Lemon Meringue Tart

I finally cooked something else out of my cookbook!  However, I'm not sure it turned out right.  Heath was craving something lemony, so while he was at work I thought I would try and whip something up.  It was a  lot harder than I thought.  I didn't want to make a pie crust so I bought some premade dough that you just unroll onto your pie or tart dish.  Seems easy right?  Well, it was...until I burn the crust.  You precook it for 9-12 minutes, so at 9 minutes I looked at it and thought it could use just a minute more.  Big mistake.  I got busy juicing lemons and 3-5 minutes later I smelled smoke.  Sure enough, the pie crust was black.  Thankfully the package came with 2 crusts so I quickly cooled the tart pan and rerolled the dough out.  But having sat in the freezer for a few minutes it didn't form to the pan as well and actually cracked in the bottom.  I tried to smooth it all out and patch up the holes, but when I pulled it out of the oven after 9 minutes exactly, the cracks had reappeared.  At least it was nice and golden brown!
Knowing that I would have to whip everything together quickly with the custard and meringue parts I got all my ingredients out ahead of time and even measured them into individual little dishes that my mom got me for Christmas. The recipe calls for 4 eggs, separated, so I tried my luck at moving the yoke back and forth between the two halves of the shells to separate them (since I didn't have an egg separator).  And it worked!  I didn't break any of the yokes or get little shell pieces in them or anything.  I felt very proud of myself.  I made the lemon custard and I believe I was able to cook it correctly.  Though when the directions said simmer until thick I wasn't sure just how thick it needed to be, but I definitely got it thicker than it was when I put it in the pan to simmer.  Then I put it in the cooked pie crust and went to make the meringue.
Now comes the hard part.  I have heard in the past that making a meringue topping is difficult...and now I believe it.  The instructions simply stated to whip the eggs until foamy, whip in the cream of tarter until it forms soft peaks and slowly add in the sugar. So on my first attempt (yes, there were two) I beat the eggs until they looked foamy to me, and then added in the cream of tarter and beat....and beat...and beat...and it wasn't getting firm, so I added the sugar and continued to beat.  It was getting nowhere.  I set it aside and started over.  Separated egg whites, measured out the ingredients, etc.  This time the eggs quickly got "foamy" and I added the cream of tarter and it got much thicker.  Thinking I was along the right path I checked to see if there were "soft peaks" and to the best of my knowledge there were.  So I slowly added the sugar.  But as I was adding the sugar it seemed to be loosing its firmness.  I didn't have enough eggs to start again so I called it good and put it on top of the custard filling.  Next was to put it in the oven for around 12 minutes or until meringue was lightly browned.  Well after about 6 minutes or so it was light brown and I didn't want it to burn like the crust had, so I took it out.
Since it needed to cool completely I set it on a wire rack and went upstairs.  When I came back down the meringue had separated from the edge, even though I had made sure it touched the edges.  There was clear liquid in the areas where the meringue had separated. I had to go to work so I just put it in the fridge.  I hope that it at least tastes good since it now looks kind of funny.
Not sure I will attempt a meringue pie again for awhile.  Two plus hours of work and the result was not very appealing.  I'm just hoping the taste makes up for the look. 


This is what I WISH it looked like:

If anyone else has made a lemon meringue pie I would love some tips!  I assume I still didn't beat the meringue long enough, I just didn't want to over do it.  I'll be sure to post how it turned out and maybe some pictures of the funny looking result. =]

