Happy Late Memorial Day

This Memorial Day I remembered how nice it is to breath fresh air and see the stars.

I wrote a guest blog

Remember those chocolate croissants I made a while back?

Here's a refresher:

Well, I am happy to tell you that my recipe was featured as a guest post over on the Tried and True blog!  Because Vanessa is taking a little maternity leave from her blog, she is featuring tutorials from guest bloggers - if you have one you want featured just email her - it really was that simple.

S'mores Cookies!

Is it summer yet?  As far as I can tell, it definitely is.  What I'm worried about is the fact that people keep telling me that this is the "nice season" here.  90˚ with 91% humidity is not nice.

Anyway, my favorite part about summer is camping.  And I especially like to camp when our meals include more than just rice and oatmeal.

Sometimes when we are feeling extra fancy we pack marshmallows!

Southern Biscuits

Now, if you're wondering what you should do with that buttermilk that you made, look no further!  Mix up some biscuits, smother with that homemade butter and top with some raspberry jam.

SOUTHERN BISCUITS
recipe adapted from Alton Brown
2 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. shortening
3/4 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. heavy cream*

*You can substitute heavy cream and use full 1 c. buttermilk instead.

How to Make Buttermilk (and butter)!

Do you ever not have an ingredient for a recipe and it's kind of important, but you really don't want to go to the store?  It seems like whenever this happens to me it's always for buttermilk.  I don't know anyone who has buttermilk on hand...it's not exactly a staple.

But did you know you can make it?  Yes, it's kind of a pain.  Yes, it's easier to go to the store.  But you can make it.  Plus, you get the best byproduct ever: butter!

Weeks 18 and 19

When I went home, I basically forgot about my "Paint the Moon; Let's do 52 Challenge."  I was still taking pictures the whole time, they just weren't exactly directed at the themes.  Anyway, here are two of the weeks that I missed.  I am still a week behind but I'll get there :)

                  Week 18 - Mother/Story                                                   Week 19 - A Slice of Everyday Life

Reubens

You know what's great?  Sandwiches.  You know what's better than sandwiches?  Grilled sandwiches.  Know why?  'Cause somehow the mere fact that the cheese is melted and the bread is crispy transforms this lunchtime option into a completely viable dinner choice.

Plus they're easy.

The other day when we were at the grocery store, I thought I got all of the right ingredients for a reuben.  Turns out I got pretty much everything wrong except the sauerkraut.  Anyway, here is my version that was equally delicious :)

REUBEN

Sliced Pumpernickel Bread
Deli Roast Beef
Provolone Cheese
Sauerkraut
Thousand Island Dressing
Butter

Butter the outsides of the bread.  Layer with meat, cheese, sauerkraut and dressing.  Grill on a skillet until cheese is melted and the bread is nice and crispy!

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

Sure, I like to make homemade cakes and cupcakes from scratch, but I also like to mix together a box that Betty Crocker has prepared for me with some eggs, oil, and water and have cake in 20 minutes that I know will come out well.  Especially when I am giving the cupcakes to someone else for their birthday.

New York, New York

My sister got to come to NYC for work for a couple of days last week and for less than the cost of her taxi ride from the airport to her hotel in Manhattan, I got a roundtrip bus ride from DC to New York.  I do love the public transit out East.  I am glad I didn't try to drive myself!  Austin and I complain a lot about DC traffic, but it is really nothing compared to New York.  Sure, our bus driver hit the toll booth but who's to blame him...that's a small hole for a big bus to fit through.

Late Mother's Day

I was looking through my pictures and realized I forgot about these that I took on Mother's Day.  I was lucky enough to be home for Mother's Day this year and Missy came over so we could make breakfast for my mom (by "we" I mean Missy made waffles and I stirred some bacon a little and took pictures).  Unfortunately, Miss lost/had the recipe stolen for Wolfgang Puck's bacon waffles (if anyone out there has a copy please send it my way!) so we had to try a different recipe.  Still delicious, just not quite the same.

Any waffle is delicious when you have homemade maple syrup though :)

We had a nice relaxing day eating breakfast, watching a chick flick (Something Borrowed), playing cards and then making up for Reed's missed birthday dinner.

New River Gorge

Right after I got off the plane from Utah, Austin picked me up and we headed back west.  West Virginia that is.  We spent the weekend at the New River Gorge climbing and camping.  It was a completely different landscape than the areas that we are used to climbing in but it was beautiful in its own right.

why it was so hard to leave

After a great week at home...it was hard to come back to DC.  Here's why:

Those blue skies, jagged mountains, and fresh air have been calling to me since we got here!

Graduation

Austin and I flew home last week for our graduation and were lucky to have a beautiful weekend for it.  In the morning Mitch Albom spoke at the commencement ceremony.  He was a great speaker and had a great message (think: condensed version of Tuesdays with Morrie).

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Today is probably going to be the best Cinco de Mayo I've ever had!  Yes, even though I have to sit on a train for an hour and then a bus for a half hour and then a plane for 4 and a half hours...it's still going to be great because at the end of the day I will be back West!  Back West where people open doors for each other, and say excuse me and thank you...oh and they make eye contact!  Can't wait!

And tomorrow I get to wear one of these goofy hats :)  Mine will have a white tassel though.

Elephant Toy

It's already been established that I have too much time on my hands.

Now that we've got that settled: I made a toy.  Shaped like an elephant.  For my cat.  I filled it with catnip to make sure that she will like it.  If you are as bored as I am click here to see how to make one for yourself.

Lewes, DE and Ocean City, MD

After our day in Rehoboth, we found our campsite in Cape Henlopen State Park.  The park was nice and we were happy to not be surrounded by RVs.  One problem we had was with the campers across from us.  Apparently, Smoky the Bear doesn't visit Delaware, or people are under the impression that "only you and your neighboring campers can prevent wildfires."  So they just left their foot-tall flames a-blazing as they went to sleep on their big air mattress in their giant Coleman tent that was the size of our Salt Lake apartment.

Anyway, we didn't get burned alive which was a good thing or else we wouldn't have gotten to visit the secluded beach.  Sure, we had to hop a fence to get there, but it was worth it!  It was quiet, the sand was soft, there were good shells to collect, and we got to see at least a dozen dolphins swimming by!

Late morning, we left the campground and drove down highway 1 to Ocean City, Maryland.  We read about a kite festival there for the weekend (supposedly one of the biggest in the world, which makes you wonder if the other ones are really just a guy outside with his kite).  They did have this gigantic whale kite though which was later beached.

Once the storms rolled in, we headed back to the city this time ignoring Daniel's directions and cutting 1:40 off our estimated time of arrival. 

Rehoboth Beach, DE

Friday as I was sitting around doing nothing, I decided to look up the weather at the beach for the weekend, then I found us a campsite...then I found out if Austin was interested.

Saturday morning we got in the car, turned on Daniel (the GPS) and trusted him to get us there.  He did.  We just didn't specify that we were not interested in the scenic route.  And by "scenic," I mean kind of sketchy.  So I have faith that next time we can get there in 2.5 hours.

When we first got there we did exactly what you're supposed to do at the beach: nothing.  We sat, we read, we napped.  It was perfect.  Austin, being newer to the beach experience hasn't quite learned to just sit yet so we walked along the boardwalk, looked in the surf shops and later went to the outlets to get some tax-free jeans.  (Did you know Delaware has no sales tax - Gas is still expensive though, don't get too excited.)

I will post again later about our first Eastern Seaboard camping experience and Ocean City, MD.  Stay tuned :)

Week 17 - "In Motion"