Home for the holidays, thanks to ELECTRICITY!

Rather, thanks to God for electricity. And the power company men who finally made their way out to my parents' neighborhood after almost three days of dark, cold, internet-less existence.

Yes. I left freakishly warm and beautiful New Jersey just in time for Washington's equally unusual freezing wind snowstorm blizzard event. It was 60 F in Princeton and about 15 F in Seattle. Weird.

Thankfully, my parents were able to summit the frozen hill they live down, find the clear main roads, and rescue me from Sea-Tac last night. Then I slept amazingly well on a mattress in front of our wood-stove, flanked by 5' tall diagrams of plant cells and a shower-turned-window curtain of the periodic table, below a mural of dolphins, and not too far from posters of parentheses, semicolons, and commas. My sister, Amy, slept on a mattress next to me (everyone else stuck it out in the glacial bedrooms). Maddie, the golden retriever, slept between us much of the night. Ashley, our 16-year-old tabby cat, provided a less-than-soothing soundtrack to our slumber with her asthmatic breathing.

In the morning, Mom made french press coffee and pancakes on the wood-stove. So freaking thankful for that stove. Dad, Mom, Jenny, and I sat around. We waited for Amy to get back from work. We stared at each other. We talked to each other. We played with Maddie. We petted Ashley and Scout (the younger cat). We remembered the days of internet fondly.

When Amy returned with the one car of the family's four which can survive our icy hill, she took Jenny and I on a sister date! We snuck lattes into the movie theater and thoroughly enjoyed Tangled. GO SEE TANGLED. It was beautiful, funny, and touching. The best characters were definitely Pascal, the chameleon sidekick, and Max, the horse sidekick, but Rapunzel and Flynn were good too. :)



On our way home, we picked up pizza. When we arrived home, WE HAD POWER!!! YAAAY! Also, my little (6'3'') brother, David! We ate in front of the fire, with all six human family members and all three animal family members enjoying each other, and then slowly laptops appeared and people trickled upstairs to the TV. :)

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, everyone! I hope you have a terrific weekend--I know ours will be busy: dinner with grandparents and aunts, a trip to the brewery with my brother, a trek into Seattle with my parents to see Hamlet and have dinner with my old friend, Bethany. And then I'll run the Seattle Marathon on Sunday. We also have a German cake baking planned!

I must write about my recent trip to Chicago for a conference, but that requires pictures left on my camera in New Jersey. For now, from my phone, I give you a preview:


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Backen auf Deutsch, Part IV: #22 Halloween-Torte

Tyler, a 2nd year in my department, had a birthday on October 28th. What does this call for? CAKE!

He doesn't speak German, so he chose the cake based on its picture:



How seasonally appropriate!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#22 Halloween-Torte
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This name is self-explanatory! But not terribly descriptive. The cake itself is spicy pumpkin, pretty similar to carrot cake. The frosting was supposed to be a layer of apricot preserves, followed by fondant, topped with the fondant pumpkins and bats.

I was excited to work with fondant for the first time. As an amateur baker, I wanted to learn a new skill. However, every time I said, "fondant", the response was, "eeew gross why can't you use real frosting???" Fondant looks beautiful, but it doesn't taste great. I consoled the boys with the promise of a can of cream cheese frosting on the side. They could redecorate their individual slices after we admired the whole cake.

To my dismay, I couldn't find actual fondant at Wegman's. I found marzipan, which definitely tastes better and functions almost the same way, but enough for the whole cake would cost $20. I opted for a $4 tube of it to make the wee pumpkins and bats and decided that the jar of cream cheese frosting would suffice for the rest. You win, boys, you win.

Back home, it was time to mix!

The recipe called for Lebkuchengewürz. (Gewürz=spice.) My favorite online dictionary had a forum thread about this spice mix. It is similar to gingerbread spices, but not the same. The recipe I ended up using is:

Lebkuchengewürz
35 g Zimt, gemahlen
9 g Nelke(n), gemahlen
2 g Piment, gemahlen
1 g Muskat, gemahlen
2 g Koriander, gemahlen
2 g Kardamom, gemahlen
2 g Ingwerpulver
1 g Muskat - Blüte, gemahlen

35 g ground Cinnamon
9 g ground Clove
2 g ground Allspice
1 g ground Nutmeg
2 g ground Coriander
2 g Cardamom [But I didn't have any of this, so I didn't use it.]
2 g powdered Ginger
1 g ground Nutmeg blossom [What?? I didn't have this either.]

