Ggggrrrr-ad school stinks!

A food collage! Yes, I confess I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to go to graduate school, oh wait, I remember, I thought to myself, "hey, I really enjoyed undergrad and it would be nice to be around other people who are interested in the same field I am." Of course job security and a steady supporting pay check were also factors.

Well I have realized over and over again that grad school stinks! I love being in an environment with crazy estrogen filled women where we don't practice what we preach. I think that to be a successful grad student you must not have a life, you have to be this super human mutant who is consistently hyped up on caffeine (or worse things), be able to ace all examinations, kiss your professor and supervisors be-hinds, and just be overly excited and joyful about everything. yay? What is going on with education? I have learned that yes school is about learning, but it's more about appeasing your superiors and getting good test scores, forget if you are an ethical person, do good things, and have general everyday smarts.

Needless to say the fall semester can't come soon enough, I am hoping that I will get a glimpse of a better world and thank the food gods that graduation is just a few more months away. I leave you all, my faithful Mixing Minx readers with a collage-ish (I can't squish them all together quite like a collage, so it's "collage-ish") of food that I have made over the past couple of months. Enjoy!

xox- The Mixing Minx

Lucky Love Lasagna

Can love and luck be compared to a lasagna? Does that even make sense? Are you in my head, can you read my mind and where I am going with this? It is possible that the lack of sleep and spider in my bed anxiety has significantly impaired my ability to make logical comparisons between feelings and food...or maybe it has enhanced those abilities?

A lasagna is composed of layers, each one is significant and provides different flavors, just as a relationship is composed of various thoughts, feelings, and actions, all of which come together to formulate a successful relationship. I prepare the baking dish by pouring in a little pasta sauce, like a little flirtatious behavior before the dating, then I carefully pick the noodles that look the best and gently lay them in the dish as if each noodle represented a date that left me speechless. Next is a layer of ground beef that has been cooked with onions and peppers, similar to the foundation of a relationship with thoughtful words and gifts. 

Now don't freak out on me, I know some of you will, but I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta, does it make a difference? I really don't know, I think what really matters is that you have cheese, just as a relationship needs to have trust to spread around and form a stable foundation. Another layer of noodles is next, more dates and adventures are enjoyed. Then I spread sauce on top as if I am opening my whole heart and soul to the relationship that has been created by the layers below. Finally I sprinkle shredded cheese on top, just as I sprinkle my love over the various aspects of the relationship.

This lasagna symbolizes how lucky I am to have found the love I have.

xox – The Mixing Minx

Ancient Chinese Secret...

Something is different, something has changed, new lessons have been learned, growth has occurred, I sense the winds of change...oh, wait, maybe that's just my brother letting one rip, or, quite possibly it is an ancient Chinese secret.

I have had some cupcakes in mind for a while now, but I am not quite ready to make them, I think I need to wait just a little bit longer before opening those doors and creating something so sweet, also it would be irresponsible of me to only feed my brother cupcakes for dinner. For now my loyal readers, I present a home made dish of mine: orange ginger chicken with white rice and broccoli.

I will keep this one short and sweet, just like myself :) and leave you with these thoughts that I have come to realize.

           Amazing things come to those who wait

           Don't settle for anything less then what you want

           Only when you respect yourself will others respect you too

By the way, I never once saw a fortune cookie in China, but it goes with the theme here so if you don't like it then bite my fortune cookie! :)

xox - The Mixing Minx

Rebound Girl Cupcakes

Are you a recently single male? Did a girl break your heart leaving you feeling as though your whole world has been turned upside down? If you fit into this category then I am the girl for you! For the next month or so I will be your rebound girl. As your official rebound girl I will complete the following tasks:

• be your rock
• provide positive support
• listen for countless hours about the girl who broke your heart
• take care of you when you are sick or after your surgery
• cook, clean, and help you re-organize
• embrace your quirky interests
• help mend your broken heart
• drive long distances to get to you
• drive us around in my car so your ex doesn't spot us
• open my heart to you and try to take away some of your pain

Here are my Rebound Girl Cupcakes, made with a chocolate cake base filled with peanut butter, topped with chocolate fudge frosting and a delicious Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. 

These cupcakes represent my two glorious rebound girl moments. I would like to thank these two gentlemen who have allowed me to learn and realize my true inner strength. A special thanks to the first reboundee who is continuously there for me, shows me friendship, offers wise advice that one day I swear I will listen to, and a wish of good luck to you and your new lady who makes you happy, which is all I ever wanted for you. 

Unless you are going to pay me by the hour to be your rebound girl then I have officially shut down this business so I can open up a cupcake shop! 

xox - The Mixing Minx

Down & Dirty Cake

Get your nasty little mind out of the gutter! Gosh, I can't believe that is what you thought I was talking about! Bad Mixing Minx reader, bad!

Nah, it's cool, but seriously, this is my Down & Dirty Cake. I recently took part in a gardening adventure which resulted in the flickering of a few light bulbs in my head. Gardening requires quite a bit of time, effort, and patience. Preparing the yard, where you rake up the leaves and discover a whole new species of bugs that you never knew existed. Next you get super friendly with the dirt as you dig holes for the seeds and plant them. After planting all of your seeds you rejoice with a feeling of confidence that you completed the task you had planned. You begin to water these little seeds which is then followed by waiting....and waiting some more. Here is where the Gardening Gnome Gods (aka the GGG) come into play, they snicker behind your neighbors bushes and mutter back and forth about how much fun they are going to have watching you wait for your seeds to show some kind of action.