Answer to Prayer

God is so good!  I just wanted to write down in words how God has been answering my prayers lately.  Calvary Chapel (the church I call home) has recently decided to try something new called "house churches."  This doesn't mean that the normal Sunday service is gone, but it is something on top of that.  House churches are a way for the body to fellowship together and get involved.  There are about 20 different house churches as of now that each meet a different night.  Our pastor challenged us to pick a night and a house church and attend for an 8 week commitment.  Heath and I saw this as a perfect opportunity to meet new people and get more involved at Calvary.  Let me just tell you, it has been such a blessing and an answer to prayer!  Already we have met some wonderful people at our house church.  We come together (ours has about 41 people) and meet to pray, talk about the Sunday message and fellowship together.  Having felt the need to have deeper christian relationships with those who would be able to help mentor us we have been working on getting together outside of the house church with some people.  I know God is going to use these House Churches in ways I can't even fathom for anyone who attends.  Already it has been so great for Heath and I.  One specific example that stands out to me happened last week. 
We broke into smaller groups of about 10-15 for prayer time and Heath and I decided to go into separate groups.  In my group the prayer requests were very touching, parents calling out for their spouses, sons and/or daughters to be saved or helped in some way or another.  I sat there in silence as I realized how deeply they were all burning for their loved one's hearts to follow Christ, something I won't fully know about until I'm older with kids of my own.  But as I sat there, praying for them I was trying to come up with my own prayer requests.  All I could think of seemed minuscule in comparison to some of their hurts, the most I could come up with was help in paying off my debt.  More specifically, help in trusting God that I will be able to pay off my debt fast.  Feeling like it would seem trivial to share, I decided that I wouldn't and instead just prayed in my head about it during periods of silence.  But I still seemed to feel doubtful that God would be able to provide the money to pay it off.  My goal is to pay it off in a year and with the current income that I have I didn't know how I would be able to.  Logistically it just didn't seem possible.  I sat there in my doubts when one of the gentlemen in the group said something that really moved me.  Something I've heard before, but is always good to hear again.  He spoke about how we need to come to God in prayer with a spirit of forcefulness, a spirit of knowing God can and will answer our prayers.  Something I wasn't seemingly able to do.  I just didn't know how God could make it happen.  But after these words of coming to God in this way, I started adjusting the tone of my prayers in my head.  Instead of prayers full of doubt they turned to prayers full of conviction and asking, knowing God would answer them in the way He felt best.
So I left feeling a little better, but still not knowing how God would choose to answer this prayer.  Then I got to work on Friday.  Come to find out Heather (the other girl who works there) is finally quitting! She was supposed to quit in September but she didn't and she was taking hours that I was supposed to be working.  I asked my boss again and again when her last day was and I believe it is this Thursday, which means next week I can start working at least 2 more days, if not 3.  This is such and blessing and an answer to prayer.  I hadn't asked that God would make her quit, I had simply asked that he would provide other ways of earning money and sure enough, He did.  What an awesome God we have. One step closer to paying off that debt of mine!

Here is a link to a song that Heath showed me that we have really enjoyed listening to.  It is called "How Many Kings" by Downhere.  Click here to listen to it!

Debt-Be-Gone!

As I get closer to finishing college forever I realize there are things I must face about "the real world" that I have ignored until now.  As Heath and I discussed our future together we came to realize that I have more debt than I realized.  I had to take out a loan to pay for college and now that I am close to being done I realize that I have to pay it off.  A loan is not free money, instead it will come back to bite you in the butt later on.  Sadly, in my naivety I didn't save a penny during college.  Not until Heath came along that is.  Now, my debt may seem small in comparison to those who had to take out loans for a private school, but the ways they affect me are still great.  Heath and I know that when we get married we will have bills to pay, bills that up until then our parents have graciously paid for.  So our goal is to pay off my debt before we get married.  As severe as that seemed to me at first, I now know the benefit of it.  With faith in God I have no doubt that we will be able to fully pay off my debt as fast as possible.  Already we have lowered it faster than I thought we would.  Heath has been so loving and kind in accepting my debt as his own and working with me to pay it off.  God has truly blessed me with someone who sees the value in not having outstanding debts and to be wise about the ways you spend your money.  These are all things that I just never gave much thought to. 
So far Heath and I have been utilizing craigslist.com to sell instruments, electronics and whatever else we can manage to find.  We have also been using half.com to sell old books, CD's, and DVD's to get a little profit that adds up quickly.  So my question for you is, do you have any special methods for making money quickly?  If so, I would love to hear some recommendations as I am constantly trying to save and make money where I can.  Both Heath and I work and every penny that isn't going towards expenses is going straight to my debt.  I am so blessed by Heath and it hurts my heart to know I am the one who is bringing the burden of debt into this relationship.  But the lessons I am learning and the knowledge I am gaining about Heath is something I am glad to learn now instead of later in life.  By dealing with these issues now we save ourselves the potential of pain and frustration in our future.  =]

BOOKS!

You may be wondering what I have been up to lately that has made me neglect updating my blog. If you think school, then you are mostly wrong. Yes, school does take up time but recently I have been spending way too much time reading books for fun. Eventually school will become so hectic that I will no longer have the time to read for pleasure. But while I can I have become a reading machine! I have been utilizing the fabulous resource called a Library and have been reading tons of books for free! Sadly, I cannot keep these books to build my own library. My own library will have to wait until I have oodles of money, no debt and a perfect space to house my lovely books.
Taking some hints from my beautiful sister-in-law, who has her own reading blog which you can read here, I have decided to let the world wide web know what I have been reading. If instead of reading this blog you would like a snapshot glance at what I have been reading, go to this fabulous online bookshelf site here! On this site, called shelfari.com, I add the books I have read, am reading, and will read and give mini reviews to most of the books I have finished. If you read as much as I do you should definitely get one. I find it is a perfect way to keep track of what books I have read.

