This Week I Love…

birthdays and baking. Or at least that seems to be what where all of my time has gone this week. For my boyfriend’s father’s birthday I made this carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. For my best friends birthday I made this Mexican chocolate tart with spiced pecans. And for family I have visiting on Monday I am making these crisp salted oatmeal white chocolate cookies, which I made about 10 days ago with mediocre results. I believe the failure came in the form of expired ingredients. My baking soda and baking powder were both about 2 years old and gave no lift to the cookies. Did you know you are supposed to replace your baking soda and baking powder every 3 months? Lesson learned. I also learned a lot from these baking tips on allrecipes, very informative!  Other this I love this week include…

A cozy winter survival kit.

How clever! Turn your canning jar into a travel mug- Cuppow!

I’m not a huge fan of Star Wars or watermelon or children’s parties for that matter, but this is pretty damn cool.

Love this lamp.

I’m so hungry I could eat a [spaghetti] horse.

Treat your guests to a baked potato bar! I really like this idea.

The food lovers cleanse from Bon Appetit looks delicious! Are you surprised?

Get graphic with VioletMay.

Drinking coffee- a capital offense. I’m offended!

Get drunk faster.

My love for Pinterest is growing!

Isn’t It Nice When The Work Is Done For You?

The Academy Award Nominees were announced this week. I, always being a day late and a Donner short (how about that historical reference?), love this announcement because it provides me a very specific list of all the movies I didn’t see in the last year but should consider adding to my 200+ Netflix queue for future viewing.

Thanks for that.

Terrariums? Okay, Lets Build One!

This weekend I built a terrarium. The container came with a gift card to a local garden center from my thoughtful sister for Christmas. After purchasing the plants and picking the brains of every employee at the garden center I assembled my supplies.

From the top left corner: rocks of various colors and sizes, potting soil, plants of various varieties, charcoal, and a terrarium container.

The bottom was lined with charcoal, which I am told provides excellent drainage and removes naturally occurring impurities from the air in a terrarium.

The second layer is that of good dirty, earthy, dirt. Yum.

Prior to planting, I removed each plant from its original container and broke up the dirt and roots.

Third layer is plants. Clearly.

Remember the rocks I mentioned of various colors and sizes? Those came next.

The layers are complete at this point, so I proceeded to feed my creation.

The final product is pictured above. I ended up with one extra plant, which now lives in a nice, little, rock covered bathtub.

Stuff about terrariums… Unfortunately the operating instructions are about as vague as can be.

• Watering  and care vary depending on the size, type of container, and variety of plants.
• When watering, less is more. Humidity will naturally occur as oxygen recycles.
• Soil surface can dry out quickly, this is not an indicator that the plants need to be watered.
• Containers with lids should be removed daily for up to an hour to increase clean air exchange.
• Terrariums  should be fertilized 2-3 times a year, typically in spring and summer.
• 10-12 hours of light per day is a good idea.
• Trim and pinch plants regularly to maintain scale and avoid overcrowding.

And that’s it! The project took about 35-40 minutes (sans shopping of course!)

CENSORED

Perhaps you noticed our freshly pressed WordPress posts are being censored today. It’s only a taste of what will be under SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act).

“The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.” – Wikipedia

If this sounds like something that might adversely affect you- and it likely will!  Take action today by contacting your congress rep.

I’d Eat This…

There was a time a few years ago when I thought I needed to search for a hobby, however it has become self evident as of late that I already had one- food. I find myself bookmarking recipes constantly. I pour over the directions and ingredients, and regardless of whether or not I make the dish, I always take something away from the my research. It’s a slow progression, one which will never lead to a restaurant or cookbook, but hopefully my own happiness- the way any good hobby will. So this morning I had the brilliant, if not obvious idea of putting my bookmarked recipes and food ideas on Pinterest (duh!). And I am pleased to see the repinning has been almost immediate. And I’d like to share it with you here, in case you aren’t yet on Pinterest. The board it titled “I’d eat this…” and is searchable under the username “abbagoogle”.

And if you are excited about this, you may also be interested in my next board which will coincidentally be titled “I’d drink this..” Coming soon!

Moonrise Kingdom

I will be seeing this film. I am very excited to see this flim. Allow me to list the reasons why.

1. It is a Wes Anderson film.

2. It features some of my favorite actors, including but not limited to: Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman, and Harvey Keitel.

3. It appears to take place at a summer camp and/or involves a band of boyscouts.

4. The trailer includes promising French music. And Wes Anderson films always have excellent soundtracks.

5. The plot seems both humorous and endearing and likely to explore the dynamics of unrequited love.

6. The subdued pastel color scheme is visually pleasing.

Did I mention yet that  I am excited?  To be release May 2012.

B.Y.O. Flight Food

I just read this article in Conde Nast Traveler by Joanna Goddard. In it she asked five top food bloggers to reveal the snacks they bring on plane flights. My favorite, which I have quoted below seems so perfect, particularly the miniature booze bottles. Ingenious! I know what I will be bringing on my next flight.

“Runny cheese, good crackers, hard salumi, plump prunes, pistachios, and dark chocolate. For drinks, I recommend packing a few mini-bar-sized bottles of your favorite spirit, like scotch or bourbon. They’re under the fluid ounce limit and so much better than the brands airlines carry.”
—Amanda Hesser, Food52 

This Week I love…

…cleaning out some of my links! Oh boy is my computer bombarded with bookmarks! I’ve got some fun things to share, check them out below.

This ad gives me spring fever… kind of.

Make potato chips in your microwave. Genius.

10 Etsy shops you need to know.

I’ve made this soup and this cake in the last month with great reviews. And the recipes are almost kind of healthy too.

How to make milk foam without a frother or machine! Here come the lattes!

For those who can’t commit to wallpaper, here is an excellent source for stencils.

Banana Nutella bread pudding.

I’d love to live in this prefab.

Lauren Haupt Jewelry. I’ll take one of each.

Have you ever had cauliflower soup? I’m on the fence but it looks so healthy and easy to make that I think I could get behind it.

Photoshop your food! This is so clever, I’d love to have a set.

25 foods you will never be able to eat again. Ever.

After several sleepless nights of animating with a crew of over 20 people, the Joy of Books was born. Music composed especially for the short by Grayson Matthews.

The image above. Christmas is over but the picture was so comfy and welcoming I couldn’t not share it. Lucky cat.