Another weekend, another layer of fresh snow, another dent in my 31 in 2011 list. Two dents, actually.
What else? Good wine, Winter’s Bone, whipped cream vodka, buffalo chicken dip, and a slumber party. Want to see some pictures?
FRIDAY
I’ve recently become obsessed with making smoothies, and I made them for lunch for three days in a row until I ran out of berries. I’ve long assumed that my end-of-the-aisle-Target-clearance-shelf hand blender wasn’t strong enough to chop up frozen berries, but it turns out I was wrong.
Frozen mixed berries + yogurt + pomegranate juice.
This is the point when I think to myself, “I could really use a small rubber spatula right now.”
You know what all the cool kids do on Friday nights? Stay in and make ravioli. We used a filling recipe from The Silver Spoon Pasta, which was a mixture of ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, prosciutto, and parsley.
None of the bundles burst and the flavor was great, so it was definitely a success. There are a few things that we’ll do differently next time, though, like rolling out the pasta into a thinner sheet and having less overhang around the edges.
On the side: spinach salad, salty knots, and wine that we brought back from California last summer.
SATURDAY
On Saturday I made gluten-free oatmeal raisin cookies for my gluten-free friend, Lauren.
SUNDAY
We made French macarons!
I’ve been wanting to make these for months and months, and when I told Lauren about my plans, she wanted to participate. Lauren is an awesome cook and has made macarons before, so I was thrilled to have her as my baking partner.
Even with Lauren’s expertise, I worried with every step that our macarons would fall flat. It must be all the hype that surrounds these delicate little cookies.
My worrying was for nothing, as they emerged from the oven looking perfect. I danced around with joy and maybe a little residual vodka.
Me + Lauren + macarons. Please excuse my bed head.
Garin + Lauren. Thanks for reading the recipe, Garin!
Half of the sandwiches were filled with sugar plum jam.
Half were filled with Grand Marnier chocolate ganache.
All were delicious.
Homemade on the left, professionally made on the right.
Somebody wanted to get in on the action.
I can’t believe we made these!
We’re already planning our next flavor combinations. Rose, pistachio, carrot cake, salted caramel…
I saw a pasta show this weekend where the chubby Italian lady didn’t make a square on top of a square, but she angled the top square to make it look like an 8-sided star (if viewed from the top). I thought that was pretty clever. You couldn’t do that with the macaroons, however.
Sounds pretty. I’ll have to play around with it a little next time.