Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Planning for Christmas Baking

It is getting that time to bake so today when we went to the grocery store I picked up lots of baking supplies. I think though I am still suffering from sticker shock over the eggs. Eighteen eggs $2.93. Ouch!

I usually try something new every year sometimes those things don't get made again. Sometimes they get on the permanent list.

This is standard every year...
Sour Cream Cookies
Foolproof Fudge
Cardamom Butter Cookies - I roll out to do cutout cookies
Chocolate Caramels
Molasses Cookies
Festive Bark

Then I made these last year and they were a big hit so I am going to do those again...Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cookies - chocolate chip cookie recipe with 1 1/4 cup crushed peppermint bark.

And I have a couple new recipes I want to make and then one old one I would really like to make again as I miss them. I haven't made them in probably 10 years. One new recipe I want to make is similar to an old recipe I made the jelly thumbprints....but going to try this one. And then Peanut Butter Blossoms is one I used to make and always enjoyed.

I always enjoy baking Christmas goodies. I make up plates and containers for friends and family. I also want to make scones as gifts. So I see quite a bit of baking in the near future.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Teacher's Pet

Live Journal
- Well with all the hoopla going on with LJ deleting 500 journals* -- Master suggested I do a back up of my livejournal. I have never done that but remembered my good friend mentioned LJArchive. So I did that tonight. I was reading through some early entries.....it is always odd for me to read though them but tonight I realized I repeat myself quite a bit. Also because of the hoopla I went through and deleted some interests off my profile and left some groups just in case. Sad but true.

* Here are a few links about it...
http://acari.livejournal.com/299533.html
http://roaring.livejournal.com/70304.html?style=mine
http://femmequixotic.livejournal.com/292480.html?nc=165
http://liz-marcs.livejournal.com/


Pirates
- We went to see the new Pirate of the Caribbean movie and it was SO GOOD! And someone else I read mentioned this too but Orlando Bloom has grown up or something as he looked damn hot in this movie! Especially in the end with the scarf on his head and the scar! Oh yummy!

Books
- I finished Memoirs of a Geisha today and really I know lots of people thought it was so different then the movie and the book was better then the movie but I find them both pretty much the same. I know the story is not exactly the same but the overall message and big points of the book to me come out in the movie. I am really glad I read it again and have it though. I had read it the year it came out (1997), but lent it to a friend and she never returned it.

Here is the list of books I have read this year so far and my goal was to get through 25. I think I will make that. Links below are entries where I do reviews or talk about the books a little more.

1. Collage Discovery
2. Tipping the Velvet
3. Danse Macabre
4. The Crimson Petal and The White
5. Artists' Journals & Sketchbooks
6. Creative Utopia: 12 Ways to Realize Total Creativity
7. The Academy
8. The Reunion
9. Bondage
10. The Rapture of Canaan
11. Kink
12. Suicide Blonde
13. The Marketplace
14. The Slave by Laura Antoniou.
15. Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coehlo - I really enjoyed the story. This is the first time I really have read one of his books and not felt I learned something after. This was just entertainment. It was a book about a prostitute and also had some SM in it too. I found it interesting since I was a prostitute. And well I like SM. :)
16. He, She, It by Marge Percy - EXCELLENT book! If you like anything set in the future - this book was very interesting. If you like history also you will like this book as it does go through Jewish history of 1600 Prague.
17. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden



Dinner
- A while back we got a pork roast that was HUGE! Anyway, I cut it half and did half in the oven roasting it with veggies. And the other half I did in the crockpot. I ended up then freezing quite a bit of it. Yesterday I took some of the shredded pork out of the freezer and made it into a yummy spicy dinner. I put the shredded pork into the crock with a can of diced tomatoes with the juice, did a cup of chicken stock, a can of black beans, a can of diced green chili peppers, 1 chipolte pepper chopped, some garlic and onions and then cumin and oregano. I simmered in the crock for about 2 hours and then served it on tortillas with cheese and sour cream.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Umm...Tired...


Tired.
Going out of town in the morning.
Frosted the sour cream cookies tonight and then topped them with little holiday sprinkles – Christmas trees, snowflakes, gingermen, snowmen, and candy canes.
Tired.
Mailed bunches of holiday packages.
Need to pack and gather things for leaving tomorrow.
Tired.
Going to take some pictures of holiday treats. And then pack.

That’s it for tonight. No More Brain Power!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

'Tis the Season to be Busy

I will do another look back tomorrow night. But for now I thought I would do a little life update and some commentary to a quote.

