And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

24/365 on Flickr.

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:53:41 -0500

24/365 on Flickr.

5/365 dale Chihuly exhibit at VMFA in Richmond. AWESOME. on...

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 23:05:16 -0500

5/365 dale Chihuly exhibit at VMFA in Richmond. AWESOME. on Flickr.

porch

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 11:42:13 -0400

porch

Closing ceremonies. Yummy food. (Taken with Instagram at Esri...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:21:30 -0500

Closing ceremonies. Yummy food. (Taken with Instagram at Esri Federal GIS Conference)

Taken with instagram

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:07:44 -0500

Taken with instagram

Comfy blanket. On comfy couch. Relaxing Sunday. (Taken with...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:57:18 -0500

Comfy blanket. On comfy couch. Relaxing Sunday. (Taken with instagram)

In honor of the artist, which we saw tonight. (Taken with...

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:04:22 -0500

In honor of the artist, which we saw tonight. (Taken with instagram)

Valentine's Day 2012

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:04:12 -0500

We celebrated over the weekend. First, there was a dress:

There were risotto balls (white truffle risotto balls with lemon confit and basil aioli):

There was a salad that was too yummy it didn’t last long enough to get its picture taken (local greens, Maytag bleu cheese, candied pecans, sliced local applesand bourbon bacon vinaigrette).

And then, there was the main course (petite filet served with steak sauce & horseradish crème fraiche, yukon gold mashed potates, and roasted asparagus):

and as if that meal wasn’t enough, there was dessert (split) of molten chocolate cake with vanilla bean whipped cream.

And finally, there were flowers:

(LOTS more here).

But the best part, was this:

(I’m under the blanket).

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Last nights sunset (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:15:26 -0500

Last nights sunset (Taken with instagram)

Playing with Food, v2.0 Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:44:28 -0500

Greetings! It’s Sunday again, and I’m back with my adventures in the world of baking. Today I tackled a classic recipe that everyone loves.. chocolate chip cookies! Except this time, they are 1 point plus (the weight watchers new points system) per cookie!I am currently in the middle of my weight watchers journey, so any new recipes I find with a low points value and still tasty is a go!

I found this recipe from the blog of Eat Yourself Skinny. I found her blog this week, and she is a fellow Virginian blogging about food! Her pics are way better than mine, and I’m not very original in recipes, so definitely check her out!

Without further ado… here we go!

Ingredients this week were very standard… I was lucky because I decided about 5 min before I started baking on what to bake… and I had everything!

2 Tbsp salted butter, softened

2 tsp. vegetable oil

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. table salt

1 large egg white

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips, about 1/2 cup

I used mini chocolate chips, as that is all I had. I also subbed out the ‘dark brown sugar’ with splenda brown sugar blend. I followed the recipe to a tee, except I might have added a little more egg whites, but that was an accident. The batter was SUPER creamy and sweet:

A lot different than normal cookie dough.

I preheated to 375, and started to scoop out the dough. Using the 1/2 tsp measure and a knife I scooped out about 63 cookies onto 3 nonstick baking trays.

Baked for about 6 min each (the recipe says 4-6, but I found my oven needed 6 min). I like my cookies darker.

I don’t have any wire cookie racks so I improvised. They are small, but it’s all about PORTION SIZE! Since they are 1p+ each, you can add easily and make sure you know what you’re eating!

I also found these to be REALLY sweet, which is good because you wont eat more than a few at a time. In the future, I would use the regular brown sugar and egg beaters instead of egg whites, I find it needed that eggy taste.

All in all these turned out to be a great, chewy, yummy cookie and I had a lot of fun baking, and I’m excited have for a dessert/pick me up this week, without feeling super guilty.

Stay tuned later this week I’ll be posting about my first Pinterest Challenge DIY project… it’s harder than it looks in the pics!

Whole foods. (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:01:24 -0500

Whole foods. (Taken with instagram)

Playing with Food, v1.0 "Nutella Cupcakes"

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:18:00 -0500

Hello!

I am starting a new ‘section’ on my ‘blog’ (I guess that is what this thing is), wherein I post things that I have made (that are somewhat edible). This is tentatively titled Playing With Food, because I do not consider myself a cook or baker. I’m pretty sure only my mother and The Boyfriend would say they LOVE anything I make (and I love them dearly for it). But I like cooking and baking, and with every recipe I tackle, the better cook and baker I become. Here’s my attempt to chronicle a few.

