Mint

This week I made mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Why?

Because I love it.

Because mint was on sale at Whole Foods.

Because a whole chocolate cake isn't enough dessert for me.

Because I can and I want to!!

Now let me tell you, homemade mint ice cream taste nothing like the store bought kind.

The homemade kind tastes like mint.

Uh, duh.

Let me clarify, it's like chewing on a mint leaf mint, not sweet artificial mint mint.

It's certainly not for everyone, Stephen, for instance, is not a fan (which must means all the more for me).

We planted some mint in our garden for the sole purpose of fulfilling my cravings for mint ice cream but realized later that we accidentally got wintergreen, not mint.

Now I am sure the wintergreen would work, it would just make ice cream that was toothpaste flavored.

I dont know about you, but I'm not really a fan of eating toothpaste.

I am always disappointed when I make this ice cream though because the directions have you steep the mint leaves in warm milk for an hour and then says "the milk will now be a lovely shade of emerald green".

Nope.

Not even a hint of green!

Every time I make it I hope it will turn out but alas Hawaiian mint wont give up its green.

But hey, it still tastes amazing!

How to I get the chocolate chips?

You drizzle melted chocolate on the ice cream as you put it in the container and then mix it up.

It makes for the perfect "chips".

Then I always leave a layer of drizzle chocolate on top so I feel like a cool gelato store.





Mmmm, is 7:30am to early for ice cream?

What if it's 75 degrees and sunny?

What if I really want it?

Maybe just a small bite...

Excuse me, I'm going to go..

...uh..

..clean the kitchen...

...if you know what I mean ;o)

Cake Update

Forget the slices, I'm going at it with a fork.



Don't judge me.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Monday the 16th was my birthday.

I turned 25 years old.

That's right, I am no longer in my "early 20s" which is always thought of as a time of being a college student and attending keg parties (not that that was me, my early 20s were spent in grad school and getting married).

Now I am in my mid-twenties, a more respectable and mature time of life.

Not that turning 25 got me any closer to looking 25, someone thought I was 16 just the other day.

If you so much as think "you'll appreciate it when you're older" I'll ban you from this blog.

Back to my birthday, since my birthday was on a Monday, we decided to celebrate the weekend before.

The birthday celebrations started Friday morning with me going and buying my "birthday outfit" (not to be confused with my birthday suit)

That has become tradition the past couple years as my birthday present.

Just in case you didn't know, I love clothes.

This was the outfit I got (sorry for the crappy picture, I am not good at self portraits).



Shirt: Banana Republic Outlet
Pants: American Eagle
Shoes: Nine West
Necklace: Forever 21

Entire outfit: less than $100

I love buying outfits.

Then for dinner Friday we had red wine braised short ribs that I made (I love short ribs).

Then Saturday started with french toast made with this bread I baked:



Then I got dressed up in my birthday outfit and Stephen and I headed to Waikiki and had lunch at Yardhouse where I had this:



"This" being a Black Velvet: hard pear cider and Guinness.

And for dessert we tried a beer float made with a double chocolate stout and vanilla ice cream.

I was apprehensive but it turned out to be really good.

We then headed to the mall so we could get some lose tea from a cool tea store they have there (we really like tea).

We wandered around there and ended up buying Stephen a new outfit, which I am always thrilled to do because he has so few civilian clothes and always refuses to get more.

I had made the unfortunate choice of not changing into flip flops at the mall and butchered my feet in my new shoes.

I was very sad when we went to dinner and I couldn't wear them.

When went to dinner at a restaurant called Epic and I had a really tasty mac 'n cheese (I'm a sucker for fancy mac 'n cheese) and then a chocolate peanut butter soufflé which was delicious!

Sunday was church and then Monday was my actual birthday.

Now there was one thing left to do for my birthday and that was to make my cake.

Now I have made this cake for my last few birthdays and that is the only time all year that I have it.

Usually I eat the whole thing myself, no I'm not joking, ask Stephen (He's not allowed to have any because he cant appreciate it).

My cake is a flourless chocolate cake.

To know what it taste like, think of the richest chocolate dessert you have ever had....now times that by 10, that's my cake.

This cake was also my wedding cake.

