Feedback on my pumpkin choco cookies...

I asked one question to people who tried my cookies: Are my cookies OK enough to justify spending more  of my time on baking OR should I spend that time on something else?

People liked my cookies and they told me to bake more.  So my first baking project was a success!

I'm going to scope out more options, more taste of fall! (and probably sticking with recipes marked "easy"...)

YUM!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, it's my first baking project!   It's maybe my 2nd or 3rd baking project altogether, but those times, I had some help.  This time, I followed the recipe, mixed ingredients, and baked all by myself!  And this certainly is my first baking project at my apartment since I moved in.

I've been having a ton of work at work and starting to get a little stressed out.  At lunch time, to ease the stress, I was eating and talking about food with some of my co-workers.  We were talking about how much we love to eat and cooking.  This string of food conversation led to talking about fall food choices, and of course, pumpkin and chocolate were brought up.  One of my co-workers mentioned having a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Since I heard that, I could only think about those cookies that had two of my favorite fall food--pumpkin and chocolate.  I was supposed to get the recipe from her, but I was getting impatient and decided to look up a recipe online.  I found one from the Food Network--definitely not new to this website--and decided that tonight was the night!

I got some baking supplies and ingredients on my way home from work.  Until today, I didn't have butter or sugar in my apartment.  How did I survive the past 2 months without those?  Well, I'm not a huge fan of those ingredients to put in my food to begin with and I am very proud of myself for staying out of those evil goodies.  But I HAD to get butter and sugar for my baking project--can't replace them with something "healthy"!

Concerns before the project:
1. I don't have an electric mixer--an obvious sign of a novice baker.  So I was nervous that I would over-use my arm with this project, but it turned out that my arms got some good exercise.

2. I decided to leave out a few ingredients, like ginger, nutmeg and cloves.  I didn't know what they taste like (with the exception of ginger) or how they would contribute to my cookies.  So I know it was a risk to take, but I just left them out.

3. I love dark chocolate, way more than milk chocolate.  I was going to use dark chocolate for my cookies even though the recipe specifically said "milk chocolate" and "not semi-sweet".  So to confirm that this trade was a good one, I had people research online.  There were several comments about how they didn't like the cookies because the dark chocolate was overpowering. So I decided to follow the recipe and use milk chocolate.

Duration: 32 minutes
Level (according to the author of the recipe): Easy

So here is my journey through my first baking project:

1. Beat and mixed 2 sticks of butter, 2 large eggs, 1 tsp of vanilla extract,

1 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar.

2.  Mixed 3 cups of flour, 2 tsp of baking soda and 1 tsp of cinnamon

into

the liquid mixture I made in step 1.

3. Mixed in 12 oz bag of milk chocolate chip. 

4.  Put small amounts of "dough" on the parchment paper (on the cookie tray),

waited, waited, waited...

5. About 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven, my cookies were done!

Actual Time: 2 hours

Actual Level: Pretty Easy

Number of cookies: 54 (minus 1.5 cookies to taste)

Now that the first baking project has been successfully completed, I feel pretty confident about baking. And now that I have those baking necessities (i.e. baking soda, flour, measuring cups/spoons, sugar, and butter) handy, I probably will be baking more!  (well, only after I finish all of my 52.5 cookies that are sitting in my kitchen...)

Fun Baking

If I could beatbox, I would do this to make baking easier for myself...

Spontaneity

I've officially added a new word to my life dictionary: spontaneity.

I used to like things planned.  That probably came from my tendency to be overly careful.  I don't like to feel insecure about anything I'm about to do.  Thus, I wasn't a biggest fan of being spontaneous and doing something without a plan.

(As I mentioned in the previous blog entry,) I bought 2 plane tickets on Wednesday. One to Washington DC, one back from NYC.  I'm going to visit DC and NY over New Years 2012!  Sure, I am planning my new years celebration, so this might not be the best example of spontaneity.

Yea, yea yea...

But for me, considering how careful I've been until now, this is breaking-news.  I don't have much planned for my trip to DC and NY.  I know where I'll be staying, I know who I might be seeing.  I don't know what I'm doing for this week-long trip.

The idea of visiting NY came out during dinner with a friend. "We should visit NY. How about a 2012 New Years celebration in NY?" "Let's go!"  What's surprising was that I didn't start worrying once this was said.  Normally, in my head, I'd start thinking: How do I get there? Where do I stay? What activities am I going to do? Could I afford this trip? How am I going to feed myself? What will I wear since it's winter? Is NY going to be flooded with people? What if I get lost in the city? Will I ever make it to the city? What if I get bored and want to come home early? Is this a good idea?...just to name a few.

Instead, it was a simple decision this time. I came home and started looking at flights. Found cheap flights and thought, "ok, why not." Bought the tickets. Texted a few friends in NY and DC and asked them what their plans were and told them I was coming.  Not once during this 30 minutes was I worrying about anything regarding this trip. Spontaneous thoughts and decisions were made in 30 minutes.  Product: a week-long trip to DC and NY.

Kudos for me for being spontaneous and following the inspiration for this blog of living a improvised and syncopated life!

I'm already ready...

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time." - Laura Ingalls Wilder

It's only October 19. It's not even past Thanksgiving... It's not even past Halloween. But I'm already ready for the Christmas season.  How do I know this? Because I've become a child again!

I've already started listening to Christmas carols, and watched Elf 3 times this month. To top it all, I just booked a flight to DC and NYC for this holiday season!  I've been wanting a white Christmas every year. Of course, wishing for a white Christmas in California was pushing it a bit too much, but I'm so happy that I'll actually have a chance of having a white Christmas this year! I can't wait for my end-of-year trip to stand next to the Christmas tree!

Sports!

I played a lot of sports when I was younger--need more than one hand to count all different sports I used to play!  That's probably where I got my competitiveness.

I wouldn't say I am overly competitive.  Yes, there are times when I want to win--just win, no matter what--but being in the field of Education and seeing the beauty of the process to get to a goal, my competitiveness has toned down a bit...well, except during sports games.

Since I don't play sports anymore, my competitiveness comes out when I watch college sports or professional sports games.  I've been a huge fan of soccer, particularly the World Cup, since I was young. Then I started watching basketball.  My interest in basketball started with a LA Lakers-Boston Celtics game sometime in 2006.  I quickly became a big fan of Ray Allen, Rondo, Gasol and Derek Fisher.  Why these guys? They just stood out to me in many of the games I watched of those teams.  At first, I didn't care which team I rooted for. I was just busy familiarizing myself with the rules and players.  I was just excited to understand the games!

Then I turned to baseball.  The first baseball game I've ever been to was a SF Giants game in the summer of 2008.  I had so much fun being in that crowd cheering and singing.  The rules of baseball were a lot easier to understand and the games were easier for me to follow.  When the Giants won the World Series in 2010, it was as if I had won that title for myself.

My friends, to this day, remind me of how rowdy I was cheering for the Giants.  And because they had never seen me cheer for a sports team, they think I was excited about the Giants just because they were doing well that year.  But for the record, NOT true. Ok, returning to my story...

Today, I watched a SF 49ers game against Detroit Lions.  This was an especially exciting game because the Lions was undefeated, and the 49ers were doing well this season compare to the past several years.  After a bit of a rough start, the niners won.  And the Oakland Raiders also won their game against the Cleveland Browns as well.  It was a good day for the Bay in general!

I am still a novice when it comes to sports and being a fan.  (Yes, I get overly excited about each and every good pass or score, and I get overly frustrated at each and every bad pass or move.)  But I am learning and I give myself kudos for giving the complicated world of sports a fair try!

Challenge

(I am not religious to Stumble Upon at all, but it just so happens that most of my inspirations begin there...)

I have been stumbling upon a lot of websites that provide free access to texts and endless lists of "books that everyone should read."  I have been trying to make reading a daily routine by starting one of those lists. The first thought of this was in high school. That was 10 years ago.  And it still hasn't happened yet.  Thus...  

I am giving myself a reading challenge.  I will give myself a deadline of December 31, 2011, but I am hoping that this challenge will become a habit, a daily routine, something that I do without having to remind myself.  My challenge is to read 20 books in the next 79 days, until 12.31.11.  Since the point of this challenge is to realize that reading can be a daily activity and to learn to enjoy and want to read every day, I won't restrict myself to a genre or a specific list.  I will also keep a log of what I read, and how much I read each day.

I work with students to help them become better readers. I tell them that they need to read every day before or after school and whenever they have spare time.  Well, if I am not reading myself, how can I ask my students to read every day?  As a reading teacher, I should be a reader before I ask or expect my students to be readers...

Enough talking... Let's get to reading!

Life Update

It's Day 53 of my new life.
A lot has happened since the D-day--Tuesday, August 23, 2011.  I graduated from college. I made a big move across the country from California to Ohio.  I added a year to my age.  I live in an apartment on my own.  I have a job.

I've reached a new level of happiness in life.
Is it possible for one to sit in an empty room alone and feel happy? Totally.  I didn't know this was possible until I found myself smiling and giggling about my life in Columbus, OH with a place to live and a place to work.  (No, I am not going crazy.)

My work and adjustment to this new lifestyle keep me very busy, and I love every bit of it.
I enjoy shopping for decorations for my apartment.  I enjoy grocery shopping, searching for simple recipes, and expanding my cooking skills.  I enjoy my 15 minute commute to work and the daily karaoke sessions in the car.  I enjoy saying "good morning" to every face I see at work while making a cup of green tea.

One word is all I need to describe my life right now--happy!