Okay, so I had a great day today going to some estate sales with my friends Martin and Ashley. I got a few things that I hope to do something with over the next few months, so it was a successful day! Another reason for the mega-success was that I only spent $10 and got all kinds of stuff! Yay for being cheap! :)
I know this will be my second post of the day, but I'm trying to post about all of the stuff I've already worked on so then I can get started on some new things. With that being said, let me get started again!
Pinterest Idea #6
"Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes"
Actual turnout:
I made these for St. Patrick's Day bcak in March when Sean and I went to Martin and Ashley's for their annual get-together. Not only was the dinner awesome, but these cupcakes turned out pretty great too! There were a lot of steps to make these, but they were really good! Chocolate guinness cupcake, whiskey chocolate ganache filling, and Bailey's buttercream frosting all together = amazing. I didn't have Jameson for the ganache so I used some knock-off brand that we had in our liquor cabinet, but since the recipe only called for 1 tbl, no one could tell the difference. When it comes to desserts, I'm a complete fat kid and always like large portions so I made these cupcakes in large muffin tins instead of a regular sized muffin tin. I'll definitely make this one again!
The St. Patty's spread:
My attempt:
And the verdict? Sean approved!
Pinterest Idea #7
"Buttercream Rose Cake"
Actual turnout:
For Christmas last year, cake decorating tools were on my wish list. Luckily, my boyfriend is great and bought me ALL kinds of cool things. After getting the hang of using a pastry bag with my first few cakes, I wanted to try something a little fancier with the frosting and saw this idea and HAD to try it. I'm not sure what type of cake is in the Pinterest version, but my version was a chocolate cake, chocolate mousse filling, and thick chocolate buttercream frosting. Not only did the cake taste great, I think I did a halfway decent job at my first real decorating attempt. You be the judge!
My cake:
Pinterest Idea #8
"Citrus glazed salmon with avacado salsa"
Actual turnout:
I made this one a few months ago too, but I do remember it turning out pretty good. Sean is really picky with salmon marinades, but I liked this one with orange juice in it. I thought the flavor was pretty awesome. I am a really big fan of avacado, even though I don't eat it as often as I'd like to, so this salsa sounded really good to me. I thought the orange chunks in it were a really good idea. I really like raw onions, but Sean does not so if I made this over again, I'd probably use green onions or something a little less potent than the raw red onion that I used. All in all, I liked the recipe and would definitely make it again.
Bad picture (and I kind of burnt the salmon), but you get the idea:
And the audience says...? Sean approved!
Pinterest Idea #9
"PF Chang's Mongolian Beef Copy Cat Recipe"
Actual turnout:
I'm honestly not a big fan of PF Chang's, but I do love beef and broccoli so I put my spin on this. The online recipe doesn't include any veggies, but I love onions and broccoli, so I included them when I made this. Also, the recipe says to use flank steak, but I used a top round and sliced it thin and it worked great. The coating on the meat turned out really well and I enjoyed it. Also, whenever I can make anything in a wok, it makes cleanup MUCH easier instead of dirtying a million pots and pans.
My horrible picture from my iPhone:
And most importantly, Sean approved!
Pinterest Idea #10
"Lemon blueberry cake"
Actual turnout:
I made this cake when we had a few of our friends over in April. It was such a nice today and I was in the mood for something fresh and "springy" so I went with this lemon/blueberry cake with lemon curd filling and lemon frosting. The cake itself was really good, but really dense. I always sift my flour, but this cake was still pretty heavy. When I went to put the filling on the bottom layer of the cake (I only did 2 layers even though the picture above shows 3), I made sure to put a thick layer of frosting on the edge to hold the filling in. Even in doing that, the top cake was so heavy that it started to push the filling out and it started to ooze out of the side after I put on the crumb coat and frosted the whole cake. Because of that, my frosting job was "less than stellar" because I kept trying to fix the sides and ultimately failed. Also, the frosting on this cake was good, but not great.
My version (with sloppy frosting due to the leaking filling):
Here's Ashley's food spread that she brought that day (YUM!):
This is Ash's limoncello drink with blueberries and mint (lethal, but so good!):
And here's the whole spread from the day:
And as for the cake, it was Sean approved, but he didn't love it enough to make it again.
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