Todays the Day!!

There it is!...Our house!!

As of 5:30 pm today, we own this beautiful gem!!

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I'm not dead. And the only wicked I am is wicked-awesome.

But this is what I feel like.

Not in a terrible awful, the house-is-crushing me way, but more-like a super fantastic wonderful the house has fallen on me and is consuming all of our time- kind of way.

My kitchen has been packed up for a week, hence no recipes, lots of take out. Our apartment is in semi-boxed shambles! I can't wait to get out of it and into the house!

Which by the way.. we close, on monday! As of 5:30pm on October 21st we will be homeowners!

We're so very excited about this next chapter in our lives and I can't wait to have space to decorate and room to entertain. The kitchen is bonkers compared to our old place too. Who knows what i'll be able to whip up in there!! One can only imagine for right now, but I do have a list!

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It feels like fall for real this week. Sunny, chilly days. Sweaters. Boots. love.

This buying-a-house thing has been consuming my brain. We've officially started packing as of this past weekend and are trying to figure out the logistics involved in getting out of one place and into new-house-fantastic-land.

Mind you, we need to do this before the end of this month.

Husband is running with the bulls in ATL next weekend, we close the 21st, and we have a family member's engagement party in Alabama on the 26th. So this leaves us with this weekend pretty much to pack and moving everything.. is yet to be determined! bah

So I've been browsing the internet this week to fill time- because it's so super productive, right?

1. Essential tools for our new home- a checklist!
2. Is Exhausted the New Black article that really speaks to me.
3. The best hidden features of the new ios7
4. the best pumpkin recipes for fall
 5. Now that we're getting the house, the next milestone will be baby. Wanting to check off most of these first. Good thing we've got plenty of time!
6. Super cute we've moved announcements this one is from minted, but there's so many options on etsy. 
7. Tips for growing lavender! because I so want to in our new yard.

DIY: Nautical Knot Napkin Rings

I had some trim left from when I had made my nautical vase and was wondering what to do with it. With home-ownership on the horizon, I've been dreaming of table-scapes and thought a napkin ring would be nice!

You will need:

some rope trim, about 2 yards to make 8 rings

 (I used this cotton one found at Joanne's Fabric)

scotch tape

glue gun

gold spray paint! (optional)

cut a length of rope-trim at 8 inches long. 

Have the scotch tape handy to wrap around the end as you cut it because it will immediately start to fray and unravel. I taped a small tip, as small as I could (seen in the background above) and trimmed the extra tape. Do this on both ends. You should get a somewhat pointed-end.

Then, tie the length in a knot, making sure it's roughly in the center of the rope. 

Dab hot glue underneath each end of the knot while wrapping the rope around (pictured above- so it's in the right spot when you make the ring!)

Then secure the ends together with hot glue, overlapping the pointed tape-covered tips, until you get a uniform thickness in the rope. You can also use a little scotch tape here too. I did hot glue, then wrapped with a piece of tape that I cut in half lengthwise, then secured all around with hot glue again. You can use the hot tip of the glue gun to then melt the tape and glue all together and smooth out any edges.

I then coated them with 3 coats of gold spray paint for some extra glam.

They came out kind of bronze-looking but they really look great! Overall, I'm super pleased with the finished product. 

Chocolate Eclairs

Looks pretty good, huh?!

I love love love chocolate eclairs. They're one of my favorite desserts.
They turned out alright, but definitely presented some challenges through the process.

I followed this recipe. I've been wanting to tackle these little suckers for quite some time. Pate a choux is a fascinating dough.  It's the above ingredients. Simple. But you basically boil the water butter sugar salt together,  then whisk the flour into it over the heat. cooking it. Yes, cooking the dough! then you mix the eggs in after. You're left with a super sticky dough.

Somehow, through the science of baking ...when cooked again in the oven, the dough puffs up into hollow forms of whatever you piped. (in this case empty tubes to hold custard!) voila!

It's like magic.

The pastry cream was simple enough...if I had known what I was doing. [Challenge 1] the first batch, I let over-mix in the kitchen aid and was left with a strange bubbly custard when I tried to thicken it. So I trashed it and started over.  Batch 2 seemed to be going well, but while whisking it over the heat to thicken, it looked as if it was starting to curdle. At this point I began cussing while whisking my heart out and saying crazy things like, "you're not a f*@^&#g pastry chef! why, WHY did you decide to do this?! You could've made ice cream with all those egg yolks! At least you know what you're doing with that!" 

I don't know if was an act of the big man upstairs or what, but somehow...some way... that custard instantly thickened and came together. It happened so suddenly, literally within 5 seconds. weird runny curdling thing one second- BAM- thick pastry cream laced with lovely specks of real vanilla bean the next. I am left assuming that this is just how it works... that whole science of baking thing again. 

mind.blown.

[Challenge 2] I thinned the chocolate glaze too much. But, it's nothing a double dip in appropriate-thickness chocolate glaze didn't fix!

Now that I've done it once, I think a second go around is required- and will go much more smoothly. Getting the pacing of this down will surely yield greater success in the future. 

My takeaways from this: 

always read the recipe completely first

baking is a delicate process.

even if they don't look great, they taste pretty darn good-

and that's what maters

Tipsy Tuesday: Pink Gin Punch

It's OCTOBER! ah! Time flies, huh?

I said to my husband this evening, I've got to make a pink drink for tonight! He looked at me confusedly and said, "what, why? ohhhh."

Yep, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

So while you're taking time to prep a costume and stocking up on candy for the end of this month, take some time to think pink and support. 

So, no worries about the white dust above. 

It's powdered sugar.

I'm going to be honest. I was lazy here and had no interest in making simple syrup. powdered sugar worked really great in my Pisco Sour, so i figured I'd try it here. This drink is definitely gin-y and packs a punch. The creme de casis and grand mariner really compliment the floral of the gin and play up its natural flavor. 

Gin Punch

1 + 1/2 oz Gin

1/4 oz creme de casis

1/4 oz grand marnier

1 + 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar

juice of 1 lime

splash of angostura bitters

shake in a shaker and pour over ice.