Right now life is extremely busy...'tis the season right? We were suppose to leave for a trip today, but well Master has some sad news this week. A friend died so we are delaying our trip. We will be leaving on Saturday. Things we did/doing this week: finished Christmas shopping, baking, more baking, making jar mixes for gifts, getting packages ready to mail and...oh and did I mention baking. My Christmas baking includes: Festive Bark (almond bark with pretzels and M&M's mixed in), peppermint bark, chocolate fudge, maple fudge, chocolate caramels, Cardamom cutout cookies drizzled with espresso glaze and dark chocolate, sour cream cookies, molasses cookies, and chocolate chip cookies with peppermint bark. For jar mixes I did hot cocoa (amaretto and french vanilla), brownies (with white chocolate and coconut), Cranberry, white chocolate cookies, and then M&M Chocolate Chip cookies.

kaya wrote this a while back but I related to it a lot:"Years ago I used to fantasize about being a slave, like a lot of people who read me tell me they do. And now, I fantasize about not being a slave..lol. I used to have this romanticized vision of being an owned woman, controlled and obedient.. and now I have a romanticized vision of having a job and having friends and being normal."

I know once upon a time I had a very romantic version of what D/s was...what being a slave was about...I got caught up in that submission is a gift and slaves are cherished precious property and should be treated as such. And well although Master loves me and views me as valuable property there is not all the hearts and flowers that I read of in stories. Being a slave - for me - is a lot of hard work and putting him first always and in all ways. And some days that is harder then I would like to admit. Some days going back to my previous days in my life...of hanging out with friends - shopping and dinner sounds great. And not that Master wouldn't let me do that...but my mindset is totally different now and even when I have done things with friends the mind is always whats next. And so it isn't the same as before.

Looked at time....I need to get going and finish addressing packages...

But one last thing...although hanging out with friends and doing what I want sounds nice...I wouldn't trade serving Master. I am his and I want to his for as long as he will have me.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Godfather Eggs

I really enjoy cooking. It I guess could be said is a passion of mine. I am known for my cooking. Master's former co-workers always used to say they liked him but they loved me as I always made them yummy treats!

We are going to a Holiday party tomorrow night so tonight I made pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. And tomorrow morning I will make a pasta salad.

In my comments for Gratitude Tuesday letter E maya asked about Godfather Eggs. Master and I went to a restaurant that had them and so I ended up making them at home because we enjoyed them so much.

Godfather Eggs
scrambled eggs
browned ground Italian sausage
tomato sauce
shredded mozzarella cheese
fresh chopped basil (optional)

Take scrambled eggs and then just put the layers on top of them first the sausage, then the tomato sauce and cheese. You can top with some basil even though I didn't have any when I took this picture.

Here is a picture of some I made a while back...

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

This is Life

So life...what has been going on...

Art - been doing lots of art and I am happy about that. It always just feels so good - puts me in a good mood (except when I have blocks) and just lets me lose myself in it.

Domestic - Master bought Calphalon Commercial Hard-Anodized Everyday Pan last summer for me. All the Calphalon pans we have are great but I use this pan almost well everyday. And everything I cook turns out great........EXCEPT I can't do fried potatoes like hashbrowns. They stick to the bottom. So I always have to switch them to an old pan we have just to make them. I don't make fried potatoes that often but when I do I wish I could get them to work in the everyday pan. Tonight I tried to make some fried potatoes with sundried tomatoes, chopped mixed peppers and onions and again I had to switch to our old pan. Yeah I know such an exciting entry. It is just a love to cook and it frustrates me when things don't work the way I want them to. And today must have been my day for domestic failures as I made some cookies that didn't turn out...they are edible but didn't turn out how they were suppose to...they were suppose to be more cakey like sour cream cookies but they turned out flat and then chewy like a molasses cookie. Master loves maple flavoring...if he is going to get a donut it usually has maple frosting on it. And so I found this recipe for maple cookies and made them hoping to send them with him - as he left to go out of town this morning. He still got some to go with him but they weren't very pretty so I told him not to share! I know the problem is an altitude thing so I am going to try them again sometime...altering the recipe to compensate for it. I will be crossing my fingers that it works!

General - Master has so much on his plate and many things I can't help with but the things I can help with I seem to be falling short in and it has been very hard on us both. Then that of course makes spiraling out of control thoughts of that I am a horrible slave and he deserves better and what not. I then do some self talk and usually I am able to work through what needs to be done, and that I am not a horrible slave but it still seems like it is taking much more work then it should...and I know I shouldn't say should. (yes I am laughing that I even typed that out.)

