I'm on hormones & my dog is on Prozac.....

Well, I was going to write this yesterday, but as usual life got in the way.  So here I am, at midnight, sitting here in the bonus room while someone finishes his homework.  Talk about moral support!  What a good wife I am!  'We' had a paper to work on tonight!  YAY!  It's nice to know I can still pump out the BS when I need to - and I'm really digging the Zebra red ink pen that I got to use to edit the 11 page nightmare - so I guess there are a few pluses to the evening! 

What a great date night huh? :o)  When B signed up to do the grad school thing online - full time - I thought - cool.  He'll do homework and I'll read or bake!  What a great deal that is right?  Sometimes though, even when I don't want to get sucked in, it happens.  The stress grows, the Bubbies are uneasy and I just have to help.  That's all I'm doing though I promise you....my brain isn't up to doing real work at night these days.  I took today off too - and I'm post my massage - so you know my brain and muscles are just useless due to 'you know who'! (I'm still working on her nickname!  On a side note, the Botox seems to have helped my right wing, so here's hoping it's going to get better! Yipee!)

At one time, earlier in life, I thought it was the thing to do to go and get my MBA - I even took the GMATs.  Did pretty well on those as I recall, but I never went to school - was planning on Loyola in MD too.  Got sidetracked though when I was transferred down to the big ATL and all thoughts of school went right out the window!  I mean really, why would I go to school when I could go to Moe's & Joe's and drink cheap PBR?  Silly people!

Of course my path changed many times over the next few years and I ended up in Culinary School instead of grad school. I guess if I had to do it over, I might have let my old company pay for my MBA, but I would have hated doing it.  Seriously.  IF I was to ever go back to school, to would be to study something I know nothing about.  To go to get my MBA now would be tough - I'd probably argue with the teachers and get mad at my books because they weren't real life examples and weren't 'true!'

Maybe I'll go back and learn Gaelic - have always wanted to do that....then I could understand some of my favorite music.  Or maybe I could go take a knitting class - nah.  I'd break the needles - not enough patience for that.  I've got it, belly dancing! :)  HA!  I'd need MUCH more than Botox to even think about doing that!

Perhaps I'll just sit tight for now and keep my red pen handy and keep baking those cookies.  They do help B get through those long haul nights like tonight!

SO for now, I'll leave you with this...I'm on hormones, my dog is on Prozac (another story to come), I'm typing this at almost 12:30AM and B is yelling at me about how on-line is supposed to be spelled....you reckon I have enough to write my first book yet????  :o)

Night Ya'll and Happy Friday/Saturday morning to you!

Mousse Anyone?

Left -Toll House Cookie Bars

Right - Gluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

Baking is my zen time.  Call me crazy, but when I have a really bad day, week etc....I bake.  Now my baking style has kind of morphed over the last year because of the gluten free thing, but I still love it.  I typically will play with a gluten free recipe for something I'm craving and then bake something for B (and anyone else he'll share with!)

Most people these days don't care to bake and think it takes too much effort.  When you can buy ready made dough or frozen treats, why go through the effort of measuring, sifting, and mixing?  I get that.  But when I see how excited people can be over a simple Snickerdoodle or a Chocolate Chip Cookie, it seems silly to not go through a little more effort.

When I was in culinary school, I will cop to the fact that I coasted through my 'regular' classes, just to learn more about baking.  There were only a few baking 'types' in my class, so when we got to our baking & pastry class, everyone else was in hell.  It was so much fun making things like pain au chocolate and mousse until it came out my ears.

During my preparation time for my final semester 'exam' I think I made at least 100 batches of mousse, (thanks Margaret!) trying to perfect my recipe.  I don't think I've made mousse in 15 years - and I KNOW I haven't made pain au chocolate since 1996!  Sometimes you can just kill a recipe I guess.

I love to play with small desserts - the kind with immediate gratification potential - like cookies, brownies or muffins.  With a cake, you have to pray it's cooked correctly, ice it and then cut it.  Too much stress there.  It's much easier to make a cupcake or a cookie and know whether or not it's turned out - plus they bake much faster and give you a quick fix when you need it.

Oddly enough, I've never craved sweets (under normal non-hormonal circumstances that is).  I'm a salt craver and would prefer a slice of cheese and some pretzels over a cookie.  However, now that I can't eat wheat I, of course, crave sweets.  How ironic - and typical for me!   So now, I'm on a mission to create gluten free baked goods that don't make the consumer feel like they're eating gluten free!

Bryan is a trooper and is more than happy to be my 'sampler' - of course the Bubbies like to do that too!

 

So for now, until I figure out the secret to gluten free baking, I'll keep my day job and bake at night and on weekends.  In the meantime, keep your eye on Facebook.  You never know when I'm going to post that I baked something and there might be a delivery over the fence for you!

Think Happy Thoughts!

Every night I sit and stare at a blank space to ready start a new post and then I just start typing.  Tonight I stared more than usual.  There are hundreds of unorganized thoughts running through my mind right now.  So much so, that I've decided to turn off my brain and just focus on the things that bring a smile to my face today.  I thought I'd list a few things that make me happy and hope that as Gandhi says, that those thoughts will become my destiny!

1. Ted Hawkins - his voice can sooth what ails you.  I was introduced to his music the year he died sadly, but I'm still a huge fan.  I could listen to him sing the phone book.  One of my favorites is called Big Things.  He wrote most of his music and was a street performer for years until he hit the 'big time', sort, of in Europe.  Here's a link to one of my favorites on YouTube :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pO8GlpvzyE  I highly recommend his Next Hundred Years CD.

2.  Murphy (my parent's new poochie, aka my little brother) got a new haircut today.  Since my parents did a DNA test on him - yes they did - and found out he was a Japanese Poodle (long story) they decided to get his hair cut in a poodle cut.  I won't humiliate him by showing the full cut, although he did look super cute.  I've included my favorite part, his feet.  They gave him a really close cut on his paws and not his legs, thereby giving him a leg warmer effect.  He has hooves now! :)  Very cute.

3.  I had heard about the chocolate restaurant/bar at the Ritz in Charlotte.  So today, I did a bit more research and now I think it will be come my favorite place in Uptown!    Bar Cocoa, here I come!!! 

4. Cape Cod  - specifically Chatham and the Lighthouse Beach!  I love beach roses...this is the beach where sharks are each summer.  It's directly across the street from the Chatham Lighthouse and one of my favorite spots on the Cape.

5. Queen Elizabeth - She's just an amazing, graceful lady.  

I wish I could have created a boondoggle to go to the UK for work for her Diamond Jubilee!  Her family and country loves her...that says enough.

6.  And finally, a brain dump...Cake Boss and Rizzoli & Isles are back on, my hydrangeas are blooming and it's been raining nicely outside.  I have great friends and family - who are both supportive and patient.  Team McGowan - need I say more.  I have good health insurance and orange creamsicles in the freezer.  Dominos still makes a great gluten free pizza (Sorry Anna) and my friend Missy is having another baby boy!  (I can't wait to meet Sawyer's little brother!) Terry comes tomorrow, all Dropkick Murphys music and all music in general depending on the mood.  Lastly, that I have the ability to not fix everything.  Sometimes, you just gotta let it ride....

Here's my view as I type - does it get better than this???  B and a Bubbie..down for the night.

Sweet dreams ya'll.