Update on the mac-n-cheese: no one could really tell it was made with rice pasta. The only thing anyone said that was bad: maybe make it with bacon in it next time. Oh well. Can't be perfect, but if it was that close I will be making it again.
Today I made cinnamon rolls successfully. I made them back in March once. And I sort of have made them a few more times, but they always end up being more cinnamon struessel muffins of some sort rather than cinnamon rolls. After working in the cafe and selling everyone plate sized cinnamon rolls that smell amazing, I've decided that I need to make cinnamon rolls again. I think I've figured out the problem. The really cool thing is that they'd be easy to do dairy free, as well as the everything free that they are starting out.
Recipe:
1.5 C Rice flour
1 C Tapioca flour
0.5 C Yuca flour
1 tsp gum
1/8 tsp gelatin
2 TBSP sugar (i used vanilla sugar since I thought it'd be interesting)
1 TBSP baking powder
3 eggs
1/4 C oil (or butter if you don't want to do dairy free. Butter works best)
Add TBSP of milk until moist like a pie crust dough (I used rice milk and it turned out really well)
For the center:
6 TBSP Butter
1 C sugar
2 TBSP cinnamon
For the icing:
2 C powdered sugar
3 TBSP vanilla
2 TBSP Milk
For the dough -- add ingredients in order making sure to mix well after each liquid addition. When done then roll out dough on a floured surface (or parchment paper since I don't like to use excess flour that costs $3/lb). Mix the center ingredients together and then spread out on the flat dough. Roll to create a log. Cut into pieces using a sharp knife. BAKE IN A MUFFIN TIN at 350 for ~10 minutes. (The muffin tin helps keep them together as well as make them into muffins if things haven't gone well.) Ice when you take them out, or when you are ready to eat them.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Mac and Cheese
I believe that this winter I'm going to get fat, despite the fact that I'm working on growing a parasite. I'm kind of supposed to, but I may go a bit overboard. Tonight I'm attempting to make a mac'n'cheese bake thing. Chris liked how I started the sauce -- with 2/3rds a stick of butter melting to sautee the onion. Then I added some milk and LOTS of cheese. I added some Muenster, Brie, and white cheddar cheeses. I purposely made it kind of runny since I didn't cook the pasta before pouring the cheese sauce over them and putting them in the oven for 45 minutes. We're about 10 minutes away now, and it looks tasty. I just took the cover off so the cheddar I topped it with can brown a little.
I got the idea from a magazine today that a lady at work as reading. It had all these "roots" in it, and so I vaguely remembered it. I've been wanting to try making my own mac'n'cheese for a while now though, so that kind of gave me the extra push that I needed to step out and do it. :)
So far this week has been good, and it was SHORT! I have to work Friday and Saturday, but that's okay. Chris doesn't so we only have to get up kind of early on Friday morning, and we'll get to sleep in until 430 or 445, so that's almost an extra hour of sleep by not having to get Chris to the train. Hopefully the cafe will pick up the pace some. It was quite dead today, as in we got a total of about 20 people in the seven hours we were open. Oh well, we'll have slow days. Overall the cafe business is picking up, so that's helpful.
I got the idea from a magazine today that a lady at work as reading. It had all these "roots" in it, and so I vaguely remembered it. I've been wanting to try making my own mac'n'cheese for a while now though, so that kind of gave me the extra push that I needed to step out and do it. :)
So far this week has been good, and it was SHORT! I have to work Friday and Saturday, but that's okay. Chris doesn't so we only have to get up kind of early on Friday morning, and we'll get to sleep in until 430 or 445, so that's almost an extra hour of sleep by not having to get Chris to the train. Hopefully the cafe will pick up the pace some. It was quite dead today, as in we got a total of about 20 people in the seven hours we were open. Oh well, we'll have slow days. Overall the cafe business is picking up, so that's helpful.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Bring on the Turkey
Well, it is now getting close to Thanksgiving. I've been meaning to blog about several things since my last post on Halloween. It has been crazy here though. Working in the cafe has taught me a lot, and while I enjoy it, I know it is a temporary thing. At least I hope it is a temporary thing. It is nice to successfully make drinks for people every day, and for the most part hours are good -- I get to open during the week, and close on Saturdays. Opening is way more fun than closing, but really both are completely manageable. One thing that was nice about the cafe happened on Thursday -- we went to Phoenix and Las Vegas from the 11th to the 16th, and I had the 17th off, so Thursday was my first day back at the cafe in a week. I walk in and Bill, the manager, says, "Carolyn's back!" In checking with him he basically had to go back to running the cafe 24/7, as he had done before they got me my keys. The cafe being under staffed and underpaid is going to get old kind of quick. I realize that we are in essence volunteering our time, and getting a bit of pay for doing so (that's how I look at it because it helps me mentally to do so), but we need people to work, be trusted, and trained. I'm also not really liking the politics of the place. I'm never big on politics, and as usual with a church organization, there are so many layers of politics it makes the US Congress look like child's play.