Below is a guide to "my" rating system which I will use for each book. (Taken from Elisha's reading blog :] )

0- Burn it. It will be a way better use of your time than reading it!
1- Terrible. Just plain terrible.
2- Don't bother opening it; the cover is the best part.
3- Bleh. I wouldn't bother, but maybe you have more patience.
4- Could be good with a little work.
5- Pretty good, for the most part.
6- Good. Solidly good.
7- Great. This book is worth reading AND recommending.
8- Holy Cow! This book rocks my socks off, but isn't the best book I've ever read.
9- Top 20 - this books tops the charts of my favorite books!
10- THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST STINKIN' BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ!!!!!!


Since I have recently read multiple books I won't create a separate blog for each one, instead just list a few here with the rating. If you have read or do read any of these books, let me know what you think!!


First book: "How Not to be Popular" by Jennifer Ziegler































This book is really cute. It is about a high school girl who moves around a bunch. She decides at the next school that to avoid getting attached and then having heartache when she is

forced to move again, she will be unpopular. The writing is witty and fun to read. I would probably recommend it more for girls as it is from her perspective. Not that some guys wouldn't enjoy it, but overall it was quite the girly book. I would give it between a 6- Good. Solidly good. and a 7- Great. This book is worth reading AND recommending.
It isn't the most original book and the plot is pretty predictable, hence the lower score. But still recommending it.

Next:

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
























This was a really engaging read. I definitely recommend it. The story is from three different women's point-of-view and the writing style is brilliant. It takes place in Mississippi in the 1960's and deals with issues of black women maids. Two of the women are maids, one a quite devote woman and the other a fiery woman who has a bad habit of speaking her mind. The other woman is a white college graduate who decides to write down the stories of multiple maids in a book. Their journey of writing this book and working for certain people is both moving and adventurous. I would give it an 8- Holy Cow! This book rocks my socks off, but isn't the best book I've ever read.


OK, so I have read a multitude of books that I obviously haven't posted here, but I'm running short on time. I will continue posting the books I have read/am reading so keep checking back if you're interested!

Last Fall of College

Finally fall term is almost over! My last fall term of college!! Only two terms left to go and I graduate, thank goodness. I know I was trying to start using this blog as a cooking blog, but once school started I had neither the funds, nor the time to cook. I am hoping that during the Christmas break I will be able to utilize my mother's kitchen and ingredients to cook up a storm! Nothing better than having a large space and seemingly unlimited resources. But to update a bit on how this term played out:

I was taking five classes:
-English 440: Modern Irish Literature
-English 412: Studies in British Theatre and Society
-Anthropology 240: Biological Anthropology
-Writing 224: Fiction Writing
-History 362: Women in U.S. History

The classes were a mix of good and bad. I loved my fiction writing class, the teacher was energetic and I was able to test the waters of short story writing by being assigned to write two stories during the term. Both of which I enjoyed writing. Conversely, my Irish Lit class was a struggle. The material was not the problem, I enjoyed reading Yeats, Shaw, and O'Casey. But the teacher was another matter. He constantly yelled and degraded the class for not being up to his standards in discussion. While he may have been trying to get us to think more deeply about the subject materiel, it led most students, myself included, to fear going to class because we knew that we would never have the right answer. The few times that I or my friend Kalin would speak out and try and participate with valid responses, we would get cut off or practically ignored. If someone didn't give him the exact answer he was looking for to an open ended discussion question, he would tell them they were wrong. I thought discussing literature was pretty much open to the reader. My Irish Lit professor thought otherwise. So for anyone who attends OSU and may take an English class in the future, avoid Professor Davison. I will say, that I have learned a lot, but I don't think the means to getting there were the most effective.

After Midterms I was looking at all A's in my classes and I hope I did enough in the second half of the term to keep them. I have two papers left to write and one test this week, but other than that I am finished!

Other highlights...Heath and I celebrated our One Year Anniversary in November! To think that so much time has gone by, but at the same time, not very long, is exciting. To celebrate the big occasion we went out to eat at The Painted Lady in Newberg. (www.thepaintedladyrestaurant.com) For those of you who have never heard of it, it is a four course meal, and truly delicious experience. Heath and I had recently become fans of the Food Network Channel show, "Chopped" and neither of us had ever been to a super fancy restaurant and thought it would be fun. We were a bit worried that four little meals would not be filling, but trust me when I say that was not the case. We both left stuffed!

