TGIF! I hope you have some fun things planned for the weekend. I know that I’ll be spending plenty of quality time at my desk.
Yesterday I was organizing my photos and found some pictures I’ve taken in the past week when I’ve been out and about:
This Starbucks Blonde Veranda Blend coffee.
Do Blondes have more fun? We should ask Marla, a brunette. We actually spotted this coffee together on our last meetup.
I like the sound of “delicate nuances of cocoa” but something tells me this coffee would be lighter and like drinking brown tinted water more mellow than I prefer.
My latest coffee find is this one. Inexpensive and it’s been around forever, but it’s new to me and I like it. For now, this blonde is having fun with that blend.
I saw this spatula when I bought the KitchenAid Bowl-Scraping Blade, which I am loving, and it almost negates any need to scrape down the mixing bowl. If you do need a spatula, this one has a handy measurement conversion chart on it.
Because real quick off the top of your head and before you’ve had coffee and have someone asking you why the sky is blue and can they have a snack and can dogs tell time, try to quickly think about how many cups is 11 tablespoons of butter? This is important because you need to know how many sticks of butter to take out of the fridge to soften.
Or how many squares of baking chocolate should you break off if a recipe calls for one third of a pound of melted baker’s chocolate plus two tablespoons reserved for drizzling, knowing first of course, that baking chocolate squares come in ounces.
Truthfully, I’d rather bake than do math. Especially before coffee.
I forgot to buy the spatula because I was so excited to take a picture of it. Looks like I better brush up on my fractions. That, or just eyeball the dough and hope for the best.
When I make brownies, bars, or cookies, I try to create recipes that either use a half stick, 1 stick, or 2 sticks of butter and not mess around with those 1 and 5/8ths of a stick recipes plus reserve 1 tablespoon. Gah! No.
Because let’s face it, we want cookies, not math.
I saw these ice cube trays in the Target “dollar” bins for $2.50 for a pair. I snatched up a pair of these on the hunch that they will make perfect chocolate molds for Valentine’s Day candy making.
The dollar bins (or $2.50 bins) tend to have great cookware finds. One year before Easter, Target had pastel-colored silicone muffin liners, 6 for $1 dollar. Those tend to be pretty pricey at places like Williams-Sonoma or at Bed Bath and Beyond, and the same goes for silicone chocolate molds.
Whatever I make, I’ll be using this chocolate because I love the way it melts.
And l Iove the way it tastes in Ritz Cracker Stuffed Peanut Butter Cups (No Bake)
Friday January 20 is also National Granola Bar Day.
Maybe I’ll make Microwave Chocolate Peanut Butter and Oat Snack Bars which only take 5 minutes to throw together in honor of the holiday today.
How good are you at kitchen and recipe math?
I can do math. I just prefer not to. I’d rather be cooking than converting fractions, cups, ounces, pounds, sticks, tablespoons. This is why the metric system would probably be so much easier.
Any good Target Dollar Bin Finds?
Have you seen anything interesting out and about lately?
Have a great weekend!
I’m pretty good at kitchen math because I am always reducing recipes.
I am so excited by the idea of using the silicone ice cube trays to make chocolate! I have some skull and cross-bones ones and that would be pretty appropriate for Valentine’s Day in my state of single girl-ness, haha.
I tend to reduce or halve recipes, too. No one (well I don’t) needs 4 dozen cookies or similar large scale quantities. The trick always becomes…how to halve recipes with 3 eggs :)
Hi, I love your blog, recipes and ideas! I just have to mention, however, that I also bought those plastic heart ice cube trays from Target and made some chocolates with them but they apparently leach chemicals b/c our chocolates tasted like PLASTIC! Ick!! Beware please! I think they’re best used for play dough maybe.
Oh wow, thank you for telling me about your experience and it’s a shame that Target is selling things that are leeching like that! Nothing like a little BPA in your chocolate…eeek!
I picked up the same heart trays from target and thought the same thing! lol I haven’t tried the blonde coffee, but the day it came out all the people in my Starbucks had blonde wigs on. It was cute!
so I have a question — you said on one of my instagrams that you have the same lens as me (24-70) and in this entry you said that you snap pictures while you’re out..actually, I know you do cause of your blog posts..but my question is: do you carry around your 24-70 with you when you go out? do stores let you take pics of stuff?? i ask this because in the past, i’ve tried to take pics in stores and people will say to me ‘you can’t take pictures in here’ or ‘no pictures allowed’ so honestly, every time i want to take pics in a store, i’m petrified now cause it’s embarrassing to get shut down (that’s just me, i guess)..haha so yeah, that’s my long question :) thanks in advance!
iphone when I’m out in public in stores
blog pics of food, my recipe posts, 100% 24-70mm
No, I don’t haul my 24-70mm out in stores or around with me attached to my 5D. It’s about 4 lbs worth of gear and huge..would never just trot into Target like that :)
I am pretty good at kitchen and recipe math … I have to do it all the time, as I am always reducing or increasing recipes. We don’t have a target in my city.
Fun post, not a fan of weak coffee either. But I will look for those ice cube trays, how fun for raw chocolate molds. I haven’t seen too much out and about, my last trip to Rarget was rushed.
Usually my iPhone is my friend for measurement conversions, Siri does pretty well with that.
I grew up always being more reading/language (and writing!) than math. I can certainly do it…but I prefer not too :) Love those molds…perfect for Valentine’s Day! Happy Friday!
I’m totally going to have to look for those silicone molds at target. Or at least something similar, because making my own Valentine’s day candy sounds too amazing to skip!
Our Starbucks was handing out free sample bags of their new Blonde coffee….my husband said it tasted like Maxwell House…so yea, it’s pretty mild.
thanks for the info…and for saying hi again. Long time no talk! Happy 2012!
First of all, can I just say that reading your blog makes me think of happy days in my 20’s, living in San Diego? (I’m now in my 40’s and living in San Francisco. Still happy, lol!)
A few years ago I baked ALL the time. These days I do a lot less, and my math skills, never great to begin with, have suffered. Maybe I should start baking again.
I love SF and would live there if it wasnt for the weather. It’s too cold. But we have friends in Marin and I adore the wine country…and Tahoe, the city, the whole Bay area. But glad you are living vicariously in S.D. through my blog :)
I’m not a math lover at all but for some reason I don’t mind doing kitchen math because the process involves creating something and the end result usually tastes good!
agreed!
Those ice cube trays are adorable! I want to buy some cute freezer moulds to make some fun fruitsicles… just a craving I had the other day haha. I think a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond is required…any excuse!