NOTW: Black Tips & Chunky Glitter

A few months back I was turned onto Kleancolor after seeing a bunch of nail blogs talking about their beautiful holographic polishes. They're available online here for those who don't have beauty supply stores nearby that stock these. I ordered a measly 12 I couldn't find in-store...


All in all, I have about 21 Kleancolor polishes and I love them. Surprisingly, my nails have been bare for a few weeks despite my continued habit of picking up a "few" bottles here and there. This week I kept it simple and utilized one of my Kleancolor chunky glitters, though!


My top coat is getting pretty gloopy so I'm open to new recommendations. Any ideas? Seche Vite doesn't seem to do the trick anymore, and my bottle is less than a year old! Perhaps some polish thinner would help?


From left to right: Sally Hansen in Fog, Kleancolor in Chunky Silver, Sinful Colors in Queen of Beauty, and Wet 'n' Wild in Silvivor and Black Creme.

Ebel-what? & Omelettes

It is now well into January and here I go writing about my gifts. Truth be told, our tree is still up and I don't foresee it coming down any time soon. My mom's gift to me this year was as unexpected as it is awesome. She obviously knows about my love for food stuffs and picked out two pans from Williams-Sonoma of all places!


She got me their ebelskiver pan and a rolled omelette pan to be exact, both of which make the best breakfast food. I was super pumped for both but the decision on which to use first was pretty clear...


Æbleskiver are adorable Danish pancakes, or the perfect pancake/popover hybrid. These babies are the fluffiest, most airy, and delicious puff balls I've ever eaten, and the fact that you can fill them with whatever you're heart desires is just magical.

The process is quite simple and only calls for one other "specialty" item (after you have the pan): skewers. Williams-Sonoma sells a set of two skewers for a whopping $13, so I opted for a pack of 80 for $1.50 at Target. After pouring a teaspoon of batter into the buttered wells, I added a teaspoon of a diced apples cooked with cinnamon sugar and pecans, followed by another teaspoon of batter. Then each was flipped using skewers and cooked till golden-brown.


They're then topped with whatever you like. Maple syrup and powdered sugar were my preferred choice. I've since made them with apricot preserves, cinnamon sugar, and chocolate hazelnut spread. All equally delicious, though the cinnamon sugar ones were like mini cinnamon rolls!

Now, omelettes have always been the worst for me. My fillings would inevitably fall out while attempting to flip or, almost always, would fall apart while plating. This pan helped make the perfect omelette. Every. Single. Time. The pan has a helpful divider and comes with a handy spatula to help with the rolling action, too.


Perfectly rolled with all of the fillings intact... until you dig in! You know me and my love for cooking gadgets. Now to go make some brunch.

Holiday Sweets

Guess who was totally uncreative in the gift-giving department this year?? I managed to bake some cookies though. Well, a little more than some. Almost nine dozen to be exact! Chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, and not-so-successful pecan sandies.

Cookie No. 1: Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies were pretty tasty, albeit sweeter than I usually prefer. I made them using Guittard semisweet chocolate chips and upped the 2 cups of chips the recipe called for (seemed like a great idea at the time). My family loved them, but I'll be sure to use bittersweet chips next time. Just to be safe!


Cookie No. 2: Snickerdoodles
If my first time making snickerdoodles was any indication, I'll be making these for the rest of my life. They were fantastic and everyone wanted more, including myself! The disconnect between the simplicity of this recipe versus the end result makes no sense to my poor little brain. The texture was perfect with a chewy, cake-like center and crispy edges. Sipping a glass of soy milk with each bite made me feel as if I were a little kid drinking Avena again (an obvious bonus).


Cookie No. 3: Pecan Sandies
I never imagined my first experience with shortbread would be so difficult. My dough just ended up being way too dry and no amount of refrigeration or warming made it any less crumbly. In fact, I still have some of my dough helplessly sitting in the fridge right now. The few that I managed to bake were delicious and sandy, though way too delicate for mail delivery.


Two out of three ain't bad? The recipes I used are all from Smitten Kitchen; she has a page of about 50 recipes dedicated solely to cookies. Originally I'd hoped to send frozen cookie dough so my family could bake at their will; alas, I didn't want to ruin everyone's holiday with spoiled dough and food poisoning... At least the cookie tins I found at Dollar Tree were adorable!