A Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake Worthy of Any Friendsgiving

I've read a lot lately about Friendsgivings -- you know, Thanksgiving that is celebrated with your friends. I thought it kind of interesting, because for at least the past five years, that's exactly what my Thanksgivings have been. I went to college in Wisconsin, far away from my home in Maryland, so it never seemed to make sense to fly home for the holiday when I'd be returning just a few weeks later for winter break. During those years, I'd go to my aunt and uncle's in Minnesota, but Thanksgiving never seemed like a big, important holiday then. I don't think we made a big to-do about it, and I was mostly thankful to catch up on sleep. 

And then the next two were spent in Taiwan. They were big elaborate occasions, hosted for us by the U.S. representative to Taiwan. Believe it or not, that was the first time I ever tried green been casserole and I loved it! It's funny to see each family's version of staple dishes. I don't ever remember having green bean casserole, but when I was little I do remember the very pretty white dish that was creamed pearl onions (I never touched it, because even though it was pretty, what kid under the age of 12 wants to eat a whole bunch of onions in a cream sauce?). Anyway, at the Thanksgiving hosted by the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, all of the Fulbright ETAs gathered around a low coffee table and ate our dinner while sitting on the floor, laughing and joking, feeling very thankful that we could have such a healthy dose of home so far away. We went around and said what we were thankful for, a tradition I've always liked, and I think it was a really special time for all of us. 

When I started graduate school in Indiana, I was back to not wanting to travel home for Thanksgiving since I'd be making the long drive back just a few weeks later. At the time, my good friend Andrea wasn't much into cooking and I lived (and still do) in my tiny apartment that literally has zero counter space, so we decided to work together and host our own Thanksgiving at her condo. We invited a lot of our Chinese friends who didn't have other plans, and it was a very merry event. That was the first turkey I ever made! 

The following year Mer had started graduated school in Boston, so I made the trip out there to host a Thanksgiving with her. We made all sorts of delicious veggie-friendly dishes: sweet potato casserole, a squash bake, roasted brussel sprouts with pomegranate and a vanilla pecan butter, homemade green bean casserole (so much better because of the crunch), mashed potatoes, dressing, and about three desserts including pumpkin crunch cake and chocolate bourbon pecan pie. We picked up some flowers on the way home from our morning jog, arranged them, set the table, and dined with friends in style. It was a veggie feast! That was also my first trip to Boston and I completely fell in love it; who wouldn't at Christmas time? It was probably the best trip I've ever had. But trips to visit best friends are always wonderful. 

Then last Thanksgiving I jetted off to NYC to reunite with Shana. Shana and I were both Fulbright ETAs and housemates, and she was by far my closest friend in the group. We'd go shopping together on the streets of Taiwan, I would do a lot of the talking, and the clerks would always respond to her (and even give her my change!). Shana's parents are both Taiwanese, and I clearly do not look Asian at all, so we were used to having to explain that we were both American and could both speak Chinese. We bonded over our love for Chinese culture, good food, and romance. And when Chinese New Year arrived, we decided to travel to Japan and Australia together. It had been three years since I'd seen her when I arrived in NYC last Thanksgiving, but everything felt the same. It didn't even occur to me that it was our first time seeing each other in the States. We ran all over the city, shopping at holiday markets, meeting up with friends, touring museums, seeing Mary Poppins on Broadway, and cooking Thanksgiving dinner with her roommates. I had a minor case of whooping cough (no big deal), but the trip was still stellar. 

So thinking about the term "Friendsgiving" and reflecting on how I've spent my last few Thanksgivings, I realize that the significance of the holiday, for me, stems from coming together with friends and creating your own sense of family. It seems to me that people get caught up in the obligatory events that seem to come with many holidays and forget to really enjoy them. I actually love tradition, and I understand wanting to preserve it, but I think it's worth thinking about what the holidays mean to you and how you want to celebrate them. Many of the Friendsgivings I've heard about this year are taking place in addition to family plans. So go make your rounds to relatives, but make sure you spend time reflecting and giving thanks for the things and people who are important to you, even if they're not part of your traditional family. 

Which brings us to this Thanksgiving. Mike and I are driving from PA and IN respectively to Michigan to spend Thanksgiving with his family! It'll be my first time meeting his sister, a very long-awaited moment, and her fiance, plus a lot extended family. Their family tradition involves eating Thanksgiving dinner at a German family-style restaurant in Frankenmuth, which happens to be home to the world's largest Christmas store! I stocked up on Christmas ornaments when we made our first trip there back in May, but I can't wait to see it all decked out for the actual holiday season. His mom has got dessert covered with three (three!) pies, but Mike and I will be making this pumpkin spice bunt cake for dessert the following day at his aunt and uncles. I've made this cake twice in the past month for two separate dinner events, and it was a huge HUGE hit. It's not too sweet so you could probably serve it for a special breakfast if you'd like. 

Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

From My Baking Addiction 

For the cake

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I nearly double this)

1/2 tsp salt

1 15 oz-can pumpkin puree

For the frosting

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 10-inch bundt pant with nonstick cooking spray. 

In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil with mixer until thoroughly blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Add flour mixture to egg mixture alternately with pumpkin, beating well after each addition. 

Transfer batter to prepared bundt pan. Bake in preheated oven for 60-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack. Remove pan and cool completely before preparing cream cheese frosting (I've found that you can add the frosting to a slightly warm cake if you make it a bit thicker). 

For the cream cheese frosting: in a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and butter with a mixer until well-combined and fluffy- about 2 minutes. Gradually add in confectioners' sugar. Once the sugar is completely incorporated, mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Mix in vanilla and milk. If frosting appears to be too thick, slowly add in a little more milk until you reach the desired consistency. If desired, add pumpkin spice and mix until well-combined. Spoon over cooled cake. 

Refrigerate any leftovers (up to three days). Bring up to room temperature before serving. 

Introducing: Mike's Corner!

Sometimes, you just need to be really productive. And, sometimes, being productive means clearing your sink of its dishes, doing a few loads of laundry, organizing your closet, going through your mail, and cooking yourself some yummy meals. That's what happened last Thursday; it was wonderful. The day hit a high when I received a surprise bouquet from my beau! It was a pretty good day. 

