Death by Chocolate

I love chocolate. Who doesn't? One day over the break, everyone was over at my parent's house hanging out, preparing and waiting for dinner when my brother casually mentioned he was craving something sweet. So, I thought I would find a quick recipe for a yummy sweet treat. I needed something relatively fast and easy, and I wanted some chocolate, so a chocolate trifle sounded just right. Wow, the first time I made it, it disappeared! By the time it was done (everyone was so anxious for it, we didn't even let it set in the fridge), there were some who had drifted off to sleep and they didn't even get any. Hah! That's how it is in our family. When I said would make it again for the New Year's crowd, everyone was so excited. Really, this thing is that good.

Doesn't it look so pretty in Tante Bay's crystal bowl? I am sure there is a fancy name for it, but I don't know what it is. Actually, it's also a cake stand and cover! I didn't make nearly as much as this the first time, this is double the original batch. We had more people over, but it still did not make it through the next day!

DELISH

Want to know how to make it too?

Death by Chocolate (these amounts are for the big batch)

What you need:
2 packages instant chocolate Jell-o pudding
3 packages Dream Whip
2 boxes German chocolate cake mix
2 cups really strong coffee or espresso
2 lg. containers cool whip (I like really thick layers of cool whip! but you will still have some left over)
1 bag crumbled Heath chocolate toffee bars (as found in baking section)

What to do:
Bake cake as per box instructions. Let it cool.
Prepare pudding as per instructions, but also add the packages of Dream Whip and appropriate amount of milk. This makes the chocolate layers not as heavy and dense as pudding, but more mousse-like. You can opt to leave out the Dream Whip too, and I am sure it will taste just as heavenly.

When pudding/mousse is set and the cake is cooled begin making the layers in your trifle dish as such:
1) crumble the cake to completely cover the bottom of the dish.
2) distribute 1 c. coffee over the cake, thus soaking it.
3) spread a layer of the pudding/ mousse next.
4) next comes the cool whip layer.
5) sprinkle the Heath bar crumbles over the cool whip layer.
Repeat.

Let it set in the fridge for about an hour or so. Serve cold in pretty glasses and ENJOY!

The first batch

Due to the pressure of yummy-chocolate-dessert-craving family members surrounding me, I barely had time take these photos! What's really cool is you can add layers, and other toppings. The first one I made had strawberries too. I will be making this again for sure.

Way Late

I haven't uploaded pictures since my birthday, so I wanted to show off my pretty birthday dinner. My mom loves sushi, so when she sees this, hopefully she'll have even more incentive to come to Austin to see me. Then we can get sushi together! She can also see my not-so-new-anymore apt, meet Ramses and see Ryan's snakes. Since I usually go home, she has not seen these new additions to my life.
Anyhow, back to the yummies. Perhaps this is a mistake posting this RIGHT NOW, because I just got out of teaching class (6-9 pm-er...grrr) and I while I just snacked on a zebra cookie, I am starving because I haven't had anything to eat since lunch.
Ok...on to my birthday dinner. It's a lot. But we knew we were having sushi, which is always a special treat for us, so we made sure we had lots of room! We went to Musashino here in Austin.

South Sider - Habanero caviar, mint lead, avocado and red sweet radish, wrapped in rice paper, drizzled with sweet and hot chile oil. Your choice of unagi or yellowtail. We had yellowtail. This is one of my favorite rolls.

Trying to be discreet here so no flash....you can see how dark it is inside. It lends to a very private atmosphere.

Another view, with the flash. Their presentation is always very nice, and those jalapenos are a must!

Ozzy II (far side) - Unagi, yellowtail, and avocado with sesame seeds and smelt caviar on the outside. Rainbow Roll - California roll with tuna, fresh salmon, shrimp, avocado, and white fish on the outside

Ryan's favorite - Salmon skin roll. Crunchy toasted salmon skin, cucumber, and scallion with dried bonito flakes on the outside.

Side view. It's got a great smoky flavor.

Rock and Roll - Jumbo shrimp tempura, smelt caviar, avocado, radish sprouts, and sweet sauce

Next up...sashimi.

Unagi (fresh-water eel) - nearest
Nama sake (salmon) - far


Saba (mackeral) with ginger - Dad, I bet you'd like this!

Finally....

Mango sorbet - so refreshing. I love mango.

Hmmmm....looking back now, I'm kind of embarrassed that we ate all of that. I was so stuffed, and wishing for an elastic waistband when we were all done. But afterall it WAS my birthday, you only have one a year, and it was sooooo good.

