Baking, Celtic Thunder

Wow, What a Back-Log of Baked Goods

Emerald Thunder

I have been remiss in posting about my baking exploits as of late, so now it’s time to catch up. I’m going back to my roots and blogging instead of writing 2 papers and 2 essays, doing a pile of reading, or putting laundry away.

To start it off, a no-bake item: chocolate-covered Ritz peanut butter sandwiches from kevinandamanda.com. I stumbled upon this idea one day and I can’t believe I never thought to do this. I love chocolate, and I love Ritz and peanut butter, so why not love the two together? I altered it a tad and used whole wheat crackers and semi-sweet chips and some shortening instead of white chocolate bark, but I’m itching to try the white chocolate version. I made these on a whim one night when I had the kitchen to myself, and it was a really quick process.

1.) Make peanut butter sandwiches.

2.) Melt chocolate and shortening together in the microwave.

3.) Dip in melted chocolate/shortening mixture.

4.) Refrigerate until hardened.

5.) ENJOY! These go quite nicely with  “The Story of the Grail” by Chretien de Troyes, if I do say so myself.

Next up is a Buttermilk Banana Bread from Two Peas and Their Pod. I still had some leftover buttermilk from my birthday cake, and it was getting near its expiration date, so how could I not make this. In addition to going into the bread, before I made it I actually froze the remaining buttermilk in ice cube trays and then put all the cubes into a freezer bag. No wasted buttermilk for me. I’ve read that it doesn’t taste quite the same when you drink it after freezing, but it works just fine for baking. Who am I kidding anyway? I’m not drinking buttermilk, so freeze away I did.

Now, I admit, while I was able to take some pictures of the process, I forgot to do something important. We’ll get to that.

Butter and sugar. I wanted to use some brown sugar in addition to the white, but my remaining brown sugar was rock hard and I didn’t want to deal with softening it up. I’m already bad enough at having room temperature butter and eggs. I can’t deal with hard brown sugar too, especially when I had to make this quickly. I should include the microwave as a material needed because just about every time I bake, I have to soften the butter/cream cheese/whatever first. It works wonders . . . especially if the butter is coming directly from the freezer. . . .

Some serious elbow grease went into creaming the butter and sugar, but it was nice and light and fluffy in the end.Now for the addition of two (just out of the fridge) eggs. Whoops.

And mashed up bananas. I just used two giant ones that I had, but I think I would have liked just a little more banana taste to the final bread. Oh well, next time.

And now we get to my idiot moment of this process. I defrosted my frozen buttermilk cubes (again, in the microwave). I then proceeded to happily pour nearly the entire bowl into the batter. . . . As I was pouring, it hit me that I hadn’t MEASURED IT! I only needed four tablespoons, and I don’t know how much actually ended up in there. I added a pinch more flour after to compensate for the possible extra liquid.

The buttermilk was interacting with everything else, and as a result the batter looked a little suspect at this point, but it was just all the acidity.

FLOUR and other dry ingredients. I used half all-purpose and half whole wheat.You can see the darker whole wheat in the back of the bowl.

Mix, mix, mix. But not too much.

Into the prepared pan you go, delicious, if buttermilk-y, banana bread batter.

With a sprinkle of cinnamon. I LOVE cinnamon!

And out of the oven!

I think I slightly over-baked it because it was a tad bit dry. It was still really good, though.

I’ll get it right next time, along with actually measuring the buttermilk before I go pouring it all willy-nilly into the batter.

It was my breakfast this week, and I still have one yummy piece left. I took to putting a slice on top of the toaster for a minute and then spreading the warm bread with some peanut butter. SO GOOD.

I also did my third Baking Bonanza on Monday. More buttermilk was involved, but this time in the form of milk and vinegar. That was me following the directions ;D. But wait, where is my second bonanza? I did it, but I’m waiting to re-do it so I can get some proper pictures this time.

