Meet Mei Li Kay!

The blogging itch has been growing the past few weeks, and last night I got a pretty huge boost of motivation! Some of you may have seen it, but just in case, Buzzfeed posted a list of 25 High-Altitude Recipes and FIVE of them were mine! I had over 3000 hits in 24 hours! Welp, turns out that was the final push I needed, and I'm baaaack! I posted some epic chocolate cupcakes yesterday, and today I'm catching you up on life. Specifically, my 4 year old distraction from blogging, Mei Li Kay!

Ultimate Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes

You might notice that this is the very first cupcake recipe on this blog. Ever. In 5 years. That's because I'm not a huge fan of cupcakes, to be perfectly honest. They're just too sweet for me! But this is not just any cupcake. Noooo, this is THE most chocolate-y cupcake I've ever encountered. This cupcake is so amazingly delicious that it even earned itself a nickname and a cute backstory. We call these babies "Chocolate Puppies". Why? Well, my Mom used to be THE resident treat-maker for my Dad's office. Considering this office changed every three years, thanks to the US Air Force, that was quite a badge of honor. Certain cookies and breads of her making became famous across multiple Air Force bases! So one day she hauled a few dozen dozen of these cupcakes to the office and one of the captains, a fellow chocolate fanatic, was so enraptured with them that after his first bite, he was going on and on about how good it was. He was cradling it by his face and my mom said, "Terry, get a hold of yourself! You're holding that thing like it's a puppy or something!!" Thus the nickname Chocolate Puppies was born. I actually posted them forever ago, but the pictures are simply atrocious, plus I tweaked them (of course!).

Favorite Christmas Treats

I said I wasn't going to post, but I'm sitting here waiting for my second batch of caramels to hit "soft ball" and realized that heck, there are a few more days until Christmas, maybe a few of you are looking for a last treat or two to whip together, so here is a compilation of my very favorite Christmas treats. Enjoy, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

First up, since they're the one that gave me this idea, Classic Caramels. Perfect, chewy, buttery caramels, and not as tricky as you might think!

It's been a while...

Hello friends! I kinda dropped off the face of the earth there, didn't I. Last thing you heard, I was off to the UK! Our trip was glorious, heavenly, an absolute dream come true. As excited as I was for Scotland, the Yorkshire Dales totally captured The Geologist's and my heart, so if the bottom drops out of the petroleum industry, we're totally moving there and opening a B&B. And we'll go camping in Scotland and Wales on the weekends. That's the plan!

I'm sorry I haven't been posting, this whole adoption thing kind of took over my life. 85% of my brain is in China with Meili, and I am not good for much else these days! In fact, so much has happened, things have moved along pretty quickly, and we fly to China NEXT FRIDAY. Just like our trip to the UK, I can barely wrap my head around it, but I will be holding my little girl on January 4th!

Chicken Gyros & Homemade Pita Bread

WE LEAVE TOMORROW!!!

I can't believe it. That's just one of those things we say, but honestly, I don't think I'll 100% believe I'm actually going until the plane leaves the ground. I have zero experience with international travel. The Geologist has been to Egypt and the Bahamas, but the furthest I've been outside of the USA is a drive down into Mexico with my best friend and her family when I was eight or nine. Considering that the only things I remember from that trip are olive trees and gross cold fish tacos, I'm going to have to say that doesn't count. But now I have a passport and I'm going to be flying over an ocean! Heck, we have a layover in Iceland! I probably won't have a chance to leave the airport, but still!!  Iceland!! I'm... just... floored. Okay. Gathering myself together, ha!

Today's recipe is a re-post, because it's one of my favorite recipes I've ever discovered on a fellow food blog (shout-out to Half-Baked Harvest!!) and the pictures from my original post are... kind of awful, lol! Some day I'll get the hang of rolling them up, so they actually look like gyros... Oh well!

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Wow, it's been forever since I posted something chocolate-y on here!! Looking through the archives... Back in March? Jeepers! It's about time I share this one then! This is the second attempt to post this recipe, the pictures from the first attempt I just... couldn't. Nope. I'm off to run errands and finish re-painting the basement, so until tomorrow, friends!!