Enough about the cafe, more about the trip. We went to Phoenix first to get some friends married. We got to help with set-up and be the general errand people for the bride the day before and wedding day. Well, Chris got to be errand boy, and I got to help in the kitchen. Her parents hosted the rehearsal dinner and it was fabulous. Her father is Mexican and so they did Mexican food that was to die for (all what Chris thinks, and what I had was quite good as well, but not truly "traditional" with all the mods I make to it). Her parents also have an orange grove in their backyard. The fruit wasn't ready but it was definitely on the trees getting there. We may get a box of oranges come Christmas, and they are the best oranges. Friday we also frantically went around the mall looking for a suitable shirt and jacket for Chris, as he was the "stand in best man" in case one didn't show up, and they had one in mind. It was craziness, as the bride was tense since this guy was having car troubles in Tucson and wasn't sure if he would make it -- she thought he was trying to ruin her wedding. The ceremony was held at a golf course and was great. There were a few lingering golfers, but for the most part they were gone by the time the wedding started. There were only 50-75 people in attendance and it was great. She wore red shoes with her dress, and he wore personalized skate shoes that had the wedding date on them, hopefully with the anniversary written on the backs of his shoes he won't forget it. They had a sand ceremony -- kind of like a unity candle or something -- each had a color of sand (hers was white, his was red) that they simultaneously poured into a central vase. Then the idea is that you cap it and save the mixed up sand somewhere. Neat idea, especially for a place that has a LOT of sand. Sunday we flew to Vegas. Back in May the Bride asked us to go to Vegas with them, so we did. My allergy card managed to scare a few kitchen staffs. The Mexican restaurant we started at (it was in the hotel, so it was close when we decided that we were starving) was probably the best. I talked with the chef as he was having drinks at the bar, but he told me it was completely doable to eat there and not get sick. The waiter though, with all my questions (what do you put in this, do you shred the cheese or does it come pre-shredded, what do you use for this spice -- type of questions) apparently scared the poor kitchen staff. The created a salad for me and gave me salsa to put over it. For Monday we basically walked around the strip. I got up and went to the hotel gym and then we walked around through casinos and shops and more casinos and more shops. In all of our walking around we got tickets for Blue Man Group. We went to the later showing and were able to get 2nd row, center seats -- as in Chris got squirted with goo at one point, and we had to wear ponchos. The giggly girls in front of us who came in wearing expensive clothes didn't like when we called them shields and screamed when we got squirted with stuff, or had stuff thrown at us.
A few pictures from the trip though --
Enough about the cafe, more about the trip. We went to Phoenix first to get some friends married. We got to help with set-up and be the general errand people for the bride the day before and wedding day. Well, Chris got to be errand boy, and I got to help in the kitchen. Her parents hosted the rehearsal dinner and it was fabulous. Her father is Mexican and so they did Mexican food that was to die for (all what Chris thinks, and what I had was quite good as well, but not truly "traditional" with all the mods I make to it). Her parents also have an orange grove in their backyard. The fruit wasn't ready but it was definitely on the trees getting there. We may get a box of oranges come Christmas, and they are the best oranges. Friday we also frantically went around the mall looking for a suitable shirt and jacket for Chris, as he was the "stand in best man" in case one didn't show up, and they had one in mind. It was craziness, as the bride was tense since this guy was having car troubles in Tucson and wasn't sure if he would make it -- she thought he was trying to ruin her wedding. The ceremony was held at a golf course and was great. There were a few lingering golfers, but for the most part they were gone by the time the wedding started. There were only 50-75 people in attendance and it was great. She wore red shoes with her dress, and he wore personalized skate shoes that had the wedding date on them, hopefully with the anniversary written on the backs of his shoes he won't forget it. They had a sand ceremony -- kind of like a unity candle or something -- each had a color of sand (hers was white, his was red) that they simultaneously poured into a central vase. Then the idea is that you cap it and save the mixed up sand somewhere. Neat idea, especially for a place that has a LOT of sand. Sunday we flew to Vegas. Back in May the Bride asked us to go to Vegas with them, so we did. My allergy card managed to scare a few kitchen staffs. The Mexican restaurant we started at (it was in the hotel, so it was close when we decided that we were starving) was probably the best. I talked with the chef as he was having drinks at the bar, but he told me it was completely doable to eat there and not get sick. The waiter though, with all my questions (what do you put in this, do you shred the cheese or does it come pre-shredded, what do you use for this spice -- type of questions) apparently scared the poor kitchen staff. The created a salad for me and gave me salsa to put over it. For Monday we basically walked around the strip. I got up and went to the hotel gym and then we walked around through casinos and shops and more casinos and more shops. In all of our walking around we got tickets for Blue Man Group. We went to the later showing and were able to get 2nd row, center seats -- as in Chris got squirted with goo at one point, and we had to wear ponchos. The giggly girls in front of us who came in wearing expensive clothes didn't like when we called them shields and screamed when we got squirted with stuff, or had stuff thrown at us.
