Baking Blaire

I dedicate this post to my roommate.

{pic}

As much as I pretend to one day be a baker... I don't bake, which is sad because I have a pinterest board dedicated to all the things I would like to make. I call it "Culinary School here I come". But I am not really a baker a good example of this I bought a cake mix box and it said 3 tablespoons of oil, I had to call my step-mom to ask what kind of oil they meant... I mean a baker doesn't have to ask they just know. 

Sometimes this is how I feel about cooking/baking...

{Pic}

Any way the reason I am baking and the reason I dedicate this post to my roommate is because I have eggs in the house. If you know me, you know I HATE eggs, so I never buy them, but my roommate who has gone back home for 3 weeks left me eggs and told me I should use them... great what am I going to do with eggs,  I thought, then I thought "oooohhhh I can bake". So I went to my grocery store after work and grabbed a coffee cake mix box. (I guess a baker wouldn't grab a cake mix box.) But at the bottom of the normal recipe there was a recipe for "Cinnamon Apple Snack Cake" well I did my own twist to that 1 on accident but 3 on purpose.

pre-baking getting ingredients 

1 package of Pillsbury® Quick Bread Cinnamon Swirl

1/2 cup sour cream- accident 1 didn't see that this was an ingredient until I was mixing so I use 3 table spoons of oil that original recipe called for.

1/3 cup of water.

2 eggs

1 cup apple, peeled, chopped- twist I am not a big apple fan... I mean I didn't even like apple pie till  a few years ago so I used pears. (I love pears)

1/2 cup chopped nuts...twist- I still had pecans from my Pecan Pies so I used those. 

Twist- Also I really loved cinnamon so I used some scattered on top of the first layer. 

So here I go baking. I don't want to break any laws so I am not going to post all the instructions but they are on the box. 

1. Pour about 1/2 of cake batter ( about 1 1/4 cups) for me it was a little bit more.

2. Sprinkle the cup of the chopped pears. 

3.Sprinkle the chopped nut. Since I used pecans I didn't need to chop them pecans easily break apart, so don't waste time on the cutting board with them... it makes a bigger mess.

4. My Twist- Shake some Cinnamon on top of the pears and pecans.

5. Sprinkle 3/4 of the crumble on top of all this.

6. Pour rest of cake batter on top of all of this. Spread carefully to cover.

7. Sprinkle rest of crumble and pecans on top.

8. Bake at 350°F for 50 to 60 minutes. I have a really small oven and it cooks quicker than recipes usually state so I cooked it for only 45 minutes. While this was baking I cleaned my dishes, and worked on this post. 

Fresh out of the oven

9. Cool completely in pan. So I sit and wait more... you have to really be dedicated to bake. 

Sorry I forgot to take picture of it before I cut into it... I got hungry. And I must say it was a good piece though they could have put more icing in the packet.

{pic}

Well that is all for my baking this time... since I still have a few more weeks before summer school maybe I will bake other things.

Side Note: have a good play list going as you are baking.

Happy Birthday Audrey!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUDREY HEPBURN!

{Pic}

Audrey Hepburn is by my favorite actress and my favorite movie of mine is
Roman Holiday.

{Pic}

I love the movie so much that when I went to Rome, I tried to find the exact seat she sat on at the Spanish steps so I could say I sat in the same place as Audrey Hepburn. 

This is me on the steps.

Here are some of my other favorite movies/photos of Audrey Hepburn.

Sabrina

{Pic}

Audrey and Humphrey Bogart 

{Pic}

A great classicly Audrey outfit

{Pic}

My Fair Lady

Song: Loverly

I always thought it was a shame that they didn't allow it to be Audrey's voice

In sixth grade I was in choir and I thought I could do this as a solo

so I learned every word to this song.

I love this ball gown

{Pic}

{Pic}

Charade

{Pic}

Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn were great together. 

{pic}

A great ending scene:

Funny Face

{Pic}

Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn

{pic}

Since she was a trained ballerina I thought it was great how much dancing she got to do in this movie. 

Now my favorite co-star of hers:

Peter O'Toole 

How to Steal a Million 

{pic}

She is so beautiful

{Pic}

This film is full of comedy and 1 liners

{Pic}

But Audrey Hepburn was much more than a great actress and a great beauty. 

{Pic}

I know Audrey Hepburn lived in Holland during WWII. Trained to be a ballerina but she was too tall to be a prima ballerina and never trained to be an actress. Later on went to be Good Will Ambassador for UNICEF.

{pic}

Writing this post and finding these pictures and clips reminds me just how beautiful she was inside and out. She only made 27 films but she probably the most known actress in the world. 

{pic}

I could not finish this post with out this clip from Breakfast at Tiffany's