Happy Birthday Kayla!!

Making Baking Memories

   Dear World
       I really do love baking.  I devour different baking websites and blogs drooling over all of the wonderful things I have yet to attempt to make.  The Holiday season gave me plenty of excuses to consume try my hand at making different treats.  It's been a bit of a dry spell in the baking realm of my life since then. Thankfully a birthday is the perfect excuse to bust out the pans and turn on the oven! Kayla (one of my three roommates) turned twenty today. I asked her earlier this week what she would like for her birthday treat.  She requested a cheesecake (because they are delicious) but I have already made a few of those this year and I was looking forward to trying out something new.  I asked if there was anything else she might like and she suggested vanilla cupcakes w/vanilla frosting; if that doesn't get the creative juices flowing I don't know what else would! haha I began wondering what I could do that would be new to me and still please the birthday girl.  Cheesecake cupcakes obviously!! Not a revolutionary idea, I know.  It was a new recipe for me though (which      is why I ended up with TONS of leftover graham cracker crumbs.... fruit crisp tomorrow? definite possibility).  I needed to let the cream cheese sit out a bit longer but they still ended up being pretty tasty. Kayla loved them and that's what matters to me!! 

                                           Not done Getting Crafty!!!! 
                        
    Over the weekend.....
I really wanted to make something for Kayla's birthday gift rather than buying her something she may not want.  I love making gifts for people when I can.  My mother has a craft room, that's right and ENTIRE room decorated to crafts.  I am not complaining!  I have a bunch of plain canvases in my room so I decided to try and put one to use.  Kayla loves orange, keith urban (and country music in general) and dolphins.  Step 1: I painted the canvas orange, starting strong! Step 2: I stared at an orange, almost blank slate.  I stared some more.  I stared some more, then I looked at pictures of Keith Urban, then I stared some more.  Finally I ended up with this creation....

I think she likes it! It's always a challenge to make a decoration for someone specific, at least it is for me. The flower element was something that I was really pleased with (I made it by folding individual strips of paper).  At the very list this fits perfectly in her orange room :)  Thanks Kayla for giving me excuses to flex my crafty muscles!! I hope you have an Amazing Birthday.
                                                                             -feeling celebratory
                                                                               Andrea

I love tortillas. really. LOVE

Oh and I like LOVE CHEESE (I mean it's okay I guess...)

                                                                                    Dear World,

          < So Breakfast of champions am I right??? I made my roommate some cheesecake cupcakes last night for her birthday (I'll show pics once I get to eat one ...yummmmmm). What does that have to do with a breakfast burrito? Not a lot to be honest. The common denominator: eggs. When I bake I buy the half dozen carton of eggs (I try not to eat eggs too often even though they are wonderful). Well sad news, I open up my little carton and gracefully managed to break two of the six eggs on my trip home (I'm assuming it was me lol). Two of the good eggs went into the cupcake batter and the other two, well the other two momentarily went into my turkey container (the carton was NASTY! not salvageable I promise). In the morning I decided they might as well just go into my belly. Thank goodness I had decided to splurge on an avocado when I was at the store last night, oh and tomatoes. We also happened to have a little onion in the fridge and I had cheese!!! Too bad I used up my mushrooms last night but this was still a stellar breakfast treat. You may notice a little Frank's sauce peeking out in the background, yeah that went all over this burrito. Time to buy some sort of habanero sauce but Frank's does have a great flavor.

  Tasty looking dinner too ehh?>                                         So I am trying to be a healthier person (it really comes and goes but I want to develop good life habits and now is the time right??) which is the reason for my whole wheat tortillas (you thought I was going to talk about the vegetables didn't ya? Come on veggies are delicious!!! Especially mushrooms..and asparagus, and tomatoes <fruit right? w/e you get it...). Well earlier this year I bought some sort of multi grain tortillas. NOT IMPRESSED. I'm sorry, healthy does not mean sacrificing flavor. The texture was off (and I love multigrain bread! I promise) and I was always just a little disappointed with the creations I made using those tortillas. Well I was all ready to get flour tortillas but I decided that I would give whole wheat a chance. SO MUCH BETTER. That is a cheese and pear concoction right there (in case you were curious). I did not sacrifice ANY flavor with this one. Quite the tasty dinner I'd say. Fits right in with College Cuisine.

