We’re on the cusp of a holiday weekend which means one thing: food! Well, for me this year, it means carrying and unpacking a never-ending mountain of boxes (yay new house!), but for pretty much the rest of the country, this weekend is the unofficial start to summer. It’s time for the grills to get fired up, for pools to open and to enjoy some serious relaxation outside on the deck or patio. No holiday picnic is complete without a great lineup of food, which of course includes dessert! I have no idea how it’s taken me a year to make this brownie sundae, because I wanted to dig into it the moment I saw it on Emily’s site nearly a year ago. Layers of brownies, vanilla ice cream, peanuts and fudge topping is pretty impossible to resist. Now that I’ve made an entire pan of it, I’m going to need to share some before I devour it all!

For the brownie layers, you can use the recipe I’ve linked to below (my favorite thin, fudgy brownie recipe) or you can use a box mix, but if you do, be sure that it’s one that makes enough for a 9×13-inch pan (some only make enough batter for a square pan). Once your brownies are cool, top them with a layer of your favorite vanilla ice cream, lots of salted peanuts, and then cap it all off with a homemade fudge topping. Whipped cream and cherry are not optional in my world, but you can leave them off if you prefer.

This tastes like a cross between a Peanut Buster Parfait (or a Buster Bar) and a frozen Snickers. Which is to say, if you like peanuts, chocolate and ice cream, you’re going to LOVE this dessert.

What are you cooking up for Memorial Day weekend?

One year ago: Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars
Two years ago: Rhubarb Pie-Tartlets
Three years ago: Blackberry Pie Bars
Four years ago: Greek Celebration Bread (Christopsomos)
Five years ago: Lighter Chicken Parmesan

Frozen Brownie Sundae

Yield: 16 to 20 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 6 hours

A layer of fudgy brownies topped with vanilla ice cream, peanuts and hot fudge topping, served straight from the freezer.

Ingredients:

1 brownie recipe for a 9x13-inch pan
½ gallon vanilla ice cream, softened
1½ cups salted peanuts

For the Topping:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
⅔ cup semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Prepare the brownies as directed and allow to cool completely.

2. Spread the vanilla ice cream over the cooled brownies, then sprinkle the peanuts evenly over the ice cream. Place in the freezer until the ice cream is completely firm, at least 2 hours.

3. Meanwhile, make the topping. Combine the powdered sugar, evaporated milk, chocolate chips and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 8 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Allow to cool for 30 minutes.

4. When ready, pour the chocolate topping evenly over the ice cream and peanuts. Return to the freezer for at least 2 hours, or until firm. Let sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

(Recipe adapted from The Culinary Couple)

I am a total kid at heart when it comes to Rice Krispies treats. I’ve always loved the gooey, crispy treats and never turn them down if I have the opportunity to eat one. Recently, I had lunch at Noodles & Company where I always, always get one of their enormous snickerdoodle cookies. Last week, however, I was lured away from the snickerdoodle by the massive Rice Krispies treats that were stacked right next to the cookies. Getting a Rice Krispies treat that day was a very good decision. Ever since then, I’ve been craving more and since it’s not exactly convenient to pop into Noodles everyday, I decided to make a batch at home; it has been a few months since my Snickers Rice Krispies Treats, after all. With the holiday weekend approaching, I wanted to make a flavor combination that celebrated summer. Rocky road is a quintessential ice cream flavor and, as it turns out, it makes for one heck of a Rice Krispies treat!

I fashioned these treats after the rocky road ice cream concoction from Marble Slab Creamery, which featured a dark chocolate ice cream mixed together with miniature marshmallows, mini chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. To make the Rice Krispies treats, I added Dutch-process cocoa powder to the butter and marshmallow mixture, along with some almond butter, since almonds are traditionally used in rocky road ice cream. To the mixture, I threw in more (unmelted) mini marshmallows, miniature chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. You could play around with whatever you’d like – different nut butters, different types of nuts, etc.

If you’re hosting or going to a Memorial Day party, these would be a perfect easy snack. Really, Rice Krispies treats are good anytime of year, for any occasion!

One year ago: Grilled Chicken Drumsticks with Spicy Apple Glaze
Two years ago: Peanut Butter Brownies
Three years ago: Guacamole
Four years ago: Coconut Chocolate Chunk Blondies
Six years ago: Taco Rice Salad

Rocky Road Rice Krispies Treats

Yield: 24 treats

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Rice Krispies Treats are always a crowd favorite; this version highlights the best parts of rocky road ice cream - nuts, more marshmallows, and chocolate chips!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 (10-ounce) bag + 2 cups miniature marshmallows, divided
¼ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ cup almond butter
6 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish; set aside.

2. Melt the butter, the bag of marshmallows and cocoa powder together in a medium saucepan over low heat. Once melted, stir in the almond butter and remove from the heat.

3. Stir in the Rice Krispies until they are evenly coated with the sauce. Working quickly, stir in the remaining 2 cups marshmallows, walnuts and mini chocolate chips, mixing as gently as possible.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and press into an even layer. Use the back of a greased wooden spoon to press down firmly over the surface of the treats to ensure that they are packed down tightly.

5. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or until set. Cut into bars and serve. Leftovers should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator (room temperature for softer, more gooey bars; refrigerator for firmer bars).

Crab dip always makes me think of summer – warm, breezy days sitting somewhere near water and enjoying a meal without a care in the world. When my Chief Culinary Consultant lived outside of Washington, D.C., we did a lot of eating out at restaurants when I would visit for the weekend. Crab dip was always one of our go-to appetizers, especially if it was during the spring or summer. If it was on the menu, there was a 99% chance we’d order it. Some of our favorite crab dips came from restaurants in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and in Annapolis. Unfortunately, I don’t find crab dip on menus nearly as often here in Pittsburgh as I did in the D.C. area, which means I had a kitchen project to tackle. It’s been a long time coming, but I finally put together a crab dip recipe to rival those that we would enjoy in Maryland-area restaurants.

While the flavors and textures of the crap dips we enjoyed varied from restaurant to restaurant, there were quite a few similarities – plenty of crab, creamy, cheesy, with a pop of lemon flavor and a touch of spice. I blended together a lot of different flavors and textures to create this dip and was thrilled with the result. It reminded me of sitting outside, the warm sun on my face, enjoying a leisurely weekend lunch.

This is a fabulous appetizer for any summertime get-together; it will be devoured in no time. What foods remind you of carefree summer days?

One year ago: Homemade Salted Caramel Sauce + Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Two years ago: Top 10 List: Favorite Cupcake Recipes
Three years ago: Polenta French Toast
Four years ago: Traditional Hummus
Five years ago: Homemade Pita Bread

Crab Dip

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

An easy recipe for Crab Dip - warm, cheesy, full of flavor and perfect for parties.

Ingredients:

For the Dip:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small red pepper, finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
16 ounces lump crab meat (drained, if canned)
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup mayonnaise
4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (1 cup shredded)
¼ cup Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1½ teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon hot sauce

For the Topping:
½ cup Panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 1½-quart casserole dish; set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add the red pepper and onion and cook until softened and all moisture has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until fragrant. Remove the mixture to a large bowl and allow to cool.

3. Add the rest of the dip ingredients to the bowl with the pepper mixture and gently stir together until combined, being careful not to smash the crab meat too much. Transfer the mixture to the prepared casserole dish.

4. With a fork, toss together the bread crumbs, Parmesan and melted butter and sprinkle evenly over the top of the dip.

5. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with baguette slices or your favorite tortilla or pita chips. Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

I tend to think I’m a “regular Joe” when it comes to the type of desserts that I enjoy. You’d be surprised how many times I steal a handful of chocolate chips from a bag, eat a chocolate-covered pretzel left over from my last birthday, frequent the local soft serve establishment, and enjoy otherwise very “regular” types of desserts. Yes, I absolutely love creating sky-high layer cakes. No, they are not the only types of things I make or eat. Many times, I crave what I loved when I was a kid.

This “dirt” recipe is one that I remember fondly. I distinctly remember eating it while visiting my parents’ friends during the summer. They had two daughters roughly the same age as my sister and I, and we all got together very often when I was little. My mom’s friend Karen would serve this in individual cups or faux flower pots to all of the kids. I thought it was the coolest thing, and I still appreciate all of the wonderful flavors as an adult. (I even secretly enjoy eating the gummy worms!)

The old-fashioned Dirt recipe consists of alternating layers of crushed Oreo cookies and a chocolate pudding mixture that has been lightened up with cream cheese and Cool Whip. You can make this dessert as quick and easy as you’d like, or you can substitute homemade versions of the Oreo cookies, chocolate pudding and Cool Whip for a 100% from-scratch dessert. I have written the dessert as it was made by my family, but feel free to make any of those substitutions if you’d like. The combination of flavors is bound to be delicious no matter what!

What were your favorite childhood desserts?

One year ago: Bacon and Cheese Quiche Tart
Two years ago: Mushroom Barley Risotto
Three years ago: Honey-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
Four years ago: Mushroom Spinach & Gruyere Quiche
Five years ago: Traditional Madeleines

Dirt Dessert

Yield: 16 to 20 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours

A summertime favorite! Dirt dessert is alternating layers of crushed Oreo cookies and a lightened chocolate pudding mixture that is made to look like "dirt", complete with (gummy) worms!

Ingredients:

1 package (about 15 ounces) Oreo Cookies
2 (3.9-ounces) packages instant chocolate pudding
4 cups milk
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
8 ounces Cool Whip
Gummy worms (optional)

Directions:

1. Crush the Oreo cookies into fine crumbs using a food processor (or, place the cookies in a resealable plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin); set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together both boxes of the instant pudding with the milk for about 2 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, beat together the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, add the powdered sugar, then gradually increase the speed back to medium until a fluffy texture is reached.

4. Using a rubber spatula, fold the cream cheese mixture into the chocolate pudding, then fold in the Cool Whip until completely combined.

