Five things.

{via}

-------1-------

My mom and sister went to the best apple orchard in MN today. Who's jealous? Moi.  What I would give for a turnover with cinnamon ice cream...

-------2-------

Today is the first day that it hasn't felt HOT outside. There's an actual chill in the air this afternoon.  While I'm ready for the weather to change over from 90 degrees and humid to something much more pleasant, I'm sad, too, which is strange for me since I love fall! This summer was beautiful, in every sense of the word, even if we did have to turn the bedroom into a makeshift kitchen to survive the heat (that actually happened). The changing season is already making me miss all the wonderful adventures of summertime. 

-------3-------

I finished writing our thank-you notes to all our friends and family last night. I already knew this, and have said it before, but we really do have THE BEST group of friends and the most generous families. Just rereading all the lovely cards put a huge smile on my face. I'm a sucker for all kinds of stationery, even blank cards with puppies on the cover with a quick but heartfelt note inside...so everyone's messages and good wishes made my day. 

-------4-------

I made this for dinner the other night. So, so good, probably the best thing that's happened to cauliflower yet. Ms. Izard does not disappoint. For proof, see here...and here, and here. 

-------5-------

The X-Factor is back. It's one of my guilty pleasures since...last year. We were hooked last fall, probably because it was one of the few things on non-cable tv that we didn't hate watching. It took a bit of adjusting to get used to being limited to 6 channels, though we're doing just fine now...thanks to Netflix, Hulu, etc. But really, I don't know why I like this show - it's basically the same as American Idol and America's Got Talent, which I don't watch at all. Andrew put it well last night, tweeting this: 

Watching #XFactor is like listening to this. You can't help but enjoy it even if you know you should be hating it.

Michael Jackson - Will You Be There - Version Free Willy - [HQ]

Car crash cookies.

No worries, everyone's ok. Everyone except our Avtochko...but he will be fine eventually.

Yesterday, as I was leaving work, I found pieces of my car on the road next to where it was parked. It took a second for me to realize that someone had hit it, but then I saw the note on my windshield (thankfully, there was a note on the windshield!). Apparently an employee of a construction company wasn't paying enough attention to his turns or had some spacial awareness issues. Anyway, long story short, the front of the car is currently strapped on with little plastic ties, the light is broken but will be taped up until it can get properly repaired, and there's quite the scratch that will need a serious paint job. Avtochko will just not look as pretty for a while.

It was a bit of a process to deal with last night (and this morning), but when I came home from work yesterday, I was so glad to have some cookie dough ready in the freezer...and a gin and tonic poured and waiting for me, thanks to my wonderful fiance. I had made the dough for a batch of these peanut butter cookies earlier in the week and thought ahead to not bake the entire amount just then, which made last night's dessert a quick and easy process. I have to admit they didn't turn out as well as they did earlier this week - my mind was elsewhere (and Hannibal was on - anyone else love to be scared by that show?!). But still, this just goes to show how great - and necessary - it is to have cookie dough on hand in the freezer.

Peanut Butter Cookies, adapted from Smitten Kitchen. 
-------------------------

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter (we both like the chunky kind!) 

1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling 

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 Tbsp. milk

1 tsp vanilla extract 

 Chocolate chips, as many as you want! 

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside. 

In the large bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and peanut butter for several minutes until combined and fluffy. Add sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg, milk, and extract, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until dough comes together. Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Drop the dough by a tablespoon onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; sprinkle with extra sugar. Make sure to leave plenty of space between each cookie, as the dough expands quite a bit. Use a fork to make a criss-cross pattern on the cookies. 

Bake for 8-10 minutes. The cookies will look underdone, but they're not, they're just perfectly soft and chewy. Leave them on the baking sheet for about a minute, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. 

I've found that 8 cookies per sheet works well. This ensures you won't eat the entire batch (trust me, you may want to) and leaves plenty of dough to freeze for tomorrow's dessert, unexpected visitors, or emergency situations, as above.  

Strawberries + 30 Rock.

Because of this lovely shift of weather from the 60 degrees we had the day before...

yesterday, I made this! 

Finding a pint of strawberries for 99 cents is super exciting even in summertime, so to find such a deal in the middle of snow and blustery wind was even better. They weren't the sweetest berries, but that didn't really matter for the jam because I just adjusted the amount of sugar as they cooked. 

The other day, Andrew stumbled across this recipe and since we struck gold on the strawberries, we figured it'd be the perfect afternoon to make the tarts. I halved the amounts, which allowed us each to have one for dessert last night and one for breakfast this morning. I have to say they were much better for breakfast. The crust I made was a bit different from Michael Symon's, so it was less flaky than the photo (and the Toaster Strudels of our childhood), but it still tasted great with coffee! 

The strawberry jam was definitely the best part...it just about made me forget that it's the last of January and we're in the dead of winter. Not really, but it did help!

Tonight, we're going to be toasting to the series finale of 30 Rock - hard to believe this show is ending and we won't have Liz or Tracy or Jenna to make us laugh. One of my favorites, and a 30 Rock classic, is "The Rural Juror" from season 1. The absolute best is when Tracy and Jack are exploring the possibility of selling Tracy Jordan's Meat Machine in Ukraine (and mention two places where our family is actually from!!!). Even though the show is ending, meat will ALWAYS be the new bread. 

М'ясо: новий хліб! 

Tracy's photo via 30 Rock's FB Page. 

They're from Minnesota.

Yet another reason to love Parks and Recreation - in last night's episode, Ben tried to explain his parents to Leslie and gave her advice on how to keep them placated: 

Well, they're white people from Minnesota, so hockey, fishing, skiing, sailing, and after a few drinks, put on a Prince album. Don't mention the Green Bay Packers or the state of Iowa.

Excellent. I love this show. Oh, Minnesooooooota, you'll always be home!

Photo via: Entertainment Weekly's Pop Watch. 

The return of Must-See-TV.

Ah, Thursday night, you always had the best TV shows when I was growing up. From Friends, to Will and Grace, to E.R., no matter how much homework I had, I knew that Thursdays meant that the TV would be on for most of the evening so I could watch the best of NBC. 

Arguably the shows on Thursdays now will never compare to what was on in the 90s and early 2000s (to us 20-somethings, some of the best sit-coms and dramas ever!). Whenever new fall episodes of Thursday night shows come back after the summer, I feel like I'm in high school, coming home from piano lessons, ready to watch channel 11, and chat about all the new shows the next morning with my friends at our lockers. Hilarious, and hard to imagine that The Office, which is in its last season this year, was just starting out as we graduated from high school!

Tonight, I'm looking forward to the return of Parks and Recreation (because I'm cool like that), and will be watching SNL's prime-time show. It's usually pretty good during election years, and gets really good right after the presidential debates; remember this classic?

Any favorite shows you're looking forward to watching?