My first success with...Buttermilk Biscuits!

I have attempted biscuits probably forty or so times throughout my life--and they never, ever come out. They tend to be either too dry and crumbly or hard like a hockey puck. I've burned them, I've pulled them out raw, I've pulled out good looking biscuits that would pulverize before my eyes. I think I've even chipped a tooth on my biscuits before. All in all, I'd just resigned myself to bread. I am not a true Southerner, so the closest I thought I'd get to my biscuit dream was a run to Hardees.

Not today. I can't believe it. Today, I made biscuits.
With local wildflower honey from Douglas County and butter.

We had some leftover buttermilk from the red velvet cupcakes my Dad made for our wedding cake. So, I pulled out a cookbook and decided to try buttermilk biscuits one more time, just to see. I did it early in the morning, so if they were bad, I could throw them away before Tavo woke up. Here's the raw circles (more than less circles..) after I'd fretted about getting the fat worked into the dough.

The mess on my counter. It's on the floor and on my shirt, too--but I decided not to photo all that.
baked for 13 minutes @ 425 degrees

Buttermilk Biscuits
Gourmet Cookbook
2 cups all purpose flour (White Lily or Southern Biscuit)
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 stick cold, unsalted butter
3/4 c. buttermilk, plus more for brushing

Sift flour, salt, powder and soda together. Blend in butter with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir lightly until dough forms.

Gather dough into ball, knead 6 times on lightly floured surface. Pat dough into 10" round and cut rounds with floured glass. Put onto greased baking sheet, brush with buttermilk, and bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Here's another fake Southerner :)

All right, now that the wedding is over let's get to those leftovers!

Vegetable Biryani Tacos

So, I have absolutely refused to go grocery shopping until we eat up all the leftovers from the wedding. Here is a veggie tray that has been driving me batty. Originally, I wanted to break it up and do a few different dishes with different vegetables--but as a few days went by I decided to be lazy (or efficient?) and use it all up in one fell swoop.

Enter curry paste. I love you curry paste. I buy the jarred kind from the shop by my work--this particular one is a VERY spicy Pakistani Biryani. I sauteed the onions with the curry paste for a few minutes--then threw in a few tired potatoes, the celery, the carrots, the cauliflower and the peppers.

I decided to add a can of chickpeas and some water to cook everything down. Oh, and a few jalapenos for good measure. Our whole house smells ridiculously of curry.

Look at the tray! Pretty good, eh? I threw in the broccoli and the tomatoes right when the potatoes were almost done.

We debated on using rice, but opted for curry tacos instead. Our parsley has somehow come back to life (I didn't realize it was a perennial!) So we put some cream cheese and parsley on top. I would have preferred sour cream--but I am NOT going grocery shopping until everything we have is used up! Honestly, for a mish mash dish, this really was quite good. Of course, I like spicy vegetable dishes in general, so it really was a win win for me.
Here's my photo assistant.

Tavo opted for "breakfast dinner" notice the smiley sausage and egg face :)

In other exciting news, I chopped off and donated 16 inches of my hair to Locks of Love last week. This is my third time--I just love cutting off all that hair at the end of a cold winter. Spring--I'm ready for you!

Also, inspired by Marjie at Modern Day Ozzie and Harriet, we are planning quite a bit of gardening this year. Here is the very scientific rough draft ;)

Gustavo and Joslin's Wedding

Prepare yourselves for copious amounts of wedding photos--and this isn't even a quarter of all of them! Here are some highlights--and this tends to be a bit heavy on photos of us.

(as you may be able to guess, we asked everyone to wear red)

..and Baton Bob. He even has a wikipedia page! He gave an excellent performance.

This is the song he performed to




Lini's friends from college with Baton Bob. Natalie, on the right, took all these wonderful pictures I'm showing you. Emily, on the left, knitted the beautiful shawl I wore. Thank you ladies!!
Tavo "updating his facebook status" from the alter...
Batob Bob, Lini and her Dad, Bob--aka Bride between Bobs





Reverand calling us out for doing the "secret handshake"


We wasted no time getting directly into the dancing!


Lini's Mom and Dad
Tavo's parents (he calls them Mai and Pai)







"follow da leader, leader, leader..."




who caught the bouquet?









Tavo's family


Thank you everyone for making our wedding a fantastic evening!