Life Skills - Day 31

How to Make Coffee

Capturing the whole beans

It probably shouldn't surprise you anymore that I haven't done some pretty common things, but this might be the most common of them all. I don't drink coffee, and I don't own a coffee maker, so I never saw the need to learn how to make it. But as so many people do, I figured it couldn't be that difficult and that I should learn. Luckily, my lovely friend (the Ganache Queen), has a coffee maker, and as we were going over to her house tonight for some New Year's Eve festivities, she told me I could use her maker to make my first pot of coffee. In preparation I went to the store and tried to figure out how to grind my own coffee (as I decided that should be part of this experience). Before I even got to that though, I had to figure out what kind to get. This is my issue with coffee . . . there are so many flavors and they all smell so good . . . why don't they taste like that? I wanted to give coffee a chance though, so I picked a flavor that I thought would be an especially good end to this year: "Icing on the Cake". 

Figuring out the grinding machine

With my coffee in hand (after I figured out how to use the grinder . . . it's pretty simple actually), I headed over to my friends house to brew my first pot of coffee. As most of you know, this is a simple task, and I'm glad I had something easy to end the year on. Just put a coffee filter in the machine, add the coffee (we made weaker coffee than the package suggested, only ~4 Tbsp. of ground coffee for 5 cups of coffee), put the correct amount of water in, and press the start button. It worked wonderfully and the coffee making was a success. The coffee drinking on the other hand . . . not so much. I tried it black = gross, I put some milk in it = still gross, then I added some sugar = better but still bitter, and then we made it into pumpkin spice lattes. It was some recipe she found to make in the crock pot . . . interesting, and definitely an improvement, but I still couldn't get over the bitter flavor. Sorry coffee, this is not your year. I became a fan of Chai tea this year though, so I think that's good enough. To all of you who love coffee, it's all yours. I think I'm too much of a fan of hot chocolate (especially minty stuff with marshmallows in it) to switch :) 

Hooray, ground coffee

The set up

Success :)

Life Skills - Day 30

How to Change an Electrical Outlet

I will say that I do think this is an actual life skill, and it wasn't that difficult either. All it really took, was finding and turning off the correct breaker (a very important step), and then using a screwdriver to remove the cover plate and entire outlet, and unscrewing the screws that connected the three wires into the outlet, and that's it. This is a useful skill when the outlet (or a light switch for that matter) needs to be replaced or if a switch needs to be added to the outlet (usually during new construction . . . we couldn't do that here because we'd have to take the wall apart . . . I don't think our landlord would like that too much). So I kept it simple and just took off and then replaced the outlet, and then check the power with a multimeter . . . it all looks good now. 

I'm glad we took it apart just so we could vacuum it out . . . so nasty in there.

Removing the wires (green (or unshielded) = ground, black = power, white = "drain"/neutral/common side)

Tada . . . I thought the top one looked a little like Mickey Mouse, so that made the project more fun :) 

Just a note of caution, be careful when doing this, because it can be dangerous if you don't get the right breaker turned off, and I don't want anyone electrocuting themselves, so make sure you ask for help from someone who knows what they are doing!

Life Skills - Day 29

How to Make Macarons

Haha, and here you thought you were done reading the baking blogs . . . not so fast, I have another one :) To be clear, I have never actually had a macaron before, and I had no idea what they were supposed to taste like, so these are my variation, I don't know if they are close, but they were sure tasty :) 

I followed two blogs (that complement each other nicely as they use almost the same recipe and one has tons of pictures while the other has many descriptions and helpful instructional pages): Eat. Live. Travel. Write. macarons and Brave Tart macarons. I also found this recipe from a blog I used quite frequently during cake month, Annie's Eats macarons, which uses a slightly different technique that I would like to try sometime, but not today. I have to apologize for not taking more pictures of the process, but I was a little worried these wouldn't turn out so I was concentrating too much to remember to take pictures, plus, the eat.live.travel.write. blog has more than enough pictures for the both of us. Below, you can see what I did:

What my batter looked like when I piped it. I think it was a little too runny, and that might have something to do with the vanilla I used (extract instead of a whole bean). The egg whites looked good until I put the vanilla in, then they got a bit too runny. I didn't think it was a good idea to leave it out though, so I just dealt with it. 

The piped cookies. As you can see, they are a  little runny, but not too bad. 

The uglier of the finished trays, this tray had some that cracked, but not all of them. Perhaps because it was on the lower oven rack so the pan on top was blocking the heat? I don't know. Also, I didn't know what they were supposed to be like when they were done, so I baked these for about 6 minutes longer than recommended (which could be why they are so crunchy). Oh well, live and learn, and for all I know, this is how they are supposed to be. If anyone out there has had macarons, please describe them to me :) 

Although they are a little flat, at least they look close to being correct, with the cute little "feet". 

Finished macarons. I made this amazing chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream:  Martha Stewart Buttercream, I cut the recipe in half and cooked the egg whites and sugar to 160 F before whipping. It was so good, that has got to be my favorite frosting. I made a strawberry version of it for a Neapolitan cake in February, and that was amazing too. I think Swiss meringue buttercream will be my "go to" frosting from now on, as long as the people I'm serving it to don't mind a bit of butter ;) I put the frosting on using a small cookie scoop because I didn't want to wash another pastry bag . . . it seemed to work pretty well. 

They are kind of cute :) (and very tasty too). Everyone who tried them liked them, and I've saved some to try a few days from now to see how the texture and flavor is then. So while these aren't perfect, or full of fun colors or flavors, I did enjoy these, and I don't think I'd mind making them again. I want one now, but I should probably go to bed instead. Good night :)

Life Skills - Day 28

Wood Burning

No, this is not how to start a fire, which would be a good life skill to know, this is all about the fun art of wood burning. There was such a lovely snow fall out today that I really wanted a crackling fireplace and some hot chocolate. I didn't get the hot chocolate, but wood burning simulated the fireplace well enough :) It was actually a very enjoyable hobby, it kept my hands warm, and it smelled pretty nice. It was difficult to get precise lines, but with practice and more time I'm sure I could improve. I didn't really have any idea of what to make so I just practiced on some scrap wood and then made a little wall hanging thing. I also accidentally burned a hole in my blanket . . . oops. Other than that though, it went pretty well. Only a few more days left . . . what should next year have in store for me? :) 

Practice Part 1, I like the flower a lot.

Practice Part 2

Practice Part 3

Blanket Oops

My finished project . . . it's not perfect, but it's not bad for my first try :) The practice wood was actually easier because it didn't have the finish on it to gunk up the wood burning tool, so I'll keep that in mind in the future.  

Life Skills - Day 27

How to Clean Up a Computer

My brother-in-law is pretty much a computer genius so he taught me some basics on how to clean up my computer of all of the junk that is on it to help give me more hard drive space and help it run faster. I didn't get any pictures of it, but it's actually much simpler than I thought it would be, so I think you can all figure this out without illustrations. We started by downloading "CCleaner" from piriform.com, and running the "Cleaner" program. After that, we went to the "Register" tab and cleaned that up as well. While this was all going on, I was very thankful that he knew what he was doing, because I know far less about computers than I probably should, and was a little nervous about making any sort of changes. When the CCleaner was done, I used the "Spybot search and destroy" program (also easily found and downloaded online from CNet.com) to "Immunize" my program and computer and then "Search and Destroy" to remove any bad stuff that it found. It was all fairly simple, and I freed up about 2.5 GB of hard disk space, so it was definitely worthwhile. There wasn't anything too terribly bad on my computer, just quite a bit of junk to clean up. He says that I should be doing this about every two months, to clean up all the cookies and temporary files and unused programs, so I'll try to remember in the future. But for now, I am very glad that he is just a phone call away when I have computer problems, because evidently I know nothing about computers (my own realization, no one had to tell me that) ;) 

Life Skills - Day 26

How To Strum a Guitar in the Flamenco/Mariachi Style

Over Christmas break, I got to spend quite a bit of time with relatives that I don't get to see very often, so I wanted to try and learn from them and see what I might find. Lo and behold, my brother who is really good at guitar decided that I needed to learn a new guitar technique. I already know some guitar basics, but this was something I never knew before, and it sounds pretty cool, so I figured it was worth learning. I didn't get any videos of what I was doing, but here are a few pictures:

Practicing

 It's a pretty simple concept actually, just like counting to 4 on your fingers. Just forcefully count on your right hand while on the strings and have your index finger on the lower strings and play to the higher strings as you continue flicking your fingers from index to pinkie. I won't say that I am a pro at it yet, but with a little practice I think I'll be able to do it pretty well. I just switched back and forth between A minor and E chords and it sounded pretty cool, especially when my brother started playing a melody line on top of the chords I was playing.

As you can see, I haven't played my guitar in quite some time . . . oops.

So while this isn't a necessary life skill, I still think it was fun to learn and learning from those around me was a goal of this month, and this fits the bill :) 

Life Skills - Day 25

How to Tie Knots

My family is pretty big into sailing, so I figured it was a good idea for me to learn some basic knots, many of which are used in sailing. I don't have a website to link to for instructions since my father-in-law taught me all of these, but I'll put the names up, and I'm sure you can find them very quickly online. Here is what I learned:

Clove hitch, useful for tying the boat up to the dock for short periods of time.

Don't do this one . . . this is the "no-no" overhanded knot that everyone knows . . . it's bad for the rope and bad at holding things (causes the rope to lose 50% of its strength).

Figure-eight knot . . . you should use this one in the ties of your sweatshirt to keep them from coming out of the hood, plus it looks cool :) It is a good replacement for the overhand knot.

Bowline knot . . . if you only learn one new knot, it should probably be this one. It makes a loop that won't collapse on itself and is very common in sailing. It is easily undone in you fold it in half and pull that loop down . . . pretty handy. Plus, it comes complete with a story about a bunny going around a tree and into a hole, which is always fun :) 

Granny knot . . . this is what happens if you try and make the square knot and tie the knots the same both times instead of alternating . . . oops. This is also a "no-no" knot, stay away from it. 

Square knot . . . a quick way to tie thing into bundles, and it is easy to undo if you yank on one side of it. 