Health - Well this is one area that is pretty positive. I have only had one migraine in since the 21st of May. Sinus headaches are down...allergies don't seem as bad either. We got an air purifier and it might be the reason I am having less sinus and allergy issues. Which also might contribute to migraines but we only have had the air purifier for 2 weeks and my no migraine streak has been longer then that. Either way I am happy that both migraines and allergies have been much better!

Well I think that is about it. I am don't like it when Master is out of town but I do have MANY things to keep me occupied. I just hope I feel motivated and inspired to do them.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Re-Cap of Week Away

Prologue - Sunday May 14th - I started with a migraine cycle - that seemed to get a little worse each day. But I killed it everyday - so by 3 or 4 pm I was okay.

Tuesday - We try hard not to travel with our kitty cats. Our little girl kitty has a hard time of it usually getting sick. So the Vet suggested basically an antihistamine to make her groggy and sleep. Well this is the first time she has had to have a pill in her lifestyle and it was not a fun experience getting her to swallow it. The boy cat is much better at it then her. So we got that done and made she sure she was reacting okay to it and then started loading the car.

Because of opening the new business both of us and especially Master have a lot going on in our brains - so things are getting missed that normally wouldn't....both of us assuming the other has gotten or taken care of something and later finding out that neither of us did. So it has been a little trying on both of us....especially trying not to get snappy with each other for missing it (which is something neither of us has been great at during this time). Master had something for work to take with us and so I thought he put it with his other work stuff. And he thought I had got it.

So we are on the road....just under an hour away from home when Master calls his parents to tell them we are on the way. His parents mention something about work and that reminds Master of the thing he needed to bring. Master asks me if I got it. I said, "no." I mentioned I thought he had put it in his work bag. So we pulled over at the next exit to look in the bag and of course it wasn't there.

So yes folks we had to turn back. We went back got it and got back on the road. Despite the turn back we did make good time. It actually went fairly fast for adding the extra time on to the trip.

Wednesday - I woke up with yet again another migraine - worse then Tuesday. So I got up with Master to eat breakfast right away so I could take something. Master went to his meeting and I went back to bed for a bit. When I got up it was less but still not gone. We then got to spend the afternoon alone. After Master's meeting we went to some fetish stores and then went to a nearby town that we would meet our friends V & s for dinner later. We went shopping there and got Master quite a bit of clothing that he will need for his new business. It was all on clearance as the store was going out of business. So we got great deals. We met V & s for dinner. We had a very nice time. S gave me a gift....a very pretty tea cup and saucer, tea packets and biscotti. I might take a picture of it later as the tea cup is so pretty! That was so thoughtful of her! So we had a good dinner with really great friends before heading back to Master's parent's house.

Thursday - Wednesday night when I went to bed my migraine was still not gone. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't gone and that worried me a bit. At 3am Master and I both woke up and I mentioned my migraine still being around. By 7am it had increased to a place where moving, light, and noise - HURT - so much. Well Thursday was a special event for a family member and so I was hoping I could clear it up by the time we left but no such luck. And even by the time Master and his parents came back from the event - I wasn't anywhere near feeling better. I take that back it was better but not gone and those of you that get migraines know how they just have a lingering effect that is hard to cope with. So we stayed in for dinner but did go out for Cold Stone's after. That was actually really hard on my migraine as the they had ceiling fans with bright lights creating a flickering light effect and so it hurt a lot but it was hard to turn down Cold Stone's Ice Cream. The Cold Stone worker was wearing a T-shirt that said, "Friends don't let Friends buy Grocery store Ice Cream" -- it reminded me of Kam as I had never had Ben & Jerry's before him and he used to say, "friend don't let friends eat anything other then Ben & Jerry's." So although the ice cream was great - I really was suffering from my headache a lot more then I let them all know because I didn't want to ruin their evening.

Friday - I woke up with a lower level migraine. One that I can function with - no problem. It is normal for me. Sad to say but true. So we did a late brunch as we had a family party to go to in the afternoon and evening and so wanted something to last until eating at the party. After brunch, we hit the Dollar Store. Yay! It was then close to the party time - I had a really nice time at the party with Master's family. I got time to chat with everyone and ate a lot of good food. Everyone though was very concerned about my migraines so I got a lot of "are you okay" or "how is the headache" while at the party. But they were all so understanding and good about it.

Saturday - We had an early breakfast and then did some running around most of the day. I even got a chance to go to another favorite store there to get some paper. Also Master bought me a new skirt and a jacket. The skirt is one of the twirly skirts that you see in every shop right now....tiered lightweight cotton. Mine starts at a light almost tealy blue and goes into a deep midnight blue at the bottom and then has crochet insets between each tier. The jacket is the military type jacket in white. I am not hip on any of the colors in either item but Master doesn't like that I wear so much black. They are both very cute items but I am still not sure I have things to wear with them.

