Savory Sundays: Citrus-Butter Shrimp Toss

Me playing my harp at a senior assisted living center.

Is it seriously Sunday already?? Really?! I just can’t accept this. The other day it was FRIDAY! As in the start of my weekend. Yesterday was spent getting my business cards ready and volunteering an hour of my time to play the harp at a local senior assisted living center (which was awesome btw, but my day was seriously spent doing that and homework. And baking/writing yesterday’s Sweet Saturday post) And now the calendar is telling me that all of a sudden I have school tomorrow? This is completely unacceptable. Someone really needs to re-write the damned calendar to give us at LEAST one more day in the weekend. At least.

I had such a blast volunteering my time yesterday, and I can’t wait to go back to play for them on Mother’s Day

But, since that’s not going to happen, no matter how much I beg (maybe I’m not talking to the right people? hmm…) I guess going to the beach with friends will have to make up for it all.

On the off chance that you guys are upset about it being Sunday already, I made you a delicious meal to take your mind off the entire thing. How does this magical meal do this you ask? Simple. It’s flavor is so delicious it completely takes your mind off everything except for how awesome this meal is. And by awesome, I mean seriously awesome!

If you don’t believe me, you’ll just have to make it yourself. And when you do, let me know if it’s a dish you’re going to make over and over again, because I know I am!

I really hope that you all are enjoying the rest of your weekend before we all get back to the “awesomeness” (yay sarcasm! hehe) that is the work week!

<3 and harp strings,
Kate

Sweet Saturdays: Double Chocolate Brownies

Hey everyone! I know it’s really late on Saturday, and that it’s not even Saturday technically for some of you! But, as long as I get this post out sometime on Saturday, everything will be fine

My baking assistant, the lovely dog-dog!

I was really unsure as to what I wanted to bake for this post, which is why I didn’t actually get it baked until today… but that aside let’s talk about these delicious brownies I made! These were the very first homemade brownies I have made (as in, not from a box mix), and I am really proud of how they turned out! I may have overbaked them just a tad because when I put my cake tester in no crumbs were stuck to it, and the recipe said it should have a few, but I sampled a couple of them and they still tasted great!

These brownies I made to share with you all are from Martha Stewart’s “Cookies” cookbook. The only baked good I can recall trying by Martha Stewart are the Chocolate Crackles I used to make with my mom for Christmas, but I am really enjoying these brownies! They are dense but packed full of chocolate because of the semi-sweet chocolate and cocoa powder the recipe calls for. They are seriously the ultimate fudgy brownie, so if that’s your thing, then please give these a shot. You won’t be sorry!

<3 and harp strings,
Kate

Savory Sundays: Mojito Chicken Salad

The weather down here has been really hot and summery, which has had me thinking about grilling, eating out on the patio table, and drinking yummy mojitos in the warm summer air. And even though it’s still April, and despite the fact that we have are having the sweltering summer days with chilly spring evenings, I know that this salad with it’s mandarin orange pieces, tangy/sweet dressing, and sweet grilled chicken will definitely get you ready for the summer evenings that are sure to come in the next few months.

Happy pseudo-summer everyone

<3 and harp strings,
Kate

Livestream: World of Warcraft, Mists of Pandaria Beta

Hey everyone! I mentioned in my vlog earlier today (if you want to get into technicalities, it was yesterday that I vlogged and thus it was yesterday and not today that I mentioned this… lol) that I intended to livestream some MoP beta, and that’s just what I did! Granted I had some issues at first because the webcam my boyfriend had ordered for me to livestream/vlog/record youtube videos with (that arrived today, which I was SO thrilled over) SUCKS ROYALLY! It really really does. THIS is the awful webcam he bought me. It is deceiving because it looks like it’s gonna be absolutely fantastic, and then it’s NOT. It un-focuses and then RE-focuses on a whim, and randomly decides it’s going to zoom in on the light in my hallway when I’m trying to record…. and to top it all off, when I was trying to livestream the mic on it wasn’t picking up so no one could hear me!

Talk about frustrating. Thankfully I have the return label printed up and I will be sending this back to the company and we’ll get me something better. But yay for my dad having a webcam I could borrow in the meantime! LOL

Anyways, here’s the videos for my livestream! I uploaded them all to youtube so you can easily watch them, and I’m crossing my fingers that they all work!!

Also, quick side note, if it sounds like I have a lisp, I really don’t. The mic on my dad’s webcam is apparently not the best, and I should probably just be livestreaming using my headset mic from now on

Enjoy!

<3 and harp strings,
Kate

Sweet Saturdays: Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

There is still a little over one week left to April, but already it feels like it’s mid-July here in SoCal. This whole week has been completely ridiculous with the heat! Last Friday it was chilly and stormy, and I sat in the family room snuggled up in a blanket with the fireplace on listening to the pouring rain, howling wind, and crack of thunder. Yesterday was COMPLETELY different though, and it’s amazing how the weather changed so dramatically in just one week. It was around 100° F out, and of course my van has NO air conditioning (it needs more fluid…. *cough*DAD*cough*), so it was miserable loading my harp in the van to go to chamber ensemble rehearsal, and then unloading it to get it in the classroom, and then doing it ALL OVER AGAIN after class had ended. My face was seriously melting off. No joke.

With weather like this, it really makes me start craving summer desserts involving lots of fruit, like this awesome Strawberry Mascarpone Tart I made last summer but forgot to share with you all because I am a LAME-O!!!! But me being lame aside (because we already knew that part ) I was hosting dinner for my dad and our close family friends for the 4th of July back before we moved later that summer. I got the recipe for the tart over at Simply Recipes, and it was a huge hit with everyone. The one alteration I ended up doing to the recipe was not using the Strawberry Balsamic Glaze because I ended up letting it settle before spreading it over the strawberries and the next thing I knew it had crystallized…. whoopsies! So I had to substitute some warmed strawberry jam, but it worked really well

If you are looking for a delicious summer desert, then this is one to add to your list!

<3 and harp strings,
Kate