Soft Foods and Short Hair

Joseph had two of his wisdom teeth removed last week, so he spent a few days on Jell-o, pudding, and macaroni and cheese. I had a bit of fun making him pudding cups!

This one has crumbled Nilla Wafers on the bottom, a layer of chopped bananas, pudding, and cool whip. I stirred the cookies into the pudding and let it sit for a few minutes to soften before he ate it.

In other news, I cut my hair! I donated 10.5 inches to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, which gives wigs to women suffering from cancer.

Before:

After:

Naturally curly:

I am very glad to have hair off my neck for the summer! I had been wanting to cut my hair for months, and donating it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths gave me the incentive to actually do it. I like it this length and think it will stay this way for a while!

Tonight I’m looking forward to throwing a small Twilight Zone marathon. Joseph has never seen seen episode! I loved when weekend marathons would come on television–I spent hours on end watching episodes with my dad. My all-time favorite Twilight Zone episode is It’s a Good Life, about a young boy named Anthony who makes people disappear if they don’t pretend to be happy all the time.

So creepy!

Venice and Verona with Ellen

My friend and sort-of-cousin is making her way around Europe and visited me for a week. We became friends one summer before we realized we share a cousin. I hadn’t seen her in three or four years be we got along very well while she was here!

Her first day here we went to Venice. Ellen’s photo

Later in the week I took her to Verona, which is only about two hours away by train. I had been to Verona twice, but each time was on a tour so that I’d only spent a couple hours in the city alone. This day we were there for six and a half hours and really got to sight-see!

The Verona Arena, a Roman amphitheater.  In the summer the arena holds operas!  We saw La Boheme a couple years ago and are planning on going back in August, though we haven’t decided yet which performance to see.

The first stop was of course “Juliet’s balcony,” which is a balcony attached to a wall. It definitely never belonged to the Capulet’s, and as far as I know the balcony wasn’t even attached until the 1930’s. The first time I went to Verona, in February 2007, we saw the “real” Capulet and Montague castles–side-by-side on separate hills, they were over an hour’s car ride away from the city where the balcony is located. Something about that isn’t right.

In Juliet’s courtyard under her balcony there is a statue of her; you’re supposed to stroke her right breast for good luck.

Castelvechhio Bridge

Ellen hangin’ out in Castelvecchio

Me on a small drawbridge that was right next to a large drawbridge

We had to ask some French tourists to take this photo so we could send it to our parents! Ellen’s photo

More on the outfit in the above photos?

Note: this photo was on a separate day!
Dress from H&M, cardigan from J. Crew, t-strap flats from Anthropologie

The links in the right toolbar suddenly aren’t appearing!  I’m not sure what happened–one day I looked and they were gone.

Picnic at Lake Barcis

I am a horrible, horrible blogger! I primarily blog elsewhere, so In the Wabe is always second to me, and I let the posts I need to make add up for far too long before I actually type them out.

A few weeks ago Joseph and I took a trip out to Lake Barcis for a picnic. I’m not sure why no one around us was screaming of excitement–the lake is turquoise! I’ve never seen such bright water. It reminds me of the “lakes” and “ponds” at amusement parks, where the dirty water is died to look blue.

Barcis is in Northern Italy, at the foot of the Alps.

Joseph with our picnic. The basket is Martha Stewart; I bought it at Macy’s last summer.

Our delicious picnic! I really go all out when it comes to picnics–caramelized baked chicken drumettes, cheesey green beans, potato salad, and strawberry pastries.

Caramelized Baked Chicken, from Allrecipes.com
These were very, very simple and delicious. Perfect for picnics, but don’t forget something to clean your hands with–these are sticky!

3 lbs chicken wings
2 Tbs olive oil
½ cup soy sauce
2 Tbs ketchup
1 cup honey
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbs corn starch
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Place chicken in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Mix together the oil, soy sauce, ketchup, honey, garlic, salt and pepper. Boil on stovetop with 2 Tbs corn start a few minutes, or until thick. Pour over the chicken.

Bake in preheated oven for one hour, or until sauce is caramelized. I used drumettes instead of wings and baked at the temperature and time suggested on the bag

Cheesey Green Beans–one of the greatest parts of my childhood. I looked forward to these every time I went to my grandmother’s, and they still don’t stick around in my house for long.

