It's Thanksgiving and I'm at my parents place. I just took the Mac and Cheese out of the oven and we're going to sit down to our family Thanksgiving meal at 2pm.
But I was up and at it early this morning. I woke early because after reading through recipes, I decided last night that I was going to make Almond Cupcakes. I love almond-flavored items. In fact, my favorite drink is the amaretto sour. So I took myself to Fairway last night, which surprisingly wasn't very crowded because I needed to get ground almonds/almond flour/almond meal and I just wasn't sure that Stop and Shop would have it. Let me just say, almond meal is crazy expensive. I paid close to $10 for a 16 oz. bag of the stuff. As I saw it ring up, I thought, these cupcakes better be good.
Back to today...the butter was soft, my baking utensils were prepped and ready, the muffin pan was lined and the oven was pre-heated. I followed the directions to the letter...cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs, add cream and almond extract. By the way, Fairway doesn't have regular extracts i.e. McCormick, so I had to get some organic and all-natural extract. You would think that would mean the extract would be at its strongest because it's without impurities etc. But it simply smelled less potent. Give me unnatural and inorganic extract! ahaha Then I sifted in the flour and folded in the almond meal. After doing this final step, I could see and feel that the batter was very heavy. Usually when I spoon batter into a pan, it's more liquid, but this batter had a more solid quality. Then when I tasted it, it wasn't particularly sweet. But I thought, it'll all work out, I'm sure it'll be fine.
Well, it wasn't fine. I'll admit, I'm not quite in sync with my oven...it's big, it's old, it's gas powered and I think it gets and stays hotter than any other oven I've ever used. So I had already decided not to leave the cupcakes in the oven for as long as the recipe stated, but even taking them out early couldn't save this batch of cupcakes. They were hard, dry and damn near flavorless.
I called my mom and said, "these cupcakes are bad, I can't bring them over to have as dessert." Thankfully, mommy said not to worry about it, because she had pie.
So on this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that mommy has been cooking and making desserts much longer than I and that mommy and daddy did enjoy my dinner contribution. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
DONE!
Since I'm 31 there are few things that I'm checking off as being done with:
DONE with Thongs
Last week I thought I was packing a certain pair of undies in my gym bag. After working out, I took my shower and then got the rudest shock when I realized that I had packed a thong. ARGH! I don't need to walk around all day with a wedgie for the sake of have no panty lines. If I have on something super tight, which happens rarely, I will wear seamless undies or a g-string. G-strings, which according to wikipedia are a type of thong, use an elastic string, instead of a piece of fabric that is 3/4" wide and gets stuck in my booty. So I'm done...
DONE with Tattoos
These days it seems like tattoos are all the rage. Men (and women) are covering themselves with tattoos. Well-known folks like Lil Wayne and Kat Von D, chefs on Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen, a lot of basketball players, and so on, are covered nearly head to toe with tattoos. Average men and women are doing the same thing. I appreciate the craft and skill shown by the tattoo artist, but more often than not, if someone has more than one visible tattoo, it's distracting. So I'm done... I'm going on record as saying that I don't find excessive tattoos cool or beautiful, and if you have a lot of tattoos and I'm having a hard time staying focused when talking to you, or if I'm looking away, now you know why.
DONE with Miss Maude's Spoonbread Too
Miss Maude's is a soul food restaurant up the street from where I work. I've eaten there a few times and the food, when they have what is on menu, is pretty good. But my issue with the establishment is that they DO NOT always have menu items, namely the chicken salad sandwich, available. I've had their chicken salad sandwich twice in the two years since I've worked in Harlem, and I like it because it tastes like my mom's. The sandwich when paired with some fresh french fries...yum!...really is a lovely lunch. I've called the restaurant about 8 other times to order the sandwich for lunch and they NEVER have it. Here is the dialogue:
So I'm done with Miss Maude's Spoonbread Too...there are no shortage of soul food restaurants, I'll go somewhere else and I'll make my own chicken salad or ask mommy to make some for me. :)
DONE with Thongs
Last week I thought I was packing a certain pair of undies in my gym bag. After working out, I took my shower and then got the rudest shock when I realized that I had packed a thong. ARGH! I don't need to walk around all day with a wedgie for the sake of have no panty lines. If I have on something super tight, which happens rarely, I will wear seamless undies or a g-string. G-strings, which according to wikipedia are a type of thong, use an elastic string, instead of a piece of fabric that is 3/4" wide and gets stuck in my booty. So I'm done...
DONE with Tattoos
These days it seems like tattoos are all the rage. Men (and women) are covering themselves with tattoos. Well-known folks like Lil Wayne and Kat Von D, chefs on Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen, a lot of basketball players, and so on, are covered nearly head to toe with tattoos. Average men and women are doing the same thing. I appreciate the craft and skill shown by the tattoo artist, but more often than not, if someone has more than one visible tattoo, it's distracting. So I'm done... I'm going on record as saying that I don't find excessive tattoos cool or beautiful, and if you have a lot of tattoos and I'm having a hard time staying focused when talking to you, or if I'm looking away, now you know why.
DONE with Miss Maude's Spoonbread Too
Miss Maude's is a soul food restaurant up the street from where I work. I've eaten there a few times and the food, when they have what is on menu, is pretty good. But my issue with the establishment is that they DO NOT always have menu items, namely the chicken salad sandwich, available. I've had their chicken salad sandwich twice in the two years since I've worked in Harlem, and I like it because it tastes like my mom's. The sandwich when paired with some fresh french fries...yum!...really is a lovely lunch. I've called the restaurant about 8 other times to order the sandwich for lunch and they NEVER have it. Here is the dialogue:
Me: Hi! Do you have the chicken salad sandwich today?There are two things that bother me:
Spoonbread Lady Behind the Counter: No. We do not.
Me: [sigh] Ok...bye.
- Why doesn't Spoonbread have chicken salad? Fried chicken, BBQ Chicken, Smothered Chicken, Jerk Chicken...all kinds of chicken...are on the menu. Cole slaw is served as a side, which means they have mayo. So why can't the chef chop up some of the chicken, add mayo and MAKE CHICKEN SALAD?!?
- Why is chicken salad sandwich a menu item? Spoonbread rarely has it, so just take it off the menu. Make it a chalkboard special!
So I'm done with Miss Maude's Spoonbread Too...there are no shortage of soul food restaurants, I'll go somewhere else and I'll make my own chicken salad or ask mommy to make some for me. :)
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