It's a Planter!

I need to develop a green thumb so I have an excuse to own such a wonderfully unnecessary planter as this.
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Earl Grey, my all time favorite kind of tea, in Cupcake form - a no brainer!

I'm not sure when my obsession with Earl Grey tea started, but tea time in my apartment at school is a regular ritual morning, noon and night and I have had the opportunity to try a lot of different teas. Earl Grey is the only tea that I can ask my parents for because no matter whether it's made by Twinings, Bigelow or Celestial Seasonings, I know it will be wonderful. Essence of bergamot was a big mystery to me for a while, I couldn't quite place the flavor, but with a little research I learned bergamot is a citrus fruit in between a lemon and a grapefruit. In fact, Lady Grey tea is almost exactly the same as Earl Grey except it also has lemon added. Bergamot is also used in perfumes and soaps - right next to jasmine as one of my favorite scents. With so much passion for tea, and having just made guiness cupcakes, I am determined that my next baking project will contain earl grey. How lucky for me this recipe was in April's Food Network Magazine...
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/tea-cakes-with-earl-grey-icing-recipe/index.html

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St.Patty's Day means Guiness, but when you're under 21 it means Guiness Cupcakes

Also from the food network, I stumbled upon this recipe when looking for Irish recipes other than beef hash and braised cabbage or whatever it is called. I did not realize it would make so many (30 cupcakes in all), so I sent some with my boyfriend to his work. I am told they were devoured early this morning.

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/chocolate-stout-cupcakes-recipe/index.html

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St. Patty's Day means eating green food even if it is only remotely Irish

The food network had a whole article in their last issue about green food for St. Patrick's Day - green ravioli, green shrimp, green drinks and green grilled cheese. Originally, I thought the "Irish" grilled cheese would be a good appetizer before the rosemary roated potatoes were ready, but I was so full after eating two sandwiches I could barely eat the dessert (Chocolate Guiness Cupcakes- my next post). In the interest of not overeating, I am going to cut down the recipe to serve 1 person.

Ingredients:
1/2 Tbsp chives
1/2 Tbsp parsley
1/2 Tbsp scallions
1 Tbsp butter, softened
2 slices white bread
Irish Cheddar Cheese
Bread and Butter Pickles

Directions:
Mix the softened butter and three types of herbs together. Cover the inside of the bread in butter and layer on cheese and pickles. Once the cheese is melted and the toast grilled to perfection, melt more herb butter on the outside and serve!

These sandwiches were so delicious, but all the butter made me a little uncomfortable. If too much fat has that effect on you too, try using less butter, healthier butter or pam butter spray to grill them.
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Frying Food Attempt #1

       My first attempt at frying food was a parmesan crusted tilapia. First, the fish is covered in egg and then it is coated in flour and parmesan cheese. Before I knew what I was doing, I mixed the flour and egg together and couldn't understand why it was such a goopy mess (see the fillet in the back of the picture - uh huh not very pretty). I had to read the directions like five or ten times to figure out my mistake but the second one turned out much better. Not sure if I actually want to learn how to fry chicken or leave it to Colonel Sanders.
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Drool! Part II

You guessed it, these are all the same item rearranged into a cake stand, a party platter, a dessert tray and a punch bowl! How can you not love it?!?

A bag of this, a tub of that, a can of this...

Friday was Spinach Artichoke dip day and it was way delicious! I noticed that almost all the ingredient measures are based on the commercially available size, not what actually produces the best taste. Why is 1 8 oz tub of cream cheese the correct amount? Why not 6 oz or 7 oz? I will have to experiment with less cheese and see if it tastes the same. The one alteration I did make is use half the sour cream and it didn't seem to make much difference!

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