Green Chili, cheese, & olive chicken

I made green chili with cheese and olive chicken tonight.

I got the recipe from this great blog, For the Love of Cooking  loaded with delish recipes. I made one small change, I used fresh green chilies and roasted them on the grill instead of using canned ones. I get my chilies from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) which provides shared of fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables. Being part of the CSA has been great for me, it forces me to not only cook, but cook using produce I may not normally buy. If you feel like joining the Tucson CSA, or just perusing the website for more info, click here, Tucson CSA.

The verdict: good! I would probably add more green chili and more cheese next time, but I think that is just because I love both of those ingredients. Definitely serve this with black beans or something. I will make this again. 

Happy eating. 

Alright, it’s cake pop time. Yes, I am rather aware that I’m behind on this new (to my kitchen) trend. And this will not be a tutorial (although I will include the link to the tutorial I used),  this is more like me experience with making these treats.

I used the tutorial on Cake Pops Recipe. I used a pretty basic one, but if you feel adventurous this site has tons of different flavors and styles of cake pops.

I have made these suckers (pun intended) twice. I had a par-tay, and made them for that, but also made them a month prior to the party to get a feel for how it would go.

I like the recipe, and I think I finally found out what makes these babies really pop (yes, another pun, which was again intended).  So, the tutorial says that you need to add about half a container of icing, I found I needed ¾ to 1 container of icing. I personally love cream cheese frosting so I used it the first time I made these. I (and others) found the pops to be good, but very rich. The next time I made them I used a buttercream frosting, which was exponentially better in mine and others opinions. The buttercream allowed the pops to have a lighter taste and texture which was very lovely.

I would suggest, like the tutorial, to keep the cake balls to about 1 inch in diameter, this size seemed to be great, one bite and not too big/heavy so that the cake balls fall off the candy stick.

Next, I definitely recommend chilling the cake balls in the refrigerator overnight to firm up. I never tried it without doing this, but I am also a rather anxious person who assumes that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, especially when it is remotely related to me being in the kitchen.

Another tip, do not forget to dip the sticks in melted chocolate before inserting the stick into the cake balls. I happened to forget on half the batch for the party and believe me, we have more than a handful of casualties.

I got my melting chocolate from Michaels (craft store). The regular and dark chocolate melted perfectly fine in the microwave, but the white chocolate did not. I tried to elt the white chocolate in the microwave (because it said on the package I could) but it burnt. So the next time we used a double boiler to melt it and this worked great. Sid note: With the double boiler I needed an assistant (my wonderful boyfriend) because the chocolate needed to be stirred often.

I put my cake pops in the refrigerator to cool and then I would put clear candy wrappers around the pops.

The first day or work, which includes making the cake and the balls takes about 2-3 hours (this includes baking and cooling time). The next and final day takes about 1-2 hours, depending on how many pops are made.

Good luck and enjoy!!

The Picture of Dorian Gray: Book Review

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a thought-provoking novel that vacillates between ambling, seemingly directionless conversation and a riveting narrative thread that eventually bubbles up to the surface with the intensity of a volcanic eruption. The Picture of Dorian Gray, though not much more than a century old, has already been deemed a “classic” by literature-lovers, and after reading the book, I can understand its status. Wilde’s command of the English language is almost unparalleled in recent literature. I heard about this book when I was 20, there was a local band who called themselves Dorian Gray. And, with my love of classic books, I decided it was time to snuggle up with the book. The gist of the plot is: Dorian Gray is a young man whose physical appearance is particularly handsome and innocent. A friend and aspiring artist paints a beautiful portrait of Dorian. Dorian makes a wish that he would always look like his youthful appearance in the portrait and the picture would age with time. The wish is realizes and Dorian remains the same – youthful and charming, while the portrait begins to transform itself into the image of his soul. When Dorian embraces a life of hedonism, he uses his good looks and charm to obtain whatever he desires in life. Over a period of twenty years, Dorian becomes a monster on the inside (which is reflected by the portrait of his soul) even as he remains youthful and innocent on the outside. Dorian’s hedonism is triggered by his first meeting with Lord Henry Wotton, who says to him that the only way to rid oneself of a temptation is to give in to it( because if we resist it our soul will grow sick with longing for forbidden desires). The book is like a snowball if you will, it starts out small and slow going, the deeper into the book you get, the bigger and faster the snowball gets. The beginning of the book is filled with curious ideas and sayings from the devious Lord Henry, but then the book goes onto vague descriptions of Dorian’s self indulging behaviors. Near the end I did not want to put the book down.
Side notes:::

