Oh, dear.

Oh, dear.

Dear [insert your name here],

I'm sorry I've been so out of touch lately. I'm not good about it under normal circumstances, so I know that this is a giant FAIL for me right now. I hope that you are not terribly offended. It's a problem with me--not you.

If you haven't heard from me recently, this is a list of possible reasons why:

1. I am only aware of my phone when I need to know the time. Oh, you left me a message? Don't worry, it's still in my voicemail. I didn't delete it. I just haven't listened to it yet. But, I WILL. In a couple of days. By then it will be irrelevant and you'll have resolved the issue, right?

2. I am up to my eyeballs in wedding invitations. Printing, stamping, and addressing are all in various states of completion. I've messed up a couple million times, so I keep having to redo things. Not to worry, though. They'll be done by the weekend. My trusty friend, Mr. Fiskars, and I will not rest until every last invitation is in the mail. If you don't have a Mr. Fiskars, I highly recommend you befriend him.

2a. I am constantly reviewing the wedding budget and guest list. How do we even know this many people?? Now I'm too distraught to talk to anyone.

3. I am gettin' my sew on. I've been able to complete the bodices, straps and skirts of two bridesmaid dresses so far. I'm stumped at the moment because I don't know how to thread my serger. I plan on figuring that out once the invitations are out of the way. When it is finally threaded, I'll be able to attatch the bodices to the skirts and insert zippers. If everything goes smoothly, that will only take a couple of hours.

I have yet to begin the third (and final) bridesmaid dress, my dress or the four neck ties on my list of things to sew. I've got fabric and patterns for everything and they're all cut out, it's just a matter of pining things together and sitting my butt down at the sewing machine. On the other hand, my dress is going to take some finagling to make it exactly what I have in mind. And then there's the veil... OMG, I just remembered that piece!

4. Someone else has managed to corner me and ask about wedding plans, so I'm talking to them right now instead of you. Don't worry--if I need your help, I will figure out how to use my phone and beg for your assistance STAT. Luckily, the Alderbrook does everything, so all Wes and I need to do is pick out what we're going to eat, then show up on May 8. Now I'm tired of talking about wedding stuff, so I don't have the energy to talk to you until... (See 1.)

Basically, I just want you to know that I'm alive, wedding plans are under control and I will try to be better about keeping you in the loop. In reality, though, I will fail at this until May 9. After that, you'll have my undivided attention! I just hope you're still talking to me at that point =)

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Love,
Charity

bye bye betty

bye bye betty

These are some awesome brownies. You probably have all of the ingredients sitting in your pantry right now, so there's no excuse. Kiss Betty Crocker good bye!



Now, don't get me wrong. Betty Crocker is sometimes necessary--like when your fiancé suddenly tells you that Bryan and Mallory are on their way over to play Rock Band while you're in the middle of working on wedding stuff. In fact, I was totally miffed when I realized that my backup box of brownie mix was nowhere to be found.

I knew that I was out of the natural cocoa that I typically use and was searching for my dutch process stuff when I pulled this out of the cupboard.



I'd never used it before, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Why not?



Oh, man. This is the way brownies were meant to be. Wes ate half of them all by himself! I've got other recipes that make great brownies, but this one... Wow. And I'm not sure if it was the dark chocolate that made these great, but I'm not wasting my money on more natural cocoa to see if there's a difference. Why mess with a good thing, right?

Anyway, we ended up playing for 3 hours and these brownies were the only thing that sustained us. Well... these and beer =)

haiku

haiku

Love a Samoa



A lemon is good as well



Trophy is the best



Bet you didn't know I was a poet =) These were my birthday cake this year and I was a very happy girl!

Lethal

Lethal

That's what I'm renaming these bad boys: Lethal Oreo Truffles.



Good god. I ate half of one and had to stop for an intermission. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that I used a normal sized cookie scoop to form my truffles. I should have used a smaller one, but I was trying to finish these in a hurry.

Get a tall glass of milk ready and enjoy!

Granola Obsession

Granola Obsession

Out of the blue, I decided I needed to eat some granola. Of course, it was late at night and I was not interested in getting dressed and heading to the grocery store to buy some. But I had to have some immediately.



And the funny thing is this recipe made a lot, but not nearly enough. It's already gone! However in my defense, I did package some for my brother.



I've decided this is another great recipe for sharing. It is nice and durable if you need to send it in the mail. It won't go stale like cookies--especially if I'm sending it across the country or to Hawaii =)

24

24

Happy Birthday, Nate!



Hope your package arrived safe and sound =) The guy at the post office referred to it as a "baby." Yep, it was 8 lbs. of goods.

Have a wonderful day, boy!

Food for the Gods

Food for the Gods

I did not come up with this name.



Apparently this is a popular recipe in the Philippines, but it's not something I learned from my mom. She taught me a lot when it comes to cooking, but nothing to do with Filipino cooking specifically.

