Friday, April 22, 2011

Grrrr...

My car overheated yesterday. 

I had to get it towed. 

And now I am annoyed.

Grrr...

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Raspberry Rose Mascarpone Macarons

Otherwise known as RRMMs... haha - nah we'll just call them yummy. 


Do you know Tartelette?  She's awesome.  I use her basic macaron recipe and rely on her for inspiration in my baking endeavors.  And she's super sweet, I emailed her once asking about a madeline recipe and she got right back to me - I like that in a blogger. 

I made the cookie shells last night - I think I may have over mixed the batter though, it was a little thin.  Here they are, piped onto parchment paper, resting before they go into the oven:


There's really not much to the cookie shell itself - just egg whites, ground almonds and sugar...  Well that and a healthy dose of food coloring ;o)

It's the filling that starts to get interesting... I filled mine with raspberry preserves and an icing made up of mascarpone cheese, butter, sugar and a splash of rosewater (oh yeah, and more food coloring).  Here they are ready to be smushed together:



Ideally you'd let them set a for a day or so with the filling so that the flavors can mesh and meld and do whatever the heck flavors do, but I'm impatient and took them in to work today.  They went over pretty well, it's lunchtime and there's only 1 left!

Overall, you can't taste the rosewater, the icing is too sweet for my liking, and the cookie shells were a little flat and fragile, but I'm getting there!  It's a learning experience and one of these days I'm sure they'll come out like the ones I had bought in Paris.

Speaking of, I'll leave you with a shot of the one's available at Laduree (where I first had them ever):

 
Blackcurrant Violet is my personal fave!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Frustrated

Dear Server,

Why do you keep rejecting my pictures?  They're from the same source that most of the other one's are from - so why reject them now?  I woke up hoping to write a blog about something, but if I can't post my photos with it, so why bother?  I sincerely hope that you have this situation rectified prior to my coming home from work so that I can write the post which has formed in my mind then.

Sincerely,

A Frustrated Blogger

Sunday, April 17, 2011

A Different Kind of Mani

A couple weeks ago I decided to try something new.


Sally Hansen makes these new Nail Polish Strips which pretty much are like stickers for your fingernails.  The kit is about $10 (depending where you buy them) and comes with:



16 stickies, a mini file/ buffer and a cuticle stick.

Pretty much you push back your cuticles with the stick, then buff your nails, then apply the best fitting sticky.  They make the stickies really long, but they tend to break naturally at the end of your nail - you then just take the file and smooth down the edge.  It's really pretty easy - I applied most of them while sitting in traffic on my way home from work.  They are supposed to last up to 10 days - mine lasted about 7 before I picked them all off.  You're also supposed to use nail polish remover to get rid of them, which I did not.  I think that if I had actually been spending quality time applying them, instead of just in the car, they would have lasted around 10 says, but what happened was - I did not get the edges down as best I could so they slowly were starting to peel up and driving me bonkers.  Oh well, I now know for next time I feel like splurging on them.  The color I used was "Blue Ice" and they come in all sorts of crazy colors and patterns and sparkles.  They're fun.  Try them.  I dare you.





My one beef with them though is that although they come with 16 stickies, you can't save them to fix eventual chips - they start drying out as soon as you open the package, and so there is no real way to fix a chip.






Saturday, April 16, 2011

Found on a Flash Drive


On one of the two days off I had in the 14 weeks I had toured with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a group of 5 of us rented one of the two rental cars available in Raton, New Mexico and drove to the dormant volcano near town.  On our way back to town we came across this little church, standing alone on a desolate back road.  Overcome by curiosity we discovered the door to be unlocked, and inside was just a barren little well-maintained one room church filled with pews and a small alter.  It makes one wonder about the types of people who would travel to this little back country church every Sunday. 

Thursday, April 14, 2011

About 3 1/2 Years Ago...

 What's the most exotic place you've ever been?  Have you travelled to Timbuktu?  Or to Zanzibar to see the Zanzibarbarians? (name the movie!)  Or maybe you've never gone west of the Mississippi...
In the summer of 2007, I travelled with Sesame Street Live to southeast Asia.  We had performances in Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, and Manila. 


