New Year's Resolutions 2017

It's been a long time since I have written on my own personal blog. Nor have I bothered to write many posts on this blog in general (a measly three blogs, and it's been almost two years since I have written on here). Yikes! If I were Roy right now, people would be furious with me.

Slacker alert aside, I feel it is better to use this space to write my New Year's Resolutions, seeing as not everyone needs or wants to read them...this is really a space for me to keep track of things. 

Here goes:

1. Completely finish reading 20 adult books.

I'm shooting low here because I'm notorious for starting several books, and then having this growing pile of books I never finished. Then it becomes stressful to me because it's a pile of "work" to complete, and I no longer have the desire to read any of the books I was so excited about and interested in. "Adult" is included in this because I have a tendency to buy and read many children's books (chapter books and/or picture books) for teaching purposes and/or for the joy of reading children's literature to enhance my knowledge of my profession. Also...because they are easy, short, and I can finish them much quicker.

2. Read 30 Newberry Award/Honor books.

Calvin mentioned how he started at the beginning of when this award began, and the books left something to be desired. My goal will be to do the opposite, and start from the most recent award winner of 2016. It will be interesting to see how things change through the years and if the Honor Medal books are really better than the award winner (ex. Because of Winn-Dixie: Kate DiCamillo got robbed!!!!)

3. Learn calligraphy.

I really enjoy chalkboard calligraphy, but I have never been trained in how to write or come up with my own fonts. I'd like to formally learn the actual art of calligraphy to improve my creativity and learn something new. Lucas already got us tickets to take a Watercolor Calligraphy class on Valentine's Day (what a nice guy!)!

4. Get better at making macaroons.

I have only tried  twice so far, but I really stink at making macaroons. No matter how meticiulously I follow the directions, they always end up way too flat to be edible or provide a nice presentation. I don't particularly like how the basic ones taste, but once you have mastered the basic technique, it becomes much easier to be creative with your flavors. I am always envious of Scratch Bake Shop's ability to make the most unique flavor combinations with their macaroons, and they always taste amazing!

5. Work out 6/7 days of the week, for at least 30 minutes.

This one has been extremely difficult for Lucas and I, mostly due to our long commute, lack of time at home to complete pet chores/make dinner/ pack lunches/sleep, and the fact that we wake up at 5 am but don't return home until 9 or 10 pm most nights. When we do come home earlier than 9 pm (1-2 days a week, if we're lucky), we're so exhausted that we end up falling asleep watching tv. Part of the problem is lack of prep time for meals throughout the week, which brings me to.....

6. Prep/plan weekly meals ahead of time, using healthy slow cooker/quick/freezer friendly recipes as much as possible.

This is imperative to our success at working out more often, which is greatly needed in our routine. We are eating fairly healthy already, but the 3 hours/day in the car is making us feel groggy and out of shape. I am always energetic and restless during our commute, but feel exhaustion set in once we get home and there are so many house chores and other things I need to do before bed. I'm hoping extensive food prep ahead of time will help us out with this.

Rockstar Cutout Cookies

Last weekend, L and I had the pleasure of attending Abby's first birthday party at O & K's house. L and I try to visit Abby almost every week if we can, and it's been amazing getting to watch her develop into a little girl. She is truly a joy to be around, and I feel very lucky to be a part of L's life and family.

Months ago, K told me about the theme she had in mind for the party, and we began exploring Pinterest to find cute food and decoration ideas. We were excited to find so many great ideas, and K asked me to make a few of the rockstar themed desserts for the party. We settled on microphone cupcakes (cupcakes baked into an ice cream cone) and dark chocolate cut out cookies shaped like stars and vinyl records. Originally, cookies shaped like electric guitars had been the plan, but we were unable to acquire a guitar shaped cookie cutter within the time frame.

Sadly, when I was making the cookie dough, I didn't think to take pictures of my process, so I only have photos of the decorating part.

The recipe I used for the cookies was originally from Martha Stewart and you can go here to see it. Like with any recipe, I did tweak the directions slightly based on trial and error. I would not advise freezing the disks of cookie dough before you cut them into shapes. Otherwise, you will be kneading it for a very long time (sorry, L). I would advise freezing the cookies on the parchment paper before you put them in the oven. The thicker the cookies, the more rich and chocolaty goodness you will taste when you bite into them! They also really taste great when you put some sort of additional chocolate candy on top, such as Reese's peanut butter cups.

 

Once the cookies were baked, I made Royal Icing to decorate them with. Royal Icing is meant for cut out cookies because the consistency can be manipulated easily and its not as fluffy and creamy as cake frosting. You can find a ton of different recipes on how to make it, but basically all you need is powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water. Here is the Wilton recipe I normally use. Once you have the consistency you are looking for, you can change the colors using Wilton Icing Gel. You don't want to use normal food coloring because it will thin your icing. Plus, the gel colors achieve deeper and darker colors without wasting as much of it. The color I used was rose pink, since the theme colors were pink and grey.

I used the pink to decorate the stars and be the centers for the vinyl disks!

Once the pink icing was dry, I added some black icing to make the vinyl records. They turned out great!

Here is the display at the party with the cookies! Yum!



