Kirin’s New Adventure

A couple of weeks ago, Kirin had the pleasure of experiencing real snow. Last year, it didn’t snow much, so she didn’t get the run around in it. However, this year it was perfect. She didn’t like it at first, but eventually started to frolic in it. It was adorable.

Here are some photos:

Reason number 5568 why I hate living in Hipsterville USA:

I just woke up to a phone call from a neighbor that one of our neighbors had a break in through her roof access by one of the hipster tenants on our block. They were like “oops, we’re new here… Sorry” and left through the roof access again. WHO DOES THAT! These shitheads have been running across our rooftops for at least two years. So they aren’t “new here”
Thank goodness that we have Kirin to scare people off. I just want to find these fucks and give them a piece of my mind. Who do they think they are!!!

Potential

There’s one thing that followed me throughout my life:

Jennifer has a lot of potential, but she need to talk less during class.

What’s so wrong with being verbal? I love to talk. Who cares that half of what I say no one cares nor listens to. It’s a part of who I am. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of my grill!

Gluten Free Linzer Tart Cookies

I never made these before but after tackling the rainbow cookie, I figured maybe I should give it a try. Honestly, they’re not that complicated to make.
Here is the link to the recipe I used. The only change I made was using butter instead of margarine and I added a cup of toasted almonds as used in this recipe. You can use either recipe. And of course, I substituted regular flour for Cup4Cup brand gluten free all purpose flour.

Here’s what the dough looks like once it has been mixed. I also bought raspberry preserves with seeds and de-seeded them by heating them up in a small sauce pan until it was soupy. Then I put them in a strainer and stored over a bowl until all that was left were the seeds. The bowl has yummy seedless preserves ready to put on your cookies!

Reminiscent of the opening credits of Edward Scissorhands. Now we wait for the cookies to cool. While we wait, I’m going to make another batch, but round .

Kirin is waiting patiently for cookies

I put together the first batch of cookies while I’m waiting for the second batch to come out of the oven. Yum!

And the last batch is done. These only took me about three hours from prep to finish. And they’re delicious.
Next time, we tackle the cheesecake.

Gluten Free Rainbow Coolies

I’ve decided to tackle the amazing rainbow cookie! But because of celiac disease, we will make them gluten free.
Here’s my secret: use Gluten Free all purpose flour. I recommend Bob’s Red Mill or Cup4Cup. Here’s the link to the recipe I’m using.

Okay, let’s bake!

Beat those egg whites!

Colors are at the ready.

One layer down, two more to go.
So far this has been a bit of a process. I never knew how tedious it is to make these delicious morsels. But, I am really excited to have them again. It’s been maybe a year since I had a rainbow cookie.

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in April 2012, just two days before my birthday. There went the birthday cake! Anyway, it’s been an adventure ever since. I’ve been on a mission to figure out ways to keep eating the things I love. Lots of research and many cookbooks later, I’ve discovered that I can substitute my baked goods with gluten free all purpose flour. The result was that everything tasted exactly like the baked goods I loved and missed.
Now, granted, gluten free all purpose flour is way more expensive that the gluten stuff, but if you love to bake like I do, you’d make the sacrifice.
Now, back to my next layer:

Layer 2 down. Green one to go!

And green makes three!

Now that the layers have been put together, it’s time to chill them. And the waiting begins.

To be continued tomorrow…

… And we’re back. It’s been a good 18 hours and it’s almost rainbow cookie time.

I just took the tray out of the fridge to bring the cookies back to room temp. I trimmed the edges to make them even (and my Hubby and I ate them… Yum!).

One side has been chocolated! I know that’s not a word, but it should be.

In 30 minutes, side two will have chocolate and then it’s time to eat!

New & Improved?

I’ve decided to revamp my web site into a blog. I don’t know if this is a good thing or me shooting myself in the foot. Does anyone even “blog” anymore?
I thought I’d start putting some of my insane thoughts to paper… And since, in the year 2012, paper = internet, why the hell not give it a try!

There’s a hurricane-a-comin’ and her name is Sandy. What a terrible name for a hurricane. She sounds so, wishy-washy. They’re saying she’s supposed to be tougher than Irene. Now that was a bad-ass name for a hurricane, “Irene.” It’s like Hurricane Irene was in the KGB or something. Like she can break someone’s neck just by looking at them. Meanwhile, I kind of want to buy Sandy a cup of tea and listen to her problems.

Well, it’s time for me to join the Hubby in the yard to batten down the hatches. Man it’s getting windy out there.

To anyone living in Sandy’s path, good luck and be safe!

Kirin

Kirin is now 10 months old and she has never seen snow before. At first, she was a little freaked out. She quickly adjusted and now LOVES the snow. Good thing, because Shiba Inu’s come from a region in Japan where there is a lot of snow.