Food52

I follow along with a food site called Food52 which teaches me a lot and also inspires me. This morning, under the influence of pregnancy hormones, I saw their post on these cinnamon sugar donut holes and just HAAAAAAD to get up and make them. They're really very good. I would like one (just one, I swear) every morning for the next year...

The (evil) inspiration

Mine. All mine.

Hey Sugar Update

I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat waiting to know what sugar bowl I decided on.  Yes?  Ok, maybe not, but I'm exceedingly pleased with myself because I waited until I found the perfect thing. 

I found it at Williams Sonoma.  A little glass jar with a wood lid.  $12.95.  Looks like they're only selling them as a set on the Williams Sonoma website.  I got just the little one.  So cute!

Wah wah...

Feeling a little sorry for myself.  A few years ago, I tore the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL).  After an exceptionally painful surgery and recovery, I was almost back to normal.  Last weekend, we went skiing with friends in Mammoth, and I re-tore my ACL.  So more surgery.

So we had a pretty quiet Presidents' day weekend with A LOT of cooking.  The menu was pretty sensational...

Saturday
Atlantic lobster, steamed
Clarified butter
Rice Pilaf
Sauteed greens with garlic and bacon

Sunday
Baby back ribs, dry rubbed
Homemade bbq sauce
Mother in Law's potato salad
Leftover greens

Monday
Rush's homemade sausages
Green salad
Leftover potato salad
Homemade Raspberry Hand Pies 

I'll post some recipes, but the take home of the weekend is that homemade ribs are delicious with a little prep.  I dry rubbed them the day before and then cooked them in the oven and finished them on the grill.  Totally worth the effort!

Lately

Have been having fantastic weekends recently with lots of fun (clambakes, wine tasting, herding lessons - oh my!) which hasn't left a ton of time for cooking and crafting, but I had seen a recipe for strawberry biscuits that looked too good to pass up, especially since we practically live in a strawberry field.  Ok... not really, but they grow a lot of strawberries around here!

I'm pretty sure that my baking powder is defunct, and I think I kneaded too much, but they're still pretty yummy and especially cute nestled in the vintage hanky I use to transport my breakfast/toast each morning in the car.

Get Well

With the bake sale that I did for my friends and their son, I raised $1000!  I figured I should probably send them a special card and what's more special than homemade?  I turned to Jordan at Oh Happy Day and her contributor's DIY pop-up card tutorial.  Definitely a bit time consuming but a cute result!

Cruel, cruel world

One of my dearest friends in the world found out that her son, at age 20 months, has cancer.  The heartbreak alone is impossible to imagine.  Watching your little one go thru chemo and lose his baby hair is impossible to imagine.  Mounting hospital bills are easily imaginable.  So what do I do in a crisis?  I bake.  I baked for two straight days in order to drum up donations for my friend and her family.  With multiple burns on my arms, I delivered 15 lbs of party mix, 14 dozen chocolate chip cookies, and 4 dozen brownies to my friends and colleagues.  I am forever in their debt for their generosity.

I used the baking twine that I bought up in Seattle a few months ago and found some really cute red/white striped wax paper at Michael's to separate the brownies and keep them from sticking.  Finally, I used a stamp kit from staples to make the little thank you notecard on craft paper