The Cat is Drawing Pentagrams

So, one night we decide to give the cat some catnip. What a great idea right? Then we found a ball of yarn, and thought, 'What an even GREATER idea?'. Well, we put some tidbits of catnip in the ball of yarn and let Arry take a wack at it... which she did...

The next morning we found this.

The cat is drawing pentagrams in our breakfast room.

No more catnip for her.

In unrelated non-cat news, I was craving something horrendously bad for me.

 Hence the monstrosity depicted below. I don't know if you can see, but that pan is probably 2 or 3 inches deep.

Godliest nachos ever. We couldn't finish them. I couldn't even bear to look at them the next day.

Housemate approved.

 So, being the mischevious chocolate-loving female I am, I decided to be a little selfish this year and er... not share my birthday cake. I made it a few days in advance, then finished it off after my party. Granted, I did spend some given birthday money on the ingredients getting like 3 different kinds of chocolate.

All I can say is... Holy !*@& Can I atleast make something look DECENT?

 The first time I made cakes it looked "special" and I just passed it off as "quirky". But SERIOUSLY FOR THE 5th TIME CAN I JUST MAKE SOMETHING THAT LOOKS SLIGHTLY AESTHETICALLY PLEASING FOR THE LOVE OF GOD?!

I used a simple chocolate cake recipe which called for coffee (couldn't resist). Then made a dark chocolate ganache for the middle layer. Then for the outer I used a raspberry white chocolate mousse... which apparently didn't thicken enough or I used too much liquid.. I don't know. What I can say though is that this cake brought me some hellish developments.

This cake had me crying by the way. CRYING. I had to blend and strain raspberries,without a "cheese cloth". Tried a paper towel, nope. Coffee filter, nope. By this point I was crying. Then the boy came in and suggested a tea strainer and a coffee sieve, both to no avail. I was, shamefully, still crying. He disappeared for a few minutes, then came back out, pulled out one of the shmancy tea bags he had from the theater, then proceeded to squeeze small amounts of seeds through the tea bag (mind you it was made of silk, really fancy schmancy, was probably some chai flavor no one in the house really liked). Anywho, it worked. Finally. Love that boy.

Birthday and Business

Well, guess what. I got sick on my birthday weekend. I felt my left lymph node swell up the day before while I was rolling pot stickers, (which were devoured maybe 10 minutes after they were set out) and the day after my birthday I started feeling disoriented. Boy took me out for Star Pizza, then promptly took me to a cvs and bought me cold meds. Adore him.

Here are some of the highlights from the night.

People asked me what they should get me for my birthday. I promptly replied to all, "dinosaurs".

I was not disappointed

Neither was boy.

This super girl also had a birthday on the same day. I made her a lactose free and allergen free cake (since she's nearly allergic to everything). Pineapple cake with a vanilla honey glaze. 

Laura made me a cookie cake in the shape of a DINOSAUR

He was yummy.

Now I can dig up dinos.

Matching nalgene buddies 4life!

Love this woman right here.

Me, loving this woman right there.

Derptastic couple

Great and modest minds think alike.

Love this kid. He needs to come down from aggieland more and bake with me.

*Dance dance dance dance*

We had the back room set up with the N64 and Wii. Great idea.

All in all. Fun night. Sadly I didn't take pictures of the lamingtons and potstickers I made, but I assure you it won't be the last time I ever do.

A Week in Pictures

SO, this week was packed. But I did make sure to take pictures of tasty things and cat things.

DOWOWOW

Weirdest cat in the world. She will actually watch tv and video games.

I'm sad I actually forgot to take pictures of these pretty little things once they were steamed. They're barbecued chicken dumplings, with the dumpling covers made from scratch. I had also made a bottle of home-made red chili oil that I mixed with some soy and vinegar to make a tasty dipping sauce. They lasted maybe... 3 hours before all of their little dumpling cousins and nephews were consumed in our bellies. Poor little dumplings.

Friend with crazed cat. This lady is awesome. We did a girly shopping evening and I found an awesome blue dress that will soon be turned into the BEST Halloween costume. I never plan ahead for those kinds of things then regret it painfully the week of. This year will be different.

 OHMANZ I saw this a few weeks ago and thought, "No... this is too good to be true."
Then. I made it.

Bacon wrapped eggs, baked in a muffin tin with cheese. So bad. So good. 

I had also developed a sweet tooth this week. Picked up some limes and lemons at the store, and made some tasty curd. This lasted for maybe two days. Then I had firmly decided it needed to be married to something pastry and chocolate. 

I also had split my thumb nail across the nailbed a week ago, so squeezing and juicing the citrusy delights was a challenge in and of itself.

PASTRY AND CHOCOLATEZOMG

Housemate approved. I also totally broke the rules and TOTALLY tempered chocolate chips even though they have nasty additives that make it "harder". Totes.

Behold. Lemon-lime curd chocolate tarts. Mmmmmm. Co-workers loved it. I'm going to bring a few more tomorrow to work :3 or else I would eat them all.

This is something the boy whipped up, we had some lentils and barley we hadn't experimented with. He cut up some zuccini and carrots and made a curry stew. SO FILLING. After our serving of them we had about two hours of laying around immobilized by how physically and emotionally FULL we were. That's definitely something that's gonna last more than two days (hopefully).This beautiful creation was made last night, then finished off by 4pm the next day. So sad. Crust from scratch, stuffed with cheese, rolled out by hand (desperately need a real roller though :( ), topped with pepperoni, low-fat mozzarella, and artichoke hearts. I already miss it. The boy said that it was the best home-made pizza he'd ever had. It was greasy and cheesy and wonderful. And I am still mourning its passing. 

 In other news I'm now currently working on revising and pumping out as much 'poesy' as I can. Finally looking to submit to journals hopefully soonly.