Return of the cooking monster!

The time has finally come! I'm back to cooking! Free time is a beautiful beautiful thing.

Like I said last week, a cake was going to be the cure to my two- week cooking hiatus.  And oh my, how it was!  I used the oh-so-fabulous cake cookbook, The Cake Doctor.

I improvised a bit on the recipe... I didn't have all of the ingredients for one recipe, but I just so happened to have the ingredients for a cake and an icing (from two different recipes).  So, I put them together! And let me tell you... it was worth it.

The cake was simple and fun, but NOTHING beats the magic I created with the chocolate ganache.  Seriously, it was magic.  Any novice chef can make it, it sounds fancy, and it was so fun to watch happen! Chop up 8 oz. semi sweet baking chocolate...

Add 1 cup of boiling heavy whipping cream, and mix it until the magic is created...

Finally, drizzle the yellow cake with the little piece of heaven you created...

pretty good eh? The icing actually stays shiny and delicious looking while it hardens at the same time.  I didn't want to mess it up with foil or plastic wrap, so I had to drive to kansas city with it on my lap...

Seriously so good... The weekend wasn't too shabby either.  We had a great time at Cabela's, Nebraska furniture mart (shopping for furniture for the new apartment), and the casino... I'll leave this post with some pictures from the weekend.

Two bears playing at cabela's (definitely not fighting)

A HUGE (very unsightly) chair

I was weaseled into taking my dad's place at Nick's picture taking for prom.  Never doing it again. I did get a cute picture in with my brother in his very handsome tuxedo though.

I won $500 at the casino!

Just kidding... these were the penny slots. I only won $5 :) (which I quickly lost a few minutes later)

A second before we were about to leave, I won almost all of my $20 back! I love the fireball penny slots!

My two favorite girls in the entire world, Kate and Millie, positioning themselves in the smartest position in the room... where they know they can get food:)

What's next on my cooking list? BRISKET. Going to start it now... I'll let you know how it goes!

DONE.

ahhhhhhh.... breath of fresh air.... freedom.... aahhhhhh.... feeeeeeels gooooood.

Thesis defense went fantastically. My committee members were tough for a little bit, but overall were great.  I was telling Tad about my defense when it was over, and I realized something I said... When a committee member asked me a question about something I had written in my thesis, I'm pretty sure I answered: "Oh gosh, I can't remember... I'm having a brain fart." awesome.

Oh well, they still passed me and I'll be graduating with honors :). And my research project is officially over.  I'm glad my actual thesis is done, but a little sad about my research ending.  I thoroughly enjoyed my research... it was exciting, fun, and brought me amazing opportunities. It was the best thing to happen to me in college, and it will definitely be missed.

So after my defense, Tad and I decided to celebrate with sushi and golf. Golf you ask? Yeah, never stepped foot on a golf course.  While Tad golfed....

I enjoyed relaxing with a beer and good book.

It was the most fun I've had in a long time. The golf course was gorgeous and the weather was fantastic.  We have some friends that live on the golf course on the 7th hole, so we took a little break to have a beer with them.  So much fun.  Some pictures of the course...

So I'm definitely itching to bake something... haven't really had the time yet though.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to bake a couple things to bring to the family this weekend.  Any suggestions on what to bake? I'm thinking a cake... or something banana-y (sp?).  I have 3 bananas that are perfectly ripe... not really to eat (unless you like realllly ripe bananas) but definitely to bake with. I was given a wonderful early birthday/ graduation gift from janey: a cake cookbook.  Does it GET any better? I'm thinking a cake just might scratch the itch...

sorry, please, and thank you.

Thesis defense tomorrow.  This is what I've looked like for the past week. Sorry if I haven't returned calls or been rather mean.  Tomorrow I'll be nice again.  promise.

Why am I freaking out so much? There's no way Kumar will let me not pass with honors... I don't think that's ever really happened to someone as an undergraduate who has invested so much time and money into a research project. That would be just cruel. However, if you do know someone who hasn't passed with honors after doing research, please don't correct me till tomorrow after 2:00. thaaaanks.

I guess it just boils down to me actually defending my two year long research project to a panel of sharks.  I have to convince them that I've done work, that I know what I'm talking about, that I can DEFEND what I've spent the past two years doing. That's what's giving me anxiety.  And I am apparently stupid because I thought it was a good idea to ask two of the meanest teachers on our campus to be on my committee.  Sure they like me outside of class... but on a thesis defense? Come on natalie, use your head next time. (Can you imagine what I would be like if I was defending a dissertation or something? yeesh)

Anywho... I'm worrying for no reason I'm sure.  Thank you all for the very nice comments on my blog.  They make my day... each and every one of them.  And thank you for the shallot information... I found them at walmart! Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to cook, but that should change soon! Now I just need my dang rhubarb....

(p.s. here is a picture of rhubarb for those of you who haven't seen it)

Caution: proceed at your own risk.

Why does everything have to happen at once? I'm drowning in a pool of school/ thesis work and can't for the life of me catch a break.  I've had my fair share of a workload over these past 5 years, but today has not  been like any other.  Why today?  Why now? Yes, please, Dr. K, I would love for you to send me your corrections of my thesis the day it is due to my committee.  And yes, please make it on the day that I have three tests to study for.  Oh and on top of that? You'd like me to do a practice run through of my thesis presentation tomorrow with you after my tests? Sure thing, I'll get started on actually making the presentation right away. First, let me shove aside my tests I have to study for.  Second, let me go ahead and add your 2-week late corrections to my final draft so I can get it to my committee.

yeah, sure thing.  no prob.

