Babble and Hurricane Sandy

So it's been quite a while hasn't it? We finally moved into our apartment with a working oven lol. I know it might not seem like a huge thing to some people but I am so excited. I have been baking like a fiend and we gobble it all up or hand it out to family. My most recent thing is pineapple coconut muffins I'm making tonight.

The most time consuming and dedicated project for us is our upcoming wedding in January. Talk about a time crunch. For those of you who don't know we are doing all the baking, decorating, invites to envelopes and yes even gift boxes here in our living room. On my days off which are few and far between. I have never made any of  these paper crafts because it never really was my thing. I intend on posting every weekend about our progress and since I'm a photo freak you'll see my disastrous beginnings as well.

Hopefully it all goes as planned but if not it's a small wedding of immediate family and closest of friends only. They'll understand lol. Luckily the food is being made by my mom, Greg's mom and possibly my dad because that man can cook.

With all the stress that went on this week with Hurricane Sandy we forgot a few important thing's but luckily all of our family was safe and sound. Unfortunately there are those who were flooded out and sadly many lost their lives. We send our condolences to those who faced a much more severe outcome of the storm than we did.

Brenda & Greg

Our short disappearance

So it's been about a month since our last post. It's nothing personal we swear it's just life and a broken oven has brought a halt to any blogging we do. Between us both working funky hours in retail and the fact that the gas oven is doing nothing but keeping the pilot lit and letting us broil, baking has been on a forced vacation.

I have been tempted to throw a mix together in a Ziploc baggie and bake it at work. This scenario is still playing out in my mind. We rent so fixing the oven ourselves is out of the question. Thankfully my mom has said to use her oven whenever I want. I just don't want to cause chaos in her kitchen lol.

If I haven't told you I work at a sandwich place and whenever I do bake food in the oven customers always have 101 questions about what it is and blah blah blah and that's just heating up my dinner. I can just imagine how well it will go over if I deny a customer some of my  baked sweets. I can't just give it to them it's not on the menu. Right?

Hopefully we'll be up and running soon because my birthday is coming and I'm making a coconut cake with a creamy coconut filling. At least that was my plan. The last thing I managed to bake was what we named Stoner Brownies. They are just a very fudgy thick brownie with everything under the kitchen roof in them you name it it's in them. The way we were traipsing (yes traipsing) through the kitchen going ooh this would taste good in it and mmmm this too and what about this made us appear like pot head's in a stoner movie.

Well we hope all is well with everyone and here's hoping we get up and running soon because I'm ready to scream from missing out on my regular sugar fix.

Brenda & Greg

Our May weekend adventure

So Greg had Friday and Saturday off last week and since he'll be starting his new job this week we decided to make a weekend of it. I requested Friday off and don't work weekends so that was easy enough to accomplish. We live in beautiful New England and love to go on long scenic drives. I happen to be horrible with finding locations so he took me the next state over to show me how to get to his new job in case I ever had to get out there. We ended up journeying through Massachusetts and a little into to Vermont. Mainly Massachusetts though. If you have ever been up this way and been to the Berkshires than you know how pretty it is out that way.

Travelling through we decided to go find the Hoosic Tunnel. I'm not sure if we mentioned it but we're kind of ghost enthusiasts. Well we really like haunting's so we are the kind of creepy couple that look up cemeteries and haunted locations and head out to them to see what it's like for ourselves.

Greg waiting it out

Me getting creeped out

The deserted steep road.

 Well on a back road into the land of darkness we hit a steep grade in the road that caused us to need a cool down for the brakes. This road was pitch black and apparently not many people drive that road. In total 5 people passed by and the only one who stopped was the first person to drive by who was willing to help out if we needed it. Thank you guy in the huge red truck. Currently we live in Connecticut but I want to move to Vermont so badly it seems like I'm going to burst at times. I absolutely loath living in Connecticut. Don't get me wrong it's really pretty out here too but a lot of the people can be so snide and just down right mean. Besides I work a minimum wage job in a very expensive state.

Six Flags was scary too

I just wanted to give you a sight into what we saw. And for a terrifying addition we hit a few tag sales this weekend too and caught a glimpse of something that should be shared. One pic is from the six flags horror show on mother's day and the other ones are from our tag sale terror.

Booty shorts & no bra. Why?

She was way too old for that

My sunday baking fest

I decided saturday night to make strawberry muffin's and muffin tops. Sunday morning I woke up and began making homemade Mc Griddles. Yeah that was a flop it was more like a maple flavored wafer because I failed to put enough baking powder in the batter. I settled on making chocolate whoopie pies with strawberry cream cheese filling another with coconut cream cheese filling and a special one for Greg with peanut butter cream cheese filling.

