Home Reno is like Crack to Us

Hello friends! There has not been much crafting or baking or cooking going on around here. My husband and I have been living on either take out and other crappy food the past week, which really grosses me out now that I am thinking about it. But I should be living like a normal foodie and crafter again soon as all these home updating is done... or will it ever end? It will, won't it? I hope it does. 

Every year we get into this cycle. Each time, every time. At the beginning of the year, we set out to rake money into the savings account to get ready for a vacation to the tropical, beautiful Philippines... We get excited over it, we look at airfare rates, flight schedules, and all the good stuff. Then come April, soon as it gets sunny and beautiful outside, boy, we start finding things we would love to do to our home. HOME RENO is like CRACK to us. It is very addictive!!! We know it's messy, and a lot of work, but we can't stay away from it. We get so into it, we start spending our trip to the tropics money on the reno.

We are on it again this year... We took a stronger doze of it this time too!!! We don't normally start until about early June but we have been on it since late April. I have been painting for almost two weeks now and John has been working on wiring and electrical stuff. We have thrown away all kinds of overflow and working with what we have and adding bits and pieces. : )

Yesterday, while I was waiting for paint to dry, I took a stroll into my Pinterest world and it told exactly how I was feeling at the moment. 

Hopefully I get to post pictures soon. The living room has been our main focus. We have finally figured out a fix for our entertainment center woes. If any of you have a 55-inch TV on top of a fireplace and you don't have built-in cabinets on each side, you know what I am talking about with the cords showing no matter what you do. We have figured out a fix though and I will post photos soon as we, by we, I mean John, gets it all situated. : ) In the areas where electrical or anything that could electrocute is involved I am just the person that makes sure everything is straight, or nailed/screwed in right and it looks pretty and I get to pick out wire colors because it all has to coordinate... EVEN WIRES THAT DO NOT SHOW. lol When it comes to tech stuff, I get to choose which ones we are getting, because I know better and I am the one patient enough to troubleshoot when problems arise. We haven't had any so far from any of the gadgets we have. 

Depending on what happens today, I get to pick between finishing the paint job in my dining room or put John's wiring stuff and all the little things sitting in my living room away. Great options, I tell ya! ;) Or I may be baking a ton of stuff to celebrate something I can't talk about yet. We will see.

I will see you all later. And I hope everybody has a productive week!

Sending you all lots of home reno lovin!!!

Congrats - Owl Cards [Versions of Yesterday's post]

Hey all! :) I have two more cards from scraps... I have been going through my scrap paper box and I keep finding stuff I can use. They are really just versions from yesterday's cards except that I dry embossed the background and I added a button to the mix. And I went crazy with the baker's twine colors! I am sorry I cannot remember the name of the color of the card base. They are from Paper Trey Ink. I have every color they have on their site. 

I will probably be making a ton of other versions of these cards to give away to my favorite kids who are graduating this year. There is a handful of them so yeah I definitely need to make some more. If you are thinking about hand making cards, this may be a great idea. They take about five minutes to make! Very speedy!

But before I go, here's a photo of my cats. They have been hating me for starting this whole painting thing because it has taken over their space. LOL And these two love the sunshine by the windows and since I started painting, I have filled up their little nooks with paintings, picture frames, all kinds of random things. So soon as I got done painting this side of our living room, they both hurried into that little crack between John and I's chairs to soak up some afternoon sun.

Laters!

Congratulations!

Hey all! :) Here's a card I put together from scraps. You can tell it is all from scraps because there is not very many elements in it. Including the baker's twine I used is a scrap. It is a left over from another project I  did recently.

Supplies:

Paper trey ink cardstock

White cardstock

Hampton Art Owl Clear stamp set

Hero Arts Everyday Sayings Stamp Set

Inkdinkado Polka Dot Background Stamp

Dove Blender Pen

VersaMarker Watermark Pen

Tea Dye distress Ink

Broken China distress Ink

Color Box Chalk Ink Sour Apple

StazOn Jet Black Ink

StazOn Blazing Red 

baker's twine

Foam adhesive

Uni Signo Ball White gel pen

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Baked Alaska Details and a Couple Other Things

So here's the baked alaska details. :) I cannot call it a recipe because it is not. I didn't use a recipe, I just kind of threw the thing together and wished for the best. It was rather easy, but like every one of my first times, it was messy. 

