Chocolate Chip Cookie Goodness

Last night I made chocolate chip cookies, which I haven't made in eons it feels like. I'm pretty sure these are what made my way into Jared's heart ;)

First pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine 1 cup room temperature butter, 1 cup packed brown sugar, and half a cup of white sugar.

Seriously what could be better in life than sugar and butter?

Next combine the butter & sugar mixture with 2 large eggs and 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract.

Mix together. This is what the batter should look like at this stage.

Then combine with 2 3/4 cups of flour, 1 tsp of baking soda, and 1/2 tsp of salt, and of course the chocolate chips!

It may take a while for all of the ingredients to combine, this is a dry recipe, but I promise if you keep mixing it, it will combine together. If you find you've been mixing for 5 minutes and the batter still isn't combined, add a teaspoon of water.

 Keep mixing!

This is what the batter should look like when all the ingredients are combined. 

Next, form about 1 to 1/12 tbs of batter into little balls and place on cookie sheets. Pop in the oven for 19 to 21 minutes. These cookies come out of the oven super soft, be careful when you're placing them on the cooking rack. I suggest laying them down on paper towels on your counter or table and let them cool. 

Silly me did not get a picture of the finished cookies because I was distracted by the gorgeous sunset that was happening outside!

If you make these let me know how they turned out in the comment box!

Kinda Rediculously Excited

For my new cookbook. The mother of all cookbooks and the cornerstone of most collections has arrived! What should I make first?

Happy Birthday Julia!

Happy 100th Birthday Julia!

"I love that after a day when nothing is sure, and when I say "nothing" I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It's such a comfort." - Julie Powell in Julie & Julia.

Road Trippin'

After leaving my sister's house in Connecticut for a long weekend, Jared and I decided to go a little off the beaten path. We're big on random adventures and here is a photo bomb for you.

Epic clouds and the open road on Route 84.

The Best Road Trip Ever App led us to this guy.

The Hippie Muffler Man. Apparently he use to hold a fish.

Cheesin' for the camera.

Random pretty park.

Finger what are you doing in this picture?!

And of course we had to stop by the Roscoe Diner just off Route 17. I had the Greek Gyro. I've been stopping by this diner between my sister's house in Connecticut and home since I was a kid.

Jared had the Mexican Eggs Delux.

He's cute no? ;)

My newest obsession. I hope all you lovelies had an amazing weekend. Enjoy these last few hours of Sunday, for tomorrow we work.

Microclimate [a wine bar]

Microclimate [a wine bar] is a hidden gem in downtown Geneva, NY and one of my new favorite hang-out places. The concept behind Microclimate is simple and ingenious. You can choose to open a bottle of your favorite wine, indulge in a glass at happy hour, or choose my favorite, the flight. With the flight you pick a type of wine, and then you taste five wines of the same type from around the world. Every flight has one wine that is local to the Finger Lakes. I am in love with this idea. I chose the Rose flight (every flight equals out to be one glass of wine) and Jared chose the Pinot Noir. I am not a huge red wine fan, but there was a German wine on the Pinot flight that was ahhhmazing. But go figure, we both loved the Finger Lakes wine in each of our flights the best. We also ordered the cheese platter, and our favorite was the Italian manchego cheese pictured in the upper left hand corner. The bread was made just a few blocks away at Normal Bread, which I intend to check out very soon.

Stephanie Mira de Orduna, our sommelier and co-owner of Microclimate, was very attentive and so knowledgeable. If you're the type of person who is intimidated by wine, I highly encourage you to check this place out. It is snobbery-free and the exposed brick walls and steel and leather touches give it a relaxed yet edgy feel. If you're an expert, you'll love the opportunity to place your palate to the test with a world tour of your favorite varietal. Microclimate will be added a sparkling wine flight for the month of August, which I will most definitely be tasting, along with a Gewürztraminer flight for the fall. Wine not really your thing? They also have a huge variety of beer from all over the world.

What: Microclimate [a wine bar]
Where: 38 Linden St, Geneva, NY
When:

Mon:	6:00 pm	-	12:00 am
Thu - Sat:	4:30 pm	-	1:00 am
Sun:	4:30 pm	-	12:00 am

All opinions are my own. Pictures were taken on my iPhone and filtered with Instagram.

Wilton's Cake Decorating Class

Hello lovelies! Pardon my absence, but I have been so busy the past two weeks! In flour & sugar related news I finished my introductory-level cake decorating class at Michael's this last Thursday, which also happened to fall on my madre's birthday. Therefore my final cakes had to be a birthday cake! I learned a lot and reinforced some basic baking techniques for this class, but I am do glad this class is over with because I am over baking in this 92 degree wether with 90% humidity.

What: Wilton Cake Decorating Class
Where: Michaels Craft Stores
When: my class happened to be on Thursday nights from 6-8 PM. Classes are 4 weeks long, once a week.

Pros: Learn or brush up on (depending on your experience) the basics of how to bake and frost the perfect cake. You learn a lot of basic decorating techniques, such as how to make ribbon roses! This class provides the foundation needed for the more advanced work, such as gum paste and fondant.

Cons: This class ends up being a much bigger time commitment then just those two class hours. You have to put in a lot of at home prep work -which does pay off in class, but for those that work full time you will have to make everything a day or two in advanced. Also, at times it does seem like a giant marketing scam for Wilton to try to convince you, you need a Wilton cake lifter. What do you mean you don't already have one?!

Not Perfect, but my mom loved it :)

Dot boarder and design on the side of the cake.