The Watermelon Ceremony

It seems i have more than just my family and friends reading my blog...how flattering (even if they did just stumble across it). As per request an explanation of the watermelon ceremony.

The story goes, the couple doesn't like cake and don't understand the whole process of cutting cake. The problem is most people go to a wedding expecting to see cake and the romantic process. Up until a few days before the wedding there was no cake to be expected, just two huge watermelons (which i bought the night before because Jack forgot to put someone in charge of that one).

Now Jack's wife is Russian and from my understanding her family is very stereotypical Russian. Veering from traditions such as cake cutting with something as different as watermelon made them ask, what is the tradition or ceremony for your family with regards to the watermelon. WELL there is none, it's just Jack...that should be a term, "oh it's just Jack". That question though pushed Jack into the realm of, hmmmmm what can i create. What can i do to make my future family law really question me.

Jack created a story as to what it signifies, made his groomspeople part of the ceremony, one with a blindfold on (ME!) and it ends with everyone chanting watermelon in latin.

To be honest i don't remember what the story is, although it was very elaborate and did have a latin component. But the jist is that the couple cuts the watermelon, they feed it to a blindfolded High Priestess (me) who then, based off of the taste of the watermelon states whether the marriage is valid or not. Or is it whether the marriage will be great or not, whatever i can't remember. Either way none of the guests knew what to think, but there was lots oh laughter! Isn't that the most important part! I think so.

oh and ps: in the end a Russian family member made one...just couldn't handle not having cake.

Thanks for listening :)

Bits of my weekend (numero 3)

Well well well, a fire was lit under my butt when i read Chelsea's Bits of my weekend and she said "go check out shannon" eeeeeee....i needed to get on that one fast!

This was a wedding weekend in the Tdot for me. One of my closest buddies married a fabulous gal....she must be a saint for taking him on.

I was a groomsperson...here are the two other dudes, the groom in the middle and the barbers who shaved their faces and made Jack's life flash before his eyes in fear.

No i didn't wear a suit or tux...this is my FAABBBULOUS dress by Jenny Yoo!

Jack is a sock man. He required all guests to wear miss matched socks. This is J. waiting to go to the wedding.

Here is Jack and Vika and their "Watermelon Ceremony". I almost saw Jack slice off his and his new wife's hand with this fine event.

Anyhoo, i'll keep on tryin'. Be sure to check out Chelsea and Michelle (she's the one that started this business anyways!). Until next weekend!

Bits of my week(end)

I'm on a roll!!

Because my work shift is now changing my weekend starts a bit earlier (thursdays)...so it's still kinda the week. Here goes!

I saw the newest Twilight movie, Eclipse. Laughed pretty hard in a bunch of scenes.

J. and I went to the farmers market. Peaches are lookin' and tastin' mighty good these days. Tomatoes are on their way!

Every other week we get seltzer delivered to our place in old timey bottles. It adds to our lemonade, milk, regular water and beer selection.

First day of new shift breakfast/brunch. super yummy...didn't last me very long in the substantial section though.

Thanks for reading! Check out Chelsea's weekend and Michelle's weekend

Meat, meet me!

First of all i'm not a huge red meat eater. Partly because i know about carbon foot prints, i know i should be eating more veggies, it's expensive, but also a chunk is that i didn't know how to cook it properly, and meat is really best on a grill.

J. has been working really hard to figure out how to grill in our apartment as we have no bbq. It really is one of the saddest most frustrating things about living in an apartment. It's even sadder because it's summer and summer = grilling/BBQing season.

He read and read and presto here is what he made for me...i provided the sides.

Aren't they just so gorgeous (for those of you who enjoy meat)! It was done on our cast iron skillet, our apartment was about 1000 degrees afterwards, but TOTALLY worth it!

Bits of my week(end)

This is my first attempt at this and as we all know i'm not the best blogger...can i make my excuse? We still don't have real internet. Even as i write this i question if my pictures will upload and if this will even make it on the 'net. I'm taking the risk.

Although hard to see this is the Mets vs. Twins game...a big deal as J. is from Minnesota.

This is sand art all done by hand! Crizazy right!? Top right corner you can kinda see him working on the design.

It's so darn hot here i made this cold soba noodle salad. and to accompany it...

PEACH PIE!
Peaches are in season so i thought i'd make a pie...soooo yummy!

I'll see if i can keep this up...no promises though!

2 years...sigh

I have mentioned this before, but J and I aren't really a cutsie couple with other people around, therefore i haven't really been gushing that our 2nd anniversary was approaching. To be honest we don't really know the date we started going out. We met March 9, but one of our first REAL dates was Good Friday and Good Friday switches every year. How do i remember this? Well there was a "parade" he thought might be cool to see. New to both of us we walked the streets of Cobble Hill looking and listening. Low and behold we could hear drum beats and chanting and found this parade. Fast forward to last Friday. After our delicious dinner we were walking around the Cobble Hill area and all of a sudden we hear boom boom boom, and ladies chanting in Italian. We had come across the parade. Awwwwww RIGHT?!! Anyways, there is no way to describe how different this parade is...wait let me rephrase, traditional the parade is. As you may be able to tell from my iphone photos, there is the life size Jesus in his plexiglass casket with thorns, stigmata and all (i'm sure stigmata is not appropriate, but i'm having such a challenging time wrapping my brain around this day) followed by a HUGE Virgin Mary dressed all in black. It's a very solemn parade and it was how J and I celebrated US. I hope we didn't offend too many old ladies when we were smooching on the corner as Jesus was carried by.

a SUPER Super Bowl

Um yes i can say deeeelayed, but let's all be honest here, i'm clearly not writing anything up to date. I'm going through my computer and pulling up all my old pictures and thinking of oh so witty things to say. Super Bowl is not so much of a big deal for me, but i did decide to make a feast for Super Bowl. It consisted of umm CHILI! cornbread, guac (not pictured here b/c we ate it all before i thought about photographing it) and beer. Not sure i'm supposed to be making chili, not the best thing ever, but the corn bread was good. I can't remember if i told you guys about it before but i swear it comes from a higher cooking goddess. I could eat it every day...i won't tell you what's in it (unless you want to know) b/c this will explain why we really can't eat it everyday.

Holy macaroni...i almost forgot to tell you about my "truffles". They were chocolate date and a bunch of other yummy things which i attempted to roll into coconut. Not so easy. I won't make those again. Too hard and doesn't fall into my category of worth my time. But i did love making them because i required using my newest toy. Oh how i love to chop things up now!!

zip zip zip tzatziki

Where to begin. I HATE chopping things up. Ohhhhh how i loooooathe dicing, and slicing and julienning. Second thing on my list to help me in life was to request from Santa a Cuisinart. Santa was very generous to me and my plight. A few weeks after Christmas my 20 some odd pound baby arrived. Shiny, new and ready to make mama happy. Similarly to my big decision when i got my first born baby (my Kitchen Aid mixer) what would i make first? Something memorable and delicious. Something that i'd hate and would never ever make unless i had something to make my life easier. TZZZZZZATZIIKI!!!!! Here is how to make tzatziki with the Cuisinart. Throw it all in, pulse pulse, and eat. K, it's not really THAT easy, but it really did take about 5 minutes to make and i think 4 of the 5 minutes was trying to get the blades on without slicing and dicing my fingers off. It made my garlic so tiny, and the cucumber so slicey and then blended in all the other ingredients to peeeeerfection. I love to throw in all sorts of things to make my life a slice of heaven. hehe, i just can't help myself.

oh and ps: the middle picture is to show that i must have received the brand for those of us who have poor vision and get panicky about slicing too much. The buttons are pretty much fool proof. AAHHHHHH my cucumbers are turning to juice....where is that darned button. Ohhhhh phew, there it is. 3 inches long and in bold silvery letters.

Pizzazy pizza

Seriously, i love to cook, but i HATE hate to wait for things that take too long. Instant gratification is my best friend. Therefore when i found a recipe for pizza dough that didn't take a long time to rise like regular pizza dough i was kinda wow'ed to the max! Now this dough isn't going to be the best dough you've ever tried, but for dough that doesn't require rising this is pretty darn delicious!

Sadly the first time i made this i wasn't in the mind set to document BUT here I am making it again! It's just not a pizza. This is a flatbread. What the difference is i have no idea...maybe the lack of tomato sauce? This is just oil and ingredients.

Here is what i've got goin' on

Butternut squash

pumpkin seeds (i heard that pine nuts is good)

spinach (arugula should be good too!)

red onion

parm. cheese

oil

the recipe for the pizza dough is as such:

3 cup all-purpose flour

1 package of dry active yeast

2 TBSP veg. oil

1 Tsp salt

1TBSP white sugar

1 Cup warm water

mix flour, salt, sugar and yeast in large bowl. add oil and warm water. mix, mix mix. put on the pizza pan and decorate as you'd like.

bake at 375 for 20-25 min.

Now i have made this a couple times since the first and once i added whole wheat flour....pretty much we ate bread with pizza toppings. it was not so nice. I still have to figure out how to convert whole wheat and all-purpose.

Earth Hour

I am starting to drive J crazy. Not only have i started to make him eat things that are organic, not filled with preservatives and introduced him to butter (instead of margarine), but i just started pushing the use of less lights/electricity and a decrease in meat products. The poor man is really starting to get frustrated and i don't blame him. Don't worry the decrease in meat thing is really only me...i'm not taking away all the boy's fun.

