Category Archives: 2012

Bring on the bars!

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I consider the whole month of December to be a giant celebration. It doesn’t matter what holiday you celebrate. I think that it’s the perfect time to get together with your girlfriends and celebrate the end of the year. I invited some friends over yesterday and said bring a type of bar. I know people do cookie exchanges and similar stuff around the holidays but I wanted to do something different and I only wanted each person to make one pan of their bars. My friends truly amaze me. They are some great bakers. Just look at this spread. It turned out to be a great afternoon full of girl talk and yummy treats.

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Lots of love,
Erica

A tradition rolls on!

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Sticky buns in proofing stage.

The last 2 years I have made cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. I wake up and have an urge to make something with yeast. I know it’s crazy but if you think about it what else could Justin and I be doing. Yes, that’s right my husband rocks and he helps me with this task. This year I decided to step away from the Pioneer Woman Cinnamon Rolls and try my hand at Joanne Chang’s throw down winning sticky buns. She beat Bobby Flay with these buns!

I ended up starting on these sticky buns last night and I am so happy I did. I made the brioche dough in my Kitchenaid stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. I’m not sure who was more afraid that the mixer would launch itself off the counter: Justin or Leo?

I wrapped the dough up and stuck it in the fridge. Today I woke up and toasted the pecans, made the goo, assembled the cinnamon rolls, let them proof and baked them.

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Just out of the oven

Taste test- We can definitely see how these won the throwdown. The dough is the perfect combination of sweet and buttery. These were a great treat and worth the work. I think I will be making the Basic Brioche very soon. I would love to taste the brioche by itself and it would be a great addition to dinner one night.

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Lots of love,
Erica

Hanukkah Date Night @ Travail

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This year Justin and I made a pact that we would not be exchanging gifts. Neither of us was coveting any sort of thing and we are trying to not accumulate more stuff in the home. We decided we would rather go out to dinner to a new restaurant. Last night we went out for our Hanukkah date night to Travail Kitchen and Amusements

We got to the restaurant at 6:30 and only had to wait about 20 minutes (which we learned was not a norm at this place). We had been told by numerous people to plan on grabbing a drink and appetizer at the bar because we would have to wait for a table(this was not the case for us).

After looking over the menu we chose the 8 course tasting menu which came with amusements. (Amusements were in the form of individual tastings of food… I’m probably not describing this well at all so just wait for pictures)

Every single thing we had was delicious and some of the foods we had never tried until last night (example- venison) .

Here are some of the snaps (Kat, I tried my hand at editing but I still might need another workshop)

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20121215-090443.jpgThis was an amusement.

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Another amusement

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Make your own dip in dots (sooooo cool)

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We both loved the caramel apple and the cotton candy.

Side note- I forgot to take a picture of course three which was the pork ribs.

Happy Hanukkah!

Erica

Love ya a Latke

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Last night I went to my first latke party. I ended up making homemade applesauce . I changed my recipe up a bit and did 3 Granny Smith apples and 12 small Braeburn. It turned out great. The latke party was a lot of fun and we got to experiment with toppings that you don’t usually put on latkes like: sweet chili sauce, sirachi, roasted peppers, smoked salmon, and capers. Don’t worry I didn’t put all of those toppings on a latke. I did try smoked salmon with a dash of sour cream on a latke and I must say quite delicious.

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Last night we also celebrated two of our friends birthdays. Aren’t these cupcakes that Laura made impressive? The chocolate frosting I am definitely getting the recipe for and putting them on top of homemade Funfetti soon.

Now as I type this it is snowing or rather… Still snowing….. here is one picture of Justin and Leo from this morning.

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Happy Hanukkah and Happy Weekend!

~Erica~

Minne-Makeover gets a makeover!

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Fall 2010... oh how we've changed!

Fall 2010… oh how we’ve changed!

My great friend, Kat came over tonight and helped me update my blog. We changed the theme of the blog and we updated my header. I am in LOVE with my blogs new hip style. I am by no means an expert but in my short hour and a half workshop with Kat I was able to learn a couple new tricks to place in my cap. Also I have a new obsession with Picasa. I feel like I am transported back to high school when I used to scrapbook.

Anyways Kat suggested that I post more flower pictures I have taken on the blog. I played around in Picasa and came up with this. all the pretty flowers

Happy ALMOST weekend!

Erica

Thanksgiving is over…but these cookies should be made all year long!

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Last night I got together with my friend, Alli (who has a fantastic blog that you must check out) We had such a fun night sharing stories from our thanksgiving vacations and laughing at her husband, Mike who was playing video games 🎮 for part of the time. We talked about the desserts at our Thanksgiving tables and were inspired to try out a recipe we had both seen that took the best of pecan pie and sugar cookie and put them together. All I gotta say is: thank you Yum Sugar for a recipe that I will definitely be making all year round. Once you taste these cookies you will wonder why we don’t embrace the pecan pie all year instead of only a day in November.

Side Note- Alli got the most delicious pecans while she was home in Kansas City. Unfortunately they don’t ship (we looked into that last night) but if you find yourself in the are head to the Peach Barn . Maybe I can convince Alli to road trip for pecans 🚗.

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Happy Weekend!

Erica

An oldie but a goodie!

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It all started a couple of years ago. My mom sent Justin and me 3 glassybabies for our 3rd Anniversary. I fell in love with them once I opened the box. Now fast forward 2 years and imagine my excitement to step into the store and see the rainbow of colors. It was hard to choose but I went with what I love and I chose…. 2 green ones (I’m sure you all guessed it) I’m blogging this in the Seattle airport and can’t wait to get home and light them. My mom, cousin, and aunt all ❤glassybabies. They make great gifts and they look great in groups of 3.

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💚Smiles💚

Erica

Daring Greatly

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Today I went with a couple of friends to see Brene Brown speak at the Kauffman Union. Wow! She is inspiring and gave quite an eye opening lecture. I would advise you all to pick up her books (Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection) also check out her TED talks.

Right when the lecture was over we went to the reception and out of the corner of my eye I saw her leaving out the back door. My friends ran out with me and we caught up with Brene. I was brave and asked if I could take a picture with her.

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How do you dare greatly?

📖
Erica

Butcher and the Boar

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Thanks to our friends for making the reservation (one month in advance) we were able to go to Butcher and the Boar on Friday night. I was mesmerized when we first sat down by the penny tiled floor. I had to take a picture and then manages to drop my iPhone on the floor (no worries.. The phones fine)
We tried so many different things on the menu (pickle platter, lobster Mac and cheese, cheesy grits, fried green tomatoes, chive mashed potatoes, coal fired sweet potatoes and a couple other things) I can’t wait to go to back to this place. I would definitely recommend making a reservation ASAP.

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Even after all of this food we still had room for dessert. Justin ordered the banana pudding. I did not expect much from it but… Boy was I wrong. This was the best and most flavorful banana pudding I have ever had.

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The crust was made of ginger snaps and there was a fluffy topping that was so yummy. My description does not do it justice at all (just trust me… It’s totally worth it).

Smiles,
Erica