Tag Archives: baking

Already.

Remember how I was all, IMMA POST EVERY SINGLE DAY EVER!?

I forgot that it’s really tough to keep that kind of promise when you’re days away from leaving the country (maybe. I’m looking at you, Heathrow!) and it’s a close countdown to Christmas and there’s a MILLION THINGS HAPPENING.

Things:

1) Ainjel is here and her CD sounds awesome
2) My tooth hurts. Endodontic flare up or something.
3) I bought snow boots and thermals.
4) I had Christmas tamales. There’s nothing, nothing like Christmas tamales.
5) The Saints lost. I … I … I don’t even know.

Sidenote: I really, really hate Everybody Loves Raymond.

Mince Mince Mince

Test run of the mince pies tonight. The Dai Due mince was quite good, not as sweet and gooey (I think is the right word) as the ones we’re used to, but Daniel commented that the lack of sweetness and more natural taste was really nice.

I added a spoonful of vanilla ice cream on the side to make up for it and it worked out nicely.

I spread out the pie dough too thin on the bottoms and as a result, left most of the pie bottoms on the tin. Next time I’ll get that ratio right.

Some pics:

The Sweet Tooth

Before the doctors opened up my skull, I never had a sweet tooth. I’d enjoy the occasional fruit dessert (strawberry shortcake) and slice of carrot cake, but I never needed it. Certainly never went Cathy-crazy and threatened anyone with bodily harm if they stood between me and chocolate.

Also, I used to LOVE red wine.

Both of these things have changed significantly post-op. It hurts me to even type that. (Do you know how long my red-wine love affair lasted? Oh the plans we made!)

I can’t get enough chocolate. Seriously. I’ll eat something sweet every night. When I lost my appetite completely and would struggle to eat at all, you could be sure I’d fall face first in a piece or three of cake. And these days, even the finest Pinot Noir tastes of vinegar once it passes my lips.

(“It’s like that sometimes, I mean ridiculous.”)

It’s a crime. A shame. It’s heartbreaking.

And worse than all that, it’s costing me a visit to the dentist on Monday to revisit this pain that turning my top left molar into a torture machine on my skull. (Heat/cold/pressure all = OW FUCK STOP!*) Antibiotics and pain relievers have both been prescribed.

*My skull has a foul mouth.

This newly discovered sweet tooth may be in for some serious work.

In the meantime, I will drink my Sauvignon Blanc and white Bordeaux and desperately try and retrain my brain to recall my Malbec love.

This photo is of the strawberry topped Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cupcakes I talked about in a previous post. I made these for the community potluck a month or so back where we got to meet sweet Madeline, Jorge and Mel’s new little girl. I did them up with some cream cheese icing instead of chocolate for a change. They were YUM, but all melty what with the heat and cream cheese. All the more reason to eat them up fast!*

My excuse, anyway!

Banana Cake with Banana Cream Cheese Frosting

I buy a lot of bananas with good one-a-day intentions and then end up with brown fruit that needs to be some sort of magical bread transforming. This (more often than not) doesn’t happen, but when it does, it’s always the same thing — banana nut bread.

TIME TO SHAKE THINGS UP IN BANANALAND.

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com and gave it a shot, with a few tweaks that I gleaned from the comments. The reason I love AllRecipes.com in general isn’t so much for their recipes but for the wealth of information in the comments. It’s like a real-life test kitchen, with a dash of crazy, ornery and judgment thrown in for kicks.

Banana Cake with Banana Cream Cheese Frosting (adapted and tweaked for maximum nom)

(read on for recipe)
Continue reading “Banana Cake with Banana Cream Cheese Frosting” »

Giving in …

Since I’ve been spending most my waking hours drooling over cookbooks, cooking magazines, food blogs and the like, I may as well give in and let my inner eater have a spin at the wheel for awhile.

I’m blogging persh back at imzadi22.livejournal.com and you can pretty much expect me gush about gorgeous, nibbly things here.

I made this banana cake with banana cream cheese frosting tonight …