Goin' Out with a Bang

I started this blog on January 1 of this year.  It's now December 31 and I feel it only fitting that my last blog of the year be on the last day of the year.

Overall, I am considering the first year of blogging a success. I will have posted 15 times, an average of once a month. Considering that my last blog had 20 posts over a 3 year span, I consider this a win.  I also have over 1,000 views...and my last blog had a whopping 263.  Oh the power of Facebook.

Besides actually posting, I totally did what I set out to do - I domesticated the crap out of myself.  I did two cake decorating courses.  I have canned like it's my job. And I have cooked. A lot.  I did a few of my post-wedding projects, but I still haven't finished the scrapbook. Oh well.  I'm still calling this a win.

The finale to my domesticated year is the domesticated holidays.  We (and by we, I mean me with the dishwashing support of Aaron Zinn) did food gifts this year for our friends and family.  I also hosted my first cookie exchange!

The idea for food gifts came about when I found Taste of Home's Food Gifts magazine.  I love the specialty Taste of Homes magazines - they even have a canning one! They always have really good recipes that I end up making over and over.  I already knew that I wanted to give our friends jam as part of their Christmas, but I ended up adding cookie mixes to the gifts as well.

The inspiration to my holiday domesticated madness!

Mixes - oatmeal cookies, holiday M&M cookies and peppermint hot cocoa

I will say that the original idea was to wrap the jams and the cookie mixes with a base in cellophane.  That turned into a painful and expensive experience and thus, the gift bag is what I ended up going with for most of the gifts.  I also laminated the recipe card for the cookie mixes because, well, I have a laminator and I can.

The base that I originally wrapped with my printed out and laminated recipe

My vision of what it should look like.  I forgot to take a picture of a finished product - just know it was beautiful, but a pain.

Another idea that came from the Taste of Home magazine was a cookie exchange.  I had heard of cookie exchanges before, but never really wanted to do one.  Until this year, the year of the domestication and food gifts.

A cookie exchange is quite brilliant if you give cookies as gifts to co-workers, teachers, or friends.  Each person makes multiple dozens of the same cookie and then you swap the cookies.  This allows each person to have a variety of cookies to give (ahem - or eat) without having to bake a bunch of different recipes.

I used Paperless Post to create my invite and sent it out via email about a month ahead of time.  The holidays are crazy with our crowd - we usually have at least 3-4 Christmas parties to attend - and it gives people time to plan what they want to make.  I also used Paperless Post because I had a second card that explained "the rules."

My evite from Paperless Post.  Fun fact - we used them for our wedding save the dates!

The rules!

Overall, it turned out really well! Everyone brought enough cookies and I was able to make 6 cookie boxes for my co-workers.  I didn't have enough wrapping supplies for everyone to use, but I have totally rectified that situation for 2015.  After Christmas, I stopped by AC Moore, Michael's and Joann's and cleaned them out of their food gift supplies.  I was able to get over 60 boxes and bags for about $20.  Get ready ladies, because 2015 it is ON!

Our super full dining room table covered in snacks and cookies!

The cookie boxes

Inside the cookie boxes

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and 2014.  I have super high hopes for 2015 as some big changes are coming (and no, they don't involve a baby).  I also received lots of new kitchen toys for Christmas so expect some posts - especially with Bertha, my new massive pressure cooker! See you all in 2015 and thanks for reading my ramblings!

Thoughts During a Pioneer Woman Recipe

I have found a new love in life. Her name is the Pioneer Woman.  I blame this new love on my best friend, Katie, who may or may not be slightly obsessed with her.  I pretty much started watching the show because of her, but now I'm hooked. So hooked, that my mom bought me a Pioneer Woman cookbook for my birthday!

I've made a Pioneer Woman recipe before - garlic mozzarella cheese bread (see here for the recipe).  After I made it the first time, I found a few ways to made it simpler.  So when I flipped through the cookbook this past weekend and found a "simple, easy enchilada recipe" I figured it would be a good second recipe, first full PW meal to try.  I mean, I can do simple, right?

I grated cheddar cheese the night before, but everything else I did tonight. I started making the recipe and after the first few minutes, I decided this was not a "simple, easy recipe."  So, without further ado, here are the thoughts of Sarah while making her first full PW recipe. Enjoy.

The Sauce

Mmk. One tablespoon of canola oil and two tablespoons of flour.

