Cooookies
Stefan’s friends from high school had a little reunion of sorts this past weekend and I did a bunch of baking. Blueberry Muffins, Cinnamon Muffins, Biscotti, and 2 types of yummy cookies.
One is a Brown Sugar Sugar Cookie
and the other is a Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Cookie
Both are delish and super rich. It makes good sense to make them together since one used the yolk and one uses the white of an egg but otherwise, they are an odd pair.
Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Cookie
– Adapted from “America’s Test Kitchen”
1/2 Cu granulated Sugar
1 1/2 Cu flour
3/4 Cu Hersheys Dark Cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/8 tsp salt
1/2 Cu dark corn syrup
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 Tbs unsalted Butter
1/3 Cu Dark Brown Sugar
4 Oz Semisweet Chocolate Chips
Beat at medium speed – butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar
Beat until light and fluffy
Add Corn Syrup, Egg White, and Vanilla
Beat until combined
Add dry ingredients – Flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt
Beat until combined
add Chocolate chips
Drop onto cookie Sheet
bake 11 Min at 374F
Bake until cracks form and inside the cracks looks under-baked
I use the Medium Cookie Scoop because Stefan’s co-workers made fun of my little cookies so I try to make them a little bigger now. Silly reason but there you have it.
This is the scoop I have. If you have some spare time and want to read some very serious reviews on why this is the best cookie scoop on the market, I highly recommend it.
For the Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies I use the small scoop. They are so rich that the bigger scoop is just silly.
Brown Sugar Sugar Cookies
– Adapted from “America’s Test Kitchen”
14 Tbs Unsalted Butter
1 3/4 Cu Dark Brown Sugar
2 Cu Flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 lg egg
1 lg egg yolk
1 Tbs vanilla extract
Brown 10 Tbs of the butter
Put in a bowl with the remaining 4 Tbs butter to melt
Get your ingredients together while the butter cools a few min
mix butter, brownsugar, and salt
add eggs and vanilla and mix
add dry ingredients (flour, soda, powder) and mix until combined
drop cookies on sheet
bake at 350F for 12 to 14 min
Bathroom Update
It’s been slow but steady progress on the master bathroom. The emergency gas engineer came last week and checked for the hot water supply only to find and fix the broken line. The only thing taking time is the tiling of the bathroom. There is SO MUCH tile in that room. I’m to the point where I never want to see another subway tile in my life!
I had really hoped to get the shower finished last week before my impromptu trip to Austin for a Girl’s Weekend with my sister and our super good childhood friend Alex. Alas, it was not to be. Should have called the experts at Superior Shower Door & More, really. After I realized I didn’t have enough tile to finish, I lost steam and didn’t manage to even finish the “easy” parts.
I’ve got that top of the short side of the shower and all the edging around the curb to do. I’m not looking forward to that edging but once I get going, hopefully it won’t take long.
On the plus side, the toilet is in and functional!
It’s an ugly toilet but it fits under the window. whohoo! Also, it ran really bad when we first installed it and Stefan took it apart and fixed it while I was off gallivanting in Austin, also we added Air Conditioning trough the bathroom.
- It’s good advice to arrange for 3-5 free quotes when shopping for a new AC unit, because service call fees will get expensive
- Each contractor will bring new information and generate new questions for you.
- Reinterview your two favorites and negotiate the best price
- A lot of factors go into a proper air conditioning system replacement, so make sure you get all of the facts through several interviews before hiring residential air conditioning services.
- This Process will guarantee you to get the best deal!
Stefan also installed the medicine cabinets! We had the position all figured out but he still had to cut the holes in the drywall and cut the holes in the studs and the boxes themselves so that I could have these handy tooth-brush charging outlets in my medicine cabinets!
Here is Stefan preparing the Right cabinet
and here is the final product with the light above. I love those lights!
I haven’t tossed the mirrors in either but it’s still under construction and the fewer times I have to clean those mirrors in my life, the better!
There’s still a bit of electric to do and a lot of cleaning but other than that, we’re waiting on tile. I’d like to get the tile done before the sinks go in since the sink area is my workshop for tiling but I’ve got to keep Stefan busy and he’s itching to get those sinks in!
Just a few more pictures to give you a sense of how much tiling I’ve done this past month.
SO MUCH TILE! I’m excited to be done with it and then I remember I’m doing white subway on the backsplash too, I definitely need to visit the bathroom showroom again! Luckily that will be a relatively quick job.
Sarah
Shopping for my Sister
My sister is moving into a new, larger apartment and has been on the hunt for some good pieces of furniture to give her a more grown-up style, I decided to help her out before it is time for the movers to come in.
