sarah
baked goods rock! i love cookies. no, wait, i lurve cookies. in fact, when i get married, i'm going to find a way to have a 5-tiered cookie or brownie cake to slice into. too much? well, cake doesn't rock as hard.
i found this recipe a while ago, but made the dough when i was snowed in the other day. i froze it and sliced off a few rounds last night, along with some scratch made whipped cream. i orgasmed. and then proceeded to find random things in my tiny kitchen to dip in the leftover whipped cream. shameful. sometimes, cookies can come out dry and hard. not to mention they don't keep well. so, i modified this recipe for 9 servings, instead of 36, because it's just little ole me. i've mastered the art of Cooking for the Single Gal. i divided all of the ingredients by four, but used one whole egg. my only regret is that i didn't modify the recipe by half instead. they were soft as heck. ah well, on to the basics.
Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
2 sticks/1c/250 grams of soft unsalted butter
1c brown sugar (light or dark)
1c grandulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2t of vanilla extract
3c quick cooking oats
2c all-purpose flour
½t salt
1t baking soda
1 ½t cinammon
1c chocolate chipsMethod
1. Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl (It is suggested that you use a stand mixer or even hand held mixer since the dough is so thick but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the wooden spoon method).
2. Add the eggs one at a time. Then the vanilla.
3. In another bowl combine the oats, flour, soda, salt and cinammon.
4. Gradually add this mixture to the creamed butter and sugars. Then add the chocolate chips.
5. Leave the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to and hour so that it won't be so sticky when forming dough balls.
6. After the dough has sat in the fridge a while, preheat your oven to 375 F/190 C. from dough into ping pong sized balls leave in the oven for 10 minutes, I like to turn the pans at the half way mark.
Serves: 36
sarah
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
so, it's been snowing here on the east coast. i can't say it's on the level as last year's Snowmageddon, but i did get snowed in for a day. the only thing that i wanna do when i get cooped up in the house, besides watching old movies, is burn in the kitchen.
last year, right before the snow storm hit, and i'm talking mere hours, i went to Wegman's and had a field day. i spend a substantial amount of my stipend on quality meats, such as steak, lamb chops, ground turkey, pork chops, chicken thighs, and sausages, fresh seafood, like salmon, shrimp, catfish, and tilapia, and i burned through the produce section, stocking up on colorful and fresh looking veggies and fruits. i was in heaven. i love the grocery store and can spend hours meandering through the aisles. because of my passion for grocery store aerobics, it's a must that the grocery store be a haven of quality and variety. this is why i generally choose stores like Wegman's, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or Harris Teeter.
*i also buy a lot of staple and name brand products from Target. as a smart shopper, it pays to know when to save and when to splurge.
during Snowmageddon, i was stuck in the house for about 5 days straight. with my DVR starting to run low on 1950's musicals, i got in the kitchen and just attacked, making enough food for an army, even though i was just feeding myself. i had meals and dessert for days, but it was fun and half-satisfying, since no one else was there to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
tomato & mushroom whole wheat linguine
basil, tomato, & pancetta farfalle
steak & grits
chicken, tomato, & mango spinach salad with walnuts
my love of food started young. as i've mention before, my earlier birthdays were really just big family dinners at a restaurant of my choosing. each year, i tried to expand my base of restaurants, trying to outdo the year before. my most memorable was my 10th birthday. we went to Red Lobster (tee hee) and i got a lobster tail. it was at this time that i developed a discernable palette. the much hyped lobster did nothing for me, but to it's credit... it was from Red Lobster, which i can't bear to step foot in these days. based on the restaurants i chose, my family would really start to look to me for the that type of experience and i would live to hear from them, "Good choice, Sarah!"
my tenth birthday
from there, i started to get into cooking shows and making meals, learning from some of my family members. i come from a Pot Luck Family. most families i know would, during the holidays, go to one house and that person would host the meal, making almost everything. my family is too large for that. the meals would be hosted at a one house, which would rotate from my grandmother's cozy apartment one year, to my mother's house the next, then my aunt's, and so on... and the host would make the meat, but everyone else would bring their signature dish. my mother makes really good smothered pork chops, one of my aunt makes killer greens and mac & cheese, another aunt can't come unless she brings the ham, and it's not a party until my uncle brings the meatloaf. i have four aunts, one uncle, and a crazy amount of cousins and this is just one side of the family! Christmastime is my favorite. we used to do themes like seafood and Italian.
watching my family members really get into that one dish that they make, you can see the real need to please everyone, making sure everyone gets enough to eat. my older cousin Charlie was probably my biggest inspiration though. he, a trained chef, would bring the culinary to family functions. i would sit and watch and ask questions, so much so that he pulled me into the kitchen and taught me most of what i know about cooking, like flavor balancing and deglazing. whenever he comes over, we get right into the kitchen so he can brag to his latest lady friend about my sous chef skills.
in high school, i really got into Food Network. to this day, i spend my Saturday and Sunday mornings with Ina Garten, Giada, Sunny Anderson, and Guy Fieri. it really inspires me to get in the kitchen and cook, even if it's only for myself. but, i miss cooking for other people. i cooked for my ex a few times, and it was really satisfying when he told me i should quit chemistry for cooking. but, there is also the side of me that is really nervous people won't like my food. contributing to potlucks brings out my insecurities. but, i have to remind myself that it's not about the praise, it's about the passion. i have to cook for pleasure, not for praise.
salmon & rice with roasted brocollini
cinnamon rubbed lamb chops with
roasted sweet potatoes and mustard green beans
i can't wait for the road trip... it's going to be a 14 day food fest. i have a embarrassingly long list of restaurants to visit in each city, but could use some recommendations, too. Tiffany is all about the sights; i'm all about the food, as usual. but, i plan to use this space to share and swap recipies and restaurant recommendations, so don't be shy about it. i hope you enjoyed the porn quality grainy pictures of food :)
sarah
no one. i think the best thing about being in love is falling in of your own cognition. i don't think i could be with a person if they didn't love me of their own free will.
sarah
so, it's been a minute, but lots of things have happened. the continuance of notebook-gate in my research lab, the "changing" of the zodiac, and my 27th birthday. per my January 4th post, in which i described how shitty my birthdays usually are, this one went decidedly different.
