Picture Wows

I've been so wrapped up trying to improve my Etsy shop photos. As I've discovered my little cyber shot takes a great photo but it just doesn't have the clarity for good solid pictures needed for jewelry. But thanks to Dads Canon and his telephoto lens I was able to get really good shots. But that was just the start of the battle. I also had to edit each photo and compress file sizes. Moms idea if using Photo Shop over Pascal was brilliant. Just take a look at this test photo of Moms birthday present:


My little camera could never have pulled off the detail and shading shown. And this piece so deserves a good photo. It's a rich piece of black & amethyst seed beads and large 10mm amethyst pearls. I just love the way the piece flows and how each curve highlight light on the pearls. I loved creating this piece.

A good camera and photo software is so going to be on my wish list. They join a new sewing machine and surger. Someday....

- FKB Posted using BlogPress

Adventure In Brine

First off, thank you everyone who sent me well wishes while I was sick. I'm a lot better but not completely 100%. I don't know why it is but every time I'm fully well I come back down with something. My theory is that it's the Holiday season. It's just so exhausting.

But I do love Turkey day! This year was a little strange in that I didn't do any of the cooking. I only brined a small turkey with the hubby. And let me tell you that was a crazy adventure...I had ice water from one end of the kitchen to the other because the ice chest we used leaked like a sieve. But the brine and bird stayed sealed during the whole process, which included a 2 day soak and a 3 hr car trip. I was a little disappointed in the flavor though. I tried an apple/rosemary recipe from the local butcher, but it was just so bland. Meat was nice and juicy with not a hint of gamey flavor but none of us tasted the apple or rosemary flavors. Might give it another try only change out concentrations of ingredients. Will post the recipe after I experiment. So stay tuned.


- FKB Posted using BlogPress

Pumpkin Cake

With turkey day coming up I'm starting to crave all things pumpkin. From bread to pie. But in the spirit of experimenting with recipes I'm trying to create a cake recipe. First try is a old fastion base cake.

Recipe:
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups canned pumpkin
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Mix sugar and oil, blend in eggs. Beat on high for 1 minute. Add vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin. Blend on high for 3 minutes. In separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry. Stoping to mix ever few minutes. Blend on high for 5 minutes. Grease and flour baking pans. (I like to add parchment paper to the bottom of a pan, it helps me remove the cake at the end.) Bake at 350• for 30 minutes. Be sure to insert a toothpick to test that the center is cooked.
Left you can see my batter is nice and thick. I still did the air bubble shake by shaking my pan and dropping it. (When dropping only raise it about 1 inch from surface and letting go. Don't go to high or you'll get cake batter that jumps the pan.)

For icing I decided to go with my cinnamon butter cream.
Cinnamon Icing:
1 package powder sugar
3 tbl milk
3 tbl butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon.

Mix powder sugar, butter, vanilla, and cinnamon. While beating add one tbl of milk at a time until a thick creamy constancy is reached. You can add less or more milk to get the constancy you want.

Cool cake, frost and serve. My family enjoyed it with milk and a good movie.

-FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Pork Drank The Coke-A-Cola

While surfing the web I can across a Naked Boneless Pork Chop recipe. The creator recommended marinating the pork in an acid base such as orange juice, wine, beer, or Coke-A-Cola. Now I've tried wine as a marinade on pork and it was surprisingly good. Moist and tender with a great robust flavor. So thinking healthy I looked in my refrigerator for a marinade base. Would you believe all I had was Cola. So throwing cation to the wind I gave it a try.

Recipe:
1 cup coke-a-cola
1 cup water
1 tbs dried herbs (I used Italian Blend)
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
1 gallon ziplock bag
4 boneless pork chops

Marinade 5-8 hours in refrigerator. Pull straight from bag onto a grill. I use my handy Forman Grill for 7 minutes on a thine cut chop and 10 on the thick.

Served with chive mashed potatoes and small dinner rolls and you get a great meal. The pork had a great sweet moist taste that I had never tasted before. But the best seller was watching my picky eater down the meat in less then two minutes. If your like me and your willing to be a dare devil give this a try. Taste Tester Note: The pork was nice and tender with a sweet sausage taste to eat. It's defenitly a new way to serve pork.
FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Rolled Sugar Cookies

Experiment cookie day. Today's choice. Alton Browns iced sugar cookie.

Recipe:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tbs milk
3 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder

Mix wet ingredients. Mix dry. Combine. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Roll. Cut. Cook 375 for 10 minutes. Ice and eat.

My families rating was 4 stars. Lite on sugar taste for me. But overall pretty good.


- FKB Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone