White Chocolate Mousse Cream Puffs...

It's time again! The annual dessert contest at work. My entry this year...white chocolate mousse cream puffs with a dark chocolate drizzle and crushed peppermint pieces. I had one for breakfast...they are delicious. If you would like to try these out and impress your friends or family, here is the recipe. (Don't tell anyone...they are super easy.)

Cream Puffs

• 1 cup water
• 6 tablespoons butter
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup flour, sifted after measuring
• 3 large eggs

In a saucepan mix the butter, salt and sugar with the water, and heat until the water boils. Remove from heat and immediately add all of the flour. Beat with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a ball and detaches from the sides of the pan.

Add the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next one. (This is a workout by the way!)

To make cream puffs, work with two tablespoons, one to scoop and one to scrape. Place mounds of dough on a nonstick cookie tray, spacing them somewhat apart. You can also use a pastry tube to form longer mounds for eclairs.

Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately make a small cut in the side of each with a sharp knife. This allows the steam to escape as the puffs cool and keeps them from getting soggy.

To fill the puffs, after they have completely cooled, cut off their tops and spoon in filling. Replace top and sprinkle with powdered sugar or perhaps drizzle with chocolate or caramel if you wish.

Makes 12 good sized cream puffs, or 24 smaller ones.

White Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 5 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup egg whites (from about 4 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

Two days before you plan to serve the dessert, in a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat just until it boils. Immediately turn off the heat. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Strain into another bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, remove the mixture from the refrigerator and, using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer, whip it into fluffy, soft peaks. Return to the refrigerator.

In a clean dry bowl, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the sugar and continue whipping until glossy and stiff, about 30 seconds more. Fold into the white chocolate mixture, and then spoon the mixture (or pipe through a pastry bag) into cream puffs, chocolate cups, or pretty glasses. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Weekend in a Minute...

Troy and I dressed up to run the Utah Human Race...a 5K benefiting the Utah Food Bank. I was the cutest turkey, EVER.

I made some delicious pumpkin pies, which I ate for breakfast on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Mom and I decorated her tree at Festival of Trees. There was a traveling theme this year. It's awesome. And, the bulk of my weekend was spent working on this gingerbread house for the Festival. It only took me, like 20 hours. Yep, I have no life, and I enjoy playing with food.

Ireland!

Ireland is beautiful! Fall is a great time to go see the Emerald Isle. It's still green, but you get bright splashes of oranges, reds, and yellows mixed in there. Even the leaves on the ground look pretty. This is a brief photo sampling of our travels.

St. Stephen's Green in Dublin. It is a large park next to a big pedestrian shopping area in the middle of town.
This is Fitzpatrick Castle just outside Dublin in Dalkey. We stayed here for a couple of nights and ate at the Dungeon Bar. Dalkey is a great little town and we explored Goat Castle while we were there and were treated to a medieval performance by some very exuberant actors. I was even put in the stocks...hopefully I'll have a picture of that from one of my friends. I couldn't take the picture myself, because, well, I was in the stocks.
This is Castle Island at Lough Key. It was a big forest preserve with lots of walking trails, lakes, old stone bridges, and ruins.

This was the wishing chair. It was awesome. I'm not telling you what I wished for. I'll let you know if it comes true, though. Then you'll all have to take a trip to Lough Key and make a wish on the wishing chair.

The Fairy Bridge. I'm not sure if it was built by fairies, or if they just used the bridge, but it was pretty cool.

We stayed at Kilronan Castle for a couple of nights. If you are planning on getting married in Ireland, I would suggest this place. It was amazingly beautiful with lots of rolling hills, trees, and a pretty little lake.

No trip to Ireland would be complete without a trip to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone and be granted the gift of eloquence.





The Medieval Banquet at Bunratty was lots of fun. But mead (honey wine) does not taste good. Just so you know.
The Folk Village at Bunratty Castle gives you a glimpse of what a little village would have looked like. It had beautiful grounds, cute cottages, an old church, and village shops. Oh, and the paths were "slippy".




No village is complete without it's castle...

Durty Nelly's claims to be the oldest pub in Ireland. I don't know if that's true or not, but they have some very tasty fish 'n' chips as well as an amazing display of fireman/police officer patches from all around the world. They even had a patch from the Utah Highway Patrol. Small world!

We stayed at this beautiful little hotel just outside Shannon.

I highly recommend a visit to Ireland, and if you're going, take me with you. There is a lot we didn't have time to do in the short week we were there!

Halloween Weekend

Halloween is my favorite holiday...seriously. It was a very busy weekend for me, but I just had way too much Halloween to pack into a couple of days!

I made another Halloween birthday cake for another Emma. I really need to take a class on fondant cakes...I think this would have turned out better if I knew what I was doing...but I sure had fun doing it!