I’m going to make a separate post for this, so this is all you get right now.

For my final back-logged creation, I give you: the most wonderful homemade garlic bread I’ve EVER had.

I came across this on Buns in my Oven, and it is absolutely heavenly.

Granted, it’s heavenly even with my alterations, namely: a ciabatta loaf from Trader Joe’s (LOVE those. I’ve also been making croutons out of it.), no Parmesan (I didn’t have any.), added ricotta, no onions or herbs (I didn’t have those either.), some pepper, and a liberal coating of mozzarella cheese before going into the oven. So maybe I should amend my statement to say that the premise is heavenly.

I can’t wait to make this again. Perhaps tomorrow? I still have bread and just enough cream cheese for one more half batch.

And in Celtic Thunder news, I purchased my first concert ticket for this fall’s tour! At 7:45am, no less. Yes, I was up that early on a Saturday. In fact, I was up a bit before 7. What is wrong with me? Perhaps it was because I fell asleep almost immediately after coming home from work yesterday and slept though the entire afternoon and night, save for about an hour to eat dinner (salad and the last of my garlic bread, yum!).

EDIT: I knew I was forgetting about something. I also made a pizza earlier in the week. I used Trader Joe’s pizza dough and pressed the bottom with cornmeal, then I topped it with marinara sauce, chicken, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, and a sprinkling of salt/pepper/garlic powder. It was so good, and I just finished up the last bit of it for lunch today. Even though it was in my fridge for a few days, I somehow managed to not take any pictures at all. Next time. Wow, that really should be my mantra. Next time I’ll do this, next time I’ll do that, it’ll be better next time, I’ll actually measure ingredients next time :).

Celtic Thunder

“Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Like He-ri-tage!”

Emerald Thunder

After months of painful waiting, I finally received my copies of the “Heritage” CD and DVD on Tuesday. If anything, those last few hours waiting for my package to arrive from Amazon were the worst hours since this show’s announcement. Never mind the fact that I had been fortunate enough to see the show twice last fall–I still wanted the CD and DVD SO badly, and I knew how amazing what I was waiting for would be. Knowing might actually have made the wait worse, now that I think about it. Knowing that Damian would soon be soothing me with a gorgeous rendition of “Buachaill ón Éirne“ or that I would soon be squeeing over Keith and Neil performing “Whiskey in the Jar” and rocking out on their matching guitars. There was so much to look forward to reliving on the DVD alone, and so much more to hear for the first time on the CD.

I won’t go through every song on the DVD, but rather pick and choose a few.

“Heartland”. A classic. It never gets old. And. DECLAN! Oh, how I love you and your drums. I WILL get my Deco hug this year. I WILL. And a new picture with you, not that I don’t love the one I already.

Or not. TheThunderTube took down “Heartland,” BUT IT WAS REPLACED WITH “THE DUTCHMAN”!! Go watch that instead, before it gets taken down and replaced with a different song.

EDIT: Yeah, they keep changing the videos and I can’t keep up with it. Just go to their YouTube channel. It won’t disappoint (except if you’re looking for all the Heritage videos right now). You have my solemn vow.

(From TheThunderTube)

No words can properly express how I was feeling as I watched “Buachaill ón Éirne” for the first time since last October. There may or may not have been a tear or two trickling down my cheek at the end of the song. That lad has a voice. Pure and simple as that. I wish to reiterate my desire for an entire album filled with soothing songs that best highlight his amazingly smooth and deep voice. “As Gaeilge” (“in Irish”) would be a plus ;).

“The Dutchman”. Oh, “The Dutchman”. Oh, Keith. Sweet, sweet Keith. I love you more and more with each new song you sing. And I love you more and more with your surfer-dude hair. Thank goodness “Heritage” was filmed pre-“Heart-Attack Inducing Hair Cut”. Please don’t do that to me again. I love your “bushy, bushy blond hair-do”. Besides, your “Surfer Medley” just doesn’t work without it. I know it’s your hair and you don’t care what us Thunderheads think about it (you’ve certainly expressed that sentiment, to me even *embarrassed at the memory*), but just please throw us a bone and don’t cut your hair again during touring season . . . at least not drastically like last time. Okay, hair begging over, back to “Heritage”.

