Baking Bliss

This weekend was the start of my 'baking with Julia' journey.

I decided to begin with one of the most basic recipes-
Vanilla Pound Cake.

I had all the ingredients and equipment already in my kitchen.

It was an overall success. 

The most time consuming part was sifting the dry ingredients together-my sifter likes to takes its time, but it does wonderful work to the final product.

It sits beautifully on our kitchen counter in my new, super cheap cake stand.

Seth loves it warmed up and drizzled with honey, 

and I love it with fresh berries and a dollop of whipped cream alongside a mug of espresso.

I also tried out a recipe from my new Bon Appetit Desserts cookbook-

Red Velvet Cake with Fresh Raspberries and Blueberries.

It was for  my mom's birthday, and what a hit it was!

 

I recruited some help with the sifting this time.

 Happy birthday mother!

 I saved the pretty cake stand for the pretty cake.

 Fresh berries filling-the inside of a blueberry looks so odd!

 Mom gets the first slice.

See you next time I'm in the kitchen.

Soup Traditions

I know I told everyone that I was going to start cooking with Julia, 

but this week I took the easy way out and whipped up some Betty Crocker dinners.  

Seth and I have become soup lovers. 

We even have our own little system. 

It starts the minute we walk in the door from school and work.

He hurries me into the kitchen, getting excited as our kitchen fills with wonderful fragrances.

We then sit down next to each other, enjoying the warmth of each sip (more like slurp for Seth).

It is silent except for-

sniff........"I missed you today"......sniff, sniff....."I missed you too".....sniff, sniff, sniff......"Mmmm, this is tasty"....."I know, right?"........sniff, sniff, sniff......sniff, sniff........

We catch ourselves giggling over how silly we must look-the warm soup always makes our noses so runny!

Anyways, enough of how weird we are.  

This post is about how I think it would be fun, since I'm going to school for Culinology, to share all the happenings in my kitchen. 

I know, I know, it's dorky, but I love it.

 Here are the soups we enjoyed this week:

 They each took less than 30 minutes to prepare, yet were bursting with their own delicious flavors!

(I forgot to take pictures of the ones I made, so enjoy the pictures from Betty Crocker)

 Chili-Mac Soup

 Cheesy Lasagna Soup

 Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

Tortellini and Bean Soup

Until our next dinner,

Mrs. Rhodes

Sharon & Julia

So I have never been a big new year's resolutionist (I know, not a word), but since I recently became a wife, there are certain things I want to do with Seth before we start the next chapter in our life after college.  As we sat down and wrote our list, I realized that I have things I would like to accomplish as well.  

I finally got a lot of great cookbooks, and this year I am so excited to go through these two.  I have read the beginning of each and I cannot wait! They both thoroughly explain the kitchen equipment needed, definitions, ingredients, and how to cook and bake each type of food, explaining why each step is done.  I wish I could drop out off school and teach myself using these books!

Once I have stocked up with the rest of the equipment I still need, I will be taking you with me on my journey with Julia Child.

Cheers. :)

Winter

O boy. It's been so long I almost forgot I even had a blog.
There have been so many happenings since the last time I was here.
Seth and I had so many lovely firsts.

We spent Thanksgiving together with the other 95 members of my dad's family. It was such a blessed time watching four generations interact.

We cut down our Christmas tree and decorated our quaint apartment. It ended up being so cozy we found ourselves wanting to stay in every night and enjoy it together.

I had surgery, which left me completely dependent on Seth and the lovely ladies in my life for two weeks. It was one of the most humbling experience, but such a blessing to be served so selflessly by my husband.

We threw a Christmas party for our closest friends. The fellowship and food left us so invigorated-we felt so blessed, and of course I have always loved the planning and hosting involved.

I had my very first Christmas. I felt so giddy the entire time. We spent it with Seth's family-Julie (Seth's mom) was so cute as she did tradition after tradition. It was such a delightful experience giving and receiving with my loved ones. I felt most giddy thinking about all of the traditions Seth and I get to create with our future family.

Our family will most likely wait another year, so I would like to focus on a few other things this year, now that a new year has begun.
This year is not going to be about me.
I have a strong burden to be a selfless wife-it is one of the most rewarding experiences.
I highly recommend it.
I also have a burden to be content.
God expects me to make godly decisions to rule over myself.
This year is about not being controlled by my circumstances-being a full-time student.
It is going to be about becoming a ruler of my attitude, my time, my schedule, my appearance, my mouth and my activities.
He has given me the authority, responsibility, and capability.
I am ready.