Seoul


Seoul was by far the largest culture shock.  The first hotel we stayed in was not in a touristy part of town and attempting to get by without speaking a word of Korean was difficult - the second hotel was closer to the touristy part of town and so there were many more English speaking people around (even though I still couldn't read a word).  

Quick tip: the closest thing we found to "American" Chinese food was at Jackie Chan's restaurant (he owns a chain of them in South Korea) - super yummy!

  
Super weird space-saving toilet, shower, sink combo room (that's my roommate Chris in the reflection in the mirror - super tiny room!  And the beds sounding like champagne corks popping whenever you jumped on the bed)




The elusive Octo-phant.... the something-gator (maybe a Girafa-gator?) was apparently much more popular.  We spent almost the whole 2 weeks there trying to get a good photo of the Octo-phant!

Oh and one more thing... I wasn't there long, but long enough to realize I would be happy to not see another grain of rice for quite some time!  And metal chopsticks take a while to get used to!  And I am quite grateful that we don't have menus in restaurants that just show pictures of raw meat!  And real Korean barbecue is some of the most fun you'll ever have eating at a restaurant!  And I really don't care for kimchee!  And soju is good, but it totally sneaks up on you!  (ok, ok, so that was 6 things)


Singapore



We were in Singapore for 3 weeks and this is what I remember most about it:
  • the Singapore Zoo is amazingly awesome and has a night safari too
  • Singapore Airlines is hands down the absolute best airline I have ever flown
  • it was HOT and HUMID all the time!!!!
  • it rained almost daily
  • grilling out is a lot of fun, even when you're using a "ghetto grill" and real charcoal as opposed to briquettes
  • powdered seaweed on McDonald's french fries is weird
  • I want to stay at the Raffles Hotel







And for future reference: a "ghetto" grill is 2 disposable roasting pans stacked on top of each other (the bottom one flipped upside down, the top one right side up), with charcoal in the top pan, and a piece of wire mesh resting on the edges of the top pan to grill on.  And a fan is helpful for getting the charcoal lit.  And little fire starters help too.

One week while in Singapore, after a weekend of shows, Chris and I took a mini-vacation up to Malaysia


Penang


Penang is an island off the north western coast of Malaysia and was part of British colonial rule until World War II when it was invaded by the Japanese (it is now part of Malaysia). 

Initially, Chris and I were staying in a hostel in the Chinese section of Georgetown, but after 1 miserable night there we decided to splurge and stay at a hotel closer to the waterfront.  It rained daily, we didn't get to see the rest of the island, and there were warning signs all around to beware of standing water because of the mosquitoes that carry dengue fever.





Opera probably wins the prize for my favorite restaurant in the whole world!  Everything about it was perfect... We ate there for dinner twice, the second time we sat outside.  I loved it!!!  


Bangkok


I wish I remember more about Thailand, we were only there a week and it seems like we were busy the whole time!  I had the worst publicity experience ever there, involving a 7 hour notice (told at 10 pm to be ready at 5 am the next day), lack of proper transportation, and the need to unload 1/2 each of 2 sea containers just to get to the things I needed for the pub - it was awful.  Let's see... what else happened?  Oh yes, my legs got covered in flea bites the first time we visited the venue we were performing in and there was a homeless person living in the venue... I did get to ride in a tuk-tuk though, and I got to visit the floating markets, and I got a beautiful silk coat custom made for me, and apparently I didn't think much of taking pictures while there - oh well... these I found putzing around on-line...






Manila



Here's my gripe about the final leg of our Asian itinerary: we had been in Asia for about 6 weeks or so and we only had 1 more week of shows, but before we could do the shows we had 2 weeks off.  Granted, yes yay! 2 weeks off, but that last week of shows was torture.  I don't know about everyone else, but I was done and checked out in my mind by the time we left Thailand.  In those 2 weeks off though, I did get to do some fun things: I went to the Mall of Asia several times (the largest mall in the world), including for the 4th of July when they had a big fireworks display and accompanying marching band played, I visited the Chinese Cemetary after traversing through a very, shall we say, interesting part of town to get there, I visited the Coconut Palace (commissioned by Imelda Marcos - you know - the shoe lady), and I went on a little tour of North Luzon (to Baguio, Vigan, and Laoag) with some good friends.  Oh yes, and I purchased and consumed tons of dried mangos - yum!!!  I also witnessed some of the worst poverty, something so many people take for granted...