Two or three cans of green beans
One small onion
Velveeta

Drain green beans. Chop one onion in rings and place on top of green beans in a casserole dish. Bake in microwave for 10 minutes on high; stir in the green beans and bake for another 10 minutes. VERY IMPORTANT: drain the juices from the green beans. Even if it looks like there aren’t any juices, press some out or the cheese will be too runny! Slice Velveeta in 1/4 slices; place on top of green beans, cover, let melt, and stir in.

Potato Salad, another family recipe. If you don’t normally like potato salad, this is the kind for you! This is the recipe my grandmother sent me–in my family there are no exact measurements in any recipe. You just add things until it looks right

4-6 potatoes
4-6 boiled eggs, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 Tbs dill relish
2 Tbs sweet relish
mayonnaise
salt and pepper

Boil potatoes with skins on about 30 minutes or until tender when pricked with fork. Peel skins off and cut into small pieces. Add eggs, onion, and relishes. Add mayonnaise to taste. Use both hands to mix all together (I sometimes just use a fork) and partially mashing potatoes–just keep squeezing mixture until the consistency you like. You may then need to add more mayonnaise.

After our picnic we walked around the lake for a while, and I found this flower with I liked because the petals looked like they were made of little strips of paper.

I always tell him he’s very handsome, but for some reason he won’t believe me

I never spend a day in the sun without my big floppy hat and SPF 85

Congratulations, Joseph!

Congratulations, Joseph! This week my husband graduated from college! He know has a B.S. in computer science and information technology. To celebrate, I threw him a small party–only the two of us were invited.

I picked up this gelato cake at a local gelateria. It wasn’t much of a cake, though–a lot of chocolate gelato on top of a layer of vanilla. On the bottom and a very thin sponge cake that served as a sort of a crust. Around the outside was a hazelnut spread.

The living room was decorated in confetti, streamers, balloons, and a “Congratulations!” banner.

Say hello to my new purse–the Coach Small Leather Sabrina Satchel.

I don’t know what’s come over me or why I’ve suddenly become such a fan of Coach leather (I’ll pass on their fabric bags, thank you!), but I am really in love with this purse. I can’t wait to get some photos of me actually holding it, as that’s when it looks its best.

This is one of those “What’s in your bag?” memes bloggers often do. I carry around my keys, a cardigan, John Frieda Frizz-Ease, Trident Citrus Twist gum, a “calculator” pouch that holds Neosporin, band-aids, and chapstick, my blue iPod Nano, Hand sanitizer, a pen, a book (my new purse is small, so this has been my go-to since most of my reads are too big to comfortably fit), and my Coach wallet. Not pictured is my camera, which is obviously taking this photo.

Toy Cameras and Dresses

I remember seeing some old Kodak Brownies that belonged to my grandfather, and I always wanted to play with them. I’ve been interested in working with film recently, but since I’m only 20 years old I have absolutely no experience with film! Really, I’m completely lost. The only film cameras I’ve ever used myself were disposable ones when I was in middle school–after that it was all digital. All I know about film is that the canisters hold quarters well. I’ve been so dependent on my Digital SLR and I’d really like to be more hands-on. I put off buying a fancy film camera because I’m actually a bit intimidated and decided to get a little Kodak Brownie toy camera so that I could learn about developing first.

I bought this little Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash off Ebay. There are so many for sale, and they’re much cheaper than I would have imagined! I payed a bit extra for mine sine it came in the original case and had been tested out (most that I saw for sale had been picked up at a thrift store, and the seller was unsure if they were in working condition).

With the flash attached

A view of my cat through the viewfinder.

There are a few more Brownies I’d like to buy (right now I’m craving a Starmite), if not to use than at least for decoration. Hopefully soon I’ll work myself up to more serious cameras, but for now I just like this little toy, which was made in November 1956 and originally sold for just $7.

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Here are a couple things I’ve been wearing lately.

The rickrack goes around the waist as well. The Swarovski necklace was a gift from Joseph.

This is one of my favorite dresses, by Isaac Mizrahi for Target. His Target line was so inexpensive and well-made! I’m sad he’s no longer working for Target, but about 20% of my wardrobe is from this line and I think it will last me for a few more years.

