Peppered Thought – The Spice of Life

Thanks to angela hardison’s dreamy image (I played around with the tones a little bit), I have already started my summery backyard party inspiration album. This image makes me wish I had a covered patio.

What I did with my time this week…

I used Chloe’s tips to find and brew some excellent coffee

Daydreaming about spring picnics, with vivid tablecloths and nails as fresh as Kaylah’s from Dainty Squid

I plastered The Beau’s fruit with sentiments he would enjoy on a day of which he’s not a big fan. Twig and Thistle Idea, found on Say Yes to Hoboken

This was last week, but I made an awesome and healthy smoothie thanks to joy the baker. I left out the kale and it was still great!

Rode to the library and got this book. I can’t wait til I can actually use it!

photo via

Gratefully I was able to get my sewing machine threaded with help from my friend Melissa at honeyscrap. Now is the task of figuring out what to sew first! Pillow? Tote bag?

click on the picture to go to their page and listen!

I finally caved to The Beau and Mr. StaticEcho and listened to the podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me. I am kicking myself I didn’t start listening to them before! At least I have so much backlog to listen to, waiting for each new one. The Beau and I listened to it at dinner the other night and laughed so hard he teared up and my abs hurt!

This is my pile of amazing cookies. I wouldn’t let The Beau eat that perfect one in the center until I photographed it. What a wench I am.

So, I made some terrific cookies a couple weeks ago. Seems like uneventful news. But these cookies, man – they were the best cookies I have ever produced. I could not believe it. Even The Beau commented about their superior cookie-deliciousness.

So, enough about things you can’t tell for yourself and onto the recipe!

I used David Leibovitz’s recipe on Serious Eats. When I started getting all my dry ingredients together, I did a double take with the amount of salt required. It was less than half of my usual amount. But, I wanted it to be true to the recipe, so I kept the faith and followed it. I am so glad I did.

Here are the ingredients:

Tips and confessions:

One thing he did that I did not was freeze his dough. I am impatient in that when I go to make cookies, I am expecting to eat them in 30 minutes. I don’t have the forethought to do this the day before, but I recommend it. I know it helps keep them all uniform and in turn makes them cook evenly, so if you can wait for gooey cookies, follow the freezing directions.

Chunks, not chips. Better yet, chop your own! It doesn’t take much longer to accomplish, and the taste makes up for the labor. Chunks allow the flavor to spread out, and also chip chocolate is not the best quality. So try some chunks, baby.

Here are things that I have been perusing through this week that I just had to share:

• This interesting interview with Peggy Orenstein about her book “Cinderella Ate My Daughter,” and how gender roles have (sadly) become more sexily pronounced and how the expectations have become even higher for girls within the last 20 years.

I love asking moms I know parenting questions from things I read like this. Particularly The Beau’s sister, who has an almost 2-year-old and a 6-month-old, both girls. Last week it was about the Tiger Mom. This week it might be about girlification.

• Rainbow Cupcakes from Amanda at hello pretty eyes. She graduated from culinary school, is the head baker at a cupcake shop, and if that isn’t the most awesome thing, she shares her how-to for the most amazing rainbow cupcakes ever! I think some ridiculous cupcake colors are in my future…Phoenix Suns colors! Mardi Gras! Cinco de Mayo!

• This picture for today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is breathtaking. Most of them are truly amazing, but when I opened this one up to really big, it got me all choked up.

• Amanda F. Palmer has released a new album of Australian-centered songs and I was on the fence about it for a while, thinking they wouldn’t be anything to write home about. But jeez lady, let someone else have a little talent here! She makes a song about how much she hates Vegemite (even though her beloved continues to eat it) and surprisingly turns it into much more than a funny song. Good stuff here. And yes, you could pay for $.69 for the whole album, but wouldn’t you rather AFP not have to be a beggar? Wouldn’t you like to get more than $.69 for hours upon hours of work you did out of love?

• Abbey of Aesthetic Outburst has made a goal of 20 valentines before Valentines’ Day (above is day 8) and I while I would be tearing my hair out, she is creating the most thoughtful, marvelous treasures.

• While I know that most people who read this blog aren’t MMA-focused, I had to add this because I was enraptured by it and had to watch it a half dozen times, think about how crazy it was, then watch it again.

photo via Kim Vallee

Such a cute creation! I love the sandbox idea. If your yard is small, or you move more frequently, it’s such a great way to have a little designated place to play.

photo credit

Those Dutch, they’re so crafty.

I love when my house smells all festive around the holidays. Since I don’t buy a live Christmas tree, I always like a little pine or peppermint smell in the house, so I whipped up this natural air freshener that you can put whatever oil you’d like into your batch!

Directions:

1 cup of bottled or distilled water, heated to boiling
Stir in 4 envelopes of unflavored gelatin (KNOX) until dissolved. Tip: try to throw all envelopes in as simultaneously as possible and don’t stop stirring for a bit. The parts that touch first tend to solidify and make a little gel nub on the bottom that stays there indefinitely.

Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of cold water

Add 1 to 2 Tablespoons salt or a good splash of vodka (to naturally inhibit mold growth). I tried both and I think I like the salt better. 

Add 15 to 30 drops of your favorite essential oil or any other concentrated fragrance. I used peppermint oil and a Demeter fragrance of Humidor.

At this point you can be creative and add food coloring if you like.

Pour the gel into clean small jars such as small jelly containers, baby food jars or any decorative container with or without a lid. Use your imagination. I used a beer bottle for one, because I liked the bottle top and didn’t want to throw it away.

Before it sets, you can also add little decoartive touches such as colored marbles, plastic candy machine trinkets, baby pinecones, seashells, maybe even a laminated, photocopied photo if giving as a gift!

You can also make layered ones by allowing one color to set and then adding another.

The gel will set at room temperature. You can place your containers in the refrigerator to set up the gel faster, but they will scent it! I didn’t want to run the risk of my carrots tasting like a humidor, so I set mine in the window and they all set within a couple hours.

Decorate your jars as you wish and enjoy. If giving as gifts, I would use containers with lids or wrap the open containers in plastic wrap to keep them from evaporating until ready for use.

There are no chemicals in these so they are much safer than the ones you buy at the store.

Cost per 2 cups of gel, less than $1.15.

Recipe found on the Queen of Clean