Handel's Messiah & Truffle Making

Wow has it been a long time since I updated this blog - almost a month! My life hasn't been too eventful, just full of work. I was so blessed last weekend to be able to go to my Aunt's in Denver for Thanksgiving & spend 4 days up there with family. I love my Denver family so much!
Last night I attended Handel's Messiah as presented by the Air Force Academy Cadet Chorale. For a novice concert, it was surprisingly good! Nic told me about it, and being the chronic "inviter" that I am, I invited two other people to come with us. Needless to say, one of the people I invited called and asked me what Handel's Messiah is...the poor man needs some culture! We drove up to USAFA only to be nearly blown away by the most frigid wind I have experienced in over 4 years (the last time I was there in the winter time). Seriously gusts strong enough to pick you up off your feet. At the end of the concert, we hung around as long as possible inside the chapel to avoid going back into the cold. I think I might move to Hawaii as the thoughts of the Aloha State were what got me back to my car. Warm beaches!
Next weekend I am hosting a holiday event, and this week will be full of preparations. I started the process today by making truffles. Coffee liquor & Bailey's truffles to be specific. Truffles are surprisingly easy to make. Here are some pictures of the process. Excuse my extremely white hands.

Here is what the saucepan looks like after you've simmered the cream, added the butter & the chocolate. I also added Bailey's Irish Cream to this batch.

After you take the saucepan off the stove, you transfer everything to a bowl & refrigerate the chocolate mixture for at least 2 hours. Then you scoop it kind of like cookie dough and form it into balls.

Here is what one of the truffles looks like. Now I like to add a little extra to the truffle.

So I rolled the Coffee Liquor truffles in a little bit of green sugar & the Bailey's ones in cocoa powder.

Here are some of the finished Coffee Liquor truffles.

And here are the Bailey's truffles.

I can't wait to try them both next weekend! If you'd like to try your hand at truffles, I recommend this recipe from Tasty Kitchen for Simply Rustic Chocolate Truffles. Enjoy!

busy weekend

The past week of my life has been crazy. I am still trying to catch up on sleep from it all! In the course of this past week, I've made dessert 3 times and then proceeded to inform people that I will not be making dessert again for at least a month. First was coffee cake, literally (thank you PW), then was Julia Child's Chocolate spongecake with chocolate icing, and finally I made "Go Army, Beat Air Force" cake balls courtesy of Em & Bakerella. All were tasty, but very time consuming. Here's a picture of the Julia Child's cake. I forgot to take pictures of the others.


Another part of the weekend was a dinner party to celebrate Eva & Laurel's birthdays. Here's a picture of the lovely birthday girls with their cake! We had such a good time with our small dinner party!


The next morning was tailgating for the Army v. Air Force football game. I might also add that they started doing flyovers at about 7:45AM while I was out running. The tailgate was fun & the half of the game that I stayed for was great! Too bad that Army apparently didn't show up for the last half of the game & lost 35-7. Here are some pictures from the game!

Nicole & me right before the game started. We may have actually missed the kick-off by taking this picture.

Amanda, Nicole & me during one of the many media timeouts we had in the first quarter. We look like we're having so much fun - mostly because Army was actually playing ok at that point!

Tom is doing the double V's with Nicole & me. Guess it worked in Air Force's favor!

Now last, but not least was the military ball that Grace & I went to on Saturday night. This event was probably the most entertaining & interesting of the weekend. Grace & I got ready at her place & the guys came to pick us up there. To avoid this totally feeling like prom, we only took pictures of us beforehand. The evening exposed Grace & I to many of the "traditions" of the Army, to include Artillery punch, toasts, long speeches in circles, awkward people & some inebriated people who were very entertaining and at times antagonistic. We had a great time and now I am completely exhausted. I'm pretty sure that all I want to do next weekend is sleep in!

Grace & me before the guys came to pick us up. We had a hunch that one might be early, so we booked it to be ready a little early.

