Ramblings of a Fab Brunette

My Current Obsession: Ginger Molasses Cookies

 

As of late, I'm doing my best to be thrifty, especially when going grocery shopping. I'm trying to watch my spending and make every last cent count. You'll be pleased to know that I've made dinner every single night this week - c'est fabuleux, non? I'm trying to stay away from boutique grocers such as Meinhardt and Urban Fare - although I love them so! - but I just can't continue spending $7.00 on unsalted butter when Price Smart has it for $3.99 on sale. My apologies. 

I've cut back on my Starbucks consumption, which isn't overly maddening because of the Tassimo machine that makes my cappuccinos at home, but there's one thing I do miss, and it's something that I just recently discovered and is currently my favourite cookie of all time.

The Ginger Molasses Cookie.

First consumed at the Baker's Market from a fellow baker, then obsessed with at Starbucks, this cookie is delightful, filling and chewy, spicy and sweet all at the same time. Starbucks does makes an amazing Ginger Molasses cookie, and I was craving one like mad today so I decided to make them in order to be thrifty.

So I wandered through the grocery store, my kid in the shopping cart, iPhone in my hand dictating what ingredients I needed to make these amazing cookies. I needed cookie sheets, molasses, dark brown sugar, ground ginger... after adding it up in my head it would've cost me $15 to make them, so I just stepped up to the Starbucks counter and purchased a ginger molasses cookie for $1.75, brought it home and am currently eating it for lunch with my made-at-home cappuccino.

But I decided to post the recipe anyway! If you try the recipe, let me know how it goes, I'll be making it this weekend!!

What's your favourite cookie?

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 extra-large egg
• 1/4 cup regular unsulphured molasses
• Granulated sugar (for coating cookie dough before baking)

Method

1 Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in center. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.

2 Sift flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger into a medium bowl. Set aside.

3 Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl with mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Lower to medium speed, beat in the egg and molasses, the increase speed to high and beat about 1 minute longer, until mixture no longer looks curdled. 

4 Mix in the flour mixture on low speed. The batter will be rather stiff. Place some granulated sugar on a plate, and using an ice cream scoop or measuring cup form 1/4-cup portions of dough. Transfer dough to your hands and roll each portion into a rough ball, then roll each ball into the sugar. Place six sugared balls on each baking sheet, spacing them evenly, because they will spread during baking.

5 Dampen your fingers with water and press down lightly on each cookie to flatten it a little and dampen the top. Refrigerate one filled baking sheet while the other bakes.

6 Bake for 12 minutes, or until the cookies have spread and are firm to the touch. Allow to cool and then eat.

The Day I Met Kyla

 

 The day was spent waiting and, for once, I waited patiently. And a bit nervously. Okay, just a teensy bit impatiently. It started innocently enough with a jaunt to Starbucks and yet another 'negative' pee stick, that's right, another one, three in one week - my body is overly hormonal and crazy - regardless!

 I picked up Princess from preschool and made my way over to the sky train, the Canada line, which actually is underground and not in the sky at all. Got off in Yaletown. And that's when I realised that I had arrived 30 minutes earlier than I was supposed to. Awesome. More waiting.

So I sat there with my daughter, attempting to entertain her with the box of goodies the restaurant offers crazy toddlers, and I started thinking about what I was doing there.

Today was the day I was finally doing it - I was meeting a blogger in real life. It's one thing to read a blog, another to converse with the author through email and chat, and a whole different thing to actually get out of your comfort zone and get out there and meet them. It's takes just a teensy bit of courage to do it. I'm sure you all have that in you.

Today was the day I met Kyla Roma, a blogger, whom if you do not know, is amazing. One of my most favourite blogs to read with its' minimal design and entertaining posts about life, love and simple living. She's straight to the point in her posts, she's always charming and absolutely lovely. That's a perfect way to describe her writing. 

But it would be naive to believe that someone's writing is all that they are, that it encompasses their whole being and that there's nothing more. A faint thought appeared in my mind that she might be crazy, annoying, stupid, or all three. I thought that maybe she might be really, really weird. And I sat in the restaurant, popping my head up every few minutes to see if she had arrived. And then I thought maybe she would just not show up and be even crazier.

But then she came. With a friend, who promptly left but left a very rugged and foxy impression on me.

And she was cute. Thin, pretty and adorable. And absolutely lovely.