Hm. That doesn't look like the picture.  The picture does not have clumps. (Throws out mixture)

Let's try this again. One tablespoon of oil, two table spoons of flour. 

Dang it! Why is this not working! (Throws out mixture).

One tablespoon oil, two tablespoons of flour.  Yes! Bubbles! (Whisk a little) No! Why is it clumping! 

Screw it. (Dumps in the read sauce and everything else).

Simmer.  That I can do.

The Meat

I hate onions. WHY are there so many onions?

OMG. Can't breathe. Crying.  (Wipes eyes and all the eyeliner off)

So. many. onions!

K. Browning ground beef. I can do this. (Dumps in green chiles).

Too many vegetables.

This better be good.

Putting it All Together

Holy crap - another pan! Guess I might as well get out the rest of the pots and pans.

PDubs has obviously never cooked in a small kitchen. This is ridiculous.  

I need alcohol. 

That works. 

Tongs. I need tongs. Do we have tongs? 

"Aaron! Do we have tongs?"

Aaron: "Of course we do!" (runs outside, comes back in with grill tongs).  

"TONGS!"

Frying. I can fry tortillas. 

Yeahhhhh. I can fry tortillas! 

Dip the tortillas in the red sauce. Use the tongs to dip the tortillas.  

Tortilla rips with tongs.  Second tortilla rips.

Screw it.  

I'll use my hands! 

(An hour after I begin) DONE!

Whoa, that's a messy kitchen.

Oh well. I'll drink more eggnog wine!

Easy my butt. Drink more wine. 

But it turned out pretty! And tasty!

Also, Aaron is still doing dishes thirty minutes later...  

I Have a Blog?!?

It's been a while. A long while since I have blogged.  To the point that people are actually asking me about what happened to my blog.  The fact that people are noticing that I haven't blogged is pretty cool, if you ask me, but at the same point in time, it points out just how long it has been.

How long has it been? Since July 13. Two months! Oops!

So what have I been doing these past two months? A lot of domestic things! I've canned, I've decorated cakes (and cookies!) and we've traveled.  There were weddings, family gatherings, and lots of birthdays.  It's been an eventful two months.  Here are the highlights :)

Sarah Baking

In August, I took my second cake decorating class.  I learned how to make a ton of flowers and do appliques, which are beautiful but a pain in the butt to do.  This class was supposed to be four classes long, but we ended up doing everything in three classes because another girl and I were going to miss the last two classes.  If you live in the Raleigh/Cary area and ever want to take cake decorating classes, I highly recommend doing them with Maria at Michaels in Cary.  She changed her schedule and combined the last two classes into one on a Friday night so that we could "graduate".

Final cake for my cake decorating class

The final cake I made for my class was a pain.  Strawberry cake is not easy to ice for some reason.  I also had to use what I made ahead of time to decorate the cake, so to me it wasn't that great.  It tasted awesome though!

Also, I came to a few conclusions during these cake decorating classes.

1. I was a terrible grandchild! I ate all the roses off my Grandma Ollie's wedding cakes all the time. I got beat with a spatula a lot and I completely understand why now! Sorry Grandma.   
2. I'm actually pretty decent at this stuff. I'm terrible at drawing and painting, but I'm pretty good at putting stuff together and using techniques and tips.  Thankfully, that's mostly what cake decorating is.    
3. It's fun, but a TON of work! When we did the combined class, I had to make a cake, two recipes of butter cream and two recipes of royal icing for a class on Friday night.  It took hours broken up over multiple days. When I made cupcakes and cookies for my friend Sarah's 30th birthday, I did everything in batches over multiple days because we were going to be out of town that weekend and I only had 3 hours to ice everything.  But I love it. I love making things that taste good and that people enjoy.  
4. I am Ollie's grandkid. I like to cook and bake for people, but it also has to be pretty. It can't just taste good, it has to look good too. And sometimes that makes me crazy.

Chevron sugar cookies with royal icing for my friend's 30th birthday

Black and white swirl cookies with candy 30s for my friend's birthday

Sarah Cooking

We have cable! What does having cable have to do with me cooking? Two words: Food. Network.

I didn't watch TV for years, so I didn't miss it when we didn't have cable.  And really, cable isn't the most amazing thing ever to me now, even with getting rid of Time Warner and having Showtime and Starz. But it does have Bob van Dillon and the Pioneer Woman and Trisha Yearwood. The first one has nothing to do with cooking, he's just a hot meteorologist.

