Tales of a Middle Child-Annie's life

Happy, Sunshine Cupcakes

2010-03-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, after weeks of gray, dreary weather, I needed a little pick me up. I decided to combine two of my favorite things in life: baking and themes! What did I come up with? "Happy, Sunshine Cupcakes." They were amazing: an orange cake with homemade raspberry icing. It is was my first foray in making icing and it was not a bad start at all.

Not only did it give me the pick up that I needed, it gave me a non-chocolate treat. See, I gave up chocolate for Lent and Jelly Beans and Twizzlers just don't cut it at times.

As for the picture. Yes, that is a plate in the background. It reflected what little light I had to work with. I think that the fact that I am experimenting with light with a step forward in my food photography.

You know you're a history nerd when...

2010-03-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

You pray that your niece is not born on March 15th! March 15th, the Ides of March, is the same day Julius Caesar was killed by his most trusted friends and confidants.

It is just not a good day...

Fried Ravioli...Yum!!

2010-03-02T17:19:00.000-08:00

In the past year, cooking and baking have become a serious hobby of mine. I really enjoy looking at food blogs and other food websites, and I also like the actual cooking process. I like that I can take a bunch of random, individual items and create something new and different. I feel inspired, relaxed, and artsy. It is slowly becoming the creative outlet I have been looking for (take for example my sea-foam green cupcakes).

Last Thursday night, my roommate asked me for some appetizer ideas. She, and all the girls in her family, were going on a weekend get-a-way and they were going to have tapas on Saturday night. I quickly thought back through the recent postings on my favorite food blog and offered up some ideas. After listing a few, it hit me: fried ravioli. It is simple, only a few ingredients, and you don’t need utensils to eat it. Although my roommate did not make the fried ravioli, I could not get it out of my mind. After a long day at school dreaming about the 2:55 bell and my fried ravioli, I finally got home, went to the store, and got out my frying pan.

Side note: I do not like change. If something works well for me, why switch it up? So for the past year I have been very much against using Panko breadcrumbs. Even though recipe after recipe say to use Panko breadcrumbs, I refused. I like the breadcrumbs I use. But, I thought: “I want my ravioli to have a thick, crunchy crust, lets try the Panko crumbs.” I felt like Meryl Steep when she took a chance and hired “the smart, fat girl” in The Devil Wears Prada. I don’t know what came over me, but I sure am glad that it did. Panko breadcrumbs are my new food obsession! Use them, I promise!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that, some freakishly hot oil and done! The ravioli was warm and gooey on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I love mixing food textures and temperatures, so I decided to take it up a notch: I dipped the ravioli in cold marinara sauce. It was so good that I made it again on Saturday night.

My roommate may have been the one on a get-a-way, but I had fried ravioli, wine, and the Olympics! To make it even better, it was the men’s figure skating re-runs. I love you Johnny Weir. (What do you all think about this idea: rather than Johnny Weir star in a reality show about his life, he needs to be the first bachelor on the first gay season of Bachelor. It could fly…at least a lot better than Jake’s season did. Ha ha!)

PS-I know that this is not the best picture, and my second batch looked much prettier than this one, but food photography is a whole new issue. It was not the best ravioli to fry, and I still working on my frying techniques. I am just going to have to persevere and keep making this!

Happy?

2010-02-22T08:37:00.001-08:00

Lessons in Baking

2010-02-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Lesson 1: Do not bake hungover.

As part of my attempt to be like Martha Stewart, I want to be the girl who always brings something fun to a party. That may be a fun dessert, a new appetizer, or an Italian bread loaf made from scratch for a pasta dinner. And maybe, just maybe, there will be a theme. Like this past weekend for the Super Bowl. After going out Saturday night, Sunday morning was little rougher than I wanted it to be. In addition to a massive headache, I woke up wanting to make some "blue" velvet cupcakes in honor of the Colts. Well, thanks to my lack of concentration from a few too many Bud Lights, I forgot two of the key ingredients. Not only did the cupcakes not rise, but they turned out a sea-foam green color. If the game was in South Beach, these might have been more acceptable. I ended up just throwing these out...the recipe was not the best either.

What did make the party (and I am sure Martha would approve) was when after the Colts first scored, Amanda Ross asks, "Who wants celebratory Jell-O shots?!" They were blue...and I loved every part of them!! She even made non-alcoholic ones for my preggers sister. All the while Amanda was taking care of her adorable son, John. So Martha, so jealous.

Indy Shore Party

2010-01-31T16:56:00.000-08:00

Theme parties, love them. Costume parties, love those, too. I always have and I always will. Just about every outfit I do wear has a theme behind. It may be nautical with navy and white, I could wear a splash of color to put me in a good mood, at times I channel Jackie O, I have Banana Republic theme of neutral colors, and even a few sassy girl themes. I love theme parties.

Why? Perhaps because my inner diva can come out and it is socially acceptable. I see it is as my chance to be one stage and perform.

