To change or not to change?

I've been pretty frustrated with Verizon customer service over the last three months, and have found out that the early termination fee is prorated based on how many months you've been in your contract, so I'm seriously considering leaving for another carrier. That said, I've been looking at Sprint and AT&T as my replacement. I crossed T-Mobile off the list when I visited a store and all the phones were fake display models. I heard some bad things about their new 3G service, and the fact that you aren't allowed to try out the phones makes it seem like they're hiding something.

I hear tons of bad things about AT&T, but all my cousins have that service and don't have a problem, and when I had it for two years, I didn't notice anything bad. I hear really bad things about the iPhone, but it wasn't even on my list of phones because I want a keyboard. My brother highly recommends Sprint and his smartphone doesn't have problems when he's visiting me in Manhattan or Brooklyn. I'd hate to stay with Verizon because they have a monopoly on NYC - it makes them seem more evil to me in a "Ha ha, you have no choice" way.

Lo and behold, I discovered this site that shows users' cell phone signal strength and dead spots. It pretty much shows that no service is flawless in NYC. I'm thinking of a Blackberry Curve 8900 or the new Palm Pre from Sprint at this point, unless AT&T gets a new iPhone that has decent coverage, a realy QWERTY, and MMS capability.

Remembering SF

We finally framed three of the photographs we bought in SF this past weekend. These were done by Sarka-Trager Photography and we actually met Richard Trager when we purchased the photos. I think these photos are my favorite souvenir from SF (as we've consumed almost all the wine we shipped back home), and every time I walk by, I think of that lovely day at the Ferry Building.

I can't wait to go back! But you know, gotta save money for the wedding and all.

Frozen yogurt at home

Yesterday, Josh and I were shopping in Red Hook and on the way back, I begged for him to swing by Park Slope so I could buy some frozen yogurt from Oko. Oko's froyo is fresh and tangy like Pinkberry, but is made from Greek style yogurt, which results in a richer taste and consistency. The frozen yogurt was delicious, a large (I shared with Josh, so I'm not a total piggy) topped with strawberry, kiwi, and mango.

When I got home, I searched for a froyo recipe similar to Pinkberry and immediately, this one popped up in Google. The recipe is actually from David Lebovitz's cookbook, Perfect Scoop, so I'm not going to display the recipe here due to copyright issues. I'm explaining myself because I'm tired of people accusing me of plagiarism because they didn't bother seeing I linked to the actual recipe.

The recipe is super easy and requires just Greek yogurt (I used Fage) and granulated sugar. I skipped the vanilla extract because I wanted the plain flavor that I normally order at Pinkberry or Oko. I was concerned that the granulated sugar wasn't going to dissolve in the thick, cold yogurt, but the next day, the sugar was all gone, leaving me with a sweetened yogurt base to pour into my ice cream maker.

Twenty minutes later.... a dreamy, rich frozen yogurt. It's definitely not Pinkberry because it's way richer, so I think it's more like Oko. The results, topped with strawberry and a drizzle of honey, got an enthusiastic thumbs-up from Josh and my tastebuds.



It's so dreamy, it gets a fancy photo-edit-makeover!

Cupcake success!

Josh and I split the cupcakes and brought them to work today. The recipe was extremely accurate, as I came out with 49 cupcakes (Bakerella said it'd produce about 50). The cupcakes were fine at room temperature, and I ate the last one with my afternoon tea, finding that it didn't seem as sweet as I remember from yesterday.

Josh says we're definitely going to make these for our annual NFL Draft Day party. I have plans to make it a little easier though, provided that I can find a football cookie cutter of appropriate size. I have a lot of ideas for flavor combinations and I can't wait to get started!

Bakerella's Cupcake Bites!

I am addicted to Pioneer Woman's blog, and read about Bakerella's visit to PW's home for a baking demonstration. These little cupcake bites grabbed my attention and I spent the last week preparing and gathering supplies, determined to attempt them despite the fact I have a freelance project due tomorrow.




This is not a recipe that can be completed on a whim for instant gratification. On Friday, I baked the coconut cake, which was half of Ina Garten's coconut cake, poured into a rectangular pan. According to Bakerella, you can use cake mix and canned frosting, but I hate the way cake mix cakes taste. I figured that if my attempt was successful, it better taste good. On Saturday, I tossed chunks of the cake into the food processor in a few batches to get fine crumbs. Then I mixed in cream cheese frosting, also from Ina Garten's coconut cake recipe to get a sticky sort of dough, and rolled it into balls.