As I stumbled over my words, twisting my tongue and acting thoroughly disheveled while I prayed that Princess would stop dunking her toy in her iced tea, Kyla Roma was eloquent, smart, and looked very chic, in part due to her haircut and her perfect posture.

Over pizza and pints of beer we discussed how crazy it is to meet random bloggers in real life, how rewarding blogging can be, and our favourite blogs to read. She was everything I thought she would be and so much more, she's such an awesome person and I can only hope that I lived up to whatever image she had in her mind of me. While I tried to get the toddler to chill and eat my pizza and not spit while I talked and all that jazz. Awesome.

Our meeting was short and sweet, and I would love to hang out with her more. Meeting new people and seeing the good in them helps you realise that there is good all around you. You just need to take the time to seek it out. 

I really hope Kyla comes back to Vancouver soon - or perhaps I'll fly out to Vegas in a few months to meet up with her again and the whole group of fun bloggers that I've come to admire.

Meeting a blogger in real life - not as scary as I thought it would be. But I'm sure it's just cus Kyla's so sweet.

xoxo

Fab Brunette

Santa Baby, Slip a Sable Under The Tree

Although I truly detest doing something that everyone else in this whole blog world is doing I still feel the need to share with you my wants for Christmas.

 

Chanel Eyeglasses
The ones above have leather patchwork sides, which are very sexy in a librarian way, but there's also a pair with sparkly sides that intrigue my showgirl side as well.

 
Le Creuset Cookware
I am so utterly obsessed with the Le Creuset cookware it's almost embarrassing - but not too embarrassing for my readers to know about! I love them. I go into Williams-Sonoma to stroke them, almost as if they were puppies in a pet store, reassuring that one day I will give them a good home. In Flame. Not orange, the colour is Flame.

 
Dior Moon Boots
Deemed tacky by some and passe by others, I really don't give a shit. I've been wanting them for years. That's a long time to want a shoe. Or a boot. It just looks so warm and comfy and I feel like I could jump in the snow and not feel cold. Okay? Thanks. Purchase here on sale Santa.

 
North Face Parka
A cozy coat to go with the boots. Of course. And it's shiny, so I love it. Buy it here.

Christian Louboutin Bridget
So, hello, these shoes are so last season, but I truly don't care. They're timeless. Leopard print pony hair. Lace. Leather. Platform. Red sole. And only one left in my size. I believe that's what they call fate.

Adrienne Landau Fur
Lynx-print rabbit fur. Raccoon collar. All you Peta activists can look the other way right now - this jacket will go great with my shoes.  It's amazing. Right here. Thanks Santa!

I can only dream Santa will place these wonderful items under my tree this Christmas... hear that Santa? I expect these items under my tree! And if not... you'll see what's coming to you... 

xoxo

Fab Brunette

It's a Cold One, Mr Grinch!

 

Last week I was speaking my mother on the phone and I was bragging about how gorgeous the weather is in Vancouver - it's sunny! no wind! blue skies! flowers blooming! - and how quickly those words have come to bite me in the ass.

Since yesterday, the temperature dipped to just below zero (celsius) and there's been a bit of a chilly wind in the air. It's no longer acceptable to walk outside without gloves or scarves, and even with that bright sun shining your toes may start to freeze off.

We went to the Santa Claus parade yesterday, a bit of a tradition for us. Every year since Princess was born we take her to the Santa Claus parade, in Toronto and now in Vancouver, and afterwards we eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory - a gluttonous and family-friendly meal. It was a ton of fun, but my feet definitely froze while standing outside for two hours waiting for Santa to arrive. J was the loving boyfriend that he always is and stood in line at Starbucks for 20 minutes out in the cold, bringing us hot chocolates and warm donuts, yum!

I spent my morning at Williams-Sonoma making up my registry - no, no, I'm not getting married - for our new apartment. That's right, we found one, with a gorgeous view, in a trendy, albeit not considered family-friendly neighborhood, and the place itself is modern, chic and has an amazing kitchen.

Most of my kitchen items have been in storage, have broken or been used and basically destroyed over the past few years, so we're moving into this place with nothing except the suitcases we brought with us and the mattresses from Ikea - that suck by the way.

