Lemon Tart

what the tart is supposed to look like (image from whisksandwhimsy)

I took a stab at a tart today. I guess you could call it a tart, even though i didn't use a tart pan (i don't have one but i improvised and used a glass 1in deep pie pan). This recipe seemed simple enough and I was once again gifted a bunch of Meyer lemons. (They are now my new favorite thing for everything! sweet and tangy you can't go wrong) So I had told my co-worker that gave me lemons that I would try this tart. So I am.
I'm not going to say this tart was easy to make, but it also wasn't hard. The fact is that it is time consuming, which i really don't mind usually, but today i was annoyed by it.
Any way my tart is cooling so pictures will follow and i ran into a problem with the filling not hardening. I actually wrote the woman at whisksandwhimsy to see if this might be normal. So as soon as I know you should know. The recipe is really simple to follow and i think had I actually used all the materials I was supposed to then I wouldn't have had any problems. 

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes, room temperature
1 egg

Filling:
Zest of 2 lemons
3/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 3-4 lemons)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, plus 1 yolk
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

Garnish:
6 ounces fresh raspberries
2 teaspoons sugar
Powered sugar for dusting

happy baking

-M

FOOD!

If only you could taste this picture... you would DIE! El Rose Panderia is to die for. Tamales, cookies, Pan dulce, candy, everything!

Homemade Acai Bowl... not as good as Cafe Brazil in Santa Cruz, but on a budget it will do.

Even though I sometimes hate how hip and trendy Verve Coffee Roasters is they do make a mean hot chocolate! YUM

Burger and fries from paradise beach grille in Capitola. I'm not a big fan of this place but the food is really good... so I'll deal with all the drunk, snooty people that dine there.

Fondue

If you want to have a heart attack while simultaneously eating one of the best things you have ever tasted, order this from Paradise grille. A cheese cake, rapped in puff pastry, covered in hot caramel, with vanilla bean ice-cream, and fried bananas.... yea

As you can probably tell lately I have been consuming tons of food.... It may seem a little gluttonous, but I promise it's totally under control ( I think ). I have been on a roll making things from scratch as well as just going out. I have become really good at procrastinating on my homework...."Well I'm hungry, and how can I possibly think of doing any work if I don't have a full stomach. Guess I have to make a home made pizza and wait for the dough to rise, OH WELL"  (one of many thought processes I have had)

I thought it might be fun to share with you some of the things I have either purchases or made myself. All of them are worth trying, and if you like it then it's really a win win scenario at that point.

From lovin in the oven I found an amazing Monster Marshmallow Cookie recipe, that I just so happen to have all the ingredients for. Well to be fair Colman's family had all the ingredients and in a failed attempt to wake him from his 3 HOUR  NAP! I started bakin' up these bad boys. These were really quick, and the only "problems" I ran into was when I tried to push the minnie marshmallows into the dough. It just didn't work, so I kinda pushed them in then covered them with more dough. I am also not really big on how something looks, I'm more about the taste. These defiantly won me over I will make them again

I halved the recipe because 4 dozen is just way too many for Sam and I, but I will put the link for the full recipe on here as well. I also didn't use white chocolate chips because I think they are disgusting (and I didn't have any) but mostly because they are gross.

1/4 Teaspoon Baking powder

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Pinch of salt (I didn't add this)

1 Stick unsalted butter (8TBS), softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 packed brown sugar

1 egg at room temp

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract (the original calls for more)

1/4 cup peanut butter (I added a tad more for more of a peanut butter taste)

1 cup quick-cooking oats

1 cup chocolate chips

minnie marshmallows

1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 

Stir together: Flour, Baking powder, Baking soda in a large bowl

Cream butter and Sugars until fluffy, Beat in egg, then add vanilla

Add peanut butter and mix until smooth.

Mix in flour mixture until just combined.

Stir in oats and chips with a wooden spoon.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto baking sheet, then push in 4-5 marshmallows (or in my case don't)

Bake for about 10-12 minutes depending on your oven it could be more or less.

Next thing I made recently was a pizza and calzone. Both of which were so good, but it is pizza so you can't really go wrong. Having to make dough, and deal with yeast has been the reason why I haven't made homemade pizzas yet. I stumbled upon the cooking blog simplyscratch and it changed my view on pizza making all together. She makes it so understandable and easy to make bread type things. I followed her recipe for homemade calzones but made a pizza dough out of half instead of two calzones. It worked out just fine too, so I'm basically a winner. Sam loved the pizza and I loved the calzone and the pizza!