Spider Dream

Alright, dream blog again. About a month ago I had a dream that the boyfriend and I were asleep on the couch. I wake up to find a large spider creeping down on a skinny little string of spide-y silk, just creeping from the pull string of the ceiling fan. The spider is this oversized, Cyclopes-like creature as it has only one bulging eye, with black and white striped furry legs. Pete (the boyfriend) woke up after hearing my shrill scream, as I’m not a fan of spiders (in real life or in my dreams). Pete then grabs the spider, rushes to the kitchen, where he washes it and then runs over to me, coddling the creature in between his closed palms, and I’m backed into a corner. He then outstretches his arms as if he has some lovely parcel to present to me, but unfortunately the parcel is still the spider, all curled up in Pete’s hands as he bestows it to me. As he does this I yell, “NO! You are crossing my boundaries!” And then the dream abruptly ends.
I could do my own dream interpretation, but it’s been too long, so I will let the internet do the interpreting on this one. First off,
Spider: According to Dreammoods.com, to see a spider in your dream, indicates that you are feeling like an outsider in some situation. Or perhaps you want to keep your distance and stay away from an alluring and tempting situation. The spider is also symbolic of feminine power or an overbearing mother figure in your life. Alternatively, a spider refers to a powerful force protecting you against your self-destructive behavior. If you kill a spider in your dream, then it symbolizes misfortune and bad luck. To see a spider spinning a web in your dream, signifies that you will be rewarded for your hard work. You will be promoted in your job or recognized for your achievement in a difficult task. Spiders are also a symbol of creativity due to the intricate webs they spin. On a negative note, spiders may indicate a feeling of being entangled or trapped in a sticky or clingy relationship. It represents some ensnaring and controlling force. You feel that someone or some situation is sucking the life right out of you. Alternatively, if a spider is spinning a web in your dream, then it could be a metaphor for the world wide web and global communication. To see a spider climbing up a wall in your dream, denotes that your desires will be soon be realized.
Wash: According to Dreammoods.com, To dream that you are washing yourself, indicates that you are proud of your social life and personal endeavors. You may even receive some recognition and prestige. Alternatively, the dream represents the cleansing away of unhappy experiences or neglected emotions in your life. You are ready to make a fresh new start. To dream that you are washing your hands, suggests that there is a worrisome issue that you need to work through. Alternatively, the dream suggests that you are not taking responsibility for some matter. You need to let go of old emotions and past relationships. It is time to get the negativity out of your system.
Coddle: There was no real interpretation for coddle, but the definition according to Encarta dictionary, to coddle is to treat somebody in an excessively protective and indulgent way, which is exactly what I felt Pete was doing to that silly spider.
Present: And lastly, according to Dreammoods.com, to dream that you receive a gift, indicates that you are being rewarded and recognized for your generosity and giving nature. You are held in high esteem by those around you. If someone gives you an inappropriate gift, then it suggests that you are the subject of unwelcome attention from someone. If you dream that you give someone an inappropriate gift, then it suggests that your true nature will eventually be exposed. To open a gift and find something disgusting inside, symbolizes disappointments or unexpected failures.
What I can gather from the above info, is this:
I’m a feminist that feels like an outsider at times. I saw a string of a spider silk, not a whole web, so that can related to creativity and feeling trapped, but not fully since there was not a full-blown web, so possibly I was feeling like I wanted to be more creative than I was being at the time. Pete washing the spider could mean that Pete was giving me his blessing for a new start to something and he was helping me push the negativity away (how supportive is this ‘dream boyfriend’?!). The fact that he coddled his ‘blessing’ to me for a new start, shows that he really is supportive, and is willing to protect me during this cleansing of bad and the bringing in of the new awesomeness (whatever that may be, haven’t figured that part out yet). Lastly, how Pete presents me with the spider, that part is more confusing. I am receiving a gift (to him it is an awesome gift for me), which means that I am being rewarded or essentially I am appreciated by those around me. But the fact that I thought the gift was disgusting represents failures. Perhaps the disconnect is in the perception, I feel like I will fail at this new start, but Pete, consistent as he is in the dream, is still showing me his appreciation and how much he recognizes my strengths. I’m not sure what this new beginning is yet, maybe this was a premonition dream and I have something new and fun to come, or perhaps I’m just not very observant and the negativity has already been pushed aside and my fresh beginning has begun without my realizing it. I’ll keep you updated!