Failed Mc Griddles

Whoopie pie success

Since failing miserably at my maple pancake wafers I decided to go safe and follow the recipe on the whoopie pie pan and came to find that it's freaking good. I couldn't stop licking the airy batter off the mixer blades and the spatula gave up fighting me off. lol I know I can be an outrageously cheesy person but I am who I am. Along with maple wafers and chocolate whoopie pies I am making cornbread for dinner tonight with Greg's chili from scratch. Mmmmmmm I love it.

I have no pics of the chili and cornbread since it was devoured before either of us thought to take a pic. It was so good that I wanted seconds but when there are 3 people eating and only enough for four it's not fair to be the greedy one. Although I seem to be the only one with this thought because his dad promptly devoured a second bowl lol.

Greg's addition to my muffin tops

Since the strawberry muffin tops were a hit Greg made dessert out of them. Holy cow they were so good. Tell me I don't have a food genius at home and I'll let you know quickly your wrong. Greg has so many good ideas and I love when he gets in the kitchen and goes for it.

The whoopie pies had to be frozen because there was no way they were getting eaten that night. I must say they hold up very well frozen. According to Greg he says they taste similar to a frozen devil dog which are so good.

The strawberry muffin top recipe was from joyofbaking.com and the whoopie pie recipe came from the whoopie pie pan from Wilton. The failed Mc Griddle was all my own.

YAY!!! Muffin top pan

Wilton 12 cup Muffin Top Pan

So today I decided to run out to Wal-Mart before I had to go to work tonight. I was extremely happy to see that they got the Wilton muffin top pan in and it was only $11. I of course grabbed it up and some new cooling racks too. What you should know is although I will be 30 this summer I still get excited like a little kid in a candy store when I get what I want.

2 pack of Wal-Mart cooling racks.

I don't ask for much and when I do it's usually something that's not expensive. I have so many plan's for this pan alone that I can't contain my giddiness about it. I just felt the need to share this bit of info with you all. If you own one than you may understand how I feel.

Photo's are from my phone so they're not the greatest quality lol.

Brenda

Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe

Recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker's Cookbook
1973 reprint of 1969 edition.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degree's. Grease and flour 2 round layer pans, 8 or 9 1/2 inches. Measure all ingredients in large mixing bowl. Blend 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes on high speed scraping bowl occasionally.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until wooden pick is inserted in center and comes out clean. Cool.

Fill and frost with you favorite filling and frosting.

This recipe used a butterscotch filling and a chocolate chip glaze. I instead baked it in a 9" x 13" pan and made a whipped chocolate caramel almond buttercream frosting.

Brenda and I's first vacation together.

The cabin we rented

   Brenda and I went on our first vacation together to the great state of New Hampshire.  We got up nice and early on Friday morning and left for the White Mountains.  The drive there was beautiful.  The sky was a bright blue with just the slightest touch of clouds.  I drove up to a little cabin we rented for the weekend in a little town called Twin Mountains. 
   The mountains were right in our front yard, so when we went to bed that night after a long drive we watched the sun go down over the top of Mount Washington.  The scene was absolutely breathtaking as we sat outside while we both drank a beer and I smoked a few cigarettes we enjoyed a pizza together.

The summit of Mount Washington looking down.  

   Around 8 the next morning we woke up to the chirping of birds and the rustling of trees.  We drove up Mount Washington.  The drive was beautiful but very nerve racking.  The road up the side of the mountain is barely wide enough for one car let alone two.  There are no guard rails and the sides are very steep but the views were so exhilarating.  Both Brenda and I agreed that we would both definitely do it again.
   We also drove around through the mountains into some of the small towns and saw what life was like in these pretty little hamlets.  The town of Conway is on the eastern boarder of New Hampshire and Maine and is so quaint.  We went in and out of a few of the local shops looking at where I found a nice knife and where Brenda bought me a beautiful sword.
   That night we went back to the cabin fairly early and Brenda and I cooked an amazing dinner consisting of steak, potatoes, and fried plantanos. We retired to bed early but before we went to sleep I stepped out for a cigarette and as I was smoking I heard rustling next to me.  As I turned to look I saw a big bear walking next to the cabin.  I've never run so quick in my life. 
   The last day as we went home it began to rain.  We stopped at a park called "The Basin".  We trudged through the rain and saw what looked like a big toilet in the ground.  It was a massive whirlpool in the rock.  After we left there we drove home and went back to reality.  It rained the entire drive home but it really gave Brenda and I time to talk and get to be with each other. I loved this vacation.  I love Brenda so much, and now we're getting married.