Looking for Spring to...erm...spring!

Guys, I'm ready for spring. I know, shocking for this snowbunny to say, but I just feel like if I'm not gonna get that work-closing blizzard, then let's just move on with our lives already. I can't wait until I can feel my fingers on toes on a regular basis again.

Not that I want 4 feet of snow crippling us like got dumped on New England, but come on...a nice 8 inches would be lovely (and yet still manageable). Sigh. The best we've gotten is a few dustings to make it look pretty for a day or so, but more than anything, we've had bitter single-digit temperatures and biting winds. No thank you. I don't mind cold temps, but wind need not apply.

And so I'm beginning to wear brighter colors and daydreaming about skirts without leggings and sandals. And letting my tattoo come out to play. Poor thing's been buried all winter. haha

I'm also thinking about what the heck my garden will look like since I have more perennials in the ground now that should, with any luck, pop back up come May-ish. My hostas already came back beautifully, so this year we'll see what the red hosta-like things do (they never quite went away...hope I wasn't supposed to cut them back...meh, we'll see!). I also planted my calladiums in the ground after learning they'll come back each spring as well. So I guess at this point it's anyone's game for what will happen! I'm looking forward to a fresh dump of crisp black mulch. While it's still cold out, though, I really should get some more bird seed for my feeder...poor birds. Here they are, in the lean times of winter, and I'm offering naught but an empty promise of seeds. I should really get on that... Plus, Hammy would have some new kitty TV to watch when the birds (and, inevitably, squirrels, come to visit).

I will miss a few things about winter, though, once it finally releases its grip. Baking. This is much less enjoyable once our apartment becomes a furnace in the warmer months. And the kitchen is the hottest room of all. Blargh. I'll miss snuggly sweaters. I do love nothing more than a crisp morning when I can toss on some jeans and a cableknit sweater. All is right in the world on those days. I'll miss cozy comfort food and cold-weather smells like nutmeg, fireplaces, hot chocolate.

Now that Valentine's Day has passed, I'm setting my sights and my menu on St. Patrick's Day. It falls on a Sunday this year, which means I can spend all weekend cooking and baking in anticipation! I've invited my parents over for dinner and to try some of my newer Irish recipes. I'll start the weekend with baking some shortbread cookies to have for dessert (though I know those are really Scottish...close enough!). Then John and I will have a brunch of eggs, rashers (once I find a suitable version...they really don't have Irish bacon readily available here!), scones, fruit, and tea. That'll hopefully tide us over till dinner, the first course of which will feature two of my new recipes: brown bread (already made two successful loaves-see pictures below!) and potato leek soup (haven't yet test-driven this). From there, we'll have corned beef, colcannon (also yet to try, but it's really just mashed potatoes with kale so I'm not worried), and roasted veggies of a variety yet to be determined. In addition to the shortbread cookies, I'd also love to serve some brown bread ice cream. I could either pick some up from our fav Irish restaurant, Dubh Linn Square, or I could make my own. I found a recipe for no-stir homemade brown bread ice cream that looks rather easy. And since I'll be making brown bread anyway...so we'll see how ambitious I'm feeling! Definitely stay tuned for the continuing cooking adventures of this Irish lass. Slainte!

And we have scone success!

Since my last post, I have made two batches of beautiful, perfect scones. The first has golden raisins. The second, which I'm currently enjoying, has dried apricots. My plan to adapt and combine  my never-fail soda bread recipe with the technique for making scones totally paid off. I have also made two different and equally successful batches of whipped/clotted/Devonshire cream. John likes the version with cream cheese, but I like the version without. With the first batch, we finished the strawberry champagne jam, and I just bought some nice strawberry jam for my next few batches (I've already got requests for more!).

And so, without further adieu, I present the specimens which have restored my faith in my Irishness:

Fresh-cut dough, waiting to pop into  the oven.

 And here we are, fresh out of the oven:

 Split with freshly-made Devonshire cream:

And here's the apricot version, enjoyed at my desk this morning with jam and tea:

Next up, I'm fantasizing about my St. Patrick's Day menu, which will include scones, shortbread cookies, and two new recipes, amongst other staples: potato leek soup and brown bread. I will experiment with both recipes next month so they won't be an epic fail on the actual holiday. So stay tuned.

