LA Flower District

I finally made it out the the downtown flower markets this weekend and I'll be back. I got a little carried away and got a few too many flowers, but they were all beautiful and I managed to place them amongst six vases. I was really only going for filling my nice large vase, maybe a second vase...but certainly not six. It's amazing how many flowers make it out here from all around the world and how LA supplies those flowers to most of the western U.S.  

I saw a "no photography" sign (cringe) in one of the markets, so I saved the camera for after we left.

It was as much fun picking out the flowers as it was to arrange them.

   

 

I ended up with blue hydrangeas, white spider mums, pink and white calla lilies, Casablanca lilies (still just buds), snapdragons, white roses, a single red rose (with faded sides, it was really neat looking), and some green leafy bits for decoration.

The rest of the white roses ended up in a square vase.

There's that red rose.

Here are all the vases lined up, which have now scattered around the house. The Casablanca lilies are on the left (and a few in the big vase in the middle) but haven't opened up yet.

And here they are opened (my favorites!).

 

 

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

I went to Red Lobster for the first time recently and finally experienced the awesome that is the cheddar bay biscuit. I'm not big on seafood or sushi, so I've kept my distance from most seafood places. I ordered the mahi mahi and several servings of those famously delicious biscuits. Having just received a shiny red KitchenAid mixer, I needed to make something that wasn't a cake. I found an easy recipe from Allrecipes and made my first biscuits from scratch, sort of. Does Bisquick mix count as "from scratch?" I'll allow it. They were easy, quick and more importantly, they were amazing! I halfed the recipe below, just to be safe, which made ten biscuits. Now that I know how great they came out, I'll make the full recipe next time.

 

Cheddar Bay Biscuits
From Allrecipes

Ingredients

Makes servings USMetricAdjust Recipe (Help)

 

• 4 cups Bisquick baking mix
• 3 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (I used real garlic)
• 1/4 teaspoonsalt
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder (I skipped this since I didn't have it)
• 1/8 teaspoon dried parsley

Directions

 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the baking mix, cheese, and water. Mix until dough is firm. Using a small scoop, place dough on the prepared pan.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
4. Combine the melted butter, garlic powder, salt, onion powder and parsley. Brush over baked biscuits immediately upon removing from oven.

I ♥ My KitchenAid Mixer

I got a KitchenAid mixer for Valentine's day (among other things, the boyfriend did good!) and this month, I've made three cakes, biscuits and cookies. Keep in mind, February is a short month, and Valentine's day isn't until the middle of it. So, as you can see, I've been very busy baking!

 

 

First, I made a triple berry cake with whipped cream:

 

 

 

 

Then, a marble cake with buttercream frosting (topped with strawberries, once served):

 

 

And then, a blueberry cake with lemon icing, using a recipe from I Adore Food.I didn't snap a picture of the cake once cut, but it was filled with blueberries. The cake itself tasted like a blueberry muffin, but the icing made it more like a cake.  

 

 

 

Since I had leftover blue lemon frosting, I topped some Spritzgebäck cookies, hot off the cookie press (and the oven):

 

 

 

I've been collecting recipes like crazy and getting great ideas on Pinterest,

I can't wait to try them all! I've used a hand mixer until now, but the KitchenAid really does make mixing easier. And it's just so pretty too!

Murder Mystery Party

Before the holidays, I hosted a little murder mystery party. There are a several different themed sets available on Amazon, I chose A Taste for Wine and Murder. Aside from the great reviews, I chose this one because I was in the market for cheese knives and I could incorporate that into a wine and cheese theme. Cheese knives may be a strange way of deciding the party theme, but what can I say?

The kit comes with everything you would need to host a murder mystery party:

• A story, which will unfold by the characters, with the help of the below and an audio CD to help the story along and recap. and to reveal the murderer at the end.

• Six to eight made up characters (suspects), complete with character booklets and secret clues to reveal throughout the game. Two are optional non-suspect characters, we played with six, and I think the extra two people would have been bored.

• Eight Invitations with brief character breakdowns, so guests can plan their wardrobes/costumes accordingly.

• A host booklet, so you know when to play the CD, when the suspects need to speak, and when they need to accuse each other. There are three rounds that repeat all three of those things. The booklet also includes very ambitious dinner menu ideas and recipes. Not that I didn't want to attempt to cook a cornish game hen, I wanted to keep it simple my first time around. We had appetizers and snacks that guests could freely eat throughout the game, instead of a three course meal, as the kit suggests. Plus, I had to use the cheese knvies, so appetizers was the obvious choice here.

