InterNOTnet

My Internet connection is down and I am experimenting with posting from my iPhone. C and Eileen I will be in touch with you as soon as Comcast fixes my connection!

TWD: Kugelhopf

My first Tuesdays With Dorie project! And a success! I LOVED this recipe even if it was rather involved. The only changes I made were to add more raisins (about 1/2 cup total) and when I didnt have any whole milk, I used half half and half (Ha!) and half lofat milk. I figured with just a third of a cup total milk that the combo would work. It did.

The crust on this yeast bread/cake was so fine and delicious. I was leary of Dorie's warnings that it would not stay fresh for very long, but I wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and it was fine for the three days it lasted. This is definitely a "do again". Maybe with craisins next time.

Don't forget to enter the give-away contest listed yesterday!

I Clean Out:You Clean Up!

TIMES UP! Way to go C and Eileen! We'll post winner(s) later today! :)




I love contests. I hardly ever win. Although I did manage a good haul a bingo recently! I was taking stock of holiday "stuff" tucked away in closets this weekend and remembered that I had ordered TWO of these wonderful ornament kits from Alicia at Posie Gets Cozy. I cut one out yesterday and quickly realized that I will never get to the second set this year. I could put it away for next year, but I then either A. Will never find it or B. Be distracted by some other project by then.

So here's my idea:





Leave a comment telling me what your holiday project(s) are this year and I will randomly select a winner using that random integer generator thingy! If you are the winner, I will ask you to email me your name and address and I will quickly ship this unopened ornament kit off to you so that you can start on it before December! Be sure to leave your comment before 8 AM EST on Thursday, November 13. One posting/entry per person seems most fair. To see whats included in the kit or if you don't want to take a chance on a contest and have to have one of these or the many other wonderful things Alicia makes, visit here.





Thank you for helping me clean out my stash---if this works, there will be more!





Photo courtesy of Alicia at Posie Gets Cozy.

Ola Orla!

I stopped in my tracks at Target yesterday when I saw this kitchen towel. Kitchen towels don't ordinarily excite me, but when I saw this I almost screamed out "ORLA!" Orla, you ask? Yes. Orla Kiely. One of my favorite designers with an organic style and leafy trademark. Is this kitchen towel really an Orla? I seriously doubt it, but its a great rendition and only $2.99.


I still kick myself over the "shoulda bought" Orla Kiely bag that was on sale at Anthropologie a few months ago. It was at an incredible price but I passed it over. Darn.







Check out Toast, a UK Anthro-like merchant and request their catalogue....if only for the photos...very lucious. Oh how I am lusting after these shoes.

Two-day

Someone special is TWO today. Just ask her. She'll tell you. TWO and it's this many. Seems like just yesterday her mother and I were laughing hysterically on the night she was born because of this. She is still making us smile everyday.

My Vote Goes to....HC from WS!

I love Hot Chocolate (HC). I don't drink it a lot , probably because I really love coffee and I really have a hard time finding good HC mixes. Most mixes tell you to add water (yuk) and even if you add hot milk, it still isn't very rich. The HC recipe made from Hersheys cocoa powder is OK, but rather involved. Besides, I am still miffed at Hersheys over this.

I went to Williams-Sonoma the other day with the intention of buying a potato ricer (made the best mashed potatoes ever that night) and their turkey gravy base that I use every year for Thanksgiving. Check and check. Then I spotted this HC and decided to try it. OMG. It's pricey, but for a special treat on a chilly night, OMG. Here's what WS says about it:

"Hot chocolate is a distinctly different sip than hot cocoa. Inspired by the famed Café Angélina in Paris, where steaming pots of velvety hot chocolate are served with bowls of whipped cream alongside, ours is intensely chocolatey. We make it from shavings of premium chocolate rather than cocoa powder to yield a well-rounded body, rich taste, smooth texture and exquisite aroma. The chocolate is an artisanal bittersweet variety by Guittard, San Francisco chocolate makers since the 19th century. It liquefies quickly and consistently in hot milk."

Here's my commentary: The chocolate flakes are what does it. Just be careful if you touch them as they are so fine that they melt immediately from your body heat and get smeary all over everything. And I never realized that there was a difference between hot chocolate and hot cocoa. And oh yeah, one sip and I went to Paris and San Francisco!

It just hit me that this is yet another post with reference to chocolate this week. Subconscious theme of the week.

Color of the Week: Fudgie Brown

Seen around my town and house today in shades of Fudgie-Wudgie Brown: