Icing Sugar Cookies II

Never again.

Baking shouldn't leave you swearing, grumpy and snappy.

Remember the last time we made these? Well, Brad wanted to give them another try since they're is fave. My bestie R. even sent me meringue powder after my last post so we couldn't fail?!

The cookies themselves turned out fine. No bums this time - I guessed and put the cut out shapes in the fridge for 5 minutes before throwing them in the oven. Not that I get any hints or pointers from the book.

The icing is where things really went off the rails.

We made the icing according to the instructions. I even made parchment paper piping bags! Messy but way better than a spoon which is what we used before. So I'm piping the edges, no issues...

However filling in the edges with a brush (like she says to do) doesn't work.

Check out the outlining technique on the pink one - you can tell how frustrated we were.

There is a blurb in the recipe that says to 'add water until you get the right consistency if you want them satiny'. 

Ummmm.....how else would I want the icing? I want my cookies to look like the photo. How much water do I add? What is the consistency? We messed around with the yellow and pink icing with no water and it doesn't work. I can't imagine what you would use this icing for???

Then I decided to randomly add 1 teaspoon of water to the green icing and what do you know?! It worked.

This makes me really angry. If I'm going to go out and BUY a recipe book, I don't want the writer to hold back any secrets. I'm sure I could have found a great blog with a free recipe that included a description of the 'consistency' and the amount of water to add to the icing.

There is bourbon in my next batch of cookies thank God.

They are from a blog. They're going to be awesome.

Biscotti, Infusion Bag and Printer Offerings

This week we had a big deadline - 95% drawings. There are 7 of us in the office working full time on a huge project. There were some late nights this week - my latest was 9:00pm, but two other guys were there until midnight that night.

We had to print a few drawings for a meeting - not the whole set, not even close. My workmate decided to just do it in-house. What a mistake. Doesn't she know about the universal rule of printers!? They fail when you need them the most.

Since it's the season of chocolate, we made the plotter an offering: a chocolate brandy bean.

It didn't work.

We still had to turn it on and off after every sheet it printed...

I've had my eye on a bag from Infusion for years. Years. I finally treated myself (Merry Christmas Jabba!) and....it is the most perfect bag ever.

It's the perfect size - it carries a lot without looking massive. At the most I have to accommodate my wallet, book, lunch, umbrella and my new braces kit.  This bag works with room to spare. Also having two strap options is the bomb. Abby's bags are so well made it's ridiculous.

In other news, I made home made biscotti this week. It was way easier than you'd think.  I found a new blog and have made 3 recipes from her and she's 3 for 3. Her Cranberry Orange Biscotti delivers too.

This weekend I'll be baking, reading, sleeping and wrapping presents. My shopping is done. Just waiting on one more Etsy shipment.

Jaws

So it's done. 

I have braces.

There was an 9 year old girl having hers done at the same time. Her mom sat with her and patted her leg the whole time. Although the mom kept reassuring me it was a breeze and she didn't even need to be there. All the same, it was really sweet.*

I was laughing to myself thinking about what Rawbean would say. So in the spirit of her cartoons, I've drawn what my teeth were going through.

Getting them on is a breeze. The worst part is wearing the cheek separators, but it's not painful. My orthodontist was walking around saying in the most sarcastic voice ever:

"The feeling of anticipation and joy in here is wondrous today! Everyone is so excited!!"

..as we glared at him behind our cheek separators...

My brain vibrated when he ground down the bands on my back teeth, but again it didn't hurt.

I'm on Day 3 and now have a taste of how important the dental wax is. One entire side of my mouth is ripped apart** so I'm curling up with my little packages of dental wax, some Tylenol and my book. There is no PAIN associated with any of this. Today I feel a bit of pressure on my teeth, but that's it. My teeth are a little sensitive if I bite or chew hard things so I'm careful for now.

I also have a cold*** so have taken a day off work. I think I deserve it?

Last night we watched The Spy Who Loved Me (for Jaws). I've met one consultant who I didn't know before - no reaction. I met a client who I already knew - he grabbed my arm and smiled. My workmates are really supportive and understanding....now I need to OWN it and get over being self conscious.


*After spending half an hour the first night trying to figure out how to floss, I thought about that little girl and how she's doing. I only have top braces - for now.
 ** Okay I'm exaggerating but it's sore.
***I am a thing of beauty today, trust me.

Spacers

An update on my nightmare.

Three days ago my orthodontist put in spacers* to prepare me for braces on Tuesday. So finally some good news: this is happening quicker than I thought. I just want it all over with.

For those of you (like me) who are clueless when it comes to this stuff:
The braces have a "band" that fits over top of my molars - kind of like wearing a ring on your finger. The spacers were flossed between my teeth to create a gap so the band is easier to install.**

When she put them in I was relieved because I had read all over the place that spacers are a nightmare.

I can't feel them at all. For the first 20 minutes or so it just felt like I had a piece of popcorn stuck between my teeth. After that I didn't feel anything. The next morning my teeth felt sensitive, but seriously - nothing to whine about. I wouldn't have wanted to eat carrot sticks or anything, but I'm on soft food anyway so it's totally fine.

Unfortunately tonight as I was eating something I shouldn't have (Cheezies, I only had 3?!) one of the spacers fell out. The deal was that I wasn't supposed to eat anything sticky with them - like gum or toffee.

Damn.

So. Either my teeth have moved far enough apart already (fingers crossed) or I'll have to go in and have it replaced and delay the braces another couple days.

It would be easy enough to get it back in, but I really don't want to screw around with it. I'm already messed up enough!


* I have three of them. One on the left and two on the right.
** Install. I so work in architecture.

Screw Chopping

As you guys know, I like cooking and baking. Even though sometimes it's a disaster.

I used to enjoy chopping veggies, I actually found it therapeutic. Now? Not so much.

I loathe it. Chopping onions? The worst. I think it affects me more than the average person. I have to leave the room, blindly groping the walls with tears running down my face. It's ridiculous. Sometimes when I chop garlic - same thing.

There was a simple solution as far as I was concerned. Bzzzt. Ten seconds and that entire onion is chopped and the deadly gases are contained in a sealed container?? Could it be possible?! Oh....yes.

I've wanted a food processor for a few years now. And not one of those little wimpy ones - I wanted the biggest, best one. This summer I randomly checked at The Bay and they were totally on sale. So I finally bought one.

I haven't used it as much as I thought, mostly because life has been a little insane lately. But I have big plans.

In the meantime I made my first pastry dough. It was awesome.

Last week Brad announced that I'm not using it enough and he wants to store it somewhere other than our tiny kitchen. Woah. Not happening. So I proved to him that I love it and used it to make a crust for pumpkin squares. Out of pretzels. 

Oh. Hell. Yes.

I've also used it to make simple things like citrus water. 

I've even taken it out to chop one onion and nothing else.

Totally worth it.