It looked and smelled delicious:



Which made the batter tasty:


I needed 225 g of grated raw pumpkin (which is what makes it more like carrot cake than pumpkin bread, which uses pureed cooked pumpkin). Thankfully, I had one little organic farm pumpkin left! After hacking it open and gutting it, I chopped the meat into manageable chunks and grated away. Faraday hated the sound and hid. I hated it too, but I couldn't hide. [Someone suggested later that I use my food processor. Next time.]

Kitty came out when I finished:


Speaking of kitty, I think Faraday's back legs look like Mr. Tumnus legs:




Am I right??

Ahem.

The batter perfectly filled one 8-inch round cake tin. While it baked, I set about preparing decorations.

First, I had to knead food coloring into marzipan. While yellow, red, and black food coloring look frightening on hands, they wash right off. Marzipan is kind of sticky and pretty yummy.



Next, I rolled orange marzipan into pumpkins. That was easy.

Cutting bats out of rolled-flat marzipan was another matter. It turns out that I am a terrible freestyle bat-cutter. (...bat...cutter-outer?)

Directions online all said, "roll out marzipan and use a cookie cutter to create bats!" At 10:30pm the night before the birthday, THIS WAS NOT HELPFUL. My cookie cutters are limited to fruit shapes. The apple slice (a semi-circle) was repurposed in an act of desperation. After a few knifed wedges here and there, my bats were at least recognizable.

Add some icing faces and we have Halloween cake decorations!


I left off the apricot jam layer. So now I have apricot jam. I never buy jam. Hmm.

After the cake cooled, I frosted it, slapped on the bats and pumpkins, and voila! Halloween cake!






It was a TOTAL hit at lab. My guinea pigs (aka fellow grad students) thought it was super cool and delicious. Tyler was quite happy with his birthday cake, and once again, I had no leftovers to bring home. :)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Changes made:
~used cream cheese frosting, instead of fondant and apricot jam.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next time would:
~Probably not make marzipan bats and pumpkins for the top.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perfect for:
~Any fall day that needs pumpkin cake!
~A Halloween party, I suppose. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blogs I read

I have a new Backen auf Deutsch cake post all ready to go, but I forgot to take oooone picture which I need. So you'll get it another day. Tonight? Maybe.

Instead, here are blogs I enjoy reading. You might like them, too.

1. Eat the Damn Cake has wonderful commentary on society's views of health and beauty. She's also really funny, just got married, and was homeschooled (WOOHOO!).

2. Ministry so Fabulous is by a gal who ran a successful ministry mentoring to all ages of young girls a few years back, but now writes about her life as a single, 26-year-old woman following Jesus (I can relate) and partially raising five young girls, ages 3-8 (I cannot relate). She is hilarious and insightful and posts darn cute pictures of those girlies.

3. EPBOT is by a girly geeky chick who is into DIY projects about her house, making jewelry, and attending nerd conventions. She's pretty rad. I kind of want to be her. She and her husband also do Cake Wrecks.

4. Runner Dude posts workouts, race reports, gear reviews, and runner-friendly recipes!

5. Joy the Baker posts delicious recipes and much, much more beautiful pictures of food than I do. OMG go bake everything she posts.

6. Hyperbole and a Half is AMAZING. Her comics are too funny, and the MS Paint drawings with which she illustrates the comics are genius. I particularly like this one alot. Warning: she is not going to be appreciated by all of my readers. I apologize if you do not appreciate her.

This is really just a sampling. I read a lot of blogs.

Do you have any suggested reading for me?

MORE Matrimony!

On October 23, 2010, my dear friends, Meg and Luc, got MARRIED!

Oops, that's not their wedding. We'll get back to it.

Luc is in my class at Princeton. He's kind of like my twin in the program. We worked for the same advisor first year, and now have the same thesis advisors. We both had tough times studying for our major exams, but passed with flying--well, with good enough colors. He keeps me sane when I get frustrated. He's pretty great. We went to Disney World:



Meg is in our year at Princeton, but in a different department. We knew something special was goin' on from the beginning with those two--they seemed like the right mix of quirky, geeky, and smart. Meg and I independently started going to the same church, and then joined a Biblestudy together. I was thrilled when I realized she wasn't just my friend's girlfriend, she was actually my own friend, too! :) We went to Disney World:



Oh that's RIGHT. Meg and Luc ran the Disney World Marathon with me (and our friend Audrey) in January. If that experience won't bond people, not much will.

