Seattle & San Francisco Recommendations

We are finally starting to really put some thought and planning into our "itinerary" (I use the term very loosely since we're not planning to totally schedule our vacation) for our upcoming anniversary trip to Seattle and San Francisco.

So, if you've ever been to either city, I want your help. What are your suggestions for must-sees in each city? Must-dos?

We've received some advice from several people (thank you, if any of you are reading), but we'd like more opinions.

We are going to be in Seattle for 4 full days (one of which we plan to spend up in British Columbia). Since we don't have a ton of time there, we want to at least go into it with a narrowed-down list. So tell us: what should make the list? What should be skipped? I've been to Seattle several times, and actually lived there when I was younger. Therefore, I've done a lot of the touristy things. But Michael hasn't. Help refresh my memory on the good and the bad!

Same thing for San Francisco. We'll be there 4.5 days. We definitely want to do Napa, but have no idea where to go/what to do in Napa. Or how much time we should plan to spend there (full day? half day?). Recommendations?

Any other general tips? We are planning to rent a car (if Shatner would cut me a break and accept my bid on Priceline!) in Seattle since we're going to be staying with a family friend outside of the city. We're planning on using public transport in San Francisco, except for the day we go to Napa--we'll rent a car for that.

Restaurants? We are not the type of people to be into really fancy or expensive meals, so your casual, at least semi-budget-friendly suggestions would be appreciated.

Alright, my San Francisco and Seattle-dwelling readers (or those who have visited): On your marks... get set... go! (In the comments, please!)

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Attention: Baking Gals

Round 8 is onnnn!

Your mission (please accept it!): Brighten the day of a soldier serving overseas. Our soldier for Round 8, Christian, is serving our country with the U.S. Army in Iraq. And you have the ability to bring Christian some "cheer," and to many of his fellow soldiers as well.

How? Well, it's simple. Packages from home. From YOU.

If you're a regular reader, you probably know all about this "Operation Baking Gals" business by now. So many of have participated so far, and I'm hoping you'll all be willing to do it again. And if you've never participated before, please consider joining us!

Christian is a dear friend of one of my faithful readers and fellow blogger, Amy. Once again, I hope you'll knock my socks off with your willingness to help our "Heather Drive" soldier.

All you have to do is go to http://www.bakinggals.com/, sign in (or create an account if you don't have one--so easy, it's free, and you won't get spammed by a ton of e-mails, either), and then register with Team Heather Drive - Castillo. You'll do this by clicking on "Join a Round 8 Team Here" (you must be signed in to do this). Also, please visit "Round Eight Info - Meet the Teams." There is an article in there for our team that contains details about our soldier and his story. This weekend, I'll send out an e-mail to all registered team members that includes Christian's shipping address.

DON'T BAKE? No TIME to bake? Well, that's NO EXCUSE. :) There are plenty of store-bought things that the soldiers can use and enjoy. Please visit the Baking Gals FAQ section for a list of acceptable items to send. I've been told that Christian especially likes Ramen Noodles, so you could most certainly send some of those, right? How cheap and easy could it possibly be??

Ship dates for Round 8 are May 4 through May 13, so you can basically bake (or buy!) and send starting this weekend. So preheat those ovens and start whipping together those baked goods!

Be sure to include a bit of "yourself" in your packages as well. Cards, letters, pictures... anything that will give Christian a little bit of an idea of who you are, and let him know how thankful you are for the sacrifice he is making for all of us. You may even want to include a link to your blog, or an e-mail address. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes, participants receive e-mails from the soldier they baked for!

If you are baking, there is important information for you in the FAQ section, too, including tips on how to ensure that your baked goods get there in good condition. Additional info about the organization and my experience with it so far can be found in my original post from December.

Remember, the best thing to use is a large Flat Rate box from USPS. You should be able to pick one up at your local post office (the box is free). Take it home, pack it full of as many goodies as possible, and then take it back to mail it. You'll get a discounted rate for sending it to an APO/FPO address. Unfortunately, the Flat Rate has gone up $1 (thanks a lot, USPS). Now, it normally costs $13.95 to send a large Flat Rate box, but it only costs $11.95 to send to soldiers (used to be $10.95).

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. E-mail me at roadtotheaisle@gmail.com, or leave a message in the comments. If you do that, though, just make sure to check back, because I will answer you in the comments as well.

As always, if you participate, feel free to tell me about it! If you have a blog, post about your experience--Pictures of your baking, you with your package, etc., maybe post the recipe for the goodies you made. Then send me a link to your Baking Gals blog post, or leave a link in my comments section.

That's all for now. Let's make this another successful round, shall we?

Edited to add: Last round, I know there were some problems with my e-mails (sent through the Baking Gals website) to team members getting caught in spam filters. Please be on the lookout for the e-mail with Christian's address (so check those filters!). If, for some reason, you still don't get it, please e-mail me and I'll make sure to get the address to you.

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DIY Passport Photos

Our trip to Seattle and San Francisco is fast approaching!

When we are in Seattle, we want to take a day trip up to Victoria, British Columbia. Starting June 1, you have to have a U.S. Passport or Passport Card to get into Canada. Since we also live fairly close to Canada, it's a good idea for us to have passports for the occasional trip over the border.

I first got my passport when I was 16, right before I went to Europe (Spain, France, and Monaco), but it expired just this past November. Not only that, but since I'm now married, I have to get my name changed on it. Michael has never had his passport, so we both have to go through this process.

Fortunately, I'm able to renew by mail, but Michael has to go in person. Anyway, I called today to make an appointment to go into our local post office to figure all of this stuff out. For my mail-in renewal, we'll have to pay $75. Michael has to pay an extra $25 for a first-time processing fee, so his passport will cost $100. The guy on the phone told me that to get our photos taken on site, it would cost an additional $15 each. CHA-CHING! The passport fees are unavoidable, but $30 for the two of us to get photos taken?? No, thank you!

I immediately started looking into taking our own.

Following the guidelines on the U.S. Department of State's website, we took our photos after work today. Basically, you have to be on a white or off-white background, and you have to have a "natural" expression (no smiling!). There are also size/composition requirements, but rather than do a bunch of measuring and cropping yourself, I found the coolest little tool online!

ePassportPhoto.com allows you to upload the photo you take, then takes you through a few easy steps to help ensure that your photo is compliant with all of the rules. There are some really specific requirements, like your head has to be at least 1", but not more than 1 3/8", etc. Thankfully, ePassportPhoto.com makes it simple.

Once you line up the guides, it resizes and crops your photo for you. Then it creates a printable passport photo sheet, like you see above. It's automatically formatted to print on a 4" x 6" piece of photo paper. You can either send it off to Snapfish to get it printed, or you can download it and print at home. Pretty cool, huh? And did I mention it's FREE?

We'll both be sending off our paperwork tomorrow. We're hoping for a fairly speedy turnaround. *fingers crossed*

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Strawberry Cake

When I was coming up with concepts/options for the baby carriage cake, I remembered that I had seen this delicious-looking strawberry cake on Good Things Catered. I offered it up as a choice for Nicole, and she chose it! We decided to put a thin layer of vanilla buttercream in the middle, along with fresh sliced strawberries.

Let me tell you... this cake is perfect! Now that the weather is warming up, it's also really appropriate for the season. The strawberry puree gives the cake a subtle, fruity flavor. The strawberries in the middle added a lot to the flavor, too. This is a great cake for any occasion, so give it a try!

When I baked the cakes for the carriage cake, I also baked an extra 6" two-layer cake to take to a family dinner at my mom's to celebrate my grandma's birthday. I used leftover frosting from the baby carriage cake, too--the pink and blue mixed together made a lovely shade of lilac purple! (Aren't I resourceful? Ha!)

Strawberry Layer Cake
(Source: Good Things Catered)

Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour
- 3/4 cup strawberry puree, room temperature (homemade or you can find store bought in form of a good quality strawberry daiquiri mix as well)
- 1/4 cup milk, at room temperature
- 6 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 12 tbsp. unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened (not melted)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 8 in pans: line outside with heavy duty foil (I used bake-even strips instead) and spray inside with baking spray with flour. (Or spray with baking spray, then dust well with flour.)

2. In small bowl, combine puree, milk, egg, vanilla and mix with fork until well blended.

3. In bowl of stand mixer, add sifted flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to combine.

4. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter. Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.

5. Add liquids and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute or until full and evenly combined. Stop mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl and hand beat for 30 more seconds.

6. Divide the batter evenly among the pans and smooth tops.

7. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (time will vary).

8. Let cakes rest in pan for about 10 minutes and turn out onto wire racks. Let cakes cool completely before frosting (about 2 hours).

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Baby Carriage Cake

A few weeks ago, Nicole e-mailed me to ask if I'd be interested in making a cake for her upcoming baby shower. Her mom (the shower host), was looking to have a variety of decadent cakes, but Nicole also wanted her to include something baby-themed.