I stayed up until 1 am on Friday night putting all the finishing touches on the little cake, as well as baking a dozen cupcakes to go with it. I then got up at 4:30 to run the Halloween Half with Chad. Of course we dressed up...as the Princess and the Frog...Chad was the Princess. Doesn't he look good as a blonde? It was so fun running down Provo Canyon. It was a fun race and I had my PR for the year...1:49. Wahoo!

After getting home and getting cleaned up, I started getting ready for the trick-or-treaters. I like to put on a spooky candy buffet...this year we had purple & orange candy sticks, gummy tarantulas, slime balls, eyeballs, and gummy body parts. I also make scones and cider and the kids and parents that know me come in from the cold and fortify themselves to go get more candy!


It was a fun weekend! I can't wait until next year!

Emma's Birthday Cake

I love Halloween. I'm obsessed with Halloween. It's my favorite. So, when Stacy's little girl was having a Witches' Night Out birthday party, I promptly invited myself, and assigned myself to make the birthday cake and cupcakes. I think it turned out pretty good...covering the cake with fondant could have gone a little better, but for my first effort, I think it turned out better than I expected.

Hi Boots...

So, I'm heading off to Ireland in a couple of weeks with my friends Janet and Robyn. We'll be staying in castles, like the princesses we are. I realized that Ireland in November is probably very rainy...and as I'm a silver-lining kind of girl...I decided that I must have these. I am actually looking forward to the rain and splashing around the Emerald Isle in these babies. Too cute.

Also...is drinking a Guinness while in Ireland really that bad? Maybe just a sip? I'm not really interested in drinking so much as experiencing the local culture...we'll see.

I'm taking shopping requests...so far I'm looking for candy bars, and a swathe of fabric...let me know if you want me to bring something back for you. I'm hoping to bring a cute Irish guy back as my souvenir...

Another weekend...another race...

I know it doesn't seem like I do anything but go to races, but I do...I promise...hopefully I will be able to prove it one day...

Anyhoo...over the weekend, I did the Pink Series Half Marathon. This pic is me with my fast friend Amber. She inspires me to run hard and do it with a smile. She's is a great cheerleader and always has a great attitude. We trained for triathlons together and it was always fun when she was around. She helped her friend to a new PR at the race. I didn't PR, but I had so much fun anyway.

It was such an awesome race! It was all about the women...lots of pink...awesome goodie bags...cute t-shirts...and cute guys handing us cute necklaces at the finish line. The race supported breast cancer awareness and research, and it was amazing to run with women who have overcome so much. At mile 7 I met a new friend...her mom died from breast cancer and she was running in remembrance of her. We spent the next 6 miles talking, and even though I ran at a slower-than-normal pace, I was really enjoying the opportunity to meet someone new, and before I knew it, the race was over and we were being pampered with post-race massages. Some days I like to run hard, and some days I like to take it easy, enjoy myself, and feel grateful just being alive. The weather was perfect for a run...the course was challenging but not horrible, and the fall colors were beautiful. Plus, you are close to the Park City outlets so you can do some post-race retail therapy. If you want to run a local half marathon in the fall, I give two enthusiastic thumbs up to this one!

St. George Marathon

Ah...too busy to blog! But, here is my 10th marathon race recap...I can't believe it's been 10!

Missy flew in from Chicago to run the marathon. Chad and I had been training together over the summer. We were all pretty excited!

We got up early and Mom was a trooper and drove us to the buses that would take us to the starting line. I was a little worried...it was pretty warm for being 5 in the am...

Chad and I started out pretty fast..typical for us...we can't seem to go with our game plan to start out slow...EVER. We were doing great til we hit the first hill, and then I felt a little blah for a few miles. I was just starting to get into my groove when the hotness got to me. It was a warm day to be running. I felt like the sun was beating down on me. The good news was that I got lots of compliments on my running top...

Chad was feeling slightly better than I was, and took off down the hill. I straggled behind, wondering why I keep signing up for these things! Chad did awesome, finishing in 3:48. I ended up finishing at 3:51;22...30 seconds better than last year. I was hoping to knock 5 minutes off, but with the heat, I am glad to get a new PR.

The finish line is always fun...and Missy finished with her new PR of 4:03...AWESOME! It was 30 minutes faster than her last marathon!

All in all, a good day, and I hope to be back next year!

The Dirty Dash

The Dirty Dash is a 10k (6.2 miles) through mud pits, over walls, over hay bales, through muddy swamps, and down a slip 'n' slide. It is hard, but tons of fun at the same time. Our team was the Dashin' Staches...and we took a lot of pride in our creepy mustaches. Classic. Jordan had this awesome action shot jumping over the wall...

I'm not sure which direction Chad was heading down the slip-n-slide...

The mud pit was definitely muddy. It was really the last chance to get really dirty.

Dixie kept telling me how much she hated mud. I'm pretty sure I told her that mud would be involved when I asked her to run with us...she has only herself to blame.

Team Dashin' Staches...looking creepy...