So, on Thursday, October 21, I hopped on a train in Trenton and knitted five hours all the way up to Providence. The fall leaves are amazing right now!


Droid pictures from a moving train don't really do the leaves justice. Use your imagination.

That evening, the gals rock climbed (indoors) for Meg's bachelorette party, and then Meg's sister, Mart, treated us to delicious margaritas and appetizers at their house.

On Friday, I checked into the Hotel Providence, where I shared a room with Luc's darling 17-year-old sister, Annika. By "darling", I mean fantastically precocious and geeky and brilliant. (Kind of like my OWN 17-year-old sister...) I was greeted by this sight:



We were temporarily guardians of The Dress. Thankfully only temporarily. That is too much responsibility, man.

While the wedding parties were off wedding partying, I headed out for a run. Providence is charming! I ran around the State House, across the river, and up up up the hill to Brown University.




I just have to visit Cornell and Dartmouth and I'll have the full set.

There's a beautiful river walk. The sunshine and chilly 40 degrees were perfect for running.



That afternoon, I found Tom! Tom is a Princeton alum who is now at UMich. He needed a Brown scarf for his collegiate collection, so we ventured out for lunch, Starbucks, and the university store. And a photo op.



That evening, we had a delightful rehearsal (Tom was videographer and I was a reader, so we got to participate) and then deeelicious rehearsal dinner. We finally saw Josh, the other member of our close posse, and met more of Luc's awesome friends. He has good taste. Meg does too, incidentally. Actually, we like their families a lot also. Gold star, both of you!

Saturday morning was hectic for the families and wedding party, but not for me! I slept in til 9 (bliss), wandered to Starbucks for breakfast (and met MORE of Luc's awesome friends, geez...), watched ANTM (I have a problem) on free hotel wireless, wandered back to Starbucks for lunch (not even joking and you shouldn't even be surprised). I finally showered and beautified. My dress was fabulous, even though that cute sash popped off anytime I bent/sat/breathed. Stupid sash.

The ceremony was held in a beautiful historic mill in Pawtucket, RI. I greeted and handed out programs and watched the rows fill with happy family and friends. Finally the flautists and cellist played the processional (a theme from Star Wars). Luc bounced with nervous excitement as the groomsmen and bridesmaids walked down the aisle. When the congregation rose to signal the bride's entrance, he peered through the crowd anxiously. The moment he glimpsed her, his face crumpled in tears of love and joy. That set the mood for the rest of the beautiful and emotional ceremony. (My reading of 1 John 4 was clear until *I* teared up on the last sentence. Ah well.)

Yaaaay Mr. and Mrs. P!!!

Back at the Hotel Providence, we had a cocktail hour and then beautiful formal reception. The newlyweds entered straight into their first dance, to the live jazz band's rendition of Fly Me to the Moon.



I sat with Princeton people and Annika. The soup was my favorite part of dinner:

It was a very good replica of the Smokey Portobello Mushroom Soup from the Artist's Point, the restaurant at the Wilderness Lodge in Disney World. I hate mushrooms, but THIS IS AMAZING.

Between courses, we danced up a storm! I love to swing dance, and some leads were actually legitimately swinging. Particularly, the groom himself and his new sister-in-law. Yes. Martha is a solid lead. Go her.

Here is the group picture from my department:


After the reception, we had a sweet mini-after party in Tom and Josh's room, in which about ten people consumed leftover bachelor-party-camping-trip victuals.

Sunday morning, the events CONTINUED with a brunch. Again, the food was delicious.

Finally, Josh and I said goodbye. I rarely am at an event--especially a wedding--in which I have to hug so many people on the way out, because I know and love so many of them. I guess four days of wedding ensures your guests get to know each other, eh?

Then, Josh drove us home. Through the leeeaves.


It was beautiful, Meg and Luc, just like you two are! Thank you for letting me share in the weekend and for being such wonderful friends. Love you!

Dessert and matrimony

Today, I received two links to delicious and simple recipes: Pumpkin Pie Poptarts, which I can't wait to try with my homemade puree, and Nutella Cheesecake, for which I had all of the ingredients! In my kitchen!

As this evening I will watch GLEE! with a friend, and we both have strong sweet-teeth, I whipped up a half batch of that Nutella cheesecake. It was super quick and quite yummy (I may or may not have snatched a bite already). Go look at the recipe blog for better pictures than mine. :)





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On October 16, Dave, a graduate from my program, married Heather! A few friends and I drove an hour north to Perona Farms in Andover, NJ, where the ceremony was outside on a sunny, but rather windy cold morning. Brrrrrr. Thankfully, it was short and sweet, and then we warmed up with brunch inside. :)



Do you like my yellow dress? I feel kind of like a jellyfish in it. A twirly one.