Today was Earth Hour. I only remembered after someone in my electronic universe reminded me and asked if she "could watch tv with the lights off and it still count". I laughed a lot b/c any decrease in electricity is better than no decrease correct? J made the point to me that although the lights are off, everything was still plugged in and we were still on the grid. He didn't understand why i would participate, so he left the house for a run and i sat in dark silence and read. It really did make me think though, is earth hour really effective. Having things on and running does increase the amount of electricity used, but is unplugging for an hour worth it all?

I don't use paper towels anymore. I have cut up an old shirt and i use that instead. I wash it and reuse over and over again. My whole idea behind that is i'm decreasing the amount of waste i send out. I guess this can also be said of this Earth Hour concept. Even though it's a small decrease i guess it's a decrease to an extent. Every little bit helps right?

google reader

Sometimes i think i live under a rock with regard to technology. I love to bookmark things, but i don't really have a clue on how to have my computer tell me when people update their blogs. You know, send me a note or just some how make it so blatantly obvious i don't have to go blog to blog and check...enter here Google Reader. Let's rewind a few months ago.

As many of you know i had my Child Life certification exam back at the beginning of November. I do not standardize test well at all. Worst way to measure my knowledge (and many other people for that matter, but that's besides the point). When if finished my exam i thought i was going to throw-up. I was CONVINCED i failed. Really and truly i thought i failed.

Fast forward 2 weeks after the exam. News started to spread that people were getting their results. A friend of mine mentioned someone she knew found out via mail that day. It was around that time of day when our mail is put out. I became so incredibly nervous and freaked out I stood up and while attempting to put lappy (the laptop) on the kitchen table i accidentally decided to let go a few seconds early and drop her on the floor. It was a crack heard around the world...and a long NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

escaping from my mouth...before i quickly sprinted down the stairs.

Sad thing was my mail didn't arrive until the next day, which is where my results were, but that was the day my laptop died. Happiest day (yeah i'm a CCLS) and saddest day of my life. When lappy broke, and never started again, i lost all my favorited bookmarks. I knew i'd get my hard drive pulled out and all the information put into a new laptop (eventually), but some of the hardest things for me to lose are the favorite sites i have. There were hundreds of them. All organized, and labeled, sigh, so beautiful.

As embarrassing as it was, for a long while i couldn't figure out how to find my blog. This is obviously a lame excuse for not writing. The thing is you can't google my name or the title of my blog and find me...i did that as a safety/privacy measure. Apparently I did such a great job i couldn't find myself. Which brings me full circle to Google Reader.

I'm sure there are ways for an email to show up and tell me there is a new blog post, but now that i've got my new computer i've discovered this instead. All my blogs protected for me to read, updating me as they are written. loooove it!

That's all...maybe i'll remain inspired in my writing. i just don't know though. i really do enjoy reading other peoples thoughts and comments on life oh so much more!!

Get in ma belly biscotti's

The idea of having something last a long time without going bad or becoming stale is a very tempting idea for me. Hello i'm the gal who likes to make cookies, roll the dough into balls and freeze them for later use. 10 minutes later in the toaster oven i've got my delicious chocolate cranberry oatmeally cookie treat.

This is why i decided to give this biscotti recipe a go. They said it would last a month! A lot of coffee is consumed in this house and i liked the idea of having this. All i can say is OMG!! I was so excited about making these and how delicious they were i threw myself to the lion and shared my cooking with my grandmother. A not so quiet critic of anyones cooking. I passed the test. Oh wait did i mention this happened months ago...yes these were made before Christmas. Oh yes, i'm a slow writer and finally got my shiznet together. Anyhoo, the story is still true. The short of the long is these biscotti's were delicious and eaaaaaasy to make. I think my motto should be, if it's not easy she won't make it. If anyone is interested in giving this a try let me know i'll track down the recipe. I want to say it was a King Arthur Flour blog recipe...i do get a lot of goodies from them.

my weakness...bread

I don't even remember if i've talked about this, but a whiiiiiiile back i went to two classes held by King Arthur Flour. They taught me how to make bread, and pie crust. WELL i have yet to tackle the pie crust (missing the pie pan...yes it's an excuse). but i have tackled bread twice.

You all saw my first attempt and now i've done a new one.

No-Knead Crusty White Bread

OMG EASY!!!!!! and so delicious i'm trying to stop myself from eating Joe's. The hardest part is waiting the hours upon hours for the dough to rise. BUT if you make the dough before bed it will be ready for morning.

Here is how i see you doing this

1) make dough. put in fridge over night to rise

2)with 1.5-2 hours before needing to walk out the door. get dough ready for the pre-oven rise (40-50 min).

3) put in oven for 30-40 minutes (until brown in color).... EAT EAT EAT!

OR save for dinner that night. This dough lasts for a week or more! How great. it starts to turn to sourdough bread.