And last week I cooked up a storm! I made delicious baked sandwiches, french onion soup, and a pumpkin spice bunt cake! It was the perfect marriage of deliciously fall foods. And I felt like a big girl when I asked the boys at the deli counter to slice my block of cheese that I picked up in the "specialty cheese" section and they honored my special request! After all, a perfect layer of uniformly golden, bubbly gruyere is must have for any respectable french onion soup! 

So I ate a lot of cheese this past week. Gruyere, cream cheese, Kraft singles on my egg and cheese breakfast bagels (I won't judge you if you won't judge me). And just in case I hadn't hit my maximum cheese intake this week, I had a grilled cheese for brunch! It wasn't planned, you see. The Bloomington Handmade Market was today, and I'm a sucker for cute, thoughtful Christmas gifts. So I headed over after my Bollywood dancefit class, and saw The Big Cheeze Food Truck! I couldn't resist. I don't think I've ever gotten to eat anything from a food truck! But it's okay because my cheese was served with some chicken and bacon...and ranch. So it was well-balanced...right?

Now, I'm a fan of good food, both in terms of taste and quality, and I like to use fresh, seasonal, and mostly nutritious ingredients. But, I also love my carbs and sweets. And cheese! So I'm not much of a calorie counter. I just try to supplement my "good" eating with some exercise and am happy to indulge in ice cream and the occasional doughnut when the need arises (I may have indulged a bit too much in Lancaster...I think I had 4 doughnuts in a week!)

So, now's the perfect time to bring in Mike. He's a bit more...balanced in the food department. Within our first few months of dating he complained that he'd had more dessert than in the past few years (we'd only had dessert together six times, six!). This will be the first of his "Mike's Corner" posts, and I promise I'll be back with that sinfully delicious pumpkin spice bunt cake recipe! Pumpkin is nutritional, no?

Mike’s Corner: Reflections on a Vegetarian Diet

Since I make the occasional cameo in Nicki’s posts on here, she suggested that I pull my weight and contribute a post of my own. This blog’s culinary theme is right there in its title, so I’ll introduce myself by talking about some of the ways in which I think about my own diet, and I’ll conclude with two versions of my favorite recipe.

            I’m approaching my second anniversary as a vegetarian. I don’t remember the exact date when I decided to stop eating meat, but it was very soon after Thanksgiving 2011. I still have a hard time articulating exactly why I made this decision. Part of it had to do with my increasing awareness of the damaging economic and environmental effects of industrial farming. My own health and family medical history was a factor as well. Although I’m a philosophy professor, the philosophical work on animal rights was not much of an influence, although to explain why would take too many words for this post. (Maybe next time.)

            In any case, for the past two years, I’ve abstained almost entirely from both meat and fish. (I’ve eaten fish on a couple of occasions when there was no other option, and chicken once at an event that had no veggie or fish options.) As a result, I’ve had to pay close attention to my diet. This is because I’m an avid weightlifter, and this imposes nutritional demands on my body that go beyond what is required for ordinary healthy subsistence.

            In particular, protein is extremely important for anybody engaged in regular intense exercise. It’s especially important for anybody who does strength training. One word that shows up a lot in weightlifting circles is ‘overtraining’. This condition occurs when the body is worked beyond the point where it can recover and rebuild normally. One way to overtrain is to work out too much without allowing for sufficient time between trips to the gym, but another way is to withhold what the body needs to rebuild the muscle fibers that get broken down by lifting weights. In order to do this rebuilding, the body needs protein above all.

            Of course, when most people think of protein, they think first of meat and fish. This becomes very apparent if you watch a lot of cooking shows on TV, like I do. In the culinary use, the word ‘protein’ has a precise meaning that doesn’t correspond to its nutritional one. It seems to be used to refer to meat and fish only. (In a way, the word ‘fruit’ is similar. A tomato meets all of the biological criteria of a fruit, but in the kitchen, tomatoes are vegetables.) So, since I don’t eat these, I’ve had to work to develop a vegetarian diet that provides me with enough of the protein (in the nutritional sense) that I need.

            There are a lot of protein supplements out there, and I do make use of those. A lot of them are dairy-based, but since I haven’t gone fully vegan, I don’t shy away from them. (There are vegan protein supplements, and I have tried them. For a variety of reasons, however, the dairy-based ones are better.) I typically get between 50 and 100 grams of protein per day from shakes that I mix. For my level of activity at the gym, however, that isn’t enough, and the rest has to come from food.

            I have a number of high-protein vegetarian recipes stashed away. One of my favorites combines two of the best plant-based protein sources: beans and quinoa. I’m sure that beans are quite familiar to you. Quinoa may be too, since it’s been a fad over the past couple of years. It’s one of the best plant-based sources of protein around, and it can be used in a lot of recipes. I tend to used it in place of rice a lot, including in the recipe below. There has been some controversy about the economic effects that quinoa’s increasing popularity might have on the farmers in South America who cultivate it, but this appears to be much less of a problem than some initial reports about it suggested. So, I’ve felt comfortable continuing to cook with it a lot.

            The recipe below actually comes it two varieties: a play on Cajun-style rice and beans and an Indian curried-chickpea style. I’ve provided the recipe for the Cajun version; below it, you’ll find the modifications to use if you want to make the Indian version. Keep in mind that I like my food to pack a punch, so be sure to decrease the amount of chili sauce and cayenne pepper if you like things milder.

Cajun-style quinoa-and-beans

4 cups low-sodium vegetable stock or broth

2 cups uncooked quinoa

2 cans low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 tsp. Louisiana-style hot sauce

1 tbsp. salt

½ tbsp. black pepper

1 cup frozen green peas

Canola oil

Heat a bit of oil in a large pot. Sauté bell pepper, onion, and celery until soft (about 12 minutes).

Add garlic, sauté everything one more minute

Add quinoa, cayenne pepper, and cumin, and stir until the spices coat everything

Add stock, hot sauce, salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in peas, cover again, and simmer 5 more minutes.

Add beans, stir everything together, and cover for a few minutes to let the flavors mix.