 

And I recently also suckered J into wanting, needing, lusting over Le Creuset cookware in orange and since the prices are a little out of our range at the moment, I thought maybe someone loved me enough to buy it for me. And then I added wine glasses, flatware and dinnerware to the registry. And I realised how much these things actually cost and then I thought maybe this is a little ridiculous for a registry, but then the sales lady reassured me that it was fine. Okay, if you say so.

My morning was filled with daydreaming, fantasizing about kitchen appliances, Starbucks coffee and cold, cold weather. 

Wait! There's a funny story in here too! I was walking briskly down Granville Street when - bear with me, this is WAY TMI - I feel something between my legs, like in my crotch area. I'm like, what is that? It felt like I had an extra pair of underwear stuck in my pants, right at the crotch - I was like, this is so embarrassing. I wonder if people can see a bulge from behind?

So I continue walking, a little uncomfortably, and I finally look down and realize that my long, comfy scarf is stuck in between my legs, right at the crotch, and giving me a tail from behind. Awesome.

I found this picture from Solo Road Trip and was immediately so happy that this happened to someone else!
 

When my registry is up online I'll post the link so you can all balk at the expensive items I put on there.

xoxo

Fab Brunette

Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

 

I've been wanting to make these cupcakes for a long, long time, and they are finally here! I've searched through various cookbooks and blogs and could never find a vanilla-Oreo cupcake made from scratch that I approved of, so I tweaked my trusty vanilla cupcake recipe, which is adapted from Magnolia's, and added Oreo Cookies! These are super sweet and yummy, perfect for kids and adults - all the adults I know still behave like children anyway!

 The Oreo Cookies
I opened up two packages of Oreo cookies and started chopping them. Some will crumble, some will be perfectly halved and quartered. I made sure to have over 24 pieces, one for each cupcake. 

 

I then split up the remaining Oreo cookies with a knife and put them into separate ziploc bags. The bag without cream was very finely crushed to be later added in the frosting. The bag with the cream still on the cookies was crushed and added into the cookie batter.

   

I later thought that this might be a bit easier if I had a food processor, but at the same time there's less mess because you just throw out the ziploc bag after!

 

The Cupcakes
 I sifted the two flours together, and then mixed them thoroughly.

 

In a separate bowl place the room temperature butter. Forgot to take the butter out of the fridge? Zap it in the microwave at 5 seconds at a time, do not allow it to get too soft though. Mix the butter on medium speed until creamy.

 

Then gradually mix in the sugar and beat for 3 minutes until fluffy.

 

Drop in one egg at a time and mix well after each. If your eggs are cold, place them in a bowl with warm water. 

 

After all the eggs are mixed in. 

 

Now, add in a third of the flour mixture. Alternate with milk-vanilla mixture, finishing with flour. Mix well after each addition but do not overmix!
 
  

Mmmm, drop in the creamy cookie crumbs.

 

 

Mmmm, the batter is so delicious - but don't eat it!

 

Instead, fill your cupcake liners just over half full. If you overfill then the cupcakes might sink and have burnt edges.

 

Baking time = Cappuccino time.

 

Now patiently wait for cupcakes to cool down.

 

 

The Frosting
 Put room temperature butter, milk and vanilla in a bowl. I'm using vanilla bean paste today, very vanilla.

 

Add four cups of confectioners' sugar.

 

Mix for 3 - 5 minutes on medium to high speed.

 

Mix in cookie crumbs.

 

Add more sugar.

 

Mmmm.... Oreo Cookie Frosting - this is so good and sweet!

 

Set up your icing station!

 

Frost! Frost! Frost!

These will surely be a hit and will easily disappear from your table!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour 
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup whole crushed Oreo Cookie Crumbs (with cream)

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup finely crushed Oreo Cookie Crumbs (no cream)

Method

The cupcakes

1 Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line 24 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners. 

2 Sift both flours together in a medium bowl and mix it together, set aside. In a small bowl add vanilla to milk and set aside.

3 In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter until creamy. Then, gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy for 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4 Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with milk-vanilla mixture. With each addition, beat just until incorporated - do not overbeat. Make sure to scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.

5 Fold in a third of the Oreo cookie crumbs, then fold in the rest.

6 Fill each liner to just over 1/2 full. Bake until tops feel firm and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs, about 20-22 minutes. The tops should remain pale or barely brown just on the edges. Cool the cupcakes.