We made red sangria from wine we got from the wine tasting, set out the cheeseboard with the new knives (*swoon*), assorted cheeses, salami and guava paste (just like at grandma's), homemade guacamole and salsa, chips, pastry puffs from Trader Joe's and fruit. We had other wines on hand, but we really hyped up the sangria, which was really delicious.

After everyone arrived in character and had some cheese, I gave them the run down of how the night would work, which was:

• Read our character information
• Read scripted dialogue
• Guided accusations and defenses
• Listen to the CD for summary and extra information
• Drink and eat snacks throughout
• And repeat, repeat, repeat

The whole thing was a blast. It was great accusing each other of the murder, and trying to figure out who did it. We set up a photo area, with a plastic table cloth and the camera on a tripod and had a few fake guns lying around as props. We had fun taking group photos, serious mug shots, and some not so serious ones. I ran the pictures through an app called Mugshot Maker ($0.99).

Everyone had a great time and I look forward to hosting another! Now that I know who the killer is, the kit is completely useless to me, so I loaned it to a friend who wanted to throw her own party.

Vanilla Custard with Roasted Blueberries Fail

I have recently become obsessed with recipes from Smitten Kitchen. Deb, the cook, does a beautiful job capturing the whole process of her tasty creations. After pinning several of her recipes, I decided to finally take a stab at one. I've never made custard or worked with real vanilla, so I chose the vanilla custard with roasted blueberries. 

It was neat opening my first vanilla bean, it was so potent. I'll need to find more recipes to use the rest of the beans.

Most of my ingredients are ready to go!

Three egg yolks, eh? Pavlova calls for three egg whites, next time, I will make them at the same time, so nothing is wasted!

This was followed by the heating and mixing process. Heating the milk with the beans, mixing the eggs, sugar and flour. Tempering the eggs, heating, whisking, whisking, whisking. It was somewhere during this process that things went awry. Either I heated it too much or I didn't temper the eggs enough, or I've never made custard before, so I just suck at it. The end result tasted cooked and raw at the same time. Very eggy, which Google tells me is a common problem for those attempting to make custard.

But the blueberries covered in sugar looked beautifullllll.

And here they are right out of the oven after 12 minutes of roasting. These were delicious and I thought they could save the custard.

After spooning the custard into cute cups and topping with roasted blueberries, it looked good enough to eat! But was still nasty.

So we had cream soda floats and ice cream with the roasted blueberries instead!

Maybe I could get it right if I tried it again, but so much easier to buy custard, so I'll have to try another recipe next time.

USS IOWA BB-61 Battleship

My grandpa worked with the side gun turrets on the USS Iowa in the Navy during World War II.

The Iowa has moved around a bit and has recently made a new home in San Pedro. My folks were visiting this past week and we went to visit the ship along my aunt, uncle and cousin.

Here are my newly painted nails, courtesy of my mom. Mine on the left and hers on the right.

 

At over 887 ft and five levels tall, the USS Iowa was appropriately nicknamed "The Big Stick." It was bigger than I expected.

 

Rocket launchers.

 

 The ship earned 11 battle stars.

 The helm.

 

The tour is guided by arrows on the ground and volunteers throughout. It was neat to walk around the ship my grandpa once did, although in very different circumstances and the ship has undoubtedly undergone a few restorations.

Pavlova

Earlier this year, I went to a delightful pot luck dinner party of mostly strangers. The food that took the cake for me that night was a meringue. Pavlova is a meringue dessert named after a Russian ballet dancer and is popular in Austrailia and New Zealand. I found a recipe online and omitted some steps (no salt, no parchment paper). I must have made this dessert at least a dozen times this year. Usually, I just slice up a bunch of strawberries and call it a day, but depending on the occassion, I may use different fruits.

 

The first time making it, I only put a few strawberries, I have since learned that it's best when covered in fruit!

 

Rainbow colors and candles for a friend's birthday!

 

Most recently, for a going away party, I decorated two pies as the to and from destination flags: America to Ireland and illustrated the flight with a paper airplane (tee hee).

 

It takes about two hours to prep, bake, cool and top but the Pavlova remains my favorite thing to make for dinner parties and the like. It's delicious, cute and always a crowd pleaser.