PeaNUT Butter Gal My yummilicious adventures in kitchen land

I love new year. It’s my favorite day of the year. I love the lights, the delicious goodies, the family and long lost friends and the overall feeling that I’m on the verge of something great… that any minute now something very grand and exciting could happen. This year I decided to put my new found hobby to the test and make a really festive new years cake for my family. I made a red velvet cake with a cheesecake middle layer and cream cheese frosting and I decided to add a tinge of crazy to it by dotting it all over with white chocolate chips to make it look like this:

Other than the fact that it turned out to be a dark pink velvet cake instead of red, it turned out amaaaaaazing. The cake layer were moist and fluffy and the cheesecake tasted like creamy clouds. the frosting was creamy, light and not too sweet. I think this was the first time I got the frosting right.

Anyway, it was a big hit, and it was totally worth the time it took to place all the tiny chocolate chip bits in place. I watched a Woody Allen movie while I was doing it so those were well spent 3 hours of my life :)

As a new year thing, this year I made no resolutions, but I did decide to join The Daring Kitchen to embrace the changes that happened in my life last year and to explore something new and exciting. I can’t wait to get the first daring bakers challenge!!!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone, may this be a year of fulfilled hopes, dreams and aspirations!

As 2012 comes racing toward me i started thinking about the past year of my life. I’ve moved to a new city, moved to my own apartment (no roomies), started a doctorate at a great school, was fortunate enough to meet amazing new friends, went to Spain, took one surfing lesson (the surfing board hit me in the head so many times i though all my teeth would fall out) and sold my 20 year old car. But the most shocking thing that happened to me this year was that after 26 years of ignoring the existence of a kitchen (I was seriously considering to convert my kitchen to a storage room), fearing knives, peelers and in general anything that was not a fork, I discovered the wonders of baking, that was followed by fearfully discovering the wonders of cooking. Some of my friends were so shocked that they seriously suggested i see a therapist because they feared I’m having some kind of a “I’m 3 years away from 30” crisis, but the constant flow of baked goods helped cross them over to the dark side; after all…. I had the cookies :). Anyway, I think this is the place to thank my friends “N” and “H” for introducing me to the wonders of the kitchen and supporting me through my numerous nervous breakdowns (It disturbs my mental health when the frosting is not perfectly aligned).

So there… I admit… I have a problem!!! I have become one of those enthusiastic (slightly deranged) people that treat every cupcake as if it were their newborn child. I hereby officially embrace my new life and new (mostly) delicious hobby, and welcome the new year with open arms! May 2012 be as surprising as 2011.