On October 23, this Saturday, my dear friend and classmate, Luc, will marry my other dear friend, Meg, in Rhode Island. The festivities will last FOUR DAYS, starting on Thursday. I will debut another ModCloth dress. I cannot wait!

Autumn Weekend

Let's pause and take a deep breath. The air's crisp, cool, and fresh. And vaguely tinged with nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon. It must be FALL!!!!

I had one of my favorite kinds of weekends. Possibly my most favorite. I barely left my apartment.

Except for Saturday morning, when I ran sixteen miles. (I've said it before and I'll say it again: I adore cool weather running.)

And Sunday morning, when I went to church, Wegman's, Target, and Starbucks. It was a triple grande nonfat no-whip PSL kind of day.



But other than THAT, I stayed HOME. With my CAT.

And America's Next Top Model. YouTube is both a blessing and a curse-of-a-time-sinkhole.

In between ANTM marathon sessions, I managed to clean my apartment, sort 25% of my wardrobe into "wear", "keep for next season", "modify?", and "goodness have we really kept you that long??" piles, and cook up a STORM.

My farm share this summer has been genius. I've eaten a boatload of veggies and learned how to cook many new things! The fall crop has been a bit overwhelming: almost more squash, eggplant, arugula, and pumpkin than I can handle. Some make a beautiful centerpiece:



Sunday afternoon, I hacked open a pumpkin:



Cleaned the seeds:



Baked the pumpkin:


Decorated the cat:


Roasted the seeds with cayenne pepper:


Pureed the pumpkin:



And baked pumpkin bread:



Here's another obligatory picture of Faraday:


I also used my six cups of arugula and made pesto!


I only had enough Parmesan cheese for 1/3 of the arugula, so I experimented and added sesame seeds and Israeli date honey to the last 2/3. The honey cuts the arugula's bitterness and is quite tasty. I froze about half and plan to eat the other half this week.

My baby food processor deserves break now.

Other farm veggies consumed this weekend: tomatoes, radicchio, and lettuce in a beautiful salad, and kale, blended into my signature post-run smoothie and broiled into kale chips.

To consume this week: more tomatoes, radicchio, kale, carrots, broccoli, squash, and another pumpkin. :)

Backen auf Deutsch, Part III: #89 Apfel-Cidre-Auflauf

Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting the last little book club meeting for His Dark Materials (rating: gold star). Knowing that my dear friend Meg is slightly picky when it comes to desserts, I started emailing options from 100 Kuchen to her a few days before. She's allergic to peaches and caramel. She doesn't like coffee-flavored things (except coffee milk). She doesn't like nuts or lemon. She said, "it doesn't matter! Make whatever you want!!" But I was now on a MISSION to create something delicious for her. Finally, approval went to...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#89 Apfel-Cidre-Auflauf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apfel=apple
Cidre=cider
Auflauf=casserole...apparently...let's go with loaf, instead.

My best laid plans for finishing the reading, having a clean house with pumpkin spice candles lit, and baking the apple cake before they all arrived TOTALLY failed. The apartment was mostly clean, but I finished the book after Meg arrived and just as Josh did. Meg was happily recruited to assist me with the cake while Josh offered moral support. I forgot about the candles completely.

This recipe was extremely straightforward, with only "herber Cidre" tripping me up. I decided that it must be hard cider, but it could well have been spiced cider (if you know, do comment or email me!). I mostly chose hard cider because I only needed two tablespoons for the cake and it is DELICIOUS.

The apples were supposed to be whole and tiny and just shoved into the cake batter, but mine were too big, so Meg sliced them and we mooshed in the pieces:



The consensus: if the cake stinks, at least the batter itself is incredible.


Luc arrived fashionably late. We discussed Lyra, Will, and Dust while enjoying olives and wine. Soon the apartment smelled of spiced apples. Finally, it was done!



We thoroughly enjoyed it with vanilla ice cream:


Over the next few evenings, I paired it with the rest of the cider. Fabulous.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Changes made:
~used apple slices instead of whole apples.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next time would:
~it was a wee bit dry...maybe add applesauce to the batter?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Perfect for:
~FALL!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S. if you'd ever like a recipe, I will email a translation to you!