Master had asked his Dad who does the cooking in their household if on Saturday evening I could take over the kitchen. And his Dad agreed. I was thinking of all the times they have come over here and he gets in my way in the kitchen. He always tries to help and usually just gets in my way so that things end up broken or spilled. So, I had some hesitation about cooking in his kitchen - that he would really be able to give it over to me. But I also understood why Master wanted me to cook as we eat out EVERY meal when we stay with them as it their chance to try out new restaurants and not have to cook. But because we were staying with them from Tuesday to Sunday that is an awful lot of eating out which is very expensive. And as I have said many times with Master opening his own business we try to watch our pennies. Dinner time hit and I asked where a couple pans were...and of course he didn't just give me the pans he asked me what I was going to do...and so he started to do things to prepare the meal. And so I from that moment had to try to kick him out -- politely. It wasn't happening and again he was getting in my way. I know Master wanted garlic toast but after making the dish I made I just couldn't take another minute of Master's father. Master even came in and made the salad because I believe he could see I was nearing that breaking overwhelmed point. His Mom kept trying to get his Dad out of the kitchen. But it didn't happen. So then right before the food was ready I said - as everyone was in the kitchen - they could set the table and get butter and such out - and Master's Dad said, "well you don't want any help" in a very snarky tone. I successfully bit my tongue. And his Mom I think gave his Dad a punch in the arm. We ate dinner and they really enjoyed it - even having seconds. So I am glad it went over well after all the struggles to get it made. Master said that I should have given him a task but really it wasn't a dish to give him a task because it was brown sausage, boil pasta and then throw it all together with the other ingredients that were ready to go straight from the package.

Sunday - Another migraine...and one that could easily go to a worst state. Master had to go his sister's and his parents went with him while I stayed back and took a shower and then packed things up to get ready to leave. Our trip home went really fast also - probably more so because we didn't stop at all. Our little girl cat did amazingly well on the way home. Our boy cat though wasn't liking our music so finally some Loreena McKennitt calmed him down and we didn't hear from him again until we pulled on to our street. He is a smart boy.

I am happy to be home but I am going to be so busy this week. I need to get Master's website up - at least a calling card type page until I can get the other real pages done that will have flash on it and all sorts of other new things I have never done. But I am looking forward to learning and seeing his page come together.

Master is going to be late tonight so I threw some pork chops in the crock as it nice that they can just cook and cook and cook until he is home. I am going to go do another load of laundry and maybe work on some art for a few moments.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Plans Foiled Again....

Plans did not work out again tonight....I got a migraine and so was having a horrible day that caused lot of other things to be off. Master feels like He is coming down with something so He just wanted to go to bed shortly after coming home. I understand of course...I am am not allowing myself to have one of those moments where I say - "see I can't even plan one special night for Master" and do the whole pity party thing. I logically see where my migraine would have been flared up more with the activities planned and I logically see that Master should get rest if He is coming down with something. So it will happen when it can happen.

Tonight I worked on some website stuff, researched new microwaves as ours started smoking today - no kidding. I was melting chocolate chips in the microwave to make a Chocolate Buttermilk Pie and a smell started coming from the microwave and I thought I was burning the chocolate I opened the door and smoke.....coming from inside the microwave but not the bowl of chips. So I thought maybe some food was stuck somewhere and that was smoking so I wiped the whole inside down and tried again. No go - more smoke. Master said we would go out and look for them this weekend as it is something I use! I steam most of our veggies in the microwave. So it gets used daily.

I discovered a new product - new to me old to the market - powdered buttermilk. I made buttermilk biscuits this week that I think will be my standard recipe. And I made Chocolate Buttermilk Pie too and both turned out really good with the powdered buttermilk. I am thinking of making whole-wheat buttermilk pancakes and a side of turkey sausage for breakfast in the morning.

I have something else I started to write about tonight but realized I should ask Master's permission. So that will have to wait.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Domestic....Plus a Life Update

Baking makes me happy. Cooking mostly in general makes me happy. There are times cooking doesn't make me happy though. But baking almost always makes me happy. I just got done baking some cookies for some friends. They will be mailed off tomorrow for them.

I was just thinking last night I should bake something for Master and his co-workers...they are really feeling burnt out lately and so I want to do something nice for them. I am going to either make 3 type of muffins (raspberry cream cheese, apple/oatmeal, and blueberry) or cinnamon brownies...whatever Master would prefer of course.

