Hey, friends! Hope you all enjoyed the weekend. I don't typically write much about "real life" on this blog, but occasionally I like to share snippets. I enjoy getting to know the people behind my favorite food blogs, and I figured others might feel the same. Please pardon the brief departure from the regularly scheduled programming. I'll be back with some recipes later this week.
I had one of those truly fantastic weekends that was equal parts restorative, exciting, and productive. A really worthwhile weekend, you know? The kind of weekend where I did all the boring, responsible things on my to-do list (taxes, grocery shopping), but also got to do everything I wanted. Here were a few highlights:
1. I chopped off a bunch of my hair.
Prior to now, I had the same haircut since high school: long layered hair with side swept bangs, parted on the side. Every time I went to the salon for a haircut, I would just ask my hairstylist to cut off an inch or so. If I was feeling particularly brave, I might have conceded to two inches (wow! Two whole inches!). And three or four times over the last decade, I added some highlights or lowlights. In other words, I'm pretty predictable.
For years, I'd been contemplating a different style, but I just couldn't bring myself to try something too drastic. This weekend, I finally bit the bullet and asked my stylist to cut a modified angular bob. She did a wonderful job replicating the picture I brought in to the salon. I'm so glad I finally took the plunge. My new 'do feels a bit more chic and mature, which I love.
2. I attended a cupcake class at NYC's Institute of Culinary Education.
The Institute of Culinary Education offers a number of recreational cooking and baking classes. This weekend, I took a cupcake class offered by their pastry division. I came away from the class with several new recipes and a few tips and tricks. Look at all those cupcakes we made!
Here is my fluffy Swiss Meringue Buttercream, flavored with praline paste (yum!). I often have trouble with SMB when I make it at home, so I was glad that it was on the agenda for our class. It was very helpful to have hands-on instruction to ensure I was following the directions correctly. I was quite pleased with the texture and sweetness of this SMB. It was easy to pipe and held up beautifully.
Most of the class focused on baking and frosting cupcakes. However, the instructor also walked us through making roses out of fondant. I've been too intimidated to try this on my own, so I appreciated learning it as part of the class. It turns out that working with fondant isn't nearly as hard as I had imagined!
It was a great experience to bake in a kitchen outfitted with commercial equipment. If you have the chance to take a baking/cooking class through a local culinary school, I highly recommend it.
One of my favorite weekend past-times is browsing the antiques market with my husband. Over the years, we've accumulated a small collection of antique housewares, including this old iron. Most of these items are just arranged around our apartment for decorative purposes. However, on Sunday morning, our power was out and I hadn't yet ironed the outfit I was planning to wear to the cupcake class. It was nearly time for me to leave for the train, and I didn't like the idea of looking like a rumpled mess. So I set this iron on the stove, lit the burner with a propane lighter, and let the iron heat up for about 10 minutes. And then, very very carefully, I ironed my clothes the old-fashioned way. Worked like a charm!
4. Taxes - done!
After seeing all those Turbo Tax commercials back in January and February, I was actually excited to do our taxes this year. I don't think any other tax preparation company makes you feel so good about doing taxes. Presenting tax preparation as a chance to tell the story of your life over the past calendar year? "The Year of You" -- that's a great marketing campaign. Well done, Turbo Tax (full disclosure: we use a different tax prep software. Because this other brand is what I've always used, and I'm pretty predictable, as you know).
Anyway, I finally hunkered down and completed our taxes this weekend. Well, almost. I still need to check one more deduction before I click "Submit. But it feels good to be basically done. Last year, I worried that we'd owe money so I increased our withholding. But I went a little overboard and increased our withholding so much that we'll be getting a pretty penny back from Uncle Sam. That's money that we'll funnel straight into a down payment on a house or our retirement accounts. Cha-ching!
5. House hunting
Speaking of houses, my husband and I casually started house hunting a few months ago. This weekend, we found a property that we might be interested in. It's a small house with lots of historic charm, in a quaint area that we really like. The house needs a fair amount of updating, but most of it seems to be cosmetic. We're still not 100% certain and we need to think carefully for a few more days. It's a big decision and certainly not something we're taking lightly. Nonetheless, it feels good to know that there are properties on the market in our price range that meet all our requirements.
Thanks for reading, friends! What have you all been up to?
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