Weekend Baker: Homemade Bagels

Okay, so I love baked goods. Breads, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, all of the above! I'm not a huge baker, because my sixteen-year-old son and ten-year-old daughter have taken over the cookie-making on Sundays.

But a few weeks ago, we decided to make something out of the ordinary. My husband is the real baker in the family, having done artisan breads and such. But we worked together as a team to make these delicious, simple homemade bagels. I mixed the dough and he did everything else, but that's still teamwork, right?

The best part of these is their somewhat crunchy outside combined with their delicious, chewy inside. The trick is boiling them first. I wish it were the weekend so I could bake up another batch of these beauties! And the best part? I had everything in my pantry, and I bet you do too!

Bagels:

2 tsp. dry yeast
1 1/2 T. sugar
1 1/4 c. water
3 1/2 c. flour, plus extra for kneading
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into 1/2 c. water. Leave for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Pour in the dissolved yeast.

2. Pour in half of the remaining water and mix. Stir in the rest of the water, as needed to form a firm, moist dough.

3. Turn the dough onto a well floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Work in extra flour -- this dough should be firm and stiff.

4. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a dish towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about an hour. Punch down and let rest for 10 minutes.

5. Cut the dough into eight equal pieces. Shape into a ball, and make a ring by inserting your finger through the center and working the dough until the hole is about 1/3 of the bagel's diameter. (You can see ours aren't like this. They don't have to be perfect!)

6. Place the bagels on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover. Let rest for 10 minutes. (Dough resting is important! Don't skip this step. It's a weekend recipe!)

7. Bring a large pan of water to a boil, then reduce heat to keep the water at a simmer. Carefully lower the bagels into the water in batches of 2 or 3. Boil, uncovered, until the bagels rise to the surface, about 1 minute. Turn them once.

8. Transfer the drained bagels to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake* at 425 for 20 minutes, until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

*You can use steam in the oven if you'd like. Put a pan of ice cubes in the oven as it preheats, and put the bagels in before the ice has all melted. When the cubes have all melted, remove the pan. You can also use a sprayer. After the oven is at temperature and you've put in the bagels, mist the sides of the oven 8-10 times. Close the oven quickly. Repeat after 2 minutes, and again after 2 more. Be careful not to spray the oven light, heating coils, or oven fan.

Enjoy!

Going Batman

Okay, so my husband is a huge Batman fan. He even wrapped his car in purple vinyl and took off the regular Dodge ornaments and put on Batman ones. No lie.

So it was a milestone birthday for him a few weeks ago, and I'm nothing if not all over birthdays. I think they're super-fun, because it means you made it through another year, alive. That might sound morbid or depressing or whatever, but let's face it. As adults, we don't have as many reasons to celebrate as kids -- and we should! You made it through another year! And I'm sure that year was hard in ways, and YOU DID IT.

Thus, adults get birthday parties too.

For my husband's, I decided to have a cupcake open house. I mean, cupcakes are all the rage, right? And we're sort of hermits, so the open house is the best way to go. Definitive beginning and ending time, no lame party games. It was perfect.

Here are some pictures of the 85 (EIGHTY-FIVE) cupcakes I made for the party.

I made two kinds of cupcakes. These chocolate cupcakes from All Recipes (one of my favorite websites!) were delicious, moist, and absolutely perfect. I baked them the night before. I don't use liners when I make cupcakes and muffins, so these silver ones were just for ease in handling the cupcakes -- and they're pretty! I got them at my local grocery store.

These blonde cupcakes are actually sugar cookie cupcakes. They are THE BEST cupcake on the planet! And it's a recipe from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) that is actually a cake. I took the cake and frosting recipe and made it into cupcakes. I know raspberries taste AMAZING with this cake and icing, and hey. If I eat fruit with my cupcake, I feel like I'm doing something healthy. Ha!

For cupcakes, make the same recipe, but bake at 350 for 20 minutes. I use a Demarle flexipan. It makes the cupcakes crispy and delicious!

My daughter and I made the text toppers. I found a free Batman font and experimented in Word to make them the right size. Text boxes became my best friend! Easy to move without messing everything else up. 

We cut and glued the paper to yellow poster board, then added decorative ribbons and sticks to be able to put them in the cupcakes. A great kid's project to get them involved in helping for the party! They love it -- because they love their moms and dads!

These are frosted with a basic chocolate cream cheese frosting. I also made German chocolate frosting from scratch! They were both a bit hit!

Black table covers and yellow tableware. Easy and inexpensive. Who says partying has to be loads of work and cost a lot? Not Batman!! (I just got these at my local grocery store. They have party supplies like this for 4 packages/$4. Cheap!)