The Way to a Man's Heart....

Is through his stomach. Right? I have been told this many times. I know I've secured my place in Ryan's heart but I figured baking some cookies for him couldn't hurt. He loves white chocolate and macadamia nuts, and since they are exotic and decadent compared to the classic chocolate chip cookie, I thought I would head in that direction. However, white chocolate is not my favorite, so I made a compromise. Queue Zebra Macadamia Nut Cookies.


These bad boys turned out pretty freakin' good. I like 'em and he loves 'em. Win-Win. I have plenty to keep him satisfied and for lunches this week.


Want to make them for yourself? Go for it....I highly suggest it!

Zebra Macadamia Nut Cookies
What you need:

1 c. (2 Sticks) butter, softened

1 c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 ½ c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. white chocolate chips
1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

1.5 c. chopped macadamia nuts

What to do:

• Heat oven to 375.
• In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt with electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs one at a time; beat well.
• In a separate bowl, stir together flour and baking soda; gradually add to cream mixture, until well mixed.
• Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
• Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until just "golden kissed".
• Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

ENJOY!!

Labor Day Cookout

Yesterday we decided (we being me and the other American students in my research group) that we wanted to enjoy the last real day of summer. So, we only worked half a day and then everyone headed over to my apartment complex to grill out by the pool. We also had the new first year students come out. . . it's important to do fun stuff with them outside the lab! We had a good turnout with me, Ryan, Ryan M.(a first year from Berkeley), Chris, Jason, Emma (first year from Boise), Alex (exchange student from Bristol), Evie (another grad student from the Bielawski group) and her boyfriend Kyle, Rachel (inorganic grad student and my life saver - but that's a long story) and her boyfriend Steve. It was a good crowd!

Everyone chipped in and brought goodies. [My] Ryan cooked up some of his famous burgers and I got some wings ready to grill too. I seasoned them Jamaican Jerk style and they were so delicious! I am definitely keeping this recipe.

yummy!

It's just a recipe I found online, and of course you can use this marinade for any cut of chicken. I find that wings are the easiest to grill though, and they are the perfect BBQ finger food.

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Mix in a large bowl:
2 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp ground sage
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
big pinch of salt
1 Tbsp sugar

Whisk in the following:
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup orange juice
juice of two limes

Add the following to the marinade:
2 serano peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1 cup chopped white onion
3 green onions finely chopped

Add the chicken (3 lbs or so)
Stir to coat the chicken
cover in saran wrap and keep in the fridge for at least an hour.

I let mine marinade for almost three hours and it was perfect! Grill 'em over hot coals until they are cooked through. Enjoy!

We finished off our meal with some yummy brownies and a game of apples to apples. so much fun!!

In the Kitchen

I did a little baking this past week. The weekend was great. . . it was so awesome to see Ryan's family and spend some time with them. I can't believe how easily it flies by.
We did pretty much as I predicted. Us girls went to the spa on Saturday morning while the guys watched baseball at the hotel. Mrs. Patman and I got facials while Jenny got the massage. wow. I know I was smitten with facials when I first got one a while ago. I keep asking myself why I don't get them more often. . . especially when I had a gift card for them. Anyhow, I treated the girls since I had the gift card, and they both loved it. Then we went down to campus to sight-see and show them the lab, sno-cones were next (they agreed that Sno-Beach was the best they ever had - I'm tellin' ya, it's good!!), they ALL held Ryan's snakes. Even Tom, his dad. I was shocked. Now, he was a little tense and looked like he would be ready to break Apollo's neck if he even thought about making a wrong move, but he did hold him around his shoulders. I was impressed. Then, off to Rudy's for lunch and games at my apartment until late that night. They all loved Ramses, especially Ryan's little brother, Michael who got to come down.
Well, back to the topic. I baked a cherry clafouti for our game-time. I saw Alicia's over at Posie Gets Cozy and it just looked delish and wanted to try it. When cherries went down to $2.77/lb versus the normal Texas $6+/lb I knew I had to try it. It was pretty good! The cherries were yummy. It wasn't as creamy as I was expecting, more stiff like a bread pudding so maybe I have to practice more. Reviews from my testers:

Ryan - "it's good."
Me - "So if I made it again, you would eat it?"
Ryan - "eh."
Me - "oh, so you don't like it then."
Ryan - "well I like it. It's tastes good, especially the cherries. It's just the texture."
Me - "hmmmm, ok I guess that helps."


