The Holy Trinity

I told you I would and I did.

I figured my birthday was a perfect excuse to make these. I'm going to an outdoor festival tomorrow so they needed to be easily portable. I decided to make them tart-sized to solve this problem. They are amazing.

EAT-THESE-AND-DIE-HAPPY TARTS

FOR TART SHELLS:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

8 tablespoons (about) ice water

Tin tart shells

1 box cake mix + necessary add-ins(oil, egg, etc)

1 tube chocolate chip cookie dough

1 tub frosting

To make tart shells: Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, incorporate vegetable shortening and butter chunks until mixture is coarse and mealy. Add ice water (2 tbsp at a time) until dough holds together. Gather into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm (about 1 hour). Roll out until 1/8-1/4 inch thickness and cut out circles using a cookie cutter or drinking glass. Press into tin tart shells. Stab bottom of dough a couple of times with a fork.

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Press a small amount of chocolate chip cookie dough into the bottom of unbaked tart shells.

Prepare cake mix according to the box and spoon into tarts over cookie dough until just below the lip of the shell.

Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Makes 25 tarts

NOTES:

• You will most likely have leftover cake batter as well as cookie dough. I had enough to make 6 cupcakes and the cookie dough is sitting in my fridge because I figured chocolate chip cookies would just be gratuitous hehe

• I cooked my tarts on top of a cast iron skillet. Awhile ago I was trying to figure out a way to try and crisp up the bottom of a pie without pre-baking it and my dad came up with the idea of placing it on top of a cast iron pan in the oven. I haven't tried to make them sans pan yet so I don't know if the skillet really had anything to do with it but the bottoms are satisfyingly cooked.

Love at first....light?

I dunno. Liz does the puns, not me. This picture still makes me happy.

via i owe you a love song

I am awake....

.....and it is 7 a.m.

Why am I awake?

Because I went to bootcamp with my dear friend Melissa.

The sun was still behind the trees.

That is how early I woke up today.

I actually kind of enjoy being up this early once I'm out of bed. I feel like I accomplish more in the day....once I drag my butt away from the computer. Plus I've got a lot on the to-do list for today before the birthday fun begins tomorrow including making this beast.

Here's the soundtrack for my day. Going to see them in August! So pumped!

A-NO-MA-LY

They crack me up.

Cornbread Dumplings with Brandied Cherry Sauce

We bought a bunch of fresh cherries yesterday. The weather has been so amazing here for the past month that all the local fruit has arrived early! I decided to modify a recipe I saw in the latest Rachel Ray magazine and make this cherry concoction with cornbread dumplings.

CORNBREAD DUMPLINGS WITH BRANDIED CHERRY SAUCE

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 tablespoons cup brown sugar

1 1/4 pounds cherries, pitted (4 cups)

Zest of one orange

1/4 cup brandy

1 tablespoon cornstarch, whisked with a a little water until smooth*

1 cup corn flour or cornmeal

1 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar**

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400˚F.

In a 12-inch cast iron skillet, combine 4 tablespoons butter with brown sugar and orange zest and stir over medium heat until dissolved. Stir in cherries and brandy and simmer until cherries are softened. Add cornstarch mixture and cook until liquid thickens. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together corn flour, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in buttermilk and egg.

In the microwave, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Stir into batter until smooth. Drop batter over cherry mixture to make dumplings. Cover and seal skillet with tinfoil and cook in oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven when dumplings are done (toothpick stuck in to test) and let cool.

*Only add this if you want to thicken up the sauce. The cornbread does a nice job soaking up the cherry juice without this addition but I like to add it just to thicken it a bit.

**I accidentally left the brown sugar out of the cornbread dumplings and didn't notice until I was retyping this recipe. So, if you want to sweeten them up a bit go ahead and add this but in my opinion, it's fine without it.

Makes 8 servings.

Monday Mix #5: J'aime la musique

In honour of my sister's francophone escapades, this week's compilation is a bunch of my favourite French songs. I barely speak French (not even well enough to say I speak French) but I find that you don't even have to know the language to enjoy these songs.

MONDAY

Tricot machine - L'ours

TUESDAY

3 gars su'l sofa - L'été

WEDNESDAY

Kain - Embarque ma belle

THURSDAY

Coeur de pirate - Comme des enfants

FRIDAY

Marina - Tout me revient

(I just want to know who the three people dancing with the masks on are)

SATURDAY

Superbus - Lova lova

(This one is for Chelsey because I know you'll probably find all the other acoustic stuff boring)

SUNDAY

La Plage - Coupe de boule

photo from here

Cookie fail?