And I love using a cup for my silverware. I don't know when I started doing that, but I think it looks so much better than just lying there on the table. Dimension or something. 

The whole spread. If you don't have one of those tiered serving things, you should get one. I bought mine on a whim at Costco years ago. I can't even tell you how many times I've used it! A LOT.

This is the cake topper. My husband wanted a sugar cookie cupcake with raspberries, so we staked this one as his. 

I bought the Batman cupcake cake toppers/rings and this cake topper from Amazon. Nothing beats Prime shipping -- not even sure Batman could deliver faster! 

We knew we'd be having a lot of kids to the party (because our friends have kids!), so these ring toppers were perfect. It was like a decoration AND a party favor! Double win.

And there you have it. A themed party that was a mega-POW!

I Remember...Someone Remind Me in Four Months

Okay, so whenever something "big" happens with my book, my husband sends out an email to all our family and friends. I like this for two reasons: 1. I don't feel like I'm bragging, and 2. He always says things better than I ever could.

He always sends me a copy of the email too, and then just tells me about the responses people send back. So the latest email went out, and it included some lines that really made me remember. And remember something important.

Here's what he said: Every day she gets more nervous, and more excited. I keep telling her that the goal was to see it on the shelf. Anything else is just gravy. I remind her about that year where we went to the bookstore almost every week to look at the place where her books would be on the shelf in the young adult section if they ever got published. Her dream was to see it there. No matter what happens, her dream is coming true.

And now I'm bawling. At work. I am such a baby.

But anyway, I had forgotten that. I'd forgotten that we used to drive to the bookstore and just stroke spines and finger covers and breathe in the smell of books and wander the aisles and dream about being in the J's of the YA section.

I remember now.

And I hope some of you will remind me of this as I only have FOUR MORE MONTHS before Possession comes out. And it's scary and exciting and overwhelming and I'm sure to forget the weekend trips to the bookstore.

Because it's so easy to get caught up in querying, selling, writing, blogging, twittering, emailing, dancing, reading, living.

What do you need to slow down and remember? I hope you'll do it. But don't cry...I can't have that on my conscience.

Things I Can't Live Without

My blog holiday post last week got me thinking about real things I can't live without. It didn't help that that very morning, I was aroused from a deep sleep when I heard my garage door open. See, I thought my husband had been in the shower, the water was running. I love that white noise while I sleep. But I digress.

The shower was off. The garage door had opened. My heart felt like lead. I didn't even have to get up to know what was going on.

The hot water heater had gone out. Again. That's right, peeps. AGAIN. Just fourteen months ago, I gave up a right kidney to keep my tiny townhome supplied with hot water. Seriously. With what a plumber costs, that's about what it took.

So here I was again. I didn't shower. Went to work. Was on the phone when my first class (of 6th graders) came in. When I hung up, I told them I was having a life moment and that this was my "unshowered" look.

They all stared. They had that look in their eyes like they weren't sure if I was kidding or not. Then one of them said, "Mrs. Johnson, it looks the same as your showered look."

*major snarfage*

So anyway, now I've been thinking about things I can't live without. And you guessed it. Hot water is way up there. Here's my top five, in no particular order.

1. Reality TV
2. Music
3. Hot water
4. Dove dark
5. My kiddos

Hmm...writing didn't make the list, but it would probably be in the top ten. What's your top five? Lay it on me baby. I showered today. In super-hot, scalding water. And no, I still have a functioning kidney. Barely.

Getting to Know You...

Getting to know all about you. Yeah, cue the music, people. (And name that movie/play, if you can.)

Okay, I don't know how many of you are actual subscribers and how many of you slipped and accidentally hit that subscribe button and now you don't know how to undo it. But I'm glad you're here! I love blogging, and I love comments.

So today is "Getting to Know You" day. I want to know who you are! I can see my followers (and I always try to click on you and follow you back. Yes, I have the sheep syndrome from time to time.) and it's fun to see your tiny heads on the side. But I don’t really know you.

So here's the deal. Leave me a comment with who you are. Who you hope wins Survivor or American Idol. What you do for a living. Your favorite food. Whatev. A short little blurb about yourself.

If it were me, I might say something like this: "I write YA fiction, adore reality TV, drive way too fast, and wish bacon alone could sustain life." It doesn't have to be like, your entire life history or anything. But just a little something to get to know you.

