Friends with a Person Who Stutters
From the title of the post, you might be wondering what this is all about (and why the overly dramatic picture of an egg roll?) Rewind to a month ago. I was texting one of my really close friends, David. As usual, I was sending him text after text after text with solely the link to my blog (I have shameless disposition, what can I say). Through the course of our conversation back and forth, he asked if he could possibly be a guest writer on the blog. I was intrigued. I knew he wouldn't want to write anything about cooking or food (unless it was about how to eat it). I text back the first thing that came to mind: Me: “You know what I think it would be interesting? If you wrote a post about being friends with a person who stutters”
David: Really?
Me: Yeah, I think it will be interesting to get an outsiders perspective.
David: I'll see what I can do
Fast forward a week later and I had a document waiting in my inbox. This, my friends, is that document. Every word in this letter was 100% written by David. I had no say in what or how he worded anything. I am so thankful for David and him writing this. He has been such a close and outstanding friend. I hope the words he says are beneficial in helping people who stutter to find solace in good-quality friends and family. Being backed by people who love and support you is vitally important to be a successful communicator and a person. Just remember, life is like an egg roll, it's what you put into it that matters.
Funfetti Mini-Cinnamon Rolls with a Maple Sugar Glaze
Last
Tuesday was Marti Gras, which has nothing to do with this post. Side note: I
didn’t know it was called “Fat Tuesday”. Why is that? Who comes up with these
names? The world is strange. What I am really getting at is that everyone likes
a good party (good over-generalized statement, Nate. Love it!). Parties are
fantastic ways to get out into the world, meet new people, connect with
friends, and just be all around a social member of society. This sounds great
in movies and on Twitter, but for anyone who has been to a party of any degree
before, knows how anxiety infested they are. Wear the wrong socks, make an
inappropriate joke, or bring a vegetable tray (never be that person for the sake of humanity) and you will be instantly
annihilated by judgmental stares and passive-aggressive tweets from the other
party guests. This is why I choose to stay home and find solace with the
Internet, where is never any judgment.
All
kidding and self-deprecation aside, I really enjoy a good party with friends
and/or family. As I get older, and more experienced with cooking/baking, I
find myself, as I’m going to a party, feeling obligated to make something for the occasion. Even if the host says
“Don’t worry about food, just bring yourself and a positive, party attitude”,
what I hear is, “I demand food and I demand it now.” Inevitably, my
subconscious bullies me into making guilt-tripped baked goods. My twin brother, Jon, and I were invited to a birthday party this past weekend. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to be able to make the party due to work commitments, but I knew I had to send something fun, creative, delicious, and something that everyone would enjoy. My answer: bite-sized cinnamon rolls with multi-colored sprinkles (keeping to the birthday theme). Nothing says party like baked goods. My other option was banana bread, but I didn’t want to be the short guy and the loser who brought banana bread to a birthday party.
The cinnamon roll recipe I used is incredible. It comes from Momma Crawford who, after finding a recipe for it online, has made it for my family and me for years. These cinnamon rolls are buttery, soft, warm, and have that sugary-sweet aroma that everyone craves on a Saturday morning. I love the smell of fresh brewed coffee lingering in the air as mom pulls a tray of gooey cinnamon rolls out of the oven. The icing is laced ever so evenly over the tops, melting together beautifully with the rest of the roll. Perfection.
The
maple-sugar icing drizzled on top literally, and figuratively, “wraps” the
whole roll together. It’s soft, ambrosial, and warm with delight. Imagine the
center of a gooey cinnamon roll, but the entire thing being that. This cinnamon
roll is that fantasy. I know, your mind is blown. I usually make these rolls
bigger (woah size queen), but since I was sending these with
Jon (who I personally can’t trust around anything sweet because he’ll just
devour it and leave it left for dead), I wanted to make these bite sized. Plus,
nothing says party like multi-colored sprinkles (seriously, ask anyone.) On a
snowy day or a Saturday morning, these cinnamon rolls are practically perfect
in every way (okay, Mary Poppins).