The other night my friend had one, an Indy Shore party. It was trashy, sluty, skanky and I loved every minute of it. People were orange from spray tan, my arm hurts from fist pumping all night, and my towel might be ruined from washing off all the eye makeup and bronzer.

I found my outfit at Wal-Mart. It is from the new Miley Cyrus and Max Azria line and it was perfect: faux pleather skin tight leggings with zippers, and a tank top that zipped up the back. And it was all on super sale with every size out.

Karaoke...Living the Dream!

2010-01-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

The other night my friends and I went to a karaoke bar. We had been talking about it for a while, so I was very excited and, yes, very prepared.

Lets go back a little bit. When my sister got engaged all I wanted was to sing "Proud Mary" at the reception. She said no. He said no. For the past couple of years I have been Tina Turner for Halloween and even got the compliment from a friend that "Annie is the best Tina." Thank you Mikey. So the natural choice for my karaoke song was "Proud Mary!"

It was great! I had people singing along and cheering, and even a few people stood up at the end for a standing ovation. Perhaps it was the Tina shimmy and shake that I have nailed down, or my fun stage presence, I don't know...

All I do know is talent scouts---I am waiting!!

Wrong answer...?

2009-10-08T09:12:00.001-07:00

Hi! I am back…after an 8 month hiatus. And it was not because nothing happened, I have been lazy.

In the past couple of days, I have twice “failed” a test that normal people pass, including my friend, her co-workers, sister, brother, brother-in-law, dad, uncle, and cousin. The first time was when my friend Amanda forwarded me the email, and the second was at dinner when my brother-in-law told a story.

The story is along this line: At your mother’s funeral you meet a man and fall deeply in love, believing him to be your soul mate. He leaves before you can get his name, phone number, any contact information—nothing. The next week you kill your sister, why?

Normal people say things like: “you were so heartbroken you killed her out of rage,” or “she started dating the man you met.” In a scientific study, it was proven that psychopaths answer along this line: “you thought he might attend your sister’s funeral, you wanted to see him again, so you killed your sister.”

When I first read the email, I immediately answered that I killed my sister so he would come to her funeral. I came up with no other answer. I am a psychopath! When I told my friend who emailed, she laughed saying only one other person she knows answered it as a psychopath would. When my brother-in-law told the story, the rest of the people at the table did not even get close to the psychopathic answer. I was getting really stressed out because they were no where near close! I am a psychopath and highly strung.

However, my brother-in-law’s mother gave the psychopathic answer and she is the opposite of a psychopath! My mom and grandma have not taken the test as far as I know. Anyways, aren’t psychopaths also geniuses?

Prom Queen

2009-03-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

Both my sister and brother won a state championship in high school, my sister in tennis and my brother in hockey. I did not. And they like to bring that up every so often. Especially now that I am coaching tennis. But I was Prom Queen!! And neither of them were even on the Prom Court! Ha!

So it was my sororities 80's Prom Informal, and part of the reason I won was because Caitlin was caught stuffing the ballots in her favor. But, I was still Prom Queen, and as you can see by the picture I deserved it! (And you can see I was still in my awkward phase that all began with the bangs/mullet.)

The "chaperone" is cousin Jannie. She actually was the chaperone of the dance, so she just dressed the part and really looked like a chaperone. Sorry Jannie, but consider this payback for Teddy Dog Show...

Thoughts...?

2009-03-17T17:52:00.000-07:00

To begin, I teach at a Catholic high school. The students have to wear uniforms everyday except for Fridays and other special days. Overall, the school is great, but very conservative. A mom called me an atheist and an Obama supporter in one accusation!!

Tonight, at our usual Tuesday night dinner, I started talking about an incident at school involving dress code, a detention, and making a student change his shirt. Immediately everyone jumps on me for being a mean teacher! Now maybe they were siding with my grandmother, who thinks and tells everyone that I am the meanest teacher in the world, to earn brownie points. But here is the situation and then I would like to hear your thoughts--am I a mean teacher or did the family jump on the black sheep once again?!?

This student likes to push the limits. He is nice, but a does not like to follow any rules. Previous examples, when he was on Academic Probation he had to meet with all of his teachers once a week to catch up. He never showed up once, and every teacher arranged his/her schedule to accommodate for him. He asked me if he could have my cell phone number and we can meet at a Starbucks one Saturday to study. And his school polo was never tucked in (dress code violation) and had multiple warnings and detentions for that as well.

Today was one of the days when the kids were allowed to wear jeans and a green top if they donated money to a charity. This student comes to school in jeans and a Pabst Blue Ribbon St. Patty's Day shirt. (For those who do not know, PBR is a cheap, nasty beer.) For violating school policy, I wrote him a detention slip and asked the Dean of Students to make him cover up his shirt somehow. Now, was I a mean teacher by punishing a student who wore a beer t-shirt to a Catholic high school?!?!

Thoughts...?

Fourth time is the charm!

2009-03-05T17:01:00.001-08:00

Yea! For a few weeks I have been on a kick of trying to make a really good soft pretzel, but have failed on all but one attempts. The first time, I put wax paper in the oven and almost burnt the house down... oops. The next two times were not good, too bland. But today, I found a new recipe, thank you Alton Brown!