And I'm gonna bribe you to do it. Food usually works with teenagers and husbands, but since I can't send you my infamous chocolate pie through cyberspace, I'm going to offer up a copy of TANTALIZE by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Hey, the book is about a girl who runs a restaurant and that's totally food-related, so it's all good. So get introducing yourselves!

**Winners will be chosen by random number. No Sprite-spewage on this. Although bonus points will be awarded for that. ;)

(Sc)Hairy Commentary

So I got a haircut. I always know it's going to be quite the day at school when I do. See, I teach elementary school. Grades K - 6, and I see the whole school over a two-day period. So I knew last week would be one of those endurance weeks where I have to answer the obvious question of "Did you cut your hair?" like a billion times. With a smile.

Add to that this one: "Did you dye your hair?"

Yes, kiddies. Yes, I did.

So I bought copious amounts of Dove dark and braced myself for the onslaught of obvious questions. Through it all, there were some pretty darn funny looks, staring, double-takes, and yes, even laughing. On Wednesday, I channeled a chicken and most of my hair on top stuck straight up in one of those things-that-chickens-have-that-no-one-knows-what-they're-called.

I also got a lot of funny comments:

1. From a fifth grader (yes, I'm smarter than they are): "It's weird...but I like it."

2. From a third grader: "Is that a wig?"

3. From a fifth grader: "You look like a rockstar." (If only they knew...)

4. From a kindergartener: "You look like my mom."

5. From a sixth grader: "Bok, bok, bok, b-gok!"


And last, but not least. From my dear hubby (DH).

DH: "I really like this style, babe. It's way better than your last one."
Me: "The last one was a stepping stone to this one."
DH: "That was one ugly stone."

I told you I could barely go out in public. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought so. *snarf*

New Hair Pics!

EDIT: I redid the pictures because they were so dark. Who knew?

Okay, so around October of last year, I became dissatisfied with my current hairstyle. (That sounds so professional. Dissatisfied…) Anyway, I've pretty much had the same hair cut for about eight years. Some might say it's because I'm so consistent. Yeah, let's go with that.

Anyway, so I was out enjoying the last of the fall sunshine at Gardner Village. While eating lunch, I saw a woman and she had the cutest hair cut. Now, if I would have been with my husband and kids, I would have said how much I liked it, received some noncommittal grunt in return and that would have been the end of it.

As it was, I was with two sister-in-laws and my mother-in-law. I mentioned it, expecting the same gutteral noise I always get from the DH. I should have known better. My SIL jumps up and tells the woman how much we love her hair. After much gushing by all, out comes the cell phone and pictures are taken.

I love my sister-in-laws.

Anyway, I took the picture to my stylist (as they are called these days), but my hair wasn't long enough in the front. So she cut it in the style, with the intention that it would look more the way it was supposed to the next time I came in.

This was Thanksgiving. I haven't been back because I've been see-sawing with myself over what I really want to do with it. Sometimes I think it looks like claymation. Sometimes I think it looks all right. Sometimes I think it looks like a toupee. It's really been quite embarrassing to go out in public at all.

Until yesterday. That's right. I got a haircut.

And since I *heart* those infomercials with the before and after pictures, I took some of my own. Hee hee.

Before: Yeah, see why I can't go out in public? Ugh. Not to mention that I have no makeup on in this picture and I haven't tweezed in, like, forever. There's only so much a girl can do.























And...after:

Yes, I dyed it. Dark. Really, really dark. No, I am not a vampire. Nor do I want to be a vampire. I just like dark hair. I might put some highlights in it later on. Maybe some red, whatev. Cuz hair just isn't hair unless it's not your natural color. At least that's my mantra.

I love it. Love is not even a strong enough word for how I feel about my hair right now. It's finally long enough in the front to pull off the whole holy-crap-my-hair-is-like-fifty-different-lengths look.

Here's another one from the side so you can see how uber-short the back is. I haven't actually had to do it myself yet, and that may be a little problematic. We'll see.

And yes, I did take in Adam Lambert's picture. I'm sort of channeling his sultry look in this photo, which I know Kate is just gonna love. Oh well, I've been doing the photos forever and it's annoying. So there. That's as good as they're gonna get.

A Good Day - My DH is Funnier Than Me

I love my DH (darling hubby). He is awesome. And he's hilarious, which sorta makes me a little jealous and not at all jealous at the same time. Because I love to laugh, and I'm glad I have someone who makes me guffaw on a daily basis.

Here's some of my favorite stuff about him.

1. He thinks the television (producers, actors, directors, I'm not really sure) industry has a commercial conspiracy against him. Personally. Because all the stations go to commercial at the same time. He loathes commercials. I'm not sure that's a strong enough word for how he feels about commercials. But a commercial conspiracy? Whatev.