5. The dessert can be assembled in a number of ways - in a rectangular or square serving dish, in a trifle dish, or in individual cups. However you plan to serve it, layer the dessert with alternating layers of the crushed Oreos and pudding mixture, beginning and ending with the crushed Oreos. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight) before serving. Decorate the top with gummy worms before serving, if desired.

Happy Saturday to you! Are you geared up for your weekend? Doing anything fun? I’m spending the bulk of the weekend getting things organized, purged and in order for our move this week!! So excited, but so much to do! I am looking forward to getting in, unpacking, and getting settled. Next week’s Weekend Dish will be coming to you from our new home! I hope you all have an awesome weekend and get to do something fun!

As always, you’ll find a recap of what was posted to the site this week as well as some bookmarked recipes from other blogs. Enjoy!

On Brown Eyed Baker This Week

Katharine Hepburn Brownies – Katharine Hepburn’s famed brownie recipe, complete with walnuts.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken – The most flavorful, juicy and crunchy fried chicken you’ll ever make at home. Perfection!

DIY: Iced Coffee – An easy method for making iced coffee at home; no more coffee shop runs!

Homemade Marshmallow Creme – I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to lick the beaters.

Friday Things – Pretty water droplets, new movies, moving, and puppies in the car!

Most Viewed Post This Week: Top 10 List: Favorite Cupcake Recipes

Most Pinned Post This Week: Katharine Hepburn Brownies

Most Emailed Post This Week: Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Most Facebook Shared Post This Week: Loaded Baked Potato Dip

Most Tweeted Post This Week: Buttermilk Fried Chicken

What I Bookmarked This Week

Recipes and posts from other blogs that I thought looked especially delicious and that I thought you would like, too:

Chocolate Cream of Coconut Cake (Inside BruCrew Life)
I love this flavor combination for a traditional poke cake. It looks so fluffy and moist, plus it packs tons of coconut flavor.

French Toast Muffins (Two Peas and Their Pod)
These are perfect for brunch or overnight guests; I might even add a little bacon to them

Peach Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake (Week of Menus)
This cake just screams summer; I’m ready!

Potato Skins Mac and Cheese (A Spicy Perspective)
I just died and went to heaven. I cannot make this fast enough.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie (Joy the Baker)
This is such a beautiful pie, and I love that the crumb topping has coconut in it.

What was the best thing you ate this week??

Have a delicious weekend!

1. I’ve always wanted to take photos of water droplets with my macro lens and a few mornings ago I saw some picture-perfect droplets sitting on leaves. I grabbed my camera and got a few good pictures. I take so many pictures of food, that sometimes I have to remind myself to expand my photography horizons.

2. Last Friday, my mom and I went to get pedicures after she got home from work. I sat down and started playing around on my phone, checking email, etc. I realized after a few minutes that I have a terrible time unplugging, so I put my phone away, closed my eyes and just relaxed. It was a wonderfully relaxing hour, and a reminder that I need to put away the electronics more often!

3. I hope that all of you mom’s had a wonderful Mother’s Day last weekend! We took my mom out to lunch and then to play around at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. My sister walked away the big winner at the digital roulette games; I ended up donating my money to the blackjack machines. I’m an awful gambler, once I lose $20 I’m pretty much ready to quit.

4. I’m loving this beehive drink dispenser from World Market – perfect for summer!

5. Am I the only person that goes into a chocolate store to buy gifts for other people and walks out with an equal amount of chocolate for myself? No? Okay, good.

6. I saw the new Star Trek movie last night and absolutely loved it! If you’re thinking about seeing the new movie, I highly recommend it! Next on my list are Ironman 3 and The Great Gatsby. I also want to see The Interns and can’t wait for the new Anchorman. What new movies have you seen lately?

7. My Chief Culinary Consultant and I are closing on our house in FIVE days. Five! That’s less than a week! We’ve done an insane amount of furniture shopping this week and are excited to get settled in.

8. Speaking of moving, I’ve realized that when you start sorting through all of your belongings in an effort to purge and pack, it becomes pretty clear what’s most important to you. It appears my life can be grouped into three simple categories: Kitchen, Sports and Christmas. So there you have it.

9. The warm weather the last few days has me craving a s’more. On a related note, I’m also craving this s’mores bar.

10. TGIF! Let your hair down and enjoy the ride!

I have nearly a dozen recipes here on Brown Eyed Baker that call for marshmallow creme… things such as fruit dip, homemade Hostess cupcakes, six-layer chocolate cake with toasted marshmallow filling and malted chocolate frosting (yes, it’s a doozy!) and homemade Snickers bars, among others. Marshmallow creme is one of those things that I admittedly take for granted, since it is on a shelf in the baking aisle of nearly every grocery store in the United States. However, it’s not readily available in most other parts of the world, and it’s the source of some of the most-asked questions I receive on recipes that include it as an ingredient. The great news is that you can make your own! I’ve been wanting to make it from scratch for awhile, and I also wanted to provide an alternative to those that want so badly to make those recipes that call for it, but can’t find it. Homemade marshmallow creme only requires one saucepan, a mixer, candy thermometer and about 20 minutes of time.

Whether you’re baking with it, or using it to create the ultimate Fluffernutter sandwich, a batch of homemade marshmallow creme will definitely serve you well.

What’s your favorite thing to make with marshmallow creme?

One year ago: Mocha Brownies
Two years ago: Soba Noodle Stir-Fry with Spicy Almond Butter Sauce
Three years ago: Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Four years ago: Anadama Bread
Five years ago: Chicken Fajita Enchiladas

Homemade Marshmallow Creme

Yield: About 2 cups

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
¼ cup water
Pinch of salt
2 egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, water and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

2. While the sugar mixture is boiling, add the egg whites and cream of tartar to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. The egg whites should be ready and waiting when the sugar mixture reaches 240 degrees F. If the egg whites reach soft peaks before the sugar mixture reaches its temperature, turn off the mixer.

3. Once the sugar mixture reaches 240 degrees F, turn the mixer speed to low and very slowly drizzle the syrup down the side of the mixer bowl. Once all of the syrup has been added, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form and the mixture has cooled substantially, about 7 to 9 minutes. Add the vanilla extract during the last minute or two of beating.

4. Use immediately, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

(Recipe adapted from Marshmallow Madness)

I have been a habitual drinker of diet pop (or soda, for everyone not from Pittsburgh) for a long, long time; probably since high school. I’m that person who will go through a drive-thru just to get a Diet Coke. I have never been a coffee drinker, so my Diet Coke fixes have long been my only source of caffeine, and some afternoons I just need it to power through. However, I recently began reading a lot of articles relating to the effects of aspartame and a little over a month ago decided that I wanted to curb how much diet pop I have been drinking. Making that resolution meant I needed a way to get a little caffeine into my system when I need it. I went back to an iced coffee recipe that I saw a couple of years ago and thought I might just like it… given the sweetened condensed milk and half-and-half. Turns out, with sweet, creamy additions, even the coffee-averse can create an iced coffee drink that they love!

This recipe is incredibly easy to make and takes virtually no time at all to prepare. Coffee grounds are steeped in water overnight, then strained through cheesecloth (or a coffee filter!) into a clean container. The coffee concentrate is chilled, then when you’re ready for a glass of iced coffee, simply fill your glass with ice, fill it up to three-quarters full of the chilled coffee and add in your sweeteners. I couldn’t resist the couple tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk and a big splash of half-and-half. For someone who has never been a big fan of the taste of coffee, this was the perfect combination. It gave the coffee a sweet, creamy flavor that I loved.

I’m thrilled to have a cold drink with a little jolt of caffeine that I can enjoy in place of my Diet Coke habit; this is perfect for my transition to less pop, as well as the upcoming warm weather.

(Don’t forget to leave some room at the top of the glass for whipped cream!)

One year ago: Chicken Fried Steak with Sawmill Gravy
Two years ago: Top 10 List: Favorite Ice Cream Recipes
Three years ago: Baking FAQ: Answers to Common Baking Questions
Six years ago: Chicken Salad

Iced Coffee

Yield: 12 servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 12 hours

A simple recipe for making iced coffee at home.

Ingredients:

8 ounces ground coffee
4 quarts cold water
Sweeteners as desired (sweetened condensed milk, half-and-half, syrups, etc.)

Directions:

1. Place the coffee grounds in a large food-safe container and add the cold water. Mix with a large spoon, then cover and allow to sit overnight at room temperature.

2. Strain the mixture into a clean container through a fine-mesh sieve that has been lined with two layers of cheesecloth or coffee filters. Discard the coffee grounds. Chill mixture until ready to use.

3. To make the iced coffee, fill a glass with ice and fill it two-thirds full of the chilled coffee concentrate. Sweeten as desired. (I made mine with 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk and an additional splash of half-and-half.)

(Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman, who adapted it from Imbibe Magazine)

Back when I was in college, fried chicken was just as much a “thing” as pizza, wings and (for some) Chinese. My freshman year, a girl that lived on my floor worked at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken, usually the night shift since she had classes during the day. On the nights that she worked, she would get back to the dorm around midnight with the leftover food from the end of the night. Six of us girls would sit in the hallway, with all of the food in the middle, gossip and snack on fried chicken, potato wedges, biscuits and chocolate chip cake. In case you’re wondering, yes, I did in fact gain the freshman fifteen. But you know what? I wouldn’t trade those late-night snack sessions for anything. It was about forming bonds, friendships and alliances as we were all trying to navigate college life.

I’ve long since wanted to make my own fried chicken. The problem? For as many pieces of amazing, juicy chicken with crunchy breading that I’ve had, I’ve experienced a greater number of disappointing fried chicken with dry meat and soggy breading. I wanted to make sure I created the former, not the latter. I’m happy to report that this recipe nails it!