After doing some browsing online, I sent her a few cute options. Nicole chose the baby carriage cake. I was excited because I had wanted to take a crack at this thing!

I met Nicole when we were both planning our weddings, when we both went to a "knottie get-together." She got married a month after we did, in July. Now, she and her husband, Gabe, are expecting their first child in June. The baby's gender is going to be a surprise, so the cake had to be gender-neutral. I loved how this cake used both pink and blue.

The cake was made out of two 9-inch round layers. I cut out the carriage and handle from one of the layers, then cut the two small wheels out of the other. I torted each layer so that I could put a thin layer of buttercream and fresh sliced strawberries in between.

The decorating went pretty smoothly, aside from the basketweave. I was rusty since my cake classes were so long ago, and I was having issues remembering what order to do the pattern in. I'm going to be honest; I wanted to throw my decorating tools across the room a couple times! But the fact that this was a paid job kept bringing me back to get it done, and get it done right. I eventually figured it out (thank god).

I made extra batter and made a small 6" round cake for my grandma's birthday (which was today), too. I couldn't make a strawberry cake without making extra for us to try! I will post the recipe tomorrow.

Nicole, I hope you enjoyed your baby shower (and brought home lots of loot!). I hope the cake was well received. Congratulations again to you and Gabe!

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Bread Machine Pizza Dough

Today is NFL Draft Day. If you've been reading here for a while, you know that football is a big deal in this household. For as long as Michael and I have been together, we've always made a bit of a fuss over draft day. Mostly just with football food, and um, football beer. But still. It's fun.

A few weeks back, I came across this recipe for homemade pizza dough over on Dinner with the Bickfords. I've never made homemade pizza dough before, but this recipe appealed to me because 1) It is made in the breadmaker, and 2) It contains beer. Need I say more?

At the time, I sent the link to Michael, and he agreed that we had to give this a try. It wasn't long before we realized that Draft Day was coming up, and wouldn't you know--pizza with homemade dough certainly fit the occasion.

We spent much of the early day out and about, enjoying the weather. We took Tessa for a loooong walk, and soaked up the opportunity to have every window in the house wide open. Also, since it was so warm, it was nice to not have to spend much time in the kitchen preparing dinner.

The dough came together really easily. If you make this, you'll have to check your particular breadmaker, but on ours, the dough setting takes an hour and a half. I tossed all of the ingredients into the pan, snapped it into the breadmaker, and then totally forgot about it until it beeped at me 90 minutes later.

The only change I made to the recipe was to substitute some whole wheat flour for some of the all-purpose flour that was originally called for. I have reflected that change in the recipe posted below. If you don't like whole wheat flour or don't have any on hand, simply use all-purpose flour for the entire 2 1/2 cups of flour required for this recipe.

Don't forget to prepare yourselves with the "flat beer," too. Since we knew we were going to make this in advance, we cracked open a beer last night, measured out a cup of it, let it sit out for a while, and then stuck it in the fridge until we needed it today. It worked well (it was definitely flat). If you haven't planned ahead, you can always pour the beer into a cup and stir the crap out of it, or you can put it in a container with a lid and shake it to get all of the carbonation out (have fun with that!).

Once the dough was complete, I stretched it out evenly into our pizza pan. We topped it with store-bought pizza sauce and our favorite toppings. We always have "his" and "her" sides of our homemade pizzas. I generally stick to turkey pepperoni and onions, while Michael loads his side with turkey pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, and olives (and usually some extra cheese).

The resulting pizza was fabulous. The crust was a great thickness--not thin, not overly thick. It has a really interesting flavor (I assume from the beer). There was almost a tangy flavor to it, and it was quite enjoyable. We will definitely, definitely be making this again.

Bread Machine Pizza Dough
(Adapted from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
- 1 cup flat beer
- 2 tbsp. butter
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 packet yeast

Directions:
1. Put beer, butter, sugar, salt, flour, and yeast in a bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer (ours says to put wet ingredients in first, then dry, then yeast). Select Dough setting, and press Start.

2. Remove dough from bread machine when cycle is complete. Roll or press dough to cover a prepared pizza pan (I lightly sprayed our pizza pan with cooking spray). Brush dough lightly with olive oil. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

4. Spread sauce and toppings on top of dough. Bake until crust is lightly brown and crispy on the outside, about 25 minutes.