 



 



 



 

Things I Would Like to Accomplish: Baking Edition

Most people in my life know that my favorite hobby outside of reading assigned textbooks for graduate school is baking and decorating delectable treats! Recently, this outlet for creativity has turned into a small, but slightly profitable business venture. Though my only customers have been family and friends (mostly, my mother), I have been provided with the funds to explore new ideas. I've been fortunate enough to have "customers" willing to listen to my input and work off of my inspiration, but sometimes I miss trying out new recipes and designs just for my own sake. There's a certain excitement attached when you start with a foundational flavor or design, and create something entirely new based on extensive recipe research and appealing culinary photography. My favorite reason to bake something new is when it's an unexpected gift for someone special in my life. There is no pressure to bake the perfect batch of cookies or create an infallible presentation. Instead, it's purely to provide joy for someone who will appreciate the thought. Oftentimes, I am inspired most when I keep in mind my friends' and family's favorite things.

I don't have the time to spend countless hours each day scouring recipe books or baking blogs for these ideas, although paired with a cup of coffee, that would be my ideal way to spend a chilly afternoon indoors. Most of the time, I happen upon new ideas via Pinterest, Instagram, and navigation through different blogs I read. As of late, my newest discovery has been the blogger known as I am Baker. I love her bold creativity when it comes to cake ideas, and she has a love of icing cakes with flowers the traditional way, before this whole gum paste/fondant flower thing started. Not to mention, she has a wicked vanilla frosting recipe!

Here are some of the ideas I would like to attempt in the near(ish) future:

1. Fruit Pastry Tarts
I think these look adorable and perfect for Spring! I like how you can experiment with different fruits for surpising flavor and color combinations that are aesthetically pleasing and internally pleasing to your stomach!

Source: Village Bakery and Cafe Instagram

2. Strange Cheescakes
I don't possess a ton of experience baking cheesecakes, nor do I particularly enjoy the basic vanilla recipe. However, my aunt possesses the super power to take anything she has lying around the house and turn it into a delicious cheesecake. Maybe if I mess with the flavors, I too can unearth a superpower?

Source: I am Baker

3. Simple, yet detailed piping designs on cakes

I love the idea of completly covering a cake with intricate piping to create something new. Not only am I a huge owl fan, but I also like foxes. Roses are always a beautiful option, and work with many different occasions and people in mind.

Source: Scratch Bakeshop Instagram

Source: I am Baker

 

4. All things Dr. Who

One of the first things I learned when L and I started dating was that he is a huge Dr. Who fan! This worked out great for me because I too am a fan, although not quite as up to date on my trivia knowledge. This one is for you, L.

Source: Scratch Bakeshop Instagram

 

 

 

 

Musings of a Secret Chatterbox

I've never been one to write about my life too extensively on social media platforms before. Like any average member of my "generation," I've taken a stab at whatever social media sites are considered hip at the moment. I've tried out Twitter for a short period of time, and have been known to post the occasional Facebook status. Maybe I'm just not as comfortable sharing every aspect of my life in a summarized form with a bunch of people I barely know, and who frankly wouldn't appreciate me oversharing about my personal endeavors.

That being said, I will admit that pictures seem to be the only medium I have found satisfaction with on a personal and public level. I like to keep my family and close friends up to date on the various projects I am working on (teacher-themed, crafts, and OF COURSE my baking). They are quick and easy to post, and usually don't require much of an explanation-- the snapshot speaks for itself most of the time. Not to mention that it's fun to edit them and pretend that I am a photographer...even though I'm clearly not.

I'm a fairly quiet person in public situations, and like to listen instead of contributing to most group conversations. However, if you get me alone, it's a totally different story. Especially if it's something I'm passionate or knowledgeable about. You can pretty much be guaranteed that I won't stop talking, ever. In fact, you will probably wish that I wasn't so comfortable around you, and secretly hope I'll revert back to  the polite and shy individual you first met. I view this blog as a way for me to let loose all of the chatter-like opinions and thoughts I keep bottled up inside most of the time.

The original idea for this blog came to me when I was writing a letter to L this week. Our schedules are both pretty hectic at the moment, so more often than not, we only see each other on weekends. Writing letters to each other on our days apart helps make the time move a little faster. We always end each letter with a list of five questions for the other to answer. As time has gone on and we have gotten to know each other pretty well, it's gotten more difficult to come up with creative questions to ask. I was sitting in school, wracking my brain, and trying to come up with a new question, when an idea sprouted in my head! I asked him, "If I were to start my own blog, what do you think I would write about?" He suggested I write about my baking and crafting adventures, as well as teaching subject matter. Warning: there will be pictures of the concoctions I make for various family and friends' events. If this is too tempting for you, avoid this blog at all costs!

Now that I've written a riveting introduction, I'll get to the actual matter at hand--Pre-K at College!
About a week ago, I learned I had to help out with this event being sponsored/hosted by my college this weekend. We arrived at the event around 8:30 am, and they were just setting up. Every year, my department invites preschoolers and their parents within RCSD to come to our school for this event. The parents get to learn information about making healthy snack choices for their children, and in the mean time, the college volunteers take the kids around to various stations set up for them to explore. Wegmans was there, and they brought a variety of apples for the kids to sample. A local author read his story to the kids, and at the end, he gave each of them a copy of his book. The stations promoted the idea of "learning through play," and they were so fun! Some of the stations focused on fine motor skill development, such as cutting and pasting shapes, and painting with cut up bell peppers. Gross motor skill stations helped the kids get the wiggles out-- we danced with scarves and learned animal-themed yoga positions! They had a bin full of rice that the kids had to dig through to find letters of the alphabet, and a music teacher who played piano while taking song requests from the kids!

All in all, this event was a great experience and I'm glad that I was a part of it. It gave me great ideas for stations to use with my future students, and served as a reminder that learning should be based on fun and exploration. I think its important for teachers to be active members of the community they teach in, and not just during the school day or within school itself. Who knew that one small event would provide some great lessons for my career and personal life!