Layers and more layers

Baked up. Pretty, although I had concerns.

I made croissants today! The theme of my life lately has been layers. What better way to celebrate this theme by making the flakiest of pastries. The croissant.

That is a lot of butter for a small amount of dough.

Thanks to layers and layers of folded butter steaming up in the oven, the croissants because beautifully soft and flaky. It’s much like yeasted pie crust. I love pie crust. And I love bread. Pie crust + bread = croissant. It doesn’t get much better than that.

But like the rest of my life, the results of this baking experiment did not look so promising. I made the mistake if peeking in the oven during the baking process. The croissants looked like they were melting! Not good.

Croissants shaped. Before rising.

This made me sad, because the croissants looked beautiful when I shaped them.

Croissants after rising. Ready for the oven.

And even more more beautiful when they rose.

A big ol' croissant ready to be part of a meal.

And thankfully…gorgeous when they finished baking. They were good enough to include in our dinner tonight.

Coconut and toffee peanut shrimp

Two types of shrimps. One with coconut and one with toffee peanuts. Both delicious.

A delicious meal.

Salad, shrimp, and croissant. It was a great meal. Kind of like a deconstructed sandwich. I always take my sandwiches apart, so why not just put the elements on a plate. Make into a sandwich if you want. If not, well then you can enjoy each piece on its own. Like the flaky, buttery croissant. I want more of this pastry. But I will wait patiently for breakfast.

Until then, my tummy will digest happily.

Layers

Bottle cap sculptures!

The prince and I decided to have some fun the other night and played with bottle caps. We drink a lot of beer. Well, we each drink about a beer a night. That adds up.

It was great to lose ourselves in this arts and craft project. We’re good at acting like four year olds.

Life has layers. Life has ups and downs. It isn’t one dimensional and we are never filled with only one emotion. In a single day, we can go from exhuberantly ecstatis to crying to angry. It’s the layers in life that make everything interesting. What would a relationship be like if you always agreed and were always smiling? Life is not a fairy tale where there is one obstacle and then…ta-dah, your life is perfect forever and ever. There will always be layers.

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough brownie cake.

This fantastic dessert has layers. I had the option of crating it without layers. But the layers were needed.

Look at that cookie dough layer

This is a very fudgy thick rich brownie, cut in half and filled with a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough filling. It is then topped with more cookie dough and chocolate ganache.

The top of the brownie cake. Delicious toffee peanuts.

Then some delicious toffee peanuts to add a little crunch and draw out the taste of natural peanuts from the peanut butter cookie dough.

Time to serve!

The layers certainly elevate this dessert. It could easily be a typical cookie dough brownie.

A piece of goodness.

Instead, it is world of chocolate, cookie dough layers, that certainly bring a smile to your face. This may make an appearance at our wedding as the groom’s cake. I am making the cakes and desserts in order to save money and indulge myself in my love of baking.

Lam burgers with yogurt sauce.

Burgers are another vehicle for layers of flavor. This burger is made of ground lamb. The patty has garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon zest. The sauce is a yogurt, garlic, lemony sauce. There is also tomato and cucumber. Served on dark rye. Such a fresh take on a burger. Such great layers of flavor.

My first experience with spaghetti squash. There are layers and layers of strands of squash.

Spaghetti squash = a delicious side dish.

The verdict? Such a nice crunch and flavor. I have found a new vegetable love.

Layers certainly are importance. So important that it is going to be an element of our wedding. You see, I have HUGE news. After scouring the internet and looking at hundreds of bridal gowns and after trying on at least 50 dresses, I have found THE dress. It snuck up on me. It came out of nowhere. I would have never imagined this dress in my wildest dreams.

We were walking around the bridal store, Blue Bridal in Austin TX, and I saw the dress out of the corner of my eye. It is impossible to miss. I scrunched my nose and said it looked like layer cake. Needless to say, it did not make into the fitting room. After trying on 5 very blah dresses, the consultant brought two dresses over. One of them was Layer Cake. She said she was curious to see how it looked on me. Since it was different and I was pretty bored in that shop and bored with the consultant, I agreed to try it on. I could always take it right off if I hated it. Well, I almost did take it right off. I laughed at myself, scrunched my face, and started swishing in front of the mirror. I almost didn’t walk out of the dressing room, but I thought it would be funny to show my future mother and granny in law. I walked out and announced, “This is the Layer Cake!” Their expression was laughter and awe.

I looked in the larger mirror and started to notice something about myself in the dress. It was different. I evoked such a visceral response. It made me laugh. It made me come alive. Layer Cake is not a safe dress. It is not generic or even a generic silhouette. It has sparkle, softness, and flow. It has a wow factor. And it definitely captures the story of our relationship. My relationship doesn’t always make me happy, in fact sometimes it drives me cray. So I need a dress that drove me crazy.