A few pictures from the trip though --
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Happy Reformation Day!
Since it is the end of October, and I haven't blogged since the beginning of October I suppose I should fill everyone in a little. It has been a busy month, and even though I originally planned on blogging about the NYC wedding back the first weekend of the month, all of a sudden it is the last weekend of the month and October is over. This month has been filled with all sorts of emotional roller coasters. We've had both good news and bad news, and news that is double edged. The double-edged news is why I'm able to sit down now.
On Friday Chris's grandfather passed away after a long battle. It is really an answer to prayers that he finally did, and that everyone let him. Since about 2003 grandfather has been having issue after issue, and hospitalized multiple times for any number of things. It was almost a yearly occurrence in October to start, and then it grew to August and October, and then every few months, and then every few weeks, etc. For the past few years grandfather has been living in a nursing home. He didn't really have his mind at the time, and only ever seemed to have about three good days a year. This is "double-edged" news because it is great for grandfather to be gone. It is a good thing he is finally at peace and no longer in pain. However, for those of us left behind, well, we miss him. I'm unable to get to OK for the funeral so Chris drove down solo yesterday. As a family we will continue to miss him, especially as we are heading headstrong into the holidays. I'm reminded forcibly of when my own grandmother died. Her battle wasn't nearly as long as this one has been, but it was just as violent of a roller coaster, simply compressed into about two years versus seven or eight. I was glad when she died, simply because I knew she was no longer in pain. Since I do believe in a life after bodily death, and she had talked about going to angels, so it is simply a good-bye for now. Like saying goodbye to a friend that you don't really know when you'll see again. However, the part when I decided that I was missing my grandmother, was when I started to have problems and really be sad. If we focus on the situation around us, and the people left behind, then we see death as a bad thing, if we focus on the fact that it is just a temporary good-bye, it doesn't seem like such a bad thing.
Another good thing that has happened is that I've started working at the Trinity Cafe. It is open seven days a week and is a lot of fun. It will be more fun once business picks up. We had a "soft opening" this week and overall it went well. I think we did better than the "average" that we'll need each person to spend, we just need more people. The "grand opening" is Nov 9. We didn't want to send out any advertising this close to the elections, which is why we are having the grand opening later. It is interesting being a barista, and they are essentially putting me in as assistant manager. I'll hopefully get a key this week so that I can open and the managers can go home.
Anyway, I hear my pumpkin pie in the oven almost ready to go, so I should go check. Knowing me once I get up from the computer I'll forget to get back, so I'll just post this before I go.
Hope everyone has a great day as this one here in Chicagoland is shaping up to be.
On Friday Chris's grandfather passed away after a long battle. It is really an answer to prayers that he finally did, and that everyone let him. Since about 2003 grandfather has been having issue after issue, and hospitalized multiple times for any number of things. It was almost a yearly occurrence in October to start, and then it grew to August and October, and then every few months, and then every few weeks, etc. For the past few years grandfather has been living in a nursing home. He didn't really have his mind at the time, and only ever seemed to have about three good days a year. This is "double-edged" news because it is great for grandfather to be gone. It is a good thing he is finally at peace and no longer in pain. However, for those of us left behind, well, we miss him. I'm unable to get to OK for the funeral so Chris drove down solo yesterday. As a family we will continue to miss him, especially as we are heading headstrong into the holidays. I'm reminded forcibly of when my own grandmother died. Her battle wasn't nearly as long as this one has been, but it was just as violent of a roller coaster, simply compressed into about two years versus seven or eight. I was glad when she died, simply because I knew she was no longer in pain. Since I do believe in a life after bodily death, and she had talked about going to angels, so it is simply a good-bye for now. Like saying goodbye to a friend that you don't really know when you'll see again. However, the part when I decided that I was missing my grandmother, was when I started to have problems and really be sad. If we focus on the situation around us, and the people left behind, then we see death as a bad thing, if we focus on the fact that it is just a temporary good-bye, it doesn't seem like such a bad thing.
