My Moms Zucchini Bread

My mom's zucchini bread is the best zucchini bread in the whole world. It makes me feel good. I have been hanging around my parents house while they are away in Canada often this summer and I find myself trying to fill it with the things I remember. The things this house in the summer should have. Like grapes in the super cool grape dish my mom has. Cherries, with the pits. I missed out on green beans from the garden, since there was no garden this summer. It occurred to me as my free time was about to come to an end that I have been missing the zucchini bread. That was the icing on the proverbial cake that my summer was sorely lacking. So I made it.

I hate baking. I am not good at it. Baking is a science. Ironically I am not good at science. Thus I am not good at baking. But alas. In order to get the zucchini bread that I so desired I had to bake. The only major mistake I made was the distinction between baking soda and baking powder. It came out ok though.

I have a feeling these won't last very long. 

On the regular cooking front I have made a few dishes. First Caesar Spaghetti from Rachel Ray. This is the first recipe in the book and is quite peculiar. I had to buy anchovy fillets. This is the first thing I have been unable to touch. They cook nice though, literally dissolve into the hot oil. The dish was alright. I think I used to many noodles which diluted the flavor.

The next delicacy involved a rotisserie chicken and came from a magazine. Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches. It was fantastic. I don't even like chicken wings that much (too messy) and this was great. Simply shred a then chicken. Stir in a skillet with 2 tbs butter and 1/2 cup sauce (I just poured till it looked right). I served it with broccoli salad (bacon, cheddar, broccoli, red onion, sauce: Mayo, Red Wine Vinegar, Sugar) and carrot/celery sticks. Nom Nom. 

Finally in honor of my boyfriends birthday I made him cupcakes. He likes blueberries so i put them onto and put one in half of the cupcakes. Now its a surprise if you'll get one with it or not. 

Birthday Cupcakes

So soon I will be leaving the comfort of my home and moving back to my apartment. Where both my roommates have already left. Nothing left but my stuff. I start my job on Friday. Scary. So many emotions associated with this I can't even articulate it. It seems the biggest issue is being able to successfully do what I (think I) need to do to be impressive without letting my own self conscious fears get in the way. But I have all week to mull that over. Not to mention figuring out what to wear, ;-). Enough about that. 

My cooking attempt for the weekend was a Venison Backstrap. I don't practice cooking on fancy red meat often so I was nervous. My boyfriend was deeply distracted by his to do list for the week to help me (or rather I was afraid to ask for help). But either way it turned out great!

The meat is marinaded in Soy Sauce, Whiskey(or Bourbon), Brown Sugar and Garlic. Then broil it. The sauce consists of butter, onion, whiskey, more butter, cream. Its yummy, but with those ingredients how could it not be. For a side dish I improvised. Zucchini (left over from the bread), a squash, onion sauteed with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Then mixed with couscous and sprinkled with goat cheese. YUMMY! I impressed myself with that one.

Nom Nom. Even Boomy was interested.

Well my culinary practice is about to end with my summer. But ill keep you posted on other happenings. 

Thanks for reading

Ktbug

New York City!!

Had a blast in New York City visiting my good friend Jessa. I got to enjoy the big city life for a few days and that is about all I think I could handle. The following is my brief assessment of the city.

Skyline view from Brooklyn Bridge

Pros:
- so much to see and do. you will never be bored. Central park, Museum, Broadway, off Broadway etc.
- fantastic shopping.
- city that never sleeps. bars are open till 4am.
- Great Food!
Cons:
- so much to see and do. you will spend lots of money.
- subways. Hot. Dirty.
- random smells.
- so many people. you can feel it in the air.
- you always feel like you need to shower because its hot, smelly, and crowded.

To recap my visit. I left Thursday and got back Monday. This is the perfect amount of time. Got to do everything. Maybe 1 day more for tourist stuff would have been nice but im going back in a few weeks so im not disappointed. I happened to come during restaurant week which means almost restaurant in the city had price fixed menus for $35 or less. It was great. We went to club 21 on my first night, fantastic. We also saw Harry Potter in 3D at midnight which was great.

The Met

Then Friday I gave myself a self tour of the met. Got myself there and back via the subway system all by myself (and google maps on my iphone). The met is great. I only wish I could have been there with Alex he would have really enjoyed it and it would have been fun to talk about with him. There was an Alexander McQueen (the person who designed lady gaga's clothes) exhibit while I was there but there was an hour wait so I did not bother.

The Lake in Central Park

That night we saw the play, Love, Loss and What I Wore. It was very cute and got us in the mood for the shopping we had planned for the weekend.

Purl Soho

The shopping was super fun. I got great stuff. The following picture is the trinkets i treated myself too. The tote is a canvas tote that is made to look like the bloomingdales bags. Super cute. The red purse is longchamp and i love it. The yarn is from purl soho a famous yarn store in new york. The playbill from the pay is there. And the Chanel Coco Mademoiselle purfurme, my glamorous fun purchase.

