Operation: Learn How to Use Yeast

So, I have a goal for this year. My New Year's Resolution was not a plan to get fit, though. Quite the contrary. I decided that 2011 would be the year that I figured out how to use yeast. We had just been given a beautiful big new KitchenAid stand mixer from Keith's parents for a wedding gift, so what better time than now to learn how to use it and yeast at the same time?

The game plan was set: Make 2 new yeast recipes each month of 2011... see what I mean about not getting fit? I've been eating lots of good things.

So off I went:

Scary, right.

I know it scared me.

Did I knead it enough? Was my water the right temperature? Did I kill the yeast? What if it doesn't rise, and then I have cinnamon lumps or cinnamon rocks instead of the delicious, gooey, fluffy, light, wonderful cinnamon rolls I promised my husband?

This is like forever and a half later... turns out I didn't do it right, and my kitchen wasn't warm enough, and maybe I overcompensated on the water temperature and made it too lukewarm.

But for my first solo attempt at baking with yeast, I think these turned out pretty well:

Were they soft and puffy and melt-in-your-mouth delicious?

Not so much. But they were gooey and cinnamon-y and sweet and not too terribly dry. I slathered on cream cheese frosting and we ate them with tall, cold glasses of milk. We ate all of them, though, because they weren't good enough to give away to anyone as a "we just moved here and need friends" offering.

That, as I mentioned, was the first attempt at yeast. After that I made mini soft pretzel bites and bread bowls to go with a yummy broccoli cheese soup.

And then, realizing how perilously close the end of February was coming, and how at only one yeast recipe in the month, I was short of my goal, the time came for my latest attempt:

Pizza dough.

And, oh my heavens! What a dough! It was so easy, came together just like a dream.

Steph came over to make pizza with me, and she decided on our toppings, so most of the credit for how well this came out goes to her.

Think about how delicious it would be to eat olive oil-drizzled crust, sprinkled with basil, rosemary, crushed red pepper, cilantro, green onion, garlic, lots of spinach, mozzarella, feta, and bacon. Now wish you were me, because I'm munching on a left over slice right now.

It was oozing and dripping flavor, and it sizzled when I sliced it as the olive oil dripped onto the hot pizza stone. Mmmm... heavenly!

Oh, it was good! Thanks to a great, simple crust recipe and the fabulous taste of a friend, I enjoyed an amazing pizza for dinner tonight.

ps- pretty much every new recipe I use (including the ones I used for the above-mentioned pretzel bites and bread bowls, and pizza crust) come from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. Best food blog. Ever.

My Chair

I've been meaning to post these pictures since I finished this project a few weeks ago, but here they finally are:

Before:

After:

See how in the before everything is tan and brown and cream. Not a very exciting color palette, and I was living in it. That got old, quick. So, I created a cover for our chair out of blue canvas and made bright, funky pillows, and set our chair on an angle to make the room look more interesting. Also, I re-covered our piano bench in the same bright floral fabric. So much better!

Fun, right? I thought so!

Life Update

So... I've fallen a bit off of the blogging habits, but I'm about to try to hop back on, and share some things about my life.

Here's what we're up to now:

Our little married apartment is starting to look and feel like a real (tiny) home. I've put up a few pictures and gotten the kitchen organized in a way that I finally like, and re-covered our big chair, and it really looks like our home now. It sort of started out looking like a boring tan unorganized mess. It's not that anymore! Home sweet home...

I've been working for the past few weeks. I'm just a temporary filing clerk, but it's something to keep me busy and bring in some money while I wait for spring to show up so I can find landscape work, or until I decide I just need to get a boring-but-stable year-round type job. When I'm working, I get more motivated to be busy, instead of being a lazy blob, and perpetuating the tan-messiness thing that was our home.

Keith is doing well at work. He's been promoted to a management position at the restaurant, which is great, because it means more set schedules and some perks, plus it should work better than serving when school starts in June. He has to dress nicely for work now, and I love sending him off looking sharp. It makes me proud to be married to that handsome man!

We're both getting started in our new church callings. I get to play the piano in the primary, which I just love so far. It's wonderful to be in a family ward again, and to see these fun kids every week.

That's pretty much the high points in life lately. Our life is good, and busy, and full of wonderful things!

