Project 365: Days 1 Through 7

Back in 2013, I took a photo everyday for a Project 365. I was pretty impressed with myself that I managed to pull it off, but by the end of the year was so over it. As 2014 began I couldn't imagine doing it again, except by the end of the year I started to miss it and decided I was going to go back to it in 2015.

Last time the majority of photos were of food. This time I have a new, living, breathing subject to take pictures of. I actually have taken a photo of my daughter every single day that she's been alive at this point, so these photos could all easily be of her. But I'm trying to branch out a bit as well, so while the majority will be her, there will also be a good bit of food again, plus a few random photos. Which you can definitely see in this first week alone.
January 1, 2015 - 1/365: Black-eyed peas to start off the new year.
January 2, 2015 - 2/265: Trying out a pacy.
January 3, 2015 - 3/365: Grace Thomas, the 2015 American Girl of the year.
January 4, 2015 - 4/365: Finally asleep.
January 5, 2015 - 5/365: Grilled chicken and roasted veggies for dinner.
January 6, 2014 - 6/365: Taking our first walk.
For an additional photo of the day, this is what she looked like a few minutes later. Much calmer and a lot less red. Of course as soon as we approached a group of kids playing towards the end of our walk she started screaming again. So I'm not so sure I'd call it a successful trip.
January 7, 2015 - 7/365: Asleep in the Rock N Play.

Five on Friday (5)

It's my first Five on Friday of the new year!

So far, we have had a fairly low key new year. We spent New Year's Eve at home and New Year's Day at my in-laws' eating lunch and watching football. As for a few other random updates...
1. My Erin Condren planner arrived! 2014 was my first year with one, my first year with a written planner since college even, and it was a success. It definitely helped that I had all type of pregnancy related appointments to keep track up, but I used it for a number of other things as well, like writing down shopping lists and scheduling blog posts. After one year with one, I knew 2015 wouldn't quite be the same without a brand new one to carry around with me, and I can't wait to start getting use out of it.

2. I'm always reading new books, but something I don't do very often since getting into book blogging is reread favorite books. I did reread The Mennyms last year and had a blast, which is why I'm so excited to participate in the 2015 Reread Challenge. I know my overall reading will likely be down in 2015 with our daughter taking up quite a bit of time, but even if it's limited I still want to make a point to reread more in 2015.
3. Three-weeks-old isn't too young for an American Girl doll, is it? Because I'm obsessed with the 2015 doll of the year and think my daughter needs her. I mean she's a baker that's a francophile (and yes, I do realize it's a little odd for a French themed American girl). But still her accessories include macaroons and a slice of brie! Plus there's a French bistro set! And she's only here for one year, so would it really be that awful to buy her for my daughter now, since she won't be available once she's older?!?!?!

4. About two weeks ago we had newborn photos taken. We don't have the photos back yet, but our photographer, who blogs at Little Mrs. Married posted a behind the scenes sneak peak. If I already wasn't excited about them, that photo only increases the anticipation, and I can't wait to see how they all turn out.
5. Speaking of bloggers and babies, I was gratful to receive this gift from Lisa and Amber two of my longest blogging friends. There's definitely something to be said for the blogging community and the friendships that you're able to form with people across the world. I really wasn't expecting to receive anything like this, but I can't even express how excited I was to see it arrive in the mail.

If you're stopping by from Five on Friday be sure to say hello! And just for fun, how old were you when you received your first American Girl doll? As for me, I received Felicity for Hanukkah in second grade which would have made me seven-years-old.

Project 365: Wrapping up 2013

Yes, I did it! I completely my Project 365 and managed to take a photo every single day in 2013. To start, these are my final photos of the year, and afterwards I'll be posting my thoughts on the process.
December 28, 2013 - 362/365: Lunch at Cane's.
December 29, 2013 - 363/365: Playing Carcassone with the boy.
December 30, 2013 - 364/365: Chili for dinner.
December 31, 2013 - 365/365: Ending the year with a glass of champagne and a bowl of peppermint ice cream. Coincidentally, this matches day 1 of my project where I had grapefruit juice in our toasting glasses. Talk about coming full circle.
January 1, 2013 - 1/365: Glass of Grapefruit Juice to Ring in the New Year

I've been wanting to complete a Project 365 since before I started blogging, and am I little in awe I managed to pull it off. Especially on my first try. I was sure I was going to miss a day, and have to try again in 2014 to achieve it, but I kept at it. I do think my photography improved over the course of the year, which I think you can see by comparing the two photos above from the first and last day of the year. Of course, some of that was due to my new DSLR, but I definitely couldn't have pulled the year off without having access to my camera.

I'm definitely happy to have the project behind me. There were definitely days when realizing I hadn't taken a picture all day that I'd feel the need to eat dessert just to have something to photograph. Maybe without that justification, I'll have less dessert in 2014?

I'm definitely not planning a Project 365 for 2014, and in fact didn't take a single picture the first two days of the year. But I would still be up for attempting a project 365 at some other point down the line, since overall I did have a lot of fun doing it.

Have you ever attempted, or completed, a Project 365?

Brulee-ing In the New Year

One of the items on my 101 in 1001 list is to make creme brulee. So I'm happy to say I made some to kick off the New Year! I'm unhappy to say that I made them for New Year's Eve, and since my list went into effect January 1, they don't count towards that goal. But after seeing how easy they were to make, it shouldn't be a problem to make them again!