For the Indian version, make these changes:

- Replace the black beans with chickpeas

- Replace the cumin and cayenne pepper with 1 tbsp. curry powder

- Add 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger (sauté with the garlic)

- Replace Louisiana-style hot sauce with sambal ulek (an Indonesian chili sauce) or Sriracha, and use at least 1 tbsp.

A Parmesan to Please Anyone

My brother is a notoriously picky eater. Seriously picky. The food items he added to his list of good eats last year? Garlic bread and guacamole. Who isn’t born loving garlic bread? This kid. His diet during his teenage years consisted of meat and cheese sandwiches with mayo, spaghetti, cheese pizza, the most basic Chinese food (i.e. lo mein or beef with broccoli), and assorted fast foods.

It’s amazing what things he’ll try when he’s in the home of others. I think he once had beef tongue at a Columbian friend’s house. I want proof. Nonetheless, when he’s at home, and we ask him to try something new, he’ll usually shrug away, and if he doesn’t like what we’re eating, well, there’s a McDonalds down the road.

So when I was home for winter break, I made it my mission to make a meal for my family that everyone, especially my brother, would love. I started brainstorming with the basics: meat, cheese, and pasta, and came up with Chicken Parmesan.

Even though I thought my brother would love it, I have never once in my life ordered Chicken Parmesan. I’ve seen others order it in restaurants and it always seems to consist of thin pieces of chicken weighed down by a thick and heavy fried coating with some sauce, cheese, and pasta. The dish itself just doesn't seem like it could be all that spectacular. But then I began making this recipe, and my love affair with Chicken Parm (and Emeril recipes) was born.

Just wait until you smell the sauce roasting in the oven. The heavenly smell will give you no choice but to believe that you are in for a delicious meal. I’ve talked about the sauce before. It’s my favorite tomato sauce. And the chicken? Don’t be afraid to use fat plump and juicy chicken breasts. It turns out that once you get a nice sear or crust on a piece of meat, you can transfer it to the oven and it will turn out moist, tender, and perfectly cooked. You’ll need a cast-iron skillet for this because what starts on the stove top will be finished in the oven. My skillet has become my favorite thing to cook with because it heats quickly and evenly. And it really helps achieve a crunchy coating. You’ll also need an immersion blender (a good old-fashion blender works just fine) to puree the sauce. The sauce takes an hour to prepare since it’s oven-roasted, but if you make it ahead of time, you could pull this meal together in 15 minutes or so. And I’ve never been much of a leftover girl, but even this chicken tastes good a day or two after; the coating is so thin and crisp that it doesn’t get soggy in the fridge!

And vegetarians, don't fret! You can make a delicious Parmesan with tender eggplant! In fact, this sauce is so bangin' that I improvised this veggie version for my beau on our forth date to win him over and it totally worked! He'll get a craving for this every once in a while, and it takes us back to our first few weeks of dating. I knew he liked it, but when a friend recently asked if I made a mean Eggplant Parm, and Mike had a little moment where he pursed his lips, furrowed his brow, and said, "Ooh, yeah she does," I was surprised by just how much I have to thank this recipe for my relationship. 

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I think Mike would prefer a stomach filled with quinoa, bulgar wheat, and kale, but it makes me happy that he'll indulge in my Eggplant Parm. If I made a dinner entirely of hash browns, I think he'd be mine forever...

Chicken Parmesan with Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce

slightly adapted from Emeril Lagasse

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 teaspoons Emeril's Essence

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tbsp milk

3/4 cup dried bread crumbs

4 tbsp olive oil

Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce

sliced mozzarella or provolone 

2 tbsp chopped basil

prepared pasta of your choice (I use whole-wheat linguine)

grated Parmesan cheese

Make the Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce:

3 lbs of Romanita tomatoes (I have never found these, so I use the recommended combination of Roma tomatoes and grape tomatoes), seeded and cored.

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

12 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 tbsp fresh oregano leaves (Use fresh herbs! It makes a huge difference! If you are ever substituting dried herbs for fresh, remember you only need about 1/3 the amount since dry herbs are more potent)

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 400. In a large 14-in cast-iron skillet, combine all the ingredients. Stir to blend then transfer to the oven and cook for about 30 minutes. Remove skillet from the oven, stir well, and return to the oven to cook for another 30 minutes. Tomatoes should be blistered and caramelized. Let the tomatoes cool and then transfer to a blender and process until coarsely pureed. You can refrigeration leftover sauce in an air-tight container for up to 4 days. 

Bring a pot of salted water to boil for pasta and follow the directions for preparing it al dente. 

Preparing the chicken:

Place rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 400. Season each chicken breast with 1/2 tsp of Essence and 1/3 tsp salt. Set out your respective flour, egg, and bread crumb bowls. Dredge chicken in flour, dip in egg, and then roll in the bread crumbs (shake off excess between each step). Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place chicken in the skillet and cook for 4 minutes. Turn the chicken, add remaining 2 tbsp of oil and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat. Spoon some of the tomato sauce over each chicken breast and top with the cheese of your choice (Emeril recommends smoked mozzarella). Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook about 4 minutes or until chicken is cooked through (firm to the touch) and cheese melts. Turn to broil and cook until cheese is bubbly and golden. 

Veggie option:

Slice an eggplant in about 1/4 inch slices and salt liberally on both sides. Let sit for 30 minutes and then rinse the slices and pat them dry. Salting the eggplant removes the bitterness and will yield tender, yummy eggplant. Season with salt and pepper and then proceed to bread the eggplant as you would the chicken. Baking time is obviously less for eggplant-- simply brown in the pan and bake for just a few minutes in the oven. 

Mix the leftover sauce with the amount of pasta you want to serve and add in the basil and some grated Parmesan cheese. The amount of sauce I usually have leftover is just enough to coat the pasta, so if you like really saucy pasta, you might want to have some extra on hand. Serve alongside your chicken/eggplant. 

Personal Touches

In August, just after attending Amanda’s wedding, I packed up and made the drive from Indiana to Pennsylvania to help Mike get settled into his new home. We had done the initial search together back in July, and although I wouldn’t be making the move to PA as well, it felt nice to go through the process together and help Mike put his stamp on the place.

