Hot Air Balloon Festival

Last weekend we got up bright and early and headed to Urbana to watch hot air balloons.

The site had a small carnival that was shut down at the time.

The first balloons...

Giant Strawberry Balloon

Grimes Field:

I've just started trying to edit some of my pictures with Picasa. I'm very proud of this one, I took out a man, 2 traffic cones and a few shadows... pretty good!

Philly's Lolita

A while ago, one of my very best friends, Mary, came to visit me in Philly. Even though she was only in town for a little while we still had a fantastic time and managed to hit most of the Philly highlights. I took her to all of my favorite Philly spots including Max Brenner, Reading Terminal, and the Game Piece Plaza across from Love Park and City Hall. We even had time to experiment with Lush Cosmetic's henna hair dye.

Orange-Ginger Glazed Pork Carnitas

We stopped for a light dinner at Lolita, a BYO Tequila restaurant. Lolita is cash only which is kind of a bummer (I've had to run to the ATM both times I've eaten there, oops) but their dishes and margarita mixes are fantastic!

This is the "tamal de humberto con huatilacoche, pollo y mole rojo." Whew. In other words, its a chicken tamale with homemade masa (the corn tamale) and red mole sauce. The tamale was fantastic and huge. Between the two of us we split three apps, the tamale, orange-ginger glazed pork carnitas and Lolita's version of chips and guac. They serve their guacamole with traditional tortilla chips, slivered plantains and malanga de coco chips. Overall, I really enjoy Lolita. My only gripes are their $18/person minimum and cash only policies!

Veggie Hot Dogs

After talking with friends and trying to be health conscious for a few months, I decided to give vegetarian hot dogs a shot. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the occasional Nathan's or Hebrew National dog but I figured I might as well give them a try.

I used a panini press grill to cook the dogs. I cooked them for about 4 minutes, 2 on each side until they were a little charred and sizzly.

I paired my dogs with shelled edamame, baby carrots, Sabra's delicious roasted pine nut hummus and TONS of yellow mustard.

So how did my taste test go? Not bad! The taste was okay, a little bland maybe. The biggest downfall of the veggie dog is probably the bite. A regular hot dog should have a little "crunch" or "pop" when you bite through the casing. These were a little... chewy? Maybe? I'm not sure what the right word would be. I give them about a 3 out of 5. Stay tuned for a veggie sausage review!

Fun with Camera+

Taken after a huge downpour on our drive home:

Clean

Edited with Camera+

Scene: Clarity

FX Effect: HDR

Buttercream Butter Cake (Butter, Butter, Butter)

This is the greatest cake ever... EVER.

This beauty is a butter recipe cake with homemade buttercream icing and strawberries sandwiched in the middle. Yum.

The cake was a trial run for my soon to be sister-in-law's grad party this weekend. I also used the opportunity to practice frosting roses. I used a 1M Wilton tip. I made a mess but none of the frosting went to waste, trust me!

This makes a massive 2 layer cake for about 40 people.

The Cake (per layer):

• 2 boxes Duncan Hines Butter Recipe cake mix (follow the directions but undercook the cake a little to keep it moist)
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 6 eggs
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 12x18 in cake pan (2 in deep)
• 1 14x20 cake board

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a 12x18 in sheet cake pan REALLY well. This is a really big cake, I had some trouble getting it out of the pan. While heating the oven, mix all the ingredients together using a hand mixer. I put the beater on high for about 2-3 minutes. Pour the batter into the sheet cake pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes until cooked through but still moist.

As soon as you pull the cake out of the oven, loosen it up and turn it out onto your cake board. Wrap immediately with plastic wrap to keep it moist as it cools.

Stay tuned for the homemade frosting recipe...

Dessert Pitas

Ingredients:

1 Whole wheat pita

4 marshmallows

2 TBS Nutella

1/4 c strawberries and raspberries

1/4 to 1/2 c Cool Whip

I whipped these up with my soon to be sister-in-law! First we split a whole wheat pita in half and toasted it for a few minutes. Then we smeared about 1 TBS nutella inside the pita. I filled mine with jumbo marshmallows (halved), raspberries and strawberries. The pitas are topped with a fabulous pile of cool whip and one perfect raspberry... YUM.

Blackberry Tart

We're stuck on the tarmac in Houston and it's a million degrees on our airplane. I need a distraction so I thought I'd share my most recent treat and my last cleaning-out-the-fridge-recipe: Blackberry Tart. This was the first time I had ever used a tart pan and it turned out pretty well. The crust was a little dry and difficult to work with, but otherwise it turned out perfectly!

I also managed to sneak in a healthier surprise. Instead of using a heavy cream or whole milk to make the custard I used Silk's coconut vanilla milk. The stuff is delicious and it's only 90 calories per cup. That's right, this is a low cal coconut blackberry tart!