My best friend Katie has been gushing about the Pioneer Woman (or rather, PDubs) for a while as has my friend Sarah.  So when I found it while channel surfing one day, I watched it. And then I watched Trisha Yearwood because I love her. And what happened?

I wanted to make all the things! No recipes, just come up with crazy stuff! So I made chicken, rice and zucchini sauteed with a random sauce (that was actually really good).  Then I experimented making mini peach pies using homemade whipped cream and my homemade peach preserves in vanilla syrup (which are ah-mazing). I destroyed the kitchen. I have a real talent for that. Aaron didn't really appreciate the destroyed kitchen as he is the one that does dishes after my masterpieces.  After that experience, I realized it was probably best to limit my Pioneer Woman and Trisha time. For everyone's sake.

Mini peach pies with homemade whipped cream and my canned peaches.

Sarah and Aaron Travel

We had a lot of things going on the past two months including a bunch of travel.  We went to the annual family pig roast, my friend Lauren's wedding and we enjoyed the Eno River Quarry in Orange County for my friend Crystal's birthday.

Beach day before my friend's wedding

In Swansboro at my friend's gorgeous wedding! We clean up nicely.

Coming up!
Next week we are traveling to Charleston for our one-year anniversary.  That still seems kind of crazy to me.  So, in honor of our anniversary, I'll be doing some sort of blog next week. Who knows what it will be about, but something will be posted! And then after that will be a post about my most favorite thing EVER: PUMPKINS!! I know. You are super excited. As you should be.

Also, you can follow our crazy adventures on my instagram @sdavies85 and #domesticatesarah.  I really am going to do better with this whole blogging thing!

Until next week folks :)

Domestication Achieved!

It's been a busy month for me - both at work and in the kitchen.  But the kitchen is much more fun to talk about, so we'll do that!

Cakes
My grandma Ollie made wedding cakes.  To this day, Ollie cakes still mean something to people in Fayetteville. I grew up with wedding cakes for birthday cakes.  I grew up fighting over cake holes (the warm middle of the cake that you remove to put it on stands) with my grandfather and then piping towers of icing on top. I grew up getting spanked for eating all the roses that were supposed to go on the wedding cakes (totally worth it).  I've always wanted to learn how to decorate cakes, but also knew to wait until I had a Kitchenaid to take an actual class.

The last two weekends of June, I took my first class. It was so much fun! Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of work.  I didn't want to see another cake for a while after the second class, but it was fun to learn how to do some techniques on my own.  I'm also really glad that I waited until I had a Kitchenaid.  Pretty sure that my arms would have given out trying to make the cake batter and the icing with a hand mixer.  Even better, I had all the parts from my Grandma Ollie's old mixer that finally died, so I could do twice as much before having to wash dishes.

I put these skills to use to make Aaron's birthday cupcakes: lemon blueberry and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream frosting! They got rave reviews :)

One of my practice cupcakes from class

Two color swirl practice cupcake.

The tower of birthday cupcakes!

The red velvet cupcake.

Canning
I've canned quite a bit since my last post.  I've made blueberry butter, bourbon peaches, and double berry jalapeno jam.

Blueberry butter

Double Berry Jalapeno and Bourbon Peaches

One thing that I've been struggling with since starting the canning journey is what to do with my concoctions besides putting them on bread.  I've tried a few different things, most of which have turned out pretty well.  I'm glad I've been able to find recipes to use my canned goods in - means I get to can even more!

One of Aaron's cupcakes.  It's a lemon cupcake with blueberry butter as filling with cream cheese buttercream frosting.  

I used our strawberry lemon preserves and the bourbon peaches to make breakfast pastries.  These turned out to be really good with a little sugar icing on top.

Fried Okra!
There are few things in life that I love more than fried okra - I eat it like most people eat candy. I registered for a deep fryer hoping that one day I would be able to use it to make okra.  Last night, I did. I used a Paula Deen Recipe which turned out amazing.  What did not turn out amazing was the reaction that my sinuses had to the frying! My eyes watered worse than they do when chopping onions and it took at least two hours after I was finished to feel normal again. Next time, I'm wearing swim goggles!

I remembered to take a picture of the okra about half way through dinner.   It will definitely be made again!

That's it folks! I feel like I can officially call myself re-domesticated between frying, canning and cake decorating.  So far this summer has been challenging and crazy, but really, I think I like it that way.  Here's to learning more about canning and cake decorating - I think I might even take another class before the summer is out!