Stay tuned also for birthday updates!

Holiday Baking Roundup, Scone Shame, and Crafts!

That's right! When I disappear for a long time, I come back with lots of goodies for you! Let's get to it!

Another smash-hit year for cookies! I busted out my classic sugar cookies and Russian tea cakes, and experimented with one variation and one whole new dough.

Tea cakes are always the same--my version don't have nuts, but are super yummy. This years, though, I felt were slightly too buttery, so I may have measured in slightly more than was necessary. And my sugar squirrels were delightful! Eventually, when we have a house to accommodate all my baking necessities, I'll get the rubber bands you fit on your rolling pin so the dough is always uniform. Until then, I'm getting better at keeping them consistently thick/thin. No squirrels were burned!

I varied my sugar recipe for the second batch, which I wanted to  be chocolate acorns to pair with the squirrels. I just added in some melted baking chocolate until it looked chocolatey enough. I seem to have added just the right amount because  they weren't overwhelmingly sweet--in fact, since the chocolate was bittersweet, it toned down the sugary-ness just right. Definitely a keeper!

Finally, as the piece de resistance, I tried my hand at linzer tarts. I figured it's good to have a yummy shortbread recipe under my belt, and since I typically make thumbprint cookies each year, this was a play on that tradition. It all started when I picked up a jar of strawberry champagne jam. I dreamed of sandwiching it in a linzer tart. Then I found a simple round cookie cutter and pack of 6 very mini holiday-themed cookie cutters to use for the opening on the top of the sandwich. Armed with hardware and ingredients, I dove in. Thankfully, the shortbread cookies came out delicious, and the assembly went off without a hitch. I used a loose leaf tea baller to dust confectioner's sugar on the top, and blamo! I kinda put some professional linzers I've seen to shame! So now I'm already thinking of how I can adapt them for other occasions--red or blue jam and a teddy bear cutout for a baby shower? Lemon curd and a star for graduations? Oh yes... and of course I need to get a Scottie dog cutout for the traditional Scottish presentation of the simple shortbread dough.

Below are some photos of the cookies (and the cranberry pies I made from a recipe Tara shared with me). Then we can talk about my epic scone failure. Yes, this semi-pro baker had a HUGE wah-wah moment this morning. But let's look at pretty things for now...

Scones. One of the couples we befriended on our Ireland trip purchased the scone recipe from the farmhouse we visited in Galway. They graciously sent it to me, as I was eager to try them myself. The Mrs. warned me she had trouble when she tried, as they live at a high altitude. I said I'd try it here and send her feedback. Well, altitude is not the problem. I'm convinced something did not translate. While the farmer's wife so kindly included measurements in metric and American increments, I still think there wasn't enough flour, as the "dough" never came together so I could actually knead it into a loaf and then cut it into rounds. After trying twice (yes, I scrapped the first failure after attempts to resuscitate it via adding more flour) to no avail, I plopped the too-wet dough into muffin tins and baked them up. They cooked, but they're decidedly more muffiny than sconey, and are kinda weirdly undercooked-looking. Hmph. So here's what I've decided. I've got a no-fail soda bread recipe I've used for years, and really, the recipes are the same. So next time, I'll just bust out the bread recipe and cut it into biscuits and bake it up that way. One victory from all this was making yummy Devonshire cream. It took about 5 minutes and even fewer ingredients. So more to come on that, as Irish cooking/baking season is only a few short months away! My friend, Jeanette, also gifted me a lovely Irish cookbook, and I'm eager to try a few of the less-intimidating recipes in there (hello, brown bread?)

Finally, crafting. I knocked out a few shadowbox projects on Saturday. One was inspired by a project on Young House Love, in which you use skeleton keys to represent family members. I made this for some friends as their Xmas gift. I then made an Ireland memento box and a wedding invite memnto box. Very happy with all results! Pics are below.

And with that, happy 2013, all.

