My Goodness, My Guinness!

Guys, it's hot. Seriously hot. 100 degrees hot. And it's going to stay that hot until the weekend, when we should be back into the upper 80's. Which will be nice.

And since it's so hot, I figured, what better time to talk about ice cream? Specifically, the Guinness ice cream I made over the weekend for my dad's birthday.

And since we're talking about the Guinness ice cream, might as well talk about the Guinness cupcakes, too.

But it's hot. Too hot to talk. So it's like this:

Last Saturday night, I put on The Kinks really loud, opened a can of Guinness, used some to make ice cream, some to make cupcakes, and drank the rest.

All in all, a good night.

I improvised a toffee frosting by chopping up a few Heath bars.
This was a very good idea.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see if I can round up a bit of that ice cream and drag it to my spot under the ceiling fan.

xo

Measuring Up

I do not now, nor have I ever had, any sort of head for math. So when it comes to measuring out ingredients for baking, I'm often at a loss. Quarts? Pints? Cups? Spoonfuls?

Perhaps a pretty kitchen conversion chart from one of these lovely Etsy shops should take up residence in the kitchen.

1.Knife In The Water  2.Eythink  3.Sweet Fine Day

Wishing you a day full of good measures, dears!

xo

C Is For Cookie (Or Maybe It's For Crazy)

Last year, I spent the entire month leading up to Christmas dealing with a no good situation by doing a bit of stress baking. And by a bit, I mean that I filled two 20 gallon plastic tubs with various and assorted cookies, cakes, candies, and other tasty treats. At first, friends and loved ones were thrilled to be receiving yummy little home made treats. But by the third week or so, the daily gift of baked goods began wearing a bit thin.

The funny thing about the baking thing is that it is really only a recently discovered talent. I don't cook. At all. But one day, something possessed me to bake an orange cake. And it was Uh. Mazing. So, I made some cookies. Equally amazing. And so it went. And I discovered that the only time I can really shut off my brain is while baking. I can get it pretty close to shut off in yoga class, but baking provides the complete and total absence of any thought not pertaining to what I am doing. And I've discovered other joys along the way, such as what the 10,000 or so songs in my ipod sound like all shuffled together, and how many fabulously fast-talking old black and white movies Netflix has available for instant watching. I've also discovered that I have quite the inquisitive palate when it comes to tasty baked treats.

So, armed with my music, a stack of interesting recipes (ginger chips, anyone?) a pretty apron, and the ability to watch Auntie Mame on my laptop! In my kitchen! I am setting off, deliberately later this year, to fill the bellies of those I love with some fresh baked Christmas cheer. Now, if I could only convince someone to come and wash all of these dishes...
xo