It started with a bag of mint chocolate chips....

.....and ended with these ugly beasts.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

So, I had never seen these mint chocolate chips in at the grocery store before and thought they sounded intriguing. Mireille was equally intrigued so I decided to make a batch of cookies so she could take them on the plane with her. (Marisa's failed cookies still > plane food). I wanted to make a half chocolate half mint cookie and swirl the chocolate chips in there. I found a couple recipes and gave it a try.

The mint batter turned out ok. It was a nice cookie dough consistancy and I was satisfied with the colour. The chocolate dough is another story.

I was too lazy to wash out the big bowl I had used for the mint dough so I used a slightly smaller bowl that I knew would be just a tad too small for all the dough I was making but oh well. I'm lazy.

The second "strike" (I'm not sure if I mind this so much) was when I grabbed the Ghirardelli container out of the pantry without really reading the label too carefully. I just saw chocolate and figured it was the cocoa powder. It was, in fact, mocha hot chocolate powder. So the chocolate half didn't bake properly because it had too much sugar (and this recipe already has a lot of sugar in it). I still think they are pretty damn tasty, though.

So, I mixed them together and they didn't bake at the same rate and the chocolate mocha half flattened out like a pancake because of the extra sugar while the mint half stayed nice and cookie-y. So, they are very ugly but still pretty tasty. I think I'm going to fiddle around with these more until I find two chocolate and mint cookie recipes that compliment each other nicely and bake well together.

Individually, I wouldn't call these cookies a total fail. If you like really flat cookies that are chewy in the center and crispy around the edge you'll like the chocolate mocha ones. The mint ones are nice and chewy and look more like a good chocolate chip cookie—only green.

CHOCOLATE MOCHA COOKIES

1 1/4 cup butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Ghirardelli Mocha Hot Chocolate powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Cream butter and sugar together with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.

Combine the flour, hot chocolate mix, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture gradually, beating until well incorporated.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet (space well, they flatten and spread out a lot). Bake for 8 - 10 minutes. Remove and let cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup chocolate chips

Green food colouring

Preheat oven to 375˚F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer. Add in sugar and baking powder. Beat until fluffy. Beat in egg, extracts and food colouring. Stir in flour until just mixed. Add chocolate chips.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto and ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are set. Remove and let cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

NOOOO!!!!

Dear Michael,

When you come back as a thriller zombie, please bring Billy back with you.

Sincerely,

Marisa

Good morning

Woke up at 6:30 a.m. to go see my sister off at the airport.

She's off to Quebec for 5 weeks.

This thing freaks me out.

Robot facade still in tact

What is wrong with me??

Also, I am completely incapable of seeing

him as anyone other than Jack Donaghy.

Twenty is...nothing rhymes with "twenty"

Well, at least nothing that makes sense. "Cognoscenti" and a bunch of Italian surnames rhyme with "twenty". Unless I use good ol' Wayside School logic. Then twenty is nifty. And sparkly and sprightly (that last one was Mireille's suggestion).

Happy Birthday, m'dear!

i.Anton

Mmmm dreamy

Check out more beautiful photos by i.Anton here

Sad day in Ollywoo

God gave women intuition and femininity. Used properly, the combination easily jumbles the

brain of any man I've ever met.

- Farrah Fawcett

And my goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance.

- Michael Jackson

(I'm still convinced MJ is coming back as a Thriller zombie)

No turning back

I love this video. So so much. My friends know I'm a sucker for anything textural so you can bet I was mesmerized when I saw this video over at the lovely daydream lily. I particularly love the way the ocean is rendered. The animation was done by Australian artist Celeste Potter.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

What's this? Marisa made a pie without any booze in it at all? Unheard of.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Makes one 9-inch pie

For crust

3 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp (1 1/4 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into pieces

7 tbsp (approx) ice water

For filling

3 1/2 cups 1/2-inch pieces of rhubarb (1.5 lbs)

3 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled and halved

1/2 cup golden brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Zest and juice of half a lemon

1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp water (for glaze)

Preheat oven to 400˚F.

To make crust: Combine flour, sugar and salt in food processor and blend. Using pulses, incorporate shortening and butter (2 tablespoons at a time) until mixture is coarse and resembles small peas. Blend in enough ice water so that dough forms moist clumps. Remove dough from food processor and gather into a ball. Cut ball in half. Flatten each half into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. (Can be made one day ahead).

To make filling: Combine ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently.