 I lost the battle on curtains. He deemed them unnecessary, and although I insisted that they would really complete the room, I had to agree that they weren’t totally necessary since he already has blinds. But I got him to make the switch from a comforter to a duvet and coverlet, add a little end table along with a mood lamp, and pick up a masculine-chic throw. 

After getting all of the furniture situated, we took to hanging photos and artwork. We had about twice the amount of wall space to work with if not more since he upgraded from a one-bedroom apartment to a two-story townhouse. His favorite piece of art from the Detroit Institute of Arts made it into the living room above the sofa along with his map of the London subway system which we hung above the TV. The window-pane picture frame I gave him for his birthday was filled with photos of us and hung between his two six-foot tall windows, and the 1920s lithograph of a bull walrus that I gave him last Christmas was nestled in the corner, just left of the couch. That left us with one key spot on the wall opposite of the windows.

In my own apartment I’ve hung some of my favorite photos that I took during my time in Taiwan. I wanted to showcase them while reminding myself and my visitors of some of my favorite places and things. I have a calligraphy piece that a former colleague in Taiwan made for me, a really cool paper cutting that was also gifted to me by another Taiwanese coworker, my Chinese name written by one of my college Chinese professors and close mentor, an oil painting of fall foliage that I bought in Taiwan when I walked into a restaurant and my heart nearly burst when I saw the vibrant reds and oranges and instantly yearned for home, and my favorite thing of all time, the four water color paintings I bought outside of the Neolithic Museum in Xi’an. They were done by farmers on scraps of paper, and they’re so simple yet so lively. I paid the equivalent of about $12 USD for them, which was probably still way more than I should have, but a complete steal considering how much they mean to me. My aunt had them framed for me for my birthday when I got back from studying abroad, and when I moved into my first apartment, 4 years later, I couldn’t wait to hang them on the wall.

So, personal art means a lot to me. I know Mike feels similarly about art in the sense that he doesn’t believe it should just fill space, so I wanted to think of something meaningful we could add to his collection. I suggested that we make our own canvas. Mike said he’d like to do something related to Detroit, and when I told him it would be totally doable to do the skyline, he seemed both surprised and genuinely excited.  I was inspired from this little number here that I read about a while ago on Everyday Reading.  So I got to work finding an outline of the skyline.

Once we found one we liked, we got to work on purchasing the materials. We purchased a primed canvas and assorted acrylic paints and brushes. We chose black for the buildings, white for the outline, and red, orange, and yellow for a more abstract sunset. We sketched the skyline onto the canvas in pencil using a straight-edge, and then I tackled the buildings while Mike painted the sky. We had a difficult time finding a brush thin enough to give us a clean line, and the paint pens we bought were good, but it was hard to control the flow of the paint. Since we had to paint the buildings first before we could do the outline, we were also trying to work around wet paint, but we were pretty happy with the results. It definitely has a homemade touch to it.

Our Masterpiece

And for someone who swears he has not an ounce of artistic capability, I thought Mike did a great job with the sky. It was fun creating something together, and I think he was kind of surprised at the outcome.

I recently saw this on Pinterest, and would like to make something similar for my next canvas project. For our one-year anniversary, I had a subway sign made that included places, things, and dates that have held a special meaning for us over the past year. (We're hanging it up this week and I'll be sure to add a photo! I'm really happy with the results!) I chose the color palate of charcoal grey and white to match his bedroom linens, and I am thinking of inverting the color scheme for this upcoming canvas. If you’re interested in purchasing a sign of your own, you can check out the seller Jen Shuck and her shop RusticPineDesigns on Etsy. 

Let Them Eat Cake!

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Somewhere between grading assignments, calculating midterm grades, and trying to keep all of my students on track as we began delving into more complex grammar, I forgot(!) to read my favorite blogs and write in my own! Good thing next week is our fall break! A whole uninterrupted five days to read, reflect, and write. 

I can't really complain though, because I got to spend most of this last week with my hunny. This was a bit of a longer visit, so we were able to balance the fun outings with down time. And then there was the eating fest. It kicked off with our favorite take-out Chinese on Thursday night, followed by Thai on Friday, hibachi on Saturday, authentic Chinese on Sunday, and Middle Eastern and Indian on Monday. It was truly impressive. Good thing we walked to a few of the restaurants and took a tour around DePauw's campus. There was also the shopping we did at the mall...that counts as walking, right? I mean, I was exhausted after...

It was all so good. So, so good. But, if I had to pick a favorite meal, it'd have to be the hibachi. It's been kind of a special date-night meal for us. But, the real reason I love hibachi? THE LOBSTA'! I love me some lobster. Even without butter, it still tastes like butter! And it's tender and just the right amount of chewy, and...(sigh), it's just so so good. Mike likes to tease me about my lobster indulgence, but it's okay, because he finds it charming. I can tell. So I go along with it (except I really do love it that much). Once, when we were on vacation, I declared that we had to return to the same restaurant the next day for lunch so that I could order the lobster pasta with lemon cream sauce. It was just a sandwich place, so I humbly ordered a tuna salad plate on the first day (it would have been too extreme to get lobster pasta on a whim), but once I pointed it out to Mike and having adequately prepared him, I felt like I could order it the next time around. And return the next day we did! My lunch cost $17; his cost $9. 

At Panini, Panini in Michigan City, Indiana

But the best lobster happens at hibachi restaurants. Served sizzling in butter, soy sauce, and garlic, it is the most tender and tasty lobster you will ever have. I portion out my bites of lobster so that I can have bites of utter happiness throughout the entire meal. 

And the gluttony didn't end there, no sir! On Sunday evening, after a meal of eggplant with potato and green pepper and potato and a stew of kimchi and tofu, we had a dessert party with Misti and Eddy. Our contribution was a delicious chocolate cake that I'd been eyeing on Pinterest. As much as I love cake, I've never been a huge fan of homemade chocolate cake because I've often found that it lacks richness and true chocolatey goodness. But this recipe promised to be different because it contained a secret ingredient: espresso powder! And it was totally delicious! I ate a piece, Sunday, Monday, yesterday and will likely have the last piece today. I mean, I'm leaving town on Friday and can't let a good piece of cake go to waste...