“Noreen”. Neil. LOVE. It’s such a beautiful song, made all the more sad because of its history. Phil Counter composed the music for it years ago as a gift for his friend Liam Neeson (yes, that Liam Neeson) and his new wife Natasha Richardson. It was called “An Cailín Fionn”/”Natasha”. Now, a couple of years after her tragic passing, Phil put words to the music and it transformed into “Noreen”. The emotion behind Neil’s performance is just heartbreaking–his eyes even becoming glassy by the end. I couldn’t think of a better person to sing this song. I love every single second of its performance and I can’t wait until the fall to hear it live again.

“Whiskey in the Jar”. One word: *SQUEE!!*. That about sums it up. Well, maybe four more words: Keith’s partly unbuttoned shirt. *Fans self*. Wait, a few more words: running and kilt bouncing up and down. Yup, that sums it up. Oh, to be Keith’s guitar pick in that song. Or to be the lucky person who caught it as he threw it into the audience at the end.

Oh, that shirt. *love*

(From Beth O in the Keith Harkin Fan Forum)

“Place in the Choir”. These photos sum it up quite nicely. So do the words “Damian can’t dance his way out of a paper bag”. It was adorable watching him try to line-dance. Try, being the operative word. Don’t worry, we all still love you.

(From Beth O in the Keith Harking Fan Forum)

(From Amazon, go buy it! It’s only $9.99 right now!)

No, I wasn’t biased *at all* in my song selections. They were all amazing. Just watch it and see.

Now on to the CD!

The “Heritage” CD was my first introduction to Emmet Cahill (Cah-hill) as a full-fledged member of Celtic Thunder. I had listened to the songs on his website, but those were geared more towards his classical training. I was eager to hear him singing with the other lads–would he blend well with them? Would he fit the sound? I wasn’t disappointed. At all. He’s already getting along with the lads on Twitter, and that camaraderie has most certainly translated to the music. I’m very much looking forward to seeing YouTube videos of his PBS studio visits with Keith in a couple of weeks. This is one time I wish I was on the West Coast, so I could watch for myself without having to simply hope that videos will be posted afterward. I’m counting down the days until the Beacon Theatre show on September 24th (EEEPPP!!!) so I can hear and see him live.

(From Emmet Cahill Official Music)

Oh yes, I think he will fit in with CT very well if I do say so myself. Not only is *he* gorgeous, but “Kindred Spirits” is absolutely beautiful. He is one lucky lad to have Phil Coulter write a song especially for him to perform.

My favorite song on this CD, hands down, is “The Galway Girl”. It’s such a fun song that I can’t listen to it without having a goofy grin plastered on my face the entire time. When I first heard it in its entirety, there was a gigantic gasp as I heard Emmet start it off. Oh boy. Keith, you have some intense competition now. Now, Emmet, if you’re at least 6 foot, you might need to watch yourself while you’re here in the city. I might need to kidnap you and hold you hostage in my dorm room. I’m giving you fair warning, boy, so you might want to do some shrinking before the fall tour starts ;).

Uncategorized

GREEN STUFF!!

Emerald Thunder

I went to work yesterday, and as soon as I got there I felt like it was a huge mistake. I would feel okay, then I’d feel worse, then okay, then worse. It was a super vicious cycle, and I did not enjoy it one bit. Thankfully it was only a half day and the kiddies were watching a movie during part of the day. I would have died without those things. But finally the day ended and I went to the store to buy real food. I bought some apples, bananas, strawberries, a tangelo (just for kicks because I’d never had one before), baby carrots, romaine lettuce, a cucumber, 2 yogurts, pomegranate/blueberry juice, a loaf of bread, eggs, a can of chicken noodle soup, and meats to freeze. By god produce is expensive here, even where I went.  I didn’t go to Trader Joe’s this time, simply because I knew I would not physically be able to make it there . . . curse you, you stupid cold.