As seen here:



This cake was made by a friend of the family who was just completing culinary school and was told by his instructors that this cake could not be made at this size but he did it and it only took:

7lbs of chocolate
7lbs of sugar
and
40 eggs

It was awesome.

I literally had nightmares during our honeymoon that my mom threw away the leftovers.

So here's the cake making process:

WARNING: The following pictures may cause feelings of envy, jealously and hunger as well as an immense craving for chocolate.

First, get a lot of high quality chocolate, 1 pound to be exact.



I use a locally made chocolate that I love but I have also used Valrhona chocolate which is amazing as well.

Then chop it up (try not to eat too much while chopping).





Then melt it (try not to eat too much off the spatula).



Then you whip up some sugar and eggs.

This is the point where things started to go badly for me.

I am terrible when it comes to whipping eggs, I can never get the right consistency.

Unfortunately my kitchen aid mixer is broken so I tried to whisk it by hand, for 2 minutes.

Yeah, that lasted about 10 seconds when I realized, I am so not strong enough for this.

My poor arm muscles (or lack there of) were burning!

So then I pulled out my hand held mixer but that still didnt get it to the right consistency and I couldn't risk wasting all that good chocolate if I didn't get the eggs right.

So I dumped it out and started over.

Now I should clarify that when I say my mixer is broken, I mean that when I turn it on it makes an awful grinding noise and gets really hot.

So now with my second batch I decided to push my mixer to the limit.

I had it going the full 2 minutes grinding away as I was cheering it on, "Come on! You can do it!" "Push past the pain!"

And it worked!

So I poured in the melted chocolate, mixed and put it in the pan and in the oven and let out a loud sigh and said, "Now I dont have to worry about messing it up."

Then came the "Crap!" and the slap on the forehead, I had forgotten to put in the cocoa powder!!

I quickly pulled the pan out of the over, scooped the batter back into to bowl, added the cocoa powder and mixed, threw it into a new pan and into the oven and again let out a big sigh and a prayer that it would turn out alright.

45 minutes later out came this:



Perfect.

Now flip it over and let it cool.



Then into the fridge for a painfully long 6 hours.

Then melt more chocolate (yes, more chocolate) and spread on top.



I think you need a closer look.



Then back in the fridge for an even more painful 45 minutes.

The finished product.





Happy birthday to me!

The end.



(Update: I am halfway through the cake now.)

My Seattle Adventure: Part 5

I pretty much covered most of the highlights of my trip to Seattle.

This last post is going to cover some of the domestic life of the Dunne’s.

With two little ones, we did spend quite a bit of time at home.

I enjoyed this time just hanging out and getting to see what domestic life with two small children is like.

Tyler and I had some pretty funny moments.

One of the first days I was there, she and I were sitting at the dinning room table while her parents were in the kitchen and out of nowhere she turned to me and said very seriously “Mom and dad are crazy.”

I laughed so hard!

She said almost as if to warn me.

She is a bit of a sensitive child and was upset that I was laughing at her, but I couldn’t help it.

Another day I was watching Blues Clues with her and the character Steve said his famous line “I need my handy dandy..” at this point he pauses for the kids to answer but before they do I threw my arms up and said “Notebook!” (I know, I’m a dork).

Tyler looked over at me with her eyes all wide and said “Wow, you’re really good at this.”

Again, I laughed so hard and offended her.

The last day I was there she had me writing a letter for her, the letter was to “Dad and Jesus”.

In this letter she said “Dear Jesus, please help daddy’s hair grow back.” (Nick had gotten a haircut and she wasn't too happy about it.)

Anna couldn’t even help but laugh out loud at this, though she tried her best to hide it and look serious for Tyler.

I love the silly things kids say.

So here is some of the domestic life of the Dunnes.

Tyler watching her show.



Under this pile of blankets is Nick,



Tyler covered him up and then started climbing all over him.



Anna reads to Tyler a lot and like a good homeschool graduate has started to introduce Tyler to Little House on the Prairie.



Tyler was very interested in my embroidery and helped me by pulling the thread through.





On one of my last days in Seattle we decided to make something from this awesome book that my mom gave me.



It’s awesome.

We decided to try making marshmallows.

Tyler really enjoyed this.

She helped stir.