I settled on Thomas Keller’s recipe from At Hoc at Home for one primary reason: it included an overnight brine of the chicken. After making a brined and deep-fried turkey for the first time this past Thanksgiving, I was 100% sold on the process. I reasoned that doing the same thing to fried chicken would no doubt have the same amazing result. My gamble paid off big-time. I bit into my first piece of chicken – a breast – and there was literally juice dripping out of it. I have never known white meat to be so tender and juicy. The brine not only added juiciness, but wonderful flavor as well. It was subtle enough to not overpower the chicken or the breading, yet you could taste it, and it was the perfect complement to the breading.

Speaking of the breading, I changed up the original recipe a bit to create more of a shaggy, extra-crispy exterior very similar to the General Tso’s Chicken and Sesame Chicken I’ve made. Adding some liquid to the final dry breading makes all the difference in the world. The breading on the chicken is thick and extra-crunchy, just how I like it!

Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to grab another drumstick (my favorite part!) and maybe whip up some macaroni and cheese to go along with it. I love when college memories and grown-up cooking collides, don’t you?

One year ago: Key Lime Pie
Two years ago: Raspberry Streusel Bars
Three years ago: 7 of the Best Ice Cream Recipes
Six years ago: Cheesy Baked Ziti with Sausage

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 15 hours

An out-of-this-world recipe for buttermilk fried chicken, which includes a 12-hour brine.

Ingredients:

2 (2½ to 3 pound) chickens, cut into breasts, thighs, drumsticks and wings

For the Brine:
5 lemons, halved
24 bay leaves
1 bunch (4 ounces) fresh parsley
1 bunch (1 ounce) fresh thyme
½ cup honey
1 head garlic, halved horizontally
¾ cup black peppercorns
2 cups kosher salt
2 gallons water

For the Coating and Dredging:
6 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup garlic powder
¼ cup onion powder
4 teaspoons paprika
4 teaspoons cayenne
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 quart + 6 tablespoons buttermilk, divided

For Frying:
2 to 3 quarts peanut or canola oil

Directions:

1. Prepare the Brine: Combine all of the brine ingredients in a large stockpot, cover, and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring to dissolve the salt. Remove from the heat and cool completely, then chill thoroughly in the refrigerator before using. The brine can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Pour the brine into a large container, add the chicken pieces and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours (don't refrigerate for much longer, or the chicken will be too salty).

2. Prepare the Chicken: Remove the chicken from the brine and rinse under cold water, washing off any particles from the brine stuck to the chicken. Pat dry with paper towels and let sit at room temperature for 1½ hours, or until it reaches room temperature.

3. Prepare the Coating and Dredging Station: Fill a large pot with at least 2 inches of frying oil, place it over medium heat and heat to 320 degrees F. Place a wire cooling rack on top of a baking sheet and place it to the side of the pot of oil to drain the cooked chicken.

4. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. Divide the mixture between two shallow bowls. Pour 1 quart of the buttermilk into a third shallow bowl. Add the 6 tablespoons of buttermilk to one of bowls with the flour mixture and use a fork or your fingers to toss the mixture together - all of the moisture from the buttermilk should be absorbed and the mixture should look a little shaggy. Set up the station in this order: chicken pieces, dry flour mixture, buttermilk and shaggy flour mixture, then a parchment-lined baking sheet.

5. Just before frying, dip the chicken thighs into the first bowl of coating, turning to coat and patting off the excess; dip them into the buttermilk, allowing the excess to run back into the bowl; then dip them into the second bowl of shaggy coating. Transfer to the parchment-lined pan.

6. Fry the Chicken: Carefully lower the thighs into the hot oil. Adjust the heat as necessary to return the oil to the proper temperature. Fry for 2 minutes, then carefully move the chicken pieces around in the oil and continue to fry, monitoring the oil temperature and turning the pieces as necessary for even cooking, for 11 to 12 minutes, until the chicken is a deep golden brown, cooked through (should register 170 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer), and very crisp. Meanwhile, coat the chicken drumsticks and transfer to the parchment-lined baking sheet.

7. Transfer the cooked thighs to the cooling rack skin-side-up and let rest while you fry the remaining chicken. Ensure that the oil has returned to 320 degrees F, and cook the chicken drumsticks for about 8 minutes, checking for doneness as you did with the thighs. When the drumsticks are done, transfer them to the cooling rack skin-side-up.

8. Increase the heat slightly and bring the oil up to 340 degees F. Meanwhile, coat the chicken breasts and wings. Carefully lower the chicken breasts into the hot oil and fry for 7 minutes, or until golden brown, cooked through (should register 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer), and crisp. Transfer to the rack, skin-side-up. Cook the wings for 6 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer the wings to the rack and turn off the heat. Allow the chicken to rest for about 10 minutes before serving. If made ahead, the chicken can be placed in a 400 degree F oven for a few minutes to warm up.

Notes:

• I bought a chicken that was already cut up into pieces from the grocery store. It's a little more expensive, but it definitely saves time (and some mess) if you're looking for a little shortcut.
• If you don't have time for the brine (it needs to boil, then cool to room temperature, then be completely chilled before using), you could do the following: Place 1 quart buttermilk and the chicken in a resealable plastic bag, and refrigerate overnight, then proceed with the rest of the recipe as written. You won't get as much flavor this way, but it saves quite a bit of time.

(Recipe adapted Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller)

I was first introduced to the Katharine Hepburn brownie recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. The book includes many brownie recipes, and this was one of them. I’ve since seen the recipe in dozens of places online, in books and magazines. This brownie recipe was originally shared in the New York Times, by one-time neighbors of Katharine Hepburn. When they brought her a batch of brownies, she said they had too much flour and were overbaked, then proceeded to share her family’s brownie recipe. The brownies don’t have a lot of height, but are supremely moist and chewy, quite fudge-like, and loaded with walnuts. My mom adores any and all baked goods with nuts, so with Mother’s Day approaching last week (and Katharine Hepburn’s birthday being yesterday), I thought it would be the perfect time to try out this much-anticipated recipe!

As I suspected, my mom absolutely adored these brownies. She loved how many walnuts there were, although if you’re not a huge of nuts you could always cut the amount in half or leave them out altogether. You’ll still have a supremely moist and chewy brownie, complete with that thin, crackly crust that’s irresistible. If you happen to have some vanilla ice cream and hot fudge laying around, I urge you to make a brownie sundae. Brownie sundaes are always a good idea!

In honor of Katharine Hepburn’s birthday, treat yourself to some brownies this week… they’re a cinch to throw together and everyone knows you can never have too many brownie recipes. Plus, you’ll feel like a star!

One year ago: Colossal Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies
Two years ago: Gazpacho
Three years ago: Classic Baby Shower Cookies
Four years ago: Easy Fudge
Six years ago: Dark Chocolate Chip Scones

Katharine Hepburn Brownies

Yield: 9 servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

The famous recipe for Katharine Hepburn's brownies.

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper; set aside.

2. Place the butter and chopped chocolate in a medium bowl set over a small saucepan of barely simmering water over low heat. Warm the chocolate and butter, stirring constantly, until completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat.

3. Whisk in the sugar, then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour, salt and chopped walnuts.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing it into an even layer. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

(Recipe adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours)

I have yet to meet anyone who lived out their teenage years in the 1990′s that doesn’t have a little soft spot in their heart for U2 music. It was a soundtrack to life, love and heartbreak. It was a staple at school dances. What teenage girl didn’t feel her heart in her throat while watching Friends, seeing Rachel stare out a rainy window while With or Without You was swirling out of the radio, courtesy of a Ross request? As the teenage years turned into college, then my 20′s, and now my 30′s, the music still resonates with me.

For all the tours that U2 has done, I somehow never managed to see a show until just recently. I got tickets for my Chief Culinary Consultant and I to catch their last U.S. show here in Pittsburgh at Heinz Field. I had pretty high expectations, as this was 15 years in the making. Every expectation was met and exceeded. Easily the best show I have ever seen live. They rocked. The stage was amazing, and the music unbelievable. You can check out the set list for the show here.  Interpol opened the show and were great as well, I need to download more of their music.

While it’s hard to choose a favorite U2 song, this one was particularly instrumental for me during a pretty heavy time in my life a few years ago. There were days that I listened to it on repeat. It gave me strength and hope. Walk On.

I hope that everyone enjoyed Freedom by Jonathan Franzen over the last two months! It’s time for a new book selection and since it worked so well last time, I’ve decided that I’m going to let the random generator pick books from now on. One less thing to make a decision about! This time Random.org spit out #26, which is Food Matters by Mark Bittman.

I have had this book on my reading list since I watched Food Inc. back in December. To say that the documentary was eye-opening would be the understatement of the century and I have made significant changes to my grocery shopping and eating habits as a result. This book by Mark Bittman talks about how the food we are eating is not only unhealthy, but also damaging to the environment, and describes how we can work to make changes.

I am definitely looking forward to this one, and can’t wait to discuss it! Who else will be reading along this month?

Although this was my book selection for March, I extended it into April as well because I couldn’t quite get it finished in one month’s time. While it took a little longer to read than I initially anticipated, it was absolutely worth it. It’s been a long time since I’ve become so wrapped up in a book and it felt great! Each day I found myself anxiously awaiting some down time in the evening when I would be able to pick it up and continue reading. So there aren’t any spoilers for those still reading, the discussion will start after the jump…

As I alluded to above, I absolutely loved the book. I loved how open and raw the author was with all of the characters. I found it fascinating to observe Joey’s character – while on the outside he was somewhat hard and cold, we saw glimpses of his vulnerability and how much he could despise himself at times. While this family went through years and years of torment and heartbreak, I loved the ending – Joey’s reconciliation with his parents and commitment to Connie, Patty and Walter discovering his each other and their love again. I almost want to start reading it again, to look for intricacies in the story that I may not have picked up on the first time around.

I found myself feeling very sorry for Walter throughout most of the book, as if he was floating through a life that he had no control over, and just reacted to. Part of me hated Joey and part of me was really intrigued by his character, and I grew to like him towards the end of the book. I found Patty and Richard to both be rather despicable in their own right throughout much of the book, and also thought that Lalitha was rather manipulative when it came to Walter.

