So, two significant things have happened in the last two weeks that have impeded my blogging: I started my new job, and my old desktop computer died. The death had been a long time coming, so it was really no surprise. My only regret is that I never backed up my files. That means hundreds of pictures and designs potentially lost. I still plan to take the computer to a specialist to see if he/she can salvage the hard drive. Keep your fingers crossed!
About the new job... there's not too much to say. The position is in the construction industry, but I work in an office, pushing papers. So far things are going well. It's just been hard adjusting to this new 8-5+ schedule. Most nights I've been exhausted, hitting the hay at 9pm. It's a little pathetic, but hopefully I'll get into a normal routine soon. In the meantime, creating is mostly on hiatus.
What little I have done has revolved around cooking and crocheting. Last weekend it was delicious caramel corn and quickie cinnamon bread.
This caramel corn was made from the recipe found here. It's quite good and easy. The only change I made was to use corn popped in our stove top "Whirly Pop" rather than microwave popcorn. We don't eat microwave popcorn anymore because of the health concerns involved. I also doubled the amount of popcorn and kept the amount of caramel the same. There was still plenty of caramely sweetness to go around.
We also decided we liked the caramel corn better if it was baked only for 30 mins, rather than the full hour. But that could have something to do with our freakishly inaccurate oven.
For Saturday breakfast I made quickie cinnamon bread. There's no recipe, but it's really easy. I buy the Pillsbury bread in a tube when I have a coupon or it goes on sale. I prefer the "Country Italian Loaf". It's in the refrigerated section with the crescent rolls, biscuits, etc... This bread has great texture and taste and I use it for all kinds of shortcut cooking. When you open the can, you're supposed to bake it as is, in a tube shape and it will become a little loaf of bread. But there is a seam on the bottom that you can peel back and unroll the loaf into a flat rectangle. It makes great pizza crust, filled sandwiches, etc... And also pretty good cinnamon rolls!
Just unroll the bread, and sprinkle with a combination of 1/2 white sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Roll back into loaf shape and pinch seam closed. I baked it as a loaf and sliced it afterward, but I don't see why you couldn't slice it before baking like with traditional cinnamon rolls. Just spread with a little butter to prevent drying.
And, because we're decadent around here, I made some icing to dollop on top.
The bread was quite sweet and yummy without icing, but everything's just better with icing, don't you agree?
I've been crocheting up some little coasters and table pads. They're like little granny circles, with a scallop around the edge for decoration. We needed something to protect the table from drippy glasses and hot plates. These are made from wool yarn and do the job nicely.
Thats all I have for now. I'm writing this on Aaron's laptop and it's bugging the heck out of me! With any luck we'll find a great deal on a new computer for me this weekend!
See you again soon!