Ingredients
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 packet active dry yeast (2 ½ teaspoons)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 ½ teaspoons if voiding or avoiding the maple extract)
- ½ teaspoon maple extract (optional)
- 2 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- Flour, for dusting
- 12 tablespoons softened butter (1 ½ sticks)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon cardamom
- 1 tablespoon ground cloves
- 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1/8 cup maple syrup
- Rainbow sprinkles, for topping
Directions
Pre-Step: Get ready to roll with the punches!
Cinnamon rolls that is. What are you gonna do about the haters?
- Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Over low heat in a medium saucepan, heat milk until it reads 100°F on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat and sprinkle in the yeast (it’s the yeast you could do) and sugar. I know you will be tempted, but don’t stir this mixture. Let it sit for about five minutes. After five minutes, whisk in your melted butter, egg yolk, vanilla and maple extract.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and nutmeg. Making a well in the flour, slowly pour in your yeast mixture. With a hand mixer or stand mixer, mix together until a rough dough forms, about 3-5 minutes. Once your dough begins to come together, take it out of the bowl and form it into a ball. Place dough into a greased bowl, cover with a towel, and set on the stove top for 1 hour 15 minutes.
- On a floured surface, roll your dough out using a floured rolling pin, about ¼ inches thick. The dough should look like an edible rectangle. With a butter knife and a delicate hand, spread the soften butter on the dough. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and ground cloves. Distribute the sugar mixture evenly over the dough.
- Starting from the length end, gently roll the dough into a cylinder. If you take it slow and believe in yourself, your cinnamon rolls will be rolled perfectly and look beautiful. Cut into one inch slices. Take two buttered muffin tins and place the cinnamon rolls into the tins. Cover with a towel and place on the stove top for 45 minutes.
- Bake at 325°F for 20-25 minutes. Note: if you are making these rolls bigger in size, add about 10 more minutes on the bake time.
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together your confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream and maple syrup the desired consistence you want is achieved. Take a spoon and drizzle the icing over rolls. Let set before transporting.
Decadence, Raspberries, Tequila, and Birthdays
February
is a crazy, hectic month. School is getting into full swing, another season at work
begins, and the unrelenting pressures of love and groundhogs send us all over
the edge. February makes December look like a cake walk, a walk in the park (I wouldn't suggest walking in the park; you might get frost bite or, even worse,
a menial amount of exercise.) February is the month of birthdays in my family.
My dad, aunt, and uncle all celebrate birthdays relatively close to each
other. With all of our busy schedules, the family got together last Friday night
to celebrate all the birthdays with chicken, tequila, and chocolate.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
What? Two recipes in the same week? What a world we live in. What a time to be alive! Valentine’s Day is in a couple of days away and myself, unlike many couples happily in love going out and being social, will be staying home alone in my room, wrapped in a blanket ball, and watching another season of American Horror Story. How come you may ask? The thought of dealing with the outside world gives me uncontrollable heartburn (it's a condition, look it up.) This ladies could be all yours, the man of your dreams. Nothing says sexy like self-depreciation and a man who runs a food blog.
Cold Brew Coffee with Cinnamon Sugar Simple Syrup
It’s 7 AM. The early morning rays of sun light sneak their way through the closed blinds, cascading beams of soft ember light across your bed. The alarm
clock on the night stand buzzes louder and louder with every second you stay lying in bed
contemplating a hard day’s work or a day of laziness. The warmth of your bed, and
the chilliness of what lies beyond the covers, beckons you to stay for a while
longer. The thought of getting out of bed and taking on the day leaves knots in
your stomach and a groan in your voice. The mere idea of dealing with the
rest of humanity sends shivers down your spine. Why did God have to create
Mondays?
