Booze Cakes

I hate to sound like a lush, but the BEST cookbook I own is a little book called Booze Cakes.  I've made about a dozen recipes out of this book, and not one of them has been a flop.

In general, I prefer to find my recipes online, because of the beautiful system where people can rate the recipe and add their comments...If the recipe has 1000+ five star ratings I know it will be a winner, and I always scan the comments to see if everyone is saying to cut the baking soda in half, add a splash of pineapple juice, etc.

But this little book Booze Cakes has the best pictures, very clear instructions, suggestions at the bottom of the page for 'tweaking/altering the recipe,' and as I said, I've yet to make a bad cake from this book. It's great!

I will say, some of the recipes end up being quite pricey.  Basically if I have to buy a few different types of alcohol that adds up quickly, but I'm ok with splurging when I know it will be a stellar cake!  And when you take cupcakes, a jelly roll, or a fancy cake to a party that is reeking of alcohol you know your the cool kid. Everyone wins.

In other words - BUY THE BOOK!  YOU'LL THANK ME!
http://www.amazon.com/Booze-Cakes-Confections-Spiked-Spirits/dp/1594744238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347180460&sr=8-1&keywords=booze+cakes


If your into cakes, here's another interesting site
http://0bcb6edb2leo0w5wdvrsuzaodg.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=YUMMYARTS

Baked Kale Chips?

So I've heard a lot of rumors lately of how awesome baked kale chips are. They are easy to make, healthy, and a great substitute for potato chips.

I'm not really a potato chip fan, but my boyfriend is a serious snacker and veggie hater, so I instantly fell in love with the idea of a 'green chip.'  How great would that be to replace the worst food on the planet with the best food on the planet?!?!?

All you have to do is pick up some fresh kale from the grocery store, wash it, dry it, tear it into bite size pieces, drizzle a little olive oil and salt...then bake 10-15 minutes, and presto...magic green chips!

However, these magic green chips are super fragile, and if you chew them long enough, I swear the kale will rehydrate itself and BAM bitter veggie taste. Not so yummy.

Needless to say my boyfriend did not swoon at the new food option.  He did eat them and I think he'd eat them again, maybe, but they are no potato chip...and I waited a few days to see if maybe they are something that gets better with time, but they don't get better...they get stale and chewy really quick, they almost taste like kale flavored gum, and I swear the kale smell gets worse over time.

Sounds like a great snack right?  Do not be fooled!  This is not a green potato chip!  I mean it's 'fun,' it's different....maybe if I had an afternoon tea group I would serve a bowl of dried kale along with some other munchies like pitta and hummus...but I would never bring baked kale to a potluck meal for fear I would be dubbed the insane woman who brought health food (gasp).

Is there such a thing as too many kitchen timers?

We have three timers in our kitchen.  This happened by fluke, but I love having all three timers.

We have two cheep timers that stick to the fridge, which is awesome because I'm always carrying one of them into another room, and it's a 50/50 chance if the timer will be returned to it's proper place when I'm done cooking, but inevitably one of the two timers is always where it needs to be, so two little timers seems to be plenty...but those are cheep timers that only go up to one hour...and while I have the best intentions, if I'm cooking something that takes several hours, I need a buzzer to remind me to check on it.  So we have a fancier larger one that sits on top of the stove.  The fancier timer will even count up to 24 hours (which is nice when I'm making yogurt), AND after the timer goes off, it starts counting how long it's been since the timer went off...so if you miss the buzzing noise and wonder how long did you overshoot it this timer will tell you....(which I can see the need for, but I've never actually needed this function since all three timers are portable, you just take them with you wherever you go!) To me this backwards counting seems to act like a nag saying "It's been 16 hours since you last cooked."

It seems to me that many people when getting married request a kitchen timer in their registry, but I firmly believe they should not get just one kitchen timer, they should get two...or three....but then I would be the weird friend, insisting they need two of everything...so maybe I should buy them one, and not mark it off on their list with hope that someone else will buy them one too "by mistake."