Chop Chop!

When I was in undergrad at BU, a friend of mine grew out her hair and donated it to Locks for Love. Locks for Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children who suffer from long-term medical hair loss.  I always thought this was a unique and easy way to give a little something to someone in need.  I started growing it out around summertime 2008, and then last spring I finally had enough to chop off.  You have to be able to give at least 9 inches, and I think in the end I donated about 11.  I wouldn't say this was something necessarily on my 'thirty' list, but if I get 29 accomplishments complete, and I need one more thing, I might count it.

Before I donated:

After:

*- This is definitely the shortest my hair has been since 1995 when I was in junior high.

My official letter from Locks for Love!

Puzzling Thoughts

In an effort to do something interactive and watch the least amount of tv possible, Brian and I have integrated one my favorite pastimes into our leisure- jigsaw puzzles! Jigsaws have been a longtime staple of my family's holiday get-togethers.  But there's tons of great puzzles out there that aren't holiday-themed at all, so we thought it would be fun to have an ongoing puzzle from now on.  We just finished the first- it took less than a week! Our garage sale find was only missing five pieces and is entitled "Here's to Happy Hours!" It was just a 500-piece so I think we'll go for at least 1000 on our next one.

When life gives you lemons...

Make lemon cupcakes!

They're a little more springtime-ish but when it's chilly and wet in January, who can resist these lemon cuties?  The recipe calls for safflower oil which can run pretty high in price, so a cheaper sub is canola.  Both oils help keep the amount of saturated fat down and the monounsaturated fat up.  I won't go into the science of fat, but monounsaturated is the stuff you want.

When I first looked at the recipe, I didn't like the sound of the powdered sugar-based icing.  We've always used that as Christmas cookie icing, so I didn't think I'd like it on a cake.  I was definitely proved wrong!  It makes a really easy glaze that dries smooth and it's prettily accented by the orange zest.

Zesting proved the most challenging for me since I do not have a good peeler or grater.  I just carefully shaved the orange and lemon with a good knife and then finely chopped the pieces which wasn't too hard. Also, I got plenty of juice out of just one lemon and one orange.

Since they're citrus cupcakes, I justified pairing one with my coffee this morning, and it was delicious, Enjoy!

*Preheat oven to 350. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.


Cupcakes                                                    
1 2/3 c flour
1 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c safflower oil
2 eggs
1/3 c skim milk
1/4 c freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
1 tsp lemon extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Combine the oil, eggs, milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon extract, and vanilla extract in a separate smaller bowl.  Add to the flour mixture and stir until smooth.

Spoon batter into the muffin cups and bake for 17-19 minutes or until light golden.  Cool for five minutes before transferring cupcakes out of the pan to cool completely.

Icing
1 1/2 c confectioner's sugar
2 Tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp freshly grated orange zest

Combine confectioner's sugar, orange juice, and orange zest in a bowl and stir until smooth.  Spread over each cupcake with a small spatula.

To the Max!

Happy 2010! It's been almost a month now since the holidays, but in order to move on into the future, I need a short recap of 2009's end. I spent the holiday season in Texas with my family which included all of my favorite things- waking up to delicious pots of coffee already brewing, collaborative crossword completion each morning, working on the annual holiday jigsaw, various other board and card games, lots of food, AND the newest addition to Christmas fun...my nephew Max!

I'm a first time aunt, and I am not bashful about how cute I think Max is, i.e. Exhibit A.

Exhibit A.

And I couldn't find a good one of us together, but here, Santa's Helper, is helping himself to my delicious Christmas morning breakfast roll.  If you'd like to hear/see more about the Incredible Max, you can visit his blog by clicking 'A New Chapter' in my blogroll to the right.  He is a much better blogger than I am.

Exhibit B.

When I first found out my sister was preggers, I had recently started learning to knit from a coworker, and decided that I would make a baby blanket to award Max when he was born.  I started in the fall of 2008, but when little Max came into our lives in January, his blanket was not near completion.  I could use the fact that he was a month early as an excuse, but really, a month, schmonth.  Let's be honest, I still wouldn't have had it done.

Nevertheless, Max did eventually receive his blanket just a couple weeks ago for his first birthday! (That's right, Fall 2008-Winter 2010.  Now that my mom's seen my handiwork, she has requested a winter scarf, which means I should probably start on it now so that she can have it by Mother's Day 2011.)  The blanket is a pinwheel design that I nabbed off Ravelry, and I used Knitpicks ShineSport yarn in colors Leapfrog and River.  The ShineSport is great for kids, soft and machine-washable.

A detail view of the pinwheel design from the middle going out.

You can see I had some problems with it curling up on the edges, which may or may not be from me knitting too tightly. Pro knitters could tell you the actual root of the issue.  I used an iron on low to help smooth and stretch it, and it seemed to do the trick.  I think washing it can help as well.