First up is Nutella Cupcakes. I originally found this recipe from Babble via Pinterest . I baked it a few months ago following the directions exactly. They turned out great, but I found I had a problem with swirling in the nutella to where it marbled throughout the cupcake, instead of just the top, which is what was happening with me. Since today is Sunday and the desire to bake usually overcomes me on Sundays, I decided to give it another go, seeing as I had all the ingredients.

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup canola or mild vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4-1/2 cup Nutella, at room temperature

Mixed them all together according to the directions (wet first, added the dry) in this guy:

(Birthday present from The Boyfriend)

This is what the mixture looks like after the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together

Here is where I deviate from the recipe. Instead of separating into muffin pan and adding nutella, I decided to add about 1/4-1/2 cup nutella to the mixer and have the stand mixer do all the work (I’m all about delegation and efficiency).

Look at the creamy chocolate/nutella-ey goodness. Who wants to stick their finger in??

The batter is thick, so it was easy to scoop into a muffin tin. I was out of mini muffin liners, so I just used some olive oil cooking spray.

Bake for around 25 min on 325 degrees and this is the final result:

As you can see from the pictures, they did turn out a bit dry. To counteract this, I spread a bit of nutella on the top. Which defeats the purpose of ‘self icing’ in the original recipe, but they still taste amazing.

I think if I try this recipe again, I would use regular yellow cake mix, so it isn’t so thick and maybe a bit easier to spread nutella at the end. Either way, this makes for a yummy treat :)

Anyone else playing with their food?

(You can comment on this post using Disqus. If you hit the Login button, you will be able to sign in via Google or Facebook, or any other account, or just comment as a guest).

A few things.

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:16:54 -0500

-I just posted about my completed Project 365 for the year 2011. See below. I’m immensely proud of the collection of photos, and proud of myself for completing it. I am currently working on a photo collection book that will be printed in a hard copy.

- I’ve been feeling the need to blog more, the itch to write about things going on in my life. I’ve been very blessed to have some amazing experiences and sometimes I feel that if I don’t write about it, it gets stored in my memory and not shared with anyone, and only if I think about it will I remember. I want this to change.

- A new years resolution for this year is to finish editing and upload all the unedited batches of photos that I currently have sitting on my hard drive. Some from as far back as July of 2010. Woops.

- I’m pretty sure only like 3 people read this, but I don’t care!! this is more a personal journey than anything, but if a few people read, that’s great too.

Project 365: 2011, a set on Flickr.So I completed my Project 365...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 12:02:01 -0500

Project 365: 2011, a set on Flickr.

So I completed my Project 365 for the year 2011. I am super proud of it, even the bad photos. I stuck to something EVERY DAY and I didn’t give up or quit. I learned a lot about myself, learned more as a photographer, and had a lot of fun along the way. It gave me a purpose. I hope you check out the results and enjoy as much as I do and as much as I did during this creative process.

Via Flickr:
Picture a day. Every day. No exceptions. My goal here is not to merely take a picture for the sake of taking a picture, but to document a moment or moments in my day. We go through this life so quickly and forget to stop and appreciate the small things. Going to try to take more with SLR than iphone, but let’s face it. I get lazy. And life gets in the way.

Taken with Instagram at Iota Club and Cafe

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:02:13 -0500

Taken with Instagram at Iota Club and Cafe

Saturday morning coffee. Earlybird filter is appropriate. Though...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:17:43 -0500

Saturday morning coffee. Earlybird filter is appropriate. Though this was at 11am (Taken with instagram)

Fresh loaf anyone? Light whole wheat outta the oven. (Taken...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:55:15 -0500

Fresh loaf anyone? Light whole wheat outta the oven. (Taken with instagram)

Desserts at family BBQ. I was quality control. (Taken with...

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:35:15 -0500

Desserts at family BBQ. I was quality control. (Taken with instagram)

Really digging this beer lately. (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:32:23 -0500

Really digging this beer lately. (Taken with instagram)

330:365 on Flickr.mini from #pinkberry. Lovely way to spend a...

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:22:58 -0500

330:365 on Flickr.

mini from #pinkberry. Lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon!