Now that we are just a few weeks out from our trip to Florida, I have to follow my blogging tradition of asking you all for official suggestions.
We’ll be in Key West for four days. We’ll be in Miami for two days.
We’re open for suggestions on anything–activities, restaurants, landmarks, etc. For Miami, we’re even open to suggestions for places to stay, as we haven’t booked anything for that leg of the trip yet. We’ve been attempting to bid on hotels on Priceline, but haven’t had any luck so far. We are hoping to stay in Miami Beach somewhere. But again, open to what you have to say on the matter. Our budget is moderate, as we’ll spend most of our time our exploring, not in the hotel.
Also, as a reminder, we’re flying into Miami, staying in a hotel somewhere (we’ll definitely use Priceline for that night), then getting up early the next day and driving down to Key West to start our trip there. So we’re also looking for the “insider” tips on where to stop along the way! We’re prepared to take our time getting down to Key West, so we’re willing to make multiple stops throughout the Keys. (Later in the week, we’ll drive back up to Miami to spend the remainder of our trip.)
What are the must-sees? Must-dos? The not-worth-its?
Annnnd… go. :)
After the chocolate biscotti came together really easily and was successfully baking in the oven, I decided it was safe to take on a second flavor in one night. I have a lot of coworkers, so I wanted to make sure that there was a decent amount of biscotti to go around.
For batch #2, I turned to something completely different–cinnamon sugar biscotti. Cinnamon sugar anything just might be my favorite in the whole wide world. I’m just sayin’.
And these were a cinnamon sugar hit. Hello, gorgeous. Crunchy, sweet, spicy–perfection.
This morning, I walked into my office armed with dozens of biscotti cookies. As the new girl, I aimed to please. And let’s just say…
I came.
I saw.
I conquered.
Things I learned during this baking venture:
- Biscotti is really easy to make. It requires a lot of baking time when compared to other “cookies,” but the dough comes together quickly and there is not any part of the process that is hard.
- Biscotti is apparently impressive. People could not believe that I made it at home. Sometimes, I confessed to how easy it is; other times, I continued to let them be impressed. :) A girl can’t reveal all of her secrets!
- My coworkers love biscotti. Rumors spread that there was biscotti in the kitchen before I could even get them all laid out on the plates. After I sent out an e-mail, there was a mad rush to the kitchen. Well before lunchtime, all that remained of the biscotti? Crumbs. Lots and lots of crumbs. Which leads me to my last point…
- Biscotti is MESSY. Crunchy = crumbly. Be prepared to get crumbs everywhere! It’s worth it, though, and shouldn’t be a problem unless you don’t own a vacuum cleaner. Or a broom.
Both the chocolate and cinnamon sugar flavors were awesome, but in different ways. I highly recommend that you choose one (or both) and make these for someone very, very soon. You’ll knock their socks off!
Cinnamon Sugar Biscotti
(Source: Joy the Baker)
Ingredients:
– 2 cups flour
– 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
– 1 teaspoon baking powder
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
– 1 egg
– 1 egg yolk
– 1 teaspoon vanilla
For topping:
– 1/4 cup granulated sugar
– 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
– 1 beaten egg (for brushing biscotti before baking) – I just used the egg white discarded from using the extra egg yolk in the biscotti dough. No sense in wasting another egg!
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and arrange two baking racks in the upper portion of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, also whisk together the cinnamon and sugar for the topping and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the down and beat in the egg followed by the egg yolk. Beat in the vanilla extract.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter all at once. With the mixer or just with a spatula, bring all of the ingredients together until a somewhat stiff dough is formed.
6. Divide the dough in two on the two making sheets. Shape each half of dough into a 9-inch long and 1 1/2-inch wide log. Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle very generously with cinnamon sugar. Bake the two sheets on two different racks in the oven for 20 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheets for even baking and bake for 20-25 more minutes until golden and firm to the touch.
7. Remove from the oven but keep the oven on. Let biscotti cool until able to handle. Using a serrated knife, cut logs into 1/2-inch wide diagonal slices. Place biscotti cut side down on baking sheet and sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar. Bake again until pale golden, about 10-15 minutes.
8. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.
I’m almost done with my second week at my new job, and today I realized that I have yet to introduce any of my new coworkers to my tasty treats.
I rarely baked for my coworkers at my old job, because everyone was too good–no one would eat it. Plus, my office was pretty small and there weren’t many people, so even a single batch of cookies was too much to bring.
My new company is a completely different story; I discovered this last week, on St. Patrick’s Day. I was meeting with a coworker in a common area of the office when someone came in to announce that there were clover-shaped cookies in the kitchen. People ran, y’all. When I went into the kitchen a while later, it looked like the cookie platter had been raked over by a pack of wolves. And so I knew: These people like to eat.