For starters I had a Venison Carpaccio with Petite Salad and Heath had a Miso Custard with Crab and Sea Urchin. Next they brought us bread.
Our second course was a crispy skinned steel-head on top of a cauliflower ravioli.
The main entree, I had Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin over Potato Puree and Sherry Cream Sauce and Heath had Beef Two Ways; Prime New York Steak and Braised Short Ribs
And the most important, dessert, Heath had a Citrus Quartet, which had four mini citrus themed desserts; a citrus salad, lemon creme brulee, citrus tart and citrus merengue. I had a Chocolate Souffle. Having only ever heard about them and never tried one I had to give it a shot.
All the food was delicious and it was truly a romantic evening to remember!

Thanksgiving was a big occasion at my parents house with about 20 people. We had my family, my sister-in-law's family and Heath's family over and it was truly a feast. The day was spent socializing, eating, and eating a bit more. Heath and I were lucky enough to take the majority of the leftovers back down to Corvallis which sustained us for about a week.

Also, I was introduced to this site called shelfari.com and it is basically an online bookshelf! You can add books you have read, are reading and want to read. It can be a bit addicting when you start finding all the books you've read and give reviews, etc. I mainly enjoy it because I can keep track of books I have read and whether or not I liked them. So check it out!

And So It Begins

I've done it! I've began the cooking process! And it has already been a roller-coaster of excitement and emotions. Not what I expected from simply cooking from a few recipes but a good experience so far.
I ended up not being able to cook anything on my designated day, Saturday, because I had unknown plans to hang out with some friends during the afternoon. Which, believe me when I say it was a blast, but I was a little down because I would have to postpone my cooking further. Worried I would have to wait until next Saturday, I was relieved when I realized I would be making a dessert on Wednesday night for a bible study my parents host at their house. The next day, however, I was informed by my mom that someone else wanted to make dessert because it was their birthday, so yet again I was defeated before even beginning the process. As it got nearer to Wednesday the group realized no one was signed up to bring appetizers or a side for the main dish. Immediately, I jumped at the chance and began searching through the cookbook for the best things to make. That's when I found out the main entree for the evening was Chili Cheese Dogs...not much you can pair with those as a side. I was forced to narrow my search options through the cookbook; something healthy, something green perhaps. I finally settled on a Warm Green Bean Salad for the side dish and a Hummus dip and a Artichoke and Scallion dip for the appetizers.
Come Wednesday, after shopping and acquiring all of the ingredients needed for my three dishes. Upon arriving home I promptly start setting out the ingredients for the individual recipes and my mission was under way. I started with the Hummus; now I have had a few store bought types and even tried someone's homemade, so I was excited to attempt my own. While shopping for the ingredients, the Hummus recipe called for Tahini. My mind drew a complete blank. Tahini? What is that? A vegetable? A spice? No...apparently it is a sauce, who knew? Not I, so as I am searching up and down the aisles at Fred Meyer I eventually come to the conclusion that it doesn't exist or I am too blind to see it. Baffled, I decided to ask someone who works there if they happen to know where it could possibly be. I assumed that no one else had heard of it either so I say, "Excuse me, I have an odd ingredient to ask about, do you know where Tahini is?" To which the kind lady, fully knowing what it is I am looking for points me in the right direction. Of course, why didn't I look in the Natural Foods section...by the Peanut Butter...
I have come to the conclusion that grocery stores should have a look up computer like they have at libraries. So I could go to this computer and type in "tahini" and it would tell me what aisle to look down. Back to the cooking - I put all the ingredients in my mom's mini food processor and watched as Chickpeas (also known as Garbanzo beans), lemon juice, tahini, and garlic became my own homemade Hummus. I was elated! I had made Hummus and it was easy as can be and looked perfect, and some paprika sprinkled on top gave it a nice look. My joy, however, was lost when I tried said Hummus. Taking a pita chip and putting a fair amount on it and putting it in my mouth, expecting a delicious flavor. Instead my delicious flavor was overpowered by an after taste that was bitter and sour! Immediately I looked at the recipe; did I add more garlic than I thought? Did i mess up the amount of lemon? No, everything looked in order. No idea why, but the Hummus I made had a sharp after flavor. Worried I was going to be serving something gross to people I put it in the fridge for later, hoping that the next dip would be better.
Artichoke and Scallion dip! I've already noticed something funny about this recipe book. It gives you an estimated prep and cook time, and so far they have been WAY off in when it comes to prep time. The Artichoke and Scallion dip says "Prep time 5 minutes." Maybe for a master chef! The only way I can think they allotted only 5 minutes was if the ingredients were already set out, chopped and measured just waiting to be mixed together. Taking probably 15 minutes to make this dip, I again tried it with a pita chip and Voila! Delicious! It is a very savory but mild dip and I was much more pleased with the way it turned out. Putting it in the fridge with the Hummus to get cold I waited to start the third recipe until people started arriving.
Before people started arriving I had my fabulous taste-tester Heath try both dips to see if they were edible and worth setting out for others to partake in. Wonderful Heath, who likes everything, put my fears to rest when he announced he really like both; including the Hummus! People started arriving and the dips were both a huge hit! Maybe I'm the one with the weird taste buds; which Heath would agree with considering he doesn't understand how I wouldn't like any and every food. I'm working on training my taste buds to like different foods, especially those I usually dislike, but I'm not going to lie, I avoided the Hummus dip for the rest of the night.
As Sasha, who was preparing the Chili Cheese Dogs, started setting up, I decided to start making the Warm Green Bean Salad. I had my cookbook sitting out on the stove top next to the counter where I was mixing my ingredients together for the sauce. Sasha, who claims she can never understand which button to turn for which burner, decided to try one that she thought was correct. The one she turned on, which we have a gas stove, so it's flames not just a coil heating up, but the burner she chose happened to be the one my cookbook was sitting against. Suddenly we started noting there was a smoke-y smell in the room, thankfully my mom saw what was going on and picked up the cookbook and the paper towel which was in flames and put it all out. My cookbook is now officially christened. Normally, I would be quite upset over the fact that I just spent 35 bucks on a brand new cookbook only to have it get a nice crinkly burnt spot on the front cover, the first time I go to use it. Thankfully, however, Heath was there to quickly put my emotions at bay by telling me it was now an official cookbook and it showed how used it was. If he hadn't been there, I may have gotten a bit more upset. And now that I think about it, who really cares, it's just a book and a cookbook at that, isn't it supposed to get stains and burns and whatnot all over it to show how used it is? The Warm Green Bean Salad ended up being scrumptious! I, with my picky taste buds, thought there was a little too much ginger in it, but everyone else seemed to like it.

