Sundays

Oh, how I love Sundays.  I'm writing this while watching last week's episode of Downton Abbey. What a crazy week this has been! We went through recruitment and rush for our sorority, and yesterday was bid day.  Very fun, but busy.  I will be glad to have a break!  But the main reason I love Sundays is because of church.  Going to church is such a great way to reflect on the past week, and spiritually prepare for the week ahead.  It's also a nice break, a full hour away from all the craziness, to just enjoy the presence of God.  That always starts my day off right.  Then I usually go to brunch with my friends, and eventually start homework. But since I'm not always motivated, I let myself watch an episode (or three) of one of my favorite shows, Gossip Girl, White Collar or Downton Abbey.  Because I deserve it, right?  Then a few hours later, I grab dinner, call my parents, and then start work.  There's something about Sundays, though, that just makes me feel refreshed.  Even if the past week/weekend have been busy, I still have this feeling of serenity, almost a calm before the storm, aka the week ahead. What I've learned though, is that attitude is the most important. When I have a positive attitude, I tend to work harder, focus more, and just enjoy life.  So I am going to be optimistic about this week, and it will be a great one!

xoxo

Helen

A Bountiful Brunch

I haven’t done a restaurant review in a while, so I decided it was time for another one. This past weekend my dad, grandpa and I wanted to go out to lunch, so we looked on Urbanspoon for the best lunch restaurants in St. Paul.  One of the first results was a place called Colossal Café, which had locations in both Minneapolis and St. Paul.  It had good reviews, so we decided to try it.  When we got there, we saw that it was a very small and hip café, where most of the customers were in their late 20s.  So we felt a bit out of place, but it didn’t matter.  Colossal Café is famous for their brunch, so we had come at just the right time.  They boast of their fresh ingredients, and all of their meals are made from scratch.  

The menu looked delicious, and contained plates such as: Apple, brie, and walnut “flapper” (a yeast-based pancake), stuffed omelets, and juicy frittatas.  I chose the “colossal breakfast”, which was 2 eggs, their homemade sourdough bread, and a beautifully arranged bowl of fruit.  Needless to say, it was scrumptious.  And I couldn’t resist sneaking a bite of my grandpa’s “flapper”, which was to die for.  Overall, it was a great experience, and the service was wonderful.  I would highly recommend this quaint little place for breakfast, lunch, or just a fresh cup of coffee. 

Enjoy!

Helen

New Year's Resolutions

In the spirit of the new year, I have decided to share some of my New Year's Resolutions with you. Maybe this will actually help me keep them! Here they are:

• Blog at least once a week
• Journal every day
• Eat healthier
• Run a 5K
• Get more sleep
• Volunteer more
• Write letters
• Watch less Netflix (this will be the hardest)
• Become fluent in French
• Read more 
• Have a "thankful" jar

What are your New Year's Resolutions? Let's make this year the best year yet!

xx

Helen 

Apple Pie...from scratch!

This past Tuesday was my grandmother's birthday, so we decided to have her and some family over to celebrate.  Her favorite dessert is apple pie, so my mom thought it would be nice to make one for her. Being the adventurous person that I am, I decided that I wanted to make it. All by myself. From scratch. So I hopped online, and found a recipe for the crust and for the filling.  

I started with the crust, following all the directions from the recipe, but when I saw that the crust needed ice water, I was a bit confused.  I thought to myself, "does this mean I have to put ice cubes in the dough?!" I decided not to, and it turned out to be okay.  The recipe told me to put 7 tablespoons of this "ice water" in the dough. But even after measuring these and adding them to the dough, it was still very crumbly.  So I became frustrated and poured about half of the water pitcher in the dough...oops.

However, the filling was a LOT easier.  Even though I practically injured myself peeling the apples. After cooling the dough in the refrigerator, it seemed to harden, so I was relieved.  Then I layered the pie pan with the crust, filling, and top, and put it in the oven.  And 30 minutes later, it was done! 

And THANK THE LORD, it turned out great!! And everyone thought so too (or maybe they were just being nice)...but I was proud of myself.

All in all, my first pie baking was a success. So this should be a message to everyone that pie-making is not rocket science, in fact, anyone could do it! 

PS. we did not have shortening at the house, so I had to find a crust recipe that did not require it. 

This was where I got the recipe for the crust: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/paulas-perfect-pie-crust-recipe/index.html

And the filling: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/paulas-apple-pie-filling-recipe/index.html

Enjoy!

xx

HGK

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! One of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more often, so I'm starting off 2014 with a new blog post.

Last night, for New Year's Eve, my good friend and I made dinner and desserts together. We chose to make a Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Alfredo with french bread, and some yummy almond triangles for dessert.

Above is a photo of the Goat Cheese Alfredo.  It was surprisingly easy to make! The sauce consisted of onions, garlic cloves, heavy cream, milk, goat cheese and parmesan cheese. After cooking the sauce, we added pureed roasted red peppers, and then we poured the whole mixture over the noodles.  The pasta turned out great, but the sauce was very rich.  

Next, we baked the almond triangles.  This recipe was actually the winning holiday recipe in the Star Tribune, so it had great reviews.  We started out by making the dough, which is similar to shortbread dough.  Then we set it in the refrigerator to cool for 30 minutes, and started on the sauce.  This sauce was made up of butter, honey, brown sugar, sugar, cream, and of course, almonds.  When the dough was cooled, we poured the sauce over the dough and spread it evenly.  After that, we cooked it in the oven for 15 minutes, until the sauce was bubbling.  Then we set the whole thing out to cool and later cut it into triangles.  They turned out perfectly, and were delicious.  The triangles were the perfect mixture of chewy and crunchy.  The recipe makes about 2 dozen large triangles. 

Here are the triangles just after they had cooled.  To bake, we put the dough on a sheet of foil, and then placed the foil onto a baking sheet.

Here is an up-close photo of the triangles.  Warning: do not make if you do not like almonds.  There are about 5 cups of almonds in this recipe!

Here are the links to the recipes online if y'all want to try them! Let me know what you think. 

Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Alfredo: http://www.closetcooking.com/2012/09/roasted-red-pepper-and-goat-cheese.html

Almond Triangles: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/70459932.html

Enjoy! 

xx

HGK