A baked alaska has three components:

• CAKE of some kind
• ICE CREAM, whatever flavor you prefer
• MERINGUE

For the cake, I decided to go traditional. I went with a chocolate cake loaded with chocolate in all forms and sizes. So I started with my favorite chocolate cake, made a glaze-like chocolate filling with chocolate chunks in it. Here's a photo to prove its yummy goodness:

Courtesy of my husband, John. He took this picture with his iPhone.

For the ice cream, I used Breyer's Snickers Caramel Swirl. I softened it and added a tad bit of chocolate syrup. The ice cream was super as is, the chocolate sauce was added because I have it in my fridge. I lined a cupcake pan with cling wrap then scooped/spooned the soften ice cream into the pan. And put it in the freezer to chill overnight.

I used 4 oz light corn syrup, 8 oz sugar, 2 oz water and 4 oz egg whites for the meringue. I actually had to make another batch as I got too meringue happy and ran out half way through. Eventhough I strongly believe in make-ahead everything,  I wouldn't recommend making the meringue ahead of time. It is the most delicate part of this very tasty dessert. I made my cakes and prepared the ice cream the night before but I prepared the meringue when I was ready to assemble each piece of baked alaska. Then, I took a torch and browned the peaks and drizzle a little bit of caramel on top. This is the most fun part of all!!! So much fun, I burnt the peaks! LOL Thank God my Mom-in-Law loves scorched stuff. It's that, or she just loves me so much she didn't want me to get upset if she told me. ;)

Perfect soft peak!!! :) When you pull the whisk out and your peaks look like this, 

you have succeeded.

Also, in the weekend I attempted the Slow Cooked Puerto Rican Pulled Pork from the Pioneer Woman's website. :) I had no idea it was going to taste anything close to the lechon so that was a pleasant surprise. The recipe is totally a keeper! My husband was raving about it all weekend! He got to have lechon when he was in the Philippines and [totally fell in love with it] he was the first one to notice how the pernil tastes just like it. I swear, he is more in love with my country's cuisine than he is in love with me. ;)

With the pernil, I also attempted to make chimichurri to drizzle on top of the pork. I have been trying to look for an excuse to make it but I either forget or totally change my mind and go with my traditional pinakurat [a Filipino condiment]. So chimichurri is definitely in my top condiments list now. I will make it every chance I get. I love the taste, the aroma and I love how it compliments the meat most of all. It makes the very simple pulled pork taste and smell like a million bucks! I can't wait to try it on my Husband and I's favorite grilled porterhouse steaks. 

Here's a couple photos:

I seriously thought I could put six cloves of garlic and a cup of flat leaf parsley inside 

a mini-chopper! John happened to walk by while this whole thing was going on

and he was like, "What are you doing to that poor thing?"

Finally, I start using my head and took out the food processor. It worked so much better!

I know, I am a comic. So funny, I crack myself up too. lol

This is the end result. :) Tasty stuff!

Hugs!

   

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the woman who raised me and taught me all the great things I know. I couldn't be with my Mom today so in honor of her, I made this:

This is a baked alaska. :) My Mom and I have never made this together... But the components of this sweet treat, she has taught me how to make. I was watching TV the other day and saw Bobby Flay's Throwdown and this was what they made. The longer I sat and watched, the more I started realizing, everything in a baked alaska I know how to make because I was taught well by my Mother... Everything that has to do with meringue especially, reminds me of her. She is a very patient teacher. I remember her saying, "make sure you bowl is clean and dry, the whisk has no water residue on it and make sure you don't get any of the yolks in the egg whites... and be patient for crying out loud!"  Yes, the reason for every one of my failed meringue attempts was my impatience. But she remained patient and allowed me to make my own mistakes to learn from. And guess what, this girl can now make meringue even on the rainiest of days! And I have my Mom to thank for that. She is the reason why I could take on any challenge in the kitchen [including life]. I will not be able to love her as much as she loves me... this I know. God couldn't have given me a better Mother and friend.  

I will update this post with the recipe later... : )

Happy Sunday all!