Mystery Dinner - Times Two!

Last night, the non-profit I work for hosted its annual board dinner.  This has historically been a rather dry and boring event, but I was in charge this year.  So we livened things up a bit with a 1920s murder mystery.

I wrote the mystery myself (which was quite the literary undertaking!).  I based the plot and characters loosely on "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (minus the drinking and swearing and other "inappropriate" behavior).

I tried to create the atmosphere of a 1920s dinner party with lots of feathers, pearls, cut glass and white linens.  We had jazz and dance music playing during dinner and even a few vintage cars out front as guests arrived.  Many people came in costume, which added to the evening.  I even managed to come up with a costume from a few local consignment shops that accommodated my growing belly.  (My husband was a character in the murder mystery - that's why he's wearing the funny glasses.)  

Overall, I think the evening was a great success!  No one solved the murder, though, so I must have made it a little too mysterious. . .

This morning my husband surprised me with a mystery of my own to solve!  Today is our 6th anniversary, so I have to piece together clues I've been receiving throughout the day (including a motive, getaway vehicle and "weapon of displayed affection") to figure out what he he in store for us tonight.  We'll see where we end up!

Peanut Butter Goodness

I've been craving chocolate and peanut butter lately, so tonight I decided to make the "old standby" - chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.  The cake was in the oven before I realized I had no powdered sugar for the frosting.  Tactical error on my part.  :(

I found a recipe online for peanut butter frosting without the powdered sugar and decided to give it a try.  It turned out beautifully.  I'm not a marshmallow fan, but you wouldn't even know it's in there!  The best part is you don't even have to wait for the cake to cool - which I find the most frustrating part of baking.

My craving has been satisfied!  Momma and baby are very happy.  :)

Peanut Butter Frosting (without Powdered Sugar)
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used a little bit more)
1/2 cup marshmallows (I used marshmallow creme)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine milk, sugar and butter in saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat; add peanut butter and marshmallow.  Stir in vanilla.  Pour immediately over warm cake.

It's A Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. . .

. . . even without brown sugar.

It's been snowing most of the day, with much more forecasted for tonight.  It took me almost 45 minutes to drive the 6 miles to work because of the snow.  And my son has been full of whines, pouts and "no"s all day.  So, yes, chocolate chip cookies sounded like a good "pick me up."

Only after I started mixing the batter did I realize that I was out of brown sugar.  Grrr!  But Betty Crocker came to my rescue and told me I could substitute white sugar and molasses.  Cookies saved! And they turned out pretty well, all things considered.  They seem a little darker and sweeter than normal, but they definitely hit the spot.  Here's my recipe:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes about 4 dozen

3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar (OR 3/4 granulated sugar and 1 1/2 T molasses)
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 oz (1 bag) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.  Beat sugars, butter, vanilla and egg until creamy.  Stir in flour, baking soda and salt.  Sitr in chocolate chips.  Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  Cool 1-2 minutes and remove to wire rack.

The Great Cookie Adventure

Since Noah is so enamored with Thomas the Train, I thought it would be cute to have train cookies for his birthday party.  Little did I know what I was getting myself into. . .

I found a set of train-shaped cookie cutters on Amazon for $8 and set to work making a triple batch of sugar cookies.  Though time-consuming, baking was the "easy" part.

Once cooled, I had to icing them all.  I actually had never worked with royal icing before.  Thankfully, a dear friend of mine brought over her "tackle box" of cake decorating paraphernalia and gave me a crash course.  Who knew that egg whites would make icing harden?!?

So, we set to work about 7pm.  We had two batches of icing - one "thick" to outline and one "thin" to flood.  Each batch was divided in thirds for our three colors.  My "expert" friend outlined them all with her wonderfully-steady hand while another friend and I attempted to flood them.  Let's just say the first few were rather awful-looking.  But we eventually got the hang of it and turned out almost six dozen cookies by the stroke of midnight.

There was, of course, a "royal" mess to clean up when all was said and done.  But the cookies turned out rather well, all things considered.  They were very tasty and didn't look half-bad, either.  They were a big hit at the party and I had extra to share with the kids at church the following week.

In hindsight, I will think twice before undertaking such an "adventure" again.  But who can say "no" to this face when he asks for a "Thomas cookie"?  :)

Happy birthday, Noah!

Soup to Share

White Cheddar Corn Chowder

I love soup, especially when the winter turns cold.  Last year, I came across this delicious recipe and I've already made it twice this year!  Both times, I've doubled the recipe and shared some with friends and other families.  It's somewhat labor-intensive (as are most recipes from Martha Stewart), but it's well worth the effort.

