"Come along inside... We'll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place."
Kenneth Grahame

Monday, March 14, 2011

First ever video post! Also maybe last ever.

I'm taking a video production class in school, so when my professor gave us an assignment to shoot, I decided to use it as a chance to make a video blog post.

Also, I didn't really follow the assignment at all, but our video is awesome so my professor didn't care.  I did manage to stress out my partner by not doing anything anyone else was doing.  Life is an adventure!

Just a forewarning, it's not all that funny.  We were mostly worried about getting words and video to line up.  Hopefully you still get your fill of my girlish charm.  If not, new entry soon!


Friday, March 4, 2011

Chocolate Chip Scones

I'm seeing Lady Gaga tomorrow night.

It just turned midnight.  I'm seeing Lady Gaga tonight.

I'm excited.

I'm staying with my friend in Buffalo.  I'm also seeing my grandparents and such.

I made treats for them.

Orangey chocolate chip scones

Awww yeah.

INGREDIENTS


  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
  • 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
  • 3 tablespoons orange juice


I made a few little deviations.  First of all, I doubled the ingredients.  Second of all, after doubling, I used about 16 tablespoons of orange juice.  The comments recommended it and they taste delicious.

No regrets.

First, mix together the dry stuff.

(dry stuff.)

Then get your butter.  It should be chilled, but kind of soft.  This recipe requires a lot of butter.  I don't even know exactly how much I used.

That much?

Chopping it is also annoying.  But you know what?  Whatever.  Have you ever seen somebody eat a scone and say, "You know what?  This scone is okay, I just wish it were a little less flaky and buttery."

The answer to that riddle is "no."

Suck it up, sunshine.

Sorry.  I'm in a sassy mood.

Anyways, use a big fork to mix the butter in until it looks nice and crumbly.

Incidentally, the recipe also says you can use a "pastry blender."  I realized I was a terrible food blogger when I didn't have any idea what that was.  Like I don't even have the energy to google it, and I use Chrome.  I can just type it in the address bar.

Maybe one day I will own one of those fancy kitchen aids.  When I have a bridal shower, somebody buy me one.  LOL JK bridal showers aren't for people who are gonna grow up to be lonely, crazed spinsters.  I bought pet millipedes this week.

WHOOOOOO!!!

Ah yes.  Biscuit dough.

I was supposed to add the chocolate chips right now, but I wasn't paying attention and went ahead with the orange juice.  16 tablespoons worked nicely.  I just had to knead it a little.

Woah.  I totally took a picture of the dough in the bowl and it is straight up gone.  Like I could pretend I added the chocolate chips at the right time and y'all wouldn't even know.

But that delete key is a prettttty big stretch for my pinky, sooooo....

Mix in your chips.  I didn't have mini, or semisweet.  I used ghiradelli milk chocolate chips.  Again, nobody has ever complained about being served ghiradelli, so I wasn't too concerned.

Because I doubled the recipe, I divided the dough into four balls.  I flattened them into 1/2 inch disks and cut them into 6 pieces each.

Ya that would be 6.

Space them out on greased baking sheets.  They puff, so give them some room.

They look little, but it's ok.

Bake at 400º for 12 minutes, until they are crunchy and golden and delicious.

Yeah, I'm getting pretty awesome at photography.

I haven't gone to Buffalo yet to try them out on my family, but if it's any testament, I got hungry while writing this and ate the one that only had two chips.  It was super delicious.

Cook it and eat it, chillun!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Emilys have a little Oscar party.

I love the Oscars.

The Academy Awards are a magical night where every celebrity I love looks as beautiful as possible and all crowd together in one big room for me to look at them.  It is also the night when I find out which of my imaginary boyfriends are cheating on me.

Why won't you love me???
Think of our thick-haired children!!!


Anyway, my friend Emily is one of the few people who loves celebrities as much as I do.  Mainly because (if you can remember from the gingerbread house post) we are the same person.

We decided at the last minute to have a little Oscar party, so I made an easy, delicious appetizer.  You can make it too!  All you need is phyllo dough, spinach and artichoke dip, and butter.

BLANKET'S DELICIOUS SPINACH PUFFS!

Cut your phyllo into strips.

Easy enough so far!

Take a single strip and brush each side with melted butter.

Just in case you don't understand brushing.

Put a little lump of dip at the top of the strip, a-like so.

You could even make the dip, if you weren't lazy like me.

Fold the top corner down into a triangle--

Alright, we're getting complicated here.  Slow down.

Then keep folding it down until you just have a little triangular puff.

Woah!

It takes a little while, but then you end up with this.  I garnished them with a little parmesan.

Oooh la la!

I brought the baking sheet to Emily's house, where I cooked it at 375º until they were golden brown.  It took about 5 minutes, but keep an eye on them.

Now that looks fancier than it is!

Emily also had an extra home-made ice cream cake she had made for her daughter's birthday, and she made punch.  Another easy recipe--


EMILY'S TASTY CREAMSICLE PUNCH

A bottle of ginger ale

Vanilla ice cream

A can of orange juice concentrate

Something else I'm forgetting.  Maybe.  Emily, help!


Emily's husband had to go get us ginger ale, because we discovered that her children had drunk just about all the ginger ale she had.  She was thrilled.

Clearly.

Altogether, we had a classy little spread and a nice oscar party.

We ate it all.  Whatever.

The night's biggest upset?  Andrew Garfield not confessing his undying love for me.  Or James Franco.  Or Matt Damon.

BUT WHATEVER I DON'T EVEN CARE.