Sisters, Ink

Sisters, Ink by Rebeca Seitz


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
While I'm not as active in my scrapbooking as I used to be, I was excited to read a book about scrapbooking. I really don't know how I expected the scrapbooking to be weaved into the book. I liked how the characters used scrapbooking as gatherings and time to talk about their feelings and life, but I didn't like how the author referred to brand names. I didn't feel it was necessary to call a brand of paper out. Rather, I would have gotten the same point if she said, "and Tandy grabbed some paper." But that's just me.

Story wise, it was very predictable. I could tell you how it will end by the second chapter. I felt the dialogue was a little forced at times, but that might be because I knew what was going to happen next, it was so predictable.

Overall, it was a feel good read, address good life points, and showed the importance of family. I likely won't be reading the rest of the series.

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Do you have a mustache?

Oh the questions my darling husband asks. This weekend, with a look of shock on his face, asked, "Hey, do you have a mustache?" Damn him. He's noticed my peach fuzz. Yes, I have some and when I'm as ghostly pale as I get in the winter, the hairs are more noticeable. See, I usually get my lip waxed, but I haven't waxed it since December, so I guess it's time. And...has he not noticed it before in the 10 years we've been together? I won't ask.

As a funny... Mom has a little peach fuzz too--she's the one who taught me about lip waxing. Over the years, she's taken to asking my younger brother if he notices her mustache. When he says yes, that's her indicator that it's time for a wax. About a year ago, my 12 year old brother went up to Mom and said, "I know you didn't ask, but you need your mustache done." Yup, he'll make a good husband one day.

Pizza Sauce

I've never made pizza sauce before. I can't tell if I love this one yet or not. I think at least I want a little more sugar, but less of something else--I just can't figure out what spice. I guess it'll be a trial and error from here. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker.

Makes enough for 2 large pizzas.

15-oz can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Combine all ingredients.

Pizza Dough

I wanted to give calzones a try (future post) and needed some pizza dough. I've seen many bloggers recommend Baking Illustrated, so off I went to pull out my copy. Overall, I thought it was pretty simple and tasty. I haven't tried making the dough for a regular pizza yet, but I think I'll still like it.

Recipe from Baking Illustrated pages 153-155.

We [Baking Illustrated] find the food processor is the best tool for making pizza dough. However, only a food processor with a capacity of at least 11 cups can handle this much dough. You can also knead this dough by hand or in a standing mixer (see the variations that follow). Unbleached all-purpose flour can be used in a pinch, but the resulting crust will be less crisp. If you want to make pizza dough in the morning and let it rise on the counter all day, decrease the yeast to 1/2 teaspoon and let the covered dough rise at cool room temperature (about 68 degrees) until doubled in size, about 8 hours. You can prolong the rising time even further by refrigerating the covered dough for up to 16 hours and then letting it rise on the counter until doubled in size, which will take 6 to 8 hours.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 envelope (about 2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups (22 ounces) bread flour, plus more for dusting work surface and hands
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Olive oil or nonstick cooking spray for oiling the bowl

DIRECTIONS:

1. Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room-temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

2. Process the flour and salt in a large food processor (I used a stand mixer, see directions below), pulsing to combine. Continue pulsing while pouring the liquid ingredients (holding back a few tablespoons) through the feed tube. If the dough does not readily form into a ball, add the remaining liquid and continue to pulse until a ball forms. Process until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 30 seconds longer.

3. The dough will be a bit tacky, so use a rubber spatula to turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead by h and for a few strokes to form a smooth, round ball. Put the dough into a deep oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.


Pizza Dough Kneaded by Hand
Follow the recipe for Pizza Dough through step 1. Omit step 2 and instead combine the salt and half the flour in a deep bowl. Add the liquid ingredients and use a wooden spoon to combine. Add the remaining flour, stirring until a cohesive mass forms. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic 7 to 8 minutes, using as little dusting flour as possible while kneading. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and proceed with the recipe.

Pizza Dough Kneaded in a Standing Mixer
Follow the recipe for Pizza Dough through step 1. Omit step 2 and instead place the flour and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and proceed with the recipe.

Pioneer Woman Salsa

I made this salsa about a month ago. When I first made it, I thought it tasted too tomato-ey for me, but after it sat a day or two, I liked it much better. I don't think it's my go to salsa, but it was still fun to make. When we had an impromptu party at our house after Match Day I was glad to see the salsa was still edible. No fear, I tasted it before serving. My friends said they really liked it, so that's good at least. Joe hasn't been on a salsa kick, so there is still quite a lot in our fridge. It might be time to chuck it now.

Recipe from Pioneer Woman

Diet Red Velvet Cupcakes

I've never really tried Red Velvet cake before and wanted to give it a try. I found a diet version and said, "what the heck." Yeah. I don't know why I ever thought a diet cupcake could taste good. Even with my addition of an extra 1/4 cup of sugar in the batter and extra confectioner sugar in the icing I wasn't satisfied. I've been using whole wheat flour in my muffins, but this was the first time I tried it in a cake mix. Definitely a no no! I feel like the cupcakes are too mealy and I think it's because of the whole wheat flour. Either way, I attempted to make chocolate Easter eggs to decorate the icing, so I still wanted to take a picture and blog about them.

Since I never plan to make these again, I won't write up the recipe. However, it can be found on Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes.

Update: I shared these with my classmates today and they said they liked them, so it might just be my taste buds.

Fix It Friday - 48

I know I'm a couple of days late, but it's still fun and useful to give the editing an attempt.  I've downloaded quite a few actions from Coffee Shop, but I've yet to give them a try. For today's edit, I used Coffee Shop's Perfect Portrait action following the wonderful tutorial from Texas Chick. Let me just say, I love this action! I definitely need to play around with it more to become more efficient, but it's so nice having everything in one place.

Here's the before: 

And my edit:

I'm still not completely satisfied with the skin tone, but I can only try so much at once. Either way, I definitely think it has fewer shadows and better coloring.