Anyone can wear a ball gown and feel like a princess. Some girls find their Cinderalla dress, their Ariel dress, their Belle dress. But me, I found an Astrid dress. I am going to wear Layer Cake and have fun being me.

Happy Turkey Day!

Today is Thankgiving, a holiday that has had different meanings to me throughout the years. Growing up, my parents and I had dinner together every, single night. This was great, but it meant that Thanksgiving wasn’t a big celebration for us. We never got together with family, because most of our family lives too far away. So I would either go to a friend’s home for Thanksgiving, or my parents and I would go out for Chinese food. Needless to say, Thanksgiving has never meant family time and great food to me. But that doesn’t mean that I never wanted this.

In fact, one thing on my bucket list was always to cook a whole Thanksgiving dinner. I didn’t realize this until this morning. After I had already cooked all of Thanksgiving dinner and really only needed to transport it to Waco and reheat it for Stephen’s family (my future in laws). It felt pretty exciting to have all of this great, fresh food to share with people I love. This is the true essence of Thanksgiving and I finally felt like I was experiencing it.

The turkey day set up!

The spread looked great on the table. I introduced each dish, in proper chef style, and waiting patiently and nervously as people dug in. I have to admit that I was scared to see whether or not people would like this slightly different take on Thanksgiving.

My plate. A little bit of everything.

People loved it. They loved every part, especially the cranberry salsa/sauce, which was my favorite part, too. It felt great to be accepted as a chef and to feel the affirmation that I am not being ridiculous in pursuing my passion for food and cooking. Maybe I am, in fact, great at this. And maybe it is what I should do with my life.

A slice of apple cheesecake crumble pie

This is what I love about cooking. It is an opportunity to use my creativity and my passion to create great food. I can work with colors, flavors, and textures. I can pour all of myself into these great product. And then, I can share it with everyone. I can put all of myself on the table, quite literally. Then, all of my creations are actually ingested by people, and my passion, my creativity, becaomes a part of each person. It is this insane relationship between chef and consumer that I never thought about before. Food is serious, but it is also fun and live giving, affirming. This is why it is such a central idea to this one holiday. People share in ingesting the same foods, all especially prepared for them, and they enjoy each other’s company. I know that it isn’t all about the food. But the food is the physical pleasure of the holiday.

A note:

Brides is having a contest to win a free honeymoon to Fiji. I entered Stephen and myself. Please go here and vote!

 

Thanksgiving cooking

The princess cooked today. All day long. She cooked for Thanksgiving, so that tomorrow she can simply stick everything in the oven, reheat, and then serve. Also, some of the flavors of the elements will taste so much better after resting for the night. She, too, will feel much better after resting for the night.

Here is the menu, in no particular order.

Dessert: Apple Cheesecake Crumble Pie

The apple filling.

This is a pie I made a while ago. I decided to revive it and serve it tomorrow, because, well, it is delicious and different. It gives you the best of several worlds. Apples.

The crumble!

Crumble topping, which adds so much texture and sweetness, and in my opinion, really makes the pie.

Cheesecake filling

The filling is beautiful when it comes together well like it did today!

The pie, assembled and baked.

A lovely pie, ready to chill and get ready for tomorrow! Hopefully everyone loves it.

Side dish: Stuffing

Veggies sauteeing, soon to be combined with some delicious focaccia chunks!

I decided to make a slightly Southwest stuffing. I used homemade focaccia, corn, celery, poblano, onions, and pumpkin seeds to create this masterpiece.

Stuffing ready to be baked.

It looked so great with all of the vegetables and the homemade bread. Fresh ingredients really make a difference. The healthiest dish ever? Nah. But the most wholesome and hearty and satisfying? Maybe.

Stuffing baked!

We shall see tomorrow when we dig into it. My stuffing tyle is more of a bread pudding. Where you can cut a chunk and it stays together. Yum.

Condiment: Cranberry salsa/sauce

Cranberry sauce/salsa. Amazing.

Umm…this salsa is great. It has poblano, red bell peppers, orange zest, orange juice, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries.

Side: Sweet Potato fritters

Sweet potato fritters.

Sweet potato fritters. In my opinion. Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without sweet potatoes. So I decided to make these little guys up.

Vegetable: Colorful salad/slaw

Fresh veggie salad or slaw. Whatever you want to call it.

This salad has: radishes, kale, cabbage, carrots, and green beans. It is fresh, colorful, and delicious.

Main dish: Turkey legs.