This is definitely one of the best purchases I have ever made! I bought this Ali Ro dress on sale through Gilt.com. I also wore it in Paris with riding boots, black stockings, and a yellow scarf.

Some of you might have noticed In the Wabe has a new color scheme! I am still not completely satisfied with the layout, but I decided to change the colors from brown to a light pink to coincide with spring.

Springtime

I have gotten so lazy when it comes to this blog! I have much more to post than recipes (and a queue of about 20 recipe posts that still need to be made) but can never find the energy to do it.

These are colza flowers, used to make oil. They are all over the roadside here; it’s even hard to concentrate on driving when I pass them! Very expansive fields of bright flowers–who could look away? I assumed they were weeds since they grew seemingly overnight and are very tall, but a friend that lives in France corrected me. I think they will get quite a bit taller before they’re harvested, so hopefully I will get to enjoy them for a bit longer.

Gold Dior earrings. Joseph bought these for me a few weeks ago, completely unexpected! I’m glad I married someone with good taste in jewelry  The gold is perfectly gilded, but the lettering caught the reflection of my camera in the middle photo.

I’m so glad it is getting warm out finally. The winters aren’t too bad here, but they are definitely longer than what I’m used to in Texas.

I bought these soaps in Paris last month. They are all different flavors, but they somehow work wonderfully together. Now my bathroom smells amazing!
The brown is vanilla; green is green tea; red is strawberry; yellow is magnolia; purple in the back is labelled “mure” and I’m not quite sure what that means just yet.

A post I made about my December trip to Germany was recently featured on the new travel website, Ruba.

Authentic Travel

Brownie Cupcakes

I became famous among my friends for my cupcake brownies. Throughout high school there wasn’t a birthday party where I didn’t walk in carrying two dozen of these! For as long as I can remember my dad topped off brownies with vanilla icing (though in my household we didn’t wait for them to cool completely, so the icing was always runny). Everything is better when made into a cupcake, right?

I’m breaking one of my rules and recommending you stay away from anything made from scratch for these. I’ve made them many times and the only way to really get the “Brownie Cupcakes” taste I grew up enjoying is from box mix brownies and canned frosting–really! It is the only way to do it. Some how box mix brownies taste amazing in cupcake form, and adding canned vanilla frosting takes them to a new level.

Follow directions on brownie mix; I like to add a handful of chocolate chips to the batter. Be sure to coat the cupcake tin with grease and don’t fill them as much as you would with cake batter. Bake according to directions on the box or bag, shortening the baking period. Don’t overcook! My general rule of thumb is that I take them out of the oven when I start smelling them from the next room. Let cool on wire rack before topping with canned vanilla icing.

I like using Betty Crocker’s Rainbow Chip icing, but since that wasn’t available here, I just topped them with M&M’s. The results were great!

Wonderful Paris, France!

Warning: this is going to be a pretty big post.

I recently took the greatest trip I have so far–I spent four days in beautiful Paris! It was lovely and wonderful, and I can’t wait to go back again! The city is huge, but in four days I got to see nearly everything I wanted.

April 4

One of the first things we saw in the city:

How adorable is this hotel? I’m not normally the “take-a-photo-of-your-Best-Wester-suite” type of gal, but I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this cute French room. Much better than a Best Western, in my opinion!

The Arc de Triomphe–this was much bigger than I anticipated. I guess I was expecting it to be around the same size as the arches I’ve seen in Rome, but of course Napoleon went all out on this one!

Every time I walked through gravel my nice leather boots looked hilarious! My husband thankfully found a rag to clean them off–but not until our second day.

Another shot of the Louvre with the glass pyramid in front.

And then from inside the pyramid! I actually though the pyramid looked pretty ugly and out of place, but it does take nice photos.

Our first day there I just had to see the Eiffel Tower! I’ve always thought it was so beautiful. I never expected it to be so big, though! Pictures can not adequately describe how gigantic it is.

We sat in the grass as we watched the sun set while the Eiffel Tower gradually lit up.

By the time the sky was dark, the tower was a solid orange color. In person it looked like it had completely transformed into an orange that looked perfect with the blue sky–as if the metal had actually changed colors.

April 5

The perfect way to do breakfast in France!