To be honest, this isn't my first time ever making creme brulee. In 10th grade I did a project where I made them with my mom. And in college, my mom bought me a creme brulee kit. Although that just had boxes of a mix to be baked in the oven along with a torch to brulee. This time I made them from scratch and completely on my own. Here's how I did it!

Ina Garten's Creme Brulee
Ingredients
1 egg (The recipe called for extra-large, but I used large instead.)
5 egg yolks (The original recipe called for 4 extra-large, but since I had large instead, I upped it. And if you're curious, the boy made an omelette with the leftover egg whites.)
1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for each serving
3 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the egg, egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of sugar together on low speed until just combined.
2. Meanwhile, scald the cream in a small saucepan until it's very hot to the touch but not boiled. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cream to the eggs.
3. Add the vanilla and Grand Marnier.
4. Pour into 5-ounce ramekins until almost full. (I wound up having a little extra here, and while I did have more dishes, I wouldn't have been able to fit more into the pan used in the later steps.)
5. Place the ramekins in a baking pan and carefully pour boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the custards are set when gently shaken. (Since my dishes were so shallow and my pan wasn't flat, it was really hard to move the pan. I wound up enlisting the boy to put them into the oven, but even so two wound up diluted with water which you can tell below.)
6. Remove the custards from the water bath, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until firm. (I read somewhere that you should refridgerate for at least 3 hours, but can for up to 3 days. I did mine for right around 24 hours.)
To Serve
Spread 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly on the top of each ramekin and heat with a kitchen blowtorch until the sugar carmelizes evenly. Allow to sit at room temperature for a minute until the caramelized sugar hardens. (No I don't have a shot of the blowtorch in action. Just using it was scary enough, and think trying to take a photo while torching is a complete fire hazard.)
This wound up being really really delicious! You couldn't really taste the Grand Marnier, so if you want them to be orange flavored you might want to change it up a bit. What I loved about this recipe was that it didn't call for a vanilla bean. Not that I don't think it would be better with one, I just didn't have one in the house and didn't have a strong desire to go hunting for one. But next time, I'll make the extra effort to use an actual vanilla bean.

Also next time I need to find a flat pan to make it easier to put in the oven. And also want to make sure I brulee all the way to the edge. I was afraid I'd crack to dish, but that didn't happen, and since I have a few extras, I would rather have a crust right up to the edge.

Creme brulee really is my favorite dessert so I'm so happy I was able to do them justice!

What's your favorite dessert? And have you ever tried making it? Or did you cook up something special for New Year's Eve as well?

New Year's Eve

I practically slept through New Years last night. I am only 24 and I was barely able to to stay up till midnight. Oy.

The night started off pretty well. I got off work early and we headed over to one of the Boy's friend's house to watch the LSU game. I wasn't really sure what to expect. Like who all was going to be there, what the atmosphere was going to be like, which made deciding what to wear a little difficult. Fortunately, since there was an LSU game on, wearing an LSU shirt (one from Victoria's Secret) was pretty much a no-brainier. But I also wore jeans, and shoes, and make-up that would work if we decided to go out after the game.

So we get to his friend's house (or really his friend's girlfriend's house I guess). Now he is the same age as the boy, so about 4 years older than me. His friend's girlfriend girlfriend, is about 10 years older than the two guys. So about 14 years older than me. Her son was there before he went out for the night. He was 19. So only 5 years younger than me. So I was closer in age to the son, than the mom who I'm supposed to be socializing with. One of their friends also came over. Also 14 years older than me. She brought her twin sons who were 11. Again, only 13 years younger than me. I'm much more in the middle here. The girlfriend's daughter showed up, she was 8. Yes! I was 16 years older than here! Finally I was closer to the parent than the kid.

So to summarize the situation was a little awkward at first. His friend bbq-ed, so we had hamburgers to eat while watching the game. (In which LSU absolutely decimated Georgia Tech, so that was good) It's really hard for me to socialize with people I don't know that well (Esp with the bit of awkwardness I already pointed out) but by the end of the night I felt I was being talkative, and sociable, and that they might have actually liked me. A big part of this was my liquid courage. I drank about 2 Bacardi Watermelons. I felt a little awkward drinking at first, but his friend was drinking rum and coke, and the 19-year-old had left, so I did wind up feeling comfortable eventually.

But the game did eventually end. They were planning on going out meeting up with a bunch of people. I kinda assumed all night we were going to go out with everybody else all night, but when it was finally brought up, the Boy said he didn't want to go out. Which I do understand. He already wasn't feeling well, and going out to a bar and inhaling smoke all night wasn't going to help. (The fact that you can still smoke in bars here is something else entirely, last year they did at least ban smoking in restaurants.) So if we had gone out I would have felt completely guilty, but still I would have enjoyed it...

We got back to the house around 10:15 and watched TV. It was a little disappointing the lack of New Year's Eve programming that was one. There was like 2 or 3 specials but all of which started at 11 or 11:30. When I was younger I remember there being a whole lot more programming on during NYE. I think I was passed out on the couch by 11:15 though. The Boy woke me up for a New Year's Kiss, and then I went back to sleep on the couch for about an hour or so, until he woke me up and had me get in bed.

So the night started out promising, and ended not necessarily disappointing, but definitely different than expected.

Here's to 2009!