Pinwheels!

My workplace recently went thru RIFs, more officially known as a reduction in force. I wanted to help cheer my co-workers up, and was digging on this pinwheel garland (courtesy of Hoosier Homemade).

Using the tutorials below I was able to make this picture an an office reality.

http://hoosierhomemade.com/pinwheel-garland-how-to-tutorial/

http://createstudio.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-make-pinwheel.html

I bought my materials at Michaels:
• Scrapbook paper
• Twine
• Stick glue
• Mini clothespins
• Mini brads
I also needed scissors and patience, as this was slightly more tedious and time consuming than I initially expected (but totally worth it!).

I glued paper together so it was double sided...

then cut the 12x12 paper into 4x4 squares.

Then folded and cut them as directed in the tutorials.

Using these adorable brads, I clasped the corners to the middle to make the pinwheels.

The almost final product... all they need is to be strung with mini clothespins!

And here is the garland, I added personalized notes and hung them on people's doors....think it went well!

On being a 50's housewife.....

Recently I have been drawn to the fifties, cooking, aprons, baking, and other such nonsense. I have never been a great, or even good cook at that, but when my mother dearest mentioned wanting an apron and I began browsing, I was met with an onslaught of adorable and vintage inspired aprons. I knew immediately I must possess one. But, I was not sure I deserved such an apron, especially when I thought back to the fifties when the women who wore such garments were household masterminds. Their house (at least in my imagination and on the tele) were immaculate, their cooking superb, their husbands happy, and their children were well mannered and well groomed, all the while wearing a splendid pair of heels, and of course, a coordinating apron. So, with that in mind, I set out a few tests to see if I was a worth candidate for such a charming apron. Since I am neither a wife nor a mother (to humans, to dogs I am a mother) I figured my trials should revolve around the kitchen, cooking and baking to be exact, because as I mentioned before, neither of these are my strong suits. I decided I would attempt three recipes: the first was a pasta dish where I actually had to chop vegetable (fresh from the farmer’s market) and I had to peel and cook fresh garlic, for the first time ever. My next task was to make a quiche; my quiche of choice was a green chile, mushroom, onion, and blue cheese quiche. And last was my mission to bake something other than just a cake out of a box; so I made cake pops! All of the dishes were successful, and I will later be posting the recipes and how the actual experience of cooking went for me, because now my main focus is the prize of the apron! So I began browsing for my apron...

There was this adorable cupcake inspired one from Flirty Aprons

Or this black and white gingham with red accents, which is a very classic option, from Vintage Aprons

And my last choice was a white and teal, slightly krafty style apron, from Anthropolgie

I decided on the last one, not because it was the cutest, because they were pretty much tied in my book, but because of convenience. I went down to the store and took it home instead of waiting to have one shipped! I was just that excited.

That got me thinking about other inspiration from that era, and how I can incorporate the awesomeness of vintage style, home and fashion, into my daily life. Here are a few pictures of what I would like to be like as a mom and wife, perhaps not quite so naughty, or perhaps that naughty, one never knows….

I mean, that picture up there is just so frigging adorable.

I loved the idea of this picture,

My modernized version of this would be me, in a retro-inspired kitchen with appliances from
Big Chill
My ideal kitchen would look something like this

or this, sans the red paint,

And I could be wearing something this stunning

With my hair up like this

Or for a more modern version, without the poof....

Ahhh, it seems like a dream to have that kind of kitchen, to look that elegant while cooking, and to maintain such a high standard of flawlessness without turning into a wretched, wicked Stepford wife...

Book Review: Anthropology of an American Girl

Let us begin with the NPR book review, and then we can end with my version of a book review.