Best College Group Ever

 Hey There World,
    I am a sophomore at ASU.  I really do love college, but my first semester Freshman year was missing something.  Let me give you a little background.  In high school I was in Student Government, NHS, Theater (the best!!!), and I was pretty much busy all of the time.  I jumped into ASU ready to make new friends and just psyched for some new adventures.  I quickly realized that I just need to belong to some sort of club or extracurricular activity or I go CRAZY.  I was tempted to join a sorority (but they are pricey!!!) but I wasn't really sure that I would fit in or that I was willing to make the time commitment.  Greek life just didn't seem to be the fit that I was looking for (plus it's expensive!!).  I tried out a marketing club for one meeting, then I remembered that I HATE selling things and that I already attend enough lectures during the day..... anywho I obviously decided to keep looking.  My business 101 class required a trip to the business clubs' fair... nothing screamed out to me there either (mayhaps my ambition could use some revamping? I don't know but I wanted something that was more about fun!).  To be honest I didn't look very hard.  I perused the ASU's club website but that was the extent of my research.  Lucky for me a boy I was interested in (lame huh? We all do it, don't judge) was a part of a very small community service group, Alpha Phi Omega (APO), and coincidentally a girl that was in STUGO with me in high school was also a member.  I asked my roommate to go with me to the info meeting and we both decided to give this group a go.  The pledging process was very simple: weekly meetings, 20 hours of community service, 10 hours of fellowship, a test, and participating in planning a service, fellowship or fundraising event as a pledge class (oh and $80 MUCH CHEAPER than actually going greek.  Such a plus!!).  As it happens things did not work out with the boy (surprised aren't ya?).  Instead, I am pleased to say, I met one of my very best friends in the whole world.  She went to my high school and I was friends with her twin sister but we didn't become friends until last year. Weird how things work that way huh?  I am really thankful for APO though.  We have the opportunity to do so many different types of service, meet people we otherwise wouldn't have a chance to meet, along with a bunch of fun things that I probably would not get around to planning on doing myself.  Last semester we went camping, to a conference in Cali, and made out with a free night of laser tag (thank you ASU for the student funds).  Last semester I was Historian and Membership V.P. and this semester I am giving Fellowship V.P. a go.  I really help I can successfully plan some fun events!! This week is our rush week and I am so excited to figure out what group of pledges we end up recruiting.  I just thought I had better give a little background on APO because I'll probably end up talking about it time to time (or all the time, whatever...).  Plus isn't this just a fine looking group of people ;) ?
                                                                   -Not quite fratty  APO
                                                                    Andrea

Fish Taco

Dear World,
    One day long ago (or last week), I decided that I really wanted a delicious creamy sauce to top off my chicken sandwich.  I love sauces I really will never understand how people enjoy eating food as plain as humanly possible.  You are missing out people!!!! Back to my no sauce dilemma.  I had Frank's Sauce which is freaking delicious, but I also wanted something creamy... hmmm what to do what to do? Then my plain greek yogurt jumped out at me and I had an epiphany.  Yes, mixing a little Franks into a little greek yogurt made a DELICIOUS sandwich topping.  I highly recommend it! Unless, you know, you are one of those "I prefer plain people" borrring! You may be asking yourself what this can possible have to do with fish tacos.  Good question world.  Well, as you may have noticed, my fish taco has a partner in crime sitting right next to it.  You guessed it, I decided to give the greek yogurt a second go.  This morning I woke up and marinated my fish in a little lime juice with cilantro and some lemon pepper salt, pretty tasty.  As I said, I like sauces, makes life interesting.  The second half of the lime juice went into a bit of yogurt as did some chopped cilantro.  I was not confident in this concoction (nor was I really eager to taste it after my bowl of oatmeal....).  Into the fridge went my fish and its sauce companion and off I went to school crossing my fingers that I would end up with an edible meal in the evening.  I'm sure you are all pleased to know that the sauce set up a bit more throughout the day and definitely added to my taco (which  just realized totally would've benefitted from a few beans :( next time readers, next time).  I was pretty pleased with this evening's meal and I am glad it was light because I was a lucky girl and went to FREE PIE NIGHT at village inn later on.  What a tough life eh?
                                                            -just a little saucy
                                                             Andrea

College Cuisine!! What's not to love?

Chicken Melt

College Cuisine 
yummmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Dear World,

             Last year I lived in the dorms (which was a total blast and I believe everyone should take advantage of the experience if possible).  The dorm life does not come along with the most ideal food situation.  As wonderful as late night trips to the dorm market were (and trust me they were), microwave meals and TONS O PROCESSED FOOD gets a bit old.  Just to give you all some perspective I would look forward to going home and eating toast...TOAST!  Don't get me wrong, I love toast but it is not a delicacy;  I just didn't have a toaster in the dorm and really missed it :( (luckily Whataburger helped me curb my toast craving now and again...... delicious).
       I also missed eating chicken and really began to realize what a lucky lady this girl had been for being able to partake in many delicious meals every night for the previous eighteen years.  Thankfully I now live in an apartment with a kitchen.  What a beautiful thing!!  It's my turn at the stove and it can be kinda scary...  I really got into baking this summer and have been making plenty of birthday and holiday goodies (think snickers cheesecake, orange cranberry cornmeal cake, tunnel of fudge cake, cookies galore, etc.)  It is spring semester now and I would like to focus on expanding my cooking horizons.  I am pretty confident when it comes to baking (years of chocolate chip cookie baking as a staple form of entertainment), but my cooking knowledge is extremely lacking.  I've decided to showcase my attempts here for all of you lucky folk!
       Yesterday I was wondering how I could possibly use all of the mushrooms I had purchased before they went bad.  BAM chicken melt!  I was looking forward to making (and devouring) this baby alllllll day long.  I even told my dear friend that I was making a chicken melt for dinner.  She thought I was getting all excited for a chicken malt.  I like trying new things but that is just disgusting!  I still have a lot to learn but I can feed myself (woo!) and it is fun to experiment with the random things I buy each week.

                                                                                  -Friendly Food Fanatic
                                                                                                      Andrea

P.S. Hey mom! I can cook now (sorta) :)

An Introductory Letter

      Dear World,
      
I will do my best to share things that are at least somewhat interesting. I'm hoping that won't be too difficult to accomplish. I have just started another spring semester at ASU so I'm sure that will provide plenty of great reading material.  I love, LOVE music. I watch wayyyy too many movies.  I bake as often as I can find an adequate excuse to make something tasty (my wanting to eat every baked good in the world is NOT an adequate excuse).  Scrapbooking and crafting occurs when I have the time.  Other than that I love trying new restaurants/recipes/food FOOD FOOD.  That's enough for now, Stats in the morning (aren't you just jealous ;) ).

                                                 -Sincerely, Andrea