File this first one under bigger than my head...



I had been craving sticky buns in a dire way, and hey, it's Minnesota in winter, and what else do we do when it's -16 than stay home and cook naughty things to eat? Well, technically, I guess we, or the I part of we, stay home and cook naughty things to eat and then spend an hour or two on the NordicTrack and stationary bike in an attempt to escape the leftovers, ie, guilt.
Anyway.
Sticky buns.
It all started because I had the bright idea to put a recipe that was supposed to make 12 buns in a standard muffin tin into my JUMBO muffin tin, meaning that the dough/sugar/nut roll got sliced into only 6 pieces instead of 12. I knew I was in trouble about halfway through the final rise...

Me: "Holycrap. These are huge. They look like big boobs. Sugary, nutty boobs."
Boy: "OH goodie!!"

But at that point, what could I do? So I went ahead and baked them off, and yes, they were huge. (And, fortunately slightly less like boobs once they were browned.) And they were OK tasting, but not great, which I attribute more to the fact that the recipe I chose (from the Gourmet cookbook) just wasn't great rather than the fact that they were much too big and overflowing their ahem...cups...and therefore wonky and overbrowned and texturally unsatisfying. But I guess I like a more typical bread dough for my caramel rolls rather than the buttery, airy, tender sweet roll dough the recipe produced.

Also in the new recipe category from last week:
Crispy Pork Cutlets with Capers and Lemon
Caramel Cake

The pork was great and really easy (I used Panko instead of making fresh breadcrumbs like the recipe says), and the caramel cake I probably wouldn't bother with again. It was pretty boring and most of it preceded the sticky bun boobies into the trash.

So then, check out the fabric lusciousness that showed up today:



You know I'm more than a little obsessed with stripes, and these two had me under their spell from the moment I spotted them. It's all I can do not to lick them they're so delicious looking, and that first one is an almost perfect compilation of all of the colors I have in my house which has me a little lightheaded, pondering the possibilities for what it may become. Oh yummy, stripey, bright and colorful fabric, how I heart thee!