Treats for appetites of every size
Thursday was just one of those days when I really needed to bake something. Class got out early, I had done the reading for Friday, and I suddenly had a full afternoon on my hands. Since I was going to the grocery store anyways, I decided to pick a new recipe to try. And, as I usually do when I have friends coming over, I browsed through Boozy Baker to decide.
This past Thursday marked my first official day as a law student. Yes, it is still orientation. And yes, my current obligations include things like free food truck lunches and a tour of the Sam Adams Brewery tomorrow. But, I did succeed in arriving to orientation without Harvard informing me that they had made some horrific mistake by sending me communications for the past couple of months indicating they would like me to attend, which is a pretty big win in my book.
It’s my last weekend of summer vacation. And I still haven’t had a s’more. For some reason, as you grow up, the number of opportunities you have to consume s’mores in the summer greatly decreases. When I was younger, I feel like there was always a fire pit ready and waiting for me to perfect my marshmallow roasting skills, whether on a beach, at a campsite, or in someone’s backyard. We even had an indoor s’mores maker for when there wasn’t a fire handy. This summer, however, I can distinctly remember the one opportunity I had (back in July at …
Summer has this really annoying way of seeming like it stretches on forever until all of a sudden the other end of it is almost here and you’re running out of time. Last weekend, my mom and I were casually browsing travel books while we planned our trip. Today we are in a position, two weeks from being in London, where we should really have hotel accommodations booked.
This was both an amazing and absolutely terrible idea. I’ve had Serious Eats The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe saved on my Pinterest for literally about 3 years. In that recipe, Kenji, who runs the food lab (a science person’s dream baking blog) painstakingly adjusts every ingredient in chocolate chip cookies until he arrives at his ideal. And I finally gave it a try.
Happy Mother’s Day! As is my tradition (if two years can be considered a tradition), I’m dedicating this week’s post to my amazing mom, who also happens to be my best friend. Love you, mom! Yesterday, when I was wondering what to bake, I called her for ideas. Normally, I would go the coconut route, but I feel like I’ve done that a lot recently, and since she won’t actually get to enjoy the treat, it seemed more mean than thoughtful.
Nine hours. That’s how long it took me to drive from Massachusetts to New Jersey yesterday. How long should it have taken? 4-5 depending on NORMAL traffic. But no, I was instead hit by a snow storm that kept me at no more than 15 miles per hour throughout the state of Connecticut. And if you know me, you know how I feel about driving on 95 in the Connecticut. So that’s why this post is a day late.
Baking ingredients all have their own personality. Some of them are over-sensitive, hardening and becoming unusable at slightest hint of oxygen (I’m looking at you, brown sugar). Some of them have a way of hiding in your cabinet and only appearing after you’ve bought a replacement (that would be molasses, as discussed here, and, oddly, Karo syrup). And others fall into the general category of “You Will Only Ever Have To Buy This Once Because It Is A Magical Never Ending Container” (obviously, this is baking powder and baking soda).
As I mentioned last week, this weekend was cookie baking weekend. This year, I made cookie tins for 16 different people, so I made 5 full batches of treats in total. That is not an insignificant amount of cookies. In fact, I was in the kitchen so long that I went through my entire Christmas playlist. That’s a good 5 hours of Christmas music. As a side note, Straight No Chaser’s new album is excellent. I’m partial to “Text Me Merry Christmas” and “Nutcracker“. You should watch both of those videos before you keep reading.
Ahh, November as a teacher in New Jersey. After the mayhem that is the start of the school year, this month feels like a breeze. This past weekend was a long weekend for Teacher’s Convention, which I took advantage of to journey down south to DC and Baltimore to visit some friends from college. It was a short trip, but walking around inner harbor in Baltimore made me very nostalgic for a road trip my family had taken a long time ago.