My boss Rachel lost her 7 year battle with cancer last night. She was an amazing boss, mentor, and friend. Her spirt and faith never wavered and she fought hard to the end. I know there is another angel in heaven now and I hope god knows how lucky he is to have a warrior like her on his team.

Bad day

So I'm having a bad day, mostly a rough time lately so dad decided to cheer me today by making me some hello kitty pancakes with the hello pancake maker he bought me from target!

Breakfast

So I don't normally take photos of my breakfast, but since it's the first day of my mini vacation I made myself a egg sandwich and it looked so yummy and perfect, I had to take a photo.
It's just scrambled egg, a little bit of mozzarella cheese, and spinach on toast. Healthy and yummy!

Dear Santa,

If you're reading this there is one thing I really want for Christmas. I really don't need much, I wouldn't turn down a new coach purse, but only if you buy it at the outlet. Don't pay retail for over priced purses Santa, no matter how pretty they are.
I really want a pair of these sneakers. Doesn't sound like anything I would ask for, but when I was a kid I always wanted sambas. I wanted sambas and rainbow laces for them. I never wanted to ask for them because it always seemed silly to beg for cool sneakers, it's the same reason I never asked for a starter jacket (I hated football, I just wanted to look cool at the time.) I need a new pair of sneakers since mine are pretty beat up, but they're something I'd never buy myself because when I need new sneakers I just buy cheap ones at Walmart. I try to save most of my shoe budget for high heels.
Sambas are men's shoes so just in case you're wondering I wear a men's size 7 1/2. Thanks for listening Santa, I promise I've been mostly good this year, if nothing else I've always had good intentions.
-Maeve

Let's talk about....

Cheesecake! This week I used my meeting group at the local chamber of commerce as guinea pigs for a brownie bottom cheesecake I've been wanting to try. I did not get any complaints, of course I am my own worst critic, but I think with some slight tweaking in cooking time this has some serious potential.
I poured my salted caramel sauce on top to add some extra flavor too and garnished it with a sprinkle of course sea salt as well. The caramel was a little firmer than I would have liked, so I have to use a hot knife to slice it.
I used box brownie mix (I was on a time budget) don't judge me. I chose Betty Crocker dark chocolate fudge brownies. I mixed up one box and poured it in my springform pan. Since brownies bake a different temp than cheesecake this is where you need to get creative.
I put the brownie layer in the oven at 325 for 25 minutes. Then I pulled it out and poured the cheesecake on top. You have to be careful to pour the cheesecake in layers and spread it out over the pan so you don't dent the brownie layer. I was worried about the cakes swirling, but if you pour the cheesecake slowly they stay separate.
Then I upped the oven to 400 and put the whole thing back in the oven for 25 minutes and then shut off the oven. Don't open the door! Leave it in the oven with the temp off for another 25 minutes. A that point you should be good to go and cool your cheesecake. Then drizzle or coat with a topping, caramel, chocolate sauce... You choose.
Enjoy!

Made me smile

Since I've been a crafting and cooking mood lately here are a few things I saw on the Internet that made me smile. Please enjoy.

Sweet Sue's

A couple Sunday's ago dad and I drove over to troy NY to check out what was going on at the Troy Victorian stroll. It was a rather quiet visit, but I did get the chance to go to Sweet Sue's a bakery that opened up downtown earlier this year.
I actually took my class in petite fours at the arts center with sue as the instructor so I had been hoping to catch them open the next time I was in Troy. It wasn't exactly what I had expected, they had. Lot more treats like candy and candy apples and very little ready to eat baked goods. You can check out her website http://sweetsuesweets.com/
I bought dad a slice of carrot cake (which for some unknown reason he loves) he said the cake was good and as you can see was a very large slice. He said "it is a meal unto itself!"
I tried a pumpkin pie cupcake, for which I had high expectations, but honestly I wasn't a huge fan of. It looked pretty, but if you look at the photo of it half eaten you can see, it was really just a spice cake with a hole in the top filled with what tasted like canned pumpkin filling. Then it had whipped cream instead of frosting.
I have already envisioned an improved version with a pumpkin spice cake and using my cream cheese cool whip frosting to give it a bit more body.
It looked like a nice place to go buy some candy or treats as a gift, and I know she also does some nice cakes, but stopping in for a snack will not be on my list again in the near future.

Foodie pen pals November

Yay! It's November reveal day, I love this program because I get to send fun packages and get awesome stuff in the mail! This month I received a package from Kim and she sent me a bunch of healthy goodies. Here's what I got.... Some whole grain pretzels, kashi granola which is yummy and not something I would buy myself since I'm cheap. It was yummy sprinkled on yogurt for breakfast. I also got some multi seed crackers, which made me laugh out loud since I had gotten the exact same crackers for my pen pal! Some almonds (brought those to work for my desk), some BBQ grilling sauce and a chocolate pecan candy rounded out the box.
It was a great month and I had fun eating it all!
If you want to see what I sent this month head over to see Sarah Jane at http://www.cleanandproper.com she's a great blogger and hopefully soon she will be doing a guest spot here on my blog. Make sure you check her out as this was a fun and challenging box for me to create since it was all gluten free (except one item)