Assembling your masterpiece: Roll out one disc of dough on a floured work surface and transfer to pie pan. Trim excess dough, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang. Roll out second dough disc and cut into fourteen 1/2-inch strips.

Spoon filling into pie and lay 7 dough strips on top. Lay remaining 7 on top perpendicular to other strips so that a criss-cross is formed. Trim excess dough and fold edge of dough under itself to make a nice edge. Brush egg mixture over crust. Set pie pan on a baking sheet to catch possible filling that may bubble over.

Bake for 20 minutes at 400˚F. Reduce oven temperature to 350˚F and bake until crust is golden brown and filling thickens (this can take anywhere from 25 minutes to 40 minutes so keep an eye on your pie). Remove pie from oven when done and let cool completely.

Recipe modified from smitten kitchen

My little corner of the world

I love it when I get the house all to myself. I had the day off from work today so I baked a pie, cleaned the house, played piano, read a book, watched Merlin and listened to Taylor Swift on repeat. (I'm a tad obsessed with this song). I'm not sure if I'm more annoyed or amused at how they slapped a pair of giganticus glasses and made her a reading/studying nerd in an attempt to make her seem....less appealing? Oh well. Twas a good good day.

GRP2009 is nearly complete!

Yessssssssss

via antonyelchinfuckyeah

The Disposable Memory Project

This is such a brilliant idea.

(although I must admit, the sign smack in the middle of this photo is kind of driving me a little nuts)

I love you, always. Time is nothing.

Ok, I know I'm a bit behind on this but I just found out a few days ago that they are making The Time Traveler's Wife into a movie!

Armed and ready

Paid a little visit to the local art store (which totally pwns sUcktrecht) and picked up some lovely inks and inking paraphernalia to fiddle around with now that I have a bit more time. I've been wanting to try some floral illustrations with coloured inks since I started my job at the garden center. I figure it is such a perfect medium because you get such intense, rich colours or you can dilute them and get more delicate tones. So versatile! It's going to be a good good day.

My mom picked up this cool book with tons of different techniques for various mediums (including inks!) so I'm going to have a flip through that. I have a feeling it will be covered in post-its and drool once I'm done with it. I am also really eager to try out this transfer technique that Liz tried the other day.

Monday Mix #4: If I only had a voice

As much as I enjoy music and singing, I have a horrible voice. So here is my mix of seven talented ladies whose voices I would steal in a heartbeat. (Me, Ursula. Them, Ariel).

MONDAY

Adele - Right as Rain

TUESDAY

Kelly Clarkson - Irvine

WEDNESDAY

Emily Haines & Soft Skeleton - Our Hell

THURSDAY

Leigh Nash - Ocean Size Love

(This video looks like it should have bible verses written on it)

FRIDAY

MoZella - The Scientist

(I enjoy all of her little "Under the Covers" features on her youtube channel. She covers some of my favourite songs with that lovely lovely voice of hers. Liz take note of her location in this video.)

SATURDAY

KT Tunstall - Miniature Disasters

SUNDAY

Paramore (Hayley Williams) - Fences

Picture from here

Video rental store was closed...

....but I'm liking this shot of Mireille I took on the way there.

Terminator 2, Bolt, and Footloose will have to wait until tomorrow.

Batsister!

Cupcakes for breakfast = good good start to the day

Alternate title: I think I am secretly an eight-year-old boy.

So, I saw these amazing sprinkles at the grocery store that were DINOSAUR SHAPED. And purple, orange and green! So, of course I had to buy them and make some cupcakes with them. Truth be told, I actually don't like sprinkles very much. I don't like crunchy bits on top of my nice fluffy cupcake! So that just shows how much I love these dinosaur sprinkles.

I used the awesome Amy Sedaris' vanilla cupcake recipe (which has failed for me twice before but that was because I mucked with the batter and tried the make them lime flavoured). This time I just kept them plain vanilla and it worked! They are a bit dense for my liking. More like vanilla muffins. But still oh so tasty. Then I made some plain swiss meringue buttercream frosting a la How to Eat a Cupcake. I was going to make it lime flavoured because that seemed dinosaury to me but we were out of limes and I settled for lemon. I was a bit wimpy with the flavouring so the icing isn't very lemony but they are still good good.

It took me forever to figure out what these green sprinkles were (and actually, I didn't. Mireille did). She pointed out that they were footprints while I was trying to figure out what the heck kind of dinosaur looks like the Pacman ghosts.

Some of the cupcakes were green and some were purple

Frosting landscape

These were the second batch of cupcakes I tried to flavour with lime:

Lime cupcake fail.