2. He can make up lyrics to any song at any time in any situation. He plays the guitar and sings to his class at the end of every school year. Last year he did "One More Minute" by Weird Al Yankovic. He changes the words to education stuff. Here's a snippet:

I'd rather rip out my intestine with a pen
Than have you in my room ever again
I'd rather staple my fingers in the floor
Again, and again, and again, and again, and again
Oh, can't you see what I'm trying to say kiddies

I'd rather have my brain fried by your questions
Shove a ruler under a toenail or two
I'd rather clean out the upstairs faculty bathroom with my tongue
Than spend..one more minute...with you.

Yes, I'd rather dive naked on a huge pile of thumbtacks
Or stick my nostrils together with Elmer's glue
I'd rather dive into a garbage can filled with last week's leftovers from the lunchroom
Than spend...one more minute...with you.

And you should have seen him perform it. It was hil-freaking-arious.

3. We can perform an episode of Seinfeld before it airs. He always gets the best lines and I'm left laughing while trying to say mine. It's totally not fair.

4. He always says he can learn to do anything in three days. Watching Michael Phelps swim in the Olympics. "Give me three days," DH says. Dancing with the Stars, the quickstep. "Three days, I could do that." He's sorta like that dad on My Big Fat Greek Wedding who challenges everyone to tell him a word and he'll show you how it came from the Greeks. Yeah, that's my DH. He almost dares us to give him something he can't do in three days. The convo goes something like this:

Son: Fly an airplane.
DH: Done that.
Daughter (she's 4): Um...waddle like a penguin.
DH: Three days.
Son: Win the Australian Open.
DH: Give me something hard.
So I say: Write a book.
He rolls eyes eyes, scoffs, and says, "Please. I could do that in one day."

I spewed Ginger Ale that day.

It was a good day.

Being Thankful Day 3

I'm just gonna launch right into it:

I am thankful for my husband.

This past weekend, he did something really amazing. See, we've been having some problems with our milk. I don't know why, maybe the cow gods are trying to tell me that I snarf too much of the stuff, who knows? All I know, is I bought three gallons of milk a couple of Mondays ago and by Wednesday, they were all off. Like rotten. I dumped them and bought three more. On Wednesday. So I made the infamous Oreo pie for my SIL's birthday and had some leftover Oreos. What goes with Oreos? You guessed it: milk. (In fact, it's the best partnership of food on the planet, even better than peanut butter and jelly. Wait. Are Oreo's considered food? In my world, yes. In fact, in my world, that's all you'd have to eat to stay alive. Oh, and bacon. Definitely bacon. Wow, this is a long tangent.)

Anyhoo, so I poured myself a big ole glass of milk and got some Oreos. The. Milk. Was. Bad.

I. Was. Mad.

It was Sunday night. So I bought said milk on Wednesday and it's bad four days later? That didn't seem right. So the hubby, who has the nose of a bloodhound, has been saying that the fridge stinks for a couple of days. I think it's his way of saying I need to be a better housekeeper, but after twelve years of matrimony, I'm pretty good at ignoring him when he says something smells.

But now that the milk is bad--again--I start rooting through the fridge for the culprit. I am convinced there is something in my fridge that is responsible for the spoilage of my white gold. Seriously. Hey, I'm no biologist. I don't get bacteria. I do get that my milk was bad. And I had the perfect food combo...and I couldn't enjoy it.

So I determined that this old nasty tupperware of sauerkraut was the reason our milk was going bad in only a few days. Lame, in hindsight. But I can barely see in foresight, so I have to analyze my past choices in order to have 20/20 vision.

I take out the offender and pour it down the disposal. I gag. I hate sauerkraut. We only have it for the hubby. It was dees-gust-ing. So of course the disposal gets plugged up. Of course. So I'm plunging. Nothing. Running the disposal. Nothing. I don't have one of those ultra-mother disposal's that you can put the top of pineapple down, but I like to pretend that I do. Not a good idea.

So my husband gets under the sink and undoes the s-bend and all this sick sauerkraut water, along with 4 bendy straws and all twelve eggshells I used on the chocolate pie, chugs into the bucket. Gross. He cleaned it all out, took out the barfalicious water and my sink was fixed.

See why I'm so thankful for him?

Now, did this solve my milk problem? I have no idea. I bought some milk the next day at a different store and it was fine. But by then, the Oreos were gone. Life lesson in all this? The perfect food combination only comes around every once in a while. You better hope your milk isn't bad when it happens.