Feeling abandoned?

I know, I'm sorry...it's been like 2 months since I've been on here.

Next week is Christmas, but thanks to the warm weather, it certainly will not be white...I miss snow, and am holding out hope that I'll have some by (or for!) my birthday.

Tomorrow night John and I are going to a friend's wedding (well, reception--they actually got married in Nice over the summer!) and I'm super excited. I got a pretty dress, sparkly gold 4-inch heels, and a manicure. I'm ready to bring it.

After that it'll be a two-day marathon of baking and cooking for our holiday travels.

I'm planning to pop on here at some point next week with a pictoral tour of my baking--I'm attempting one new recipe and tweaking an old classic of mine, so I'll be eager to share and debrief. Tonight I'll be crafting and assembling the cute cookie boxes I bought. It's a cute DIY set I picked up while doing Christmas shopping last week. It's perfect because it comes with 4 dividers and little fluted papers (like in Milano packages), and I happen to be making 4 varieties of cookies this year! The set also has pre-cut ribbons and gift tags. I've got high hopes.

So that's all for now. Stay tuned for more.

Ireland, Freaking Hurricane Sandy, and my Tattoo (Yep, you read that right!)

So, I suck. I'm sorry!

It's a little sad that when I was writing my last post, I was on the verge of leaving for Ireland, and here I am now, a month later, meaning a month has passed already since the trip. I can't believe it.

Part of the reason I've put off writing about it is that...well, it's just really hard to put it down in words. It was absolutely amazing. I had a few specific dreams in going, and I'm happy to report I achieved them: befriend an awesome elderly couple? Check. Bottle-feed a lamb on a farm? Check. Sing with an Irish band? Check. Yup, I am awesome.

Another reason I've delayed this is that I've already recounted the trip to most of you in person. Maybe someday I'll feel inspired to do the daily breakdown, but for now, I'll say firstly that there is an album on my Facebook page with a large portion of the photos (titled Ireland 2012) if you would like to see photos and have not checked there yet. Secondly, here are a few highlights if you want a quick glimpse of the trip:

Also, I'm writing this post-Sandy. That storm was a bitch, dude. The state pretty much shut down as of Monday, though the brunt of the storm didn't make landfall til 6:15pm that evening, and didn't bombard our area until about 8:00 that night. We watched, horror-struck all day as the coastline of New Jersey was eaten away. Boardwalks swallowed whole. Here in Btown, we were extremely lucky. The winds truly started to howl at around 7:30. We cooked an early dinner in case our power went out, which it did, around 8:15 or so. Cue my mini-anxiety attack. It was so creepy to hear the wind, hear branched cracking, but not be able to see much of anything.

In addition to the dark, our windows were spattered with so much rain, visibility was really low. What we did see, though, was plenty of good-sized tree limbs downed, and the loud crack we heard was a huge part of the tree out front falling. Thankfully, it did not take down the power line, nor did it land on any of the buildings. Our power came back on at 10:30-ish, and has been back ever since. We haven't ventured out yet, so I can't speak to where else power is out (I suspect most of the houses in town are dark--that's how it went with Irene, too), but it seems, from what we can see, that our area was truly spared the damage other towns suffered.

I'm thankful, too, for Facebook and cell phones. It was reassuring to keep up with friends and family, and to know they are safe. Tomorrow will be our third Hurricane Day, and I'm starting to feel a bit cabin fevery...we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping roads and things will be recovered enough to get out and about for a little bit. To those still recovering and cleaning up damage, know our prayers are with you for a safe and quick trek back to normalcy.

And yes. Tattoo. I has one! I know it may be surprising to a lot of you, but I've actually wanted one for a really long time. But I couldn't commit to a design or a location. To bring things full circle here, I decided there was no better time or reason to finally get one than to commemorate our trip to Ireland. So I started getting some inspiration before we left, and absorbed lots of ideas while there. When we came home, I called the tattoo shop, No Ka Oi in Philly, to book an appointment with artist Cindy. Last weekend was my consultation and this past Sunday (yes, as Sandy was heading right for us!) I had the piece done. Long story short: I created the design with the help of MS Paint. Decided I wanted it on my wrist. Learned my wrist was too small for the level of detail. Decided to move it to my ankle, where it now resides.

