Creative Writing

So excited! Started creative writing class today and will finally be encouraged to write, creatively!

Here's what I write for my class bio:

"Hi everyone,

My name is Inigo Montoya...ok no not really. But that's a great line isn't it? My name is actually Vaughan. Christina Vaughan. But please, call me Chrystal. According to family legend, my name was given to me by my grandmother who wanted my mother to name me after Crystal Gayle, that country singer lady but my mother wanted a traditional Sicilian/Italian name. Thus I was dubbed "Christina Leanna Canepa" for a good many years. Anyway. I'm a grown up now, so I go by whatever I want, and no one can stop me.

I am working toward a Master's degree in English, possibly even a Ph.D. Though I always pictured myself becoming a writer and have written quite a lot of poetry, short stories, and children's stories, the plan never came to fruition and I suppose I have just sort of given up on the idea. Now, I plan to teach college, maybe online or traditional or a combination of the two. I would also be interested in becoming an editor when I grow up, I have always loved reading and fixing; when I was a kid in high school, my best friend and I would write notes to each other during class and I always had to correct hers.....I just knew that the things I wanted to do with my life required higher education.

A bit of personal info about me is that I am 36, have been married to Mr. Vaughan for 7 years (I call him Mr. Vaughan but other people call him Caleb. Ok not really. They call him Mr. Vaughan too). Before fate brought us together, he had a son named Austin who is now 16 and driving and has a girlfriend and shaves. I too had offspring before our cosmic meeting, a lovely daughter named Emily who is 17 and may become a quantum physics engineer and take over the world. She has little time for outside interruptions in her days of calculations and planning. I sleep with my doors locked at night in case you are wondering. And at last, when the fickle hand of fate saw fit to bring us finally to our destiny, we had a small miracle named Madyson, who is now 7 and whose visage will likely rival Helen of Troy in her power to launch seagoing vessels.

We live on a small farm, with a couple chickens/goats/rabbits/dogs/and cats. We go by two's here. So literally a couple of each of the named species of animals. For FUN, I enjoy reading, writing (no, not arithmetic), pottery, painting, drawing, paper crafting, beading, loom weaving, and best of all...spinning wool into yarn, dyeing the wool spun into yarn with hand-created dyes found in nature, knitting the spun and dyed wool into garments which I then force my family to wear, and cooking. I love cooking. I am a legendary cook, within my family anyway. I have a blog where I post all my delectable recipes when I have time. I also have a pesky full time job thing, which gets in the way of my creating quite often.

I love writing. I am so excited for this class and to learn with all of you and read your creations and share mine. So. Excited.!!!"

I'm very excited. Did I mention that part yet?

Book Review: Little Bee by Chris Cleave

This book is pretty good once you get going. It's a little disjointed at first but picks up speed quickly. While the alternating narrators are a clever way to tell the story from the two main character's points of view, I didn't feel that Little Bee's character went as far as she could have. But, the whole story when viewed as an entire picture is very moving, often funny, but tragic with its dark humor and darker message. This is not a story for the faint of heart; I won't ruin it but to summarize, a Nigerian refugee girl finds her way to a British woman's home after spending two years in an asylum. Having met the woman and her husband in Nigeria while the couple were on vacation, tragic events that took place there brought Little Bee the refugee to their doorstep after they spent years trying to forget that day, with varying degrees of failure. And let's don't forget about Batman! You'll have to read to find out why. Definitely worth reading, so four little buzzing bees out of five from me.

Summer Salad

Take one small seedless watermelon, remove rind, and chop into medium bite sized pieces. Into the bowl, zest one lime, and add the juice of the whole lime. Add finely chopped mint, as much or as little as you like. Delicious and refreshing! You can also blend and freeze into watermelon lime mint Popsicles.

Shepherd's Pot Pie

1 lb ground beef
4 Russet potatoes
Scallions, chopped fine
1/4 c onion, diced fine
3 cloves garlic, diced fine
1 can vegetable beef stew
1 can sweet corn
1 carrot, diced fine
1 celery stalk, chopped fine
1 c shredded sharp cheddar for layers

Sauté 1/2 of the onion and all 2 cloves of garlic, brown beef in skillet. Salt and pepper to taste; I also add Italian seasonings to mine which is optional. Set aside.

Peel potatoes and slice thin rounds. Brown in skillet with olive oil until translucent, add chopped scallion and set aside.

In saucepan with a little olive oil, sauté raining onion, garlic, celery, and carrot until onion is translucent. Sprinkle in a little flour to make a roux. Stir in can of beef soup until hot; add corn. Set aside.

Make batter for corn bread topping:
3/4 c corn meal
1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 mayonnaise
1/2 c cream
1/4 c milk
1 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Mix dry ingredients with dry ingredients and wet ingredients with wet. Combine the two, add cheese, stir. Set aside.

Assemble the pie:
On the bottom of a large deep cast iron skillet, sprayed well with non stick cooking spray, layer sliced potatoes along bottom and partially up the sides. Pour in the beef soup and corn mixture, sprinkle a layer of cheese. Pour on the ground beef, sprinkle a layer of cheese. Pour corn bread batter over the entire mixture, sprinkle remaining cheese. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until corn bread topping is slightly brown and done. Cool for about ten minutes, and serve.

Happy Birthday, Honey!

Caleb's Birthday Cake.......