*I made the dough last sunday and this morning i made french toast with some of the loaves i made yesterday. nothing like making french toast with your own bread! I swear this is the easiest thing ever (or else i wouldn't be doing it)!

**I tried to add raisins...nothing like crusty raisin bread RIGHT. I would recommend soaking the raisins a bit to increase the juicy factor.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast

Directions

*The flour/liquid ratio is important in this recipe. If you measure flour by sprinkling it into your measuring cup, then gently sweeping off the excess, use 7 1/2 cups. If you measure flour by dipping your cup into the canister, then sweeping off the excess, use 6 1/2 cups. Most accurate of all, and guaranteed to give you the best results, if you measure flour by weight, use 32 ounces.

1) Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, or a large (6-quart), food-safe plastic bucket. For first-timers, "lukewarm" means about 105°F, but don't stress over getting the temperatures exact here. Comfortably warm is fine; "OUCH, that's hot!" is not. Yeast is a living thing; treat it nicely.

2) Mix and stir everything together to make a very sticky, rough dough. If you have a stand mixer, beat at medium speed with the beater blade for 30 to 60 seconds. If you don't have a mixer, just stir-stir-stir with a big spoon or dough whisk till everything is combined.

3) Next, you're going to let the dough rise. If you've made the dough in a plastic bucket, you're all set — just let it stay there, covering the bucket with a lid or plastic wrap; a shower cap actually works well here. If you've made the dough in a bowl that's not at least 6-quart capacity, transfer it to a large bowl; it's going to rise a lot. There's no need to grease the bowl, though you can if you like; it makes it a bit easier to get the dough out when it's time to bake bread.

4) Cover the bowl or bucket, and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours. Then refrigerate it for at least 2 hours, or for up to about 7 days. (If you're pressed for time, skip the room-temperature rise, and stick it right into the fridge). The longer you keep it in the fridge, the tangier it'll get; if you chill it for 7 days, it will taste like sourdough. Over the course of the first day or so, it'll rise, then fall. That's OK; that's what it's supposed to do.

5) When you're ready to make bread, sprinkle the top of the dough with flour; this will make it easier to grab a hunk. Grease your hands, and pull off about 1/4 to 1/3 of the dough — a 14-ounce to 19-ounce piece, if you have a scale. It'll be about the size of a softball, or a large grapefruit.

6) Plop the sticky dough onto a floured work surface, and round it into a ball, or a longer log. Don't fuss around trying to make it perfect; just do the best you can.

7) Place the dough on a piece of parchment (if you're going to use a baking stone); or onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Sift a light coating of flour over the top; this will help keep the dough moist as it rests before baking.

8) Let the dough rise for about 45 to 60 minutes. It won't appear to rise upwards that much; rather, it'll seem to settle and expand. Preheat your oven (and baking stone, if you're using one) to 450°F while the dough rests. Place a shallow pan on the lowest oven rack, and have 1 cup of hot water ready to go.

9) When you're ready to bake, take a sharp knife and slash the bread 2 or 3 times, making a cut about 1/2" deep. The bread may deflate a bit; that's OK, it'll pick right up in the hot oven.

10) Place the bread in the oven, and carefully pour the 1 cup hot water into the shallow pan on the rack beneath. It'll bubble and steam; close the oven door quickly.

11) Bake the bread for 25 to 35 minutes, until it's a deep, golden brown.

12) Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a rack. Store leftover bread in a plastic bag at room temperature.

13) Yield: 3 or 4 loaves, depending on size.

heart heathy pumpy pumpkin bread

After i got over how RIDICULOUSLY hard it was to cut a sugar pumpkin (swear to god i was going to lose a finger or hand and sweat all over the thing) and Joe was late for work trying to help me do this....i got down to business on roasting the pumpkin to then make the faaaaabulous pumpkin bread.

So far most of my recipes are taken from allrecipes.com with modifications either recommended by other people or stuff i think would be yummy in it. I made this one because with all the bread J and I are consuming in the breakfast department i wanted something that was good for us, but also had some substantial substance that i could eat this with peanut butter and feel full for a while. I made this as bread (because i don't have muffin tins), but this would also be great in muffin cups to make portion control less of an issue.

here she be:

1 small sugar pumpkin, seeded (about 15 oz---if you go for the canned version)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oats

3/4 cup white sugar (agave nectar would be great in this...but i don't know the conversion)

• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup apple sauce
• 3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Split pumpkin in half. Remove seeds and strings. Place on baking sheet, cut side down. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven until tender, about 90 minutes. Remove pumpkin pulp and puree in blender. Measure out 2 cups pumpkin puree; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, stir together flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together 2 cups pumpkin puree, apple sauce and eggs. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

This bread is full of spices...in a good way it's spicey. You may want to decrease the nutmeg, clove and allspice. I liked it like this though.