It's Official

Thanks to a connection via Jon's mother, I start working for a family with four children tomorrow for a few hours, once a week on Friday. I don't know how permanent of an arrangement this is, but, the family seems very nice, the children are way cute, and it's a little extra cash.

For now, I don't know why I feel compelled to not settle into a full-time position. For whatever reason something inside me feels a need to wait. At least with some extra cash flow I can afford, at least a bit better than before, to procrastinate about major job changes.

Good lord I really wish I were back in school!

Heaven Comes in Small Packages

Rather, small edible packages. I cooked macarons- no, NOT macaroons, macarons. Macarons are a cookie from france made from egg whites, almond flour with a filling. They come in many different flavors and hues. I've been baking chocolate ones and they are pure bliss.

I made this batch over at Jon's sister's last week. One nice thing about macarons is that they are completly gluten-free. Faith has a gluten intolerence and these cookies are utterly delicious and friendly to those who can't consume gluten. The picture above is the cookie part post-oven. The bottom part of the cookie that looks like it's has oozed or something is called the 'foot'. Don't ask me, I just read it and bake it.
Keenai, their Rhodesian Ridgeback, LOVES chocolate. She's an addict and will stalk you once she gets a whif of that cocoa bean based goodness. I indulged her because I'm a sucker and I adore her, but, at the same time I felt the need to get a restraining order.

Can you get a restraining order for an animal? Hmmm questions to ask lawyer boyfriend. Anywho, this is a ganache I made by scratch that serves as the filling. Once this yummy amazingness cools you just slather it on one cookie and put another on top. And Violà! you have macarons.

Here's the final product... kinda looks like a mini-hamburger doesn't it? I actually forgot to photograph all the cookies once I put them together, luckily there were a few leftover so I got a shot before Jon and I headed out. We ate them too soon though, which is why I wasn't completly satisfied with this batch. For whatever reason these babies need to sit for awhile as they have a much better texture after several hours of 'gelling'. We ate ours an hour after they were put together- still yummy, just not quite right. I also needed to sift the almond flour after I mixed to take away a bit of the mealy texture. Ah well, there were no complaints and there will be more macrons to perfect in the near future.

[Oh if you are really curious, here's the recipe I used for the cookie from David Lebovitz's awesome all things French site: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2008/09/making_french_macarons.html (click on his chocolate recipe)

I don't use his ganache/filling, I found another recipe and while it makes more than what I need it is perfect as it isn't too sweet and compliments the cookie VERY well imho:http://www.epicurean.com/featured/french-chocolate-macaroons-recipe.html]

"The Incident"

Last night Tia and I headed to bed a little after midnight (as per usual). I started reading to begin my winding down process, but, before I got too tangled up in a work of fiction decided to take a potty break (gotta love the little kid lingo here). I did my business and opened up the small cabinent above the toliet where roomie and I keep our various beauty things and what do I see crawling about?

THIS!!!!!

Immediatly I scream in horror. In all fairness, I wasn't expecting a roach scurring on the bottle of lotion and I HATE roaches. Loathe, despise, and various other adjectives. I won't go into why I have such intense feelings towards these crunchy bastards, but, I will say it stems from a deep seeded trauma.

Don't judge me.

Tia immediatly leaps out of bed, cautiously enters the hallway (as if she knew it wasn't good). I meet her in the hallway and give it to her straight. She hates roaches even more than me which helped the situation ten fold. Knowing that neither of us would sleep in peace of we didn't take exterminate the terror we entered the bathroom. With no real specific plan in mind, we first started prodding through the cabinet; me standing atop the toliet, due to concerns that it had made its way to the floor, with a roll of toliet paper and Tia with a toothbrush. This process did not yield the desired results (I know shocker).

Finally I tell her to go grab a shoe because I was going to lift up the basket on the bottom shelf hoping that would get him out of there. Tia understandably was rather reluctant to surrender her shoe to be used as a murder weapon, but, she relented. I positioned myself in an attack posture(atop the toliet), lifted the basket up with my free hand, and out emerges the four legged trespasser who began to flee knowing, I assume, my malicious purpose. Did I get him? Oh NO! Tia and I both screamed and jumped about...because you know that's 'productive'. I will say that I screamed and leapt across the bathroom into the hallway at Mach 3- I didn't know I could move that fast without injuring myself.

We gathered our wits (took a minute) and after a quick inspection of the floor entered the scene of terror. I get back up on with one foot on the toliet the other on the edge of the bathtub to make a second attempt. By this time he had made his way to the side of the cabinet which was smart b/c it was a horribly awkward angle. I slammed the shoe towards him and he makes a beeline to the top of the cabinet. Somehow, I'm still fuzzy on the details, the kleenex box came down and WHACK WHACK!!

That roach exploded.... no for real it looked like a Mack Truck ran over his body, and everything inside him burst like some festering zit. The carnage was quite impressive. Even moreso considering I'm pretty sure I closed my eyes and moved away with the final death blow. Tia grabbed some 409, paper towels, and I cleaned up the massacre. Yeah it was not pretty.

'The Incident' lasted a total of fifteen minutes. Long enough for our blood pressure to rise and our inner paranoias emerge in the ugliest way possible. We sounded like screaming banshees. Though I'm not proud of that degree of 'wussiness' on display, I at least got things done and Tia gained some comfort in witnessing the entire affair. However, she may never wear that pair of shoes again.

That's not a complete tragedy... I'll probably recieve said pair of shoes. A trophy of my great adventure as 'exterminator'.

Ma Vie En Rouge

This would've been posted yesterday, however, an incident with water and my laptop gave me a hardcore case of paranoia. (If you have taken out two laptops with water you would understand) Fortunatly no damage was done and my laptop is doing fine. Thank you for asking. ;-)

Onto the the pictures!

Truely some of the best chocolates I have ever been given. Jon found them at Whole Foods and we've been sharing pieces of deliciousness.

These tulips are Tia's. I love tulips and this bouquet doesn't disapoint with its vibrant red hues.

This rose is part of a bouquet of eighteen... yes eighteen! Jon took a close up of one of the roses- but I still think it is more beautiful in person. Maybe I should get Photoshop or something? I don't know what's lacking here, but, something is. Still... very red, very pretty, very Valentine's Day.

Yes, I know... doesn't quite follow the red theme. (though in my defense there ARE red flowers on my dress) I only put this photo of me before the big V-day date up because I actually got my hair to do what I wanted!! The unfortunate reality is I will probably never replicate this look ever again.

I think I'm okay with that. Really...

Happy V-Day!

Just dropping a quick line to say Happy Valentine's Day to you all. I have plenty of pics of pets, baking, and everyday mundaneness. However, I don't think I will document Jon and I's Valentine meal... we're going to a nice restaurant and I have a feeling we would get some rather weird looks if I were taking pics of every meal. LoL Then again maybe I should do it for that very reason!

My mischevious streak knows no bounds.

Hope you all are having a lovely holiday! Eat tons of chocolate and hug a loved one.

Dear Blog

Oh my poor blog, how I've ignored you! I hope you will forgive me. I have been reading a lot more lately and not feeling well on top of it. I do not hate you, I do want you in my life. I have just been trying to do other things to occupy my sparetime as opposed to sitting in front of my computer. My current state of being is rather pathetic, I know. However, I promise to let you know more about it.

Sincerely,
Me