This is Leanna and Jason, 2 of the people I went to Baguio etc... with, she was a dancer and my first roommate, and he was an electrician and Chris's first roommate - they're now married and have a little girl - isn't that cute?!?








Well, that's all for now - if I can find my jump drive, I'll post more pictures later!!!


Wednesday, April 13, 2011

2 Years and 2 Months

2 Years and 2 months... that's how long it's been since I've been on an airplane. 
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To some people that might be seen as a welcome thing - but not to me.  That means that it's been 2 years and 2 months since I've left the country.  And I like leaving the country.  Leaving the country means seeing new things and experiencing new cultures and getting bad hair cuts because you don't know as much Spanish as you thought you did!  In the past 2 years and 2 months the only places I have travelled are to Georgia to pick up Sancho (who now lives in Erie, but I wish every day still lived with me - he was the best slobbery dog ever!), to Canton, Ohio to run a half marathon, and to Niles, Ohio several times to go to the mall.  Oh yeah, and to Youngstown once to see Sesame Street Live. 

I realized that I don't even know the current TSA requirements!  This is awful!!!  I must get on a plane immediately... preferably one bound for Scotland, or Paris, or Mexico, or anywhere but here! 

I really must figure out a way to get my butt on a plane.  And a way to pay for it. 
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Preferably with a couple million dollars left over for sight-seeing...


Anyone got an idea of how to get a cool 3 million in the next few days?  I'd love to get this traveling out of my system before I start school in 3 weeks.

Friday, April 8, 2011

May 4th

I'm going back to school.  Have I told you that?  I am.  I'm going to get a Masters in Business.  Why you may ask?  Because I like money too much to get a Masters in Theatre.  It's not that I'm conceited - it's just that I don't like living paycheck to paycheck and would love some stability.  Now ideally, I would go - get my MBA - then get a job at an artsy type of non-profit.  That would be the ideal.  The ideal would also be that the non-profit I ended up with paid enough to cover my bills with plenty of left over for me to go on an awesome vacation every year.  This not travelling - SUCKS!!!  Just saying.

Sorry back on track... I start school May 4th, I've already gotten my syllabus and ordered my book.  I've also already gotten an assignment to read 4 chapters and have tons of homework done before the first class.  Sigh... I guess I'm stuck in it now huh?  Oh well. 

Random-ness for the day:  I love freezy pops!!! I'm down to my last 9 left over from last year - Dad bought me a big box of either 200 or 250 or something like that from Sam's Club - I'm feeling it's about time to get some more!!!  It's the perfect amount of frozen high fructose corn syrup to satisfy my sweet craving at the end of the day.  BTW - just had a green one and now my tongue's green! 

A Triple Update

March Madness is now over - I came in 3rd out of 85 brackets in my work pool... woo hoo!  Not too shabby considering I know absolutely nothing about basketball.  However only 1st and 2nd win any money so I guess that means that I'm 1st of the losers?

The Chicken.  Was. AMAZING!!! Once I finally got the neck removed, the rest of the preparation was very simple - just salt and pepper - I used Thomas Keller's recipe, like he had demonstrated on the No Reservations technique show.  Yummmmmmm.... I liked it so much that I ordered another local chicken to try it again - hopefully this time with a lot less squealing - yeah right - removing the neck still freaks me out!

Ellie has been a good little model for my new obsession with Instagram:


My dog is weird - in this photo she has her head on a pillow and what you can't see though is that her butt is under the covers!  Apparently she thinks she's human.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Pittsburgh - a Photo Series

I was having fun with the Instagram app on my iPhone and took these pictures one day during my lunch hour: