Strawberry Shortcake

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  I love dressing up.  Its fun to be someone else for a day. However, I am very particular about authentic costumes.  I don't want to just be a generic character of some sort.  If I'm going to be a witch, I'm going to be Winifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus or The Wicked Witch of the West.  Don't just be a doctor, be Doctor House, you know?  Also, I think that you should dress as closely to the actual character as possible - meaning I quite disagree with women distorting the classic costume of Alice In Wonderland to be some sort of a whorish outfit.  It appears that dressing up for Halloween has now somehow come to mean dressing like a slut.  I find it fascinating that all these women allow Halloween to degrade themselves - unless they are glad to have an excuse to let their true colors shine...I'm just sayin'....

This Halloween  I decided to borrow my friend's costume from last year.  I tried it on and found that unfortunately the main dress didn't fit.  The hat and the apron would be perfect, but I asked my wonderful mother to make a new main dress for me, which she did.  She also made some super cute bloomers and a fluffy slip to add some whimsy to the costume.  I found some perfect green and white striped tights at the Halloween store and did my hair in pin curls to look as much like the character as possible. 

The result was me as the adorable Strawberry Shortcake.

I decided to celebrate the festivities and dress up not only for the actual event or for parties, but for work (at both jobs). I had many compliments and even won a costume contest.  But what I loved most was when little girls would see me and ask to have their picture taken with me!  "Strawberry Shortcake!" they would exclaim!  "Can I take a picture with you!?" It made my day!  I felt like a Disney princess in Disneyland!  Oh, there is nothing better.  A few years ago I was Snow White, which was also a hit with the little ones. Its so fun to see their little eyes brighten and the smiles break across their faces.  Oh, I'm so glad I decided to be Strawberry Shortcake.

Temptation

I'm tempted.  Should I?

Started

School started this past Thursday.  I'm taking two classes this semester; US History to 1877 and Microeconomics.  Taking only a couple of classes each semester is slowly marking off my lower division classes on my way to my teaching degree, but I'm making progress at least.

Wish me well!

Rosemary Focaccia Rolls - Recipe

So I've had a few requests for the recipe of these delicious rolls.  I got the recipe from www.ourbestbites.com.  You can find the recipe and other DELICIOUS ones here.
Or you can see below.  Though their website has better directions! 

Rosemary Focaccia Rolls

1 c. warm (105-115 degrees Fahrenheit) water
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 Tbsp. white sugar
1 tsp. Kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
2 Tbsp rosemary (dried or fresh), divided
1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 1/4-2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and sugar. Allow to stand for 10 minutes or until bubbly. While the yeast is getting bubbly, combine 2 C of the flour, salt, 1 1/2 Tbsp. rosemary, oregano and garlic powder.

Add flour mixture to yeast mixture along with 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Mix well. (I put it in my stand mixer with the dough hook on). Slowly add remaining flour to make a very soft dough--try and resist the urge to add too much flour. You want a soft, wet dough.
 
Cover and allow to rise 45 min- 1 hour or until double in size.

Lightly flour your work surface and transfer dough onto this surface. Divide into balls for rolls and place on a greased cookie sheet or pizza stone. Cover and allow to rise another 45 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Use remaining tablespoon of olive oil to brush over tops of rolls, discarding excess if you have any. Sprinkle with remaining rosemary and some Kosher salt.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until very lightly golden-brown. Serve immediately (if you can) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy...I did.

Rosemary Focaccia Rolls

My visiting teacher, Vanessa, brought me a loaf of this fantastic bread once, and both Husband and I keep wishing we had more, so I asked her for the recipe.  And I didn't have it for more than 48 hours until I broke down and made them (more like was bursting at the seams to make it).  And we enjoyed them with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Yum.  It was heavenly!

The Sprained Ankle

Two blogs ago I listed all the races I am wanting to participate in this year.  And even though I never did find a spot for the Utah Valley Half Marathon, and the Park City Half Marathon is full, I am still planning on the rest....hopefully.

Last Saturday I was doing my weekly run, with 5 miles to go and I was trying to figure out my ipod whilst running - and I wasn't paying much attention to where I was running and I stepped off the asphalt where it dropped 3 inches to the gravel and sprained my left ankle something fierce.  I kept walking on it thinking that if I just walked for a few minutes it would be okay.  So when I got to the point where I wasn't necessarily limping I started running again...and continued to run for the remaining miles.  Afterwards my ankle wasn't so bad...until I sat down and didn't walk on it for an hour, and then I really couldn't walk on it.  It wouldn't support any weight whatsoever.  I even had to pull out Husband's hiking stick to support my lack of left leg, at which time he so lovingly began to refer to me as "Gandolf".  Needless to say I ditched the "staff" as soon as I could, the next day. 

I found that once I iced the ankle on and off for 15 minutes, it started to get better immediately.  Though better is not best.  With today marking a week after the bad sprain, I can walk okay, but running is not yet an option.  All week I've been missing being able to run.  I'd get home from work and think, "boy its a great day, I wish I could go running" instead I've made my way through 2 seasons of Gilmore Girls.  Quite pathetic.  I'm hoping this coming week the ability to walk will turn into the ability to run.  Cross your fingers!

My First

Yesterday I decorated, really decorated my first cake.

We learned how to level, fill, frost, smooth and decorate a cake.

For the class I had to bake a 8 in. x 3 in. cake, bring all my supplies, and a batch of decorator's frosting (which when made from the recipe isn't too bad...but if you were to buy the actual Wilton's Frosting from the store, its quite disgusting, so recommend making it yourself or no one will eat your cake once they taste your frosting).

At class we learned to level the cake (cut it in half), then fill it (which I did with Nutella), then we learned the right way to frost a cake without getting crumbs in the frosting and then how to smooth out the cake.

We learned about adding coloring to frosting, how the color affects it, how to make different consistencies of frosting and when to use them.

We then decorated the cakes using a piper gel pattern transfer, I decided to decorated a the cake with a tie because I was making it for Father's Day.

I learned a lot and I must say, my first cake turned out pretty good....for a first.