh She Glows’ blog) and the only changes I made to the tempeh was to replace the shallot with scallion (that was all I had on hand).

I had never thought to put salad ingredients into my food processor! I loved it. I can’t wait to make it again. I used things I had that were similar, and I ate this up in 3 servings. Yes, it’s a lot of salad.

Detox salad:

• large head of broccoli
• 8 large kale leaves
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup raisins
• lots of cilantro
• juice of 2 lemons
• salt and pepper to taste

I used my Kitchen Aid processor to first chop up the broccoli. After that, I removed it all and started again with the kale. I used bagged shredded carrots because I had some on hand. I just combined everything and squeezed the lemon over it. That was it! I could NOT stop eating it.

I am going to make another batch when we go shopping again. I’ve already eaten all the broccoli in the house. Whoops.

Cinnamon buns for my hun.

Things you should know: Michael LOVES Cinnabons. Really. Since their departure from local malls, we have actually gone looking for them. (Did you know some rest stops have little kiosks of these pinwheel delights? I did not.)

Locations be damned, I whipped up a batch of my very own.

I wanted to make a yeasted bread for these, since that is the traditional way to make the commercial buns. A quick Foodgawker search led me to these from Phrugal Phil. I made a few changes.

For the buns:

• 1 c warm milk (~110*)
• 1 packet yeast (I prefer a fast acting version)
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, room temperature and lightly beaten
• 1/3 c butter, melted
• 4 1/2 c flour

Warm milk in the microwave until it’s about 110 degrees. Add to your stand mixer, and sprinkle with yeast, salt and sugar. Let it sit for 10 minutes to proof. If it doesn’t do much of anything in 10 minutes, dump it all and start again. You want the yeast alive and kickin!

Add the melted butter and beaten eggs. Incorporate well. Add flour. Stir to combine, then switch to dough hook. Let it run about 6 minutes, until the dough is soft, warm and springy.

Place dough in a large oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. I let mine rise (as you know by now) in a cold oven with the light on. Perfect for rising bread.

After it doubles in size (I let mine hang out about 90 minutes), make the filling and get started on rolling it out.

Filling:

• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
• 3 tbsp Vietnamese cinnamon (you could just use regular, too)
• 1 tbsp Penzey’s Cake Spice (if you don’t have this, I’d add a combination of nutmeg, allspice, ginger, clove and ground anise)

With your hands or a mixer, combine sugar and molasses until thoroughly combined. Add spices and then butter. When you stir it up, it’ll be thick and dark. Exactly what you want.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it’s a rectangle that’s about 12′x18″. Spread the mixture all over the dough. I use more filling on the side I’m going to be rolling out, since as you roll, it can push the filling down and out.

Starting on the 18″ side, roll the dough. Cut off the ends so they’re nice and neat when you start cutting the buns.  I lop off about 2″ from each side.

Into a 8×8″ pan, arrange 9 buns, in three rows of three.

Cover and let them rise in the oven for 45 minutes. You then have the option of putting them into the fridge or baking right away. I put mine in the fridge because we had to go out for a bit. There were no ill-effects from chilling the dough.

Preheat oven to 350*. Bake for about 35 minutes or until golden. You might want to also check the dough in the middle to make sure it’s not too raw.

While they’re baking, make your icing. This is really easy.

Icing:

• 1 8 oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp milk

Blend together and ice while buns are still hot. It’ll melt into the buns.

See?

My first attempt at Cadbury Eggs.

On Friday, Michael sent me a link to Not Without Salt’s blog post on homemade Cadbury Eggs. Seeing as I was hosting a little dinner for my newly-engaged sister and brother-in-law to be, I figured, what the heck – I’ll make them for dessert.

I followed the recipe to the letter, minus the orange flower water (which was optional, and I was out of).

A few words on my experience: it was no easy task. Making the filling – no issue. Dunking them into chocolate with a toothpick and letting dry upright on a potato? Laughable. I had chocolate on everything. Plan on putting the eggs back into the fridge multiple times because as soon as they get even a touch warm, you’ll impale them on the toothpick. I lost one this way. Boo.

If I make them again, I think I’ll make them smaller. I know it’s not health food but it’s intense! I think reducing the size by half would make me happy.

First I made the “yolks” and “whites”.

Then, I dunked into chocolate and did the tater trick:

A few eggs:

And the inside (this one had to dry on my Silpat, hence it’s not perfectly shaped):

What do you think? Probably worth another go, yeah?

It’s a makeup-y kind of Thursday Latelies.

 

The eyes:

• Chanel Liquid Eyeliner, Clinique Egyptian liner (I misspoke on the video!), Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner

The cheeks:

• Paula Dorf Playmate, Physicians Formula Happy Booster in Rose

The lips:

• Chanel Pensee glossimer, MAC Lovenectar lusterglass, Maybelline Born with it gloss

Other things:

• Zoya Polish (promotion code is: ZOYA2012, and you’ll get 2 polishes for free – you just pay shipping!)
• Blue Diamond Salt and Vinegar Almonds

DIY: Oh honey, honey. Sugar, sugar.

With my happy new yarn, I knit up the Madeline Tosh’s Honey Cowl for myself!

