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.

Music, Location and A Bulldog

So I've been in my new job for a couple weeks now. It's awesome! Three random things:

1. They play music in the office.  (gasp!)

I was shocked at first and not sure how I felt about it, but after opening my mind and giving it a chance for a couple days I relaxed. Now I really enjoy it.

Plus it's music I like.

Today some song came on...the singer started wailing....my blood pressure started rising.....and just when I thought I was going to go mental, my workmate who runs the music hit 'Next'. Everyone started laughing and breathed a sigh of relief that we're all on the same page.

2. It's really great/weird/crazy to be working right downtown.

My office is seriously DIRECTLY above my very favourite clothing shop in the city*. This is not necessarily a good thing. 

Image courtesy of Smoking Lily 

It's a good thing this is an old image - if I had passed this outfit on my way in to the office I would have bought it ALL.

And.... 
 
3. There's a bulldog.

The other day I came back from lunch and the woman who runs the florist shop had her bulldog there. He was so friendly and snorted the entire time I patted him. I was a little afraid he was going to follow me into the elevator, but he didn't. He just stared sadly as I walked away.

I can't wait to talk to the owner and find out his schedule.
 

*Christielli - the place where I bought that super cute dress!!

Book Review #17

I have a block of cream cheese sitting in the sun getting to room temperature. My recipe also involves pulverizing pretzels in my food processor. Let's hope it doesn't turn into a disaster baking blog post.

For now, another book review because I'm way, way, way behind and have about 20 books to tell you about.

The Book of Negroes - Lawrence Hill 4/5 
 

Holy crap was this ever amazing. I wasn't listening to Canada Reads when this one won, but I'm sure it was no contest. A difficult read, but well, well worth it. It must have been emotionally exhausting writing it.

Persuasion - Jane Austen 5/5

I finally did it. I read the only Jane Austen book that I had left. Now I've read them all. This one was amazing. When Wentworth finally declares his love for Anne: ooohhhh shivers. Now I'll have to start re-reading them. Next up will be Mansfield Park.

Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden 3/5

This one has been sitting on my shelf for years. It's funny how you pick up a book a million times and aren't in the mood, then one day.....anyway it was a really good read. It's not a book I'm going to keep (I only keep my favourites) but I'd recommend it.

Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert 1/5

I only bought this because it was two bucks at the book sale and there were a million of them there.....no wonder because it was worth about two bucks. The writing is fine, but the woman is seriously, seriously annoying. I have no desire to see the movie and don't get what the hype was about. At all.

Atonement - Ian McEwan 5/5

Holy crap. This guy is amazing. The way he built up the beginning of this book - unbelievable. Then it totally changes and you end up on a different path......he DELIVERS on the writing, the plot, everything. I'll be reading him again.

We just got back from Russel's. We have to stop. We have an entire bookcase devoted to books neither of us has read yet. It doesn't help that they have a deal - if you buy 4 books, you get the 5th free. It also doesn't help that Brad has a book list with over 100 books on it.

Schplinths AND Elashthics?!

I saw my orthodontist again about a week ago. He had good news and bad news.

The good news is that I'm getting the braces put on in January. This is 3 months ahead of schedule. (I was supposed to wear my schplinth for 6 months, then braces.) So I have just over a month until the next stage of my nightmare journey.

The bad news?

I have to keep wearing my splint at the same time.

I'm going to start selling tickets to the freak show.

The idea is for me to keep wearing my splint, which sits on my bottom teeth while I wear braces on my upper teeth*. After my upper teeth are straightened, I'll reverse this - which will be worse. I understand wearing a splint on upper teeth is way more uncomfy.

This area is reserved for the photos I will show of my splint and braces. Never! 

I will not subject you to the horrors.

At least the amount of time until I can eat a sandwich isn't any longer: T-Minus 2 years.

On this note, two amazing things happened to me in the last week with my Schplinth:

I met up with a friend for tea, we hadn't seen each other forever. Get this -she brought her splint (she only has to wear hers at night, lucky girl) so we could have a "Splint Party" in public!** It was one of the sweetest things EVER.

I now wear it all day around my new workmates. They seem to be totally used to it and even tell me that it's hardly noticeable. I still call bullshit on that one, but it's really cool nonetheless.

*My teeth aren't actually that crooked.

**We didn't end up wearing them because I actually take mine out when I drink stainy stuff like coffee/tea/red wine.

Bucket Hats

When I had my week off I made something else.

I can't even deal. They are so cute, reversible, easy to make and the pattern was FREE.

I made the pink one first, it's for Wren. Once I got to the end, I saw the two most dreaded words in the Sewing Language:

Hand stitch.

Middle fingers were aimed at the pattern at that point*. I attempted it for about 3 stitches, ripped it out and ran it through my machine. Therefore Wren's hat is not reversible.

So I re-wrote the pattern when I made the green one. It's reversible but it's put together completely differently. Personally I think it's way easier and looks fantastic.

I have at least two more planned. 

*There is no photo of me giving this sewing project the finger. I can't have two projects for Wren include the middle finger!

Cocktail Parties and Book Launches

Ummm? Where am I? I don't even know where to start. My first week of work......let's just say there were cocktail parties, some drinking, missed ferries, late night dinners and a lot of brain stimulation.

My workmates are amazing. We all sit at one table, it's completely open and super casual. My first two days were relatively normal and routine - lots of Revit, ironing out glitches in a new computer, finding my way around a new model, figuring out the good coffee spots in the neighbourhood.....you know.

Day Three is when things got interesting. We went to Vancouver for a cocktail party to celebrate a book they just published. Ummmm....yeah!!!??

Oh...but....oh right. Cocktail parties - so not my scene. I spent hours trying to figure out what to wear, agonizing about not knowing anyone and dreaded the scene of standing in a corner alone, trying not to look too awkward.

 (Going into the party. Take a deep breath....)

Nope. It was not like that at all.

First I had all my new workmates to get to know. And I already know two girls in the Vancouver office*, I introduced myself to a guy who I worked with on the hospital project and of course met a bunch of people in the Vancouver office.

It was so fun.

The next day was "A Day of Making" in the Vancouver office. Everyone gets together and designs/makes/creates something. This year we had to do a 2 minute presentation on social sustainability. I had only found out about this on Wednesday afternoon so I was really flying blind. I tried not to panic.

But lucky for me it was supposed to be really loose. They didn't want to give us tons of parameters. People came up with so many places, ideas and different approaches. It was really interesting, inspiring and fun.

I chose to present a building that I fell in love with a couple years ago. I actually learned a lot even though I working on my own. When will I have another chance to sit around for a couple hours and figure out why I like this building so much?! 

Most people had computers to work with, but I didn't have mine so I got crafty. I sat at a table for 3-4 hours and put some stuff together.

I don't have a photo of my final product, but this gives you an idea of what we were doing and how the day was structured.

I approach public speaking like it's no big deal. Then I get sweaty and shaky when the times comes to actually do it. I start off pretty confident then halfway through I feel like I throw my notes out the window and ramble through.

I had someone tell me they thought I did well. Yesss! 

My new boss was emailing me last week about all this stuff so I knew ahead of time. I was totally dreading everything. Think about it - it's your first week and you have to attend a cocktail party and do a presentation to a bunch of people you don't know. But I realize now that it was a good way to start. I got to know my workmates on a social level, now we can actually get to work next week. For real.
 

*This is an entire blog post for another day.