Home Sweet Home

Well, the wedding is done (it was wonderful, and our photographer Leilani Mitchell did a great job!) and we're all moved in to our new little home. Our apartment here is teeny tiny, but wonderful, and we really don't need any more space.

Mostly I think my mom is the only one who reads my blog, so I'm going to post some apartment pictures for her. Love you, mommy!

Half of our living space

The other half of our living space

Teeniest kitchen, and the big counter that doubles as our table, and our little dishwasher. Not a great shot... gotta work on my photography skills.

Bedroom, there's a big closet that you can't see in this picture, though. And that's the pretty quilt on the foot of the bed that Granny Oberg made for us!

Also, we have a bathroom, and a big storage closet (it's probably bigger than our bathroom) and a balcony, where I will probably have some plants as soon as it's nice out again... in 6 months...

I love having a little home all of my own with no one else but Keith. It's the best. And it's little, which makes it a cinch to keep clean! And Keith does all the dishes so far! Which is great, cause I hate doing dishes worst of any chore, except sometimes he lets me help him dry them or unload our dishwasher.

I love being married.

18 Days from Now:

I will be married to the best boy there ever was.

Can't wait!

Update

Well... I've been neglecting my blog. So to recap what I've been up to lately:

I've been home for the past 3 1/2 weeks, getting down to the nitty-gritty details of wedding planning. Pretty much every day my mom and I run errands and plan things for this wedding from the time we're ready for the day until about time to make dinner. It's amazing and overwhelming how much goes into wedding planning. But the biggest decisions have been made, so now we're just busy pulling all the details together. Hopefully that means that if we drop any of the many balls we're juggling right now, it won't make too big a difference.

It's been so nice to spend some time at home with my family. Even though they're not all here, it just is good to be home. Nathan is getting way too big too fast, so it's good to get to know him again as the preteen that he is. As always, I love working on projects with my daddy, and we've been able to have some good conversations since I've been home. Anney and I have been going on weekend adventures, which is good because she's so busy being in HS band and involved with church and homework all week. I love that we have put in place a tradition of spending time together on the weekends. She's already planning what we'll do this weekend. And spending all day every day with my mom is wonderful. She's such a great mom, and an example to me in everything.

Also, my mom has some wonderful friends. Don't know how my sanity levels would be right now without Sara, Michelle, and Jenny. Those girls are so fun, and warm, and lovely. And they have some of the sweetest little kids, too, which is good for me.

Some unexpected blessings have popped up recently. My best girlfriend and her husband are going to be able to make it out to the wedding, as well as another dear friend from college. I'm so excited to be able to share wedding day with these girls who have helped to shape my life.

My sweet fiance and I have been able to get to know each other a bit better since I've been away from him. It's funny the things that come up when you're talking on the phone. Like I learned that Keith is allergic to starfish. And that he loves cooked carrots. New things pop up all the time when you're trying to keep a conversation going late at night over the phone.

Anyway, it is bedtime, but I just wanted to write a quick note on how everything has been going lately.

I get married to my best friend forever and ever in 23 days!

Wedding Planning...

... is not my forte.

At all.

The thing is, I have no idea how to plan a wedding. Also, I am not good at decisions. Also, I am 5,000 miles away from my mother. Also, I have been doing so much thinking and looking that I am starting to get overwhelmed with ideas, and they're all starting to run together into a big blob of confused wedding chaos.

So. I need to sort things out.

Here is what I know:

• We are getting married at 2:00 pm on November 6th in the Washington D.C. Temple. They have been called and scheduled, so we're all set there.
• We are having a reception that night at my church in Virginia
• We are having an Alaska reception two weeks after the wedding at the Kenley home
• My colors are green and purple... the specific shades of those colors are still a little hazy, it turns out.
• I want to do my bouquet out of purple ranunculus and white spider mums, with green hypericum berries or some other such filler. Also a few boutineers, etc.
• I am not having a wedding party
• I do not want a line
• There will be a little bit of dancing. But not a lot.
• There will be a lot of invitations- I am compiling a final guest list
• I will wear a wedding dress with sleeves. Where I will find said dress is still up in the air... way up in the air.
• I will wear purple ballet flats, probably
• I will marry my best friend in the whole world, and will be surrounded by people who love me very much

That is all I know. And a little bit that I don't know. But there you have it.