OMG it’s November Already

by Martina & Tiffany on 11/05/15
Isn’t that picture above beautiful! This was taken by Garry Liddel in 2008 and I found it courtesy of garrickliddellphotography.com. 

It’s amazing to me that we are already in November. The year seemed to just fly by. We are busier than ever and loving it. November is the month of giving thanks. We should all be thankful every day of our life, but as you know, there are days where the bad seems to overshadow the good in life. So November should really be a time for reflecting on the good things in your life and being grateful for the family and friends that support and love you. It’s also my birth month. YAY for Fall babies.

Fall is my favorite time of year. The leaves are all sorts of reds, oranges, and yellows. The weather is just cold enough to wear a warm sweater and take a stroll through the park basking in all of autumn’s glory.  Also, all of the fun Holidays are quickly approaching. What isn’t there to love!!! Fall is also the time where it’s totally appropriate to have soup every freaking day. So instead of a baked confection, I decided to give you guys a recipe for one of the soups I so love to make that is filling as well as super yummy. If you aren’t a fan of Chorizo, you can substitute a different sausage. It’s whatever you have a taste for. I just like the smokey flavor of the Chorizo.

Chorizo and Barley Soup

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter (seriously, don’t be lazy…get the unsalted butter)
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 cup pearl barley
• 8 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup peeled and chopped russet potatoes (small chunks not medium or large….small)
• ¹?₂ cup of chopped carrot (again…small chunks)
• ¹?₂ cup chopped celery root (small chunks)
• 1 cup chopped leek
• 1 tsp. dried marjoram
• 2 or 3 Chorizo sausages (precooked or uncooked – If you get the uncooked version you’ll need to cook it first. Reserve one sausage link for garnish)
• 3 pieces of bacon…. (Because I like bacon a lot! One slice will go into the pot raw. The other two slices cook until crispy and then set aside)
• A handful (about a third or quarter of a cup) of chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Salt and ground pepper, to taste
• Ground nutmeg, to taste

Instructions

1. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add the chopped onion and cook, stirring until soft.
3. Add the barley and stir until lightly toasted for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the vegetable stock, potatoes, carrots, celery root, leek, marjoram, cooked and chopped sausages (2 of them), and one slice of the bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 to 40 minutes.
5. Once cooked, take the lone slice of bacon out of the pot, chop it up and add it back to the pot.
6. Slice the last Chorizo sausage and chop the rest of the bacon.
7. Season the soup with nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
8. Garnish with parsley, sliced sausage, and chopped bacon.

I’m Not a Writer

by Martina & Tiffany on 10/22/15

Hi Everyone, Tiffany here! I’m not a writer and I am a far cry from having perfect grammar, so if you cringe at the misuse of a comma or semicolon, you may have to rethink reading this blog. Not only will I make stupid (and probably obvious) writing mistakes, but you will also be hearing from my mom. who is a born and raised German lady. English is her second language and frankly I love her little writing mistakes because it gives us something to laugh at. That being said, lets see if we can make something of this blogging business.

 

My mom and I love to create wonderful cakes but mostly we love working together. She’s my best friend and the kind of fun we have would make normal people think that we aren’t mother and daughter. The best thing about us i think, is the fact that we aren’t normal. We are admittedly weird and we both love it. It’s nothing for my mom to burst into the kitchen and see me like this – 

I don’t even think this picture needs an explanation. It’s clear that the mixer made the flour go POOF! I started laughing and my mom came into the kitchen asking me what I’m laughing about. I turn around and then we are both laughing.

Things like this happen on a regular basis because I’m a total klutz and frankly so is my  mom.  We laugh a lot and just like normal friends and normal mothers and daughters, we fight too. We regularly work ourselves into exhaustion and we go months without a break. That’s because she and I both still have our normal full time jobs as well. Why do we work two jobs? Simple, we have bills to pay. When we are both fully exhausted but still working, that’s when we start bickering with one another. But it’s all good. Eventually one of us does something completely stupid and it’s all laughs again. It’s really nothing unusual when one or even both of us burst into song. It’s so weird because the instant I start singing ABBA’s I have a dream, my mom suddenly starts singing Mamma Mia! I can’t even explain our love for ABBA so we are just going to move on from here.

 

When we do get a day or weekend off, my mom and I love going to vineyards (don’t judge us…everyone has an inner lush, you just have to embrace it).   We also love watching movies together. Both my mom and I are pretty introverted but I have my rare moments where I think I’m the funniest damn person in the world. Examples? Well when my mom and I flew to Vegas for a mini vacation together, I was in the airplane before take-off quoting Bon Qui Qui’s flight attendant to everyone in our section. I had our section laughing. Then one day my mom and I went to go see Magic Mike XXL and when the movie was over I shouted out “we are all Pregnant! Congratulations!” and again had people laughing.  

 

We speak in German whenever we remember to. I’m sure it’s strange to some people who listen to us while we are shopping and they hear us discussing something in German and then I throw in an English word because I can’t remember it’s equivalent in German. It’s like spanglish….except Germglish….. heeh heeh…. I tried. 

 

Anyway, this post has gone long enough and I should probably stop bouncing from one subject to the next. So i’ll leave you with this recipe for Snicker Doodle cake. It’s the perfect dessert for the cool fall days where you need a little bit of comfort. Add in a cup of apple cider and you have a perfectly cozy fall dessert.

 

Snicker Doodle Cake

Makes 1 – 6″ Round (or two 6″ rounds if you don’t have a deep baking pan)

 

Cake Batter

340g Sugar

338g Flour

14g Baking Powder

9g Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

2 sticks of butter at room temperature 

180ml milk

99g egg yolk

128g whole egg (yolk and whites…not the shells for those of you who need me to be super specific)

1tbs pure vanilla extract

 

Cinnamon Simple syrup

1 cup of water

1 cup of sugar

cinnamon to taste

 

Buttercream

1/2 cup egg whites

1 1/4 cup sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1 cup of butter at room temperature 

 

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Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
2. Make the Simple syrup first. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan to completely dissolve the sugar. Bring it to a boil. Remove it from the heat source and allow to cool for about 30 seconds to a minute. Stir in the cinnamon. Set aside and allow to completely cool.
3. Make the cake batter – 1. In a mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and butter. Mix until you the butter is fully incorporated and it looks like small crumbs. 2. Add the liquids to the mixture and beat on high until light and fluffy. 3. Grease your baking dish (hint – if you put parchment paper on the bottom of the baking dish you only have to grease the sides) and scrap in the batter. 4. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely.
4. While the cake bakes, make your buttercream. 1. In a double boiler add your egg whites and sugar. For those of you who don’t have a fancy dancy double boiler DIY that shit – ie – pot with water and a heatproof mixing bowl. 2. Make sure to continuously whisk the egg white until the sugar completely dissolves. With a digital thermometer check the temperature and continue mixing. You want the egg white mixture to warm to 160 F. That’ll insure no one gets salmonella….You’re welcome.
5. Once the egg white mixture has reach the proper temperature, Take the bowl off of the boiler (be careful…you’ll want mitts or towels to handle the bowl). With a hand held mixer (or a stand mixer) beat the mixture until it’s in soft peak mode.
6. Add the butter to the mixture and the vanilla. Beat until thoroughly mixed.
7. Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, cut it in half.
8. Brush the cake with the simple syrup mixture. 
9. Slap a layer of the buttercream in the middle. 
10. Put the top half back on the cake and then use the remaining buttercream to cover the whole cake.

Happy Baking and thank GOD for cozy Fall comfort food.

Tiff