The Best Chocolate Cake {Ever}

From Robyn Stone / Add a Pinch

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp espresso powder (in the coffee aisle at the supermarket)

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Frosting

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

1 cup cocoa powder

5 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp espresso powder 

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9-inch cake pans with baking spray or with butter and flour. Add flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder in a large bowl and whisk to combine and remove any lumps. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix on medium speed until combined well. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to batter. Beat on high for about a minute to add air to the batter. Distribute batter evenly between cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes (I think my oven runs hot; I pulled them out after 27 minutes) until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool before removing from the pans. Cool completely on rack before frosting. 

To make the frosting:

Add cocoa to a large bowl and whisk to remove lumps. Cream together the butter and cocoa powder. Add sugar and milk to cocoa mixture by adding 1 cup of sugar followed by about a tablespoon of milk. Repeat until all sugar and milk have been added. Add vanilla extract and espresso powder and combine well.

(I like to store the cake in the fridge and let it warm up a bit on the counter before I serve it. The frosting softens quite quickly but you still get the benefit of having chilled cake. I also make sure to have lots of milk on hand. Or red wine...)

Deconstructed Stuffed Tomato

Remember when I posted about the delicious lasagna I was inspired to make from the contents of my fridge? Well, something similar happened this afternoon! It's been a gray, rainy weekend here so when I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was get to baking some breakfast. I had minimal milk and eggs that are past their expiration date (how long do you guys keep your eggs around?), so I decided to make scones. The first recipe I had pinned was in German, and the translation included all of the measurements in grams, liters, and Celsius (what?!), so I moved on to another one. Only it included raisins, and unless they're covered in chocolate, I don't eat them. (You know, I used to think I wasn't a picky eater, but the more I write, the more I'm aware of my quirky food habits.) So I decided to chop up a mango and mix that into the dough instead. I ended up having to add more flour than the recipe called to get the dough to come together, and the scones, although tasty, turned out to be more like slightly sweetened biscuits. And while I'll happily eat them every day this week for breakfast, let's move on to what I'm really excited to talk about: the tuna salad I had for lunch!

There's a late-night dinner in Maryland that has closed a number of times, temporarily breaking our hearts until it reopens under a new name but with the same loved menu. My first experience there was for a friend's birthday party in high school where her mom took all of us girls and allowed us to order two (two!) desserts each from the menu! I believe I went for Oreo cheesecake and a milkshake. Over the years, it became one of my families go-to restaurants if it was late at night, we weren't in the mood for anything particular, or the weather was ridiculously hot and we couldn't bring ourselves to cook in the kitchen. My aunt, grandma, and I were hooked on their stuffed tomatoes. Served on a bed of lettuce, surrounded by slices of hard-boiled egg and slices of green pepper, cucumber, and red onion, these big plump tomatoes were sliced into wedges and served as the vessel for fresh, cold tuna salad. 

Yesterday, after a morning of antique shopping with Andrea, we stopped by the local market just down the street to pick up some lunch. I picked up a container of tuna salad with feta cheese, dill, and almonds and a penne pasta salad with thick-cut bacon, tomato, and basil. I had the pasta salad for lunch and saved the tuna salad for today. I had a tomato and some mixed greens left over from last week when I made the turkey tomato panini served with salad. And on Friday, my colleague gifted me with some 滷蛋, or hard-boiled eggs braised in soy sauce and spices. It was perfect! I spread out my greens on a plate, sliced the tomato and hard-boiled eggs and laid them on top, the covered the salad with the tuna and a generous sprinkle of pepper. The result was delicious! It was the perfect light late lunch. 

Deconstructed Stuffed Tomato

1 cup of tuna salad (you could also use chicken or egg salad)
   *My tuna salad was already made, but when I make it myself, I add mayo, diced onion, dill, salt and pepper. The sliced almonds in this salad provided a nice crunch, and the feta provided a nice salty component. My first job was at Subway and I am in love with their tuna salad...you know what's in it? Mayo and tuna! That's it! So add what you like and make it as simple or complex as you'd like!
1 heirloom tomato
3 cups mixed greens
2 sliced hard-boiled eggs 
assorted sliced veggies (I like cucumber, green pepper, and red onion)

Arrange your greens on the plate and layer the tomato slices on top. Scoop your tuna salad on top and surround with veggies and slices of egg. Season with pepper to taste. 

Turkey and Tomato Panini

With an hour commute, the earliest I ever arrive home is 5 pm, and this happens on Mondays. Which is a good thing. Because I'm always a little extra sleepy on Mondays. And it's a perfect time to go grocery shopping for the week or start preparing whatever I'll be taking to school for lunch. 

Except this past Monday, my fellow carpoolers forgot to tell me we would be staying until 5 pm until after we had arrived on campus. Admittedly, I was a little grumpy that I'd have to wait an extra hour (which turned out to be two) to get home, go grocery shopping, and watch my DVR recordings while cooking. But I did get a lot of recipe browsing and pinning done while I sat outside (the weather was pretty amazing on Monday) waiting for my ride. And since I was already quite hungry and knew I had at least another hour and a half ahead of me before I could get to cooking, I decided to go for something quick. 

I've been craving good, hearty sandwiches lately. I hardly ever make a regular sandwich at home because I just don't think it tastes that good. My lettuce isn't crunchy enough, my tomatoes are too mealy, or I can't find the right condiment. But I've come across the pin for this turkey and tomato panini quite a few times recently, and it just looked so creamy and tasty. So I gave it a whirl. And it was delicious! Super delicious!

They key to this sandwich is the creamy Parmesan basil mayo. Make it. Even if you think you don't like mayo, make it. You will want to put it on everything! I already have big plans to make it a star in an upcoming grilled veggie sandwich...

Turkey and Tomato Panini
slightly adapted from EatingWell

• 3 Tbsp mayo 
• 2 Tbsp plain Greek yogurt
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil 
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• pepper to taste
• whole-wheat bread
• oven-roasted deli turkey
• sliced heriloom tomato
• spreadable butter

To make the spread, combine mayo, yogurt, Parmesan, basil, and lemon juice in a small bowl and mix well. Season with pepper to taste. 