I’ve had a few biscotti recipes bookmarked for quite some time. I’ve been intending to try them, as I’ve never made biscotti before, but it’s rare that I bake up breakfast treats, so I haven’t had much opportunity to make them. But as I took a few minutes earlier today to brainstorm about what I could bring my new coworkers, I quickly settled on biscotti–two different kinds of biscotti. Oh yeah, baby: Go big or go home.
First up is this chocolate biscotti from Dorie. That’s right; I got to bust out the Baking Bible!
Instead of making them exactly as the recipe calls for, I tried a variation that I saw posted at Proceed With Caution, which substituted white chocolate chips for the almonds. Yum.
This biscotti has wonderful chocolate flavor, and although I thought the white chocolate chips were a bit overpowered by the cocoa, they still added just a little extra something that made these so perfect. Delectably crunchy… there is no doubt my coworkers will love them!
Chocolate Biscotti
(Source: Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)
Ingredients:
– 2 cups all-purpose flour
– 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
– 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (I replaced with additional cocoa powder)
– 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
– 1 cup sugar
– 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
– 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
– 1 cup chopped almonds, blanched or unblanched (or about 4 ounces white chocolate chips)
– 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips (I only had regular-sized chocolate chips, so I chopped them up so they were smaller)
– Sugar, for dusting
Directions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.
Sift together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until pale, about 2 minutes; the mixture may be crumbly. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes; don’t worry if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until a dough forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the chopped nuts and chocolate, then turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead in any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.
Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, roll the dough into 12-inch-long logs. Flatten both logs with the palm of your hand, so that they are 1/2 to 1 inch high, about 2 inches across and sort of rectangular, then carefully lift the logs onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle each log with a little sugar.
Bake the logs for about 25 minutes, or until they are just slightly firm. The logs will spread and crack–and that’s just fine. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, put it on a cooling rack and cool the logs for about 20 minutes. (Leave the oven on.)
Working with one log at a time, using a long serrated knife, cut each log into slices between 1/2 and 3/4 inch thick. Stand the slices up on the baking sheet–you’ll have an army of biscotti–and bake the cookies again, this time for just 10 minutes.
Transfer the biscotti to a rack to cool.
After we found out we’re having a baby, we immediately wanted to be able to tell–to shout it from the rooftops, if you will. But the logical part of me wanted to wait until after 12 weeks, and I was determined to stick to that. However, we decided pretty quickly that we’d tell our parents and siblings as soon as possible. Just so we could let someone in on our little BIG secret.
We got the positive pregnancy tests on a Tuesday, and it just so happened that Michael’s sisters were both going to be coming home for a visit on Saturday. We knew we wouldn’t be able to get through a visit with them without saying anything, so it was clear that Saturday was going to be the day.
We wanted to tell my family around the same time, so I quickly pulled together a family dinner at my mom’s house for Sunday… regardless of the fact that we had JUST had a family dinner on the Sunday before. I wondered if anyone would be suspicious, but when I offered to make chili for everyone, no one seemed to bat an eye at the idea of a good meal.
The next step was to figure out how to tell everyone. I really wanted to do something cute, but not something everyone had seen before. There are so many good ideas out there, and since I hadn’t given it much thought it advance, I suddenly felt the pressure to pick just the right thing.
Ultimately, I decided to stay true to myself. What better way to tell than by baking something? I had heard stories of something called a “gender reveal” cake. After the big ultrasound, the couple brings the cake to their families, and when they cut into it, it’s either pink or blue–revealing to everyone the sex of the baby. I figured I could take that idea and make it into a “baby reveal” cake by making it both pink and blue. When I told Michael, he was completely on board with it.
And, well… it turned out exactly how I hoped.
The only challenge with this idea is that it had to wait for dessert! We had to sit through mingling, dinner, and clean-up with our families before we could get everyone settled down for dessert. In the meantime, our lips were sealed, which was really hard!
Michael’s Family:
First, we ran into a bit of a snafu getting my younger sister-in-law home from college for the weekend. We were in a panic because we really wanted her to be there, in person, when we told the whole family. Her original ride home fell through, so we were left trying to figure out an alternative. Cristina really didn’t want to inconvenience anybody, so she was refusing all of our ideas. Although we thought for SURE she would think something was up, we ended up insisting that we’d come to get her to bring her home for the weekend. We drove the hour there and the hour back just so she’d be there for our big announcement. Luckily, she didn’t really think anything of it.
I told my mother-in-law that I had made her favorite banana cake. I’ve made it for them numerous times before, so it didn’t seem unusual to them that I would bring a cake for no special reason. My stomach was in knots and my heart was racing as my mother-in-law began cutting into the cake.
