As summer winds down...
At this very moment, life is good. Most of the time I suppose I am relatively privileged, but I don't take it into consideration or appreciate it. But right now, I acutely feel a sense of appreciation. I've gotten off the wait list for a class I have been dying to take, less than two weeks before I head back to school. I have a job secured for next year through my work study, as well as one at home for when I return during breaks. I am broke as a joke, but shopping can wait. I'm optimistic about the man I'm currently seeing, but hush, that's a bit of a secret. I also know that these good, intense feelings are fleeting, and that in a couple of weeks I will be swamped in new course material, school activities, and trying to balance sleep with studying and a social life.
In the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to ease myself into the habit of taking photographs of the various activities I undertake that appeal to a visual aesthetic. All of these have already been posted on Facebook, but here I'll add my narrative and arrange them into a sort of 'storyboard' to immortalize how I have been wasting my time in these last weeks of vacation.
A little while ago,
And took the opportunity to dress up to the nines!
I totally combined luxury items with budget items... Chanel bag and MAC lipstick, along with shoes bought on clearance and a dress I found on 15dollarstore.com!
I was inspired by such style icons as Jackie O and Audrey Hepburn... and actually, my mom complimented me by saying that I looked like a combination of the two!
Last weekend, I was also rather ambitious and cooked up four batches of cookies for a total of 48! And yet they were all gone within two days... I made two of sugar cookies with buttercream frosting, and two of peanut butter.
The recipe I used for the butter cookies was found on FoodNetwork.com, and it is actually Emeril Lagasse's. The cookies came out perfectly -- sweet, crumbly in texture, and (of course) oh-so-buttery. The cream cheese-based frosting provided perfect contrast.
All the ingredients for butter cookies set out and waiting to be put to use...
Sooo much butter... x_x
I added six egg yolks to this mixture as well! Oy vey...
All mixed up! PS Check out my chubby lil-kid hands.
Since I lack a rolling pin (note to self: Buy one asap!) and cookie cutters, I improvised by setting chunks of dough on wax paper, covering them with another layer of wax paper, and rolling them flat with a cylindrical glass. The shape was not perfect, but sufficiently round, and the surface ended up being smooth and perfect for my frosting purposes.
And voila! Out of the oven and looking good! (I just wish I could share the aroma at this moment as well. Mmmm..)
Here's the frosting! Rich and creamy, made from scratch, and dyed pink, of course!
First batch, done! I can fit 12 cookies into the oven at a time.
I topped this batch of with dinosaur-shaped sprinkles; not only are they cute, but the colors are perfect!
Close-up to better see the decorating... though it did end up getting a bit blurry in the front. Shows how much I know about taking photos.
The second batch!! Pretty, no?
I topped these with rainbow non-parelis sprinkles, which were admittedly harder to control (I had a couple of unwanted spills, I admit) but looked and tasted just as good, while providing a slight variation on texture
Of course I couldn't pass up an opportunity to ham it up...
A more complete shot of the cookie and I.
The next two batches I made were peanut butter cookies. This recipe I found on epicurious.com (LOVE this site!) and is originally from Bon Appetit 1998 -- simply titled "Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies". They came out beautifully -- remaining soft and chewy no matter how long they were left out. Next time I'd love to experiment with adding chocolate chips or even peanut butter cups to them, but for my first time I was satisfied with using a cup of chunky peanut butter. The cris-cross designs were fun to do, too!
Here they are, fresh out of the oven...!
Served on a plate!
That's all I have to share for now! I enjoyed sharing my photos and hopefully will put my camera to better use in the future!
In the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to ease myself into the habit of taking photographs of the various activities I undertake that appeal to a visual aesthetic. All of these have already been posted on Facebook, but here I'll add my narrative and arrange them into a sort of 'storyboard' to immortalize how I have been wasting my time in these last weeks of vacation.
A little while ago,
And took the opportunity to dress up to the nines!
I totally combined luxury items with budget items... Chanel bag and MAC lipstick, along with shoes bought on clearance and a dress I found on 15dollarstore.com!
I was inspired by such style icons as Jackie O and Audrey Hepburn... and actually, my mom complimented me by saying that I looked like a combination of the two!
Last weekend, I was also rather ambitious and cooked up four batches of cookies for a total of 48! And yet they were all gone within two days... I made two of sugar cookies with buttercream frosting, and two of peanut butter.
The recipe I used for the butter cookies was found on FoodNetwork.com, and it is actually Emeril Lagasse's. The cookies came out perfectly -- sweet, crumbly in texture, and (of course) oh-so-buttery. The cream cheese-based frosting provided perfect contrast.
All the ingredients for butter cookies set out and waiting to be put to use...
Sooo much butter... x_x
I added six egg yolks to this mixture as well! Oy vey...
All mixed up! PS Check out my chubby lil-kid hands.
Since I lack a rolling pin (note to self: Buy one asap!) and cookie cutters, I improvised by setting chunks of dough on wax paper, covering them with another layer of wax paper, and rolling them flat with a cylindrical glass. The shape was not perfect, but sufficiently round, and the surface ended up being smooth and perfect for my frosting purposes.
And voila! Out of the oven and looking good! (I just wish I could share the aroma at this moment as well. Mmmm..)
Here's the frosting! Rich and creamy, made from scratch, and dyed pink, of course!
First batch, done! I can fit 12 cookies into the oven at a time.
I topped this batch of with dinosaur-shaped sprinkles; not only are they cute, but the colors are perfect!
Close-up to better see the decorating... though it did end up getting a bit blurry in the front. Shows how much I know about taking photos.
The second batch!! Pretty, no?
I topped these with rainbow non-parelis sprinkles, which were admittedly harder to control (I had a couple of unwanted spills, I admit) but looked and tasted just as good, while providing a slight variation on texture
Of course I couldn't pass up an opportunity to ham it up...
A more complete shot of the cookie and I.
The next two batches I made were peanut butter cookies. This recipe I found on epicurious.com (LOVE this site!) and is originally from Bon Appetit 1998 -- simply titled "Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies". They came out beautifully -- remaining soft and chewy no matter how long they were left out. Next time I'd love to experiment with adding chocolate chips or even peanut butter cups to them, but for my first time I was satisfied with using a cup of chunky peanut butter. The cris-cross designs were fun to do, too!
Here they are, fresh out of the oven...!
Served on a plate!
That's all I have to share for now! I enjoyed sharing my photos and hopefully will put my camera to better use in the future!