Preheat your panini press (I used my Griddler, but you could make this in a regular pan by using a plate to weigh down your sandwich as it toasts on each side). Butter the outsides of your bread. Spread a few teaspoons of the "jacked up" mayo on the inside of each slice of bread. Layer on the tomato and turkey. Place the sandwich in the press and grill until golden and crispy on both sides. 

I served my sandwiches with a salad of mixed greens lightly dressed in lime olive oil and cranberry pear balsamic vinegar. 

Apple Dumplings

This past weekend was pretty phenomenal. It was so nice to have uninterrupted time with Mike. We had meals with friends, got started on season nine of The Office, and even took a nap together! It was the perfect balance of fun plans and quiet alone time. Here's a picture we snapped before heading to Finch's for dinner!

On Saturday we headed to Apple Works for some famous apple dumplings and pumpkin picking. I just read Janssen's post today that includes a recipe for double chocolate pumpkin cookies (I'll be making those this week!), and had to laugh at her comment that "admitting to not loving pumpkin in probably blog suicide." I, myself, enjoy pumpkin, but do you know what I do not enjoy? Apple desserts. I am sure you either just gasped or yelled "whuaaat?!" in the way that I do when I hear something that is completely incomprehensible. Don't get me wrong,  I love the gooey texture of baked apples and the spice added by cinnamon and clove, but I do not like the crust that seems to accompany most apple desserts. It's the crust! I don't like the crust! So now you're really going to be shocked. I don't like pie. I'll have you know, however, that I have never once turned down a piece of cake. I love cake. Love it. Need an extra bridesmaid? Invite me along to your cake tasting and I'm in! I'm now thinking about Cate's wedding cake. It was so delicious. Best. cake. ever. Which is why it makes me sad that so many people think pie is superior to cake. My wedding will be all about the cake. And the love that Mike and I share, of course. (But the cake will be the star!)

So back to these famous apple dumplings. I wanted to like them, but they were encased in crust and swimming in some sort of thin sugary sauce. I knew I wouldn't love it. I tried a bit of Mike's and the apple filling was good. I just wished that it was tender, soft dough wrapped around the apple instead of that gluey crust. For those of you who know exactly what I'm talking about, who love the way yeast donuts and fritters compress when you sink your teeth in them and can't get enough of that chewiness each divine bite brings, these are apple dumplings made for you. They are light and fluffy and tender. And although no cake, they are an ideal dessert for a crisp fall day. 

Country Apple Dumplings
(slightly adapted from Allrecipes.com)

4  Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
2 packages of crescent roll dough
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 (12 oz) can of Mountain Dew

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Cut each apple into quarters and set aside (the original recipe suggests cutting them into 8 wedges, but I like having extra apple in my dumplings). Roll each apple wedge in crescent roll dough starting at the smallest end and then tuck the sides around. It may not seal completely, but make sure you have pinched as much of the dough together as possible. 

Melt butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Pour evenly over the apple dumpling. Pour Mountain Dew over the dumplings. 

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes in preheated oven until golden brown. 

Serve with vanilla ice cream and homemade whipped cream. 

Best Week of My Life and Chicken 'n Dumplings

My friends on Facebook and my carpool crew know that I have already deemed this week the best week of my life! It's been a crazy, exciting, joyous week, and although I'm running low on sleep, I can't complain. Even this past weekend was especially good.

I started off Saturday morning by picking up Mike's anniversary present and then heading to Starbucks for my first pumpkin spice latte of the season and some serious grading. Having made a good amount of headway with my grading and feeling elated by the beautiful Saturday we were having, I pulled out my laptop to type up the post about my amazing students. I was feeling really good, happy about my job and all of the the things that I had to look forward to this week. I headed to the animal shelter to play with the kitties and pups, and met a very handsome pitbull/hound mix named Farley. He had the best snout ever and was super calm and loving. Lucky for me, my apartment in the size of a shoebox and I have a cat that has made it very clear that he prefers being the sole receiver of human attention, so I'm never really tempted to bring home other animals. But I do like to stop by and give them all a little love.

Back at home I continued with my grading, and then, something amazing happened! I took a cleaning break! I cleaned my apartment on a Saturday night. FIVE whole days before Mike's visit! And I did laundry! It felt splendid! The next morning I took a little walk over to Sweet Claire's for a delicious breakfast with Andrea and Dimitar, got a bit more work done, snuck in an afternoon nap, and even did some data collecting. I was just getting ready to call it a night when Grant called me to say Trisha would be having her baby in about an hour! And since I had another hour to kill, I washed dishes! You guys, it was a SUPER productive weekend!

I arrived at the hospital around midnight, where I stayed for the next 3 hours until Trisha gave birth to her darling baby boy, Jackson. I actually ended up staying in the room for the delivery and it was the most incredible thing I've ever experienced. Trisha was such a trooper and I just couldn't wait to meet her little one. Trish and Grant opted to keep the gender a surprise, so when the nurse yelled, "It's a boy!" we all just burst into tears. It was such a joyous moment. Jackson arrived with the fullest head of hair you've ever seen and his mommy and daddy just love him to pieces. And now I'm Aunt Nicki!

I didn't get home until around 3:30 and I knew I'd have to be up by around 6:15, but witnessing such a special moment made the severe lack of sleep totally worth it. And that afternoon I got a letter from the university approving my second class for next semester! Which made the day even better! But between driving carpool, teaching two classes, holding individual conferences with students, and data collection, I was exhausted. I made dinner (I'll get to the recipe in a bit), cleaned up (had to keep my kitchen clean after the weekend's cleaning escapades), and went to bed.

Yesterday was another busy day filled with a teaching evaluation from a fellow colleague, more conferences, and grading. I walked to a local Chinese restaurant for dinner to get my veggie fix and the owner gifted me with a package of mooncakes! I thought it was super sweet because when I looked into buying them for my students, they were about $20 for a package of 4! I brought them to class today and most of the students were brave enough to try them. Although many of my students asked if there was a chocolate option (no, no there is not), I was happy that they were willing to try it; before I left for China, one of my professors wrote me a note saying "remember, try everything once," and those words always stuck with me.

