Saturday, March 6, 2010

Our humble abode & greatest caloric intake yet.

I had great culinary success these past couple weeks and I wanted to share it with you. It's too bad we don't have kids yet because I'm sure THEY would eat more than just one doughnut or cupcake. Jason is not much of a sweets person though. I'm lucky I have great friends who are more than happy to take leftovers. Below are doughnuts, french apple tart and chocolate cupcakes, all from scratch. Hey now this was within two weeks time so don't start gagging from the calories yet. I did chocolate glazed and maple bacon doughnuts. The latter might need some explanation though, I wanted to try to make a something sweet paired with bacon since it's kind a craze in the food world right now, sweet and salty. I love this combination and they turned out delish. The apple tart is my new favorite dessert. The pastry crust was so flaky and buttery and the apples caramelized and not overly sweet. There is an apricot glaze on top and it was truly a million times better than anything I have had from a bakery. I got an idea from my friend's blog to photograph our apartment for those of you who can't see it for yourself. We love our apartment and we plan on living here until we say our fond farewell to BYU. Just to update everyone, we are both juniors and I only have two semesters left until I graduate in marriage and family studies! Jason has two years to go which includes receiving his masters of accountancy. I am trying to enjoy my last college years while I can and Jason is just happy to ace his tests. Next post I promise some pictures of us together.


Doughnuts that have risen. I only have fluted cutters but I actually liked the edges.
Golden and fried. All desirable traits!
Chocolate and maple bacon. Don't knock it til you try it.

French apple tart! Essentially only pastry, apple, butter and sugar.
I'll bake it for you. Just call.
I took this because I was so happy with how similar they look to the picture in the cookbook.

So we are starting the tour in our second bedroom (office and storage room). Here is my desk.
This is Jason getting up and leaving, trying to avoid pictures. His desk.
Bedroom! My dresser and Jason's. I kicked him out of the wooden dresser, it was just too crowded.

Bed and Jason's shoes. He has some kind of complex about putting shoes in the closet..
Bathroom. It's tight quarters in there, but worth it to have a washer and dryer. Yes the toilet is just in front of the washer..like I said worth it!
There are a lot of weird things about our apartment, such as this door not opening all the way and none of the drawers in the kitchen being wide enough to hold a silverware organizer. It's these things that will make me appreciate a home so much more.
Living room. So the door on the right is the bathroom door and our two bedrooms are right in that nook too.
Ok, I realize our apartment looks a little barren. I like to think of it as simple and clutter-free. I love our big couch pillows!
Kitchen. I really like our kitchen compared to other kitchens in BYU married housing. We have a dishwasher and working modern appliances. Couldn't ask for more. There isn't much storage space, I keep a lot of our pots and pans in the living room closet but I'm grateful for what we have.
See our silverware organizer on the counter? It is normal to us now but I still open the top drawer when I empty the dishwasher sometimes to put silverware in. I have a little basil plant on the counter there! I love it but it slowly dying, which makes me sad. I hate buying fresh herbs when it's so easy to grow them in the windowsill. You can see our microwave on the bottom left because there was no counter space near an outlet for it. I apologize for the fingerprints on the window.
Our dining room table, thank you IKEA.

Monday, February 8, 2010

A New Hobby

First, I am sorry some of the pictures are sideways! Just another thing I don't know how to fix on this blog. I figured I should document a new love I have discovered, cooking. I think I enjoy the challenge of baking the most and even though what I make doesn't always turn out right, it still tastes good. Below are a couple things I have made that I was particularly pleased with. I have also decided every recipe I make when I'm "challenging" myself will be homemade, meaning from the crust to the topping. Take a look see.

Fleur de Sel caramels. I need to remake these since my sweet friend Rachel bought me legit fleur de sel or sea salt.
mm bubbling caramel.
Jason enjoying creme brulee! He bought me the set when we were dating and it took me a while to muster the courage up to bake it.
clink clink! The beautiful sound of the caramelized sugar breaking.
Roast chicken! Not that this is very difficult to make, I just thought it looked especially yummy.
Urg, out of order pictures sorry. But more delicious creme brulee!

Lime meringue tart. Very time consuming. I got a little messy with the meringue, but it makes it look homemade.
And yes, this is what I look like on Sunday afternoons.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Shower Power

I wanted to throw my sister Holly a baby shower and luckily I have in-laws that let me borrow their condo in St. George for the grand event. It helped to have a sister who didn't mind aiding in planning her own shower! :) It was a fun day and Holly got so many great presents for her new baby girl. Thank you to everyone who attended and to Holly for helping her newlywed sister throw a baby shower!



Sisterly love.
Our cousin Holly and her daughter Olivia came!

My mother-in-law, Linda was in St. George and partied with us!

Mmm scrumptious food table.
What a babe.

Matt and Hollie's Wedding!

We travelled to Houston for my brother Matt's wedding in September and had a superb time visiting family and getting out of Provo for the weekend. It was great to have the family all together (minus Holly :( though) and spend time in Texas. The wedding was beautiful and I had a little deja vu since it was the same colors as mine!

Howells represent.
My cute niece Ava.

Beckman-Gille Clan :)
The handsome couple.

BYU Snugsters

I love all the random pictures I have of our newlywed days and I know one day I will appreciate all the crazy pictures I took! Holly so lovingly gave me a leopard-print snuggie for my birthday and it has obviously been used in private by Jason :) We love going to the BYU football games and rooting and hollering for the cougars!! I love these exciting college days that we have together.





Hop-E Bird-Day to Ewe

Jason and I both celebrated our birthdays in September and we had a great time! We had a family dinner at my favorite restaurant, Harvest, and a party at the condo in Salt Lake with a bunch of our friends. I love birthday breakfasts as a tradition, so Jason always takes me for french toast on my birthday and I made him a homemade breakfast on his. Thank you to everyone for the birthday presents and wishes!