Saturday, March 21, 2009

Me Bake??

Adapted from one of my faves- Baking Bites.

I totally could have been more than one choice for each of these but still...interesting at say the least.

What's Your Baking Personality?

Cornell University researchers studied nearly 800 family cooks and determined five distinct types of cooking personalities, types which supposedly influence the types of dishes that you make and what your “food biases” are. The study was done mostly to show that what we think we’re eating - healthy, tasty home-cooked meals - isn’t necessarily what we’re putting on the table because homemade doesn’t necessarily mean health food (although it certainly can).

1) When I bake, I typically:

a) Opt for one of a handful of very familiar recipes that I make all the time.
b) Pick a recipe and follow it step-by-step.
c) Tweak the ingredients of a recipe to cut down on fat or sugar.
d) Go all out and create impressive, professional-looking delicacies.
e) Rarely use recipes as written and like to experiment with ingredients and flavors.

2) Some of my favorite ingredients are:

a) Chocolate, butter and vanilla.
b) Flour, eggs and sugar.
c) Applesauce and brown sugar.
d) Scratch puff pastry and browned butter.
e) Herbs and edible flowers.

3) In my free time I like to:

a) Visit with friends and family with baked goods in tow.
b) Organize the house and clean the kitchen.
c) Exercise or take a fitness class to burn off those extra cookies.
d) Read cookbooks or take cooking classes.
e) Watch cooking shows and read food blogs to stay ahead of the food trends.

4) My favorite things to bake are:

a) Classics, like chocolate chips cookies and brownies.
b) Cakes, because there is a lot of variety in the flavors, but the technique is always similar.
c) Recipes that include whole grains, or cut down on the added fat.
d) Breads, where I can try to achieve the perfect crumbs.
e) Ethnic sweets and desserts from other countries.

5) Other people describe me as:

a) Really friendly. (and extremely awesome)
b) Diligent and methodical.
c) Health conscious.
d) Intense and passionate.
e) Curious or innovative.

Which letter did you choose most often? Don’t worry about overlap - most of us fall into more than one category, and the quiz is just for fun. Here’s what your answers say about your baking style:

a) Giving: Friendly, well-liked and enthusiastic, giving bakers seldom experiment, love baking and like to serve tried-and-true family favorites that they know are crowd pleasers, rather than risk experimenting with the unknown.

b) Methodical: Talented bakers who rely heavily on recipes because baking is considered to be a science for a reason! They know that they’ll get the results they want that way. And usually, their creations look just like the picture in the cookbook.

c) Healthy: Healthy bakers love to be in the kitchen, but worry about the side effects of eating too many treats. They experiment with alternative ingredients to cut down on the “unhealthy” parts of recipes, usually white flours, sugars, eggs and fats. Health comes first, even if it means making a few compromises with taste and texture.

d) Competitive: Pros do it, so there is no reason that the competitive bakers shouldn’t be able to do it, too. Competitive bakers have dominant personalities, are perfectionists who are always trying to improve their own skills, and love to impress their guests.

e) Innovative: Creative and trend-setting, innovative bakers seldom use recipes and like to experiment with ingredients, cuisine styles and methods.


So there ya go, "giving"...not surprised, like I've said before making others happy makes me happy, so I guess now it also keeps their bellies full! :)...I probably should aim for more healthiness but eh...enjoy!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Cause you care.

Sooo I joined Xsport Fitness this week, and LOVE IT! Never thought I would go "corporate" as I call these types of gyms, but stranger things have happened. This is also the first time I have purchased a membership to any type of gym, the perks of teaching Spin is the free membership, so I now belong to 4 gyms, all for 39 bucks a month! :) So anyways I'm quite happy with my new purchase, afterall this place is right down the block from Mark's current place, within the area we are looking to buy come later this year AND it's open 24/7!! Sweet jesus! Sad to say I know there will be many a nights were I'd rather go workout then go out so now I can!!!!
Speaking of those nights, tonight will be one of those. As some of you know (many probably not), Battlestar Galactica is airing for the last time ever this evening for 2 HOURS! Oh holy hell, never seen the show, don't want to and don't plan to. So Mark and the boys will be watching that (along with many a basketball games) and you better believe I'll be living it up and sweating it off with my new love affair, Mr. Xsport. So if you haven't heard from me in a while check State and 8th. Later kids, and smile it's the first day of spring, hmmm I should go buy some tulips.

Monday, March 16, 2009

'bout time

So I told myself March 1st I would get back into running...and well it's March 16th and I've been twice. Fail. I can climb 104 flights of stairs, spin for hours, 48 push ups, but running I flat out suck at. But I'm to the point where I don't want to suck anymore at it. I have the mother day's 5k in May so might as well get a move on. I read this real simple (for Nike) advertisement this morning in a magazine and well yeah I really think it was code for "Jen get off your ass", job well done Nike. So here goes it really applies to anything you put off or need motivation for. Mine is for running....

"If you think you'll have more time (to run) tomorrow, remember you said that yesterday"
What's yours for......

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Martha Crocker

Yes it's true, I am becoming a combination of them..Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart, and I'm ok with that. So here goes..my very very good friend Janeen got engaged Sunday night and I couldn't be happier for both her and Nick, it's been a long time coming (cough, cough), but then again isn't always for the girl!? ;) So Hooray...I am not committing to anything next summer until this is locked down, yes I love weddings, as long as it's not mine, that one I'll probably despise.
ANYWAYS...if you don't know already you will now-as Mondays go I have an elite group of girls over, cook pasta of some sort and recently now a dessert or two and we watch a half hour of pure drama filled (100% real life ;)) MTVness, aka "The City", and when not in it's off-season "The Hills". So what better night then to have a mini celebration for the newest bride to be!!! So first things first, a small trinket of congratulatory measures...I really wanted to get her a "ring holder" so I stopped off at a small little 'miscellaneous store' as I call them by my work, they have the cutest, randomest stuff...but no ring holder. Shucks. On to my newest obsession/find Swoozies. Check them out here-http://swoozies.com/ You can see why a girl such as me might like this place. Anyways..I ended up with a cute "bride notepad"...love the ribbon on it






Now onto the baking part, or so I thought...I wanted to make a cake, which low and behold I NEVER HAVE-shocking I know...unless you count the easy bake oven and 15 years ago...so yeah that was my mission, next stop the infamous Dollar Store for hopefully a HUGE cheesy dress up style ring for the cake topper..no luck, however I did make my favorite purchase of the night...a garter, but not to be used as a garter should but for the wrapping of the note pad! I had Tiffany blue wrapping paper at home so BAM-instant ribbon!!!






I was so impressed with my idea I called my mom instantly (yes,the master of this "Martha Crocker" biznessssss, and who I idolize the most)-SCORE, she loved the idea! You would have thought I was pregnant by the glow on my face for the next 90 mins. Ok so I left with no cheesy cake topper...OHHH whats a girl to do...mmmm can't make a cake with a ring topper, well just make a cake shaped into a ring! Genius I tell ya, pure genius. So I cooked two 8 inch cakes (thankfully-for some reason I just thought "oh I'll just cut out the middle of the one cake and cut that up into the diamond"-yeeeeea not so much), all in all I'm giving my self a 6 out of 10 on the cake scale. I was a little upset with the uneveness of the ring it self (they do speak the truth when they say cool cake completely) as well as with the frosting, I couldn't figure out how to do the diamond part...





I could have easily dyed some frosting pink or yellow but I knew she didn't have a pink or yellow diamond and I'm all about exact representation, or I was...I used a huge amount of sprinkles. :) YUM, or at least it looked yummy and was told it was. Damn lent. But I'm pretty happy with it, being my first cake attempt, and the most important thing is Janeen absolutely loved it!!! Which makes this all worth wild, and of course a reason to blog! :)


Congrats Jan-love you!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Wii.

ha ha...oh boys you sickos you.


Thursday, March 5, 2009

I'm a hero!


And you can become one too!!!

http://www.cpbintegrated.com/theherofactory/



Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Sick.

I am sick, so is Mark. It is not fun. So weak, my eyes burn, my throat is on fire, my nose is running better than I do, Nyquil is my only friend right now. Going to try hot tea today, I luckily haven't thrown up as of yet which I'm ok with. Word to the wise stay away from me, and/or Mark. I don't want you to go through what we are, we'll take one for the team...thank us later. Brrrr...so chilly. :(