Roasted turkey legs

I roasted turkey legs and pulled the meat for our turkey soft tacos tomorrow. Call me crazy, but I have something against dried out turkey. And everyone knows that the best part of turkey is using it in fun ways as leftovers. Well, why not serve the fun dishes for Thanksgiving?

Bread: Sweet potato biscuits

Sweet potato biscuits.

These were thrown together as an afterthought. I had the butts of my sweet potatoes left over so I cooked them, mashed them, and then transformed them into gorgeous biscuits.

Biscuits up close and personal. Snack time!

They are light, flakey, and slightly rich from the sweet potatoes.

Bread: Wheat tortillas for the soft tacos!

Wheat tortillas.

The tortillas are for use with the turkey. Of course, the biscuits can be used with the turkey, too. Bascially, I hope everyone has fun playing with their food.

Taste test time.

For dinner, taste testing some of the Thanksgiving feast!

I didn’t have time to prepare a whole other meal for dinner. So I decided to throw together a little trial of tomorrow. The verdict? Incredible.

I wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. Eat and be happy. But more importantly, enjoy the company of the one’s you love and who love you.

Our story

Magic. Pure magic.

This princess has been easily overwhelmed lately. I feel like I should have a job by now. That I should be doing something “bigger” with my days. I go about my day, to appointments, to stores, wishing that I was one of the employees or doctors. Wishing that I had some type of “purpose” to my day. I am going dizzy with trying to find a perfect dress and plan the perfect day that is a perfect reflction of my prince and I.

The problem?

Too many perfects in that picture. Stephen and I are far from perfect. We are perfect for each other, but we are not perfect people. So how can I expect a “perfect” wedding. Instead, I want a fun day with great details that are unique to us. I want the day to convey how in love we are and how committed we are to a life together.

I want to write out a piece of our story. A piece of what makes us..well, us. And what I am looking for in the wedding day. The feel. The theme. The heart of it all.

We are fighters. We don’t follow rules, in fact we go behind their backs. We started dating during the semester when I was his TA instead of waiting. The effect was clear. From the moment I agreed to go over to a mutual friend’s house to share beer and hang out, I knew that something BIG was happening. It was that simple. Simple never means easy. In fact, simple equals extreme difficulty. After all, it is always hard to simplify something long and complicated. We are not complicated or fussy, but we are fighters.

We look amazing in blue jeans and tees. We love good food, from a medium rare filet mignon to a cheeseburger with french fries. Good food, like our love, is simple. But good food, like our love, should always be an adventure. We got engaged at Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park. The beauty of this area kept me returning to take in the glacier lily-studded fields that led up to the ice berg studded lake. We will always go big before we give up.

We have fun. We spend a lot of time sitting in a rut, but we are constantly fighting to get out. The fight is complete with screams and laughter. It isn’t pretty, which neither of us are. But it is real. And that is what we both are. Real.

If I had to describe what I want in my wedding dress, to encapsulate the experience that is Astrid and Stephen, the words would be:

Classic. We are celebrated our love. This should always be treated in a classy way.

Comfortable. We are together because we feel at home with each other. We want everyone to feel comfortable at our wedding.

Princess. I will always be a princess, and I do want to find that dress that makes me run around and twirl. I want to feel pretty!

Flowy. I want the day to run smoothly and I want my dress to have great movement to it. Soft movement.

Sassy. A little attitude is needed. When I know what I want I will speak up and be sassy about it.

Quirky. There needs to be goofy and silly elements to the wedding day. We may want something classic. But we want classic with a twist!

Magical and Whimsical. Those two words say it all. There is nothing wrong with dreaming like a 4 year old and having a blast on the big day. Lots of laughter, smiles, and hugs. Please!

Burgers never fail to satisfy.

We adore burgers. Simple, delicious, amazing. Always.

Fried sweet potato "pancakes"

I attempted to make tater tots out of a sweet potato. They did not hold. So I salvaged the few that were frying, added an egg, and ta-dah! Sweet potato pancakes. Delicious.

more pie, please

For every overwhelmed princess there is a slice of pie. A slice of amazing coconut custard with a chocolatey layer and crisp, sweet crust. It fixes everything to know that I can make great things with my two hands. I may not be perfect. I may not have everything, or even anything, figured out, but I can create. No one will ever take that away from me.

Weekend over.

Scone dough. Perfect with apple jewels.

This princess loves baked goods. She loves how the dough feels between her fingers. She loves how the finished product smells coming out of the oven. And she loves how they taste. Soft. Comforting. Delicious. This princess dreams of waking up every day of her life with the mission of baking up loks of treats for people. She has sold her scones once, so the dream is 100% possible. Until then, she will serve these scones to her prince.