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Sunbathing

It is 80+ degrees here today. We are all taking advantage, including little Tessa girl. This is her favorite thing to do on a sunny day.

When we take her outside, she immediately flops over into the grass, to feel the sunshine on her belly. She also expects us to give her belly rubs (we always oblige).

It is one of her little quirks; one of the many things that makes her our little Tess.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Adaptation

I've never been one to be afraid of change. I've always thought I'm the kind of girl who can roll with the punches.

These last few days, however, I've started to realize that I may not be as good with it as I thought. The thing is, I think most of the change I've experienced in my life has always been GOOD change. So, really, what's so hard about that? What's not to like?

At the end of the day, what I'm going through right now is NOT a big deal. So I have to move offices. I am no longer going to get to see and talk to my coworkers (who have become close friends) on a regular basis. I keep telling myself, so what? It's not like anyone has moved hundreds of miles away (they are simply on the other side of my company's property, in a new building). It's not like anyone has died.

So why am I so damn depressed?

Yesterday was moving day for my three officemates. They packed everything up, movers came, IT came to fetch their computers. We had an awesome last day together. Laughed, gossiped, went to lunch, laughed some more. And at the end of the day, we all walked out together for the very last time. I was fine.

I got into my car and fell apart. I cried the whole way home.

Seriously, what is wrong with me?

I was able to pull myself back together relatively quickly last night, and I figured that reality was finally beginning to hit me. Kept myself busy at home, went to bed last night, woke up this morning... all pretty normal.

And then I get to work this morning, open the office door, and wouldn't you know... there was no one on the other side of it to greet me. No "good mornings" from my friends. No phones ringing. No talking. And worst of all... no laughing. (Oh, and no swearing. I'm going miss the f bombs, too.)

When I first had to move up here last July, I was not happy about it. I was moving away from the people who I actually work with, and was moving upstairs to a different division, simply because space was tight throughout the whole company, and these guys had a vacant office for me to inhabit. I really had no professional connection to these new officemates; there was no logical reason for me to be housed within their space. I knew who these people were, but had had very little interaction with them, so I didn't know them.

Before I knew it, I had become a part of them. I felt like a part of their team, even though I wasn't. When they moved yesterday, I wanted to go with them.

And so this morning, where my friends used to sit, there are empty chairs. The desks that used to be filled with pictures and personal items, phones, computers, papers, bottles of water... they're all empty.

Honestly. So depressing.

The thing is, we all spend so much time at work. Aside from home, this is where I spend a good chunk of my life. I've been at this job for nearly three years. And for the past nine months, I had a really, really good thing going. I was happy here. Work was fun.

Now the fun is gone. The life has been completely sucked out of this place.

Where I'm moving to? Not fun. I'm moving back to where I used to be, but with half as many people left down there. It's going to be quiet; it's going to be a ghost town. I know them all well, for they are my true coworkers. We share job functions, and work together on projects. A couple of them are my bosses. They're all nice people; I can't complain.

But they aren't my friends.

My new office isn't ready yet. It's being painted today, and I will officially move on Monday. Until then, I am all alone. I didn't think I'd mind being up here by myself for a few days, but this is horrible. I'm just reminded of how things used to be. One thing's for sure: I need to get the hell out of here.

I know I'll get used to this, and all will be fine. But for now, I can't help but wish that things would just go back to the way they were.

I miss my friends. And they miss me.

Disclaimer: I know there are far worse things in life. I know I'm being a bit dramatic. I'm just sad. I need to wallow for a few days. I'll get over it; I promise.

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Blueberry Scones

Once again, I am moving offices at work.

I won't go into all of the details now, since this is a recipe post, but the bottom line is, my officemates and I are going to miss each other. Terribly. So, today, which is our last day before the big moves start happening, we threw ourselves a little going-away-from-each-other breakfast.

These ladies have been enjoying and complimenting all of my baking for the last nine months. And so, I thought it only appropriate that I make something new and fabulous with which to send them off.

Enter the blueberry scones from Katie over at Good Things Catered.

It's no secret; when I'm looking for a recipe that I really need to be good, I often turn to Katie. And since I had never made scones before, I needed a fail-proof recipe.

Well, after the fiasco I ended up having with the dough last night, I wasn't sure these were going to be fail-proof. The problem was that when made according to the directions, my dough was wayyy too sticky. Quickly, I googled "scone dough too sticky" and found some information on the Joy of Baking that talks about how different flours absorb different amounts of liquids, blah blah blah. The solution was, as I suspected, to add more flour. So I wrestled with the dough, I added more flour, I wrestled with it again, and repeated. REPEATEDLY. I ended up adding wayyy more flour (at least a 1/2 cup more) than the recipe called for, and I was sure something was not right.