Jenny - "I like it!!!"

Michael - "I'd have more."
Me - "yay!"
Michael - "but it would be even better if it could be sweeter."

His parents didn't have any since they were still full from lunch.

My clafouti pre-bake
(no, I didn't get an after picture since I made this at like 1am the night before, and we were in the middle of playing games when I took it out to eat.)

So, there you have it. I served it with creme fraiche, and forgot to dust with powdered sugar. doh!! I am not sure how I forgot that. So, it was a little on the sour side, - if sour is the right way to describe it. The recipe does call for some sugar, and there is a hint of lemon from lemon zest...But it IS a custard and they still liked it overall. Since then, I have had it with the sugar and the taste is right on. Just need to work on the texture.

I also made the chocolate chip banana bread. I LOVE the banana chocolate chip coffee cake from Starbuck's that they usually sell in the summers. I don't know if it's gone on sale this summer, I don't go all that often. But when I saw Coco's recipe for coconut banana bread over at Roost, I thought I would try it but switch it up a bit. I used her recipe but added 2c. chocolate chips instead of coconut. yummers!

monster naner bread

It's a monster loaf because it got broken up when I tried to take it out of the pan. I thought I greased it well enough. Maybe too much? Or it was still too warm? No matter, it's sooo good. Since I only had wheat AP flour, it's all wheaty and thick. kinda like a bran muffin. It's making a great afternoon snack this week, and I'd like to think with all that fiber that its much healthier than the Starbucks version.

In the jar is Missy Piggy. She is three days old today! She's my sourdough starter that I look forward to making many loaves of bread, english muffins and other goodies with!!

Oh, so we are into 53 days of over 100 degree heat this summer. Though today and Sunday we managed to get thunderstorms in the evening and a (little) bit of rain. Here is the result of Sunday's storm...

What's that? A RAMSES cat under the couch and Tesia NOT HIDING? What the....
This is so backwards since she is my 'fraidy cat. The thunder was really loud. I mean, REALLY loud. It sounded like the whole sky is ripping open, like the monstrous cables holding it up are snapping and it's going to come crashing down on top of you. This sent him running for cover for a good hour, even after the storm ended. She and I tried coaxing him out, and I got him far enough to take this picture before he hid for a little longer.

I'm free!!!

I am officially back at my place and it feels so good! Their house is all clean, smells like lavender goodness, and I got a little something together to welcome them home:

welcome home!

yummies

I just bought some flowers from the market, put them in a cute pitcher vase that had been sitting out, got a little card and made some chocolate chip coconut oatmeal cookies. These are so yummy! They aren't too sugary, so they are perfect when you're craving something sweet and don't want something over-the-top. Plus I love the hint of coconut in them!

Chocolate chip coconut oatmeal cookies

I've made these for the lab, bbq's and just because. . . I always get compliments on them. Even Ryan, who is not a huge fan of coconut, has no trouble eating several in a sitting.

How to make your own...
What you'll need

1 c. butter
1 c. light brown sugar (packed)
0.5 c. white sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
1.25 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp salt
3.25 c. quick cooking oats (I use Quaker in the big cardboard carton)
1 c. chopped walnuts
1.5 c. shredded coconut (I use Baker's brand)
1 c. Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips

*note* I adapted this from a regular oatmeal cookie recipe, which originally called for 2 tsp vanilla. I love vanilla so I always multiply what recipes call for by 1.5.

What to do

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt, then add this to the creamy mixture in portions until it is just blended. Next add in order, the oats, walnuts, coconut and finally the chocolate chips.
3. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes, or until "just kissed" golden brown. Cool on the baking sheet for several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. yields about 2.5 dozen depending on the size.
4. ENJOY!! Easy squeezy, right?

(For more "bally" looking cookies like mine, chill the dough for an hour or so prior to baking. The dough also stores well in the freezer- about 2 weeks- so you can bake what you want and save the rest for later.)

Of course these cookies taste great without the coconut, or the nuts. . . I've made both. It's a versatile recipe where you can add or remove whatever you want. Sometime I am going to try it with pecans instead of walnuts, and perhaps some dried cranberries. Hope you like 'em!

Scrumdidlyumptious

I was really craving pasta salad this weekend, so I made some yesterday. It was the perfect snack to sit down and relax to after I spent a good part of the afternoon re-vamping my balcony with new plants. I'll post some pictures of it soon...I didn't get around to taking some since my camera died after I snapped a shot of my pasta salad. YUMMY!