Upclose stitch view:

Side view:

Bad ass view:

This is a free pattern on Ravelry. I made this with Western Sky Knits Willow worsted weight yarn, in Barnwood colorway. I opted to make it 8.5″ tall instead of 11″, as suggested by the pattern. For me, this was big enough.

I really do love it, and wore it again today!

Things I made New Year’s Weekend

Happy New Year!

We decided to stay home on New Year’s Eve and I cooked up a special feast – mainly for Michael. I know what his favorites are, and I wanted to surprise him.

Oh! Also, my sister Michelle is engaged! CONGRATULATIONS MICHELLE AND CRAIG!! I am so excited for them. He proposed at midnight. Isn’t that romantic??

So now, onto what I made!

First, I made meyer lemon curd. I had never made it with meyer lemons, but since Michael is a huge fan, and they’re in season (clearly not in New England, but you know what I mean), I decided to make some!

I made this recipe from The Pastry Affair. I made it as directed, but I left out the butter. To be honest, it really didn’t need it, in my opinion. Michael has been eating it on toast – and loving it! The recipe as directed (minus butter) made enough for these two jars. Perfect amount, I thought!

Next, I made two breads: naan and an artisan loaf (what better to pair with the curd?). So while they rose, I went on to do other things.

Michael made a little mulled wine using Trader Joe’s mulling spices and orange slices:

I decided to make chicken tikka masala, roasted cauliflower (not pictured), naan and some basmati rice.

The recipes I used were the following: naan bread from Ecurry.com, and tikka masala from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures.

A few words on both of them: the naan bread was really easy to make in terms of rising and rolling out. It also tasted very authentic. However, I do not have a tandoor. And really, no matter what any site says, a pizza brick is NOT similar tandoor. I preheated my oven to 425 and let the pizza brick sit in there for a whopping 45 minutes. When you brush the water on one side of the naan, as prescribed, it is nearly impossible to get off – I think because the brick isn’t hot enough. I was unable to flip at the 2 minute mark. For me, it took more like 10 minutes. I was reluctant to add cornmeal to the brick because 1) it doesn’t call for that and 2) I was pretty worried it might have a pizza-crust like taste if I did so.

With that said, it was really delicious. Next time I am going to try the cast iron skillet method. I am pretty determined!

The masala was REALLY good. Next time, I am thinking I’ll make a chana masala with a little paneer! We really loved the masala. Michael said it’s better than at our favorite Indian restaurant. He sure does know how to make me smile!

And finally – I made a coconut mango cheesecake with cardamom scented crust.

I made it earlier in the day, so it could properly chill:

And then after dinner, I finished it with mango slices and coconut. The moment of truth was taking the sides off the springform pan – yikes! But it came right off. Phew.

I used a couple of recipes and put them together myself, taking inspiration from Nutmeg’s Seven.

Here’s what I did:

For the crust -

• 5 sheets of graham crackers (there are 2 crackers per sheet)
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• 2 tsp cardamom (I used Penzey’s, which is divine)

For the cheesecake -

• 16 oz room temp cream cheese
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 mangoes
• 1 tbsp agar powder
• 3 tbsp boiling water
• 1 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp coconut

Preheat oven to 350*. In a processer, blitz graham crackers with butter and cardamom. The mixture will be kind of like wet sand. Press into 6″ springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.

In a small bowl, pour boiling water over agar, and mix to combine. In a stand mixer or by hand, combine cream cheese, sugar, milk and coconut. Stir in the agar, and then fold in one of the mangoes after cutting it into small pieces. Pour the cheesecake over the crust and leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Before serving, cut up a mango and arrange as you’d like to. I also topped with more coconut. This is really simple – especially good to make if you’re also making a bunch of things that require the use of your oven! (Like say, two different types of bread!)

Post-Christmas, Pre-New Year’s Thursday Latelies

• Dior Quint in Earth Reflection
• Chanel Duo in Desert Rose
• Crest 3D White Vivid Toothpaste
• Western Sky Knits yarn
• Alexander McQueen skull scarf in zinc/dark grey

Hope you all are having a fabulous week!

P.S. If you click the wee snowflake icon in the YouTube screen, it snows. Just in case you need additional amusement.

It’s not Christmas without lots of anise.

My mother, who is Italian by way of marriage, makes really wonderful pizzelles. I learned from her, and then she bought me my own pizzelle maker (which I have used many, many times).

I decided to make two kinds of pizzelles for Christmas – one in classic anise, the other Nutella flavored. While both were good, the anise ones went much faster. People like what they like, I suppose.

I used this recipe from Unsophisticook, which is pretty much a classic recipe. I adapted slightly.

For the anise ones:

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 stick of butter, just melted
• 1 tbsp good anise oil (I get mine from an Italian grocer)
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Cream the butter with sugar. Add eggs to combine. Add everything else and combine well. Heat up your pizzelle maker and go to town!

For the Nutella ones:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 stick of butter, just melted
• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Combine as you did for the anise ones. Heat up pizzelle maker and that’s it! The consistency for the Nutella ones is slightly different than the classic. But it works just as fine!