Now this is actually a rare occasion, as I have a hard time blaming myself for all of this.  Usually when I encounter a large workload, it's 99% my fault.  However, I submitted my thesis 2 weeks ago for revisions.  waaaay ahead of the game.  I also started studying for these tests last week.  I couldn't do the presentation or the final draft of my thesis until the corrections came in. So here I am complaining. Throwing a pity party.  Because I need to.  The only way to ease my mind in these situations is to either organize something or talk/ complain about everything to whoever is willing to listen, whether that's a person, a wall, or a computer.  I've already re-organized all of my files on my computer and that didn't seem to do the trick.  So...I'm going to complain to a computer.

I'm sorry you had to read all of that.  Talk to me again next Tuesday at 2:00 pm and I should be back to loving rainbows and puppies.  Until then... proceed at your own risk.

now here's why I don't like spring.

ALLERGIES.


They ruin my life. literally.

I've been sick in bed for the past day.  Now, allergies can't take the credit for all of this (have a bit of a head cold), but when I took allergy medicine this morning, my congestion stopped.  sooo... I'm blaming part of my sickness on allergies.  And allergies have ruined my mornings for the past month.  I'm a bit fed up.

You know why birds are stupid? Those nasty creatures in the dryer vent above my bedroom (who occasionally decide to pop in for a chat) are still working on their nest in the vent.  For the past few days, they have attempted to bring in large BRANCHES to add to their nest.  Surprisingly enough, they don't fit! So in their attempts to stuff the branches (what they apparently think are small sticks) into the vent, they fall onto my balcony railing.  I have three branches now stuck to my balcony railing.  Birds are so ridiculously stupid.

I have a few questions I would like to toss out to my fellow bloggers...I have spent the entire morning stalking food blogs, and I'm hoping others are stalking my blog as well (for some unknown reason).  That way, I can get a few of these questions answered...

As I mentioned in my last blog, I will be attempting various rhubarb recipes this spring.  Before I attempt these once again, I need to get a few things straight.  Last year, I purchased stalks of rhubarb from the farmer's market.  In each stalk, 75% was green, the other 25% pink.  All of the rhubarb recipes I've seen have pink rhubarb in them.  Did I get the wrong rhubarb? Do I have to let it ripen a few days for it to turn pink? Does it even turn pink when it ripens? One thing I know for sure, I will not be cooking with green rhubarb, as I'm pretty sure that's where the vile taste came from last year.  I'm hoping I get this question answered soon or that this Saturday a farmer will hand me a whole bundle of all- pink rhubarb stalks. I'll use whichever one comes first.

Secondly, what the heck are shallots?? I can never find them in the grocery store.  I'm beginning to think they are a food myth.  For some reason, I think they are onion-like, so whenever a recipe calls for them, I usually double the scallion quantity.  I made a breakfast pizza about a week ago and did this same thing... doubled the scallions because I didn't know what a shallot was.  Turns out, the pizza was a little too oniony, but it was still fantastic.  seriously so good. (I used a store bought pizza crust instead of making my own, cutting down on about 12 hours of prep work... only took me 10 minutes to make)

This is probably the most random post I've typed.

Spring, oh how I love thee...

This is going to be one of those amazingly awesome blog posts where I list my favorite things... about spring.  I know I know, contain the excitement, people. 

1. The re-blooming of flowers/ trees.  more specifically, magnolia trees. We have a couple on the arkansas campus, and it makes me smile every time I walk by them.  In case you didn't know, the buds on the trees right before they bloom smell amazing.  They smell clean, like something you would find in a spa.  If you have ever taken a sniff of the pickled ginger on your plate at a sushi restaurant, you'll get a similar smell with the bud of a magnolia tree flower.  This magnolia tree in the picture is right outside of the chemistry building. I used to study for my classes at night in the Chem building and would grab a bud before I went in so I could have something to smell while I studied.  

notice the petals are pink...

2. Of course, the weather.  The most important part of this is that my brakes don't make people's ears bleed anymore. props to that.  I also have an amazing balcony on my apartment that I believe is perfectly suitable for two people to sit and enjoy a drink (for the past week, it's been a protein/ recovery drink after my p90x workout...) in the amazing 70 degree weather.  I also think Spring brings the best sunsets.  And now with the lovely weather, you can actually sit OUTSIDE and enjoy them! Sunset view from my balcony and driving home to kc... 

   

3.  Fresh fruit.  Peaches, blueberries, strawberries... RHUBARB, oh my!  Last thursday I decided to take advantage of the spring fruit and a complete day of freedom (thesis and research= dunzo).  I made peach cupcakes and blueberry crumb bars! They were absolutely amazing. I think the farmers market is in order this Saturday to pick up some fresh fruit, like RHUBARB.  Get excited, my friends, I will be attempting more than one recipe with rhubarb this season.  For those that experienced the pie last Spring, I will give you the option to opt out of testing the desserts.  Tyler put it very accurately when he tasted my first attempt at rhubarb pie last spring... tastes like a handful of dirty coins.  Hopefully when I re-try rhubarb they will taste like clean coins!

4.  Now I don't know if this is necessarily a favorite, but it's definitely a good one.  The urge to get back in shape after hibernating for the winter.  Yes, swimsuit season is upon us.  Tad and I have started the p90x workout, and I've never been so sore in my life.  But I also feel great.  I love getting back into working out after winter.  It hurts... but worth it (well, I guess we'll see in 90 days? ) Had a little mishap putting the pull up bar together though.  Which really sucks because I can't even do a pull- up.  ever.  like I've NEVER been able to do a pull- up.  I failed that portion of the fitness test even in 5th grade...

It looks a little more dramatic than it actually was, but I ran out of bandaids.  so I improvised. 

So there is the list of my favorite things about spring.  I know what you're thinking, and yes.. I came up with this list according to the pictures I've taken recently. Still legit though.  Bout as legit as this llama...