Another good thing that has happened is that I've started working at the Trinity Cafe. It is open seven days a week and is a lot of fun. It will be more fun once business picks up. We had a "soft opening" this week and overall it went well. I think we did better than the "average" that we'll need each person to spend, we just need more people. The "grand opening" is Nov 9. We didn't want to send out any advertising this close to the elections, which is why we are having the grand opening later. It is interesting being a barista, and they are essentially putting me in as assistant manager. I'll hopefully get a key this week so that I can open and the managers can go home.
Anyway, I hear my pumpkin pie in the oven almost ready to go, so I should go check. Knowing me once I get up from the computer I'll forget to get back, so I'll just post this before I go.
Hope everyone has a great day as this one here in Chicagoland is shaping up to be.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
New Jersey Aquarium
Last Wednesday we flew to Philly to meet up with Josh and Anna for a day (or two) of fun before the wedding mayhem began. We had a bumpy ride, but made it safely. Thursday morning when we woke up it was windy, rainy and grey. I didn't run :( and we didn't get a chance to do a lot of outdoorsy things, but we did make it to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden. We got on a train about a mile from Anna's place and got a tour of Jersey. As always, train tours are interesting, you get to see a bit of industry and main street for the different towns. We also got to see a lot of the river (the Delaware), and the river was white capping most of the time.
Once we made it to the aquarium we were across the Delaware from Philly, just a bridge away.
Inside the aquarium there were all sorts of fishes, frogs, penguins, seals, sharks, and hippos! We spent a lot of time with the hippos, Jenny and Button. At first the two hippos were simply hanging out, sleeping, as hippos do most of the day.
We went through the hippo area to the jellyfish and shark tanks. There was also an octopus, a really big octopus, that was hiding from the world. We managed to see just his tentacles, but those were quite large.
After the shark tank we decided to go check on the hippos again. The aquarium had underwater viewing, which I had seen for bears (at brookfield) and heard about happening other places, but never really seen. It was really neat to see the hippos in action under the water. As hippos can spend about 18 hours a day in the water, and up to 10 minutes at a time (if inactive) underwater, what they do underwater is a big deal.
After we eventually left the hippos and went to see the other stuff. We got to see really neat corals and fishes! The penguins were also neat and outdoors. After seeing the penguins waddle around, we went back inside (it was also starting to rain again by then).
We rounded out the day with more hippos and got to listen to a hippo talk. The keeper also gave the hippos kale so it was fun to see them eat.
After the aquarium we got to hang out with Anna and Josh and simply rest some. This was good as we had a busy weekend before us. I'll write more about that in my next post, with more pictures of course.
Inside the aquarium there were all sorts of fishes, frogs, penguins, seals, sharks, and hippos! We spent a lot of time with the hippos, Jenny and Button. At first the two hippos were simply hanging out, sleeping, as hippos do most of the day.
We went through the hippo area to the jellyfish and shark tanks. There was also an octopus, a really big octopus, that was hiding from the world. We managed to see just his tentacles, but those were quite large.
After the shark tank we decided to go check on the hippos again. The aquarium had underwater viewing, which I had seen for bears (at brookfield) and heard about happening other places, but never really seen. It was really neat to see the hippos in action under the water. As hippos can spend about 18 hours a day in the water, and up to 10 minutes at a time (if inactive) underwater, what they do underwater is a big deal.
After we eventually left the hippos and went to see the other stuff. We got to see really neat corals and fishes! The penguins were also neat and outdoors. After seeing the penguins waddle around, we went back inside (it was also starting to rain again by then).
After the aquarium we got to hang out with Anna and Josh and simply rest some. This was good as we had a busy weekend before us. I'll write more about that in my next post, with more pictures of course.
Monday, September 27, 2010
It is Wedding Time!
