Sunday, January 16, 2011

May the Force Be With You

So at about 4am my sweet Bella Rue is barking her butt off in the living room. Bella NEVER barks. So I wake Jim up to investigate. I throw on my Cal sweatshirt and search for the nearest weapon. Do I grab a gun, a baseball bat, a knife? Oh no. Mama grabbed.....the light saber. Whoever was in my house was in for it. I was gonna go all Luke Skywalker on their ass. Jim looks at me and goes, what are you gonna do with that?' I say, bash their freakin' head in. Feeling brave, I walk out first and am confronted with my 18 year old Vincent. He looks at me, looks at the light saber and says, what the hell are you gonna do with that?" The force is weak with this one. So light saber in hand, I boldly walk into the living room to find....Bella barking at a deflated balloon. Good thing it was a balloon because I can swing the crap out of light saber. All those years of playing 'Star Wars' with my brother using a gift wrapping tube with a flash light jammed in the end paid off. Yes, we were poor so we couldn't afford a 'real' saber. But we adapted. This is a warning for those who are thinking about robbing my humble abode. You will die. And it will be painful. Have you seen what can be done with a light saber? It ain't pretty. I'm just saying, Luke got his hand whacked off with one and it looked pretty painful.

On a happier note, I have been on a roll in the kitchen. I have been whipping up some fantastic goodies in the kitchen. Case in point: I made this delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup last night courtesy of the oh so talented Martha Stewart or who I so affectionately refer to as, Mawthah.


This was so so good and the perfect comfort food in this cold foggy weather. Love me some Mawthah.

Last weekend it was homemade minestrone which was amazingly simple to make.

So I have ventured off the path of just making baked goods and moved into actual food. And I am in HEAVEN. It is so rewarding to put something together and have it come out absolutely delicious and have my family like it.

Now these delightful little things are homemade cinnamon rolls. And I don't mean that Pillsbury crap you bang on the counter to open. I mean real, honest to goodness homemade cinnamon rolls. O h m y G O D. It just isn't right that I learned to make these. And they are to DIE for.


This recipe came from my new favorite cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond. Seriously the best $25 I have EVER spent. Ree is on the premier issue of Where Women Cook Magazine and she is truly amazing. She has a ton of fabulous recipes with step by step illustrations of how to do each recipe. This is great because you can actually see how it is supposed to look. Check out her website at ThePioneerWoman.Com. She also has some of her recipes on her site. Amazing stuff.

Another excellent magazine is the Food Network Magazine. It has some great recipes and no outlandish ingredients that you wouldn't be able to get at your local supermarket.

And yes, I am still crafting. I have gotten together weekly for the last few weeks with the gals and we have been creating like crazy. So much fun. Friday night we were at Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley which is the BEST scrapbook store in the Bay Area. They truly have anything you could think of. Stamps, paper, altered art. Just a scrapper's heaven.

Alright, now go get your light saber, put on your apron and start cooking!!!! If you want any of these recipes, drop me a line and I'll shoot them to ya! Bon apetit!!!

2 comments:

Lora Oliver said...

Tabba! I could SMELL the cinnies through the computer! I was totally in tears over the Light Saber story. The intruder didn't stand a chance. Sorry I missed you the other night at Territory. =( Just been missing you in general. Glad to hear all is well.

Tab said...

LORA!!! I miss ya girl!!! I haven't seen you in so long! Let me know the next time you're going to SBT and I will definitely make an effort to be there. Hope all is well with you. Take care!