March Daring Bakers Challenge

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

So this month, we were required to make a spinach dough for lasagna noodles, as well as a white bechamel sauce and a homemade ragu sauce. Unfortunately, I failed miseraby at this month's challenge and therefore have no pictures or review to make. I am hoping to be able to make up for this next month.

Carpeting and Pool Table

So Superman and I are getting a pool table on Monday. I have yet to see but am told that it is a very nice, rather expensive table. I have always wanted a pool table, so when the opportunity came about to own this one, I jumped at it. Is it practical or even in the budget, no. But what we are paying compared to it's worth, I couldn't resist.

 We are currently renting a house and there is a back building/room/office that we were not sure what to do with. I decided that it would be great to put the pool table there and then make it into a lounge area that we can have BBQ's and hang out in when the weather allows. There is a patio so the space seemed perfect. Below is a photo of the building pre update:

I decided that we would be irresponsible pool table owners if we simply put the table on the concrete floor that had been painted over. So the quest began for suitable flooring for such a magnificent piece of furniture. Options considered:

1-Tile floor-that wasn't more than a second long thought.

2-Wood flooring (or honestly faux wood florring aka pergo)-hey it's a rental house. But the decision was that if a ball landed on a hard flooring it would dent the wood, or more importantly the prized pool balls. And this would defeat the purpose of putting flooring over the existing concrete floor.

3-carpet or rug-the room is a 10 X 13. So we decided we would look for a cheap carpet or rug solution. I preferred a rug for the fact that we can take it with us when we move. However, a rug was not likely to cover the entire floor and I was worried that I would be overwhelmed by all of the clashing color schemes. So I went to many carpet stores and found the prefect carpet. The color was blue, but the room is painted plain, sterile white and we can't change any paint colors on the property. I decided the carpet would look good in there, but I will have to see how it looks with the table. The felt is magenta and the wood is golden oak, so I've been told.

 

 We brought the carpet home and installed it last night. We did not get padding since we were attempting to keep our costs low. The carpet sales person recommended a double faced tape which would keep the carpet secure. (Disclaimer: this tape is serious stuff. Do not attempt to stick tape to your significant other's arm where hair exists. Apparently there is serious pain in removing the tape by ripping if off the skin. Superman has confirmed this theory). 

 First step was to remove all the base in the room. Then we cleaned the floor where we would be laying the tape. We laid the tape and rolled the carpet onto the tape, section by section. The carpet was a 12 X 12 piece of remnant so we had to trim it to fit the room. It was too wide and too short. After we laid the carpet and trimmed to fit width wise, we filled in the shortened length. Below are the pictures:

This morning we went and put the base back on. It looks so much better than it did before. Now we can't wait to get the pool table in. The little strip at the end is where we had to patch the short piece. It looks a little odd, but much better than if we left it bare.

 So total cost to upgrade the flooring for the back room:

Carpet remnant (plush type)-12 x 12 piece-$60

Double faced Tap$7

After Sales tax-$72.50

Not too bad.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the pool table. I can't wait!

January 2009 Daring Baker's Challenge

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruenhren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angelique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

This month's challenge was to use on of the batters we were given (sweet, gluten-free, or savory) and shape it before or after baking. We then had to pair the tuile with something light. I selected the sweet option and made a chocolate tuile and paired it with a raspberry mousse. I had never made either item prior to today so this was a challenge for me. However, I found both to be quite easy to make. Karen of Bake My Day made her tuiles in the shape of butterflies which were so cute, but I opted to take the plain route as I am just starting. I was happy with the way my challenge came out, and my boyfriend (Superman) enjoyed the tuiles as well. I have quite a bit of work to do in appearance and presentation however. 

New Year and New Start

So it's 2009. What does this mean? Another new "start" to another year in life. I have chosen 2009 to be a year for many starts, we'll see how it all turns out in 12 months.

 First new start, I ended a less than ideal roommate situation this past month. After one of the ex roomies tried to skip out on a week and a half worth of rent and attempted to get me into trouble with my landlord, it would be not too unreasonable to say that I am far from enthusiastic about the thought of another roommate. However, life is all about adapting and overcoming, and this I plan to do. I look forward to another household adventure. I welcome it, I embrace it, I....well whatever.

 Second new start, I have joined a group known as the Daring Baker's. I am very excited about this as I hope that it will push my culinary prowess to new limits. Ok, so confession. I have really only been seriously cooking for about a couple of months, so I really don't have much prowess. But a woman can sure hope, can't she? The fact that I don't burn/ruin most meals should count for some credit, right? Anywho, I look forward to upcoming challenges and adventures in cooking.

 The third and final new start is, drumroll please........this blog. I have not been a good journaler or diary keeper, or well, any record keeper of life really. So, I'm not so why I have this sudden urge to have a blog. I think I thought the blog bandwagon needed another member, so I hopped on. Mainly, I hoped to have a place to display my culinary accomplishments/disasters and a place to track my life. All open for public scrutiny. Sweet.

 Now for an explanation for my blog title, warmfuzziesandhistrionics. Warm fuzzies should be quite obvious. Histrionics might need some explaining. Basically, in olden days, a medical term was invented to explain the behavior of women that differed from men. Mainly that women tend to have more emotional outbursts (umm, PMS anyone?) or to be hysterical (not in the funny, you-made-me-laugh-so-hard-I-peed-my-pants hysterical). Thus the term histrionics was coined. I thought this term was quite suiting since I tend to fall into the category of giving warm fuzzies and to be histrionic, sometimes all at once. Plus, I love the word. I also love the words conundrum, booterbaugh (actually a last name but I love the sound of the word), helter skelter, hodge podge or words that make people look at me like I sprouted a second head at that exact moment. Plus my boyfriend suggested it and I like to let him think that he really has a voice in our relationship.