If you read the book, I’d love to know what you thought! Did you like it, dislike it? What did you think of the characters, how the book evolved, the ending?

The overarching theme, which was woven into numerous scenes in the book, was of course that of freedom. How people use it, what it means to them, and how it can build or destroy relationships. So…

What does freedom mean to you?

To me, freedom means many things, including giving yourself permission to succeed, to love and to feel.

I believe it was summed up nicely in this comment I came across on a travel blog:

“Life is a series of choices –
all you can do every day is choose joy,
choose to be happy,
choose to embrace the choices you’ve already made
and move forward.”

(Stay tuned tomorrow for the May book selection!)

I am a child of the ’80s. I had a banana hair clip. I wore layered, neon-colored socks. I wore jelly shoes. I had a Gameboy. I loved the show “You Can’t Do That on Television”. Later, I would peg my jeans*.

And I owned a Pocket Rocker. Which, to me, was just about the coolest thing ever. You could listen to your favorite songs over and over, on a little portable player. I haven’t thought about those things in years, but I was in the car today listening to 80′s on 8 on XM and the song “Dance Like an Egyptian” came on. And the first thing that popped into my head was the Pocket Rocker – The Bangles tape was one of my favorites (it had Walk Like an Egyptian and Manic Monday)! Amazing how a song can bring back such specific memories from so long ago! And then I started remembering all of the songs I had that I loved…

Bon Jovi – “Livin’ on a Prayer”
Belinda Carlisle – “Heaven is a Place on Earth”
Jan Hammer & Glenn Frey – “The Miami Vice Theme” & “The Heat is On”
Huey Lewis & the News – “Doing It All For My Baby” & “The Power of Love” (it helped that I also loved Back to the Future)

I think Fisher-Price had a step on Apple for a brief moment.

Did you have a Pocket Rocker? Do you remember your favorite songs?

*A guy my boyfriend works with is in his early to mid-20′s and had never heard of pegging jeans and had no idea what it meant. Wow, did I feel old!

First of all, can it still be considered spring break when you are 10 years removed from college? I’m voting yes. There’s nothing better than escaping the cold weather and heading south for warm air and sunny skies. The downside to that, of course, is coming back home to snow flurries. And that makes me want to turn around and head right back down. My Chief Culinary Consultant and I took a much-needed vacation down to southern Florida. We had a great time unwinding, enjoying the awesome weather and, of course, having a ton of fun.

Some highlights of the trip:

♥  We left on my birthday, and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than by hitting the road for vacation!

♥  Road Trip! We drove 2,020 miles round trip, about 15 hours each way. We had a blast and I would do that over flying any day.

♥  My Chief Culinary Consultant gave me my first tennis lesson! I loved it! I can’t wait to keep learning so I can play!

♥  Miniature golf, so much fun!

♥  Ice cream. Lots of ice cream! I enjoyed an ice cream cone almost every single night. My new favorite store-bought flavor? Edy’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup. YUM!

Some of the things we did included a tennis match in Miami, a Penguins away game and a drive through Lion Country Safari. Recaps of those with pictures below!

The Sony Ericsson Open in Miami

We were fortunate enough to be given tickets to the Sony Ericsson Open for the Thursday night match and got to catch the men’s quarterfinals and the women’s semifinals. First though, we had an accidental VIP experience…

Long story short, we made a wrong turn and ended up in the players’ parking lot. There seemed to be a flurry of activity in one end of the parking lot and in a flash, my CCC’s mom was on it. She nabbed some awesome pictures of Roger Federer signing autographs and getting into his Mercedes SUV (he drives himself!):

And then there was Victoria Azarenka, texting away:

We finally made our way in and got to our seats. Our view:

The first match was Nadal vs. Berdych.

Not gonna lie, I’m not much of a Nadal fan. A lot of it has to do with this, which he does before every.single.serve. (ew!):

Although he won the match and went on to beat Federer in the semifinals, I was happy to see Djokovic win in the finals. The next match was Azarenka vs. Zvonareva. This picture is pretty much a microcosm of the entire match:

Zvonareva was dominated. There was screaming, feet stomping, and talking to herself.

All in all, a fantastic time. I loved my first tennis match!

Lion Country Safari

We went to Lion Country Safari the last time we were in Florida and definitely wanted to do it again. You drive your car through a massive wildlife preserve and are able to observe all different types of animals. They have free reign around the park (in their respective areas) and, aside from the lions, can walk right up to your car. Such a cool experience, and it never gets old! Some of my favorite photos are below.

A massive ostrich:

I can’t remember the name of these, but I loved how it looked like the one was nuzzling:

I love the zebra, so pretty:

Why hello Mr. Water Buffalo:

And my favorite, the giraffe:

My First Penguins Away Game

One of the items on my short-term bucket list has been to attend a Penguins away game, and I finally got my opportunity when we chose the dates for our vacation and realized we would be there when the Pens played the Florida Panthers. Score!

There were more than a few Penguins jerseys, which was awesome to see. We went down to the ice to watch warm ups with a plethora of other Pens fans:

My favorite picture of Kovalev stick-handling:

Also saw Craig Adams sporting a mohawk. We concluded that he must have lost a bet

The game itself was great since we won and I got to see the Pens on the road, but the experience at Bank Atlantic Center was so very different than going to games in Pittsburgh. I’m not sure if it has to do with the fact that hockey just isn’t as popular in southern Florida as it is in other areas of the country and they are attempting to entertain folks, but it almost felt like a circus. Every single second when play wasn’t going on was either an advertisement or some gimmick. It was so crazy, and it really made me appreciate watching the Pens play at Consol and the Pittsburgh fans.

On another note, it was awesome to hear so many cheers when we scored! Felt great to bring home a win!

One Last Walk on the Beach

As we headed north on I-95 Sunday afternoon totally bummed to be leaving the awesome weather and relaxation behind, we decided that a stop off for one last look at the ocean was in order. Our plan was to drive 3-hour shifts then switch, and right around the 3-hour mark from when we left I looked at the road atlas and saw that if we got off at the upcoming exit we would only be about 5 miles from the beach. We took the Palm Coast exit, crossed the tollway to the ocean and proceeded to drive into paradise. We parked near a path to the beach and enjoyed the cool 5pm breeze as the tide rolled out and the sun was on its way down.

A perfect ending to a wonderful vacation.

I am still trucking through Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, and am about half-way finished. I am absolutely loving it, but it’s taking a bit longer than I anticipated to get through it. I think I am going to leave Freedom as the active selection for April so we can finish it up and discuss at the end of the month and then pick another book. What about the rest of you that are reading along? Have you finished, still going, etc.?

First of all, apologies for letting Unplugged slack the last month or so, but it’s back!

Back when I first put this site together I included a list of 100 books that I had on my wish list to read and was hoping to knock out about one a month. Well, it appears I need a little extra help to accomplish that. So, in an effort to do much better with the one book a month thing, I will be sharing my monthly picks with you and inviting anyone that’s interested to read along with me. Nothing terribly formal, I’ll announce the book I’m going to read on the 1st of the month and then on the last day of the month I’ll post about my thoughts on the book and throw out some questions to get a discussion going in the comments section. Feel free to join in whenever you’d like!

So, without further ado, the book selection for March:

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Because I’m horrible at making decisions (I could have hemmed and hawed over this pick for days), I went to Random.org and had it spit out a number between 1 and 100. It picked 28, and book #28 on my list just so happens to be Freedom. Easy peasy!

I’m off to crack open the book. Anyone plan on joining me?!

Welch’s Fruit Snacks.

Fruity. Gummy. Delicious. Addicting.

I first found these quite a few years ago in a checkout line at Bed Bath & Beyond. Whenever I would happen to be at the store, I would treat myself to a bag. Then I didn’t seem them for a long time. Now I see them everywhere. They were the perfect snack while Christmas shopping, and are wonderful for car trips. Or really anytime, ever, for any reason. Yum.

Do you have a guilty pleasure snack?

The holidays in Pittsburgh this year was pretty much all hockey, all the time. The city played host to the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day and it was hockey fever leading up to the game. The Winter Classic is in its 4th year and is the annual outdoor hockey game played on New Year’s Day. The day after Christmas I went out to run errands and saw countless people in Winter Classic jerseys, Penguins hats, etc. – it was definitely a hockey Christmas in the ‘Burgh! I spent the better part of both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrating hockey, the Penguins and taking part in the festivities.

As part of the game’s festivities, an alumni game was held on New Year’s Eve morning featuring retired Penguins and Capitals players. Only 10,000 tickets were sold and I had lucky Ticketmaster fingers and managed to get two! My sister and I headed downtown early in the morning for the 9:30am game and waited for the puck to drop. (Yes, hot chocolate in a $6.50 souvenir mug was a must.)

The highlight? Seeing Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Paul Coffey, Bob Errey, Phil Bourque, and countless others that I grew up watching play again.

The lowlight? It wasn’t an actual competitive game. It was slow, the players didn’t even wear helmets. They only played 2 periods, the game ended in a 5-5 tie and there was no overtime or a shoot out. Bummer.

The rest of the day and part of the evening was spent milling around the outside of Heinz Field. There were tents set up with games, food, merchandise, etc. A real festival-type atmosphere. There was also a 2nd rink built outside where some youth games were played, including one featuring Sidney Crosby’s old team versus Malkin’s old team. Sid made an appearance behind the bench:

The actual Winter Classic game on New Year’s Day was moved from 1pm to 8pm due to rain, and I think everyone was thrilled. No getting up early on New Year’s Day, more time to tailgate, and a hockey game under the lights.

I was able to meet up with family and friends for tailgating and then enjoy the game. It was a total bummer that we lost (especially to the Capitals), but the game and everything surrounding it was amazing. It was an awesome atmosphere and I’m so glad I got to experience it!

