Friday, August 31, 2012

Forts, Boots and Yummy Food

I had a long day, so I'll just share some pictures of my adventures!

I went to Fort Worden, which is a creepy abandoned fort (now a state park) near Port Townsend, WA.

It is really really creepy. And the sounds of children running around in the old rooms carriers through the walls. It is terrifying. And also absolutely delightful.

I wore some amazing boots. They are Ariat Daisys. They have a snip toe, bronze tooling and they feel like walking on a cloud.

I came home and had an amazing dinner of sauteed kale with bacon, brown sugar and sesame seeds.

I put some sweet peppers on top. It was so delicious that there were no leftovers. Which is both awesome and tragic, all at once.

More soon!




Thursday, August 30, 2012

Rainbow Unicorn Cookies


Things were afoot in my kitchen last night. My coworker is quitting to move to India, so I made some of my famous (not really) unicorn cookies for her party. We constantly joke about The Unicorn Express, so I decided to make them RAINBOW UNICORN COOKIES.


2 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb butter, softened
1 c. sugar, plus 1/4 c. for rolling
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven 375. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt. Cream butter and 1 c. sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 mins). Add vanilla and egg. Beat about 30 secs until just combined. Add dry ingredients, beat until just mixed. Roll 1 1/2 tbsp of dough in ball and roll in remaining sugar. Space 2"-2 1/2" apart. Butter bottom of cup and slightly flatten tops of dough ball about 3/8"- 1/2" thick. Bake 11-12 minutes, switching cookie sheets halfway through. Cook's Illustrated Recipe via chowhound.
This dough was incredibly soft, and my initial attempts looked like unicorn poo instead of the unicorns themselves. For my second attempt, I added a bunch more flour (maybe half a cup to half a mixed-up recipe) and let the dough chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes after I added the food coloring.

Speaking of color! I divided the dough into ROYGBV sections, then worked in food coloring with my hands like playdough. I was a little worried that working the dough that much would make the cookies tougher...but let's be honest, no one cares. If you're eating a RAINBOW UNICORN COOKIE, the magic will make up for any lack of technique. In the future, I recommend meticulously splitting the egg into five parts and working in each color separately (...no).

I also baked these at 350 because the edges were burning too quickly at 375.

Bam. Unicorns on parade.
xo, anne.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Blackberry Vodka

 

I’ve always loved blackberries, but I’ve never had bushes of my own; when you go and pick them in the wild or at a farm, you can generally manage to eat or can all the berries you pick. However, since moving into a farmhouse with venerable, huge, and productive bushes, I can’t keep up.

Even with the massive amount of blackberries that I have been eating (it has been a lot, I might go Violet Beauregard status and turn into a giant blackberry), I’ve been looking for other things to do with the berries. Since I love flavored vodkas, I thought I’d try my hand at the DIY variety.


Blackberry Vodka Fixins'

Here’s what I did:

1. I picked the juiciest berries- even the ones that were on the edge of being over-ripe- and I picked a TON of them.

2. I put them in a colander, washed them, and patted them dry with a paper towel.

3. I put them in a blender and used the “pulse” button to break them up slightly, but not totally destroy them.

4. I poured that goopey mess into mason jars, filling them between 1/3 and 1/2 full.

5. I poured generic, un-flavored vodka in to fill the jars.

6. I capped the jars and shook them like a dog out of water.

7. I put them on a high shelf out of the sunlight.

What I will do now:

1. Shake them every day or two for a month or two.

2.When I am satisfied that the vodka has gotten enough berry flavor, I will pour the mix through coffee filter to strain out the leftover berry goop.

3. I’ll store the finished blackberry vodka in a pretty bottle and maybe even use it for gifts.


I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Not considering this opening worthy of more attention, I continued our pursuit to the Northwest,
being desirous to embrace the advantages of the prevailing breeze.
--George Vancouver