LemonPoppyseed Layer CakeYield: one 6" triple layer cake, or one 8" double layer cake

Necessary Materials:

For the Lemon Poppyseed Cake

2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
The zest of 2 lemons
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups natural cane sugar
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks (save the whites for the frosting)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2-3 tablespoons poppyseeds, maybe more 

For the Lemon Curd (used in the Mousse, between layers)

Ingredients

• 5 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 lemons, zested and juiced
• 1 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled

Directions

Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Measure citrus juice and if needed, add enough cold water to reach 1/3 cup. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth. Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. (Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.) Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon. Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next. Remove to a clean container and cover by laying a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

For the Lemon Curd Mousse

1/2 cup lemon curd (above in Italics)
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon natural cane sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Swiss Buttercream

3 large egg whites (from the cake)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Constructions:

For the Lemon Poppyseed Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F,with a rack in the middle.

Butter and flour three 6" cakepans (or two 8" pans) and set aside.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder,baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Combine the lemon zest, lemon juiceand buttermilk in a small bowl, stirring to combine. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar on mediumspeed until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Turn the mixer off and scrape downthe sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, yolks and vanilla and mix onmedium for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy.

Alternately add the dry and wetingredients to the butter mixture in three additions, beginning and ending withthe dry.

Mix until the final addition offlour has been incorporated into the batter and the dry ingredients havedissolved.

Stir the poppy seeds into the batterwith a spatula, and portion the batter into the prepared pans.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes outclean.

Remove from the oven and cool in thepans for 10 minutes. Then transfer the cakes from the pans to a wire coolingrack to cool completely.

Constructing the Lemon Curd Mousse

In the bowl of a stand mixer withthe whisk attachment fitted on, combine the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla.

Whip on medium-high speed until softpeaks form.

Using a spatula, gentlyfold the lemon curd into the whipped cream until combined.

Constructing the Swiss Buttercream

Combine the egg whites and sugar in a bowl.

Place the bowl over a saucepan withabout 2 inches of water in it, taking care the bottom of the bowl doesn't touchthe water.

Place the saucepan with the bowl ontop over medium heat, whisking gently.

Whisk the mixture until no longergrainy and warm, and the temperature is 120 degrees F.

Remove the bowl from the heat andwhip on medium-high speed for 5-8minutes, or until the sides of the bowl are cool and the mixture is pale andvoluminous.

With the mixer on low, add thebutter a few tablespoons at a time until fully incorporated. Add the lemonzest, lemon extract and vanilla; whip on medium for about 1minute, until fluffy.

All together now!

Place one cake layer on a smallcardboard cake round, and put about 2-3 tablespoons of lemon curd mousse ontop. Spread the mousse in an even layer, and top with another cake layer.

Repeat until the final cake layer ison.

Place about 1/2 cup of buttercreamon the top layer and gently work the frosting from the center to the edges,working the frosting to the sides of the cake.

Smooth the frosting as evenly on thecake as possible, and top with any type of sprinkles you like! I like to add slivered almonds to the sides.

Chill the cake in the fridge forabout 30 minutes prior to serving.

                            

Alfredo!

Homemade Alfredo sauce:
Stick of butter, melted in skillet. Add flour to make a roux, stir constantly with whisk. Do not let roux get dark! Add whole milk, about 1.5 cups and allow to thicken. Season with salt and white pepper. Add 1 cup of three cheese blend: asiago, Romano, parmesan. Fresh is best but the pre-grated is ok too. Add to milk and roux, stir. Immediately add cream until mixture is thin, and smooth. Simmer until thickened. Add to drained fettuccini noodles: retain some of the pasta water to add to the Alfredo. Toss all with fettuccini, and top with chopped scallion. I served this with chicken marinated in Italian parsley, basil, and olive oil that was then grilled, plus cheesy breadsticks and nice mixed greens salad.

Breakfast!

This is thick sliced maple bacon, home fries cooked in bacon grease and salted, and a slice of Oregon hazelnut bread dipped in a thick batter containing cinnamon, vanilla, and chopped bacon. It is topped with marionberry whipped butter, fresh garden strawberries macerated in basalmic vinegar and sugar, and drizzled in maple syrup.



Heavenly!

Married Life

When you move two entire households with someone, the ability to handle problems that arise without biting each other's head off tells alot about how the marriage is going to go.

Recently I got back together with my husband, after a short separation. Not to get too personal, but it's been tough, and now moving our households back together is nothing short of exhausting. Add to the fact we decided to start over about twenty miles outside of the nearest town so I could have livestock (part of our deal)...it took a lot out of both of us.

I found this awesome pin on Pinterest about date nights. You take manilla envelopes, one for each month, and inside of them you put a few ideas for date night. Each month you open the envelope together at the beginning of the month, choose the date night or day,  and then go on the date. Another great idea is to prepay the dates, with the money already in the envelope, if you can resist spending that money during the lean times.

I think I will try this idea, and get started on the envelopes soon. Some great ideas for dates include prepaid tickets to a play or movie, restaurant menus from places you've never tried before, prepaid bed and breakfast overnight stays...things like that. I'd like to hear some date night ideas from you guys so post some for me to put in the envelopes. Let me know what dates sound fun to you all!




Source: http://shannonbrown.typepad.com/life_in_general/2011/01/lets-go-on-a-date-january.html