Struffoli

I got Jeremy the Sopranos series for Christmas. When we first moved to Texas, A&E was running Sopranos episodes every Sunday morning. We'd sit around, eat breakfast, and enjoy a little bit of familiarity in our home. A&E, of course, bastardized the show with crazy censoring and commercials, but we took what we could get. Then they stopped running it. So, just like that, I was able to check off a Christmas gift idea from my list.
 
We've now been working our way through the series, and it's the only thing that's been on our tv in over a week... And we're only about halfway through. Anyway, we enjoy watching and pointing out the places that we know (Bada Bings is a real place, by the way. It has a different name in real life, but Jeremy someone from our household has been there.) In addition to places, we frequently drool over the Italian food that we miss so much down here in Texas. Sfogliatelle, cannoli, peppers and eggs... You get the idea.
 
Last night an episode came on and Carmela is in her kitchen with a pastry box. The first thing out of Jeremy's mouth? "What's in the box?" They could've said any line, or revealed any plot twist and we wouldn't have noticed. We wanted to know what delicacy we were about to have paraded around in front of us.
 
It was struffoli. Honey balls. Fried bits of dough lovingly coated with honey and stacked into mountainous arrangements. I needed it, and I needed it bad. So I popped into the kitchen and made a mess whipped this up:
 

 
And since I can't feed all of y'all, here is my recipe so you can make your own at home.
 
INGREDIENTS:

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• Oil for frying
• 1-1/2 cups honey
• Cinnamon to taste
• Lemon or orange zest to taste
• 3/4 cup pine nuts or slivered almonds (optional)
• colored candy sprinkles (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, mix 2-1/2 cups of the flour with the sugar, baking powder, lemon rind, and salt. Make a well in the middle and drop in the eggs and melted butter. Mix with a wooden spoon and then with your hands until dough leaves the sides of the bowl.
 
Turn out dough onto a floured surface and knead in the remaining 1/2 cup flour, as needed until dough is no longer sticky. Break off pieces of dough and roll into ropes about the diameter of a thick pencil. Cut into pieces 1/4 inch long. Roll these pieces into little balls (optional) and set aside.
 
In deep frying pan, pour oil about 1-2 inches deep and heat. Fry balls until golden brown (1-3 min depending on oil temperature). Drain on paper towels.
 
In a large saucepan over medium heat, bring the honey to a slow boil. Add in cinnamon and citrus zest, if desired. Allow honey to gently boil for a couple of minutes. Add the balls to the honey and stir gently until well-coated.
 
Remove balls from honey and stack onto a platter so that they form a large mound. Sprinkle with nuts and/or candy sprinkles, if desired. Allow to cool.
OR
Place a glass in the middle of a platter. Remove balls from honey and stack onto platter so that they form a ring around the glass. Sprinkle with nuts and/or candy sprinkles, if desired. Allow to cool and remove glass.
 

Happy New Year

It's that time of year again... Time to make a ton of promises that you'll never be able to keep.

"New Year's resolutions? Well sure! This year I'm going to stick to that diet plan that I start every January, go to the gym every single day, teach my dog to communicate with squirrels... Oh! And fly. Yes, I'm going to learn to fly. But with wings, none of that airplane crap for me. That's for pansy asses who lack dedication to their resolutions."

I myself will be pseudo-pledging to eat better, exercise more at all, and update my blog more often. I figure if I can keep one out of three resolutions, I'll consider 2013 a success. And since dieting and exercise involve more effort than I generally care to put forth, I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to stick to a rigorous schedule of sitting on my ass and typing nonsense onto my iPad. I even installed a blogging app in preparation of my resolution. I am such a capable adult member of society.
 
So, with that being said, I'm going to go sit down, have a cookie, and publish this blog post.


...See what I did there?
 

Stitching

Cross stitching, to be specific. I have an unhealthy obsession with it. It's one of those things I was taught as a young girl as a way to get me to stfu for more than 5 minutes and give my mom a much needed break.

I've always been the artsy-crafty type, so once I realized that the cross stitch patterns you get a the store are super lame, I moved on to other artistic mediums. I've always seemed to enjoy small, detailed, things. For example: my favorite part of my Barbie mansion was arranging the teeny tiny food in the little fridge. In art classes I was always using the tiniest brushes possible, even if the canvas was huge. I have issues. I know this.

I also went through a period where I was obsessed with pixel graphics. I would create little images pixel by pixel. This would probably drive most people mad, but I loved it. And now, that insanity has provided me with the ability to whip up a cross stitch pattern in no time at all. Thus solving the issue of lame pre-made patterns.

I'm not entirely sure what made me start stitching again. It was right after our move to Texas, so maybe I just had more time for such things. I remember stumbling upon a picture of a cross stitch that said simply, "Fuck you." And I thought, "Oh, this is right up my alley..." Now here I am.

I've completed a bunch my own designs, but realized that I never really did anything with them. A few are framed, some really vulgar ones were gifted to some dear friends last Christmas, and the rest just sit in a pile. I figure odd crafts tend to interest people, so I'll try to update about my stitching more frequently. This weekend I'll be writing a post that will include most of my finished works.

This is what I'm working on right now:

It's a zombie sugar skull. I'm thinking of doing a series of sugar skulls, but I had to start with just one first, right?

So that's some insight about why I enjoy a grandma-hobby. And yes, when I am a grandma I'll still be stitching things with zombies and bad words. That's just how I roll.

 

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Halloween Decor

It's an awkward time to give a blog a "rebirth." I openly admit that. Most people would make a resolution in January about blogging more, or something like that. I'm just sick of being ADD with my blog, so here I am. I'm laying it out there. This blog may be disorganized, but that's how I roll with my life. I've learned that I need an outlet, so here I am... starting fresh:

Christmas has always been the big holiday where I got the house all gussied up. Tree, lights, garland, the works. However, since we moved to Texas and found our real home, as opposed to just a house, I've developed a love for decorating for all holidays and seasons.

With Halloween decor being so close to generic autumn decor, I tried to find at least a few pieces that I can keep up throughout Thanksgiving. And by a few pieces, I really do mean a few. Somehow I don't think the skulls, spiders, and skeleton hands are really Turkey Day appropriate.