Oreo Cookie Frosting

1 Place the butter in a large bowl. Add milk, vanilla, and 4 cups of confectioners' sugar.

2 On medium speed, mix for 3 - 5 minutes, until creamy and smooth. 

3 Mix in Oreo cookie crumbs. 

4 Gradually add more sugar to desired consistency and sweetness. Icing can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

 

December Goals Supposed Wishlist

 I usually begin each and every month with a list of goals to be hopefully accomplished within that said month. However, this being December, the most joyous and hectic month of the year, I will forgo all such matters and just discuss with you what I wish to happen - we'll call it, the wishlist.

I wish: to go skiing in Whistler, to find a place to move in to, to figure out my future, and to win the lottery.

Does this sound attainable? Well, 2/4 are. We have to find a place to move into, or else we're homeless, and I do not do well without a good and warm bed - sleeping under bridges just ain't for me, no offense of course. We thought we found it and then we changed our minds. Woot. Awesome.

Our Christmas holidays were supposed to be spent skiing in Whistler, but with all this confusing activity and headache over apartments, we haven't booked anything yet. And the longer we wait the higher prices go, it's awesome. So although attainable, who knows if we'll stay there. But I really hope we do.

Thirdly, the future thing. Well, lately I'm getting a bit frustrated with the whole self-employed business - as much as I go on about how amazing being self-employed is and that I could never imagine working for someone else, there are times, such as the holidays, that make me wish I had a dependable paycheck coming in every week. I wish I had some kind of skill set that's worthy of a battle of the employers and they would hire me at no less than $25 per hour, daycare included, 9 to 5, no overtime or weekends, monthly bonuses, and of course it would be an easy at the desk type of job - writing, editing, yelling at people. Awesome.

Of course, those jobs only exist in the non-realities of my imaginary mind and therefore I'm screwed. Years ago I used to do hair, colouring and styling, and am thinking of going back into it. The only thing that has ever stopped me from getting my hair styling license is the cost of tuition - it's over $10k, pretty brutal, and it takes up a year of your life. The bf just wants me to be happy and says that a year is nothing and you'll make it back in a few months of work. Which is true. But my little mind just sees the year of school and the $15,000 price tag. Not fun.

Therefore, if I win the lottery, all of the above problems would be solved. I would rent out a penthouse with the best views in Vancouver, I would buy the most expensive suite in Whistler for two weeks and vacation like Paris Hilton, I could pay for my schooling and do the hair dressing thing - or I could purchase a cupcake shop and sell cappuccinos and cupcakes for the rest of my days.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to win the lottery, does anyone want to buy me a lottery ticket?

November 2009 Recap

1. Make 5 New Cupcakes or Remake Past Cupcakes: 
 I finally made two different satisfying matcha cupcakes, my chai tea cupcake is amazing now and I made my chocolate cupcake a little more moist and richer at the same time. Also made a cookies 'n' cream cupcake using Oreos and a different kind of banana nut cupcake. My camera's been touchy with me this month so my pictures aren't coming out, but soon - more pix!!

2. Enter Iron Cupcake Earth.
FAIL*

3. Enter Daring Bakers Challenge. 
FAIL*

4. Put Princess in Pre-School. 
She's now in a bilingual (french/english) preschool that she loves!

5. Be in the Bakers Market for Three Saturdays in a Row. 
Win/Fail. Let me explain... I did the BM for the first two Saturdays but the last Saturday I had a bit of a family obligation, and it was becoming very slow. I am definitely doing the two Saturdays in December though!

6. Find a New Band to Adore. 
I suppose this is a win, it's a band my boyfriend has liked for a while, and so has the rest of the world forever, Death Cab For Cutie, and also Muse is coming up as a new fave too.

7. Do NaNoWriMo. 
FAIL*

*Fail Explanation: I was too busy. Seriously. The baking thing... I had ideas, and I started out with them, and then I didn't get back to it. NaNoWriMo I totally really wanted to do, but again, I got busy for a day then a day turned into a week and it was almost the end of the month when I started writing again. And then I decided I hated the story anyway and quit. I'm a quitter. Boo hoo.

What I Read:
Twilight Books 1 - 4 
 Midnight Sun draft

Music on Repeat:
New Moon Soundtrack
Killers Live from Albert Hall

What I Ate:
Pizza from Hell's Kitchen
Brekkie at Cafe Barney's

Favourite Songs:
Don't Get Hung Up In Your Soul - Richard Hawley
A Woman Like You - Johnny Reid

Best Movies I Watched:
New Moon
Four Christmases

What I Did:
Baked and sold cupcakes
Hunted for an apartment

Overall Mood:
Looking forward to December
And totally in love

It's Okay to Be Unwed.