Sheet bend, useful for joining two ropes together

Carrick bend, this one is really pretty :)  It is also used to connect two sections of rope together.

What happens to the carrick bend when you tighten it up . . . it's okay, it is supposed to do that.

Half-hitch, for when you need to tie your horse up to a hitching post :) 

I call this one this "fist knot" because it looks like a fist if you put an extra loop into it. Some may call it the "Chuck Norris" knot :) It's really called a campers knot because it makes a really cool loop that can be loosened or tightened and helps secure tents or tarps to the tent  pegs. 

This one was complicated . . . it's called the Lumberman's knot. It is really useful for tightening things down on trailers and such because it is easy to put tension in it, kind of like using a pulley. 

Well, I think I have these knots, "all tied up" ;) I hope you are all having a Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus :)

Life Skills - Day 24

How to Make Truffles

Yes, I know, more baking blogs, but come on, how can you pass up truffles? I was never that big of a fan of them, but now that I've made these, I think I am a believer. I never really realized before that it's just cooled ganache covered in more goodness . . . my friend the Ganache Queen should be proud of me for getting these right. This is the recipe that I used: Truffle Recipe, and it was very simple, and easy to follow. These completed my Christmas treat gifts for some of my family (although the petit fours did not make the cut because they were ugly . . . have no fear, they will still get eaten because they are very tasty, they just did not meet the presentation standard). Now, enjoy the truffle journey (and special thanks to my sister-in-law for helping shape my truffles :)). 

Melted ganache

Shaped ganache before rolling

So pretty . . . cocoa powder, coconut, and pecan

Finished gift boxes . . . Merry Christmas :)

Life Skills - Day 23

How to Make Homemade Marshmallows

 I love marshmallows . . . they are so good, especially toasted over a campfire. My mother-in-law has learned to always have marshmallows in the house when I come to visit because inevitably, I will ask for them at some point during our visit. That being said, I decided it was probably a good idea for me to try my hand at making my own, just to see if I could. It was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be, although without a mixer, it would be pretty impossible (unless you didn't care about keeping your arm, then you'd be fine) ;) This is the recipe I used (Marshmallows from the Hungry Mouse), and with all the pictures on this blog, it's pretty simple to figure out. Here was my process:

Softening the gelatin

Powdered sugar coated pans

After the sugar syrup was added to the gelatin and it was mixed for 25 minutes =  marshmallow fluff

The tops were dusted with powdered sugar and dried overnight

All cut up pretty and coated with more powdered sugar. That's a gallon-sized bag.

Yum, marshmallows . . . I'd call this one a success :) 

Life Skills - Day 22

How to Make Petit Fours

I told you this was going to be a crazy baking extravaganza :) This undertaking was no small matter . . . it basically took all day. There were so many steps to figure out and try and find the best recipes and methods for, whew, it's 11 pm and I'm not even done yet. I'll try and walk you through what I did. First of all, these are the two primary sources that I used: Bakerella Petit Fours and Vegan Yum Yum Petit Fours. They both had tons of helpful pictures, but I couldn't choose one over the other so I did what I usually do and picked some things from each and added my own . . . this is the cake that I used: Aunt Johnnie's Pound Cake, but with 1 tsp. almond extract and 1 tsp. vanilla because I didn't want the almond flavor to be too strong. So the cake turned out really well, and slicing was an interesting adventure that was pretty successful (see the following pictures), even the marzipan worked out well, but I'm pretty sure the poured fondant was a complete failure.

13" x 9" pound cake recipe . . . I baked it at 340 F for about 35 minutes I think.

Making marzipan . . . the most successful part of this project. I used this recipe:  Marzipan, I guess it's not too difficult to mix some sugar into almond paste though.

More marzipan 

Cake slicing with toothpicks and dental floss :) 

Filling with strawberry jam

Top coated with rolled marzipan

The prettiest the cakes looked all day . . . I should have stopped here.

The poured fondant took quite a while to make (I used the Vegan Yum Yum recipe), and perhaps I heated it a few degrees too high (242 F instead of 238), but it was so thick and I had to microwave it for ~30 seconds between cakes and then it was so hot I kept burning my fingers . . . altogether not a pleasant experience. Finally I made a little simmering pan of water to put it in to keep it warm which helped a little, and then I added a bit of water, but by that time there was not very much left and it was pretty much a lost cause. So I have a few decent ones, even more really ugly ones, some that are coated with the dregs of the frosting that for some reason turned a bit yellow, they look more even, but the coating is not thick enough, and then a plethora of uncoated ones left over. I don't think I'll have time to try the fondant again before Christmas (these were supposed to be Christmas presents), so it is cake-frosting-failure number 2 for the day . . . what is happening to me? I think it's time for bed now . . . hopefully my baking tomorrow works out much better. 

Sadly, these are the best ones. I was planning on decorating the top, but I just don't have the heart tonight. Plus, I have to be at church in 6 hours . . . ugh. 

The later attempts . . . see, yellow. 

What a miserable mess.

p.s. If you need a half batch a marzipan in the next few days, let me know . . . I have some for you ;)