And THEN I went back to the Joy of Baking site and found WARNINGS posted ALL OVER the scone recipes about not overworking the dough. Basically, DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH OR YOU WILL END UP WITH RUBBERY HOCKEY PUCKS FOR SCONES.

Um, whoops. By that time, I had mixed and remixed and mixed some more due to my adding extra flour a little at a time. I was sure that my scones were doomed.

But finally, I got the dough to a point where I could actually work with it, roll it out, cut it into pieces, and transfer my scones onto a cookie sheet. Defeated, I wrapped up the pan and stuck the scones into the freezer for fresh baking in the morning.

Today was a new day. I preheated the oven while I showered, then stuck my frozen scones into the oven. And I baked them. And baked them some more. Added a few more minutes onto the timer. And another couple of minutes. And a few minutes more. (They required probably an additional 10-15 minutes of baking time since they had been frozen.)

When they were finally brown and scone-looking, I took them out of the oven, threw them into a container, snapped a few pictures (aren't they pretty?), covered them with some clean dish towels, and ran out the door to work.

The blueberry scones made their debut once I got to work. At first, my officemates just wanted to see them. And sure, they looked great, but I was still nervous about biting into one of them. Imagine my surprise when I took my first bite and... well, they were perfect.

COMPLETE success. These scones are just the right amount of "crunchy" on the outside, and light and fluffy in the middle. They have the perfect amount of sweetness, and the blueberries make them fabulous. And knowing what I know now about needing to add extra flour? These things will be a cinch next time I make them. Really. So easy.

Blueberry Scones
(Source: Good Things Catered)

Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour + 2 tbsp. + 1 tbsp. (may need additional to get dough to the correct consistency)
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- 3 tbsp. sugar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 6 tbsp. butter + 1/2 tbsp., chilled
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- 1 cup half and half, chilled
- 2/3 - 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment.

2. In small bowl combine frozen blueberries and 1 tbsp. flour and toss to combine. Place blueberry mixture into fridge or freezer.

3. In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

4. Take butter out of fridge, cut into chunks and add to flour mixture. Cut butter into flour until pea sized or smaller.

5. Add vanilla and half and half and mix in with a spoon until just barely incorporated.

6. Take blueberries out of fridge or freezer and knead into mixture until mixture forms a ball of sticky dough. (It should be on the "sticky" end of the spectrum, but it needs to be solid enough that you can work with it. Add additional flour until you reach workable consistency.)

7. Turn dough out onto floured surface and pat down into rough 9-10 inch circle. Cut into 8 triangles and place triangles onto prepared baking sheet at least an inch apart. Take 1/2 Tbsp butter and cut into 8 small pieces. Place one small piece of butter on top of each scone. (At this point, you should wrap up the pan and freeze them if you aren't baking them immediately.)

8. Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes. (For frozen scones, don't defrost them, just pop into the oven and start off at 20 minutes baking time. Keep adding time, watching the scones closely, until they are a nice, golden brown and the edges look sort of crispy. I baked mine for around 30 minutes.) Serve warm.

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Ten Months

Remember when I said I couldn't wait to get to the 10-month mark?

It was because I knew that by 10 months, it'd be spring. So here we are; and it is. In fact, it is supposed to be 80 degrees on Saturday, and like 75 on Sunday. Finally! Yayy!

Now we're looking forward to the big 1-year mark. We'll be in San Francisco!

Wedding-related confession: Our photographers sent us the electronic proofs of our album pages like 3-4 weeks ago and I have done almost nothing with them. I know that I want to make changes, but am completely overwhelmed by it. I don't even know how to start. At this rate, our album will NEVER be done! I wanted to have it by our first anniversary, but I highly doubt that is going to happen. :(

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Chicken Lo Mein

Last week, we were in the mood to try something new for dinner. I was thinking about something Asian-inspired, but didn't want stirfry. I wanted something different.

First, I did some blog searching, but didn't find anything that sounded quite right. So I turned to my trusty-dusty allrecipes.com. A couple of clicks and I landed on this recipe for Chicken Lo Mein.

This ended up being exactly what I was looking for. Simple, and the ingredients required (aside from the veggies) were mostly things we already had on hand. I didn't want to have to buy a bunch of new ingredients that aren't used for very many recipes.

The only things we changed about the original recipe were the veggies we used, and the proportions. Since we used a lot of vegetables and additional pasta, so we had to increase the sauce ingredients a bit to make sure we had enough to coat everything. We also didn't have any bouillon granules, so I used a bit of extra chicken broth instead. It worked out perfectly. The changes we made are reflected in the recipe below.

I wouldn't call this "fake-out take-out," because it really doesn't taste like any lo mein I've ever had at a restaurant. But this dish has great flavor, and you wanna know the best part? I thought the leftovers a couple days later were even better tasting than the night we made it. Give this one a try!

Chicken Lo Mein
(Source: Adapted from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 tbsp. corn starch
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup sherry or reduced-sodium chicken broth + an additional 1/4-1/2 cup (we used the chicken broth)
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
- 1 box uncooked linguine or spaghetti
- approx. 1/2 lb. broccoli florets
- 1 large sweet red pepper, chopped
- 1/4 large onion
- a bunch of green onions, cut into 2 inch pieces (use however many you like, depending on preference)
- 3 tbsp. canola oil, divided.
- 2 tsp. sesame oil

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the cornstarch, ginger, soy sauce, and sherry or broth until smooth. Add chicken and stir to coat; set aside.

2. Cook linguine or spaghetti according to package directions.

3. In a large nonstick skillet or wok, stir-fry vegetables in 1-2 tbsp. canola oil for 3-5 minutes, or until crisp-tender. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

4. In the same skillet, stir-fry chicken mixture in remaining canola oil for 4-5 minutes, or until no longer pink. Add in 1/4 - 1/2 cup additional sherry or chicken broth (depending on how much sauce you want/need), and bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Return vegetables to skillet.

5. Drain pasta; add sesame oil and pasta to skillet. Toss to coat. Cook 1-2 minutes longer or until heated through.

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Logan's Baptism

Today we drove down for Logan's baptism. It's so hard to believe our newest little nephew is 7 weeks old already! This was only our second opportunity to see him, so we enjoyed every minute. Both Brendan and Logan are growing so quickly.

Of course, I brought my camera and snapped as many photos as possible. I wanted to share a few of my favorites...

A sweet moment with mommy right before the baptism began.

Logan was so good. He didn't seem to mind the water at all.

Their little family. Love it.

With my husband's family.

Cute shot of Brendan with Uncle Michael. Brendan absolutely looooved him today.

In fact, he even gave him kisses. (Seriously, how cute is this?)

Logan has already started smiling! There is nothing more precious than those toothless grins.

Uncle Michael with baby Logan.

Aunt Heather had to have a turn, too.

Godmother/Aunt Cristina with the baby. Adorable.

Brendan was running around with a bunch of his cousins outside. It's so funny because he is so big, yet still so little. He loves to play.

It felt like as soon as we drove down there, we had to turn around and come back. Thankfully, we will be seeing them all again in a few weeks, when they make a trip up here to visit in early May.

Speaking of nephews... only a few more weeks until we welcome another one! I am so, so excited.

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It's a sign.

Summer is coming.

Last night, we dragged the grill out of the garage for the first time this season. We sipped a couple of beers, and I pulled weeds while Michael grilled our burgers. I could not have been happier.

Friday + warm temperatures + sunshine + grilling + hamburgers + beer = EXCELLENCE.

And this is just the beginning. It puts me in such a good mood!

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Goosebumps

Let's kick off the weekend with something uplifting, shall we?

I see it as my personal duty to ensure that everyone I know has seen this.

I had seen bits and pieces of this on the news early this week, and I thought it was a great story. But it wasn't until I watched the full thing while eating my cereal on Wednesday morning that I came to fully appreciate it.

I sat there and watched in awe as Susan Boyle was instantly judged by the show's judges and its audience, based solely on her appearance and her age. I was actually kind of disgusted over the looks that were shown on people's faces.

And then she began to sing.

Instant tears welled up in my eyes, and I got goosebumps all up and down my arms. Even the little hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Amazing.

By the time she was done, I was full of pride for this woman. Not only had she just gone out there and done a bang-up job singing one of my favorite Les Mis songs, but I was so happy that she had proved everyone wrong. Sweet, sweet victory from this "ugly duckling" who no one ever expected to be wowed by. But she did it, and she did it amazingly well.

