Folding Screen

I've been wanting a folding screen for a while. Well, I came across a stenciled folding screen in the newest Martha Stewart magazine. The screen was attractive and chic. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be cost effective. So, I made my own stencil, bought some paint, bought a folding closet door- I had the material. However, the outcome was less than martha stewart worthy.

My project was much more cost effective. The stencil listing in the instruction was $50 +. My stencil was the cost of a pack of plastic ($3.00). I didn't use the gold wallpaper she suggested nor the more expensive paints. Maybe a poor man's martha. Maybe I'm just useless. Anyways, I can now sit at my desk and ignore the allure of my bed. Mission accomplished!

Chicken Salad

When looking for a recipe Marthastewart.com is usually the first place I turn to. However her recipes can call for ingredients that are expensive and/or hard to find. I don't mind paying more for quality but I do have issues with blind faith. I HATE spending more on recipes that just do not work. My experience with Martha Stewart's recipes are that they are either complete hits or complete disasters. Anyways I branched out to foodnetwork.com to try a few recipes. The first was a chicken salad recipe. Ode to chicken salad I do thee, Let me count the ways - and all that jazz. In simple form I imaged chicken salad to just be mayo, chicken, and celery. In fact, freshmarket sells some of the best chicken salad I have had, and appears to be a rather simplistic recipe. Here is the recipe I used from foodnetwork. Admittedly I wasn't overly impressed the first night but over time I have become fond of this recipe.


4 cups diced poached chicken, recipe follows
1 stalk celery, cut into 1/4-inch dice
4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced or 1/4 cup sweet onion cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon or fresh dill
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 cup prepared or homemade mayonnaise
2 teaspoons strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

In a mixing bowl, toss together the chicken, celery, scallions and herbs. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Add to the chicken and mix gently until combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Cook's Note: Serve on a bed of lettuce with sliced tomatoes, in half an avocado or in a chicken club sandwich made with artisanal bread, crispy smoked bacon, vine-ripened tomatoes and lettuce.

POACHED CHICKEN FOR SALADS
10 sprigs parsley
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 small onion, halved
1 small carrot, halved
1 stalk celery, halved
3 pounds chicken breasts halves, on the bone and fat trimmed
5 to 6 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned

Put the parsley, thyme, onion, carrot, celery, and chicken breasts in a medium saucepan. Cover with the broth, and bring just to a boil. Lower the heat to very low and cover. Poach the chicken for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove the pan from the heat, uncover, cool the chicken in the liquid for 30 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and reserve the liquid. Bone and skin the chicken and cut the meat into 1 inch cubes. Discard the bones and skin.
Strain the broth and store, covered, in the refrigerator for 3 days or freeze for later use. Remove any fat from the surface of the broth before using. Yield: 4 cups cubed chicken or 4 to 6 servings


Changes I made and things to keep in mind:
* table salt is not a substitute for kosher sale, the latter having less of a salt taste.
* I added apple slices, red grapes, and walnut which I think were of benefit to the recipe. This also increases the serving size. I would say the serving size is more like 6-8.
* I didn't use any dill
* I used dried thyme for the broth.

Wedding Cake

What do you think?

The Boy and I took a second Wilton's cake class at Micheal's this summer. They ran some special and so the class only cost $7 (material excluded). I'm going to try to make my own wedding cake next fall and so I was trying out flavors and techniques of tiering cakes. I used dowel sand the cake made it all the way home from Micheal's. Some of the forums I have read are absolutely against dowels but they have been used long before any of the other methods. I also learned fondant in this class. The boy really likes the look and I have to agree. We wanted to try another brand fondant but living in the middle of no where the only cake place that I thought might have it was only open Sundays. Have you ever heard of a store being open only on Sunday. The Church of all plastic brides and grooms.

The cakes are vanilla white butter cake with strawberry buttercream, Red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and Chocolate butter cake with chocolate cherry ganche. Minus the red velvet cake the two cakes were wonderful bakehouse recipes (I believe that's the name). The chocolate cherry ganache and the cream cheese icing were Martha Stewart Recipes. What I learned:
* I much prefer cake recipes from scratch because they are more dense and honestly I find them easier to work with. They also don't have the excessive RISE on the top of the cake. There may be ways around this but with scratch this isn't an issue.
*I thought the two wonderful bakehouse recipes were GREAT. Especially the White butter cake. * If you are using vanilla from Walmart or you local grocery store change to Madagascar Vanilla. It is more expensive but is comparable. I've been cooking and baking more and more in my old age and better ingredients make for better foods.
* I made my own kirtsch cherries because I couldn't find them, so the error of this recipe may be mine. Either way I did not love the chocolate cherry ganache. The cream cheese icing was good.
* Simple syrups are a trick to keep cakes moist.
* Unsalted butter is used because salt acts as a preservative . By buying unsalted butter you unsure fresher butter.
*Harder to find, but european unsalted butter is a key ingredient in baking cakes and making fresh buttercream. Generic brands are not best. When I opened the wrapped of the european butter I was honestly knocked out by the fresh smell of butter. Aren't aromas half the fun of cooking?
* The cakes came out better when I coated the pans with shortening and then placed a wax paper circle on the bottom or the cake.
* Easier to prepare if you let them stay in the fridge overnight.

computer crash

My computer crashed about a week and a half ago. Things like this happen. No shock there. However, it appears I won't be able to get the data off the harddrive. I'm pretty computer savvy but I am losing hope fast. My last computer failed when I moved here so I pulled off the data from that harddrive and so my computer life starts where I left off 3 years ago. Maybe a new beginning is a good thing for my computer and for me. I purchased a warranty with this computer which expires in a month. Did I luck out there or what? In the end I got a brand new hard drive and a mother board. Essentially a new computer. I totally could not afford to buy a desktop at this point in my life so, "amen". I would commend Dell for there customer response and resolution. It's hard to think about all the things I have lost by this incident but I'm trying not to DwELL.

Valentine's Day Swap

I mentioned earlier that I participated in the Valentine swap on weddingbee.com. A lot of the cards have been blogged about today--as it is Valentine's day. There are all looking soo amazing. Well, Here are a few that I got!They really made my day.



This one is from Mrs. Lemon!


And here is one my mom sent me today! I had sent her the Victorian card that I made.

Front:



Inside:

Wedding Crafts

There a few crafts that are more wedding related that are on my wedding blog. Right now it is limited but as the planning process goes on the projects will get more in depth.

Check them out:

http://luckyky.blogspot.com/

Long time no see Clearance aisle

Okay, so Ive been trying to stay away from the stores and well that means I haven't been able to buy stuff for crafts ! :-o... Okay that was a bit of a fib. I have been to some stores, I have just been trying to avoid the ones I just know I have to buy something at. Well, yesterday I broke down and found a few lovelies at the local cracker jaxx store. In the clearance room I found these two characters. I have been admiring the one rabbit for some time but was broken so I moved on. The little girl as too cute. So as I saw them standing together waiting for a new home I said, "okay, you can come home with me. You're 50% off the lowest price. You have sold yourself. "

This next little tree was by the door and I just happen to pass on my way out. I almost made it out of the store, but your beauty was too much ! I love the vintage look and since it was 20% off days at cracker jaxx I said, " you'll look good on my bathroom vanity, and better than that you won't need watering everyday!"



What do you think?