ten things in princeton i'll miss...

alright folks, this may or may not be my last post before we move.  i have sooo much stuff to do, that i really need to step away from the computer and get my butt movin'.

i already have a decent amount of stuff moved to our new home. you know how it is, it's all the small stuff that you're not really sure where the heck to put it.

we also need to finish up our other bathroom, paint, refinish the kitchen cabinets, put in a new countertop, paint some more, clean, and probably paint some more.

in the midst of all that, hubby is going on a cigar fest trip, missions trip to mexico, and then we're all going out to san diego for my sis-in-law's wedding.

craziness.

i've been living in the princeton area since 2000 when i went to the college of new jersey.  so, in honor of princeton, here's my list of the things i'll miss the most.

10.  walking around princeton university.

9.  crate and barrel outlet.  7 minutes from my house.  exactly.

8.  trader joes. can't beat the $4 bottle of wine.

7. the d & r canal.

6.  the playground within walking distance to our home.

5.  cider donuts from terhune farms.  so many good memories.

(what kind of mother would i be if i didn't teach my dd about see-food?!?)

4.  bent spoon.  oh yeeeeah.

3.  three targets within ten minutes of our home.  see that green arrow?  thats where we live.  don't hate.

2.  wegmans.  although i will no longer live 10 minutes away, i will still make a trip out here every 2 weeks to do my food shopping.  i love it that much.

1.  my people.  my feeny clan.  my 217church people.  my pac people.  my neighbors.  love them all!!

i'll be back after the dust settles.  don't miss me too much:)

xoxo

jill

happy birthday to meeee!

i'm thirty today.  technically, i am thirty today, but wednesday was my birthday.

(i tried to finish this post on wednesday...then on thursday...but i passed out both nights).

thirty means i have to seriously start taking calcium.

anti-wrinkle day cream.

anti-wrinkle night cream.

eat more fiber.

exercise more.  excluding the shake weight.  (at least not let anyone know when i buy one).

do i need reading glasses now or am i getting reading glasses confused with the over 40 crowd?

sigh.

since i don't like people making a big fuss about my birthday, i made my own cake.

you don't understand how amazing this cake is.

back when i had the dessert cafe, the one way to have great cakes without much testing, was to find recipes with great ratings.  and i'm not talking allrecipes.com or recipes.com.   i'm talking epicurious.com.  this is where the bon appetit and gourmet crowd hang out.  the above average home cook.

if i discovered this recipe sooner, it would have been without a doubt, my best seller.

double chocolate layer cake.  i make it into 3 layers using 9" pans.

the recipe has a little blue ribbon next to it.  that's gotta mean something?!

1431 reviews.  4 fork rating.

this is as epic as any chocolate cake can get.

first thing is first.  follow directions, thoroughly.

i've made this cake about 15 times.  even if i feel like i know it by heart, i still read it.  even if it is to remind me to pre-heat the oven to 300, not 350.

sift.

don't skimp on chocolate.  this is a special occasion cake.  it requires great chocolate.

think scharffren berger.  callabaut.  you can probably get away with using ghiradelli.

 

stick with semi-sweet.  i did 50/50 semi-sweet and bittersweet. i gotta tell ya, as much as i love bittersweet...it needs to be all semi-sweet.

be sure to use real buttermilk.  i skimped this time around, i used lemon and milk.  i can tell it made a difference, the cake was less moist and abundantly crumby.

the ganche for this cake is super shiny, just pour it over the cake and let it drip...with the help of a spatula.

tip:  cover your cake stand with plastic.  pull out from underneath once ganache has solidified.

i opted to mess around with it and create lines on the side.  it looses its shininess if you do what i did:)

i had friends come over last night to celebrate my birthday.  a little pasta, a little prosecco, a little cake is all i need...and my people, of course!

(psst.  $hell and amanda. i'll show you guys the pic of us 3.  lets just say it was not a flattering pic).

i wasn't sure if my friends liked it, but i can say my downstairs neighbors ate over half the cake.  no joke.  and they called me a little while ago to see if there was anymore left over.  and they asked where i bought it:)

my loving hubby gave me the best gift i could have ever asked for...and no, i'm not pregnant.  

i am sooooo excited about this class.  i am going to opt out of the sugar paste class and go with the fondant and royal icing amateur course.  i need to up my skills before i go onto sugar flowers.  it's 25 hours of training with some of the best cake designers around.  and it's in nyc.  

score.

i seriously love my hubby.  he will be getting a kick-butt birthday cake, for sure!!  

my girlfriends gave me some really sweet gifts, too.  $hellbug gave me earrings from behind the glass display case @target...so you know they're classy!!  seriously, the girl knows my taste better than i do.

@mandi gave me my very first pimp chalice!  

love these girls:)

this was a wordy post, hope you made it all the way down here.  

give the cake a try.  even if you make a chocolate cake from a box, try making the ganache for the icing.

have a super day and an even better easter weekend. 

jill

edible birds nest

i don't remember if my mom used to make these.  but anytime spring creeps up or easter is here, this delightful little treat reminds me of my youth.

it defines my childhood just as much as chicken scampi and night crabbing down in pre-snookie seaside heights.

to make these darling little confections, you'll need:

-2 and a 1/2 c. chow mein noodles

-11 ounces chocolate chips

-1/2 cup toasted coconut...optional, because i forgot to add them.  whooops!
(if you don't have toasted coconut on hand, lay a thin layer of sweetened coconut on a cookie sheet at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.  shake the pan every 5 minutes).

-jelly beans or cadbury mini eggs

in a 2 quart size, microwavable bowl melt the chocolate chips at 30 second intervals.

