Baker, Crafter, Reader, Panner, Thunderhead! Fáilte!
I’m happy now. My kitchen is fully functional, my room is finally organized for the most part, and I’m spending today inside because it’s perfect rainy weather for that kind of thing.
In celebration of finally having salt and other basic baking ingredients, I made scones this morning. I’m so glad to have a kitchen again and to be able to create things. May I present, SCONE MOUNTAIN!
Last week I went home for the first time since January, and I must say, I was FREEZING in my house. I’m just not used to being in air-conditioned places for long periods of time, so I spent a lot of time under a blanket. One good thing about the cooler indoor temperatures was that I was able to bake without personally baking. I started off slowly, with just a double batch of my chocolate chip cookies to bring to a reunion lunch the next day.
Then, on the morning of the lunch I made some cinnamon rolls with a cream cheese icing, but they didn’t last for very long, hence the lack of a picture. However, they didn’t look very different from the ones I made for Midnight Breakfast, so that picture will work just fine.
The next night I wanted to make a cake, but I changed my mind and settled on cupcakes and a vanilla buttercream frosting.
I do wonder what my parents have done with all the treats I left at home. Have they eaten them all? Let them go stale?
This past week has been insanely busy, thanks to finals and work, which means it was the PERFECT time to bake up a storm. Right? Well, that’s what happened. There was the bread and cake from Sunday, but then it just continued.
Tuesday was the school-sponsored "Midnight Breakfast", and I have learned my lesson and won’t be frequenting that event again, partially because it’s held so far from my dorm. So, like last semester, I took matters into my own hands and created a wonderful Midnight Breakfast for myself and my suitemates. Unlike the food from my school, this breakfast was actually hot and GOOD. Rather than cold waffles/pancakes/bacon/dry muffins, my creations consisted of homemade cinnamon rolls with copious amounts of frosting, pancakes, blueberry sauce, strawberries, whipped cream, nutella, and scrambled eggs. I know it wasn’t a wonderful cross-section of the breakfast world, but any more and we wouldn’t have been able to move or study.
The cinnamon rolls made the kitchen smell heavenly when they were in the oven; so much cinnamon-y goodness. The pancakes decided to be extremely temperamental, and so only a couple of them cooked up nice and evenly golden.
Thursday morning prompted the baking of lemon blueberry scones, and the first batch was okay, nothing amazing. If I hadn’t been in a rush to get to an exam I would have baked them for a couple minutes longer to get them a bit browner. When I finally got around to baking up the rest of the batter, it had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days, and so they turned out more akin to fortune cookies in respect to their taste. All in all, this scone-venture was a failure. I think i need to make one more batch so I don’t end on a bad scone note.
I admit I didn’t make this cake. One of the secretaries at the school I work at bought it for the little party we had for my last day there. It was a pretty little cake, but once I saw the ingredients list it became much less pretty. I think I’m becoming a bit of a baking purist. But it’s the thought that counts, and it’s not like I’m going to hold this against her, partially because it was such a cute little cake.
Tomorrow, I’ll be baking up a cake for my suitemates’ graduation, so I need to start thinking about what it’s going to be and what it’s going to look like. Hopefully it’ll turn out well.
After this week, school is essentially over, but I can’t seem to buckle down to do what I need to do to actually finish. I think I basically checked out a few weeks ago, which is not necessarily the best thing. However, all of a sudden I have this insatiable urge to bake and cook and do everything but school work (and dishes). As a result, my kitchen has and will have a vast assortment of baked goods throughout the week.
Baked Good #1: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bread
Baked Good #2: Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream and Strawberries
And this baking frenzy will continue as I prepare a Midnight Breakfast Tuesday night, consisting of at least pancakes and something else; lemon-blueberry scones Wednesday night for Thursday morning; and next week a graduation cake for my two suitemates. If only I didn’t have to spend money to satisfy my baking needs. It stinks to run out of supplies at the end of the semester and to have to buy more for a week of baking. Oh well.
I’ve recently come to the conclusion (yet again) that I need to move on and start anew. The end of the Spring semester may not seem like the most convenient time to do so, but it’s something I have to do right now. All the stress I’m experiencing has finally pushed me to actually do something about it. I need an outlet, and this just seems like the best option.
On a lighter note, I’m really pleased with how my suitemate’s birthday cake turned out last weekend. I think she rather enjoyed it, too, seeing as how it was all gone by the middle of the week.
I also managed to finish this cozy for my laptop, which has been sadly unfinished for about a month now.
I think this should be able to keep my computer from getting extremely scratched up when I have to take it to class with me . . . I hope.
Finally, I felt like coloring today, so here is the result. I think it’s rather pretty.
Emerald Thunder 