TWD: Not

I'm stumped... how is everyone else happily baking away for Tuesdays with Dorie when Christmas is looming! Last night I just about had a nervous breakdown thinking of all the things we I have to get done before this weekend. And I wonder if I will survive....so for now I'm letting myself off the baking hook.

You can check out the Lonely Sidecar to find the recipe for Volcano Cookies this week brought to you by MacDuff

Cuz you can can can...

I was flipping through the channels last night whilst the hubby was putting together a sofa table. I had already put together two chairs, thank you very much! OK OK I confess they were from Ikea so it wasn't rocket science, it was Swedish rocket science!

Anyhoo... back to the tv flip-fest... I landed on PBS and the A Capella singing group Straight No Chaser was on. I've seen one or two clips of these guys before and they are fantastic. If you haven't had the pleasure please take a listen.

TWD: Sables

Holy moly  its Wednesday! How the heck it is already the second week in December, I need to go back a few weeks so I have time to do what I need to do before Christmas!

The recipe this week for  Tuesdays with Dorie was Sables chosen by Bungalow Barbara. Sables I obviously haven't made yet.... and not because I was drinking rum, although that would probably make me feel better about it, but because I'm just flat out busy. I hope I can make them this week tho because for all the posts I've seen they are just beautiful and easy to make.... when you have the time.

You can check out the recipe and some variations on the theme at Barbara's blog here.

Shaking off Thanksgiving

It's 9:30 Monday morning... I'm having a hard time getting back into the groove of things @ work. Strangely no one is bustling around in their normal end of the month fuss... yet.

On Saturday we managed to clean up and set up the garage, a project that has been looming since we moved into our new house in May. I know 6 months is a whole lotta procrastination... but it still feels good that its done! You could actually park a car in there if your car was slim enough to clear the door, mine isn't. I don't understand our garage, weren't cars BIGGER in the 1950's?

In an attempt to give our new digs some character we also started work on the front bathroom on Sunday. Most of the day was spent trying to undo the bad DIY done by the previous owner... he tried I guess, some things we just had to give up on lest we end up ripping out all the drywall.

Were adding white wainscoting (courtesy of my mom's overbuying super powers) new molding and painting the top a teal green color. The vanity will be black satin and I will be adding some Haeckel prints and other funky steampunk-ish sorta things which is really easy to do now a days since they have funky things even at Target. Hmmm well clearly not very original but at least it won't be this white Home Depot sheik that it is currently.

Did you do anything fun this long weekend? I know the above does not sound fun but it is for me! Organizing crap makes me happy... I know I have a few screws loose.

TWD: Bundt Accomplished

Ok what do you do when you when they let you go home 2 hours early on Thanksgiving-eve? Well you crack out a bundt cake another pie (and color your hair) of course!
Monday & Tuesday before Turkey Day I made quite a few pies for friends at work, my solution to extra holiday cashola if you know what I mean. The line up: 4 Apple Pies, 1 Lime Cream Pie, 1 Lime cream tart, 2 sugar free Pumpkin Cheesecakes, 1 regular Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake, 1 Chocolate PB pie and 2 1/2 dozen Ginger Molasses Cookies. Not the most pies I've made at one time thats for certain... but still its an accomplishment. I've hear a few good reviews, hopefully will get more on Monday.
Even after all that pie business I had to make a chocolate pie as requested by my honey... and I really really wanted to try the All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake. It was really easy to throw together and it tasted amazing. I think I may make it again but skip the cranberries.... the tartness kind of threw me off a bit and I would have enjoyed it much more without. As mentioned before you can go visit Brit for the recipe over at The Nitty Britty or turn to pages 186 and 187 in Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

TWD: All-in-One Holiday Bundt

I was planning on making the All-in-One Holiday Bundt this week to bring over to my parents house for Turkey  Day. But alas my oven will be preoccupied with delicious goodies for others to take to their families houses for Turkey day.

Luckily my family is strangely unimpressed with anything that I make so I'm not obligated to bring a thing! Or maybe its familial paranoia from back in the day when I would turn out cookies my dad would lovingly call hockey pucks....

You can head over to see Britin for the recipe over at The Nitty Britty. 


Oh man! I almost forgot to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you all!  Anyone have interesting plans for their turkey? I watched Alton Brown the other day in his turkey frying session... after seeing the demo of what could go wrong I don't think I will ever do that.

TWD: Cran-Apple Crisp

Holy moly this was one tart crisp! I used two big granny smith apples and fresh cranberries and it was mouth puckering goodness. See that little dab of ice cream right there? It certainly needed more of that to counter the tartiness. I was to lazy to go scoop more but my honey liked it enough to get seconds of everything. He's not really a cooked fruit lover so the fact that he got seconds is saying something.

This recipe was brought to you by the letter Em @ The Repressed Pastry Chef. You can swing on by her site to find this super easy recipe amongst her other fabulous posts.

Pink Princess

This was for our niece Kyla's 5th birthday. The instructions were pink and princessy. I loved making all the flowers that cascaded down 4 sides of the cake. More shots of this uber pink cake here.