This weekend was pretty laid back for the most part. I did have a little melt down on Saturday as I just haven't been sleeping lately and so Saturday that caught up to me and I just was so tired that nothing made sense. So Master tucked me into bed and I got some much needed sleep. Sunday we were up really early to do grocery shopping - hit the stores before the crowds after church. After we came home, we made breakfast together and had mimosas with it. Yummy! Later in the Master was going to lay down for a nap so I said I would join him and he tried a new hood on he bought for me and unfortunately the cough still lingers and this hood is really tight around the neck so I started coughing.

Last night I woke up feeling like I was having a heart attack (it was a panic attack). It hurt my heart, ribs and everything to just take a breath. I was shaking and mind was racing. I had woke up from a nightmare. It took me so long to calm down though that my body being that tensed up last night....has left it aching today. I have only had it that bad once before.

When we were out shopping this weekend, I picked up some hairdye. It is red which is pretty much one of the standard colors I use. But Master and I have discussing black. I am not sure how I would look with black hair. So he said something about maybe you should do that and he picked up one and I said "that is a permanent dye." We talked about trying a temp one first. And he said, "yeah." I said, "what if it turns my hair weird colors." He just smiled and said, "no problem I have a solution for that too." It took me several moments to get what he meant! He is an evil man!(yeah...i know i like that he is this way.) His solution....shave my head. He knows what just mentioning it does to me...there in the middle of Wal-mart and melting into a puddle of goo. But after discussing it we realized now isn't the time as we are visiting his parents in 2 weeks and me and black hair (or *cough* a shaved head) is probably not something they can handle. When it has been odd colors they always just say "you dyed your hair again." When it is a normal color they say "oh we like you hair." My parents do the same thing.

Not much else to report.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Parents, Food & Wine

This will be just a quickie...I know I owe people emails, icons and comments but it probably won't happen until Tuesday.

My parents arrived safely. We wisked them out to do a mini wine tour shortly after they arrived. And came home with 8 bottles of wine! Oh my we tasted so many wonderful wines. I made stew for dinner, served with hard rolls and a nice red wine. We had butter cake with chocolate ganache icing and toffee ice cream after dinner. The cake turned out good except not as high as I believe it should have -- due to the altitude.

I am exhausted and need to iron a shirt for Master -- for tomorrow (which I might do int he morning). I will update more...after my parents leave.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Interview Meme Questions

Answering interview meme...2 people on livejournal asked me and so I am going post the answers here too.

1) What was your very first experience as a slave?
Answer in next post of questions as it was asked 2 times

2) If you had one day left to live, what would you do with it?
I just think I would want to see as many friends and family as I could. Being surrounded by them talking to each other...sharing time and telling them how much love and appreciate them all.

3) What got you interested in cooking & what is your favorite recipe for?
Well my mother is a cook. It is what she does for a living and is a very good cook. But oddly enough she never taught me to cook....never really taught any of her 3 daughters to cook as she does not like people in her kitchen. So it was not really until I was married (not married anymore) and started cooking that I realized it was fun to cook and have people enjoy what I made. Really with Master my love for cooking has come out more as he really allows me to experiment more then I have been able to in the past.

Oh I don't have a favorite recipe...last year another LJ friend interviewed me and she asked me what I would serve if I were having someone famous to dinner. Well at the time it was Master and my anniversary and so I was making a new meal and it actually turned out horrible. Well the entree did everything else was great...including the dessert - cream puffs stuffed with homemade chocolate pudding.

So, what I am saying my taste go for what I seem to be liking or doing in the moment. So lately that would be lots different kinds of chicken...

Chicken Capri, Chicken Pomodoro, Sicilian Chicken...not sure on the sides would depend on which I made. But for dessert right now I am craving my Mom's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cake. It is yummy!


4) When did you know you were a submissive/slave?

When I was with my first owner, at 18, I did not know there were names for what were were doing and who we were....so it was not until many many years later...9 years later now that I think about that I found a D/s board on aol...while looking for information on anal sex. I was looking for that info because my husband was scared to try and I wanted to prove to him that we could do it - that it might hurt at first but that it could be done safely. Anyway, back on track, I stumbled on to this board and read some posts by submissives and I was like wow I do that...I feel that...wow this sounds like me. And then I realized it was a whole lifestyle surrounding these things I did in all my relationships. So that was 10 years ago that I actually found out there was name for who I am...submissive and slave.


5) What is your favorite service to perform for your Master?
I don't ever answer this question very good. Because there is not *a* service that really have that is a favorite. I just like serving him. I have always been semi-service oriented but with Master it seems to come out more and that is something I really like that I am serving him in ways I never served before...it is just great to be serving Master.
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