Today is my long day on campus since we have Chinese Table on Wednesdays. But once I'm home, I have the rest of the evening and all day Thursday off. And tomorrow is an especially momentous occasion, because Mike is coming to visit! It's been over a month since we last saw each other, and it's not been easy. I didn't realize how much I'd miss the little things, and it took me a while to adjust. Things have been looking up though, and I've been focusing on staying positive and happy. Our one-year anniversary was September 12, so we've got fancy plans to celebrate. Friday evening we're having dinner with friends and then on Saturday it's off to Apple Works for what, I have heard, are the best apply dumplings ever! Saturday also marks the start of their u-pick pumpkin season, so it should be a perfect day (although it may be in the 80s, and that is not my idea of fall). We'll end the day at Finch's, a local farm to table restaurant with a very romantic ambiance. We went there to celebrate Mike's dissertation defense, so it holds happy memories for us too. And there will be gifts! I love gifts! I'm the kind of person that likes to tell people I'm giving them a gift so that they can be excited for as long as possible. An anticipated surprise, if you will. I'm super excited about the gift I got Mike, and I really hope he likes it! I'll post a picture later, but since he reads my posts (he's the best!), I can't ruin the surprise!

AND on top of all that, tomorrow I have a play date with Trisha and baby Jackson! I'm sure we won't be doing much playing, but there will be elephant ear bread, and maybe some movie watching, and lots of cuteness! And Grey's Anatomy is back tomorrow! It's almost too much (almost!).

So in honor of the best week ever, I'm sharing with you one of my favorite recipes! I made this Monday night when it was 8:30 and I was starving, because it takes less than 30 minutes and you get four generous helpings out of it! Also, I almost always have all of the ingredients on hand except the chicken, so a quick run to the grocery store and a $5 for a rotisserie chicken is all I need for one of the most comforting meals I've ever tasted.

Chicken 'n Dumplings
From Tasty Kitchen Blog

2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cold butter
about 1 cup of milk (you will probably use a little less)
a pinch of salt
2 qt chicken broth
1 rotisserie chicken, meat shredded
black pepper to taste

Combine all of the dry ingredients and cut in the butter to the mixture using a pastry cutter or two forks. Add the milk until the dough forms a cohesive ball. Meanwhile, place broth in a large pot and bring to a boil. Generously flour your worktop and roll out the dough to about 1/8" thickness. Cut dumplings into 2x2 inch squares and drop a few at a time into the boiling broth, stirring after each addition. Cook for about 15-20 minutes until dumplings have puffed up and the broth has thickened into a gravy (add a bit of the extra flour for thicker gravy). Stir in the chicken and add black pepper to taste. Lick the bowl. Have seconds. I do.

My Rockstar Students

I began my position as a lecturer at DePauw University this past August. It's the first time I've had a class all to myself, and it's both very exciting and an awesome responsibility. For many students, I'm the first Chinese instructor they've had. For others, I'm the first instructor who has required them to mind their tones and pay attention to stroke order. The great thing about these students? They are so eager! They have lots of questions and they absorb cultural knowledge like sponges. We're still working on the language basics, but it takes time, and already they've made a ton of progress! They even self correct!

This past Thursday was Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. In many ways it is much like our Thanksgiving -- families gather together and enjoy moon cakes and fruit while gazing at the moon, which symbolizes togetherness. It's a difficult time for those who can't reunite with their families, but there's still some comfort to be sought in knowing that wherever you and your loved ones are, the harvest moon shines bright and full for all of us.

I taught my students about the holiday on Wednesday since we don't have class on Thursday, and on Friday, the ASIA club hosted a celebration in honor of the holiday, which is also celebrated around various countries in southeast Asia. The news of the celebration didn't reach me until a week before the festival, when I was informed that they'd like to have our students participate. I was skeptical that my students would want to organize a performance on such short notice, but when I presented the idea to them on Monday, their overall reaction was "yeah, let's sing a song! It'll be awesome!" I suggested the classic song "The Moon Represents My Heart" since it was very fitting for this particular event, but I soon realized that if we were going to do this, it would have to be something that the students felt comfortable with and were excited about. So what did they choose? 對不起，我的中文不好 or "Sorry, My Chinese Isn't So Good". 

I tweaked the lyrics a bit so they better described my students. The song is originally performed by the British band Transition as they travel around the streets of Taiwan poking fun at their own Chinese skills. They joke about the stereotype that all foreigners are assumed to be American and identify themselves as "English gentleman". My students are certainly not English gentleman, so we changed it to say that they are DePauw students. And in the last verse, the band sings about how their Chinese ability has improved. Well, we're only in week 5 of the semester and we've got a long way to go, so I had them sing:

no worries, my Chinese will improve

no worries, no worries

 I'm taking Chinese class now

no worries, my Chinese will improve

no worries, no worries,

Deng Laoshi will teach us how to speak Chinese!

They loved this. One of my students volunteered to learn the song on the guitar in just two days and after only 20 minutes of practice in class on Wednesday, we were ready to take the stage. We were told to arrive at 7, although the performances didn't end up starting until 8:45, but they were troopers, laughing and chatting with their fellow classmates (I teach two sections of first-year Chinese). They almost had a heart attack when the emcees announced a surprise performance by the second-year students and wrongly announced that they would be singing our song. They all turned around and looked at me yell-whispering "Deng Laoshi (Teacher Deng), they stole our song!" I told them just to remain calm, we'd figure it out, but my stomach dropped as well; I knew how excited they were to perform the song. Thankfully, the emcee had just made a mistake, and the second-year students were actually performing "The Moon Represents My Heart"! Phew!

Backstage, the kids were abuzz with excitement. They made their own little chant "一二三，非常好!" (1, 2, 3, excellent!). It was so heartwarming to see them come up with this on their own; it comes from something I say in class often. I always give feedback to students after they respond to a question, and they know that there's a scale. First comes 好 (good). Then 很好 ( very good). And if they really blow me away with their response, they get a 非常好 (excellent). Many students answer me very deliberately and carefully in hopes of getting a 非常好.