Well there you are, great job Mr. Green Thumb, you got those seeds in the ground and you have been keeping up with the watering, but what now? Oh, yes, now you wait even longer, you sit on your cute tushie and wait.

After waiting for what seems like forever, after putting in so much effort, hard work, time, money, care, love (yes, plants need love too) and after considering some therapy services for the strange Gnome-e like snickers you seem to be hearing, something abso-freakin-loutly amazing happens. Those seeds that you cherished and cared for so deeply begin to sprout and with continued care, they grow buds, and finally blossom in to the most beautiful flowers you have ever seen. Why are they so beautiful you ask? They are because you put your time, effort and patience into growing this garden.

So basically, to sum up, there are many aspects of life that can be compared to gardening. If you have a goal, if you are determined to do something, if you strongly believe in what you are going after, if your feelings are so intense that you truly believe that they are real, then go for it. Go for it big and as you do, remember that to see your seed grow and bloom into a flower, you will need to put in your time, effort, and a great deal of patience. Amen!

My Down & Dirty cake is made with yellow cake mix, chocolate frosting, oreo and chocolate graham cracker “dirt,” sesame seeds, and marzipan sprouts and flowers. I am hoping you caught on, gardening can be quite a dirty job that requires you to get down to plant and care for your seeds, also “Down & Dirty” sounds quite incising to convince you to actually read my blibbity blab. 

This cake represents my determination to go after those things that I feel are important, I continue to put in my efforts and care, and secretly I hope and pray that what I am going after is worth the time, effort, and patience....if not, I am so joining the GGG and muttering with the rest of the Gnomes as you try to plant a garden. :)

xox – The Mixing Minx

Patience and Cherry Pie

I am a Mixing Minx, I love to cook, bake, and concoct anything that I can in the kitchen while being some what sly and minxy. Some of my mixings are simplistic, and take minimal time and effort while others are more complex and require time, patience and accuracy.

Take a cherry pie for example, first you have to take out the dough and let it come to room temperature before you can even roll it out. After flouring the work surface and rolling pin you can roll out your dough and place it in the pie dish. Don't forget to turn on your oven, which means that you need to wait for it to preheat before you should place your pie inside. Damn, we haven't even put the pie filling in (the easiest part) and I am already loosing my patience.

So then you open your can of pie filling (if we were making an apple pie, well that would take even longer, no canned filling for that) and carefully pour it into the pie dish. Now re-flour your work surface and pin, roll out your second pie crust and hold your breath as you carefully align it on top of your filled pie dish. I like to get all fancy and punch out cute shapes for decoration, so tack on extra time for that.

Finally, push the top and bottom pie crust together around the edges, fold any excess under and use your fingers to create a waved edge. Then wet your hands, gently wipe them around the outside of your pie and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top. Are we done yet? No! Grab your pie crust ring, or for kicks and giggles, have a grand time making one out of tin foil.

Super duper finally, if you are like me and your delicate cherry pie is ready and the oven is preheated, say a little prayer: Dear Cooking Gods, please let this incredible cherry pie bake thoroughly, remind me not to open the oven too often, and for the love of all goods that are baked, let this cherry pie be tasty and worth the effort and time I put into it.

Let your cherry pie bake, baking time may vary depending on oven, size of pie, placement in the oven, and a variety of other factors. When the time is right, take your cherry pie out, let it cool and enjoy the fruits of your hard work.

Of course, if you are a wise Mixing Minx reader, you will be able to read between the lines and realize that this is not just about a cherry pie...

xox – The Mixing Minx

Caffeine Cupcakes

Oh yeah my friends, these are Caffeine Cupcakes! Caffeine – an unusual drug that I have slowly become accustomed to out of necessity. The past two weeks and the following two weeks will be sufficiently doused in caffeine from my two cups a day of espresso. Which means that the past two weeks and the following two weeks will also be accompanied by multiple trips to the bathroom, but that's besides the point.

Grad school is a witch, with a b. It has forced me to lower my standards on the number of hours slept per night, increased my production of tears and their spontaneous ability to spew out at any given point, and has aided in my reduced mental stability. Grad school has done something so terrible, it has forced me to do something that I really rather not, it has enabled me to become a caffeine addict!

In honor of caffeine and the Gods (devils?) who created it, I have made Caffeine Cupcakes. These cupcakes are made with a yellow cake base, chocolate espresso frosting, and topped with dark chocolate covered espresso beans, all for your caffeine in take pleasure :)

So as this semester comes to an end and my fate in a course is in question, I reflect back on the previous semesters and conclude that the first two weeks and the last two weeks of each semester provide the proper breeding ground for an overly caffeinated, immensely sleep deprived, one step forward and twenty steps backward, psycho basket-case. Adding any other outside factors to this equation results in a new psycho basket-case hybrid form that can only be tamed by chocolate and hugs.

xox – The Mixing Minx