Nessa's Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
1 can whole baby corn - drained, cut into thirds
1 can olives - drained, cut into halves long ways
1/2 red onion - thin 1" long slivers
1/2 handful cilantro - diced
1 tomato - diced (or package of cherry tomatoes halved)
2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1c. feta cheese
1/3 pound hard salami cut into small wedges
1 bag tri-colored farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
dressing (I use good seasons dressing packets that you mix with vinegar and oil to make your own dressing....tasty!)

other things I like to add that wasn't in this particular salad I made:
broccolini - cut into small pieces
cucumber - peeled, cut into fourths lengthwise, remove seeds ( i scoop them out with a spoon) then chopped
julienne carrots
bell pepper (any color) - chopped into medium pieces


Directions:
Cook the pasta until done but still firm. ( I always add some olive oil to the water so they don't stick to each other). Drain and rinse with cold water. While the pasta is cooking, I prepare all the veggies and additions (minus feta and dressing) as noted and keep in a big bowl (so I have room for tossing). Once everything is chopped and in the bowl, add pasta and toss. Then, add feta and dressing to taste. toss. Serve chilled. Delicioso!!

I used to not add meat or cheese to my pasta salad, and while Ryan would eat it, he felt it was lacking. So, I pumped it up a little bit. It is very filling, and there are so many different flavors going on, you can savor every bite! Plus it's really pretty with all the different colors. It's always gone in a snap!

Christmas spirit

Last night Nikki and I got together and baked some cookies....Christmas sugar cookies! It doesn't really quite feel like Christmas yet...besides those last couple of crazy cold days, its been warm. Also, being in the lab all hours of the day keeps you pretty isolated from the rest of the Christmas cheer in stores, on the radio, etc. I don't even have my Christmas tree set up yet. I need to do that this weekend.
So Nikki and I thought it would be fun to have a girls night and bake cookies. It was great! We had Christmas music on, and watched a portion of The Holiday while we were waiting for them to be done.
It has been YEARS since I have made sugar cutout cookies. I found a really good sour cream sugar cookie recipe online with a cream cheese frosting. Making them was a little bit of an adventure. We made a pretty large batch of dough because I wanted her to be able to take some home and I thought I would bring some into the lab. The goal: 5 dozen cookies. I don't know why I didn't think about this sooner, but my poor kitchen aid could barely handle it all at once. The 10 cups of flour should have raised a warning sign. hah! When we were addiing the dry mix, it ended up just poofing it out in little clouds of flour because the mixing bowl was so full. Oops. But, we eventually got most of the flour in (the rest was on my counter and us) and the dough made. I really am good in the kitchen....I promise! It was just an oversight. So we let the dough chill while we watched some of the movie and talked, then got to cut them out and bake! While Nikki was rolling the dough and cutting, I made the icing. We had a good rhythm going. By the time we got to icing the cookies though, it was almost midnight, and we had only baked maybe 2 - 3 dozen. I can see now why making Christmas cookies is usually a day event, because it is a pretty big ordeal! But it was still fun...and they are super yummy! I love the icing...its not super sweet or too much. I'll be making these again for sure. We started off just icing them in solid colors, but then I tried to make them more pretty....The end result:


I still have a lot of dough in my fridge....I'll have to bake the rest this weekend and send some off...maybe to some cousins before they go out to Cali at the end of next week.

Cherry limeades

Cherry limeades. yummy. Sometimes I go with Ryan to the petshop when he gets the snakes' food because it is fun to look around at all the pets and reptiles they have in there. And while we are there, you can without a doubt see me shaking my head "no", when he starts looking at me with pleading puppy eyes. Well, there is a Sonic near the pet store and so he took me there. He loved getting cherry limeades with his mom, it's a fun memory he has of getting them with her since they both really like them. Well, he says I remind him a lot of his mom, and he wanted me to try one. They are so good! I am not a fan of Sonic's food....but I will go for a limeade (he says they also have good slushies and other floats/ frozen drinks) anyday! They get my vote. =)

Oh, Ryan FINALLY named the two new snakes (the Brazilian rainbow boas he bought back in June). He decided to call them Johnny and June....like the Cash's. I had heard a song I liked on the radio called "Johnny and June" by Heidi Newfield. It is a country song. Anyways, I told him to try to catch it on the radio, and it became an inspiration for their names. Ha, its kinda cool too since he bought them in June.