You can view all of my photos from both events on Flickr:

Alumni Game: December 31, 2010 (on Flickr)
Winter Classic: January 1, 2011 (on Flickr)

After almost 4 years of food blogging, I now have a dSLR camera. As if waiting four years wasn’t long enough, Amazon decided to ship my camera and lens separately. So while I received my camera on Friday, all I could do was stare at it and read the instruction manual until the lens showed up yesterday!

I took countless pictures of everything from my cell phone to my dog to my sock (it’s true).  I couldn’t stop taking pictures, I am totally amazed by the quality and the ability to truly frame a shot. Here are a few of my favorites from the initial random batch (unedited):

For those that have been curious, I got the Canon T2i and a 50mm 1.8 lens. The lens is a portrait-style lens that creates a sharp image with a nice blurred background, which is important for food photography. I am looking forward to adding new lenses and accessories to my collection once I get my SLR footing.

If you’re into photography, I’d love any recommendations you have for photography blogs or books! I have a lot of reading and learning to do!

It’s no secret I love the holidays. And sometimes I love the commercials just as much as some of the programming on TV. But for me, my top 3 favorite commercials date back to the 80′s.

This first one is iconic in Pittsburgh. For those of you not from the area, this is done by a local restaurant chain and has been on for as long as I can remember (so at least the early 80′s!) and they still run it now. For me, it’s not quite Christmastime until I’ve seen this commercial

Next is the Folders’ “Peter!” commercial. Kind of corny watching it now, but it always gave me the warm fuzzies.

And lastly, I looooove the Coca Cola polar bears. They have made a ton of different commercials, but I *think* this one is the original. I think polar bears are so cute

What are some of your favorite holiday commercials?

Food, Inc. is one of the books on my list of 100 books I want to read. However, I ended up watching the movie version on Sunday. I am on the fence between being rendered speechless and having so much to say that I don’t know where to begin. I’ll start simple. I am not a vegetarian; I am not vegan. The notion of being either has never really entered my subconscious. Bacon cheeseburgers are one of my favorite meals on the planet. Until now, I haven’t done much reading on animal food production. However, Food, Inc. equally disturbed and fascinated me. And I don’t think a trip to the grocery store will ever be the same for me again.

In the last year or so I have taken a much greater interest in the notion of self-sustainability and buying food locally. But nothing has smacked me in the face as hard as this movie. While it may make me a hypocrite since I am not a vegetarian, I absolutely abhor hunting for sport. I can’t stand the thought of animals being killed in the wild for fun, yet I’ve never really thought twice about eating animal meat since it seems that’s what we’re “supposed” to do. However, seeing the ways in which animals are raised, kept, slaughtered and processed has given me amazing perspective. I was also incredibly disgusted by so many of these practices and by how cross-connected these huge corporations and policy makers are. Then there’s the pervasiveness of corn products and how it makes its way into such a huge number of food products. I was astounded.

My head has been spinning, thinking about food, my food, its impact on animals, the environment, my health, and so on. I’m still not sure where this leaves me. To be sure, I will be buying as much local food as possible, especially locally raised meat. Luckily there is such a place less than 10 minutes from me, and while we get meat from there from time to time, I think I’ll be buying any meat exclusively from there from now on. I had already planned on a garden for next year as well. And I will be doing a LOT more reading. But now the idea of vegetarianism is swimming around in my head. For me, it would be a very significant change. But the seed has been planted, and I’ll continue to give it thought. Many things to think about. Definitely “food for thought”.

I’d love to know if you’ve watched this and what you thought. If anyone is a vegetarian convert after being a semi-big meat-eater? Anyone with links to articles for either side of the argument?

Edited to Add: I also started a discussion thread about this on the Brown Eyed Baker Facebook page, and reader Nikki shared a link to a great resource: http://www.localharvest.org. In a couple of minutes I found a small farm 20 minutes from me that raises organic, grass-fed cattle and another that offers a CSA as well as eggs from free-range chickens. For those of you trying to find resources in your area, this might be a great place to start.

So, I think I might be addicted to magazines. I’m kind of old school when it comes to newspapers and magazines (and also books). I’ll check the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s website if I see a link to an interesting article or want to skim “breaking news”, however, for me, nothing can replace paging through a newspaper, curling up with a new magazine or a good book (that leaves me out of the Kindle arena too).

At current count I subscribe to Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, Cook’s Illustrated, Bon Appetit and Everyday Food. I typically renew my subscriptions in December, and I’m planning to renew all of them but am still undecided about Martha Stewart Living. It’s kind of craft-heavy and I usually only find something that peaks my interest about once every 3 months. So I may let that one go. However, there are quite a few I want to add to the list. Currently considering: Pittsburgh Magazine (obviously local), Women’s Health, a news/current events one (Time? Newsweek?), a photography mag (any recs?), and a personal finance mag (thinking Money).

And now for the poll: How many magazines do you subscribe to? Which ones do you receive? Any recommendations for some new ones I’m looking at? Do I have a magazine addiction problem?

He’s almost 4 years old, he’s blonde, and he sheds like no one’s business…

My golden retriever, Einstein.

You may have seen a post or two about him when I made peanut butter doggy treats or when I baked him his very own birthday cake. But I thought he deserved an official introduction over here on Unplugged. I grew up with a dog, my mom got a dog while I was in college, and I’ve been around a lot of friends’ and family members’ dogs, and I can say, unequivocally, that Einstein is, by far, the most hysterical dog I have ever met. He is full of personality and character, and I’m pretty convinced that he thinks he’s a person.

A little about him…

- He’s a bottomless pit and will gladly eat anything he can get in that mouth of his. Including, but not limited to: Food of any kind (but he especially loves peanut butter and bananas), napkins, paper towels, stockings, toys that he manages to shred apart (see below), flip flops, etc. He has, however, developed an aversion to anything mint-flavored after an unfortunate incident that involved him polishing off an entire batch of custard I made for mint chocolate chip ice cream. That didn’t end well.

- When he’s most exhausted he sleeps upside down. I had never seen a dog do this before him, but he’s done it since he was a puppy.

- He loves the snow. He’ll throw himself down in it and just writhe around.

- He loves my mom’s dog. They’re best buds.

- He’s insanely smart. Which is both awesome and horrible at the same time. He picks up on tricks and commands super fast, but he also knows how to pull his own manipulative tricks. Little bugger.

I’m sure you’ll be hearing (and seeing) quite a bit of Einstein over here, so I thought you all should get acquainted. Stay tuned for the adventures

Do you have any pets? Tell me about them!

There’s something about watching those Peanuts characters belt out “Hark the Harold Angels Sing” that puts me smack dab in the holiday spirit. Not that I need much help – I’m a huge sucker for all things holidays. Christmas carols, shopping, wrapping presents, the movies, decorating. I love it all. There are tons of holiday movies out there but there are a handful that I could (and do) watch over and over (and over) again come December. Just about all of them are very well-known but there is a surprise in the list that you may have not heard of and is one of my favorites. Does anyone else flock to holiday programming the way I do?

My top-10 favorites, in no particular order:

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas

Probably my favorite if I had to choose. It’s so simple but an absolute classic. From the  poor little bare tree to the pageant and all the characters singing in the end, it just embodies the holiday spirit for me.

2. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

This is one of those shows that just makes me feel good. It’s old-school claymation. And while I find the notion of “island of misfit toys” a little weird and slightly disturbing, I just love seeing Rudolph’s nose light up and him saving Christmas. It never gets old.

3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The original. Definitely the original. I actually can’t judge the new one because I’ve never seen it. (Have you? Is it good?) Re-makes of old classics like the Grinch sometimes make me cranky and then I boycott them. Same thing with Willy Wonka. Nothing wrong with the original. The remake totally creeped me out. Anyway, LOVE the original Grinch. A must-watch for me!

4. Elf

Elf definitely ranks up in the top three of my favorite holiday movies. It was on what appeared to be a loop last weekend after Thanksgiving, and while I never sat down to watch it from start to finish, I caught pieces of it as many times as I could. It makes me belly laugh. I love belly laughing.

5. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

It seems that everyone either loves or hates this movie, and I positively love it. It makes me laugh no matter how many times I watch it. It’s on my must-watch list when I am wrapping presents or baking.

6. A Christmas Story

Although I admit that I am not as enamored with this movie as I was when I was younger, it’s still a staple for me. I love the TBS 24-hour marathon on Christmas Eve. I’ll never tire of seeing the little brother get his tongue stuck on the flag pole or watching the dad ogle his leg lamp. A definite classic!

7. One Magic Christmas

This is the surprise movie that isn’t as well-known as the others. I’m pretty sure my parents taped this off of the Disney Channel when we were kids and we would watch it every year. The past few years I have caught it on the Hallmark Channel during December, but usually in the wee hours of the night, so I finally bought the DVD. It’s a really touching story that centers around finding Christmas spirit. If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend!

8. Love Actually

I probably watch this one the least often, but it’s still a favorite and great for popping in on a snowy night when you want to curl up with some hot chocolate.

9. The Holiday

This movie makes me feel good whenever I watch it, but particularly so around the holidays. It’s sort of ironic because I’m not a huge fan of Jack Black or Cameron Diaz, but I just adore this movie. A great story about letting go of the familiar and embracing an adventure.

10. A Muppet Family Christmas

What can I say? I’m a child of the ’80s and the Muppets were a part of my upbringing. They give me the warm fuzzies. And throw in Sesame Street? Can’t beat it!

And now a shameful confession: I have never seen classics like Miracle on 34th Street or It’s a Wonderful Life. Eek, what kind of Christmas-lover am I? I need to get to watching those this year! I have never seen The Polar Express either, but it’s on this weekend and I’ve already set my DVR!

What are your favorite holiday movies?