Anna pouring out the marshmallow goodness.





Tyler had a good time with the beater.

I love her face, she looks like she is seriously considering the best way to get to the marshmallows.

"Hmmm, what would be the best method to obtain the most marsh without getting too much mallow?"



"From this angle, it would seem the length and dexterity of the finger would be best."



"Let's put theory into practice."



"Good choice."



"Just for comparison sake, lets try using the tongue"



I then told her to show me her hand.




It was very hard on her because the marshmallows had to sit overnight before we could eat them.

It's asking a lot of a 3 year old to wait a whole day to eat the marshmallows she knows are there.

The finished product, they tasted pretty darn good.



I almost forgot, one last Seattle story.

I told Anna while I was their that if she and Nick wanted to go on a date that I would be happy to watch the kids.

(They don't have a babysitter so dates are few and far between for them).

It was my last night in Seattle and that morning Nick, when Anna wasn't around, told me he was planning a surprise date with Anna that night and he would let me know later his plan.

Well the day went by and I forgot what he said and around 8pm Anna finished putting down the kids and she and Nick said that they were going to the store to get milk (or so Anna thought).

Nick was very clever and sneaky because he didn't get a chance to talk to me alone and as Anna was putting her coat on, Nick was messing with my phone and right before they left he gave it back to me.

When I looked at it after they left, I saw that he had typed a note saying that he was taking her out to dinner and to call if the kids wake up.

Cute huh?

Anna was completely surprised.

Well it was the end of my trip and I was sad to leave but getting excited to get home.

So late Tuesday Anna drove me to the airport and my parents picked me up at San Francisco late that night.

I crashed in bed and was all ready to go to Travis Air Force Base the next morning to catch a flight to Hawaii, or so I thought.

To be continued...

My Seattle Adventure: Part 4

While in Seattle we, of course, went to the famous Pike Market.



Which have the famous fish mongers.



More pictures of Fox of course.





I don’t mean to be playing favorites, Fox just holds still better than Tyler, most of my pictures of her are a blur.

Then they took me to the beach.

It was a little different than the beaches in Hawaii.

Seattle beach:



Hawaii beach:



I think Hawaii has Seattle beat.

Well I guess that depends on critera.

If you like a beach that is usually cold and overcast, has corse rocky sand, and mirky water, Seattle beach is perfect for you.

If, however, you like a beach that is usually warm and sunny, has soft fine sand and crystal clear blue water, Hawaii beach is for you.

Nick tried to impress us with his rock skipping skills.



Tyler drew a picture of her family in the sand and I analyzed it and told them what it meant about their family dynamics.

It's a little party trick of mine.

Aren't you glad my years in college and grad school aren't going to waste?



The Dunne Family.



I think this is my favorite picture from the whole trip, not sure why, but it is.

Maybe I feel it captures the essence of their family.

I feel like, when I think of them, I picture them like this in my head.

Doesn't Anna dress so cool by the way?

I have always loved her unique sense of style that only she can pull off.

Who else could make hardware store galoshes look so stylish?

And that oh-so-cute floral jacket?

(Here's a closer look)



Her mom made it.

Also while in Seattle we watched the movie Hereafter.

I wouldn’t recommend it, it was dumb.

Clint Eastwood, you have disappointed me.

But the movie had this beautiful actress,



Bryce Dallas Howard.

And I just loved her bangs.

Well the next day we just happened to be hanging out at Anna’s friend’s house and that friend is a hair dresser.

So Anna talked me into getting bangs.

First I emailed Stephen to ask him what he thought of me getting bangs and he replied:

“If by getting bangs you mean getting a tattoo, then no. But if you mean getting a different haircut, then hooah.”

(If you are unfamiliar with the term "hooah" look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooah)

He had a funny idea that I was going to get another tattoo while in Seattle.

And no I didn’t.

So here is the before and after (I love, love, love before and afters)

Before:



After:



Do we look alike?





By the way, in case you're wondering about that "before" picture, that was a picture Nick took of me beer tasting at the Elysian Brewery.

I went in honor of Stephen, and because I like tasting beer.

I was honored to be made a part of Nick's picture a day series with this picture.

You can see more of his amazing work here:

http://www.facebook.com/nickdphoto