We look pretty awesome, if I do say so myself! We were ready for whatever was thrown at us!

Grace & Schnells after Grace almost became part of a bar fight due to two guys deciding to argue back & forth standing at our table.

Taylor & me - after all of the events of the evening - hanging out at Jack Quinn's. What an entertaining night!

kansas city weekend & dress vote

Well, it's been a while since my last update, and much has happened since that post. I did manage to come up with 2 different Halloween costumes for work & a costume party. For work I was forgetful - I taped sticky notes all over me with reminders, put my sunglasses on top of my head & tied yarn around my fingers. Unfortunately I don't have a picture to post. For the costume party I was Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's - I wore a black shift dress, a tiara, sparkly earrings & necklace, big black sunglasses & long black gloves! Once again, I forgot to take pictures.
However, here's a few pictures from the pumpkin carving party last weekend in Kansas City! I had such a good time at my friend's wedding in Leavenworth and spending some quality time with my dear friends in Olathe. I also had some quality time with my Mom & brother. I miss them so much!

James - my adorable "nephew" in a panda costume!


My pumpkin - Charlie Brown! Thanks for the idea, Mom!

My brother, Kyle, & me with our pumpkins! He always has really goofy faces for pictures.

Amanda & me - it's tradition to take a picture of the 2 of us!

On a different note, I need opinions & suggestions. I am attending a formal ball on Saturday because friends here know someone who needs a date & I'm it. I raided Eva's closet & came up with 2 options. Keep in mind when looking at these pictures that I'll be wearing makeup & my hair will be done & not thrown back & I'll be wearing pantyhose, which will help everything look smoother. In other words, I personally don't look awesome in these pictures, but focus on the dresses. Several people have suggested that I find out what uniform is being worn & base my dress choice on that. Either dress is great, but I'm looking for your thoughts!
Option #1:


Option #2:


Now vote & leave me your recommendations in the comments!

Halloween costume help!

All right friends, it's time to pull out the big ideas. I'm looking for some suggestions for a halloween costume. Preferably something that I could do with items I'm likely to have on hand or be able to find at other peoples houses. I've thought along the lines of children's story book characters...mostly Dr. Seuss, like 1 fish 2 fish, the cat in the hat or little cindy loo whoo. I've also thought about things I could do with boxes, since I'll have a few of them from moving recently. But I'm really open to anything. As I'm still trying to find a niche here, it would be great to not be the nerd who couldn't figure out anything to wear and thus went as myself. Please suggest away in the comments!

Fall Baking

I did some fall baking last weekend and wanted to share some recipes and pictures with you all!
First came whole wheat apple bread - yum! It's a recipe that came in one of the Penzey's Spices catalogs. If you don't use Penzey's spices or get the catalog, you should! Their spices are amazing and the catalogs always have great recipes, which you can also get online at their website. Click here for the whole wheat apple bread recipe and to go to Penzey's! Some of my favorite spice blends from Penzey's include sandwich sprinkle (amazing on fish and other meats, not just sandwiches!), chip & dip spice, pasta sprinkle, rogan josh (for yummy curries), taco seasoning and greek seasoning. Check out a Penzey's near you, or order some delicious seasonings online (next on my list to get is Northwoods seasoning!)!


Now that I've shamelessly plugged Penzey's, on to the next recipe. I also made these absolutely amazing and easy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins last weekend. I actually got up early and made them before a group of us went hiking and brought them in the car to eat on the way to the trailhead. Everyone loved them! The family I live with also loved them, and Mindy made mini muffins of the same recipe later in the week. Click here for the pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe. Of note, I love pumpkin pie seasoning, so I threw in an extra teaspoon. I'm a rebel, what can I say.


The last bit of baking last weekend was a delectable cheese bread recipe from Keri. I love working with yeast breads, and this was no exception! I apologize for not having a picture, but you have to believe me when I say that it is one of the most delicious and easy breads I have ever made! Click here to go to Keri's recipe for delectable cheese bread!

