Stir-fry

I'm asian, so I figure I should at least attempt to make decent stir-fry. I took a blend of almost every asian spice/ingredient I had at home, cooked it with some chicken and broccoli, and served it over rice. After about five attempts, I came up with something pretty good. We probably won't be having it again anytime soon though; Dearest got tired of it after the third night. :)

Act 1 done!

Well, the first draft of Act 1 is done. It's due on Tuesday, so I decided to give myself plenty of time to revise it. I was aiming for 30 pages, but it's only 23. Still, I think the movie will come out to about an hour and a half. Or hopefully 80 pages.

Yorkshire Pudding

a.k.a. the stuff you get at the House of Prime Rib. (My mouth is watering just thinking about prime rib... Mmmm...) Dearest loves, and I mean LOVES, the bread pudding that comes with the meal. My aunt recently gave me a recipe for Yorkshire Pudding, which is about the same thing. It's super easy to make and tastes delicious! Nice and crispy on the outside, yet warm and moist on the inside.

Yorkshire Pudding

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• Pam baking spray
  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix flour and salt in a medium bowl. In another bowl, beat eggs, then add milk and stir. Pour into flour and mix until well blended (should be liquidy). Spray muffin tin with Pam and fill each cup 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!

Story of a girl...

I've been putting this off for a while, mostly because I know it's going to take a while, but bear with me. As I've mentioned before, I'm writing a love story for my script writing class. So far we've gotten several drafts of our treatments done (like a short story version) and have handed in outlines. Next step is to write Act 1, which is about 30 pages or a page per minute of movie. Sounds like a lot, but it's actually not.

Anyway, on to the story. It's about a woman (aren't they all?) in her late twenties who's had a pretty tragic past- she was once engaged, but her fiance died- and it's been keeping her from opening up to love again. The film follows her struggle to open up to love again and find her Prince Charming. Along the way, she encounters funny situations (like trying to date a gay guy or getting proposed to and saying no), but in the end, her perfect guy turns out to be who she least expected.

I have a lot more details and about half of the first act done, but I'm thinking that posting it here isn't a great idea. It'd be too long and out of format, but hopefully I'll be able to keep you all updated on the progress and maybe a short summary of what's going on. :)

p.s. Burn Notice is on tonight at 10pm on USA. I'm making cupcakes for our premiere party! hehe :)

Apple Muffins

I'm on a muffin kick and these definitely topped the banana ones! "Pieces of tender apples appear in every bite of these pretty muffins that are the perfect treat to share with afternoon coffee." Forget afternoon coffee, these guys are good anytime of day! They were wonderfully moist and the sweet crunchy top made the whole thing melt in your mouth. A must try! Here's the recipe:

Muffins:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups tart apples, peeled and chopped

Topping:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In another bowl, beat the eggs, sour cream and butter. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full.
For topping. combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle a rounded teaspoonful over each muffin.
Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Serve warm.

Banana Crunch Muffins

First off, I love to bake, so there's always some tasty little treat hanging around to be munched on. Whenever Dearest and I eat around 7th & Irving back home, we stop at this little bakery called Tart to Tart. They've got the best muffins, especially the banana ones. Combined with Dearest's love for them and the overly ripe bananas hanging out at home, I whipped some up. The crunchy top was delicious, but the actual muffin was quite dry. Maybe substituting olive oil for the butter next time will make it more moist?

Mini Pavlova

One of my culinary adventures: Mini Pavlova
Pavlova is basically a large meringue cookie- crisp on the outside, soft (I think) on the inside. I've tried this recipe twice now; the first time bombed because of a temperature confusion. The second time was better, but not perfect since I tried to scale down the size to make them mini pavlovas. I topped them with whipped cream and fresh fruit. Bon Appétit!

Attacking My Baby

Classes started a few days ago and my script writing class is... "interesting" to say the least. Its the smallest class I've EVER been in; there's just nine of us- 5 gals, 4 guys. Our assignment for the class is to write a love story. (I feel bad for the guys who were looking forward to their slasher/horror flick.) I thought I'd be okay with the story idea I presented when applying for the class, but I thought wrong. We got our treatments back, the two page idea of our scripts, and I wasn't so pleased with the comments I got. My romantic comedy with a dash of action adventure didn't cut it because according to my Professor, I can't do both. I have to pick one (namely the romatic comedy aspect). Now I'm faced with the daunting task of butchering my baby, the story I've been working on/slaving away/creating for the past year and a half or so. To me, that's like telling Da Vinci that he needs to pick a side- Mona Lisa either has to be smiling or not, she can't have this ambiguous look. Okay, okay, that's a dramatic comparison. In any case, I'm disappointed and worried my movie won't be what it could have been...

New Year's Optimism

With the beginning of a new year comes newfound optimism complete with plans, ideas, and overall excitement. Which is why I like to make resolutions. Not to force myself to do something by the years end, but mostly to encourage myself to do something I've always wanted to. These have been floating around in my head for a while and I'm pretty realistic about things. (No need to resolve to buy a house in the next year. =P)

~ Finish school: If all goes as planned I'll be throwing myself a "yay-im-FINALLY-done-with-school" party on Dec 11th. And you're all invited. Seriously. =)

~ Finish a book or screenplay: I got into that script writing class and I couldn't be more thrilled and excited and scared. I'll probably post updates on how its going; maybe a summarized verison.

~ Save some dough: As I'm thinking more and more about my future with Dearest, I'm trying to brace for the rough financial times ahead. =/

~ Try a new recipe every week: This is my vow to keep expanding my culinary skills. I'll post some of the awesome recipes I encounter.

~ Make my skinny jeans my everyday jeans: Cliche, but true. Going to the gym gets super boring, but in the end the results are completely worth it!

~ Move: I know I know... We weren't planning on moving again until Dearest transfers, but we really want to get a dog, which isn't possible in our current place. Plus the parking here is horrendus. Moving brings about a lot of stress and extra purchases, such as a bed and washer/dryer. (We've vowed never to go back to apartment style laundrymats....) But I think it'll be a fun time for us.

All in all, I'm super psyched for the new year and all the fun changes it'll bring!