The Eagle Song

I heard this on the radio on Saturday, and I just had to share...
Here's the link if the video isn't working for you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpKmFuOpshk

Disneyland Half Marathon

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...if you only want to do one half marathon in your life, pick the Disneyland Half. Super organization, easy course, entertainment along the way, running through Angel Stadium, ginormous finishers' medals...you just can't beat it. I ran it for the second time this year, and I talked my college roomies Melissa and Niko into running it, too. Since I was so lame last year and didn't dress up, I decided that costumes were a MUST this year. There were 3 of us, so I thought that going as Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty would be fun. Mom pulled out the glue gun and the tulle and did a fantastic job fashioning running-friendly outfits. We got to the start line at 4:30, and boy, were we popular before the race! (So popular that I didn't have time for my pre-race potty break and had to have a pit stop at mile 2). Random runners wanted pictures of us (this blogger got one post-race...kind of stalker-ish), and Disney online did an interview with us on-camera. I haven't located that online yet, but I'm sure looking. So, if you want to run with me next year, let me know. I'll bring the costumes.

Hey....My FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY!

Jen...You WIN! Email me your address and I'll put these in the mail for you :)

Like I've said...I'm a girl with a substantial amount of free time. I've started making some jewelry here and there. I love these little flower cabochons, and they make adorable earrings. I've made way too many pairs, so I decided to give these away! I will give them to whomever posts the BEST WORST DATE story. You can even submit more than one if you would like. I've shared my worst with you...now it's your turn...and you may be rewarded for it! I will pick a winner next Friday. You are also allowed to campaign for your story, or someone else's...and I can be bribed. No random number generators here...so make it good!

Blind Squirrel Gets a Nut

Chad and I competed in the 1st annual Herriman "Escape from Blackridge" Triathlon on Saturday. It was actually a very fun event. I wasn't a fan of the sandy transition area. Did you know that glass is made of sand, and on it's own, a little grain of sand in your bike shoe can cut up your toe? I didn't know, either, but I do now. Lesson learned. Also, I was sad that they made us wear their generic (i.e. ugly) swim caps instead of these stylish numbers. Other than that, though, it was a great day. I especially appreciated the cute male volunteer who told me I was "lookin' good" with a special inflection every time I ran past him. It was probably the cute pink and black tri top that prompted his comment because I think the swim-cap-to-bike-helmet hair was doing me no favors. And there's the spandex...not flattering. Still, I thank him for his lying efforts.

Chad and I both had great races. Even though Chad had been sick all week...he still turned in an awesome time and beat me. Still, I turned in a respectable time...and came in 2nd in my age group. I got a medal and everything. The only thing I can figure is that the fast girls were off doing another triathlon, or taking the day off. But, hey...every now and then all things work in your favor and you get a little something for your efforts.

Not surprisingly, for those who know us, we were very excited about having our picture taken with the Chik-fil-A cow and getting free chicken sandwiches since they were sponsoring the event. We were so excited, we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch.



Here's a little video of the event. I'm at 5:51 getting my medal. Take a good look...it may not happen again. :)

A Lesson in Setting People Up on a Blind Date...

"So...where are you from..."

Just an idea...

If you are trying to set me up with, say, your chiropractor, perhaps you should let that chiropractor know that you are trying to set him up with me instead of trying to set up an appointment for me to see him as a chiropractor, and then I won't get ambiguous emails like this...

"Hello Miss Bunting,

My name is Dr Timothy Wann. I received your address as well as a request to contact you. I was asked to see if there was any way that I could be of assistance. I am a local chiropractor and I treat many atheletes as I was told you are a distance runner. If ever you are in need of treatment, please feel free to contact me.
Dr Tim"

I am stumped as to what to do with this, now, because I don't really feel the need to see a chiropractor, although I'm sure Dr. Tim is a good one. How awkward would it be to make an appointment for an adjustment and then go on a date? All I can say is, I'm glad he's not an OB/GYN.

Like my new bike helmet?

Not just a hat, my friends. It's also keeping my noggin safe in case I crash my cruiser. Too cute.

Tour de Donut Results

Some of you may know that I can put away a lot of food. I've out-eaten 6 guys at all-you-can-eat Taco Night, I have eaten a giant yucky apple fritter just to prove that I could, and now my talent at eating has finally been recognized...I took 2nd place at the Tour de Donut! I ate 10 donuts and one more donut would have clinched the women's division for me. Even with some early technical difficulties...Jordan took 5th..pretty impressive since she'd only planned on eating a donut or two...she ate 7. Chad wussed out on us and ate 3 measly donuts. Sad effort, Chad. We expect a little more from you next year.

21 miles of biking and all the donuts you can eat...what a race! Jordan and I had a great time. We probably spent a little too much time chatting at the donut table and not enough time shoving those glazed babies in our mouths. We'll have to formulate a better strategy for next year....that Golden Donut will be MINE!