Hi everyone! Welcome to Unplugged, a new section of Brown Eyed Baker where I’m going to be chatting about life outside of the kitchen. This is an offshoot of The Weekend Dish, the series that appears on Saturdays with a recap of the week’s recipes, links to other food blogs, and some random musings. That will continue to be posted on the main page every Saturday, but the last section of it (where I ramble about randomness) will be omitted and instead I’ll ramble over here

So, what will we chat about here? Everything and anything! Life, music, books, shopping, travel, my dog, random everyday-ness, etc.

I’m excited and I hope you are too! If there’s anything in particular you’d like to hear my take on or would like to chat about, leave a comment! I’m looking forward to us all getting to know each other a bit better outside of the kitchen!

The Grand Tour

Now, let me show you around the new digs…

About page: A little overview of what makes me tick when I’m not in the kitchen. (Accessible from top navigation bar.)

Archives: Posts will be accessible here by both category and month/year. (Accessible from top navigation bar.)

My 100: Books: A bucket list of 100 books that are on my to-read list. (Accessible from top navigation bar.)

Day Zero: The short-term bucket list of 101 things I want to do in the next 1001 days. (Accessible from top navigation bar.)

Blogroll: The lifestyle-type blogs that I read most often. (Located in the footer.)

As with all new site roll outs, there are bound to be a couple hiccups or missing links. I have double and triple-checked everything, but if you come across a broken link or something that doesn’t look right, please leave me a comment or shoot me an email to let me know!

Subscribing

Now, if you currently subscribe to Brown Eyed Baker by either RSS feed or email, you will NOT automatically receive updates to Unplugged. I created a separate RSS feed so you can choose whether or not to receive updates (and I hope you choose to keep hanging out with me outside of the kitchen!). I’ve also created an option where you can subscribe to all (Food and Unplugged) feeds. Choose the subscription option below that best suits your needs:

Subscribe to Brown Eyed Baker Unplugged via RSS feed.

Subscribe to the Brown Eyed Baker Full RSS Feed.

Receive Brown Eyed Baker Unplugged updates via email.

Receive ALL Brown Eyed Baker updates via email.

Winter Classic tickets? Check.

Alumni Game tickets? Check.

All that’s left to complete the hockey New Year’s trifecta is tickets to the Wilks-Barre/Hershey game at Consol on December 30th. Still pondering that, although I should probably just go ahead and do it already.

For now, I’m basking in the glow of being able to watch Mario skate again and being at the Winter Classic.

My sister said that I have had “lucky Ticketmaster fingers” lately, and it’s true. I’m not usually a “lucky” person in general – I don’t win contests or anything like that, but for some reason the Ticketmaster gods have been on my side the last couple of months. It started with a successful attempt to get U2 tickets when they went on sale (and good seats at that!).

Now I wasn’t so lucky in my attempt to win the NHL lottery for tickets to the Winter Classic, so I have spent the better part of 6 weeks trolling ticket sites (mostly StubHub) and then staring at my budget trying to figure out how the heck to get myself to the Winter Classic. I was bound and determined, but I was losing optimism. Then, on December 1st I was sitting at my computer working when an email popped up from “NHL Winter Classic” (I had signed up for email updates when I entered the lottery) and the subject line was “Additional tickets released!”. My fingers have never moved so fast. I immediately clicked the “Buy Tickets” link and when I got to the Ticketmaster page I immediately selected Best Available/Any Price figuring that was my best shot. It said no seats available. Crap. Could the little bit of seats that were released been gone already? I tried again. Same thing. So I started working my way through each price level, trying each one twice, and finally on my 5th or 6th try, two tickets popped up. End zone seats, but who cares. I’ll be at the Winter Classic and I paid face value, not crazy markups. SCORE.

Then the Alumni Game was announced. And I’m going to be completely honest. My excitement level might be just as high for this as the Winter Classic. I grew up going to Pens games and watching them on TV. Seeing Mario skate again? Magical. And aside from Lemieux, names like Errey, Bourque, Brown, Trottier, Coffey, Caufield, Tocchet, Loney, Taglianetti and Stevens (among others) were all household names. I grew up on them like kids today are growing up on Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Letang, and others. So the opportunity to see them all skate together again and pay homage to the organization? I absolutely needed to be there. Que Ticketmaster again…

For reasons I will never, ever understand, the NHL (who is in charge of the Alumni game) set a ticket limit of 10,000 for this game. Heinz Field holds more than six times that amount and I guarantee they could sell it out, and do so charging twice as much (the ticket price for the Alumni Game is $25). But, whatevs. My plan was to refresh Ticketmaster.com repeatedly starting at 9:58am on Friday in hopes that I would be lucky enough to get tickets. And that’s exactly what I did. The “purchase” page didn’t even come up until around 10:04 or 10:05. When it did I selected 2 and then the old “best available/any price” and crossed my fingers… And two tickets came up! I couldn’t believe it. Again, fast fingers with that Ticketmaster countdown clock in the corner haunting me. I’m always worried I’ll do something wrong or the validation won’t work. But, it did. Order complete! Lucky indeed.

I am going to be in hockey heaven come January 2nd (or maybe a hockey coma? or have hypothermia?). I couldn’t be more excited.

(It should also be noted that trying to get tickets on Ticketmaster when a limited number is on sale could quite possibly result in death. The shaking and heart pounding is insane.)

On Monday I added HBO just so I could watch 24/7. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made. There has been so much hype around this series profiling the Penguins and Capitals leading up the Winter Classic that you had to wonder if it would live up to it. No question, it surpassed the hype. I wondered how the cameras would end up portraying the players, the team and the organization given what Hard Knocks has revealed in the past. Granted, this first episode was filmed in the midst of the Penguins’ long win streak, but I don’t think Pens fans could have asked for anything better.

The Penguins, from the front office down to the players, came off as poised, polished, focused, and a genuine family. Made me proud to be a fan not only of the team but of the organization, and proud to be from Pittsburgh. There is some candid video of Dupuis and Talbot at their respective homes, a behind the scenes look at Shero and Bylsma having a meeting evaluating player performance, and all kinds of other goodness.

Oh, and the show also featured the Capitals (heh). They’re in the middle of a 7-game losing streak, everyone looks miserable, boo hoo. You’ll catch a glimpse of Ovechkin in his bikini briefs (which I think the whole world could do without), Boudreau effing up a storm (hurricane would be more accurate) and he also made some mention of grabbing sacs. He basically made Rex Ryan look like an angel. It all basically validated that the Capitals are an obnoxious organization.

Now, back to the Pens. This, by far, was my favorite sequence of the entire first episode. The team plane trip to Buffalo and then hotel shenanigans:

Craig Adams reads books (he should start a book club). Orpik, Malkin and Cooke played cards. Sid, Fluery, Rupp and Talbot played some kind of PSP game and talked trash to each other. Everyone seems to like candy. And then some rookie pranks at the hotel. Love, love, love all of it.

The Pensblog has YouTube clips of their 5 favorite scenes; they’re all great. The whole show is awesome. One month of HBO is totally worth it for this if you’re a Pens fan.

Did you watch the first episode? What did you think?

Edited to Add: The NHL has made the entire first episode available online. You can watch it here.

So, which photo shoot do you think was more awkward? Sid and Ovie or Sid and Ben? I’m betting Sid and Ben was more awkward. I’m pretty sure that Sid and Ovie hate each other, but at least they could talk hockey. I was actually disappointed that there wasn’t more substance to this article by Vanity Fair. They had the two most touted players in the league together for a few hours, and the result was a skim-the-surface Q&A. Not terribly impressive (on Vanity Fair’s part), but hey, it’s Sid, and I read it.

Here is the Q&A from the interview:

Rich Cohen: On January 1, you and the Pittsburgh Penguins are playing the Washington Capitals in the N.H.L. Winter Classic. The game is unusual because it’s outdoors, on a rink without boards. Does it feel different from a regular game?

Sidney Crosby: Oh yeah. You’re playing on an outdoor rink in a football stadium, for starters. There’s something unique about that. I mean, I played outside—on lakes and ponds—as a kid. Also, with this game, there’s obviously a lot of buildup. It’s a big game, so there’s more intensity.

Is it significant that you’ll be facing [Capitals captain] Alexander Ovechkin?

Well, it’s a rivalry already. That just adds to the intensity and the emotional element of the game.

Is that a genuine rivalry? I mean is it different playing against him than playing against other teams?

Ah, yeah, I think so. It always feels like there’s a bit more there just because of the emotion, because of the intensity. I guess that’s what makes rivalries—when it seems like there’s a little bit extra there.

What do you think of his game?

Alex’s game?

Yeah.

Ah, I think there’s a lot to like about it. You know, he’s got speed; he’s big; he’s physical. He can score from pretty much anywhere.

Who was your favorite player growing up?

My favorite player would probably be Steve Yzerman. He played in Detroit. I really liked the way he played and the way he handled himself.

When you grew up did you watch hockey movies and all that?

Oh yeah, of course. I watched Mighty Ducks. Slapshot when I was a little older.

What was the first N.H.L. game you went to?

It was actually in my hometown [of Halifax, Nova Scotia]. It was the New Jersey Devils, and I want to say they were playing the Rangers. It was just a pre-season, neutral-site game—I didn’t have an N.H.L. team where I lived—but that was the first time I saw N.H.L. up close.

Was that incredibly cool?

Yeah.

Are you still living with [former Pittsburgh Penguins captain and current principle owner of the team] Mario Lemieux?

I am, yeah. I actually purchased a place in Pittsburgh last May. I’ll be getting into that at some point in the next couple months.

Do you watch other sports?

I watch a lot of football this time of year. It’s really football, tennis, and golf that I watch other than hockey.

Are you a Steelers fan?

Of course—it’s pretty hard not to be in Pittsburgh. From the day I got here, I instantly became a Steelers fan. Growing up in Canada, I didn’t watch football much. Now I’ve been in Pittsburgh for five years, going on six. I’ve learned more and more about football and grown to like it more and more. I really enjoy watching the Steelers play and cheering them on. It’s a lot of fun.

I used to always wonder which was the more physically grueling sport—football or hockey.