Last weekend I also made butternut squash & apple soup, which was a hearty and flavorful soup. I made it in my new dutch oven (hooray!), and used a hand blender to smooth it all out after it had been simmering for a while. I love squash, and butternut became a favorite after Eva's parents gave us a whole box of it to eat one winter. We discovered all kinds of uses for butternut squash, but I think that soup is definitely my favorite. Click here for the butternut squash & apple soup recipe!

One last recipe to share, which Eva will be thankful for, is Minestrone soup! I have this recipe thanks to dear, dear friends in Kansas City that I lived with for about a year. I will never ever part with this recipe and plan to make it frequently! Here's the link to the recipe which I have shared online on Tasty Kitchen (if you don't use Tasty Kitchen for recipes, you must! Absolutely amazing recipes are at your fingertips awaiting a try!) - Minestrone Soup recipe! Once again, no picture, but trust me you will put it in your repertoire of hearty soups for chilly days. We had it at the pumpkin carving party last year and I could probably live off of it all winter!

Enjoy some of these tasty bites and let me know what you think! Next weekend I'm making some pumpkin chili and will hopefully have pictures for that one!

the glorious adventures of nic and nat

Nic and I have become quite the adventurers since I moved here! Our escapades have spanned many different areas, to include cooking, hiking and even exercising. I love that after work yesterday, (which I was supposed to get off at 6 and ended up staying to do paperwork until almost 7) I could call Nic and tell her about my never-ending paperwork and she offered to cook dinner for the both of us. She did admit that this prevented her from eating leftovers, but it was great to simply eat with someone who is in the same life stage.
We have laughed hysterically and cried over various events in our lives. I am so thankful that the Lord has placed her in my life at this point in time. The quote of yesterday evening was, "Together we make one very dysfunctional person!"
Last Sunday I was sleeping on the couch, which is my preferred piece of furniture for naps, when Nic called and asked if I wanted to randomly go hiking at 3:30 in the afternoon. Of course I was game for such an adventure! We managed to navigate to the trailhead for Section 16 and proceeded up the trail, which was awesome. We talked about life and God. What a great reminder of His vastness to be out in His creation and experience how it all attests to His glory and fame. We talked about Isaiah 40:27-30, which reminds us that God is "the Everlasting One, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not grow weary or tired; His understanding is inscrutable." We both shared how this helps to shape our knowledge of who God is.
After a rather trying week, God has helped me to have some closure and peace. He has truly reminded me of His great love through so many different routes and people. Thank you to all of you for the encouragement!
Up next: a cooking post - wow it's been a long time since one of those!

4 times...you think I would learn

Recently, I was informed by someone of the opposite gender that what had been confusing and vague for me for the past almost year has apparently been over since that time. Amazing how men expect to be able to have this big conversation about "just being friends," and then proceed to want the same kind of connection that they had before this conversation. Does anyone else see how this would be confusing for me?
What is even more frustrating for me is that I could have prevented this all by just saying "no" a year and a half ago. "No" to long distance, "no" to lack of commitment, and simply listened to the advice in He's just not that into you. What compounds this situation is that it is the 4th (that's right, 4th) time this has happened to me. You would think I would learn to avoid men with the same traits and characteristics. That the next time a man says he's deploying or what have you and he's not looking for a romantic relationship, that is my cue to run fast and hard in the opposite direction.
I think what is even harder to stomach is the comment on lack of "electric connection." Really, seriously? Apparently this is a much bigger deal to men than it is to me. I believe that there must be a connection, but I don't foresee it looking like the Atom Bomb mushroom cloud. I am a much more firm believer in choosing to love someone and making that commitment. I know that when I'm as huge as the Titanic because I'm pregnant, my feet are swollen and I'm hormonal the only thing that will save my relationship is not a Big Bang, but someone choosing to love.
Apparently the old adage is true, "Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned." Although I believe that I handled the situation with the man in question very level-headed and appropriately. Now to find some comfort in the Psalms.