Frankly, I was proud of the judges for owning up to their first impressions of her, and apologizing for it. Well, except for Simon Cowell. I don't watch American Idol, so I don't have a lot of experience with him, but from what I've seen... you can't expect much from him. I think his reaction to Susan's singing was about as nice as he gets. So, whatever.

I hope Susan continues to tear up the stage for the rest of her competition. Beyond that, I hope all of her dreams come true. Go get 'em, Susan!

Now I'm going to make a complete 180 and talk about politics. It's related to this post because to me, it's a second piece of really good news that came out of this week.

I'm excited that yesterday, Governor David Paterson introduced legislation to legalize gay marriage here in New York State. There is a loooong way to go with this, but at least he got the ball rolling. Governor Paterson is throwing his weight and influence behind it, and I hope that he's able to get the State Senate to see that there really is no debate. It's not a question of should they or shouldn't they, it's a question of right or wrong, and so far, New York (and most of the rest of the country) has been wrong. MAKE IT RIGHT.

I'm appalled that we are still dealing with issues of equal rights in 2009. Really, I am. I'm sad that it took several other states to get New York to start this process. We're New York, for crying out loud! (Although I look at California, a state I also have high expectations of, and I remember Prop 8. I still can't believe it happened.) But right now, I don't care how or why Paterson made his decision to do this; I'm just glad he did. COME ON, NEW YORK. Don't let me down.

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Transformed

If you visit my site to read posts instead of using an RSS feed, I'm sure you've noticed the brand new look. Some of you may have visited during the transformation today, and things may have looked a little wacky. Everything should be looking pretty good now.

I've worked hard the last several days to get this new design up and running, and I hope you like it. As you can see, it's quite different than it used to be. Out with the old, and in with the new!

If you do read via an RSS feed, you might see a few "new" posts pop up in the next few days that aren't really intended to be actual posts. Instead, they serve as content for my links on the navigation bar under the header. Take a look up there if you're interested. So far, I only have four links there, but I will be adding more within the next day or so, including a cool new recipe index that I hope you'll find useful.

Since I've worked so hard on all of this, feedback is certainly appreciated! I'm still reworking a few things, so if you have any constructive criticism, please send that along.

Enjoy the new Heather Drive!

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Hot Topics

Related to my soon-to-be-unveiled redesign of Heather Drive...

I'm trying to put together a short list of "hot topics" on the blog. Maybe they're frequently asked questions, maybe they're favorite past posts. These should be things that probably deserve more than just a "label" in the long list of labels on the sidebar.

I swear I'm not trying to toot my own horn here. I'm simply trying to make the blog easier to navigate.

Any ideas? Thoughts? Opinions?

P.S. The redesign has been consuming me, but I have a couple new recipes (one dinner, one dessert) to post. They're coming soon, I promise!

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Spring Makeover

It's time for a little (or maybe a big?) makeover here at Heather Drive.

Maybe it's all of that sunshine we've had the last few days, but it's finally beginning to feel like spring around here. Even with the chilly temps. So, I've got the itch to do some spring cleaning, and for me, that includes the blog. I need something fresh!

But first, let's take a gander at the past "looks," eh? (They're all going to look kind of funky since I have to shrink them so much. But you get the idea.)

Awww, the original Heather Drive header. This was before I even really knew the direction in which I would take this blog. I was struggling with my new identity as a "non-bride" blogger.

Once I started posting a lot of food, I decided to integrate that into the header as well. So we ended up with this (which is also the current header):

Then there were a couple of "special theme" headers along the way. Each one made an appearance for a limited time only.

First, there was Christmas (I loved this one, and can't wait to put it--or something similar--back up next year!):

Then there was the inauguration celebration:

So, hmmm. Time for something new. I just have to figure out what that "something" is, and get the creative flow going.

And here I am, setting expectations for something potentially big. Bad idea. It's possible that I'll come back and all I'll have is a redesigned header (I'm kind of attached to my color scheme and layout). BUT we'll see how it goes. Anything's possible.

I'm just sayin'.

P.S. If there is anything you're lovin' or hatin' about the layout/sidebar features on the blog, now would be a good time to speak up about it. Or if you have suggestions for improvement, those are welcome, too.

P.P.S. Look what I was doing a year ago today! I mailed out my wedding invitations! Weird. Seems like ages ago, but seems like yesterday. All at the same time.

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Let's do lunch.

Or, rather, let's talk lunch.

