I am so tired…maybe

I’m three weeks into my internship. Where the heck did time go? I am tired and frustrated by this experience, but I’m not as tired as I like to think and am really enjoying it. How’s that for contradictions?

I’m tired because I get up at 5am so I can get in a short 20 minute workout, eat, get myself together, get the child together, and sometimes drop her off at day care before I leave. (No, I don’t leave her at home on the other days. The Husband drops her off). All that to get to my rotation at 7:30. I spend most of the day on my feet, running around like a mad woman and not eating. Yeah, I lost 3 pounds in the first 2 weeks because I couldn’t figure out when to eat during the day. That’s getting better, thankfully. I come home, make and eat dinner, get the child to bed, do homework for about 30 minutes, watch 5 minutes of TV with the Husband, and then go to bed between 8:30-9:00.

It sucks.

I have to go to bed early so I can get up early, but then I don’t seem to get homework done. Thankfully, I had the brilliant idea to keep getting up at 5am on the weekends. This means I don’t have a screwy schedule and I get used to these hours AND I have 2-3 hours on the weekends guaranteed to get work done. That and my in-laws have taken the child a bit. Although, right now I feel overwhelmed. As soon as I get something done and feel accomplished, I turn around and have 5 more things due. *sigh*

Oh my goodness, my life is dull. BUT I just have to get through 10 months and all the schedules will be different. In theory. Oh please, don’t have a rotation where I have to get up at 3am.

In the meantime, I haven’t gotten much non-school things done, but this is okay. I did knit a few items over the summer and I used up 4 skeins! I went from 70 to 66 and have more stash-busting ideas! Is it bad that all my projects right now are chosen for their stash-busting properties? I don’t think so, because I do like the projects I have selected on top of stash busting. Of course, there may be a yarn festival coming up soon which could potentially mean more yarn. No, I will be strong.

What else? I’m currently making oatmeal bars, muffins, and egg things to act as quick, on-the-go breakfast items to streamline my mornings. That, or I’m procrastinating by baking. Still, I do need to do it, which is what I’m telling the Husband. Don’t tell him it’s really procrastinating.

Ever See a Ferret On Sugar, Caffeine, and Speed?

My first thought when I read the recipe for Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Cookies was pretty close to revulsion. I mean, really? Oreos and chocolate chip cookies together in an unholy union of gooey goodness and dunkable deliciousness? Isn’t that type of coupling illegal in most states? But then, I became intrigued by the sin of joining these two cookies and after discussing the recipe with the Husband, who thought that cookie sounded good (liberal heathen), I decided it was too interesting to pass up.

Tonight I decided to make them. I’m so going to Hell.

Look how tiny that Oreo is compared to all the evil.

It’s a relatively easy recipe to make, and the chocolate cookie recipe on it’s own is yummy. Together the two cookies are very good. It would have been even better had I used Double Stuff Oreos and less chocolate chips, not something I would normally say because really the cookie is just the mechanism to get the chips to your mouth not the other way around. The cookies are huge–it’s like eating three cookies at once–and after I ate the smallest one I could find I felt my heart start pounding, my hands shake, and I was overcome by a need to run a marathon right now this instant before the sugar runs out!!!!

Run little Oreo! The monsters are going to eat you!

Will I make these again? Heck, yeah. But with Double Stuff Oreos and less chocolate chips. Will I sleep tonight? One can hope so assuming the sugar runs out. Of course I may crash so hard I sleep for days.

Plus I got to use the new Irish potholders I bought at the Scottish games.

 

Cakes

I decided to take a cake decroating class in November and signed up for one of the Wilton Classes at my local Michaels. I have spent a long time thinking that I couldn’t bake a cake and that I couldn’t ice one to save my life. I’ve since learned I could bake a cake and that it’s really not that hard once you figure it out.  I still need practice. My actual icing is not terribly smooth and I rush the decorations a bit, but I’m extremely happy. I think in a few months I will take the second class. Hey, it’s something to fall back on when the web thing doesn’t work out.

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Just for fun and from the book

Tales from the Kitchen

I remember making Monkey Bread once or twice as a kid. Although, back then I called in Monkey Balls because I thought that was hysterical. What can I say? I was into potty humor.

Anyway, I was looking through my recipe binder in search of a cake. All my books had failed me because I didn’t have eggs and every cake the Husband would eat required eggs. So when I stumbled on this, I was sold.

It was unbelievably easy to make and the Husband loved it, which is really important in my baking. His love of your baking may not be your top priority. I don’t know why it’s not, but to each his own I guess.

The recipe in my mom's handwriting

Mixing the batter

Little balls o'dough

Fresh out of the oven

Out of the pan and onto the plate

With a glaze I decided to add at the last minute. It was a good glaze but not what I wanted.

Oreos are fruit of the gods

I’ve started baking lately. That’s not to say I didn’t used to bake. I did bake on occasion but it was somewhat rare. I enjoyed baking but I never felt that good at it and hated cleaning up after. Then I made Daddy’s Chocolate Cake which I don’t think I mentioned here.

Growing up we had a special cake we made for everything but because it started out as a cake made solely for my Dad’s birthday, it was dubbed “Daddy’s Chocolate Cake” (we were nothing if not creative namers). I made the cake part and the Sister made the icing. I could never ever master the icing. It was lumpy like cottage cheese, runny, or just plain weird. Then I realized if I did this and that, I could get the cake to work. And it did! Work I mean. I mastered the icing. I was a baking god! I was Betty F’n Crocker!

Daddy's Chocolate Cake

Since then I’ve wanted to explore my new-found baking mastery! I’ve done cookies and cakes. I’ve made ganache and whipped cream. All these things would have made me pause before but now I just go barging in. It’s very weird how if you accomplish one seemingly impossible thing, everything seems a bit more doable.

Anyway, Monday night I made home made oreos. Let me tell you…Holy, holy crap these suckers are good. Better yet, they are pretty easy to make. Yes, there are a couple steps–make the cookie, make the center, and combine–but it is so worth it. The centers alone will make you want to make a big vat, put on your favorite bathing suit, and dive in open mouth first. So darn good.

Oreo Cookies

I’m trying to photograph more of my baking attempts. Mainly because it’s sort of fun and I’m obsessing. Right now I have monkey bread in the oven. If it turns out well, I will post! Maybe I will post anyway just to have something to write about. Goodness knows I’m on a roll lately.