Cake POOPS!

Let’s just get this out: poop, Poop, POOOOP.  Everyone poops!

Have I grossed anyone out yet?  I hope so.

I have been babysitting a lot lately, and after changing MANY a poopy diaper a couple weeks ago, I was struck with a brilliant (IMO) idea.  It seems like everyone and their mom has been obsessed with cake pops for quite some time now, thanks to the oh-so clever and talented Bakerella.  So what happens when you drop an extra O in there?  Cake Poops are born!  Totally inappropriate, I know, but they just so happen to make perfect treats for April Fool’s Day!

These are made just like cake pops, except the cake is squished around the tops of the sticks instead of being formed into balls first.  My cake/frosting mixture seemed a little too squishy (maybe because I ate some of the cake?), so I added some rice crispies to make it a little more stable.  Bonus poop texture!

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Fire Pit

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Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake!

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast.  Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

I have to admit that I’ve been feeling a little meh about blogging lately.  Mainly it’s that I don’t particularly like to write/am not a great writer which hasn’t stopped me in the past.  As mentioned quite a few times, I’m terribly slow in the kitchen, but sometimes it feels like it takes even longer to write a post.  If I try to make and post something on the same day, it can become an all day affair, so I usually try to post on the next day.  Maybe I need to get ahead of blogging…as in, be a few completed recipes ahead of blog posts.  If that makes sense, do any of you do that?

Anyway, there’s nothing like a Daring Kitchen challenge to pull me out of a blogging rut.    This month with the Daring Bakers involved yeast and resulted in something that looked suspiciously like Stollen.  The taste and texture was quite different though, especially with the fillings.  Speaking of the fillings, meringue inside bread was totally foreign to me.  Let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised! 

Wordless Wednesday: The world’s steepest street!

Baldwin Street, Dunedin, New Zealand (January 15, 2010)
For the rest of my Blog4NZ posts, see the end of this post.

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The Grape Escape: Winery Tours in Hawke’s Bay, NZ

I have a disclaimer to make: I was not a blogger while in New Zealand, so I didn’t take notes or snap as many photos as I might have otherwise (though 1300+ pics/vids isn’t too shabby, eh?).

As promised in my last post, I was going to talk about wine next, but then realized I couldn’t remember the names of the wineries I went to!  Luckily, I could figure out two from my photos, and am pretty sure the other two are correct: Ngatarawa, Alpha Domus, Sileni Estates, and Moana Park

One of the things that struck me while on the road in New Zealand was the sheer number of vineyards I saw!  I knew that it was an important contributor to the wine world, but my knowledge in that department is pretty minimal to say the least.  In fact, this was my first wine tour, and before taking it, I wasn’t even sure which type of wine was my favorite! 

Monteith’s Brewery: Greymouth, NZ

I’ve been meaning to write about the eats and drinks I experienced while in New Zealand for quite some time now (sheesh, it’s been 13 months since I returned!), and now have a reason to get it done:

That’s right, I’m blogging for New Zealand.  I know I tend to mention it a lot, but this time it’s for a good cause and not just my obsession.    The concept of Blog4NZ was thought up by a group of NZ travel bloggers who want the world to know that their country is still open to travelers despite the recent quake in Christchurch.  They’re rallying other bloggers to write about their experiences in New Zealand to encourage people to visit.  I’m hoping to write a few food-related posts here and a few everything else-related posts here.

So about halfway through my trip, I reached the South Island.  After spending one more day in Nelson than planned due to overbooked accommodation, I started heading south on a very gloomy day.  Our bus stopped so we could roam around Punakaiki to see the infamous Pancake Rocks before continuing onto Greymouth. 

Almond Ginger Granola

I’ve been having a problem lately with the freezer being crowded up with too many concoctions resulting from this blog.  For example, these cookies which I made last month were finally finished off.  (The frozen dough balls never did make it to the oven.  Oops.)  And I’m pretty sure there are still slices of Stollen in the deep freeze, too.  Grody.

While I’ve always got ideas in my head, not to mention a list with things needing to be crossed off, I just haven’t wanted to make even more things.  After all, I’m usually just cooking for myself.  But then I realized I could make something that I hadn’t made before, but have been eating pretty regularly lately: Granola!  ’bout time, right?

Wordless Wednesday: Uccello

Matt Haimovitz and Uccello at Casbeers (now San Antone Cafe ) last night.

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Daring Cooks’ Challenge: Papas Rellenas!

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess.  Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau.  And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love the Daring Kitchen?  Last month with the Daring Cooks, it was Japanese (sigh…) and now Peruvian food!  Peru is a place I’d like to go to someday even though I don’t know much about it.  I hadn’t even thought a whole lot about Peruvian cuisine, but if it’s all as good as this experience, I want to go to there, stat.

This challenge actually featured a number of recipes (ceviche, papas rellenas, salsa criolla, and pisco sour), but we were only required to do the ceviche and/or the papas rellenas.  Even though I do eat fish, ceviche kind of freaks me out, so I nixed that one.  I’ve had chile rellenos, but hadn’t ever heard of the potato equivalent, so I was excited to try it.  Filled and fried mashed potatoes?  HECK YES.  I also made the salsa criolla because onions and I are buds.

Chocolate Stout and Irish Cream Whoopie Pies

I think this marks my first time posting a festive recipe several days before the actual holiday.  Shocking, right?  Unsurprisingly, this was kind of an experiment that I thought about doing awhile ago.  I didn’t come up with the recipe, but did try a different execution of it.

Did you know that I made a wedding cake almost a year ago?  It was this already huge chocolate stout cake recipe tripled and it was ridiculously delicious.  If you’ve never had chocolate stout cake, I think you should change that very soon.  It doesn’t taste beer-y, but has an even deeper chocolate flavor.  And just so you know, even beer haters like it.   By the way, all three winners of that Scharffen-Berger Chocolate Adventure Contest (remember?) incorporated stout into their cupcakes.  That’s saying something.

Anyway, I think Deb basically halved that cake recipe (she’d made it into a bundt before), so I knew what I was getting myself into taste and texture-wise.  I didn’t know if one could make whoopie pies simply by scooping cake batter without any alterations onto a cookie sheet, but luckily for me, it pretty much worked with this recipe!