I am in need of new lunch ideas. Things that are simple, don't require a lot of prep in the mornings (and let's face it, not a lot of prep at night, either), are pretty light in calories, but also satisfying. I hate putting together my lunches, so the less time it takes, the better. When I eat big lunches, I'm not usually very hungry for dinner, so I try to avoid doing that, too.

(Here is my super cute lunch tote by Built NY. Help me fill it up!)

Things I already bring: Lean Cuisines (but we only buy them on sale, which is not often), Lean Pockets, sandwiches, soups, and sometimes leftovers. These things are always paired up with baby carrots, an apple, and a diet soda.

I generally like to throw everything into my lunch bag and go. No fuss. But I'm also really bored with my choices.

So, please, give me suggestions. What do you bring for lunch? Any ideas for me?

Edited to add: Salads are OK, but I get bored with them very quickly. And as far as appliances... at work, I only have access to a microwave. Oh, and a toaster oven--but only for the next two weeks (moving offices again).

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

To celebrate the holiday, we attended noon Mass at the church down the street from us, then headed to my mom's for a family dinner. It was nice and sunny here today, but cold (only around 40 degrees). We grilled vegetables and chicken, and paired them with rice pilaf and multigrain dinner rolls. Yum.

Family portrait out on my mom's deck.

I snapped a lot of photos of the dogs because, let's face it, they are so damn cute.

Remember Miller? He's a lot bigger now! Little buddy is growing so fast.

Look at how perfectly he was sitting there for his portrait. So cute.

Showing off his tricks while the guys grill outside. This one is "give me your paw." :)

"High five."

After chasing each other on the deck for a while, Tessa was tired of it (and probably cold, too) and wanted to hang out inside. The two of them kept tabs on each other though; even when on the opposite sides of the glass door!

Tess did make her way back outside a few times. She loves the sunshine!

Miller likes the sun, too. This was his position while we were eating dinner.

The dogs helped "rinse" the dishes in preparation for the dishwasher.

All in all, we had a really nice Easter. Now I'm sitting here wondering how it's possible for three-day weekends to go by so quickly. How is it that they seem to go by even faster than regular weekends? Not cool.

*sigh* Guess I should start counting down until Memorial Day weekend now?

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Birds' Nest Cupcakes

Tomorrow, we are heading to my mom's for an early dinner with my family to celebrate Easter. In addition to the cutout cookies, I wanted to make something else that fit in with the spring/Easter theme.

I had seen photos of birds' nest cupcakes, but the "nest" part was always made with toasted coconut or chow mein noodles. I wanted to make my nests with frosting. I made up a batch of buttercream and used one of my decorative frosting tips to swirl a little "nest" on the top of each cupcake. Topped with three peanut M&Ms as the eggs, these came out really cute (and tasty, too).

For the cupcake itself, I decided to try out a homemade confetti/funfetti recipe. The almond extract gives them a really nice flavor. Although totally different than the funfetti in a box, these were really good.

As you can see, I used Easter sprinkles in the cake to make it festive looking.

I did run into a bit of a problem with this cupcake recipe. The recipe states that it makes 12 cupcakes. When I divided the batter evenly among all of the cupcake liners, I noticed that they were really full. Against my baker's instincts, I decided to just go with it and trust the recipe. I thought perhaps they wouldn't rise too much.

Wrong. The cupcakes all overflowed, and as a result, I had really crispy edges, and really FLAT cupcakes. They were ridiculous looking. To decorate them, I ended up trimming off the overflowed edges, which worked out, but was a pain. So, in the end, the cupcakes didn't look the way I had hoped, but I was able to salvage them for this purpose.

Lesson learned! I have modified the recipe below... this will probably make about 18-20 cupcakes instead of 12. Just use your best judgment. Next time I make them, I wouldn't fill the cups more than 1/2 - 2/3 full.

Confetti Cupcakes

(Source: Slightly modified from Baking Bites)

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup milk

- 3 large egg whites

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/4 tsp almond extract

- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

- 1 cup sugar

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 6 tbsp butter, soft

- 1/4 - 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles (base amount on your preference)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

2. In a measuring cup, whisk together milk, egg whites and extracts. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or a large bowl if you prefer to work by hand), combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir to combine.

4. Cut in butter with the paddle attachment at low speed (or cut in by hand), until mixture is coarse and sandy.

5. Add milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Scrape sides of bowl and continue beating for 20-30 seconds. Stir in sprinkles.

6. Fill prepared muffin cups 1/2 - 2/3 full. Bake for for 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.

Makes 16-20 cupcakes.

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