How was it? I mean, I knew it would hurt, and I know the ankle is a particularly painful location, but it honestly wasn't too bad. It hurt, yes, but after a while the whole area hurt and kinda plateaued/numbed. Until she hit the shamrock on the ankle bone. That hurt like hell. At the moment, it's still a bit sore all over, but the ankle bone feels like it has a bad bruise on it. Probably the weirdest sensation was to feel the gun vibrating. So it was a wiggly kind of pain.

I had a fabulous experience, and highly recommend the shop in general and Cindy in particular! Also, it's a woman-owned business, and most of the artists are women. So rock that!

Because I know I'll be asked, here are the meanings:
1. Circle of Celtic knots--the knot, in Celtic tradition, is a symbol for life after death as well as neverending love--the same concept as a circle--no beginning or end.
2. Shamrock--probably the best-known symbol of Ireland. And since it truly is incorporated into ancient as well as modern Ireland, I didn't feel cliche in using it. Seriously, this little guy is in architecture, in jewelry, in clothing, art...it's everywhere.
3. The kitty is Pangur Ban, a character in a poem written by a monk in the 8th century. The poem is about little Pangur hunting mice while the author is hunting words and inspiration. The poem is linked with the Book of Kells, which is an incomprehensibly beautiful illuminated Gospel text. I mean, come on? It's a cat, first of all, but it's also deeply linked to poetry and Irish history culture. The likeness of Pangur here is actually his cartoon character in the movie The Secret of Kells, which came out a few years ago. It's a great movie about--I highly recommend it.

The Beat Goes On (to Ireland)

For your perusal, here is a quick summary of where we'll be and what we'll be doing, with links in case you want to poke around. I hope to give a day-by-day summary with photos when we return, but it'll likely take me a while. Perhaps a Wednesday evening activity while John is in his graduate classes.

Without further adieu...

We depart on Aer Lingus tomorrow evening to make the overnight 6.5 hour flight into Dublin International Airport. I'm still thinking about how best to handle the overnight thing and the time zone hopping. I'm sincerely hoping to catch as many Zzzs as possible on the plane since that is when I'd be sleeping regardless of what side of the pond I'm on. That way, when we land and it's about 9:00am in Dublin I'll be (sort of) ready to start a new day, even though my old one never really ended.

First up is checking into our hotel, The Burlington, in Dublin. We'll be taking the Ireland equivalent of the Magic Express from the airport to the hotel. Once there, I pray we can check in, shower, and maybe pass out for a while before meeting the tour group at 2 for introductions and a city tour including stops at St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity College to view the Book of Kells.

Day 2, Monday, October 1, will begin our journey west across the country. Itinerary items include Stroketown Park House, the Famine Museum (I know...sounds like a blast, eh?), and the Shrine at Knock in County Mayo. Tonight we'll lodge in the Downhill House Hotel.

Day 3, Tuesday, October 2, will take us to the coast and to Galway Bay. On the way, we'll be travelling through Westport onward to Connemara, where we'll see Kylemore Abbey, and enjoy the evening doing whatever we want to do before finally nodding off in our room at the Connemara Coast Hotel.

I'm probably most looking forward to day 4, Wednesday, October 3, because we'll be visiting a working farm (Rathbaum Farm)! We'll see how the family lives their daily lives tending to their farm, and when that's done, we'll be welcomed into their home for tea, scones, and friendly chat. First, however, we'll tour Galway Cathedral. Once we've been refreshed at the farm, it's onward to the Cliffs of Moher, of which we'll have a spectacular view since we'll be seated higher in our tour bus than pasenger cars. Last stop of the day is a ferry ride, which will take us across the Shannon Estuary to our next two-day destination of Killarney. Tonight and Thursday we'll be staying in the the Killarney Towers.

