random\\\trip announcement!

right now it is about 3 in the morning.  i'm so excited!!! we're going to mexico where i can work on my spanish skills and pick up a couple recipes.  i'll make sure to share the trip i'm so excited!!!

i've just finished packing and we're leaving at 4 so i guess i'm not sleeping.  our flights are really random because of where we end up: carmen, mexico.  first, we're going to fort lauderdale and we wait 5 hours at the airport.  then off to mexico city/cancun for a night because i convinced my parents to visit the beaches (so excited!).  finally, we end up in carmen...or so i think.

hopefully i'll find some cool things to give as gifts.  speaking of which i opened my presents today and i got some pretty nifty things that i'll share with an edit :)  thanks!  Merry Christmas to everyone

random\\\check-in

hey everyone!  again,i'm going to say that i've busy but that's just an awful excuse for posting much....haven't baked much either :P

anyways, i found this website redditing and coming from my background it makes a ton of sense and its so cool.  if anyone knows anymore make sure to share ^_^ some of these words are so pretty :)

lifes been okay.  author thesis i've been falling behind and my class had a socratic seminar that i stayed up really late trying to finish (i did).  due to track i've been trying to eat a ton healthier but...i'll try to be back with recipes as soon as possible!  christmas baking is right around the corner: fudge, brownies, cookies, etc

random\\\finally fixed

so my computer was fixed a while ago but i've just been busy because i had been falling behind school work and being in the pit for my schools musical.  our school did legally blonde as our fall musical and it was really good.  i play keyboard for the pit, and it was so much fun!  no saturday rehearsals or tech time put in ;)
   anyways, somehow i had broken my hard drive (from a drop or something like that).  at first i thought it was the battery or something, but i knew i had a problem when the blue screen of death wouldn't go away.

i gamed a bit (mostly mc) over thanksgiving and i made some cranberry sauce.  one day i'll put up the recipe and link you guys :P i'm a book and a half behind on author thesis...but....oopsies ;)   back to blogging, and you'll see some stuff up soon :)

here's a random cat pic:

disclaimer:: the picture is NOT mine!

random\\\grrr

so i wrote a post last night and i saved it to upload pictures.  then suddenly i got the blue screen of death...(yes that one).  guess won't be able to post for a while because there aren't pretty pictures.  i will update the blog when my computer gets better :(  ta-ta and remember to donate to food drives as thanksgiving is coming upon us.  not everyone is able to afford a turkey, but we can at least provide stuffing and cranberry sauce.  speaking of which i need to make some soon...meaning up goes another recipe :)

if only my computer worked...grrr

recipe\\\baking contest

i had a class so i missed the judging of the contest but  i heard that the contest didn't really happen because the baked goods had been finished off far too quickly; i guess it was a draw then ;)  i made

a) something with only chocolate chips - chocolate chip cookies using a recipe

b) something without chocolate - soft & thick snickerdoodles (i stole a recipe)

c) something with fruit - gooey chocolate-chip sandwich bars

d) free choice - peanut butter and oreo brownie

it was funny because that night while i was baking i got ghosted.  in our neighborhood, ghosting runs a bit differently (but only with friends/people that we know well).  so the doorbell rung around 9 and i was in the middle of baking.  my brother runs out to get the candy and as soon as he stepped outside splash he got shot with water guns.  suddenly, i hear the click of a loading airsoft gun.  he sprints back inside with the bag of candy and he notifies me.  i take off my apron and look around for weapons...sadly we don't own airsoft or water guns.  i desperately look around and the carton of eggs sitting on the counter catch my eye.  i quietly hand one to my brother and i take one.  lacing together my sneakers i slip quietly out the side door while my brother creates a diversion.

'on three' he hissed to me.  we sprint around the corner and there was our attackers.  he smashed his egg into the sweater of one kid and i threw and i heard the muffled crack of my egg hitting something.  i had thought i missed and had only hit the wall.  it was not until the next time i talked to the poor kid before he told me that i nailed him. oops :)

anyways, what i wanted to say was that i got back inside after cleaning egg shells and drippings alike for a solid 30 minutes. it was about 23:15 when i came back in to do more baking.  i finished making the snickerdoodles and chocolate chip cookies around 2. i don' what idiocy hit me when i decided that it would be a good idea to try out a new snickerdoodle recipe they turned out decent because i got them off of Sally's Baking Addiction who is, like, the best baker, ever :P  check out her recipes, she has so many wonderful ones.

my go-to chocolate chunk cookie recipe is from her website with a bit of tweaking and making it over and over again.  my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe used to be nestle's but recently i've been making sally's more.

two down.  i couldn't decide what to make next so i decided to go with everyone's favorite.  peanut butter covered oreos baked into brownies.  mine turned out a little dry because i hadn't made them recently and i didn't really know the baking time.  broken down it is basically oreos lathered in peanut butter baked into brownies.  to make them it is fairly simple.  it was fairly late, i apologize for not taking pictures.

~peanut butter & oreo brownies~

+brownie batter (i used my super moist brownie recipe)

+12 oreos

+peanut butter

+muffin tin and paper if you want

preheat the oven to 350 deg.

prepare your brownie batter and split into two parts.  then fill a dozen muffin tins about 1/3 and bake for approximately 3 minutes.

while the batter is baking lather each oreo with about 1 T. of peanut butter.

after three minutes take out the tins and place each oreo into a container.  cover with remaining brownie batter.

finally bake slightly less then brownie recipe time because mine came out dry when i baked full time.  insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, it is done.