997 recipes to go!

Next task: Dinner for Heath and my parents :)

Adventure Time!

I'm beginning to realize that the title I originally chose for my blog now sounds extremely conceited. I started this blog as a photography blog, so the quest for beauty was through pictures, then my blog was a travel blog, and now it is my personal blog for writing about anything and I fear people assume the quest for beauty would be for physical, personal beauty - but alas it is not.

My next adventure which I plan to use this blog for is my attempt at cooking through a cookbook. Now before you assume I just simply copied the idea from the movie Julie and Julia, it is not true. I have always wanted to make every recipe in a cookbook. I mean, if the recipe made it into a cookbook it has to be good right? But how often do I really use a cookbook to try something "new"? I use cookbooks when I want to make something I know I will like; I just need a recipe for it - like cheesecake. But now I am going to cook through an entire cookbook even if it is a recipe I don't think I will particularly enjoy. Thankfully my taste-tester is Heath, who happens to eat anything and everything. So I know there won't be ingredients that he wouldn't eat, I will be more of the problem in that department. I'm the one who can tend to be picky, which is why I never think to make certain recipes in the first place, or even take the time to try. But now I am making that time.
Heath and I went to Borders and picked out a well rounded cookbook that we thought would give me a wide range of things to cook and bake. It's called, "The Kitchen Bible," but you want to know what the best part is? It's Illustrated! Which is, in my opinion, the best part. That way I can see if what I make actually has any resemblance to the picture of the pro's version.
In contrast to the movie, I won't be trying to cook through this book in a year. First, I don't have the money to buy all the ingredients to do it that quickly and second, I don't have the time to devote to cooking. So I am going to start by using my Saturday morning/afternoon to cook a few things from the Kitchen Bible, whether it be bread and a salad or a main dish and dessert (I'm telling you this book has a bit of everything).
Similarly to the movie, I will be attempting to update my blog with the on-goings of my cooking. Hopefully it will encourage me to use my blog more often and be able to write about my ups and downs of cooking new and exciting dishes.
My only problem that I have noted so far is realizing how much kitchen gadgets I don't own, which of course will add to the cost of cooking. Maybe I will save recipes, in which I don't have the correct utensils, for after Christmas. That way I can ask for what I need then.

With the first Saturday coming up so soon (tomorrow) I am not sure where to begin in this cookbook with 1,000 recipes! I'm thinking I should start small and just test the waters first but part of me wants to go all out and make an extravagant meal. We shall see and I will be sure to post about my first run with the cookbook at work tomorrow.