Blog Every Day in January Day 8: Recipes That Didn't Go So Well

So I've had a lot of success with a number of recipes, and I really do enjoy trying new things when it comes to food. I don't know if cooking is something that I'm so passionate about that I would pursue it as a career, but it is definitely a genuine hobby of mine. That is to say, I get really excited when I find a recipe that I want to try, and I invest a lot of time and effort into planning and preparing new recipes. Seriously. Ask my friends--before I tried making macarons I read dozens of articles and watched hours worth of YouTube videos. I did extensive research on the perfect egg-white ratio for Ina Garten's cheese and spinach soufflé. I lost hours of sleep when I did the turkey for my roommate's Thanksgiving because I was so nervous that it wouldn't thaw or cook and I didn't know if my recipe would work. Moral of the story: I try very hard when it comes to food, and I do it because I like it.

Obviously not every recipe has been a big success. Once I messed up a batch of macarons so badly, that I just started smooshing them all into the pan and my mom and Sarah had to witness me having a mental breakdown and harassing the silicone baking-mat company via twitter. I also often forget to add salt to recipes that are so simple that it's like--how could this go wrong! I'll tell you how it could go wrong, YOU COULD FORGET TO SEASON THE ENTIRE DISH. Yikes.

Anyways, here are some of my top recipe fails:

7.) White Chocolate Fondue.

Don't be fooled by the picture, it 100% did not look like this. Let's start off with the fact that I was TWELVE YEARS OLD when I tried to make this. Forget about the fact that I am currently 21-going-on-22 and afraid to work with chocolate in any form other than cake, this recipe was HELLA HARD. And it required a full vanilla bean--which was HELLA EXPENSIVE and my mom never let me forget about it. I don't even remember which recipe I used, it was in some rando fondue cook book that my mom bought after I insisted we buy a fondue pot. We had just gone to the Melting Pot that summer before and I was fondue-crazy. Even as a 12 year old I was ambitious. I made this for my friends at a sleepover, and it was a soupy, floury, sugary mess. Seriously. We also tried making sushi that day, which essentially wound up being rice-and-seaweed balls. Good job, 12 year old Melanie and Friends.

6.) My mom's banana bread recipe.

This recipe and the fondue are lower on the list, because my failures had nothing to do with the recipes but rather with me being a moron. Seriously, when a recipe says to "grease and flour the pan", it means "take your stick of butter and get messy, and sprinkle that flour all around until NOTHING STICKS". In no way does "grease and flour the pan" mean "be distracted by 30 Rock's series finale and haphazardly spray the pan with Pam during commercial breaks". Also, don't add chocolate chips to a recipe when your mom tells you not to add chocolate chips to the recipe. Yikes.

5.) My beloved chicken parm panini from T'Licious (RIP)

Last summer my favorite place on Main Street, T'Licious, went out of business. Not only did they serve the best bubble teas with the freshest flavors, but they also had this bangin'-ass chicken parm panini. This is what the real thing looks like:

Beautiful, crispy, flavorful, melt-y, tomato-y heaven. I tried to recreate it this past November, and as you can see, it was NOTHING like the original. The breading and seasoning on the chicken was off, the baguette I bought wasn't crusty at all, and my tomato sauce smelled suspicious so I didn't put enough on the sandwich. Just a disappointment over all. WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME, T'LICIOUS?? IT WASNT YOUR TIME TO GO!!

4.) Thanksgiving Pizza. AKA: Your Digestive System's Worst Nightmare

I still maintain that this was an amazing idea, and that I can't believe more people haven't done it. It's just that the execution was...a little rough. The construction was: Boboli pizza crust, "thin" layer of mashed potatoes, gravy, cornbread stuffing, more gravy, leftover turkey, mozarella cheese. Then you bake it in the oven and put the cold cranberry sauce on top. HOW COULD THIS HAVE GONE WRONG?? The problem was that it was like two full meals worth of food per serving. Just too much. I felt sick for like a full day afterwards. Someone, please perfect this recipe. And send it to me once you've figured it out, because I don't think my digestive system can handle any more trials.

3.) "Fried" Honey Bananas

I saw this on Pinterest and thought "WOW what a simple and creative healthy snack!" which is true--it really is a simple and healthy way to change up a serving of fruit. And I'm sure that lots of people have had success with this recipe because of how simple it is, but I am not one of those people! I got really impatient with this one, and didn't let the pan heat up enough (which, fun fact, is a common mistake I make because I literally do not know how to wait). So this was a failure for me. And the reason why this made it so high up the list really has nothing to do with the recipe itself, but with how I messed this up so badly that the end product was literally one of the most disgusting things I've ever forced myself to eat. Since you add a water and honey mixture to add the sweetness, and since I decided that I wasn't going to wait for the pan to heat up enough for any part of this recipe, I wound up with soggy, gooey, goopy banana slices in sticky honey water. Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with me. Go look at the recipe and see for yourself how foolproof it is. I am ashamed.

2.) Greek Yogurt Macaroni and Cheese

I've seen a zillion different sources for this recipe, and they are all essentially the same thing: you cook some pasta, then you add some greek yogurt and cheese. And honestly, I don't know what I was expecting. It tasted like greek yogurt, cheese, and pasta. Imagine those three things happening separately. Now imagine them happening at the same time. That is literally what you taste. The greek yogurt doesn't transform into any sort of creamy goodness (...actually it curdled), the cheese doesn't melt into the yogurt, and the pasta doesn't absorb any of it. I'm telling you right now, unless you love greek yogurt SO MUCH that you would eat it on hot pasta, do not make this recipe. It is a lie.

1.) THIS FREAKING BREAD RECIPE

This picture from the website is absolutely ridiculous. That is NOT what this recipe looks like. I wish I had taken a picture of the flat, pale, and bland monstrosity that this recipe actually was for me. I've alluded to this recipe a number of times, but now I'm going to set the record straight. I've had questionable luck with bread recipes in the past, often because of impatience, faulty equipment, or bad circumstances. But in all other instances, regardless of texture or appearance, they've all at least tasted good. So I thought HEY maybe this recipe will work. HOO BOY WAS I WRONG.

FIRST OF ALL the amount of kneading specified in the recipe is so downplayed. I literally kneaded for a half an hour. Ask my roommates, I was getting REAL MAD in the kitchen trying to get this dough to form. I mean--come on. Give me a time frame of how long it takes for me to knead this bread. I was expecting 10-15 minutes, NOT 30-40. And yes, I was supposed to knead it for that long. The texture of the bread wound up being pretty great. WHICH IS A DAMN SHAME because

SECOND OF ALL this bread had LITERALLY. NO. FLAVOR. I didn't think that bread could be flavorless. I could not comprehend the idea of bread tasting like NOTHING. LIKE AIR. Especially with the amount of time I spent working with that freaking poolish. My roommate commented that it was "like eating hot water in bread form". GAH. I literally spent an ENTIRE DAY making this freaking bread. What a mess. I had to call it quits for a while after making this recipe, because I was so traumatized. BUT I WON'T GIVE UP! BACK IN THE SADDLE!!

How about you? Have you ever had any major failures in the kitchen? Let me know in the comments!

Blog Every Day in January Day 7: Recipes I'm Dying to Try

Since I've been home for the past few weeks, I haven't really been cooking or experimenting with recipes. My mom tends to plan meals for the week, and I usually just roll with whatever she's cooking rather than making something separate for myself. It's nice that I don't have to cook, but I kind of miss it!

I was scrolling through my Pinterest, and for the record, I do usually try the recipes that I pin. I know that Pinterest tends to become a dumping ground for nice pictures of food and home decor (...at least it does for me), but I've actually made a ton of recipes from Pinterest that have been super successful. I've had my eye on a few recipes that I pinned a while back, and I'm hoping to try some of them out when I go back to school:

1.)

This Cheesy Zucchini Rice recipe (originally from realsimplefood.com but has been adapted several times over). I don't know what it is about this recipe, but I have literally pinned like four different versions of it. So clearly I really want to try it. I mean, how could you go wrong? Zucchini? Good. Cheese? Good. Rice? Good. I should just get it over with and make it!

2.) 

This 30-Minute Chicken and Dumplings from Parade.com. I am a true sucker for comfort food, especially when it comes to stews. This looks like the perfect recipe for a day as cold as today was, so I think I'll break out this recipe for the next time I'm at school and it's as cold as the arctic outside.

3.)

This No-Knead Bread from Jezebel.com. In my post about Things I Would Like to Do post, I mentioned that I've been searching for a bread recipe that was easy but also not super bland. My cousin Anne posted this on my Facebook after I wrote that entry, and then my other cousin Monette made it a few days later and put photos on Facebook. It looks SO GOOD and super easy! So I'm going to put my apron back on (figuratively--I don't usually wear an apron) and give it a shot. I love bread so much.

4.) 

CHOCOLATE MOLTEN CAKES. I found this recipe (from Jenny Steffens Hobick's blog) on Pinterest like a year ago, and I really just never stop thinking about it. I am an EXTREME chocoholic, and WOWOWOWOWOW MOLTEN CHOCOLATE IS MY DREAM. I dream of molten chocolate. I want to travel to a land where there are waterfalls of molten chocolate in nature, and I can just BATHE IN THEM.

Sooo yeah those are on my get-it-done list at the moment. I will definitely do some follow ups when I make each of these recipes. In the meantime, tune in tomorrow for a post on recipes that I've made that were a total FAIL. Pinterest, man. Sometimes you win, sometimes you spend six hours making a bread recipe that ends up tasting like hot water in bread form and wow there goes like an entire sack of flour. Not that I'm bitter about it. 

Blog Every Day in January Day 6: Moving Forward--New Vlog Channel!

So despite yesterday's emo-style entry, the world didn't crumble around me and I didn't die under the weight of all my insecurities. I was in the midst of working on a project that I'm going to share with you today, and my fears took over and manifested themselves as negativity towards all aspects of my life. Winter break is so long, and I often lose perspective when I have so much free time. During the school year when I'm busy, I don't get as much time to think about how nervous I am about putting myself out there. I mean...I do think about it, but I don't spend like ALL DAY thinking about it. So I'm pushing back negative thoughts, and moving forward.

Anyways, onto the new project!

MY SISTER AND I STARTED A BEAUTY VLOG!





We've been talking about doing this for like...months, and it's something we're both really excited about. We finally just bit the bullet and did it!!

I've been really nervous about starting this channel for a whole variety of reasons. First of all, I'm always cautious about what I put out via social media due to the profession I have chosen to pursue. Being a teacher is tough, because you have to filter how much of your personal life you share, and as technology and social media develop, it gets harder and harder to maintain that filter. You could easily google my name and find this blog, and as this channel grows, there will be more and more stuff of me on the internet that I don't necessarily want to share with the (hypothetical) students that I'm trying to teach music to (hopefully). How does this affect my ability to represent myself as an authority figure? Can I expect this to affect my chances with gaining employment? I just like to be extra cautious, especially because everyone I've ever talked to in the education world likes to remind me how important it is to be professional in the classroom and on the internet.

I've also been really nervous about what other people would think of me for doing this channel, and treating myself as an authority towards all things beauty related. Which I am not. On one side of this fear, there are people out there that are frequently more put together than me and/or know more about makeup than I do. Are they judging me, or waiting for me to mess up? On the other side, I know there are people out there that probably think that this is a stupid topic to contribute to. Will they start to think that I'm superficial and vain?

NOT TO MENTION the fact that I'm so scared that this channel just won't take off, and I'll be creating all this content and putting in all of this hard work for approximately four viewers. That is probably my biggest fear, and it extends to this blog and all other aspects of my life. What is the point of creating content, and writing blog posts, and singing songs, if no one is there to consume them?


I've spent enough time with these fears and insecurities to know that the solution is to do these things for me, to make myself happy. And I really am a firm believer that in order to make others happy you have to be happy yourself. So I'm going to keep posting, and keep vlogging, and keep doing whatever else I'm doing. Even if none of this is ever seen, I know I'll feel really good about the fact that I wanted to do something, and I did it. That's really hard! A lot of people stop at the wanting part, but I managed to take it to the doing part. And I'm proud of myself. So yeah, maybe beauty vlogs aren't for everyone, and maybe these entries are only read by like six people. But I wanted to do them, and I did them, and I'm a better person for it.

Blog Every Day in January Day 5: Sundays

I was really tempted to skip today's blog entry because "Sunday is the day of rest". AKA I didn't have anything to write about. But it's only like...January 5th, and I don't want to start flaking out on my New Years Resolutions so early. So I guess I'll just talk about why I didn't feel like writing a blog post? Is this any better than not writing at all???

1.) I AM TIRED. It's like 11:45 and the day is over in fifteen minutes and the idea of having to come up with a blog topic and then actually write about it seems overwhelming to say the least.

2.) I feel overwhelmed. It's only January 5th and I suddenly feel like time is flying by, and I don't have enough hours in the day to do what I want to do. Which is not true, I literally do nothing during my winter break.

But that's the thing, I have all this free time that I get wrapped up in the fact that I have so much free time, and I never actually do the things I planned on doing. I've been spending a lot of time socializing and stuff, which is fine, but I have some other things that I planned to do and it just feels like the clock is ticking for some reason.

3.) I've been really hesitant to start working towards some of my goals for the new year, because a lot of my goals are things I've achieved before and then neglected and wound up back to square one. I forget how much effort it takes to maintain success once you reach it, and so I end up feeling like I've failed. And it's hard to feel motivated when you think you're just going to fail in the end. So I've been struggling with that.

4.) It's late and I'm tired and I'm irritated because it's late and I'm tired. I'm really not a nighttime person, ask anyone who has ever lived with me.


I don't know why I've been in such a funk lately, and I didn't really want to write a post about not feeling great. But I also didn't want to skip a day of blogging, because it would just be another thing to add to my list of "Things I Did Not Do". And I don't want that. Sooo yeah.

....I feel like I should promise to write like a YES THINGS ARE VERY GOOD I AM AN OPTIMIST post tomorrow, during the daytime. Because THIS IS ROUGH.

Blog Every Day in January Day 4: My Saturday in Photos

Blog Every Day in January Day 3: The Common White Girl Tag

I want to start out by saying that I am writing this entry from my new iPad air that I got for Christmas, and if that doesn't make me a common white girl then I don't know WHAT does.

Anyways, there's this tag that's been circulating around the internet called the "Common White Girl Tag" which is, presumably, for Common White Girls to answer. And obviously, I am not a Common White Girl, but I HAVE been told by a handful of people that they sometimes "forget that I am not white". I'm not sure what that says about me or my friends, but you know what? I have a right to do this tag! COMMON WHITE GIRL IS A STATUS YOU ACHIEVE, NOT SOMETHING YOU ARE BORN INTO.

For bonus points, I will be answering every question with a selfie taken from my new IPad air that I got for Christmas. HOW MUCH MORE COMMON AND WHITE CAN I GET?

1. Favorite Starbucks drink? 

Or a "grasshopper" when it's not winter. You get the idea.

2. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? 

If we're talking shower, hair, AND makeup. In which case we are being very very ambitious. Today I took ten minutes, and my look today says "you're lucky I did the bare minimum of hygiene standards". 

3. How many selfies do you take on a daily basis? 

Lots.

(Taking this selfie was intense and I had a brief existential crisis. AM I COMMON AND WHITE YET?)

4. How many IG followers and pics do you have? 

5. Do you ever say “LOL” or “OMG” out loud? 

(Yes but I wish the answer was no)

6. Do you wear the same clothing item more than once? 

I don't understand this question. Are you asking me if I like...burn my clothes after wearing them once? Is that what you common white girls do? You only wear every item of clothing in your closet once?? DO YOU REALIZE HOW WASTEFUL THAT IS. CHECK YOUR WHITE PRIVILEGE.

Oh wait are you asking me if I wear clothes more than once before washing them? Yes, if they aren't dirty. Jeez why didn't you just say so.

7. Are you racist? 

No look I'm eating very ethnic cuisine, obviously I am not racist.

8. How many tweets do you have? 

9. Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr? 

I'm not gonna lie, my tweets are HILARIOUS. I should be twitter famous. Except for the part where my account is private. Well...fame is relative.


10. What do you spend most of your time doing? 

Sums it up.
 