Breakfast! Whole wheat apple cinnamon.

And he will love them as part of a balanced breakfast. After all, having a morning meal is essential to this princess’s happiness and health. Especially when she can share it with her prince.

Medium rare steak with yuca fries. It's fajita night!

Today we got amazing meat for mor than half the price. I made some fajitas using top sirloin, cooking medium rare. After all, medium rare is the only way you should ever eat good meat. Served with yuca on the side, is really the only way to go.

Mango pico. A great topping for great steak.

And topped with a nice pico made with mango, it was a nice, light fresh meal. Well, for this princess it was kind of light. For the prince…he lovs his yuca, steak, and cheese a bit much.

Black bottomed coconut custard pie.

For dessert, I made a pie. A coconut custard pie with a chocolate bottom.

Pie = happy

The caption says it all. The homemade crust is amazing. Especially with a layer of chocolate on it. Pie crust is a love affair. I cannot belive I once declared myself a non pie person. After making some delicious piece, I am realizing that I am definitely a pie person. I am just a picky pie person!

Weekends are good. Especially those where you cross something important off of your wedding list. Venue = done! Everything else? Don’t even get me started…that’s what more weekends are for.

The princess and the prince have a wedding venue

The venue! Love at first step.

The prince and I had a lovely couple of days in Austin, TX. In fact, it was kind of like a fairy tale. After a few consecutive evenings of fighting over really stupid things, such as which day of the week to have the wedding or how the prince puts his sentences together (I know, I know), we managed to have a great time. We visited a few venues and actually found THE wedding venues. We found our castle and it is definitely us. The Inn at Wild Rose Hall is exactly what we were looking for. We wanted something in Austin, but away from the horrible crowds and traffic. We wanted something that screamed Texas country. We wanted a place where our guests would feel as comfortable and as home as we do there. And, as an added bonus, this venue lets us have the venue from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning! We get to have 12 friends stay with us and we get a nice home base for out pseudo-destination wedding. This means I can cook up Sunday brunch, and we can have a Friday night dress rehearsal PIZZA PARTY if we wanted.

We are both very excited, because now the fact that we are getting married is real.

Drinks at Franks. In jars!

The adventure was also filled with excellent food. Every place was phenomenal. The frist stop: Frank’s. This place has hot dogs. Amazing hot dogs.

The Chicago Hot Dog!

I ordered the Chicago, which has day glo relish, peppers, pickles, onions, tomatos, and mustard on a poppy seed bun. Yum.

Cheese waffle fries.

We shared cheese waffle fries for an appetizer. Like a loaded baked potato, but on crispy, salty waffle fries. I have a love affair with salty things. Especially if they are salty cheesey things.

Vegan chocolate cake. Great ending to a veggie/vegan meal.

The prince even humored his princess and went to my favorite vegetarian restaurant, Mother’s. This place has all vegetarian and vegan options. They have fresh juices (carrot is my favorite), and even terrific vegan desserts such as the chocolate cake we ate. The prince was impressed that he got so full from a vegetarian meal. I was not surprised. I was surprised that I was able to fit so many veggies from my stir fry in my tummy. I also have a love affair with vegetables. And a love affair with chocolate. Okay, maybe it’s just a food thing.

The trip to Austin was a success. Great food, great lodging, great company.

Fried pretzel dough bites.

Back to our castle, dinner consisted of a few delicious items, included little fried pretzel dough bites.

Pretzel bite dipped in mustard. These are addicting!

Dipped in mustard, these little babies were quite addicting. Pretzel dough will be a constant thing in my life from now on.

Broccoli cheese soup.

The main attraction was a broccoli cheese soup. Lots of veggies and broccoli purreed with water and a splash of soy milk. Lots of cheedar and blue cheese made this soup nice and fully and hearty. I topped the prince’s with a dollop of sour cream. The bestg soup I have made to date. But that isn’t saying much, I’m not the best soup maker. Probably because I am not the biggest soup eater.

The original purpose of our trip to Austin was established over a month ago when I found out that NEDA was having a walk in Austin. It was inspirational to be around so many people who struggle with something I have struggled with for years and who want to make their lives better. We were all there to start living our lives, or to support someone whose life has been or is currently taken away by an ed. My prince came with me and that meant a lot. Maybe being fully recovered is a reality, and maybe one day I will get there. Until then, I promise to start taking big steps to living my life, to having more fun, and to just being bigger in all aspects. Stop being so scared!! It’s crazy when the thickest thorns and the scariest dragons are those within your own mind, because those are the hardest to fight.

What if, in extracting these monsters, you lose your mind entirely?

Then again, what is there to lose?