Roll, instead of fold, your towels

If space in your linen closet is tight, consider rolling your towels instead of folding them.
http://lifehacker.com/5878369/roll-your-towels-instead-of-folding-them-to-save-space-and-de+clutter-your-linen-closet

If ever you need a mason jar shaker

This might be useful for sprinkling baking soda or washing soda into a tub to clean it. I'm sure there are a myriad of other uses for this little tip:
http://plathsadventures.com/2011/09/26/a-thrift-store-find-and-a-canning-jar-tip/

sickening

If you are still wondering if it's true that there is growing inequality between the rich and everyone else, check this out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/nyregion/chefs-butlers-and-marble-baths-not-your-average-hospital-room.html?src=me&ref=general

Keep a cake fresh with bread

Found this tip online on how to keep a cake moist and fresh by placing a slice of bread on top. Seems pretty cool. I generally don't leave my cakes out overnight, but if I do, I'll try to keep this tip in mind:

http://bakedbree.com/wess-birthday-cake

Possible reason for bee colony collapse?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2012/01/04/bees-being-turned-into-zombies-by-parasite-115875-23677687/

This sounds really horrible. Poor honey bees.

Chocolate filled beignets

Something wonderful happens when you add chocolate to an already decadently sweet pastry. It becomes even more delicious and decadent! Luckily, I have been making these in small batches of two per person, or you can bet we would have eaten more!

So in a previous post, I made beignets. Today, I made beignets filled with chocolate. Just roll out some brioche dough and cut to size. Then fill with semisweet morsels, seal them like packages, then fry 'em up! They are ready when brown on both sides. Yum!

You can find a great recipe for brioche dough in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. Great book!

Beignets

I first had beignets in New Orleans at the famous Cafe Du Monde. If you're ever in New Orleans, you have to have the Beignets with the Cafe Au Lait. Their coffee is a brew of coffee with chicory, which I think is a kind of nut, but I could be wrong.

In any case, the beignets were incredible! They were delicious, light and fried. What's not to love? Ever after, no beignet I had elsewhere could measure up. So I was very intrigued when I saw that you can make beignets at home by frying up some brioche dough. I found this in the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (my new favorite book!).

So yesterday, I made some brioche dough to chill overnight in the fridge. This morning, hubby ground up some raw sugar in our mortar and pestle to make powdered sugar while I rolled out a small amount of dough and cut them into 2 inch squares. While letting the squares rise and rest for 20 minutes (they didn't rise very much), I heated up oil in my wok. I was a little worried that the beignets wouldn't come out fluffy since they didn't rise much, but after slipping them into the hot oil, they puffed up nicely! I let them lightly brown on each side before draining and sprinkling with the powdered sugar and serving.

They were better than most I've ever had, though probably still not as good as Cafe Du Monde's! Hubby approved of this new food experiment and whole-heartedly thinks I should make more. Success! I would post pictures, but we ate them all. :-(

You can find the brioche dough recipe here:
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2008/09/24/brioche-dough-recipe-and-all-of-its-wonderful-uses
The post also includes links to other goody bread yummies you can make with brioche dough.

Cool housekeeping ideas

My favorites are storing sheets in their own pillow cases, using baby powder to get beach sand off, how to neatly fold a fitted sheet (always did have issues with this one!), and storing holiday decorations in egg cartons.

Enjoy!
http://angelaadkins.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/25-clever-ideas-to-make-life-easier/

Momofuku cookies

During the holiday season, I had the good luck to try some of Momofuku's cookies. I had the Compost cookie and the Corn cookie... and they were one of the most delicious cookies I have ever eaten! They were rather large, so when I got them, I had planned to eat only half of a cookie and save the rest for later. Needless to say, I scarfed it all down! I couldn't stop myself! They were sooooooo good!

Then recently, I came across this recipe:
http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2010/02/momofuku_milk_bars_compost_cookie_recipe.html
Holy cow! I can't believe you can make these yourself!
You can better your butter I am going to be trying this recipe out!

Pre-K

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/nyregion/underground-pre-k-groups-often-illegal-abound-in-new-york.html?pagewanted=1&ref=nyregion

Apparently, the woman in the above article is freaking out about her kid "falling behind" when entering kindergarten. So to her, preschool is a must. Personally, I think she needs to chill. Why? Because kids learn fast when they're young. Many parents who cite the benefits of Pre-K don't talk about how the kids learn a lot of stuff, but say that the benefits mainly lie in the children picking up social skills in a classroom setting and helps with separation anxiety before reaching kindergarten. Okay, I can see that, but is it worth paying thousands of dollars for? Not sure.

Parents in NYC and around the country seem to have, at times, lost their collective minds. I am constantly getting the feeling, when I read such articles, that if I don't do everything just right and rob my kids of any free play, then I will have failed to give my child every chance to do well in life. Everything is about applying pressure on yourself as a parent to get the kids into the BEST schools at age two through college. The constant feeling of you-can't-EVER-screw-up-EVER attitude induces the kind of stress that can give you ulcers and keep you up at night.

Schools aren't even about educating the kids anymore. At least not to the parents. To the parent under high pressure (and in turn applying high pressure to their children), school is about getting good grades to get into good schools to get good money. At the heart of it, is almost seems like the attitude of these parents is, "Who cares if the kids learn anything? As long as they end up rich and give me plenty of bragging rights, I'll be proud!" I am sure that is not true of most parents who want the best schools for their kids, but these articles in the NYTimes are giving the impression that NYC parents are a bit insane with too much money to burn.

Baked eggs, shirred eggs

I recently discovered the deliciousness of baked eggs, otherwise known as shirred eggs. It is simple, yummy, customizable and great with toast points. Perfect for an easy breakfast that can be made in a toaster oven.

All it takes is cracking an egg into an oven-proof cup or ramekin, adding a tablespoon of cream or milk to keep the egg from drying out and then baking it to the desired consistency. Bake longer for a firmer texture and shorter for a runnier texture. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper or whatever bits of cheese you have lying around before placing in the oven for flavor.

My favorite way of making shirred eggs is to preheat my toaster oven to 375 degrees F, crack an egg into a ramekin, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and back for at least 10 minutes. I bake until the whites are just set, but still a bit jiggly. If you like your eggs less runny, you may have to bake for another 5 minutes or so. When you take them out, the ramekins are hot to touch to I usually let it rest for 5 minutes. I usually can't wait longer than that to start digging in with a toast point or spoon!