The Scarlet Letter

I've had this book for a long time, but always had a bit of trouble getting into it. Books written in old English style have always been difficult for me, but I was determined to get through it. I started this book at Christmas time, but after returning from Edmonton, I haven't found enough time to sit through it all. Plus I've been tinkering my way through The Botany of Desire =)

Point being, I finally finished the book yesterday, when I decided that I was going to go home after lunch because there was no reason for me to be at school.

Finally! This is the 13th book for #94 of my DayZero list. Seven books to go!

Vegetarian Enchiladas

Sunday night Mexican night? Perhaps...

To change things up a bit (thai on Friday, American style potluck Saturday), I decided to make Mexican last night.

Taken from Martha Stewart's website, there's a delicious recipe for enchiladas. I don't cook a lot of Mexican, so I wasn't sure of the standards in Mexican. Good thing it's as simple as black beans and corn. The sauce overtop is a simple one from flour, tomato paste and some stock, cooked until reduced.

I made the sauce while Adam prepared the filling. While he did the post prep clean up, I filled the tortillas and baked the enchiladas at 400F for 20 minutes.

Out popped gooey yumminess! I would certainly hope so too, given we used an entire block of Jack cheese in the process.

It was a busy evening for us indeed, since right before this, we made some fudgy espresso brownies too!

Vegetarian enchiladas for dinner, brownies for dessert. Yum!

Dinner Potluck

I realized today I didn't get photos of our dishes, but I thought I'd write about the first dish Adam made all by himself!

Before you start making all sorts of ridiculous assumptions, it's not that Adam can't cook, it's that I usually don't let him cook (type A personality trait, oui oui?).

I was very much resisting even letting him come in the kitchen at first (except to do dishes), but I've slowly let go a bit and am very much letting him help with dinner. But back to the point, Kendra had mentioned she was making appetizers and Matt a dessert, so we felt the pressure to at least match that (and here comes the competitive personality trait...).

We had fun in the kitchen, and apparently two of us cooking really does make twice the mess.

My dish? Vegetable casserole. Simple, understand, and easy to do. Broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots and green beans in a cream of mushroom base with bread crumb topping.

Adam's? Scalloped potatoes. I've only had Kendra's scalloped potatoes before, so it was interesting to see the differences in how they make them. Kendra's, of course, are full potato rounds, sliced thinly and layered in a perfect array. Adam's are half potato rounds, thicker sliced and in a random assortment of deliciousness. Layered with a bechamel sauce and topped with cheesy goodness, we were good to go in 90 minutes.

Thanks for hosting, Carolyne!

I Love You, Man

So this past weekend was a pretty lazy one. Aside from a potluck to attend and needing to do some lab work, there wasn't much else to do. Naturally, we watched a movie. Not one I would ever really want to watch (bro-mance movies aren't my type, whaaaaat??).

Anyways, I didn't flip through many of my DVDs, so I kind of went with the first choice (check for 95 on my DayZero list), I Love you Man. My brother has seen this and I know of many guys who rave on about this movie. I like Paul Rudd. Win win?

Absolutely. Paul Rudd is always a hit with me. Jason Segel cracks me up on a regular occasion, but it's unfortunate that I always only see him as "Marshall Eriksen".

I liked the bro-mantic comedy side to movies. Perhaps I should steer more toward this genre?

Cupcakes with buttercream frosting

I've made cupcakes before, but I normally don't make my own frosting. Nor do I try to fill a piping bag and pipe it decoratively on top. Well, there's always a first for everything.

It was Laura's birthday on Saturday, and in lieu of a birthday gift, cupcakes were made instead. I went to the store to get nice pink and blue cupcake liners (which, chocolate is the WORST at ruining the colour of... never again!), and these cute styrofoam pink and blue mini eggs to top.

My buttercream frosting was a simple vanilla recipe. I don't have fancy piping tools, so I simply used a disposable Wilton piping bag and some of their plastic piping tips. I actually didn't think the floral tip would be big enough, so I took the round tip and cut it so it was a fat round tip to pipe out. It worked surprisingly well! And this time, I cut the hole of the disposable piping bag smaller than before, so my icing didn't leak out the sides of the piping tip. Phew!

Happy birthday Laura!

Before the party though, I actually had a potluck to attend. I brought wine, cheese and crackers to that, and stayed for a few hours before leaving for Laura's. Good thing Adam was bright enough to think to bring the cupcakes to Laura's beforehand. Not only were we able to drink at both places (and take the bus/taxi), but it was a really yucky wet day out and it would have been a disaster trying to get the cupcakes to and from places!

<3