Recipe #6 of 2012

Puff pastry and bananas were on sale at the grocery store, so this must be the universe aligning perfectly to convince me that making black bean and banana empañadas is the best idea ever. And it was. I mean, I can't say that they are the prettiest empañadas, but at least they tasted great! Seeing as this was my first time making them, I'll cut myself some slack and focus on the taste rather than presentation at the moment. I'm glad that my coworker introduced me to them when she made them for Wednesday's international pot luck lunch at the office.

CPS #258

Because of an office event tomorrow, I decided to move my work-from-home day to today which worked out really nicely. I was able to send off a poster presentation for review, cook up a batch of dal nirvana (I've lost count how many times I've made this dish over the past month. It's so cheap and good.), do a load of laundry and a load of dishes.

Mom called me earlier tonight. It's nice to know that she isn't too busy having fun that she forgets to touch base.

Card: Here's my take on CPS #258. I picked out some American Crafts Dear Lizzy Enchanted paper and noticed that the solid B side was a lavender color. Oh, perfect. I recently got some Basic Grey Kioshi woolies that have lavender in them. They would totally match! And I'd actually use the crafty supplies that I bought. What a concept, right?
Card Specs:
Ink: Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird
Stamps: Hero Arts- Everyday Sayings
Paper: American Crafts- Dear Lizzy Enchanted
Felt embellishments: Basic Grey Kioshi
Other: Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Tres Leches, Part 2

Mmm, cake: My tres leches cake was a success! By the time I walked through the front door, I had an empty container. I gave the last short row to one of my neighbors. Awesome. The second picture is of my dinner tonight. Mmm...dumplings. Mom needs to come back from Taiwan so that we can make more. My freezer supply is empty!
Anyway, back to the cake. I shleped the whipped cream carton to the office with a bowl and mixer so that I could make the whipped topping fresh, and oh, man, that was good. In case you want to make the cake yourself, you can find the recipe here on the Pioneer Woman website. One of my co-workers is gluten-free, but she said that she HAD to have a piece of the cake. I took it as a compliment, but felt sad that she'll probably not be feeling so great afterwards.

I was a little worried when I saw that while there were many people saying they could come to the pot luck, not many people signed up to bring food when I checked the RSVP site. Thankfully, if there's one thing that my office knows how to do, it's eat. There was an abundance and variety of food...some homemade and some store bought. Other food items at today's potluck included kugel, some sort of Liberian spinach dish, several different rice dishes, Indian chick peas, mac and cheese, bean and banana empenadas, an Indian donut hole dish, etc.

Around the Internet:

• This video of an elephant playing with a cellphone is super cute.
• The local Batman is awesome (Washington Post article).
  

Tres Leches, Part 1

So..the office is having an international pot luck tomorrow. Plan A was to get my mom to make fried rice, but seeing as she's out of the country, I had to go with Plan B: tres leches. I followed The Pioneer Woman's recipe (Recipe #5 of 2012).  Sure, there are healthier versions of this dessert, but hey, go hard or go home, right? I couldn't get the stiff egg white peaks, but after standing with a hand mixer for what seemed like forever, I just gave up and continued to the other steps of the recipe. The cake still turned out ok. I cut off a sliver since it's going to be covered with fresh whipped topping at the office tomorrow. I think the cake itself is kinda dry, but it's not really intended to be eaten on its own. I can't wait to dig in to the finished dessert; a picture will follow tomorrow.

I went to the grocery store after going to spin class to get some of the ingredients. I wandered the baking aisle, hoping to find the condensed milk and evaporated milk because that's where they are at the same grocery store near my house. After pacing the aisle for a while ,one of the stockers stopped me. "Why don't you just ask for help in what you're looking for or do you just like the exercise?" Oh, heh. I asked him where I could find the stuff and sure enough, he directed me to the right aisle. Imagine that. :)

Fall-To Layout #183

At the office: This week is employee appreciation week, and it started with free breakfast (fruit, yogurt, eggs, croissants, etc.). This was really nice because I've been missing the staff breakfasts lately. I started working from home on Fridays during the summer and the free staff breakfasts are on the last Friday of the month. I got lucky this month.