Anyway, I made it home and made a rather large salad for myself. Granted the salad was only made up of lettuce, carrots, cucumber, and balsamic vinaigrette dressing, but it was yummy and “healthy”. Later that night I went for some strawberries, and I noticed something was “off” with them. They looked perfectly ripe and ready to eat, but upon first bite, they tasted funky. It took me a while to figure it out, but I realized they smelled and tasted like PUMPKIN! Now, I have NO idea how that happened, but I didn’t want to let the strawberries go to waste, so I cut and hulled them and sprinkled them with a teeny bit of sugar, then left them in the fridge to macerate overnight and become more “strawberry-y”. It worked. This afternoon I ate strawberries that actually tasted like strawberries and not a fall gourd. That was so bizarre.

I must admit that not all of my food choices have included something green today, but neither were they “unhealthy,” or at least not terribly so. I woke up around 11:30 after a wonderful night’s sleep, so breakfast time was kind of over, and I wasn’t really feeling the breakfast options anyway, so I made a peanut butter and jelly and ate a few strawberries with it. Then for dinner I made a large salad and added some chicken. It was too large. I couldn’t finish it all. So sad. I also used some leftover pizza dough to make a breadstick and sprinkled a small amount of mozzarella cheese on top. A girl can’t survive on salad alone. Sometimes I need some cheese-y goodness.

Uncategorized

Down For the Count

Emerald Thunder

It had to happen eventually. My lack of fruit and vegetable-consumption finally caught up with me, and I’m sure my late nights haven’t been helping matters at all either. I started feeling sick on Tuesday and was starting to die by the time I got home that night, and I hoped that it would just pass, but it wasn’t to be so. I woke up Wednesday and I could. not. move. I had to skip work because I literally could not get out of bed because I would get so light-headed and achy whenever I tried. I could manage for a couple of minutes, but no way was I going to be able to get through an entire day. I also didn’t want to expose the kiddies or my coworkers to my sneezing and mountain of gross tissues, so I crawled back into bed. I felt a bit better when I was laying down, and so I thought I’d be able to get some reading done for class. I managed a little bit before I fell asleep again. Then my roommate came home, which woke me up, but I can’t fault her for that because I’m sure she wasn’t expecting me to be home and sick in bed. I tried to do a bit more reading after that and finished with one class, but I just couldn’t start the other stuff. I slept on and off for the rest of the day and caught up on a couple of tv shows on my computer. There wasn’t much movement on my part aside from getting water and toast. I hoped and hoped to be better for today because I didn’t want to miss three classes, but it just didn’t happen.

I woke up this morning and wanted to attempt to go to class, but at the last minute I changed my mind because I still felt borderline. With my luck as of late, I knew that as soon as I got on that bus I would start feeling like death again, and I would just be miserable. I also had a feeling I wouldn’t actually be able to get to class once I got off the bus because I still had to walk about 10 minutes to get to the building, and then another 15 minutes to get to my next class. I ended up just playing it safe and staying in bed again today, and at least now I’m happy to report that I *will* be going to work tomorrow. While I haven’t really gotten out of bed, I feel like my light-headedness has dissipated and I don’t feel quite as lethargic anymore. Unfortunately I’m still a bit congested, but it’s completely manageable now. One thing I’m positive about, though, is that I’m going to the grocery store after work tomorrow and buying as many fruits and veggies as I can get my hands on . . . and probably a couple of cans of soup as well, just to be safe. And yogurt too, I’ve really been wanting yogurt lately.