Lately

It's been about a month since I last posted, so I thought instead of doing lots of little posts, I would just catch you up on the past month of our lives in one giant post.  No worries, it's mostly pictures.

Mother's Day
Mother's Day has always been an interesting day in my family.  My parents birthdays are a week apart, smack in between Mother's Day and Father's Day, so we rarely do gifts.  Ever since I moved to Raleigh, though, the unspoken rule has been that I show up and spend time with my parents on those days.  Now that I'm married, it's not that simple.  In a way, though, it is.

We just have everyone at our place!

We hosted both families, including Aaron's sister, Abbey, and her boyfriend, Christian, for Mother's Day lunch.  In case you didn't know, we live in a two bedroom apartment and I have a dining room table that seats four.  Feeding eight people isn't the easiest thing in the world, but we have managed it twice now.


At Thanksgiving, we used two card tables put together to make a big table for everyone to sit together.  Then, we bought a folding 6" banquet table from BJs.  Best idea ever! We are going to be in the apartment for at least another year and this allows us the ability to entertain without having to get larger furniture.  I also hate the idea of not having everyone sit together, so this is our answer.

Thanksgiving set-up.  Two card tables put together...and my ghetto-rigging to make the tables even.

Mother's Day set-up with the new table.  We also used the Ollie Dollie china, which isn't shown. 

Asheville
I had a conference in Asheville May 14-16, so I convinced Aaron drive up Friday afternoon and visit the Biltmore.  Neither of us had ever been and I thought it was the perfect time to go.

I drove up with a co-worker and her husband so that Aaron and I wouldn't have to drive back separately.  The conference ended at noon on Friday and until Aaron arrived that evening, I had no car.  So I explored what I could walk to - the Biltmore Village.

The fanciest McDonald's I have ever seen.  Gotta love design standards!

The Cathedral of All Souls

Aaron arrived Friday night and after crazy bouts with traffic, we finally found a parking space downtown.  We ate dinner at Posana, which was really expensive and not that wonderful (to us).  We then traveled down to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge which was amazing!  I got the salted caramel hot chocolate (it was actually pretty cool that weekend - hard to imagine right now, I know) and the lavender creme brulee.  Aaron got a salted caramel liquid truffle. 

The salted caramel truffle

The next day we went to Biltmore.  We arrived at 10:15 for our 10:45 AM tour of the house.  After the house we toured the gardens, the conservatory, the bass pond and the waterfall.  The photos below will illustrate our day.

View from one of the balconies.

Side view of the house from one of the gardens.

Photo from one of the balconies.

Some of the walled garden

More Walled Garden

Conservatory

My favorite plants from the Conservatory

      

There were so many cute little bridges. I loved them.

After the Conservatory, Aaron decided he wanted to check out the boat house at the bass pond.  So we walked through the Azalea Garden to get there. 

Cool tree in the Garden.

At the bass pond

The boat house.  We were a little disappointed with it...especially after the 1/2 mile walk to get down there.

So then we walked another 1/4 mile to the waterfall. 

Then I was the crazy one that said "Oh, let's take the woodland trail!" Which was all uphill.  In Toms.  Don't take the woodland trail.

The house. Some people are upset with how little of the house you actually get to see, but by the time we were done with the house tour, we were glad to be done.  It was a great experience, we both had fun. 

My mom and I found wine bottle holders like these at the Junior League Holly Day Fair in Fayetteville, so I thought it was cool to find this bride and groom at the Winery.

We ended the day with a meal at Homegrown. It was $25 and so much better than the fancy meal at Posanas. 

Canning

Strawberries are in season! I went to the Farmer's Market this past weekend and got a really good deal on strawberries, so I was able to preserve some and eat some.  I tried my hand once more at Strawberry Jam only to have it be about as solid as can be, but was successful with strawberry lemon preserves! I'm excited to try these in some different desserts!

My preserves cooking

Finished product!

Emily Giffin

One of my favorite authors came out with a new book this month.  I always resolve that I won't immediately buy the new book, but Target makes this so hard when they have signed copies! So I bought a copy and proceeded to finish the book in one day and then watch Something Borrowed, a movie based on my favorite of her books.  If you haven't read her books before, I highly recommend her!

That's it folks! Hopefully it won't be another month before I post again!