 

Somewhere between Toronto and Vancouver I lost something. I think I lost a yearning, but I'm not so sure exactly how it happened or why. In between the many trips to Starbucks, getting lost between stucco houses, and living my busy life, I've discovered that I have lost the need to get wed.

 I don't know when or how this happened. Last I checked I was still the bridal-magazine purchasing, obsessed with the latest wedding dress collections, and anxiously putting together different colour schemes for some imaginary wedding deadline that only existed in the outskirts of my mind. 

I noticed that the magazines no longer held the allure they used to for me, between their glossy covers - overpriced dresses, the same recycled ideas - it just didn't draw me in as it used to. I noticed the jealousy pangs were also gone - when someone got engaged, when a couple in a movie were going for the next step, even hearing about celebrities getting married - I would get this twang of jealousy, it was ridiculous, this much I knew, but there was never a way of stopping it. Wait, there was, and it involved J putting a ring on my finger.

And I knew it wasn't going to happen anytime soon, which made me bitter towards everything - him, life, even while shopping for meaningless kitchen items - I learnt along the way that a wedding meant a bridal shower, and a bridal shower was basically getting everything you  need to start your life together - that meant peelers, can openers and frying pans. Instead I was bitterly trying to choose a middle-of-the-road frying pan while trying not to be pissed at my boyfriend of six years.

And then there were the questions that used to keep me up at night, the ones that bothered me to my very core, the: When are you getting married? and the shock of Six years? I would've made him marry me at 3! How do you stand it? which the obvious answer was that I couldn't stand it and the whole thing made me furious. When do you think he'll propose? How the fuck should I know, seriously, am I a mind reader? Perhaps if I knew the when I wouldn't be so pissed off in the now!

 

You may not know this, but I'm not only an aspiring baker, but I am a wedding planner. At the very base of my being I love romances, I love stories of love, and I love weddings more than anything. But there were times that I'd look at the 'happy couple', who just spent $60k on the wedding of their dreams, and I'd think why couldn't this be me? Which would lead to more undermining of the confidence questions - what's wrong with me? doesn't he love me enough? when will this happen - when I'm thirty?  Oh, the shock and the horror of the big three-O.

But recently, I've noticed that all of these feelings, all these notions of jealousy and madness and bitterness, all of it, have seemingly disappeared. The questions don't bother me like they used to, not at all, and the funny thing is, no one expects me to be married or otherwise - nobody seems to really care. I don't follow any wedding blogs anymore, I don't fantasize about the perfect letterpress invitation set, nothing. 

Where did all this go? A part of me really wonders. How could all these pent-up emotions just escape into the atmosphere without a single fatality - there were literally times I could've killed my boyfriend because the stupid nineteen year-old girl I hate got an ugly ring on her finger. 

When did I decide that it was okay not to get married?

I don't even know how I can get those words out of my mouth without stuttering, seriously. I've written about my anger with people assuming that I was married, about how love changed me into a bitter person, about my ridonculous idea to start a wedding dress fund,  and even about daydreaming of wedding things. Before this blog I had another one, based more on fashion and tons of wedding dresses. Serious. So how did this happen, how did this all change?

And why am I questioning it? Perhaps I should be happy that I don't feel that need anymore. It's kinda funny because my boyfriend isn't quite aware of the change in me yet - when are men ever aware of our inner thoughts? - and he'll still make jokes about jewelry stores and for me not to get any ideas. But the ideas are gone.

 

When did I realise that it was okay to be happy and unwed - that putting one and one together didn't necessarily mean three, but perhaps it meant four - okay, screw the analogy, but do you understand what I mean? 

I've grown up my whole life thinking that I've wanted to get married, I wanted the dress, the shoes, the horse-drawn carriage or Lamborghini depending on the theme and location - I wanted big, I wanted small, I wanted to elope, I wanted everyone I knew there - I wanted it all.

Perhaps I've discovered how to be happy with what I have and maybe I should stop analysing all these feelings. 

Perhaps.

xoxo

Fab Brunette
the newly un-obsessed non-bride