A corner of the palace of Versailles

The palace itself is huge, but it’s dwarfed by the actual gardens. You could definitely get lost there–now I can understand how Marie Antoinette wondered around for days on these grounds.

My favorite photo from the trip–looking from the Apollo Fountain onto the palace.

The grass was so bright his shirt was so blue that I tried to coax Joseph into portraits (someone unsuccessfully).

After eating lunch on the grass, we walked to Petit Trianon (a smaller palace), behind which I found the cutest thing I have ever seen–a little faux farming village built for Marie Antoinette, called “Hameau de la reine.”

Apparently this was built simply for fun and because she enjoyed playing dress-up. Joseph joked that if I were a queen I would have the exact same thing built for me.

The front of the same building in the photo above

Can you tell how happy I was to get to see this?

There were even animals! I saw chickens (one that even looked like Marie Antoinette), goats, sheep, cows, and a big fat pig.

Just before leaving and still a very happy girl (with bad posture)–Versailles was very beautiful!

April 6

The famous Sainte-Chapelle, built of 15 ornate stain glass windows

Notre Dame

Notre Dame from across the Sienne–it looks very different from the side.

As a future librarian and lover of the Jazz Age in literature (Fitzgerald is my favorite author), I was very excited to see this famous bookstore, which was frequented by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and James Joyce, to name a few. You may have noticed Hemingway’s mention of it in A Moveable Feast!

Buildings along the Sienne

April 7

We spent our last day in the small neighborhood of Montmartre before we caught our flight back to Venice.

Sacre Coeur

We didn’t see a show but did get a quick view of the outside of the Moulin Rouge

Who would I be if I didn’t take photos of food?

Macarons!

Very delicious creme brulee

Of all the places I’ve been, Paris has been one of my favorites! This was an overall wonderful trip. If you’d like to see more photos, you can look at my Flickr album by clicking here.

Budapest, Hungary & Vienna, Austria

Wow, I am very behind here! I went on a short weekend trip to Budapest and Vienna last weekend and had a great time. I’d never imagined going to Hungary, but it was very beautiful! I only got one day in Vienna, so I am definitely planning on going back.

Budapest, Hungary

I thought this building was so beautiful.

The streets of downtown Budapest were lined with buildings similar to this one. Very beautiful!

Saint Stephen’s Basilica

The inside of the basilica

Matthias Church

Me in a street in Budapest

Hungary is famous for its lace, so I couldn’t resist this little bit of handmade lace.

Vienna, Austria
The day was rainy, and we only had a few hours to spend in the city. It was beautiful but deserves a redo! Austria is one of my favorite places I’ve traveled to, and I think I need two or three days to fully enjoy Vienna.

The Michael Wing of the Hofburg Palace

Joseph and me in front of the Hofburg Palace

Veal weiner schnitzel–one of my favorite meals!

Apple strudel, to top off my very cliche lunch

Rainbow Cupcakes

I’ve seen recipes for rainbow cakes and cupcakes going around the internet for a while. I’ve never had much interest in them even though I like the way they look, but this morning I woke up really wanting to make some! They are cute and were fun to make–I imagine these would be a bit hit at a birthday party or bake sale!

To make these, prepare white cake batter. You can use a boxed mix, but I would suggest a heavier cake to keep the colors from mixing, like this Martha Stewart recipe listed below.
Prepare whichever recipe you are using as usual. Before pouring batter in a pan, divide into separate bowls. Use food coloring (I prefer gel) to achieve the colors you would like. Then spoon each color one by one into cupcake liners. Many people like to spoon one directly on top of the other to create layers, but I like mine a bit messier. Have fun with it!

Before they baked they looked like this:

After they cool I iced them with a heavy and rich cream cheese frosting.

My recipe suggestions:

Vanilla Cucpakes, from Martha Stewart

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ cup sugar
4 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard two muffin tins with paper liners. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined. Beat in vanilla.
3. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture and sour cream in alternating batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean and the top is springy to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely before spreading with frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16. oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-4 cups confectioner’s sugar

Cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar and beat until you’ve reached the desired consistency. For a sweeter taste, add more sugar.

The above recipes should make and generously frost 24 cupcakes, 48 mini-cupcakes, or one cake.