When you know someone very well...

... it becomes more and more difficult to surprise them.

Last night Elliot discovered a single hole punch on the dining table. He immediately knew that I made him a birthday card earlier that day. Though I thought I had carefully cleaned up the traces I missed one vital piece of evidence. Elliot's birthday is on Thursday and he has already guessed what kind of cake I'm making and what will be for dinner (the telltale ingredients were in the fridge!) My attempts at hiding things could be better but since I know that he doesn't mind knowing in advance I don't try too hard.

Homemade Yogurt

I've been trying my hand at homemade yogurt these last few weeks and it is actually pretty easy. Initially I wanted to try making kefir but decided that I probably wouldn't use it as much as homemade yogurt. I checked out a book about homemade dairy by Ashley English and went to work.
In a nutshell the keys are to have some tasty plain yogurt to start with (a few T.), milk, a thermometer and something in which to keep your yogurt warm. The key is to incubate the cultures + cooked/cooled milk for ~7 hours at 110 F. I use our crock-pot. I set it to low while I heat the milk (to 180 F then it must be cooled to 120 F so you don't kill the cultures). After cooling the milk and adding the starter (yogurt from the last batch or the store is fine) I put it in jars and place them in the crock-pot. Then I turn the crock-pot OFF and stuff dish towels around the jars to keep them nice n' warm.
Once the yogurt is set several hours later I whisk it a bit and refrigerate.

We eat it with homemade muesli or fruit. Yum.

Hopping

It sure is hopping around here... as in not... :)

But we just got back from a wonderful vacation/camping trip.

Snow

The snow is starting here. The flakes are light and flutter around in the eddies and currents before descending to the ground.
Thankfully we can walk to dance lessons tonight and we don't need to drive anywhere for a few days. Living in this hilly city (with few plows) can present somewhat of a challenge to get around in the snow.

<3

*photo credit: Caltech

Birthday Barrette

Since today is my birthday I decided to make myself a birthday barrette. It turned out pretty. I'll really like the idea of melting the edges of synthetic fabric to make the edges curl up. I did it on the porch but the wind kept blowing out the candle. Another final product:

And this little guy is a frog/card which I made with yarn. 

Waltz

Photo Credit: Tanzschule Willy Elmayer-Vestenbrugg GmbH

My husband and I just started taking waltz lessons.  Last night we moved the table so that we could have a bit more room to practice. Our living room is pretty small for waltzing.
"Practice! Practice! Practice!" says our instructor.

Dress

I probably don't need a new dress right now but I really like this one. Perhaps for the summer...

Baking Brownies

*photo credit: thinkgeek.com

There are brownies baking in my oven right now. The recipe is from the New Best Recipes Cookbook which is basically my favorite.

*yum*

Icy Morning

The sky was very clear yesterday and this morning which lead to some very strange ice formations. I'm not sure what they are called, but I have pictures.

Frittata- A Favorite Lazy Meal

I discovered this meal about 2 years ago and really enjoy it due to its quick preparation and versatility. A frittata is similar to an omelet in concept but it's preparation is a bit different. I start off by chopping up some veggies, including, onion, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, spinach or whatever I have on hand. Then I saute them in an oven proof skillet in about 1/2 T butter on med-high heat until everything is hot and nicely browned. Like so:

I usually use about 2 eggs/person. I mix them up a bit in a measuring cup and pour them in all at once. The trick to a frittata is to start mixing right away. I keep mixing the egg/veggie mixture until the eggs start to set. Then stop mixing, top with cheese, and pop it in the oven (preheated to ~350 F works fine) until the egg is cooked through. (About 10 minutes) Sometimes if I'm feeling fancy I'll set the oven to broil to brown the cheese a little more but this isn't necessary. Here is another photo, this time right before going into the oven.

Once cooked I serve it up as dinner with toast, salsa, and sour cream. Here is another recipe to try.