Perfect purchases. The best food I consumed while there are as pictured below. I am seriously still thinking about how good this food was this long after. 

These first two are from Juniors. Rated the #1 best new york style cheesecake. 

 For dinner I had a reuben. It was great. Mouthwatering.

 OMG. So creamy. So amazing. Strawberry shortcake style. I want more.

Then duh. New York hotdogs from the street vendor. He tried to charge us $3 but jessa haggled down to $2.

Well those are the highlights of my trip. I hope you enjoyed. 

Thanks for reading

Ktbug

Chicken Nuggets + Tater Tots = Awesome Weekend

Hello All

I got some surprise visitors this weekend. Some welcome and some unwelcome, but I think that's how it always goes. I don't have insightful personal pieces of wisdom today. Generally, I just have grips about things/people that bothered me that I try to twist into wisdom but everything has been okay for a while. No lessons learned. Through lessons usually need to take a while to sink in before they become learned. This weekend I got to see some great friends and enjoy time with them at my house. I am a home body so that is my preferred way.

Luckily I made enough delicious dishes to keep my reputation in tact with my guests. First treat I made is homemade chicken nuggets. I wanted chicken nuggets one day and thought hey "I have chicken and bread crumbs how hard could it be?" I scoured my moms leftover cook books and found a Barefoot Contessa book and in it there were Parmesan Chicken Fingers. Yum. All I had to buy was parm and I was set. Since I anticipated these to be fantastic I made lots. Which turned out to be a good plan since my welcome guests showed up as I scooped the last few out of the pan.

To make a complicated recipe less complicated I created an assembly line. First dredge in the flour. Then dip in the eggs (I used egg whites, cause who really needs the yolks). Then the bread crumb parm mixture.

Assembly Line

Once assembled I put them straight into the pan but since I made a lot and it said to not crowd the pan I needed a holding area too.

The holding Area

Pan Fry in Olive Oil and Butter

They were awesome and quickly eaten. Juicy and flavorful. My boyfriend said they were as good as KFC, meaning they were so good on their own they did not need dip. That didn't stop us from getting everything that could be considered dip out of the fridge. 

After that lunch we agreed to order pizza for dinner. 

After an evening of shenanigans downtown we needed a hearty breakfast. I was prepared and created the Tater Tot Skillet of Awesome. It was awesome indeed with some hearty additions. 

This is the final product. I did not get a good pick of it prior (sorry) but there are good pictures on the website it came from. This uses a cast iron skillet too which I think is so cool. Whats in it is a whole green pepper, whole onion, cup of peppers (all chopped up), and a pound of venison sausage. You saute those all together. Then mix in 3 cups precooked tater tots (I added an extra cup) dump in 7 eggs (the meat increased volume so I added eggs until the mixture was covered. Finally cover it with cheese (I used twice as much as the recipe called for) and bake for 15 minutes. Can you say amazing, or should I say awesome (lol). I served it with a fruit bowl of cantaloupe and baby watermelon. I figured the boys needed some fresh fruit in their life. And nothing says summer like watermelon. 

The last summer treat I have discovered is this awesome recipe for Iced Coffee. It is as good as described. Its not acidic. Easy to drink. I drink my coffee black but iced coffee is always good with more so have it your way (sorry to steal the slogan BK). If I ever needed to make a lot of it I think I would try this iced coffee recipe from the pioneer women.  

Since those feats I have not conquered anymore fine dinning but the week has just begun.

Thanks for reading

Ktbug

P.S. I changed my favicon to a cute little cupcake. :-)

Strawberries, Cinnamon & Knitting

I have been racking my brain all day trying to figure out something profound to say. I feel my blog has lost is content. But really since my life is a whole lot of nothing these days what is there to talk about. When I travel to New York there will be lots of sparkle to talk about. When I start my new job there will be lots of hopes and fears to discuss. Right now all I do is spend time knitting/reading/cleaning until its time to cook something again.

I love cooking. Maybe I have missed my calling. I feel like my day is not complete unless i spend some time chopping, sauteing, sprinkling and tasting. I am not sure where I learned this passion from. My mom, whom is a fantastic cook, does not seem to enjoy cooking as much as I do. I just love this form of creation. I still follow recipes most of the time. I don't create off the top of my head but maybe a few more years of recipes and ill be able to make things up. Maybe ill write a cooking/knitting book in my future. I am also not the best baker yet but these muffins turned out all right.

I was searching earlier this week through this new food website I found called Tasty Kitchen and bookmarking things I like. I have found with this site if I don't book mark it ill never find it again. Since I had just bought some strawberries these caught my eye. Since I was making them after dinner for a treat I through in some cinnamon chips. I love cinnamon.