A Beguiling Book Debuts For The Second Time
by JESSA CRISPIN

May 26, 2010
Bloated. Self-indulgent. Clichéd. These are the common traps of self-published books, those that never make it into the hands of a gimlet-eyed editor, someone willing to sacrifice pretty prose for the sake of the overall work. In 2003, Hilary Thayer Hamann published her novel Anthropology of an American Girl through her own press. It became something of a sleeper success, and seven years later, it is now being reprinted by the Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau. Clocking in at 624 pages and covering a few years in the life of teenager Eveline Auerbach in closeup detail, it suffers from all of the problems that can befall the self-published.
And yet there is something so beguiling, so charming about the book. At first you might reject it like a sugary pop song, but you will find yourself singing along a few days later. Anthropology is so very, very long, and yet it continues to beckon after you think you've finished with it. It becomes ensnared in that Twilight-esque trap of having every male character inexplicably and compulsively in love with its heroine, and yet her reveries on teenage love and lust are so authentic, you don't lose your patience.
It's Eveline's voice — equal parts pretentious and poetic, bratty and poignant, wise and naive — that saves the book. It captures exactly the thought processes of an introspective teenage girl. Her worldview is sharp and dead-on. On seeing her absent father at graduation: "It depressed me somewhat to be faced with my DNA like that." On femininity: "Girls are truly game as soldiers, with the brave things they do to their bodies and the harsh conditions they are able to tolerate." On being a teenage girl: "When you're fourteen, pretty much everything puts you in a difficult predicament."
Evie doesn't do much — she joins drama club, she falls in love, she outgrows high school friends — but her dry wit and keen sense of observation make her a fine companion. Likewise, Anthropology isn't a masterpiece, but it is addictive reading. Hamann inhabits the skin of a teenage girl so accurately, so effortlessly, it's a bit of a relief she has found her way into the book world. (Six-hundred-page epics about the inner lives of teenage girls are not generally considered marketable, unless there's a vampire involved.) If Hamann can accomplish this on her own, it'll be amazing to see what she can do with a little help.

Ok, now it’s my turn. With that kind of intriguing and subtly seductive review, what budding, new book club wouldn’t choose this book as their inaugural selection? Well, the book club I am in did chose this as our first read, and we were sorely disappointed.
The first three sentences of the NPR review nailed this book: bloated, self-indulgent, and clichéd are all adjectives that describe this book precisely. The book is a long-winded, verbose piece of work. Some of the ladies in the book club weren’t even sure if the book had an editor. Yes, the protagonist uses flowery speech and paragraphs loaded with metaphors. And yes, Eveline’s voice, her voice is bratty, ego-centric, and most definitely pretentious. She has very few, if any redeeming qualities, yet every male in the book falls madly for her, it’s utterly inexplicable. That is the one part of this book that is similar to Twilight, as Bella also has limited endearing qualities, yet two amazing guys fall deeply in love with her, reasons unknown. Evie’s principal issue is that the man she is head over heels for has left, I guess that is also a commonality with Bella. I get it, as a teenage girl, or young twenty-something, love lost is a major gloom cloud looming over your world. Evie becomes excessively mournful, somber, and self-loathing.

As for the length of the book, the NPR review states that the pages beckon you despite its wordiness. I disagree. It was a struggle for me to get through this book. I do not see a need for it to exceed 400 pages.

I will switch gears and end on the positives. Evie does experience a broken heart, and I think that is something we can all relate to. I remember having thoughts that I couldn’t imagine my life without this person or that person (the difference between Evie and myself is that I moved on and she remains stagnant in her miserable funk). So the book does have a few aspects that one can relate to.
The best part of the book for me involved the funeral that took place. I have attached below an excerpt that was moving to me, I believe this is where Hamann is poetic and introspective and provocative, and I am somewhat saddened that the book in its entirety wasn’t this moving and romantic. This was the most thought provoking portion of the book, and I am content knowing that at least some part of this book was worth reading. **Spoiler alert: See below for an excerpt from the funeral, if you haven’t read the book and plan on reading it this will reveal part of the story.**

Hamann, Hilary Thayer. Anthropology of an American Girl. Constable & Robinson Limited, 2011.