I'll post the rest of my recipes later.... :)

here's a sneak peak ^_^

recipe\\\charity water bakesale

what's better than raising money for a good cause? baking for it.
my friend is in charge of having fundraisers to raise money for her cause: charity water. what this organization does is it takes funds from each school's campaign, and sends it to be used to build water supplies in India.  their view is that just because a person is poor does not mean they need to have a poor solution.

i decided it would be a great time to try out a new recipe [of course] because people will buy gross brownies because it's all for a great cause! they didn't turn out as hoped because i left them in the oven for a bit too long but all is well.

~Super Moist Brownies~

+ 1-1/2 cup all-purpose flower

+ 2 cups sugar

+ 6 T. unsweetened cocoa powder

+ 1 t. salt

+ 1-1/2 cup oil

+ 4 eggs

+ 2 t. vanilla extract

+ 3/4 cup chocolate chips

+ 1 cup nuts of choice [optional]

i made the recipe a little differently than called for, and as a baker, feel free to adapt recipe to past experiences and taste.

preheat oven to 350 deg. Fahrenheit

combine flour, sugar [i used 1 cup granulated and 1/2 cup packed brown sugar for a total of only 1-1/2 cups sugar], cocoa, and salt

salt is important to every recipe because not only does it give your tongue the perfect underlying taste, it brings out sweetness as well as getting rid of any bitterness from baking powder/soda.

combine well.  next use a large bowl and combine 'wet' ingredients.  i was lazy so i just made a well in my 'dry' ingredients for a faster process.

add eggs and oil and stir until you arrive at a consistent mixture.  it takes about 50 strokes, if one is hand-mixing.

finally, mix in vanilla and chocolate chips until evenly blended.

grease a 9x13 pan and fill with batter.  then and place into the oven.

bake for 24-26 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn't dry out.  when a toothpick inserted comes out clean it is ready to be eaten :)

as you can tell, mine was in the oven for about 30 minutes before i remembered.  i didn't put as much patience into this treat which is why i didn't get tastier brownies.  i have to save my energy for a baking contest on saturday.  any ideas? i can't wait! i will have a ~baketastic~ friday night, eating batter and all.

the rules of the contest are:

a) something with only chocolate chips

b) something without chocolate

c) something with fruit

d) free choice

goodnight! wish charity water and i luck :)

journal\\\nantucket - day 3

last day, leggo :)

~Day 3~

on our last day, we woke up, took down tents, ate breakfast, did chores, and mostly cleaned up.  the tent i slept in took maybe 10 minutes to take down.  daddy's and derek [my brother]'s took quite a bit longer...lets just say they aren't know for being efficient.  one of the kids, the 'firemarshall' took the liberty of burning anything that was paper.  it was a pretty nasty fire considering the stuff that was being burned ranged from cardboard boxes to used tissues.  everything was to be loaded onto a u-haul that would take the luggage back home. 

then we were set free into town to get lunch and return our bikes. our camp site looked empty, like the wild without the speckled color of our tents.  we went at a rather fast pace so that we would make it into time with time left to walk around.  i enjoyed the speed but a couple people in our group could not keep up, so we lost time anyways trying to find them.

the road to the bike shop

we were going so quick, i had a few close calls.  the drivers on nantucket aren't what one would call 'friendly'...   the cobblestone streets leading into town didnt' help either.

some mini heart attacks along the way

you see what i mean?!

once we got into town and recollected our group we headed towards the best ice cream shop in town: the juice bar but they were not opening until 11, the time we had to be at the dock waiting to board.  all of us [about 12 people] crowded around their entrance and waited.  one of the kids asked why we were waiting and i exclaimed 'because its like the best place ever' as the manager opened early so we would be able to have some before we left.  since i had not been here i asked what to get, and apparently 'the frazz' which is raspberry sorbet mixed into lemonade with a touch of sprite was the best.  they didn't have any sprite which is fine by me because i'm not a huge fan of fizzy drinks but it was still amazing.  we sat around enjoying our cool drinks and a couple kids visited a souvenir shop, but i stayed put.  i was soaking up the last few hours of my adventure.

we got to the dock on time and waited around for about an hour to board the ferry. before we left the harbour i made sure to get a couple more pictures.  i smiled into the sea breeze and snapped away happily.  then i got into the cabin and about six of us got a booth to play cards.  we played president for about a half hour until sleepiness over took me and i fell asleep.  it was the perfect way to end a great trip.

clearly i'm amazing at taking artsy pictures...

leaving the harbour

when i opened my eyes we were sailing into boston harbour.  as we were leaving hyannis, our carpoolers mentioned that the cape cod potato chip factory was nearby and daddy agreed to stop there and take the tour.  at first i thought they were not open because it was columbus day weekend, and they weren't open on holidays, but we we decided to stop by and look around anyways.

apparently we were supposed to follow the seagull

i didn't even have to follow the prints; my nose was directing me.

walking down the path of interesting facts about cape cod chips

found it!

it's ok we weren't really inside the factory yet

it was really cool watching potatoes sorted and dropped into vats of oil.  the smell was heavenly and i could not wait to get to the end to buy some.  i was amazed at how many potato chips were produced considering there is only one plant, the headquarters. these chips are available pretty much everywhere, and to think they originate from one place was mind blowing.  we got a couple bags of chips and left.

yum :)

it's officially done.  we had left the cape.  [couldn't find my camera until it was too late...sorry for the bad picture]

i was munching contently on my chips as we left the cape.  i only remembered to grab my camera but it was too late, but i managed an ishy picture.  i couldn't remember another time i was this happy and i cannot wait to go back next year.