These are the muffins before the baked. I had to bake them way longer than the listed amount. I blame the stone muffin pan for that.

Strawberry Muffins with Cinnamon Chips

Then to fill most of my day I have been eagerly working on my new socks. Now you might remember these from an earlier post but I had to redo them because the size was wrong. These are called the ballet socks from the the toe up two at a time sock book. They are prettiest ones in the book in my opinion so that is where I am starting. The pattern was designed to weave gracefully in and out reminiscent of a delicate dance.I don't know if you can see it very clearly but this is what the pattern chart creates.

Gotta love the two at a time as well. Its taking way long than your typical sock but its gonna be cool to be done with both at once. Also it is much more important to pay attention and do it right to keep up with this pattern. Also I had to cast this one on 3 times during round 2 before I got it right.

Well that is all I am up to right now. I hope that was a more interesting read than the usual. Also you must try these muffins they really turned out great.
Thanks for reading
Ktbug

Movie Reviews

During my chick flick marathon I sampled the finest that redbox had to offer. This is the verdict. The ones with the stars are my favorites. 

*Life as we Know it

Cute movie. I would recommend it. Sorta sad in some parts. Sorta funny in others. Makes you smile. Leaves you feeling happy and hopeful.

Country Strong

Pretty dramatic. Good music. Not really worth the time.

Sex and the city 2

As to be expected. Extravagant. Unrealistic. Girly. Fun.

*The Switch

Great movie. Smart and funny. Easy to watch. Cute. Highly recommend.

Time Traveler’s Wife

Cute flick. Romantic in its own weird way.

*Just Go with it

Funny in the Adam Sandler kind of way. But not over done. Cute. Fun. Recommended.

How do you know

Eh not that great. I kept getting confused in the plot line and the relationships were not believable.

Morning Glory

Cute, funny and inspiring. I think I missed my calling I should have been an executive producer. 

Recent Eats

- I attempted to make sauce the way my mom does it. Saute onion and garlic (I added diced mushrooms and green peppers). Add diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add some water to thin it. Season to taste. I cooked some ground venison and put in it as well. Served it with whole grain pasta. My brother said he liked it and he doesn't like pasta. Below is the pasta.

 These two are my brother (left) and boyfriend (right) enjoying the feast I made them.

Well that's all for now. I need to spend time cleaning and running errands. 

But lets be serious ill prolly watch TV and knit first. 

Thanks for reading 

Ktbug

Holiday Weekend

So much to catch up on Blog, how are you? Anything new?

Since my return from Canada I have been taking care of business. Cleaning things. Packing things. Unpacking things. Grocery Shopping. Shoe shopping. Business Casual clothes shopping.  My glorious summer of nothingness is coming to an end. But ill be damned (did i mention my blog was PG-13) if I don't get as many things off my to do list done as possible. 

First problem that needed solving was cleaning out my closet. I needed to make sure that I have all the business casual clothes needed for becoming a real 9-5 person. That includes shoes. 

I love shoe shopping. Thanks to my good friend Jessa I have a renewed love for shoes. I seem to have particular luck at DSW when shopping alone. My patent pending ;-) technique is to find ones i like and walk around the store in them to make sure they don't rub. Works every time. These are newest beauties. Tan flat, snakeskin Sperry flat and awesome peep toe heels. 

So I was driving home from the shoe store. Racking my brain trying to figure out what to do to salvage the weekend. My boyfriend is spending the weekend in Put In Bay with his friends and I am spending the weekend taking care of Boom and buying things (as you have already seen). Let's just say id rather be on an island sipping beer with friends than drinking wine with my dog in front of fan. So what do we do when we are sad. We by new shoes and make desert. 

Enter the Strawberry Pineapple Crumble with blueberries. Since its July 4th I threw in something blue in an attempt to make a red, yellow (no fruit is white), and blue treat. 

This is the crumble in the pan, it makes a nice 8x8 which is good if you don't have many people to serve. Its pretty dense and and has a creamy texture. Its not to sweet which makes it go great served warm with ice cream.

I had black raspberry chip ice cream from graters with my crumble and it was delicious. If your like my mom and pineapple in a baked good bums you out i think the recipe would still work if you put apples in instead.

Now what else does a young 20 something do when she needs to fill a Saturday night dog sitting. Redbox and knit that's what she do. I rented four movies and will remove them in a later post. If your curious what I am knitting its still that damn yellow sock. Turns out I made the wrong size and had to start over and I am having trouble casting on.

Finally lets remember July 4th is not only independence day but its also Boomers birthday. He turns 9 (i think) and shh don't tell him but I got him a beef flavored bone and canned food (he loves canned food) for his birthday. I think he will be excited.

Thanks for reading
Ktbug