Today also served as a mental health day since yesterday and the night before were so horrendous. To sum it up in three words: liquids hated me. Tuesday night I managed to spill orange juice all over my pillows, quilt, and floor just as I was getting ready to climb into bed after a long day. Not pleasant. And then last night I did the unthinkable. I flooded my bathroom. Yup. And I could have nearly electrocuted myself to death had my clothes not accidentally created a barrier around my plugged in hair dryer that was on the floor. Don’t ask me to explain how that happened, because I’m not even completely sure. All I know was that there was so much water on the floor and that I no longer have any clean or dry towels because I had to use them all to soak up the water. This means I need to do laundry. Now. What started out as a nice warm shower to decongeste me turned into a life or death ordeal because I couldn’t see if the hair dryer had gotten wet or not. You should have seen me trying to climb out of the shower to get out of the bathroom and into my room without touching the bathroom floor. It would have been a comical situation had I not been so pathetically ill. Thank goodness no one was around to witness my stupidity and it will only live on in my memory . . . until I soon block it out as yet another traumatic event in my life. I have a good habit of being able to do that. I can forget things for months or years at a time until something happens to call up the memory. I really like that time in between. It’s very enjoyable.

Monday night I made the Pomegranate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies. They are SO GOOD. I didn’t take any pictures, though, so I’m going to have to do the *official* bonanza another time.

My birthday cake is also finally gone. I took it to Irish on Tuesday and they all gobbled it up. Thank goodness. I couldn’t have that huge chunk of chocolate in my room another day. Too much chocolate for one person.

Resolutions:

1.) Buy healthy foods, darn it!

2.) EAT said healthy foods!

3.) Don’t flood the bathroom again.

4.) Stop staying out so late. The only exception is for folk group on Tuesdays when I’m home by 11, and maybe an occasional Paddy Reilly’s outing with folk group. I’m realize that I’m not a normal college student. I need tons of sleep and I’m not stupid enough to ignore that blatantly obvious fact. Sleep = happy me, no sleep = grumpy, surly, sick me.

Baking

A Lucious Chocolate DEATH

Emerald Thunder

I did it. I finally cut into my birthday cake yesterday. After hours and hours of waiting, one of my friends finally came down to my dorm to experience this with me. I can’t even call it a cake anymore after those first bites. It’s BEYOND cake. It’s . . . LOVE! That’s the only way to describe it . . . well, I suppose “heart attack” would be a close second, but let’s not think about that right now. I’m in agreement with my friend on this one when she said “It’s your birthday. Calories don’t count.” (Shhhhh, I know it was after my birthday, but it was the first piece of my birthday “love”, so the statement still stands.)

It was so hard to cut into the cake because it was so dense and thick, not to mention cold from being in the fridge for so long.

I could barely finish my piece because there was just so. much. chocolate. The ganache layer was a bit overwhelming, but the light and fluffy mousse layer balanced it out a bit.

I honestly don’t know if I can ever make this cake for myself again. I definitely need to have a huge group of people in mind if this ever hopes to be made again. SO. MUCH. CHOCOLATE.

After the first bite my friend said she didn’t need a man. I’ll take that as a compliment.

There’s still so much left. We barely made a dent in it. I’m gonna die a chocolate death to end all chocolate deaths. I don’t care that my friend said we weren’t sharing this cake, it’s coming to either Irish class or folk group on Tuesday. It needs to be gone before it goes bad. Leaving it to go bad would be even worse than eating it all myself.

One final note: when you eat this cake, you don’t need to eat anything else for like 3 days. You’re that full. I didn’t eat anything the day I made it (the chocolate aromas were enough for me); I pretty much just ate some eggs/English muffin and my piece yesterday; and today I’ve eaten two super mini bagels with peanut butter, mac and cheese, and a small piece. STILL STUFFED! And yeah, my diet is still crap. Needs to change real soon or my stomach will revolt against me. Maybe I should make those pomegranate white chocolate chunk cookies tomorrow. You know, to consume some fruits and oats and all that.