Olympics!

I hope you are all enjoying the Olympics even if the opening ceremony was sorta lame. I got invited to my friend's to watch the opening ceremony complete with olympic themed foods.
I decided to make my favorite pasta salad with an olympic twist! I found out on pinterest that if you add food dye to the water when boiling the pasta you could turn the pasta colors! So simple, yet I hadnt throught of it before. So with my blue and white pasta I added Yellow, Red, and Green Peppers, and black olives.

Katie made desserts and snacks in the olympic theme. She's very creative! She started with Olympic Torches

and moved on to Olympic Medals (who doesnt like fruit by the foot!)

And the center piece was olympic rings cake!

Chocolate Classes

While i'm at it I'll post about the chocolate making/champagne tasting class peter took me to for valentines day. The class was taught at 918 F street by the chef from Coco Sala.

We made raspberry truffle pops, and were delicious! here is a picture of the pops before the 2nd side was added.

Look for another post soon from another class I will be taking there with my friend Julie.

The big 3-0

Well hello again, sorry for the big gap in posts. I guess I haven't been that crafty lately, but here I am once again with some delicious baked goods. I baked a plethora of desserts to celebrate my 30th birthday! Julie asked me why I was making my own birthday treats, and my answer was that I loved to cook (and this way peter and I wouldn't end up eating it all).

A few months ago I made Italian Rainbow Cookies, and while they were delicious there was still room to improve, so I thought I'd try again with two notable differences. First I used vegetable shortening in the frosting instead of butter, and boy what a difference that made! It was easy to spread and appropriately thick, so if you are going to try this recipe definitely go with the shortening, and if you live near here come use mine b/c I now have a whole package that I'm never going to use. The Second difference was the color choice. These no longer look italian or like christmas, but instead summary and pretty!

My next dessert was inspired by one of the most addictive websites ever created...pinterest of course. I made peanut butter-Graham Cracker Truffles and boy were they delicious! We made them much smaller than the recipe called for which I think was a good move since they were too delicious and this provide a little portion control.

Surprisingly most easily, I made mini cheesecakes with blueberries or chocolate chips on top.

Lastly, but certainly not least, a good friend brought over home made marzipan flavored marshmallows. Check out her website to see all the amazing flavors she makes

I still have a few days till my actual birthday, but I'm feeling very lucky to have such great friends and family to share these desserts with, or just tell them about from afar, and I cant wait to turn 30! Happy Birthday To Me ;)

Caramel Ganache Tartlettes

For Diana's Annual Wine and Cheese Sarah and Leslie came to town and we baked some delicious tartletts. We modified a few recipes and added our own twist. We made Caramel Tartlettes with a mini pretzel and drizzled with chocolate ganache.
For the caramel sarah showed us how to make it since she's an expert. The caramel looked so pretty while it was cooking

We then spooned about 2 tablespoons in to the shells we had made. We had read it would take 4 hours to set, but it turns out for the purpose we were using it for, it was almost immediately useable.

Leslie-the pretzler- put one mini pretzle on each one and then I drizzled ganache on top (the ganache tasted good but really did take forever to dry). These were so delicious! I cant wait to make them again.

Italian Cookies

I bought a roll of almond paste and later realized I couldn't just eat it plain (i guess I should say I shouldn't eat it plain because I certainly could). I found a recipe for Italian Cookies that looked delicious. It was fun making and dying the layers, and it tasted great. I decided I didn't want to use shortening in the frosting layer...big mistake. It turns out the butter just doesn't do volume like shortening does. It still tasted good but it could have been prettier. Freshly made they were great! Every day you could taste them getting not as great (still delicious though). The problem was the apricot jelly between the layers absorbed into the cake layers. Not the worst, but if you try this I recommend serving it immediately. I'll certainly try this again though!

The start of a new project!

I found a pattern for a new blanket. I'm not sure yet how big i'll make it, but the first piece came out pretty well. Look out for updates on this one :)

Crochet

Remember back in august when the hurricane "hit" I taught myself how to crochet? Well I figured I'd try out making a bigger thing, like a throw for the couch. I found a cute zig zag pattern and gave it a shot! I dont love the colors I picked, and I also picked not the softest yarn since i'm a beginner, so its not the greatest blanket, but i'm done and the pattern looks awesome.