Month: January 2013

Peacock: A Symbol of Immortality and Renewal

CarrieLeave a comment

Image

I took this photo the day before my friend passed away. Little did I know that this photo would be just more than a picture. I never thought I believed in signs, but now I truly believe that the universe sends you them when you least expect it. This was the only photo I took in the zoo that day. If you read the information on this link, you will understand what I am talking about.

This week I have been going through many pictures and remembering the times where I was happy. I have reflected on all of my friendships. Those that were made when I was a small child, those that were made in college, and those that have been made in my adult life. Some pictures are difficult to look at now that my friend has passed away, because they remind me of a time when we were all happy. I’m not sure that anything will be the same. Yesterday, when I looked at the pictures on my phone, I saw this peacock. I remembered from high school English lit that the peacock always held a special symbolic meaning. I decided to look it up and I read that the peacock is symbolic for immortality. I know that my friend has left this earth, but his spirit has not died. He is still in all of our hearts and he will be remembered forever.

As for renewal, I think it gives us all a chance to take a look at our own lives. I did not only lose one good friend, but instead I think I may have lost two. I cannot change the mistake that I made. I can apologize over and over again, but I cannot change the past. I realize now that I hurt my friend unintentionally. On the night that my friend died, it was difficult to hear my friend say that she didn’t want to live without her best friend. I saw my own life flashing before my eyes. I got scared and took the easy way out. I avoided the situation instead of facing it straight on. I came back to reality to face my fears and wanted to help my friend, but at that point, I realize it was too late. The damage was already done. I don’t know how to fix this, but I pray everyday for God to give me guidance.

Happy Accident

Sadie2 Comments

Ok so usually baking is a rewarding venture for me.  I find a recipe, I follow it, make some tweaks here and there, get a yummy result, and get compliments from whoever I share it with.  Lately, though, I’ve had mixed results and mixed feelings.

This story starts out happy.  There was a birthday cake to be made.  In an effort to use up some extra buttermilk, I strayed from the standard family chocolate birthday cake recipe, to a version that trades regular milk for buttermilk.  It’s an Ina Garten recipe, and it turned out great.  So great, in fact, that it’s making my family rethink the traditional family birthday cake recipe.  With these chocolate cake recipes in my arsenal, buying a chocolate cake mix from the store is out of the question these days.

Fabulous cake: check.  Now onto the frosting.  My plan was to make “White Mountain Frosting” or “Seven Minute Frosting.”  Typically a combination of egg whites, sugar and water that yields a light fluffy frosting.  I have tried two different recipes three separate times (following the recipe to letter).  I can not get the frosting to fluff.  It falls flat no matter what I try.

To mitigate my repeated frosting disaster I used the flat frosting (which still tasted quite good) as the frosting between the cake layers, and a “glaze” for the top of the cake.  Then to disguise this monstrosity, I made a quick, easy chocolate frosting to cover the outside of the cake.aftermath

Crisis averted.  The funny thing was that the combination of the two frostings made for a very moist cake.  The flat White Mountain Frosting was almost like having a layer of marshmallow fluff under the chocolate frosting.

I guess some days the frosting fluffs, and some days it doesn’t…

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Yields 2, 9 inch rounds, recipe from Ina Garten

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups AP flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cups cocoa powder, more for pans
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup freshly brewed coffee

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare pans by spraying with non-stick spray and coating with cocoa powder.  If you want to be extra cautious, cut out a circle of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of your cake pans.
  2. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
  4. Add the wet to dry gradually and beat with an electric mixer.  Finally add coffee gradually.
  5. Bake at 350 for 35- 40 minutes until a tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before you remove the cake from the pans.almost done

Flat White Mountain Frosting

From a very old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup sugar (my mom’s hypothesis is that this recipe is lacking the right about of sugar)
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup
  • 2 Tbs water
  • 2 egg whites
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Method

  1. in a small sauce pan combine the water, sugar, and corn syrup.  Cover and bring to a strong boil.  Take the lid off and bring to 242 degrees (use a candy thermometer).
  2. While the mixture is boiling, whip up the egg whites to stiff peaks.
  3. When the mixture has reached the right temperature, very slowly add it to the egg whites while you continue to beat them.  Add the vanilla and beat for about 7 minutes.  At this point the frosting is supposed to fluff up, but in my case it didn’t.  You win some, you lose some.

Chocolate Frosting

From an old Hershey’s Baking Chocolate wrapper

Ingredients

  • 3 Tbs unsalted butter
  • 3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • dash salt

Method

  1. Using a small saucepan over low heat or a microwave melt the butter.  Add the chocolate in small pieces and melt it with the butter.
  2. Put melted butter and chocolate in a bowl and add sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt.  Beat with an electric mixer until it reaches the desire consistency.  To thicken up the frosting place the bowl in an ice bath while you mix it, or refrigerate for a few minutes before frosting.Ready for FrostingSo. Much. Frosting.

Texting 101

CarrieLeave a comment

When girls get text messages from guys..

Ok girls, let’s all admit that when we get a text message we overanalyze.  If you check out the webpage above it gives a run down of exactly how much we analyze a silly text from a boy.  I was sent this chart from my friend, Steph, after many conversations with her about advice for texting boys.  She says that when you think about him, you should text him.  I have been following her advice since she told me that, and it seems to be working.  As women, we put all these underlying meanings in a simple text, when men just don’t give texts the time of day.  My conclusion from this texting chart is that if a guy is texting you, it’s a good thing!  Don’t over think it.