Spend a night with me (invitations welcome. Just kidding, Mom) and you’ll quickly
see that I’m not a morning person. I
am a full blooded night owl. 3 AM is a cakewalk compared to the agonizing
reality of waking up at 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning. Both my parents and my brother
are usually in bed by 10 o’clock most every night, while I’m up for hours either writing, stalking Tumblr blogs, going on a Pinning rampage at 2 o’clock in the
morning, or just merely wasting my very existence on the Internet. When the
morning sun does come up, I need something that’s going to wake me up and give me
the energy to go out into the world and be a functioning member of society. My solution:
Cold Brew Coffee. I love iced coffee, but making iced
coffee at home is a tragedy. The minute you put the hot cup of steaming coffee into the pitcher of ice, the ice instantly melts and dilutes the coffee (into an endless sea of unhappiness and regret).
Your whole day is ruined and it’s not even 9 o’clock yet! This is where Cold
Brew comes in.
Rather than using hot water to brew the coffee, you steep the
coffee grounds using cold water and letting the mixture infuse for 24 hours. I know
24 hours seems like 24 years (aren't we being a little dramatic?) but it is
incredibly worth it. What you get is a more well-rounded subtle coffee that
fumigates and gives off this sense of comfort and well-being. When talking to
people about it, I describe it as a nutty tone of flavor. It’s gives the essence of that coffee house aroma that lingers rather than hits you in the face. I first found out about the exciting world of Cold Brew
Coffee by stumbling onto a video on Jamie
Oliver’s DrinkTube YouTube channel here. Finally! A chance to drink
iced coffee without the taste of crappy water. Plus, with this Cinnamon Sugar Simple
Syrup, your coffee taste buds are not going to know what hit them.
________________________________________________________________
COLD BREW COFFEE
WITH CINNAMON SUGAR SIMPLE SYRUP
Ingredients
Cold Brew Coffee
With
a 20oz French Press
1 cup Coffee Grounds
4 cups of Water
Cinnamon Sugar Simple Syrup
½ cup of light brown sugar
1/3 cup of maple syrup
½ cup of water
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
½ teaspoon of cardamom
Directions
Cold Brew Coffee
Pre-Step: Get out of bed and seize
the day! You're a winner.
Step 1: In a French Press of 8 ounce
pitcher, add in your coffee grounds. In 2 cups increments, add your water.
Note:
For every ½ cup of coffee grounds added,
you add 2 cups of water (hooray
math!)
Step 2: Take a wooden spoon (or any doable
spoon for that matter) and stir the coffee grounds into the water.
Note: Be prepared for a little bit of
a mess. Coffee grounds are rambunctious and do not play by societies rules. Let
your coffee grounds and water mixture sit for 10 minutes.
Step 3: After your coffee grounds have
had time to mingle with the water, place a lid (or in my case, plastic wrap)
over the cover. Place your French Press or 8 ounce container in the refrigerator
and let brew for 24 hours. I usually brew my coffee in the morning, so the next
morning I can drink it. (Hooray perfect timing!)
Step 4: 24 hours have passed and your
coffee/water mixture will resemble the essence of tar (this is right). If you
are using a French press, just do your thing and strain that mixture like a
champ
Step 5: (if needed) If you are using
an 8 ounce pitcher, you are going to use a fine-mesh strainer and paper towels
for this task. In your sink, place a fairly large bowl in the sink. Hold a mess
strainer with a paper towel or two covering the strainer over the bowl (this
will act as your filter). Simply pour your coffee through the strainer. The paper
towels will get clogged with mushy coffee grounds, so halfway through, replace
the soggy/dirt/wet paper towel with new ones. This will make the filtering
process easier and less traumatic.
Cinnamon Sugar Simple Syrup
Step 1: Grab a small sauce pan and put
it on the stove. Toss in your brown sugar, maple syrup, water, and the cinnamon
and cardamom. Turn your heat on to medium heat and whisk away. You want to
whisk this mixture for 5 minutes, keeping your full attention on the syrup. Note: Sugar burns rather easily (even though it has such a sweet disposition, it always seems to get burned by societies high and unattainable standards.)
Step 2: After 5 minutes of vigorous
whisking, let your mixture sit for 15 minutes. Put your syrup in an air-tight
container for up to a week.
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