Hope you weren't hungry

-M

Hobbies

I never thought I had a real hobbie. Sam and I have actually had very many discussions about this very subject. It always amazed him that I don't really have a hobbie (well at least I thought I didn't), being that he has so many. Fear not friends I have learned that I DO in fact have a hobbie! It's cooking/baking/having fun with food things.
I realized that it really relaxes me and I actually enjoy cooking things. If i have free time I am usually baking or cooking up something. Yesterday was no different, we were stuck inside the house ALL DAY because my little Shmee love is sick. We didn't want to be out in the windy cold air, so we walked to the store down the street and bought some supplies for salsa. After making my favorite food in the world-- Pico De Gallo-- I decided I was not done making things. So I moved on to the world of baked goods. I was gifted a bunch of yummy meyer lemons, so I searched the web (mainly pinterest) to find a good little treat that I  could make out of very little ingredience. I ended up finding this recipe for blueberry lemon scones, from the website budgetbytes (I love love love this site if you haven't looked at it yet do it now!) These were so easy and quick to make. They were dangerously good! I would have eaten almost all of them had I not wanted to give some to the woman at my work. thank goodness for that. I didnt make my scones in the traditional triangle shapes, i chose a heart shape from my crate and barrel year of cookie cutters. Next time I think I will mix it up a little and do a few different shapes.
Happy Baking
-M

Pre-baking



After baking and decorating



Have you missed me?

I really can't keep this thing up anymore, this is due to the fact that my life is full of other tedious and boring things. I am only going to share the fun, more interesting things that have been going on in let's say the last month. (I think it's been that long since I've posted.. oops)

Snowboarding

This is one of the hardest things (besides surfing) that Sam has taught me how to do. When I'm snowboarding I find myself cussing a lot! And as always dreading getting off and on the lifts... why is it so dang hard and intimidating? Any way the "other Nowlins" treated us a few weeks ago to a weekend of snow fun. It was so great to get away and just have a break before school started and hang out with family and friends. I got to try out my new board which I am proud to say is AMAZING! Thank you Dave and Michelle for the amazing gift, I will probably use it until i die (which might happen soon...dang lifts)

The Crew

Happy couple

New board!

The view.

Oh and It was Daves birthday!

I can't really explain how much fun we had on this trip. It was really great and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Life is good.

(for those of you that read this and went on this trip, I KNOW it was forever ago but like i said life is boring now.)

-M

So much catch up

As I sit here wrapped up in a Raiders snuggie I'm realizing how much I've done since the last time I blogged. And thinking, woah, we have had some busy weeks lately. Filled with lots of fun and lots of work. I guess you can't have one with out the other these days. I don't really know where to start...

Welp here goes nothin.

We happen to have a mold problem, it's really annoying and really gross. It seems that no matter how much we clean and clean and clean, it doesn't get any better. Yes, it does go away but always comes back with a vengeance! We finally got the guts to tell our manager. This might have been because I wasn't able to sleep in our room anymore. I would be up all night sneezing, coughing, and having trouble breathing. So, we moved out onto the living room floor. Sleeping on the floor in the living room is sort of fun, but I was really missing my bed. And cuddle time was always a little painful on the floor. So, we finally tell the manager and he didn't do very much but tell us, "it's comes with living by the coast" and gave us some cleaning products and a little heater. Oh well we are back in our bed and I am breathing much better and cuddle a lot more.

Floor life.

Just a little peek at SOME of the mold.

Now something a little lees yucky and a little more happy.

I have had a lot of "firsts" in the new year. You know like your first kiss or your first ice cream cone. Mine happen to be my first Supercross and my first San Jose Sharks game. I dont know very much about Supercross or hockey but we had some loving people that wanted to take us out on the town and so we jumped at the chance.

I'll begin with Supercross, first there is some AWESOME people watching at these things I mean really it's so great. Being that for me this was my first ever trip to supercross I didn't really know what to expect and I didn't expect that I would be so into it. This might have something to do with the fact that we all bet on who would win at the beginning of the race (just so you know I won the bet). It was a good time and a new experience which is never something to complain about. And there were garlic fries so all was right in the world.

Dave liked the people watching so much he brought binoculars.

Princess Michelle

They are so hip

The love birds

How we really felt about supercross.

Now my second "first", does that make sense?? I hope so because I'm just going with it. 

Chelsea Fenwick was luck enough to be picked by twin lakes to receive some tickets to see the San jose Sharks. Not just any tickets but some amazing club seats, where you can really get into the action! I am luck enough to be her friend, and that she asked Sam and I to join her. Sam and I ended up betting on this game too, and once again I WON!!!! I didn't know that hockey could be so fun and violent. Oh and the people watching here was pretty dang amazing, not as good as supercross but defiantly good. The sharks ended up winning and we all had a good time.

This guy was so happy we were here

I was kinda late getting in the pic

Shark waving a shark flag

Those are my feet and that is the ice... you do the math

So handsome 

Such a babe

Who let an angel in?

We are fun.

Our shark friend

Ok I have lots more to blog about but I think it will be a little of over load. So, until next time

-M