(that glass of wine in the background is kicking my butt right now).

stir.

repeat until melted.  usually after the third try, it's done.

add chow mein noodles.

stir into chocolate, gently.

using 2 forks (or whatever you feel like using), carefully place mounds onto wax paper or slipmat lined cookie sheet.

with your hands...or your child's....form into little nests.

lick your fingers clean...ish.

chill in fridge until set.

have your little helper....or hubby...place jelly beans into nests.

if you are more of a peanut butter person than a chocolate person, which is hard to believe that such a person exists...give the peanut butter nests a try instead.  hershey make peanut butter/chocolate chip bags.

butterscotch is the flavor i remember as a child.  except there was also a 1/2 c. of peanut butter added.  you may want to add a bit more chow mein noodles.

i can't imagine what it would taste like with those andes mint chips.  but, hey...if that is what you love...go for it!

white chocolate would look cute, too.

for many of my pictures, i love to use natural light.  thankfully, our balcony provides perfect light.  until i can buy one of those lights for food photography...most of my pictures are taken outside.

chicken nugget and his red-headed side-kick are kept inside. for many, many reasons.  the bag of rotted pumpkin from last halloween is reason number one.

my kids are as thick as thieves

they eventually let me back in.  so nice of them to do so.

anyhow...

if you're having guests and family over for easter, why not make some of these super easy and inexpensive birds nests. make them as favors or part of the table setting.

each batch made about 7-8 nests.  

$3 for the chocolate chips

$2 for the chow mein noodles

i'm sure you already have jelly beans in your house.

ten minutes and they're done.  can't go wrong.

hope you give them a shot.  as always, thank you for stopping by:)

jill

{easy dinner alert}

do i have your attention?  good.

first mistake i made food shopping today...

going without a list.

second mistake...

going hungry.

it all paid off, though.  if i went with a list i would not have bought tuna, randomly.  the moment i saw the tuna can all i could think of was a tuna melt and mustard.

(don't worry, this isn't about tuna melts).

so, lunch was taken care of.  check.

when i don't go with a list, i also tend to flock to the chocolate and rice pudding area.

can you blame me?!

if i did not go past that area, i never would have discovered the awesomeness of philly cream cheese cooking cremes.

i brought home with me, the italian herb and savory garlic.  even though i had my heart set on making ribs and sweet potatoes, i was super curious to see how this new product would pan out.

and no.  i'm not crazy for opting chicken and pasta over ribs.  

i decided to do the k.i.s.s method for the cooking cream and use the recipe on the back.  

the changes i made were to roast the red peppers instead of cooking on the stove and i added a tad more spinach than the recipe called for.

tad more = 0.7 ounces more.  could be worse, i could have added bacon.   

love.  love.  love roasted red peppers.  25 minutes at 425 degrees, brushed in olive oil.

once all the ingredients are prepped, just add it to the pan.  

save some pasta water to add afterwards.

the biggest, baddest food critic i know gave it a two thumbs up.  

proof is in the pudding, people.  no cookie bribes were made.  i promise:)

and for the princeton folks.  terhune orchard now offers wine. check it out.  surprisingly, delicious.  i'd do a better job describing it, if i knew how to.  

all i know is good, gooder, and bad wine.  

isn't that what matters?

give the philly cooking cream a try.  you will not be disappointed.  

(especially if you wash it down with some "gooder" wine).

have a great night.

jill

60 days...

we have found tenants.

score!

we could not have found better people to live in our home than the couple we found.  well, we didn't really find them.  we know them.  the relief that there will be solid people in here makes the anxiety about renting almost disappear.

this is the home we have been raising our daughter since she was a few weeks old.  it's also where we brought our baby boy home from the hospital.  a home is a home no matter where you make it, but it still makes me sad to think we'll be leaving these memories behind.

after my sister-in-laws wedding, during memorial day weekend, we'll be movin' out.

and if you told me ten years ago i'd be...

1. marrying my lab partner,
2. having his babies.
3. getting into a franchise
4. buying his dad's house 'down the shore

....i would have thought you missed a dose of your meds.  we're just going with the flow, because we know His plan will be better than anything we could have ever planned for.

i am so looking forward to what God has planned for our family.

jill

cupcake liner wreath

hope everyone had a great weekend.  from what i hear, today will be 80 degrees.  

get out and get some sun.

i've been eyeing up these cupcake liner wreaths for 3 reasons:

1. they're cute
2. they're cheap to make
3. you can coordinate with the holidays by using seasonal liners

before i show you what i did...and boy, did i over-do it...let me show you some of the cute ones floating around on the artsy-fartsy craft blogs.

source {tatertots and jello} 

source {house of smiths}

here's a quick tutorial of how to make your own.

i folded all of the cupcake liners before i began.

with free hand, insert donut hole into mouth while waiting for glue to cool.  repeat.

i took the advice of tatertots and jello and started in four different areas and worked my way around them.

my intention was to make a quick and easy wreath to adorn my front door.  

was it easy?  yes.  

quick? well, not so much.  it was my own fault.  

if you dare to venture on this project...be sure to wrap the wreath in ribbon with whatever color wrappers you are using.  i could see the straw through were i glued the wrappers.  i used about 300 wrappers, when i probably could have gotten away with using 100.

it came out a little too bridal for my taste.
i love the blue ribbon, but i may change it out for something pink for dd's room.

target locked.

 

going in for the kill.

hope you give it a try.  although mine came out bigger than i intended, i am pleased with the end results.  if you do try, please send me a picture...i'll post it up on here.

we're heading out soon to the local farm to pet some farm animals, get some sun,  and pick up some cider donuts.  win. win. win.

have a fabulous day!

jill