And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

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!

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). 

-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. 

Inspired by Ainsley and stole her theme! It’s so great. I love it. simple, clean lines, but hints of color. check it out!

Going to fatten myself up a bit at a friend’s superbowl get together down the street. This time last year I was making healthy superbowl treats to eat while snowed in (Snowmageddon 2010!). This year I made velveeta, sausage, and tomato/onion mix from giant dip. 

This certainly is a turn of events, isn’t it?!

Even though I’m not exactly on the weight loss train these days, I still try to exercise restraint. But one thing I have learned is if you deprive yourself you’ll go crazy. 

So here’s to food, friendship, fun, football, and really funny commercials. And tomorrow, I shall hit the gym. 

Changed my theme today! I think I like this one the best so far. Still clean and crisp, but with some color. Check it out!

Kotter? No, that’s not right.

Welcome back, Katy!

I took a hiatus for a few weeks. I still am continuing with the 365 project, which can be found on my flickr page (link on the left) but I felt double posting here was redundant. I’m not sure. I’m still trying to figure it all out. I just felt like I needed a dedicated space for my 365 photos, separate from my flickr photostream and separate from facebook. Probably for my own peace of mind. 

I’ll probably start posting my pictures here again. Depending on my energy level. If not, you can always find them on the link to the 365 project on the right! I changed my layout and added ‘pages’ to things that point to my internet presence. RSS Feeder ‘shares’ as well as my flickr stream. Though I’m convinced the only person that will ever read this is my mother! 

As Joe McNally says… more to come. 

edit: the Rss shares link only shows up if you are my google contact. If I know you in real life let me know and I’ll add you!!

Welcome to my Tumblr. This is my first post

I’m not new to blogging. I started a blog when I was 14. No one is allowed to see it. I’m not new to talking either, I’m pretty loquacious. Ask my friends and family, and that random guy in the grocery line, I think he wants me to shut up.

I think I get it from my father. 

That picture on the right is me when I was very young. My hair is no longer blonde, but the dimples are still there. I also really like elephants. Pandas can suck it.

(just kidding pandas! Go eat some bamboo)! 

Here are the basics:

- As of this post, I’m over the hump of 23. My birthday is in April.

- I was born, raised and currently live in Virginia.

- I have a big girl job. I do GIS and Remote Sensing. ish. google it!

I will probably use this space the most to post photographs. I like to take pictures, but I’m not that great at it. Maybe other things as I think of them.

Welcome!