11. Who are your favorite YouTubers? 

*ding* The artist formerly known as dailygrace aka Grace Helbig 

And

The vlogbrothers! Yes, my fingers are double jointed. Get over it.

Those are my top two, but there's more than just those. I can't be takin' selfies all day JEEZ.

12. How often do you do your nails? 

Not often

13. Are you a shopaholic? 

What

14. How many times have you watched Mean Girls? 

I'm a mouse...duh.

(Lots)

15. Do you own a lot of clothes? 

 Who, me?

(Yes.)

16. Do you take pictures of your food before you eat it? 

Why would anyone ever do that.

17. Do you wear makeup everyday? 

Obviously not

18. What are your average grades in school? 

GOOD ENOUGH.


19. How do you usually style your hair? 

 Is "hot mess" an official hairstyle?

20. Do you always look presentable? 

U b the judge

So what's the verdict? Am I a common white girl??? Let me know!

Blog Every Day in January Day 2: Things I Would Like to Do

Today I went to the movies and crossed off an item from my personal list of Things I Would Like to Do. The item being "Go to the movies by myself". It's a weird goal to have, but I've always wanted to go to the movies by myself because I'm always complaining to people that I never watch movies because I don't have anyone to watch movies with...which is stupid because watching a movie isn't really a social experience. It's just I get really self conscious when I go places by myself, and I know I'm not the only person that feels that way, but it really bothers me that I feel so awkward when I'm alone and I've been slowly trying to break out of that shell. Because I do actually enjoy doing some things on my own.

Anyways, the main point of me talking about going to the movies alone is that it was an item on my list of Things I Would Like to Do, which is not really an official list and is always a work in progress. It's kind of like a 30 by 30 list except the items on it aren't exciting or difficult to accomplish. Like "organize my makeup collection before February" isn't necessarily something that would make it onto a 30 by 30 list, but it is one of the more urgent items on my Things I Would Like to Do List. So here it is, the constantly changing and not-very-difficult-to-accomplish list of Things I Would Like to Do:

1.) Go to the movies by myself. 

2.) Organize my makeup collection before February

3.) Make croissants from scratch even though it will literally take three days.

4.) Try all of the products from my Birchboxes from the past 6 months.

5.) Perfect giving myself a blowout.

6.) Read the A Song of Fire and Ice series, preferably before I graduate.

7.) Live on my own without relying on my parents for financial support.

8.) Get over my fear of making caramel based sauces.

9.) Own more teacups.

10.) Take a trip to the West Coast. Or several trips. Who knows.

12.) Take a trip on the East Coast. Shouldn't be too tough.

13.) Chicago sounds cool too.

14.) If we're talking about traveling, then yes, I would very much like to see Paris/FranceTheCountry and London/EnglandTheCountry. And I also want to go back to Vienna and Germany and Hungary and okay just a big ol' trip to Europe whatever this is my list I get to decide what's on it.

15.) Travel to the Philippines again now that I'm old enough to remember the experience.

16.) Find a bread recipe that is not ridiculous to make but also doesn't taste like hot water in bread form.

17.) Paint the shelves on my TV stand coral.

18.) Buy a big candle from Bath and Body Works.

19.) Put up some wall art in my bedroom at home.

20.) Clean the shitshow that is my desk at school. And the rest of the room while I'm at it.

21.) Go shopping in Kennett Square, PA and eat duck flatbread at Byrsa Bistro again.

22.) Start a vlog with my sister.

23.) Bake and decorate a nice cake. You may be surprised to know that this is something I have never done.

24.) Finish reading the Divergent series even if it's going to make me super mad and hate everything and everyone.

25.) Listen to more music in general.

26.) Make risotto. 

27.) Find a better bronzer and blush. Like for my face.

28.) Perfect my Tortilla Española, which is currently a hot mess.

29.) Organize my wallet/receipts/cards. Yikes.

30.) Learn how to sew.

There is probably tons more where that came from, and things get crossed off and added all the time. I usually take winter break to accomplish some of the things on this list, but there are obviously a few things that will have to wait.

How about you? Do you have a 30 by 30 list or one like mine, or are you the type of person that just does things without putting them in list form?