Now I'm currently waiting to go pick up my dress for my brother's wedding, which is this coming Saturday. I'm praying and hoping that she did a good job with it and didn't mess up my Vera. That and I'm pretty sure I'd be toast if I messed up the dress, but that's besides the point. We are leaving in 2 days, as in 48 hours will have me and Chris on a jet plane heading east. :) We'll get to stop by and see friends for a day or so (Chris will get to have 2 days with them, as Friday I have wedding things to attend to) and then we'll do the wedding. The rehearsal is Friday night, and then the wedding is Saturday afternoon with the reception starting at 5. I'm really excited about seeing my family and seeing this all come together. It has been a busy few months for all the planning, but as is typical with a wedding, it is nice to see the finished product. You'd better believe that next week there will be several more wedding pictures. I have a charged battery and will take the charger with me to NYC. :)
I think I have my food stuff figured out for this week in NYC -- its quite simple really. Simply survive off of S'Mac. I'm not sure if I posted anything about S'Mac after my NYC trip two weeks ago, but let me tell you, the stuff is simply amazing (so its so good I'm writing about it twice because I'm salivating thinking about it). Its good -- no fantastic -- mac and cheese. They can make it gluten free (check one) and then add only stuff you want (check two) plus they don't believe in preservatives (check three). It comes out in a cast iron skillet (they use separate ones for gf pasta -- check four) and is creamy, cheesy goodness. I ordered mine and then had it halfway done before my friend parked his car. I hadn't really eaten a lot that weekend, but still, that's how tasty it was. I originally ordered the larger size hoping to take some home with me on the plane the following day. I ended up simply eating it all, so I starved the next day on the plane. I may only make it once in my several days in NYC, so I'll order several things "to go" and eat mac and cheese all weekend. Ah, I better be careful though or I won't fit into my perfectly tailored dress.
Overall this past week was interesting. On Thursday Chris sliced his thumb open at work. He ended up with 5 stitches in it, but it is healing nicely. We're planning on taking them out this week while we're in NYC, because we're pretty sure we can do a decent enough job, if not better job, than what they've done. The doc who sewed him up, well, let's just say I hope he was a first year resident or an intern. I've done better stitching just about any time I've had to sew anything.
Still no permanent job offer for me, so I'm working more at the college next term. The term starts Oct 12 and runs until Dec 16. This means that I'll be free for the holidays at least. I''ll do two sections of Earth Science and one section of Physical Science -- Yay for physics and chemistry. :) I'm excited enough about the Physical Science that I started working on powerpoints for the course today. I'm done with the first one, now I've only got a few more to go. I can only dream about hearing the screams. I'm also kind of concerned because it looks like several people will earn bad grades this term -- something about missing tests and not turning papers in. Who knew right?
I also figured out how to make a chocolate cream cheese frosting/icing to put on stuff. I made some more of my friend Katie's vanilla velvet cupcakes and wanted to try a different frosting, but didn't have any butter. It turned out really really well -- ultra creamy. I may not ever make a frosting with butter again, I may convert to using cream cheese or a comparable cheese. That makes it healthier right?
Well, time to go see if I fit into my dress at all I suppose.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Blissfully Quiet
This week has been blissfully quiet. We were able to get back to our regularly scheduled lives. It was interesting to say the least. We got to get up at 4 to have Chris on the train at 430. Then I attempted to go back to sleep until I needed to be up for work, or house cleaning. I mainly ended up resting more or less though, so it was an interesting week. We also got to attend small group for the first time since the beginning of August. It was quite nice to see everyone. We've got several new additions to the group, as well as a new baby (who was a week old), so interesting to say the least.
This week several new seasons of shows came out on DVD as well. We've got to catch up on all the TV from the past year. Its so nice to only be a year behind the times. ;)
I was asked to teach a third section of sciences at Westwood for the October term. This is quite a blessing really. I'm having a difficult time getting a job and with the weddings having to only work Tuesdays and Thursdays will be nice. I'll make comparable money to what I did at UIC, so it is a blessing, like I said. Plus I don't have to take days upon days off for the weddings after just starting a new position. :) I've also recently remembered that our church is opening a coffee shop with the new site in October. They will be looking for baristas, so my barista dream may come true yet. I'm still looking for a full-time position that uses my Masters to its full extent, and it will come. Eventually and in the right time. We've got absolutely no reason to believe otherwise, in fact, full faith and reason to believe that it will happen that way and all prior evidence points in that direction as well.
Anyway, with the whole 4 am wake-up time I'm going to get to bed.
This week several new seasons of shows came out on DVD as well. We've got to catch up on all the TV from the past year. Its so nice to only be a year behind the times. ;)
I was asked to teach a third section of sciences at Westwood for the October term. This is quite a blessing really. I'm having a difficult time getting a job and with the weddings having to only work Tuesdays and Thursdays will be nice. I'll make comparable money to what I did at UIC, so it is a blessing, like I said. Plus I don't have to take days upon days off for the weddings after just starting a new position. :) I've also recently remembered that our church is opening a coffee shop with the new site in October. They will be looking for baristas, so my barista dream may come true yet. I'm still looking for a full-time position that uses my Masters to its full extent, and it will come. Eventually and in the right time. We've got absolutely no reason to believe otherwise, in fact, full faith and reason to believe that it will happen that way and all prior evidence points in that direction as well.
Anyway, with the whole 4 am wake-up time I'm going to get to bed.
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