That’s a good debate. In football, every play, play after play, there’s that physicality. Football players only play once a week, so they must really need to rest. That does kind of tell you how physical the sport is. But in hockey, you have the boards. I just couldn’t say which is more physical.

One odd thing about hockey is that fighting is not a part of the game at all until a certain level and then it very much is.

Mm-hmm.

Right? Did you find it stressful to enter junior hockey as a teenager, knowing that you were entering a league where fighting was a real thing?

Right so, once you get to junior hockey, you’re not given a misconduct or suspended for fighting—it becomes a five-minute major penalty. Guys that age are considered ready to handle it, and I wasn’t too worried. Of course, it is the first time you’re seeing your friends get in fights. And they’re not always winning them. But once you kind of get past those first couple, you just get used to it. It’s part of the game.

Do you have a favorite goal?

Ah that’s tough. I don’t—probably not. I mean, the one in the Olympics was a big one so, maybe, maybe that one.

Do you have a favorite kind of goal? Slapshot? Breakaway?

Breakaway goals are fun. When you score a quick one in front of the net, it just happens, but during a breakaway, there’s about one or two seconds where you’re not sure. There’s that kind of unexpected moment, so I would say definitely a breakaway.

Do you have a favorite move?

No, no favorite move but, as long as the puck goes over the line. That’s where you want it to be.

—

In other news, I feel like Ralphie on A Christmas Story running to the mailbox every day waiting for his Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Pin to arrive. Only, I’m waiting for my Winter Classic tickets. I don’t do well with patience

On Monday night Bill Guerin retired from hockey and retired as a Penguin. He played 18 years in the NHL, and spent only 1.5 seasons with the Penguins, but he made the choice to retire as a ‘guin. That speaks volumes about what players think of the organization. As a fan, I am admittedly biased, but I think the Penguins are the classiest of all professional sports franchises. At least twice a week I read something or hear something that makes me smile and be so proud to be from this city, to have grown up watching Mario Lemiuex, and to be a Penguins fan. Most other fans share the same sentiment, but the Penguins are (mostly) all we know. So coming from players who have played for a number of organizations? It’s very telling.

Bill Guerin played for 8 different teams in his 18-year career. He came to the Penguins at the trade deadline during the 2008-09 season and was a huge piece of the puzzle in the Cup run that year. After Sid hoisted the Cup, the next person he handed it to, searching him out, was Guerin. Certainly says a lot about the amount of respect that Sid had for him. And after 18 years, he chose to retire as a member of the team he spent only 1.5 seasons with.

Many fans were disappointed over the summer when the Penguins didn’t try to resign Guerin, but Shero typically knows what he’s doing. I was disappointed but moved on. Guerin has been around the Pens and the city since the beginning of the season, taking in practices and even attending the small Bruce Springsteen/Joe Grushecky show at Solders and Sailors. The tribute video to Guerin on Monday night was set to “Born to Run”. There are some rumors that he may work for the Penguins in a front office capacity, which would be awesome.

Thank you, Bill Guerin. Thank you for scoring the game-winning goal in OT against Philly. Thank you for scoring against Boston to tie it with 0.4 seconds left. It was a regular season game, but one of the most exciting I’ve watched. Thank you for helping to bring Stanley home.

The ceremony gave me goose bumps. I need a Guerin jersey.

The Baltimore fans busted into a “No Means No” chant during Sunday night’s game. Baltimore is uber original. And then the Ravens proceeded to break Ben Roethlisberg’s nose. NBC helped us to confirm that the nose was broken with a closeup of how blatantly crooked it was. They then proceeded to have a Jay’s Telestrator moment and actually drew on the screen, highlighting where the nose bent. Thank you Al and Chris.

Now please tell me I am not the only person in Pittsburgh who laughed. Well, first I cringed at the close-up of the mangled nose, but then? Oh did I laugh. I also laughed when Richard Seymour gave Ben a shot to the chops during the Oakland game. See, I love the Steelers. I love the team. I love what it represents in this city. But Ben? Nine months of time since the Georgia incident has passed and I still wish he would have been traded. So I cheer for my team in spite of him. And I hope that they are able to win while simultaneously hoping he has a bad game. And when he gets knocked around, it makes me happy. Karma.

Hearing a “Let’s Go Pens” chant in Nationwide Arena on TV?  Awesome. Hearing a “Mason” chant? Icing on the cake.

The Steelers are typically the Pittsburgh team that gets the most attention for having a fan base that travels well. Following a hockey team on the road is a little harder, given that they play 82 games during a season versus 16. But wow, have Pens fans been showing up at away games. And last night’s game in Columbus may be comparable to the Steeler fan invasion of FedEx Field when the Steelers played the Washington Redskins on a Monday night in November 2008.

Traveling fans aside, what an incredible game. We rolled. Sid scored two more goals, and Goddard even scored. You know it’s a good game when he gets a goal.

First thing on the 2011 agenda for me: buy tickets to the Columbus game and plan road trip (crossing fingers they play there again next year).

Home against the Devils on Monday. I think taunting Kovalchuk would be excellent. 10 in a row? GO PENS. DO IT.

“It’s a Great Day for Hockey” was the signature phrase used by former (and late) Pens’ coach Bob Johnson (Badger Bob), who coached the team to its first Stanley Cup in 1991. It’s one of my favorite phrases ever. The Pens used it as the basis for their marketing campaign during the 2008-09 season. If I were the director of marketing, I would just keep that campaign indefinitely. Walking into the arena last night, I told my mom I wanted to buy something at some point with that phrase on it. Fast forward about 5 minutes and as we entered the game, we were handed giveaway scarves. Giveaway scarves that had “Great Day for Hockey” on them. It was a sign. It was definitely going to be a great night for hockey.

When writing my About page here on Steel & Ice I mentioned that hockey was a pretty big part of my upbringing, and that we attended a lot of games as a family. My mom hadn’t been to a game since before my dad passed away and I knew she would like to see the new arena, so I got tickets at the beginning of the season for last night’s game and told her I was taking her. Here we are at our seats…

So, her first hockey game in approximately 15 years and the Pens win PLUS Sid got his first natural hat trick. She should play the lottery. Or go to more Pens’ games.

I celebrated the hat trick during the second intermission with a Tim Horton’s hot chocolate (while wearing my snazzy new scarf, thankyouverymuch).

Speaking of Sid’s hat trick, I got goosebumps. Seriously. Does that make me weird? Probably a little. He also had a hat trick last Saturday afternoon. Back-to-back home game hat tricks. Unreal. He’s leading the league in points and is tied for the lead in goals scored. He’s playing absolutely, 100%, out of his mind. I got to see a Sid hat trick Thanksgiving weekend two years ago against the Devils. Seeing those hats litter the ice never, ever gets old.

Not sure what the heck is going on with Malkin. Watching in person, he seemed unusually slow. Don’t know if he’s hurt or has lost a gear. It was actually kind of bizarre.

Also, the third line positively rocks.

Lastly, is there a countdown for Staal’s return yet? Would love to go to the first home game he’s back.

You can go here to view a slideshow of all of my photos from the game.

And because I can’t exactly let go of the whole “It’s a Great Day for Hockey” thing… These commercials from the 2008-09 season still give me chills, so I had to share at least one. It’s a Great Day for Hockey, indeed.

Hi everyone! Welcome to Steel & Ice, a new section of Brown Eyed Baker where I’m going to be dishing about sports, mostly hockey and football, and mostly with a Black and Gold spin This is an offshoot of The Weekend Dish, the series that appears on Saturdays with a recap of the week’s recipes, links to other food blogs, and some random musings. That will continue to be posted on the main page every Saturday, but the last section of it (where I ramble about life and sports) will be omitted and instead I’ll be chatting about sports over here

Some of what I ramble about on The Weekend Dish has to do with random everyday life stuff. I really enjoyed and looked forward to writing about that too, so I’ve created another offshoot of Brown Eyed Baker where I’ll be chatting about life, books, movies, travels, my dog, etc. Head on over to Unplugged (freshly launched today as well) to get the details!

I’m excited to have a place to unload all of my sports-related thoughts, and hope you’ll enjoy reading and interacting!

I have to give a shout out to my Pittsburgh pal, Allison. She’s also a big sports fan, and when I first started kicking around the idea of adding a sports section to my site I told her I couldn’t think of a name for it. She was the one who threw out “Steel & Ice” in an email to me and I immediately fell in love with it. It’s a perfect depiction of my love of sports. Thank you Allison, you rock!

The Grand Tour

Now, let me show you around the new digs…

About page: A little background on how my sports obsession began. (Accessible from top navigation bar.)

Archives: Posts will be accessible here by both category and month/year. (Accessible from top navigation bar.)

Game Photos: I separated the categories into football and hockey; you can click on either to view thumbnails of different games and events that I’ve attended. Roll over the thumbnail to view the full event description and date. Click on the thumbnail to view a slideshow of all the pictures. They are in order from most recent to oldest.  (Accessible from top navigation bar.)

Blogroll: The sports blogs that I read most often. (Located in the footer.)

As with all new site roll outs, there are bound to be a couple hiccups or missing links. I have double and triple-checked everything, but if you come across a broken link or something that doesn’t look right, please leave me a comment or shoot me an email to let me know!

Subscribing

Now, if you currently subscribe to Brown Eyed Baker by either RSS feed or email, you will NOT automatically receive updates to Steel & Ice. I created a separate RSS feed so you can choose whether or not to receive updates (and I hope if you like sports you’ll want to hang out with me here!). I’ve also created an option where you can subscribe to all three (Food, Unplugged and Steel & Ice) feeds. Choose the subscription option below that best suits your needs:

Subscribe to Steel & Ice via RSS feed.

Subscribe to the Brown Eyed Baker Full RSS Feed.

Receive Steel & Ice updates via email.

Receive ALL (Food, Unplugged, Steel & Ice) Brown Eyed Baker updates via email.