I thought I’d share some of the great pieces we’ve found for her.
FIrst off, I love this couch.
Puebla Convert-a-Couch Convertible Sofa Color: Smoky Charcoal Gray Linen / Greek Key
from: Wayfair
It comes in several colors including Blue, Purple, and Green.
I haven’t even told you the best part… $505!!!
We’ve also found a bunch of great rugs which are one of the points highlighted in the article Sprucing Up Your Home: 3 Simple Transformations. This is a neat geometric one that is on super sale for the next 2 days.
It would go great with the gray sofa above.
They are primarily furnishing the office/guest bedroom and my brother-in-law needs a nice desk. I think this one is just really neat and at $171 not badly priced. There are plenty options of where to look for office furniture.
Toss a big canvas art print of Monet’s Water Lillies up for another $33 and you’ve got yourself a room!
Claude Monet “Lavender Water Lillies” Canvas Wall Art Size: 18″ H x 24″ W x 0.1″ D
We also bought a pair of umbrellas from UK’s leading branded umbrella suppliers. They look very attractive and attract the views of others. Because of what they fit perfectly into the interior.
My sister and her husband are moving at the end of the month and I can’t wait to see what she does with the place, hopefully she get the help she needs from one of these local moving companies. I envy her ability to jump right into decorating but I’m living vicariously.
Sarah
A Walk around Arlington
I find you all have been sorely neglected. It’s been nearly 2 weeks since you’ve heard anything of the house! I’m afraid I have started many projects and finished none. To top it all off, I’ve been occupied for several weekends in a row and the coming weekend is no exception. On top of all that, our camera broke making it impossible for me to take decent pictures of anything regardless of the fact that they haven’t been finished!
As I walked back from dropping the poor damaged camera off at the post-office, I thought I’d take the chance to take you on a iPhone tour of Arlington center.
The post office is on a side-street from the main drag. It’s a neat old brick building. It was curiously built in 1935 perhaps as some depression era work project. It has big old wooden doors and a grand granite stoop. There is always a nice flag outside which I always appreciate.
I took this rather bad iPhone photo but Wikipedia has a better one. The building is listed on the National Historic Registry but my cursory web search yielded no more details than that. Perhaps I will do some more detailed portraits on some of the neat old buildings but for now, just a tour.
Once we come back onto Massachusetts Avenue, the main route in town, we can see the spire of the town hall.
Another royalty free photo on Wikipedia:
The town hall building was built in 1913 with a large annex added in 1955. It has a large and gorgeous hall inside and Stefan and I applied for our marriage license with the town clerk on the second floor. A nice article on the Town Hall and Robbins Library is available at this link.
Next to the town hall separated only by a nice park is the Robbins Library. First built in 1807, the original structure was torn down and replaced in 1872 with a size-doubling addition in 1994. It is now under construction again as some roof repairs are being done.
An interesting anecdote about the library. In 1835 a donation was made to start a children’s section at the library. This donation allowed for Robbins Library to be the longest continuous free children’s library in the nation.
If we continue on down the road home, we see a rather out-of-place clock tower. This tower belongs to the modern and frankly rather ugly Unitarian Universalist church. The clock does chime every hour as do some of the decidly prettier churches in town.
Across the street from the ugly church, there is a nice old bank building.
Red brick and pretty, the building is old but not super grand or ornate. What is cool are the banners flying in the street. Town Day is happening in just a couple weeks! The whole of Arlington Center is blocked off and there is a nice street festival right in the square. I’ll be sure to do a post on the Town Day since it just has such an idyllic small-town charm to it.
I should point out that thus far, all the sights of interest except the bank are on the south side of the street. Directly to the north of the ugly church is a row of neat storefronts.
To the north of the red-brick bank is an old house which is now an art museum with a neat little park out front. Once upon a time the train ran right through that park and there was presumably also some sort of train station in the vicinity. The rail path is now the Minuteman Bike Path and provides a direct route from Arlington Center into Lexington to the north and Alewife Station (on the Red Line) to the south.
I mention is little park because it has this sign:
Click the image to take you to the Wikipedia page regarding the hero.
Past another 2 blocks of restaurants and a cross streat which claims a used book shop and a cinema, you get to the firestation on a triangle bordered by Massachusetts Ave, Broadway, and Franklin St.
The fire house is octagonal and rather cool looking. The grounds of the station also have a veterans memorial with a revolutionary monument, civil war monument, and vietnam war memorial.
From Central Fire Station, we are just a stones throw from home. I pass an arts and crafts supply store, a baby boutique and a hair salon before I am greeted by houses. It’s a nice walk from the post office and it’s been nice to share it with you.
Sarah