The first time she pulled the knife out, I immediately saw pink crumbs. I wondered if she’d even cut a whole piece before she figured out that something was up. Sure enough, she noticed–she said, “Wait. You’ve never made it like this before. Why is it pink?” I tried to write it off, casually saying, “Oh, I just decided to add some food coloring this time, for fun.” She continued to cut the cake, and finally pulled the first slice out onto a plate. At this point, she saw the blue. My mother-in-law seemed confused, but did not get it.
Thankfully, my sister-in-law was paying attention as well, and she immediately blurted out, “WAIT A MINUTE. IS THAT SUPPOSED TO SYMBOLIZE SOMETHING?!?” Michael and I kind of just looked at her, smiling, and Melissa started screaming “Are you serious??” and everyone else caught on, and more screaming ensued. It was hilarious.
My Family:
The next day, I brought the second banana cake to my mom’s for my family. This time, I was in charge of cutting the cake. Again, I was totally anxious, practically shaking as I cut into the cake. I plopped a piece of cake onto a plate and handed it to my sister-in-law, Kara. There were comments like, “Ooh, pretty colors.” And I said, “Yeah, I used food coloring.”
I handed out a second piece, this time to my mom. No one was saying anything. Inside, I was dying. After Melissa had figured it out so quickly the day before, I was thinking for sure someone would know from my family, too. Finally, as my mom was about to dig in, she said, “What’s the significance of the pink and blue?” I just looked at her. Still, NOTHING. I gave Kara a look. Nothing from her, either.
I stood there in awkward silence, and suddenly, my brother goes “You’re pregnant. She’s pregnant!” I wouldn’t have expected one of my brothers to be the first person to figure it out, but was so thankful that he did! The rest of my family was messing up our plans! :) My family was really excited, too. I joked with them that they’re all pretty slow on the uptake since they were so clueless at first.
It was a really fun experience to be able to tell both of our families, and I think they all appreciated the creativity behind the reveal. Now that we are “out” to the whole world, some of them are sharing the story with others, too. It’s cute.
We made the announcement to our families when I was only 5 weeks pregnant. Now? 14 weeks pregnant… tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…
Back in 2003-2004, when The Da Vinci Code was taking the world by storm, I decided to do things the “proper” way (sooo unlike me, right?) and read the first book in Dan Brown’s series… well, first. (Crazy idea, I know.) So I started with Angels and Demons, flying through it pretty quickly, despite being in my senior year of college and not having much interest in reading anything I didn’t have to read. I loooooved Angels and Demons. Later, I went on to read The Da Vinci Code, and although it was entertaining and I liked the mystery surrounding the story, I didn’t find it to be nearly as intriguing as Angels and Demons. Go figure.
I feel much of the same way about Dan Brown’s latest installment in the Robert Langdon series, The Lost Symbol. Was it interesting? Sure. Was it full of Brown’s signature suspense? Yes. Was it entertaining? Uh huh. But still, for me, it could not live up to the thrill of Angels and Demons. Sorry, Mr. Brown!
In The Lost Symbol, Robert Langdon is back, and he is—you guessed it—thrust into another life or death situation in which only his extensive knowledge of symbology and history can save the day. One of Langdon’s close friends, who happens to be an influential leader among the Masons, has been abducted and is being held at the whim of a madman. (On a side note, I always find it amusing how sophisticated the villains’ plans are in Brown’s novels. Oh, the lengths his bad guys will go…)
This time, instead of traveling across the Atlantic to Rome or Paris, Langdon stays closer to home as this mystery unfolds in our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. The story’s villain is after something that he feels only Langdon can give him, which is the knowledge to decipher a very specific code. Of course, it’s not that easy, and we follow Langdon through a harrowing evening of adventure and horror.
As with any other Dan Brown novel, I found myself bored with many of his tangents, during which he uses Langdon’s intelligence and experience to depart from the story to enlighten us about some obscure group of people in history and tells us all about the historic symbols. Some of these things can be interesting, but for most of them, I found myself skimming because for me, a layperson who doesn’t know much about these groups or their symbols, the knowledge adds nothing to the story. Some of it just seems to go on and on… and on. Let’s put it this way—there is a reason why Brown’s books are so long. The man can be long-winded! (I do not know anyone else who has a tendency to be wordy. I do not. Nope. Stop looking at me.)
Still, like I said, I did enjoy the book and it is a departure from the type of novel that I usually enjoy. I ended up buying it for my dad for Christmas, as I knew he would find it interesting as well. He is a history buff and lives not too far away from D.C. After we had both gotten through the book, it was fun to discuss with him.
If you’ve read Dan Brown’s other novels and enjoyed them, I think you’ll enjoy The Lost Symbol, too. If you’ve never read anything by Dan Brown, I recommend starting with Angels and Demons. Although the books in this series do not need to be read in order, I think Angels and Demons is the best way to introduce you to Brown, and get your feet wet in terms of all of the symbology!
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