We took the stage and set up our guitarist and the mics. We started singing and things were going very smoothly until our guitarist got a little excited and skipped the second verse. There was a bit of a fumble, but we recovered acapella and he came back in a couple of bars later. We finished strong! The crowd went wild! It was 9:30 when we got off stage and the kids were so excited about how much fun it had been. The group disbanded quickly as they ran off to go meet parents and friends for dinner (it's parents' weekend at DePauw), but not before receiving praise from the other language teachers. They were rockstars!

"Can You Make a Pinata?"

Mike and I were at my family's home in Maryland, sitting around the table after a delicious meal of blackened chicken and pesto pasta with roasted tomatoes and eggplant, chatting and drinking some wine, when I received this message from Amanda. Since I had had a bit of wine and wasn't wearing my glasses, I held my phone away and squinted at it to confirm that she had, in fact, asked me to make a pinata. Now, I'm the first to volunteer to help with a project, and as a bridesmaid, it was my duty, but a pinata? I was a little intimidated. I took a look at the pictures that Amanda had sent from pinatas that she found and fell in love with on Pinterest but were just too expensive to purchase.

Crystal Pinata-Gold, Confetti System

geometric pinata, of paper and things

And as beautiful as these babies are, $150 does seem like a lot to pay for something that will only make a brief appearance before being smashed to pieces. I loved the shape and shine of the gold diamond pinata from Confetti System pictured above, so I wanted to use that as my inspiration. Mer and I had made a dodecahedron in our freshman geometry class -- we spent the whole weekend stamping paper for the 20 faces we thought it had (only to find out that we only needed 12 of them) before heading to the HFStival with Papi (Mer's dad, we were totally cool)-- so I actually felt pretty good about being able to assemble a geometric shape. 

So I headed to Michael's and started looking for supplies. Since Amanda's wedding colors were cherry red and turquoise blue, I had my heart set on using a combination of reds and metallics, and Amanda had requested that the pinata be filled with confetti and glitter. I did find silver and gold tissue paper, as well as a wonderful package of ombre tissue paper that included shades of yellow, orange, pink, and red. I also came across some origami paper that contained pops of gold and silver along with some really cool floral patterns, so I picked up two packages of those. Those turned out to be a bit of a splurge; each pack contained only five small square sheets and was about four dollars. I purchased two bags of crinkle colored paper, one in pink and one in white. I also purchased 8 or so small packages of various wedding-themed and colorful confetti. These were also a bit more expensive, so I purchased what I hoped would be enough and began brainstorming how I might be able to fill any remaining space. I had asked one of the employees about metallic paper, and she was very patient and helpful, so I thought it was worth asking if they had any scrap cardboard I could use to create the shell of the pinata. I scored two medium-sized cardboard boxes and checked out with all of my other purchases that totaled around $60. Amanda had offered to cover all of the costs of the pinata but I had still wanted to keep it reasonably priced. $60 seemed like a lot for what I had purchased, but by the time it had all come together, I was impressed that I had cut the cost by over half and still managed to create a totally gorgeous pinata.  

paper materials (purchased at Michael's)

Simple pinatas can be constructed by paper macheing around a large blown-up balloon; when the paper mache is dry, you simply pop the balloon and the structure remains intact. But since I wanted a geometric pinata, I had to start by creating the structure. I had originally thought that I would construct two pyramids and then attach them, but the triangle faces I cut were actually large enough that I only needed three for each half. I left about a 1-in edge on each side as a means to connect the faces. I used packaging tape to connect the faces, but I think I could have used fewer, smaller pieces. Once all but one of the faces had been connected, I began layering the shredded paper and confetti in the pinata. This was important to ensure that all of the confetti wouldn't simply just drop to the bottom. It looked like I would need a bit more filler, so I took some colored scrapbooking paper and ran in through my shredder. I only had a few sheets on hand, so I supplemented that with shredded documents I had in my waste basket. The bits of black type on the paper actually looked really cool, and it was mixed with enough color that it managed to add a nice visual element without looking cheap. I sealed up my last face and then recruited Andrea for help with paper macheing!

Paper mache paste is just flour mixed with water to create a think, soup-like liquid that hardens when it dries. We discovered that it was best to have the liquid a bit runnier than we originally thought; this helps eliminate clumps of flour and ensures that the layers dry quickly. Newspaper is traditionally used as the vehicle for the paste, but it can get messy as the print begins to run. I didn't have access to large stack of newspapers anyway, so Andrea and I called around and discovered that The Herald Times sells the leftover reams of unprinted newspaper for super cheap! I purchased a large roll for four dollars, and Mike was able to use what was leftover to pack up his dishes and things for the move! I cut 1-2 inch thick strips of the paper and we got to work dipping them in the paste, running them between two fingers to get off any excess paste, and gradually layering them on the structure, overlapping them where we could. It's really important that you place the pinata in a well-ventilated area where it will be able to dry quickly. Wet, warm flour paste = mold! 

It took a few days for the paper mache to fully dry, and then we began decorating. I cut the tissue paper into 1.5 inch strips and added fringe to the ends, making sure there was enough of an edge to stick to the surface. We applied a small amount of Mod Podge using sponge brushes and then laid the edge of the tissue paper on top. We chose the colors as we went and integrated a few of the origami strips after every few rows. We discovered that it was key to apply the Mod Podge to the area just above the last strip of tissue paper to ensure that the fringes would not stick. We cut the strips long enough so that we could overlap the edges and tidy up the seams of the pinata. 

The end result was this:

  

   

I was pretty happy with how it all turned out. In order to hang it, we simply drilled a whole through two of the top sides and then looped a fairly heavy wire,which we then attached to the tree, through it. Kyle did have a heck of a time busting it open (guess I went a little heavy on the packaging tape!). It actually looked really pretty when it finally did come open, and if nothing else, it made for some great photo opportunities! Amanda and Kyle's wedding was such a wonderful representation of who they are as a couple and I can't wait to share more of their wedding with you all. For now, their wonderful photographer Nick Goodin  has provided a sneak peek of their wedding photos!