Converse Shoe Nails

I painted my nail to look like a converse shoe!

I used a nude color by OPI as the base coat, then painted the whole nail white. After that, I made the top 2/3 od the nail black. I used a detail set by KISS (these have the brushes witht he thin points) to make a detail black stripe, and then criss-crosses for the "laces".

Since the rest of my nails on that hand are broken off and not long enough to do that, I just used the black and white KISS polish to do a white/black french tip.

A warning: I tried to put a clear coat over the shoe a few hours later (when the polish was completely dry) and for some reason the KISS polish smeared...

BWW Asain Zing Sauce Attempt

 So, I attpempted to make the Asain Zing copycat recipe that I posted earlier.

Asian Zing
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup chili-garlic sauce (sriracha!)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

(http://damnrightiam.blogspot.com/2012/08/buffalo-wild-wings-sauce-recipes.html)

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First, I got all my ingredients...

Combined everything except the cornstarch...

Put over medium heat until boiling...

Then I lowered the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes....



 Once that was done I addes the cornstarch and whisked until it was dissolved...

I decided just to use some chicken microwaveable chicken bites from Rainbow...



Lastly, I put the cooked chicken and some of the sauce into a plastic cintainer, put the lid on, and shook it up until all the chicken was coated.



It actually turned out pretty dang close, but it just has a little less heat than the origional. You could probably add some more chili-garlic sauce to fix that. I'm planning on getting some canning jars to store these sauces if I plan on making them on a regular basis.

Champagne Cupcakes with Champagne Buttercream

I found this recipe and others buried in my email inbox, so I figured I'd share!  

Cupcakes:

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1　3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup champagne
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with paper liners (recipe yields about 22 cupcakes).　

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. In mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of champagne combined with vanilla.　

In a clean bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until they hold stiff peaks. Fold in about 1/3 of the egg whites to lighten the batter then gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Transfer batter to cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 of the way full. Bake approximately twenty minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool about five minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar
3 T champagne

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium high speed until smooth and fluffy, about three minutes. Add vanilla extract and about three cups of powdered sugar. Mix on low speed to combine.　 Add in champagne and mix on low to incorporate. Increase speed to medium and beat about one minute to whip frosting. If frosting appears to be thin, add additional powdered sugar as necessary to reach desired consistency

Buffalo Wild Wings Sauce Recipes

Going through my mother's cookbooks, I came across her "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes" book, which included recipes for a couple BWW sauces. Since they didn't include my favorites (Asian Zing and Mango Habanero) I took to the internet to see if I could find more sauce recipes, and I did! This is going to be my newest cooking project, and I plan to make some of the sauces, and then bottle them for storage for when I've got a BWW craving! (Which happens a lot!) Here's what I've found so far, and I'll add updates and reviews once I've tried them!

The procedure or making these is to combine ingredients into a saucepan, heat over medium heat until boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Once the sauce is cooled (about 10 minutes) you can put wings in a covered container (my plan is to buy the prepackaged microwave kind - if you want to bust out a deep fryer more power to ya.) Add 1/4-1/2 cup of sauce, cover, and give it a good shake until the wings are coated. Or, just use it as a dipping sauce or marinade!

Parmesan Garlic
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Spicy Garlic
1 Cup Frank’s cayenne pepper sauce
1/3 Cup vegetable oil
1 Teaspoon granulated sugar
1 Teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon course ground black pepper
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Medium Wing Sauce
1 cup Frank’s cayenne pepper sauce
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Hot Wing Sauce
1 Cup Franks cayenne pepper sauce
1/3 Cup vegetable oil
1 Teaspoon granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 Teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
2 Teaspoons water
2 Teaspoons cornstarch

Blazin’
6 fresh habanero peppers (with seeds)
5 lemon drop peppers (or other small hot pepper)
8 jalapenos (with seeds)
2-3 garlic cloves
2 cups white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
fresh ground black pepper
salt

Mango Habanero
2 cups Mango Nectar (found in your local grocery store)
Any habenero hot sauce.  I recommend El Yucatan.  The amount is up to you, depending on how spicy you like your wings.
1 Tbsp corn syrup. (sugar works too)
1/4 cup Frank’s cayenne pepper sauce
1/3 cup melted butter

Asian Zing
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup chili-garlic sauce (sriracha!)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Carribean Jerk
3 Tablespoons margarine
2 Tablespoons minced onion (white and light green parts only)
1 Cup water
3/4 Cup ketchup
1/2 Cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/4 Cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons white distilled vinegar
2 Tablespoons Frank’s cayenne pepper sauce
2 Teaspoons ground black pepper
2 Teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 Teaspoons lemon juice
1-1/2 Teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 Teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1 Teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 Teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 Teaspoon onion powder
1/8 Teaspoon ground clove
1/8 Teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 Teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 Teaspoon rubbed sage

Giraffe Mittens

I bought some giraffe print blizzard fleece to make a body pillow cover (which will be another post) but when I was done I still had a strip of fabric leftover and had no idea what I would use it for in the future. Then, I remembered that I still had a pattern from my high school textiles class filed away for fleece mittens (Green Pepper F790).

So I took an extra half hour out of my day off work and whipped these up! Super easy, and they entertain me far more than they should. haha.

Only problem is that they're more for fashion, since snow would soak right through these while shoveling or playing outside -- I should know, I'm from Minnesota!

Maglite Kidnapping

Yesterday while with my cousin Amanda, we found that our younger cousin, Mitch, had left one of his moist treasured possessions in her car: His Maglite flashlight. So, being the caring cousin I am, I sent him a picture message with this:

"We have your flashlight. If you ever want to see it again, we need $100,000 and a plane out of the country.

Signed,

Kidnappers"

He responded saying he would do anything as long as we didn't hurt it. So, we decided to have some more fun. Throughout the day we sent him photos of his flashlight under a car tire, as the victim at a fake crime scene, in the oven and in the toaster.

Mitch now thinks we're monsters and "the essence of EVIL".

Isn't family the best?