Dij, Sika, and i prepared a menu. yes, i cooked for my own party, but mostly because i wanted to. i love to cook. and since birthday-gate 2007, i made my own cake to avoid and store bought bakery disaster. i generally don't like cake, so if i am going to have one for my birthday, i'll make it myself and it will be amazing.
then came my actual birthday. i woke up and felt rested. my mind was clear and at ease. i was in a legitimately good mood. i sat around and watched my morning round of Food Network, then i headed out for the day’s errands. i went hair shopping, grocery shopping, and clothes shopping. i also got yelled at my best friend rachel, whose birthday is the day after mine, for eating at McDonald’s! even though clothes shopping was a bust, i found everything for my recipes for the day. although slightly tired, i headed back home and started preparing for the party.
usually, when i cook, i have a little trouble with timing and small details. but, as if a gift from God, everything just worked and flowed that day. i baked the cake, made the mac & cheese and the salad, and even got dressed and did my hair concurrently. granted, i was 30 minutes late to my own party, but i’m allowed that.
Dij's Lasagna, Sika's Famous Wings, and my Mac & Cheese and Simple Salad
everyone arrived around the same time. even though there a few stragglers, we managed to get the food served to everyone before it got cold. it went off without a hitch really. the food was good and all three groups of my friends (lab mates, black grads, soRhors) mingled together quite well. that was something i was worried about too. i initially only wanted to invite one or two groups for fear that people might not mix well, but it went very smoothly, considering that Dij, originally from Pittsburgh, wore her jersey to the party, right after they beat the Raven's in a game that day. my sorority sisters were kinda hurt behind that :)
soRhors
soRhors and an AKA
black grads
labmates
labmates
Taboo!
cake! with a big, ignorant candle.
after food, we played a round of Taboo, which was so hectic and loud that most people went hoarse! so, we quit after that and dove into the cake. THE cake. i used Ina Garten’s recipe. it was dark, unctuous, chocolatey, sensuous… all the things i want my ideal man to be, but in cake form. a hush fell over the room as everyone quickly grabbed and devoured their piece of velvety, buttery goodness. even better than that, i got gifts! (i haven't received a proper birthday gift since my 21st, and even before then, my family took advantage of the proximity of my birthday to Christmas and usually only gave me a gift for one or the other, now known as the Birthmas Gift.)
once the food coma took hold, people trickled out. i didn’t make it home until after 2a. the next day, i felt hungover and tired, even though i didn’t drink, but that just gave me a chance to sleep in, stay in bed and enjoy all of the messages, texts, and Facebook birthday wishes i received the day before.
sarah
whether you want to believe it or not, or maybe you’re just tired of beating a dead horse, the internet has changed everything. so much has changed; it seems as if nothing is the same. everything we do has been altered by the internet. not just in the way we communicate, although that plays a huge part, but the way we date, shop, read, all of it is different. our world has become so small. large parts of the economy have been affected.
it all started with this article by Yahoo Finance, “Things Babies Born in 2011 Will Never Know”. and it’s quite scary. i remember reading a report a couple of years back that polled high school seniors and they learned that most of the kids didn’t know the holocaust ever happened. but, this goes deeper. it shows the world is at an apex, a shift where nothing will be the same again. it seems trivial when you think of how much more convenient netflix is compared to blockbuster. and i remember getting into a serious argument with my mother when i told her buying me a house phone was a real waste of money. but, some points of the article tug at my heartstrings to think that babies born this year won’t know the authentic touch and small of a paperback book, they won’t have the patience that could only be taught by waiting for a dial-up connection or learning to read a paper map, and they will never know the romanticism and distinction that comes with receiving a handwritten note. how sad, indeed.
then this happened. when i first saw this video on facebook (of course, because the internet rules our lives) i had an off reaction to it. personally, i don’t have anything against spankings and the like, but this displays a level of embarrassment that i believe doesn’t benefit anyone. mortifying your child is not a disciplinary action and should never be used. but, then i go back to the previous article.
as my best friend Adam put it, “thugs are online!” everyone has internet access these days and almost everyone has a social networking account. so, it would seem natural that certain behaviors that were once cloak and dagger would find their way onto the internet. especially since social networking feeds into such narcissistic and voyeuristic behaviors. everyone is their own celebrity and would love for everyone else to tune in to their show/lives. e-thugging and bullying is nothing new, so posting allusions to gang activity, especially amongst young (and dumb) individuals should not be a surprise. however, if my brother ever alluded to being in a gang, my father would go off! and it seems as if this guy’s father (or uncle??) did too. he just took it to the next level. i won’t debate whether the father-uncle was right or wrong, because that is personally something i an undecided on, but what he did was try to exhibit his message in the same manner his nephew tried to debase himself. he is just keeping up with the times, right? all we know is, the internet is changing the game and, unless you want to go the way of encyclopedias and cds, you better be ready with a modern approach.
