Happy little homemaker

Today I finally got to do my baking. Originally I wanted to try making tarts, but apparently I'm the only one in the house that likes them, haha. So after looking through a couple of my mom's cookbooks I decided on making focaccia. The Weight Watchers cookbook gives a standard recipe and three topping recipes to go along : potato and tomato, feta cheese, and onion and roasted red peppers. I decided to go with the onion and roasted red peppers since I know everyone likes onions and peppers in my house.

I don't have a link to the exact recipe, but when I look through the cookbook I'll copy and post the recipe here if anyone wants it. It was a little bit harder to make this because I've never worked with yeast or dough before. The first time we used the yeast it didn't foam like it was supposed to so I had to get rid of it and try it again. Thankfully my mom had a food processor, which makes the whole thing much easier. I had to wait for the yeast to foam. Put 2 cups and 2 tablespoons of flour, 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour, and a teaspoon of salt, in the food processor. Once the yeast was foamed I added it to the food processor and turned it on. After a short while the mixture turned into dough. I had to spray a large bowl and place the dough in it, cover loosely with plastic and leave it to rise for an hour.

After that I had to punch down the dough before rolling it into a ball. I sprayed a baking sheet and placed the dough down into a circle about 10inches wide. Again I covered it with plastic to let it rise for about 30 minutes. Then I had to cut up the onions and the red pepper and saute them for about 10 minutes. I set the oven to preheat at 425 degrees. Next I had to uncover the dough and put dimples in the dough and place the onions and peppers on top. I placed it in the oven for about 20 minutes and then served it at room temperature when it was done.

Top of the focaccia. Ignore my shadow.

Onions and roasted red peppers focaccia

I really enjoyed making this and it turned out pretty well. It tasted delicious to me and my family loved it. The only thing is that it's supposed to be a bit thinner, but I think I did ok for my first time. We served this at dinner along with sausage and peppers, which my mom made, and penne pasta and Brilla sauce, which I made. I'm pretty satisfied with my first try at making focaccia. I might try the potato and tomato one next time I decided to make focaccia.

"Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies"

I finally got to see my best friend Jaleesa for the first time since the end of the summer. Thanksgiving and most of Christmas break she had to go stay out at her mom's place in Maryland. She's staying in New York for the last week of her break, which is longer than mine so I only get a weekend with her. Her dad's place is in Brooklyn near the same train I live by so she took the train out to my stop and then we both went to the nail salon I go to. The gift certificate I had could only be used once, which kind of sucked cause I wanted to use it a few times just to get my eyebrows done. In the end I ended up getting my eyebrows done, a manicure and a pedicure, which I had never done before. The pedicure tickled a lot. I might consider doing that more often because the foot massage that comes with it was so relaxing, haha.

Jaleesa and I, summer 2008 -- taken by Kriztille

January 2009

Kriztille was supposed to come over too. My mom made meatloaf for her cause she loves my mom's meatloaf and I was going to make Daddy Nachos for her and Jaleesa. She didn't end up waking up until 6pm, haha. So she couldn't come over. Jaleesa came over and we hung out for a bit. She was going to stay for dinner, but then her dad wanted her home. My mom sent her home with some food though. It was so awesome seeing her again. I love that girl so so much and I don't get to see her that much until summer, which makes me very sad.

On a side note -- It kind of bugs me when at the beginning of the week I tell someone when I'm free and then they wait until the last minute to get in touch with me to hang out and by then I already have plans and then they get mad at me for not hanging out.

Family Dates

My parents' anniversary was January 2. I tried to convince my dad to take my mom out to dinner at Milleridge Inn. It's my favorite restaurant ever. We've always gone there for events. We went for my elementary graduation, my confirmation, my birthdays, my ring day, my high school graduation, etc. I am just in love with the place. I'd like to have my wedding reception there, haha. It has a small "village" near it that are little shops associated with the restaurant. He didn't feel well on their anniversary so we ended up not going.

Anyway, last night my mom told me that we were going out for lunch at Milleridge Inn. I was surprised cause we usually have a reason to go out. She told me that my dad said he was going to take us there cause he knew I wanted to go and to celebrate their anniversary. I was so excited to go!

http://www.milleridge.com/

So we drove out to Jericho, Long Island and had an amazing lunch. I had melons and berries, a small salad, london broil with mashed potatoes and carrots, plus a small slice of cheesecake. I had a glass of White Zinfadel with it and got told by the waitress that I looked too young to drink, haha. So I had to show her my id. While waiting for the food I had a few pieces of the cinnamon bread and two popovers, which I love. They're so good.

After lunch, we made a very quick stop to Home Depot. Later on that night my mom and I went over to the Olympic diner to meet up with Iris and Matthew. She's like another mother to me. I love her. My mom and I were both too full to eat anything. She had some tea, while I had hot chocolate and then a Sprite later on. It was so good catching up with Iris. It was the first time I had gotten to see her during this break because she's been so sick. She gave me Christmas gifts, and I swear she was psychic, haha. One of the gifts was a small sparkly purple nail polish, which I loved because I'm almost out of purple nail polish. The next gift was a $20 gift certificate to the nail salon I go too. I was planning on going Saturday to get my eyebrows done, haha. She got me a small set from Bath and Body Works that had three mini lotions in them Cherry Blossom, Moonlight Path, and Peabody. Cherry Blossom and Moonlight Path are my two favorite from Bath and Body Works, haha. She gave me a really night black tube top dress and a pretty brown and beige dress. Matthew got me this awesome purple t-shirt that has a redheaded girl sitting on a skull in an oversized shirt and underwear eating something from a bowl with chopsticks. It was a really great day.

On a side note -- I love watching Ninja Warrior at like 3am on hulu.

A taste of the south

Since summer started I've been slowly learning to cook. I've always been more of a baker, but I thought I should probably start learning, haha. I can make the basic stuff like eggs, pasta, hot dogs, burgers, etc, but actual dinner foods not so much. What I've been doing is looking through my mom's cookbooks and finding recipes that I like. She's usually in the kitchen with me, watching over to make sure I don't mess up.

Last week I made this really yummy chicken and linguine stir-fry. You can find the recipe here if you'd like to try. It's really delicious I ate three helpings, and I never eat that much.

Tonight I decided I wanted to try making Louisiana Stir-Fry. The recipe sounded pretty good and shrimp is one of the few types of seafood that I like. I've also been interested in Cajun cooking recently. I really want to try Jambalaya and Gumbo, just without the fish, haha.

Anyway, here's how it turned out.

If you think it looks good you should try making it. You can find the recipe here! I hope you guys give it a try especially if you like spicy food.

On a side note -- I think I might start making more posts about the foods or desserts I try making.