Compliments: My new haircut and dress got some compliments today. It was definitely a good self esteem day. :)

Surprise snail mail: My former officemate Jennifer (who is currently working from home, on bed rest, pregnant with twin girls) snail mailed me an article that she tore out of a magazine. It was about different fun manicures. I think it's funny that she thought of me when she saw it.

Card: I feel like I've been doing lots of cards with this sort of layout lately, but that's okay because I know it works and the cards that I've done turned out great! Here's my take on Fall-To Layout #183.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird.
Paper: American Crafts- Letterbox
Stamp: Studio G
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Floral Doily Motifs
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Brad: American Crafts Fabric Brad
Flowers: Recollections
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping

Shopping + Buyer's Remorse: Today's shopping excursion after my 1-hour spin class this morning resulted in both good and bad things. Let's start with the bad stuff first. I have been meaning to replace the reed diffuser in my living room, and I found one at HomeGoods. I brought it home and set it up. Within a few minutes, I thought I was going to gag. The fragrance was so strong, and while I liked it at the store, I definitely didn't like it when it was in my house. I tossed that s*** out. There goes $8 down the drain. Sigh.

Oh, well. Anyway, let's move on to the good stuff. I found a BUNCH of Basic Grey goodies at Tuesday morning (see video below) and comfy dresses on sale at Target. I can't wait to wear them this week! I also got HP printer ink, peanut butter, and bras on sale at Target too, but that's not as exciting as the dresses.

Tuesday Morning Haul: Here are the goodies that I bought yesterday and today at two different Tuesday Mornings.

TE Sketch Challenge #155

Estate sale: Now that the warmer weather is setting in, I feel like there are more yard/rummage/estate sales to go to during the weekends. "Whoo hoo," says this deal-finding gal. Today, I went to 1 rummage sale that was a total bomb and I didn't get anything there, but then afterwards I went to an estate sale where I found a hammer and 2 pairs of scissors for a total of $4. One of the scissors is for the kitchen and the other (retail price $14.69) is for crafting, especially with paper piecing. I don't have any hand tools at home, and I don't feel like paying full price for them. Every time I wanted to hang something at the house, I had to borrow my mom's hammer, but now I don't need to do that. Screwdrivers and a wrench are next on the list.

Family/movie: I went over to my parents' house tonight for dinner to celebrate my dad's birthday. We got Italian food from That's Amore and my cousin made custard for dessert. I'm super stuffed. Once the conversation ventured to Taiwanese politics, I promptly made my way downstairs to watch the other Redbox movie that I got yesterday- Friends with Benefits. It was cute, but I've seen better romantic comedies. While I've been known to say a few curse words or so, I felt like they were sprinkled all over the movie way too much. Do people really talk like that??

Cards: I made two cards today...one was requested by Mom, who wanted to give a "congratulations on your new house" card to her sister and then a birthday card for Dad (I used Taylored Expressions Sketch #155 as inspiration).
Card Specs (birthday):
Embossing powder: Personal Stamp Exchange- Black
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird. Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China, Antique Linen, Pealed Paint, Vintage Photo
Paper: Die Cuts with a View
Stamp: Inkadinkado- Round Frames (sentiment), Stampin' Up- Lovely as a Tree
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)
Baker's Twine: We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Fancy Floss in Cream Soda

Card Specs (congratulations):
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Blackbird, Warm Green, Prussian Blue.
Paper: American Crafts- Hello Sunshine
Stamp: Anita's (sentiment)
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Floral Doily Motifs, Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large
White Gel Pen: Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Other: American Crafts Fieldhouse Botanique Paper

P.S. I'm addicted to DrawSomething.