I know, I know. What kind of Filipino am I?

But here's an example of cooking Filipino food with my mom:

Me: How do you make adobo?

Mom: Well, you get your meat...

Me: Chicken or pork?

Mom: Whichever you prefer. Then, you cook...

Me: Wait--what kind of meat? Thighs? Shoulder?

Mom: Whatever you have.

Me: But which one is the best?

Mom: Oh, I like chicken thighs, but your grandma always makes it with pork butt.

Me: Eew--butt?!

Mom: Then you put some garlic and vinegar and soy sauce until it tastes good.

Me: How much of each?

Mom: Oh, I don't know... A couple tablespoons each? And use a fresh bay leaf and pepper.

Me: Just one bay leaf?

Mom: Or you could put a couple in. Depends on how much you're making.

Me: Can you just make a huge pot of this so that I can freeze it and eat it later?

And she did. She would always make big batches of adobo, pancit and lumpia that I could stash away in my freezer in Seattle =) I've been able to make pancit and lumpia that turned out pretty well, but the adobo is beyond me.

In any case, try the food for the gods. It's almost like a moist, buttery breakfast bread. Only slightly sweet, but very tasty. I guess when it's prepared in the Philippines, they like to wrap each piece individually once the cake has been cut and cooled. That would make it a really convenient breakfast--for me.

The Mix

The Mix

So way back during Christmas break, one of the items on my to-do list was Chex party mix. Always a crowd pleaser, this stuff is so easy to make A LOT of. No one says no to party mix.



Well, I never got around to it until after the holidays. Nate and I dropped Hope off at the airport and I came home and finally made some party mix. Sent Nate home with that first batch. It was a lot.

The crazy thing is that I was able to make a batch of muddy buddies and another batch of party mix with the remaining ingredients! We've got Chex coming out of our ears! Actually, Wes has Chex coming out of his ears. He takes some in a little sidecar everyday with his lunch. In the past we bought trail mix from Trader Joe's or Costco for his snack. Now he'll just eat party mix until the end of time =)

Apple Cake

Apple Cake

So simple. So delicious. So ready to eat a slice right now!



I served this with some caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream, but I think that's what you call guilding the lilly. Seriously, this cake doesn't need any help in the taste department. But you will need help consuming this thing because it is A LOT of cake.

Gingerbread

Gingerbread

I love a spicy gingerbread cookie. What I don't like is the work involved. I am just too lazy to roll out the dough and cut them out into little gingerbread boys and girls.

Problem solved:



If only everything in life could be fixed by turning it into a cupcake...



Anyway, I decided to dress up this gingerbread with a little cream cheese frosting. But not just any cream cheese frosting. This one had some fresh orange zest in it.



Can we say, Y-U-M??

Ramen is our friend.

Ramen is our friend.

Please take a trip to Aloha Ramen. It is cold and rainy here, so this is the perfect place to warm up. Why?

Reason #1: GIANT bowls of steaming hot ramen in many different flavors. My favorite is the kalua pork ramen.

Reason #2: These GIANT bowls are around $6.50. Yes, I said $6.50.



Reason #3: A combo is only $8.50. This includes a "mini" ramen (your choice of flavor) and either potstickers or garlic fried rice. I usually eat most of my ramen and take the fried rice home. Essentially I get two meals for $8.50. You just can't beat that!

Reason #4: Awesome specials! Kim chee ramen, anyone?

Just let me warn you--this place is tiny. Not much seating and only a small waiting area. If you're starving, it's probably better to order take out. If you're not in a rush, then it is totally worth the wait.

"Baking"

"Baking"

And of course, there was lots and LOTS of "baking" leading up to Christmas. This year I decided that I would make things easy for myself and just make candy to give to friends and family. No real baking involved. Totally do-able.

First up, Wesley's favorite chocolate peanut butter bars. His mom makes them every Christmas and this year she sent the recipe along with the goodies. I think I ended up making three or four batches of this stuff. It was a huge hit.



I also ended up making this peppermint bark multiple times. I even made a batch the night before my sister left so that she could take it back to Hawaii with her. Another winner. I must have gone through 10 lbs. of white chocolate with this one!



The last things I made were butterscotch cookies, turtles and glazed walnuts. For the turtles, I just placed a Rolo on top of a pretzel and popped them into the oven for five minutes. When they come out, all you do is press a pecan into the melted chocolate and let them set before packaging them. Couldn't be easier.

The walnuts, on the other hand, turned out to be the bane of my existence. I made three batches of candied nuts from three different recipes. Only one recipe worked for me and I blame my oven. The two recipes that called for placing the nuts in the oven were huge flops. Both batches were burnt to a crisp! What a waste =( But, the walnuts that finally turned out right were very tasty.