I couldn't find a cutter closer to what Bakerella recommended as ideal, although the one on the right is one of the substitutes she suggests. I would push a dough ball through the cutter, enough to form the "cup" part of the cupcake and push it back out. You can see the two different shapes I got in the picture above. The cutter on the right produced a better mound on top of the cup, but it was harder to get a clean release when I pushed the formed cake out. The cutter on the left, which was easier to use, was taller and a bit wider, so there wasn't as much left to form the mound. I will keep my eyes open for a better cutter!



Today, I did the dipping, using Merckens chocolate melting wafers. I had a lot of problems getting the coating right. No problems for the bottoms of the cupcakes, but getting the green coating to overlap with the brown without running down too much was a big issue. In the end, I let the chocolate cool a bit so it was thicker and would harden faster, which made the M&M and sprinkle decorating even faster. I managed by having Josh assist with the decorating.

We each ate one and it was delicious, very sweet though. I have a lot of ideas for future flavor combinations. You can avoid this whole two-color coating dance by leaving the cake balls in round form and dip them in one color, like little truffles. I left the finished cakes in the fridge, but just noticed that the green coating was starting to crack for some, so that's something to worry about. According to Bakerella, you can refrigerate if you like eating them cold, or store in airtight container at room temp.

Fried Rice

Jennie asked me for my fried rice recipe a couple weeks ago. The terrible friend that I am, I still haven't written her back. Sorry Jennie! The problem is, there is no real recipe. It's more of a, "Put in as much garlic/scallions/eggs as you want" method. Feel free to adjust.

Mise en place:
Cooked rice (leftover rice from the day before is best because it's less sticky, but I rarely plan that far in advance for fried rice), scallions, garlic, white pepper, scrambled eggs (broken up into little bits), Spam, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chicken marinade sauce (Lee Kum Kee brand, totally optional. My mom puts it in hers and I recently got a bottle, but I'm not sure if it makes a difference).

Mince the garlic. I used about 5 cloves because I cooked 5 cups of rice for today's batch. Dice the Spam. I used the whole can, but you can use less if you like. I think you'd normally see roast pork standing in for the pig portion of fried rice, but I never liked that because roast pork can be harder to chew. Spam is just right. Slice the scallions. I used a whole bunch, white and green parts. Of course, adjust to your taste. My brother doesn't even like scallions in his fried rice at all.

I don't have a wok, and you might not either, but you can still make fried rice! I used the 8-quart stock pot that came in my Cuisinart pot set. I once tried using my Le Creuset buffet casserole pot, because it was more wok-like, but I made a big mess without the higher walls of the stock pot. I dumped in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil, heat at medium-low, and then tossed in the garlic. Let it sizzle for about 20 seconds (you don't want it to brown, there's still a bunch of cooking to go). I apologize for the crappy camera work; the kitchen doesn't have very good lighting, especially over the stove, and I was afraid of dropping the camera into the pot.

In goes the rice. Because I used rice that was cooked the same day, it was harder to mix in with the garlic. I felt like such a weakling because my arm started to hurt from tossing the rice around, trying to break it up.




After the rice and garlic have mixed together, add the soy sauce, oyster sauce, and chicken marinade sauce. I use just a little soy sauce and chicken marinade because I like the oyster sauce flavor more. As you can see, I put a big dollop of oyster sauce in. If you don't like oyster sauce, leave it out and add a little more soy sauce instead. Then stir to combine. I hope you have a strong cooking arm! I think this may have gone better if I used a shorter spoon.


Now that your rice is a tannish sort of color, add the Spam and scallions. I guess I'm not really frying anything, as much as heating everything up. Stir to combine and sprinkle in some white pepper to your taste. If it's just Josh and me, I make it spicier, probably using at least a teaspoon in this batch.


Now add your scrambled eggs. For this much rice, I scrambled 4 eggs earlier in the day after I made breakfast. I like to cut down on the amount of dishes I have to wash wherever possible. Stir in the eggs and you're done!



And there you have it! Easy fried rice! I like to add peas sometimes too, and would have done so tonight, but I only have one box and I need it for tomorrow's meal, smashed peas with turkey and ricotta cheese.

Surprise!

I'm engaged!

Now to figure out how to have a wedding without going bankrupt.