White Cheddar Corn Chowder
from Martha Stewart Living, Sept. 2007
Serves 6

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 2 cups homemade or low-sodium store-bought chicken stock
• 1 cup nonfat milk
• 3 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 6 ears of corn)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated (about 3/4 cup)

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add celery, and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Add coriander, cumin, and cayenne. Raise heat to medium-high, and add wine. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes. Add potatoes, stock, and milk, and bring to a boil (skim any foam from surface). Reduce heat, and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Add corn, and cook until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. *I added 4 oz of grated white cheddar cheese and let it melt before pureeing.*  Remove from heat. Transfer 2 cups soup to a blender. Let cool slightly, then puree. Return puree to pan, and stir. Reheat if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into bowls, and top with cheese. *I served with crumbled bacon.*  Chowder can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

From Bare to Beautiful

We moved into our house a little over a year ago, so I'm ashamed to say that this "home improvement" project is just now getting done. . . But we have a large bare wall in our living room that's been begging for some color and creativity.

I have a beige, sage green and plum paisley print for my curtains and pillows, so I decided to echo the design on the wall.  I found great decals from Modern Wall Graphics (though some of the colors weren't quite accurate) and went to town spreading them all over the wall.

It turned out to be a much bigger project than I had anticipated.  I had about 100 decals total and quickly found that they each took about 3-4 minutes to apply.  So, after 5-6 hours of work (spread out over several days), the wall was anything but bare!

But I wasn't done yet!  The decals themselves were a little too "bold" for me, especially considering the colors didn't match exactly.  So, I hung some great frames I found at Hobby Lobby and filled them with prints of some of our most recent family portraits.

I must say, I'm quite happy with the end result.  I spent less than $200 on the whole project. I got a 15% discount and free shipping on the decals and the frames were each 50% off.  The decals are supposed to be "reusable," so it wasn't even a one-time investment.  

It's nice to be able to make your house feel more like home.

Adventures with Nanny & Papa

We're blessed to live close enough to my parents to be able to see them often.  The other weekend, we "met in the middle" at the Crayola Factory and National Canal Museum.

Noah was probably a little too young to appreciate the Crayola Factory. . . But I snagged a great deal online for half price admission, so I couldn't pass it up.  Plus, he was free because he hasn't turned two yet.

However, he really enjoyed the National Canal Museum with all the boats.  Best of all, they had a train display too!

A fun day was had by all.

Hot Chocolate in a Hurry

Our church held "A Purposeful Day at the Park" on Saturday where we rented a pavilion and had free food, music, games and literature for anyone that stopped by.  A few hours before the event was to start, my husband and I realized/decided that we should probably have something hot to drink, since the weather was only supposed to be in the 50s and rather blustery.

So at 9am, I set to work whipping up a batch of hot chocolate.  I didn't have the time or the budget to run to the store, so I had to use only what was already in my pantry and refrigerator.  By 10:30am, I was at the park with more than 5 gallons of very yummy hot chocolate.  Here's what I included:

-semi-sweet chocolate chips
-unsweetened baker's chocolate
-cocoa powder
-sugar
-vanilla
-evaporated milk
-chocolate-flavored coffee creamer
-milk (a combination of 2% and whole)
-hot water

This is by no means a "recipe" for hot chocolate, but rather a testimony of resourcefulness.  Because I've been couponing more, I had many of these items in "bulk," waiting to be used for just such an occasion.  This proves that even people as un-creative as me can "rise to the occasion" when the need arises, you do what you can with what you have - making lemonade out of lemons - or hot chocolate out of various forms of milk and chocolate. . .   :)

Always Have a Back Up!

I work part-time from home, so I keep all of my files on an external hard drive that I carry back and forth between my home and the office.  Well, I should say that I had kept my files on an external hard drive. . . that was, until I dropped it.  :(

After many attempts by well-meaning friends and co-workers, we've determined the data to be "irretrievable" - since we can't really afford to pay an expert to look at it.  I had good reasons for using the hard drive as my primary storage location (i.e. there wasn't enough disk space on either my home or work desktop to hold all the files), and I honestly never gave much thought to having a back-up.  Now, three and a half years of articles, logos, newsletters, advertisements, pictures and design work are gone.

It's been about a month since I dropped the drive and still, as I type this, I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I'll admit that I did cry over my "spilled milk," but I've had to move on - going back through my e-mail attachments to retrieve files and humbly recreating designs I'd originally spent hours working on.

I've learned a valuable lesson that, I'm sure, everyone else already knows and adheres to, but it bears repeating - always have a back-up!