I hate and love summer.

Summer is wonderful for fresh produce and grilling and getting my skin to stop being quite so translucent. Unfortunately for B in AZ and, more surprisingly, for me in NY, summer is just too hot for baking. Every time I turn on the oven I find myself praying to be delivered from hell. I live in an attic apartment with my husband (who, during the summer, seems to run disappointingly hot) and if we don't have our one window AC running, I could practically cook a loaf of bread by simply mixing the dough and leaving it in a pan for a couple of hours. The midwest gave us a heat wave a few weeks ago and it's just now starting to cool enough to think about baking. I'm dying to do custard again; it just tasted so good and it's a great chilled dessert. But I've had peaches in the fridge and I've hidden the gingersnaps from the hubby and as much as I'm craving custard, I know what's next.

Peach pie with a gingersnap crust, only days away.

Stuff and nonsense.

I haven't been baking much. There is so much to do and to be honest, it's hotter than hell here. We're in the height of monsoon season and we had a haboob last week! It was massive! (I'm not explaining, you'll just have to Google that one!)

• I gave my notice at work on Monday. That felt amazing. Seriously amazing. Four more weeks of work and then I am done. 
• We have to go through our spare bedroom this weekend. It's time to sort through the things we own and determine what is really necessary. It's amazing how quickly we accumulate things. 
• I need to download some Neil Gaiman and Kurt Vonnegut books for my Kindle. It looks like we have five solid days of driving back east, so I'll be needing some entertainment. 
• We need some new tunes for the ol' iPods. (Recommendations welcome!)
• Packing. Oh holy crap. I hate this part. I hate having my life segregated in to label boxes and chucked all over the place. 
• Address changes, turning services off, turning services on. 
• Keeping the doggie calm. I have to make sure he's ok with the move. He's a sensitive boy. I have a feeling I'll be riding in the back seat with him most of the journey.

I guess that sums up the next six weeks or so. We are so excited... beyond excited really.

A new chapter and lots of adventure! 

More big news!

We've been approved on the place we put a deposit on! Woohoo, we have an address!!! I also had a brief preliminary interview this morning with a full phone interview on Friday. If I make it past the phone interview I may need to fly home for an in office interview on Tuesday. Eep, that will be pricey! The start date would be while we are driving cross country.

Fingers crossed that it all works out!

Big news!

On the baking front there is nothing new to report. It is far to hot (117 degrees F just the other day) to turn on the oven in our wee kitchen. I've mostly made no bake recipes like coconut cream pie.

I'd like to introduce you all to my friend Lisa. She has just started a blog called Kissin' Frogz about her misadventures in trying to find a date and dating.  It is charming and funny, a great read over all. It often makes me laugh as well as making me appreciate being married! Follow her and show her some love!

Our big news is that we have plans to move east on 20. August 2011. We've sent a deposit on a place to live and are just waiting to hear if we've been approved. We've given notice that we're moving to our current rental company (No, shockingly, we don't live in a house, but a two bedroom apartment we've outgrown. We just couldn't commit to living here.) Two weeks from today, we'll give notice one month notice at work (as such, I'm not sharing this post on Facebook or Twitter).

It should be five fun filled days of the three of us in the car driving 2,700 miles. Our dog, Dougal, hates riding in the car and cries most of the time. I'm currently researching ways to make him more comfortable.

We're very excited and scared but feel is the best thing for us. We'll arrive just in time for autumn! I can't wait for a white Christmas. New England, here we come!

~B

An Spéice Brown Bread

After much searching on the internet for the bread that I loved so much and enjoyed daily in Ireland, I e-mailed our favorite bed and breakfast, An Spéice, asking for the recipe. Mrs. Hannafin happily obliged, e-mailing me with the recipe.

It's that time of year again!

Yep, time for the charity bake sale at work. I spent all day yesterday baking, taste testing and packing my items. I pared it down a bit from previous years. I made seven layer bars (they're always a big seller), mini coconut cream pies with graham cracker crusts, cranberry cheesecake bars and lemon blossoms. This last item is new for me.

Banoffee Pie!

We had this delicious pie our last night in Galway. It is a banana and toffee pie that can be made with either a graham cracker crust or a regular pie crust. I decided to use a basic graham cracker crust. I found the filling recipe at A Beautiful Mess. The filling was the right flavor but consistency wise a bit off from what we had. It should be creamier. Next time, I think I will try making this recipe, from Saveur.com.