Day 5, Thursday, October 4. The entire day will be devoted to the Ring of Kerry on the Ivernaugh Peninsula. We'll see a waterfall and enjoy a hike unless the weather is completely inclement. We'll also have the opportunity to see Muckross Estate. I just bought a good, weatherproof pair of hikers from New Balance in anticipation not only of this excusrion, but of all the walking we'll be doing with th epotential for soggy, muddy ground. Yeh, planning packing's been a bit stressful!

Day 6, Friday, October 5. This is pretty much the ultimate for any trip to Ireland: Blarney Castle. I will not, however, be kissing that nasty stone. I know they shut down a few times during the day to scrub it, but unless I'm #1 post-scrub, not happening. Plus, there is so much more to explore on the grounds that while everyone else is waiting on line to smooch the stone, I plan to wander the various gardens on site and taking in the general majesty of it all. Once we've looked and walked our fill, it's back eastward to Waterford for a tour of the House of Waterford Crystal and flopping into bed at Dooley's.

Our last full day, Saturday, October 6, brings us back to Dublin. Much like Blarney Castle, the Guinness Storehouse is also so quintessentially Irish we might cry. We'll tour the facility and then head up to the tasting room at the tippy top to undertake the Perfect Pour Challenge. Following this, we can spend our remaining hours however we like before heading back to The Burlington for our final sleep in Ireland.

After years of dreaming, months of waiting, and weeks of planning, I can't believe it's finally here, and that we're leaving tomorrow. I get to start my favorite month (October) in the land of my people with my husband. Absolutely amazing, and I am not taking a single second of it for granted. We'll have the computer, and while I won't be blogging while over there, I hope to pop on Facebook and email when we have a chance to check in and keep our family and friends stateside in the loop.

Wishing you all a lovely end of September.

Falling for Fall

And we're into September. I feel like this month always creeps up on me. Once day it's summer and then it's back to school and I'm wishing for the chill air.

Key West was amazing, the wedding was beautiful, and the weather was cooperative. I have most of the pics posted on Facebook, but here are some highlights.

Ending our first day in the keys.

 Starting our second day. At the hotel waiting for the shuttle downtown.

 Trekking to meet the kitties on the Hemingway property.

 My first meeting with a six-toed kitty.

 Getting ready for my first snorkel adventure.

 John, more seasoned of course, headed out to do some more in-depth exploration.

Jenny and Shane exchanging seaside vows at the Key West Garden Club.

A nice shot one of the wedding guests took of me and John on the dance floor.

Next up: Ireland in 24 days! 24, you may be wondering? Yes. We were initially supposed to fly out at the end of October, but we found out last month that that itinerary had been cancelled because not enough people booked those dates. So after an afternoon of freaking out, a few days of thinking, and an afternoon on the phone with our AAA booking agent, we were back on track: an identical itinerary departs on September 29, and ships out regardless of seats sold. So we're all set, albeit about a month earlier!

I'm so extraordinarily excited. It's almost here. My dream is about to come true. I'm so ready to break out my cords, my sweaters, and bask in the 50-degree often cloudy-rainy weather. I'm ready to see sheep and meet an Irish farm family. I'm super ready to check out the swanky Irish hotels we'll be staying in. I'm ready to chase the sun across the Atlantic and watch the Emerald Isle pop into view after hours of black nothingness over the ocean. Maybe my expectations are too high, but I feel like going there will give me some irrefutable sense of self. I've been listening to it call to me for so long, and here I am...about to answer. Purely, absolutely amazing. I take none of it for granted, and plan to do my best to take it all in, and not get caught up in taking the perfect photo, but rather get swept up in every single moment. I'll probably have to break up the debrief post into a few smaller ones, which may be better--I can highlight each stop along the way with its own post.

On my to-do list before we leave is to shape up my garden in preparation for next spring. I have to get all my caladiums in the ground so the bulbs can root in and settle in for a long winter's nap. Then I'll start thinking about fall planting, since I currently have nothing that will bloom once the first frost comes along. I'm open to suggestions for shade-loving cold-weather plants! I've had failed mums because they haven't gotten enough sun. Which is sad because I love mums. So that's where I'm turning my thoughts next.