Ahh, it’s been a little while since I updated this photography page, hasn’t it?? I think I left off with some failed fireworks. I am working on a regular posting routine over here, and thought I would start by getting you updated on some new camera equipment that I’ve purchased since we last chatted. First this camera strap, which will be followed by posts on my new laptop/camera bag and a new lens. Enjoy!

At long last, only a mere four months after asking for help in choosing a camera strap, I finally bought one. Ironically, the one I ended up buying was not one of the options that I included while begging for opinions. I can be super indecisive like that. After not being able to choose one, I started doing more research and around the same time my friend Kelly bought one of the Black Rapid straps and raved about it. I checked out their site, and coincidentally not long after Digital Photography School did a review of the Black Rapid RS-7 strap. I was really drawn to the sling design and liked the idea of the camera hanging at my hip instead of around my neck, leaving my arms free to move at will.

I went ahead and ordered it and am happy to say that I love it as much as I hoped I would. It’s especially useful in the kitchen – I can sling the camera across my body, letting it hang at my hip, allowing me freedom of movement to plate food, rearrange things, change position, etc. Then in an instance I can pull the camera up and snap a shot. Perfection!

I will say that I am super short (a little less than 5’1) and it took me a little while to get the strap short enough to actually hang at my hip and not halfway down my leg. It’s definitely possible to shorten up the strap considerably, it just takes some patience and you only need to do it once!

So, if you’re in the market for a new camera strap, I give this one two thumbs up, and love the sling orientation. And am so happy and relieved I finally have something secure attached to my camera!

Black Rapid RS-7 Camera Strap on Amazon

This past weekend I took my Chief Culinary Consultant to Saturday’s opening weekend Pirates game as a Valentine’s Day gift. It was a fireworks night (the first of the season!) so I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to try to practice shooting fireworks. Before going to the game, I read a tutorial on Digital Photography School and gathered some tips. Since I wouldn’t be using a tripod or remote release (two primary recommendations), my main takeaways were: (1) Use a slow shutter speed; (2) Use an aperture in the f/8.0 to 16.0 range; and (3) Use a low ISO (recommended was 100).

I ended up only taking a handful of shots because I wanted to actually enjoy watching the fireworks and not be totally worried about photographing them, but I was disappointed in the ones that I took. I didn’t get the “raining” effect of fireworks, you can see a lot of the smoke, and I felt like my timing was definitely off.

I started out with my ISO on 100 and it was way, way too dark so I ended up switching it to auto. I kept my shutter speed at 1/125, which was probably way too fast, and my aperture at f/8.0. Below are the photos…

Would love to hear about any tips or experiences you have regarding fireworks photography!

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 3200, Aperture f/8.0, Exposure 1/125

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 3200, Aperture f/8.0, Exposure 1/125

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 3200, Aperture f/8.0, Exposure 1/125

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 3200, Aperture f/8.0, Exposure 1/125

I have been doing a lot of searching for a camera strap and fell in love with the August Blossoms collection on Etsy. Not only are the designs super cute, but you can wear them across your body AND they have a little pocket for the lens cap (that sealed the deal for me!). The only problem is that I can’t decide which one I want, too many cute choices! I narrowed it down to my five faves and would love for you to weigh in. Which do you like?

Brown Woodland Delight:

Black and White Damask:

Blue and Coral Woodland Bloom:

Gray Stones:

Ivory and Bubblegum Poppies:

If it helps, or even matters (hey, I’m a girl, I think in terms of coordinating accessories!), this is the camera bag that I am getting:

This challenge certainly had my name written all over it! It just so happened that I was already planning to bake this morning, so I seized the opportunity to try some different shots aside from the typical “finished food product” that I take most of the time.

One of the articles that I’ve found really helpful in learning about the different settings on my camera is this photography tutorial put together by Kevin & Amanda: A Quick Guide to Understanding Your DSLR Camera. I’ve referred to it countless times in the last few weeks, and one of the things I wanted to work on today was adjusting the shutter speed to achieve a purposeful motion blur to illustrate speed. And what better subject than my whirling mixer?!

I shot this on manual and started with a super low exposure speed of 10 (the whole picture was blurry since I didn’t use a tripod) and kept bumping it up to see what the shots looked like. I kept the aperture set t 4.0, although I’m not sure if I should have increased it? I ended up liking this shot the best – the mixer bowl is in focus but you can see the speed blur affect I was going for with the mixer blade.

Moon Pies for everyone!

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 1000, Aperture f/4.0, Exposure 1/100

This challenge definitely has me yearning for a macro lens! So while the “macro” part of the assignment couldn’t be achieved to its full extent, I enjoyed the close-up. I tried some different shots – plants, things around the house, etc. and in the end my pup’s nose while he was napping won out as my favorite shot. He barely opened his eyes while I was snapping the pictures. Ahhh, to have a dog’s life!

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 100, Aperture f/4.0, Exposure 1/500

Today’s Daily Challenge was something that starts with the letter ‘A’. I was out running a couple of errands and grabbed my camera as I walked out the door, hoping that I would spot something really creative or artsy. And then I got into my car after one of my stops and realized there was an Applebee’s across the parking lot. It seemed obvious at that point   This was actually good for me since I don’t have much experience taking photos outside yet. Winter cabin fever + lots of food photos = lack of outdoor shooting experience. I’m hoping with spring right around the corner that will start to change!

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 800, Aperture f/4.0, Exposure 1/1250

After finally delving into the world of SLR cameras, I have been trying to do a lot of reading and learning. I won’t lie – it’s much more complicated than I imagined it would be. I love seeing the resulting pictures, but I definitely still have a ton to learn about aperture, exposure speed, ISO, composition… and the list goes on and on. Not surprisingly, most of my camera practice has come in the form of photographing food, and while it has been great practice, I know that I need to branch out! Much like the motivation behind first starting my food blog (track my progress in the kitchen and try new things!) I am channeling the same motivation for improving my photography and learning as much as I can. So, welcome to my little photography corner of the web!

You’ll see that I already have some stuff posted here, let me explain…

Awhile back I found out about a couple of Flickr groups and photography blogs that post daily and weekly photography challenges. Sometimes the challenge is to photograph a specific type of subject, while sometimes the challenge is to use a specific photography technique. Sort of the photography equivalent to joining Daring Bakers back when I first started my food blog!

I joined the Our Daily Challenge group on Flickr back in January and was really enjoying taking a daily challenge picture each day and learning to be a little more creative. And then… I got lazy about it. No good excuse. Those daily challenges are the posts that you already see here on the photography blog. Take a browse through them and let me know what you think!

My good friend Kelly (from the blog the dSLR newbie) started her photography blog a little over a year ago when she began shooting with an SLR, and she introduced me to the Shutterboo weekly photography challenges. There is an overview on the Shutterboo blog, but all of the action happens on Flickr. I haven’t begun these challenges yet, but would like to start taking part!

And then there is Digital Photography School. Talk about a wealth of photography information! Most times when I visit the site I don’t even know where to start; lots of great information on technique, equipment, processing and editing, and there are forums if you have questions. The site also posts a weekly challenge, as well as a weekly assignment.

Finally, there’s Project 365. This has been around for quite awhile now and the project consists of taking at least one photo a day for an entire year and documenting them.

While I realize that I realistically won’t be able to keep up with every one of these, they are all great tools for me to finally jump in, get my feet wet, and start doing some serious learning when it comes to dSLR photography. I am also looking into taking a local photography class, and need to research the options that are available.

So, much like my food blog in the beginning, I am treating this site as motivation to keep the camera in my hands, learn more, tackle more advanced techniques, watch my progress and, most importantly, share it all with you! And I would definitely love any critiques or advice you have for me along the way!

For this challenge, we needed to photograph anything “topless” (as long as it wasn’t a person!). I decided to share a portion of my lipstick collection. I like the composition, but feel like the photo could stand to be a bit brighter.

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 200, Aperture f/2.8, Exposure 1/60

My desk on a cold winter afternoon, and what gets me through most sleepy afternoons: music and a little caffeine! Still working on lighting in photos – this one is a little dark and drab for my tastes.

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 2500, Aperture f/8.0, Exposure 1/60

Yes, the hockey (and crossword) nut that I am has the NHL version of Scrabble! This photo isn’t as sharp as I would like, still working on camera setting combinations.

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 200, Aperture f/2.0, Exposure 1/60

My favorite leather purse and boots.

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 3200, Aperture f/1.8, Exposure 1/40

My grandma’s hand on her wheelchair.

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 1000, Aperture f/2.2, Exposure 1/60

Pink is a girl’s 2nd best friend!

I took photos of four different subjects for this challenge, and ended up liking this shot the best.

A description of focal point: “A focal point is the part of an image that draws the eye of a viewer to the most important part of the image or the part that you want them to notice.”

And an article on focal points: Using Focal Points in Photography

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 320, Aperture f/2.2, Exposure 1/60

Fresh snow today means a melted mess on the floor!

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 640, Aperture f/1.8, Exposure 1/60

My version of organized chaos when it comes to too many cookie cutters and not enough storage options!

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 500, Aperture f/1.8, Exposure 1/60

An ornament tree that holds ornaments in memory of my dad. Each Christmas since my dad passed away my aunt hand-decorates a special ornament with my dad’s name and the year, and gives one to all of our family members.

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 200, Aperture f/2.0, Exposure 1/60

Jeans! My closet is organized by color. Yep, I’m a dork!

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 1600, Aperture f/2.0, Exposure 1/60

I love my Diet Coke! Full of bubbles

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 200, Aperture f/1.8, Exposure 1/60

Nothing better than jumping your opponent in checkers!

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 800, Aperture f/2.0, Exposure 1/60

I took a (cold) walk in a local park and came across this bridge. Love the perspective and how the rails frame the pathway across the iced-over lake. Want to try some antique processing on it.

A short article on natural framing: http://www.framedreality.com/natural-framing

Camera Settings: Lens 50mm 1.8, ISO 125, Aperture f/5.6, Exposure 1/125

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