I know the picture does not show how good these are, but trust me, they are goooooood! And, they are almost gone...

Now, I need to work on making dips for them!

FunFetti Cupcakes Take 1 results

2009-02-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

Results: They looked good, but they can taste better. My roommate Betsy I think hit the nail on the head when she said that they tasted more like sugar cookies than cupcakes. I found a new recipe that I think will solve the problem...I will keep you posted!! (Haha, see how funny I am)

Annie Cooks

2009-02-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

Part of my Middle Child Syndrome is that I have all of these creative ideas in my head but when I try to execute them they fail miserably. Especially when it comes to arts and crafts, and all I want to do id be like Martha Stewart. But my sister is awesome! Check out her blog, she will make you things!! (janiebaby.blogspot.com) However, when it comes to baking, I do pretty well.

My friends from college and I have a slight obsession with FunFetti cake mix. So this weekend I tried to make my own FunFetti cupcakes from scratch. Here is what they look like...not too bad. I am taking them to work tomorrow for a taste test. I just hope that I am giving the box mix a run for its money, or at least some where close.

I love my Snuggie!

2009-02-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

Yes I have a Snuggie! Yes I love it! Yes, you should be jealous that I can knit and read AND keep my arms warm!

Teddy Dog Show

2009-01-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a story that I think best defines my life as a middle child…everyone refers to it as Teddy Dog Show.

I will just cut to the chase—I sound corny when I try to build something up. So one day in the summer, not sure how old I was, but my sister, Janie, and cousin, Jannie, were all playing together. We decided that it would be fun to put on a dog show, more like a horse show, with Teddy.

We turned our backyard into the ring, and we made all the jumps from the pool furniture, floating noodles, trash cans, really anything that we could find. When we started to discuss who would be what, Janie quickly stated that she would be Teddy’s trainer, the one who gets the glory when he would do well. Janie then assigns Jannie to be the commentator because she was taking riding lessons and would know what she was talking about. As for me, I became a jump. My job was to just stretch my arm and leg out to the trashcans and wait for Janie and Teddy to jump over me. It was made very clear to me that only I could do this because I was the tallest—I believed them. I took the job very seriously, thinking that I was playing an important role. But, in the end, I got no glory, no recognition like Teddy, Janie, and Jannie.

It was not until a few years later when I watched the video that I realized how nerdy I really was. And it is so typical of me, Janie, and Jannie even to this day: Janie always had the most powerful position, Jannie was always the brains behind it, and I was always just there doing the jobs that no else wanted to. Another example is when we made a contraption that would pull people and put it on Teddy. We duct-taped rollerblades to a Radio Flyer, made reins and a harness, and put them on Teddy. Janie got to ride, I ran next to Teddy to make sure that he kept going. Typical.

2008-12-14T16:46:00.000-08:00

Even before I started this blog, I have had many people request to hear stories about me growing up. I remember one time in college, my friends and I spend an hour retelling Annie as a kid stories and we all left in tears because we laughed so hard! I guess it was my mullet that they found so desirable...

Yep, thats a mullet! In the fourth grade I went with my grandmother to her hairdresser and walked out with a mullet. And the "bangs" are layered!! The picture does not show it, but my teeth looked like Chicklets and I needed braces REAL bad.

For two years my sister and I took dance lessons at DeAnn's Dance Studio. In our first dance I was still in my cute phase and young enough that everything I did was cute. During the dance, we had to jump in the air and do a full 360 turn. I had too much spin and not enough jump. I land and I have only rotated three-fourths of the way. I still had spin in me however so I keep going. Watching the video, you can see me jump to the right about two feet, my body following my head. I have never seen John laugh so hard than when he first watched that video. Also in the first one, the day of the recital my sister spilled nail polish on her tights and refused to wear them. So guess who does...me!

The pictures above came from my second dance recital. As you can see, I entered into my twenty year awkward phase. In this recital, we had to wear a silver sequin headband and no headband looks good with a mullet! Headbands so look cute, however, with blond bangs that are curled to the side like my sister had! During this dance I was always a half beat behind because I am looking back at my sister, watching her. I did that a lot as kid, looked at my sister. Dont know why. Just me being weird.

Maybe it is because of these performances that I have not made it in the entertainment business. Or the fact that I cannot carry a tune. My sister used to say that when I would sing it gave her gas. But I like to think that I turned out alright. I am still weird at times, but I have made some progress.

Until next time, look back at this picture when you need a good laugh!!

My brief moment...

2008-11-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

Middle Child Syndrome went into full effect this week. Not only was it just my siblings, but my little cousin Trip jumped in on it as well!

Last week for Tuesday Night Dinner my older sister Janie could not make it. We missed her, but we still had fun. Normally it is my brother Joe and Janie who tell me to do things, and I do them. I do them without question. Last week, however, the roles switched. I TOLD Joe to smell a sauce and he did, without question or hesitation! It was such a great feeling that all week I felt empowered.

Things all changed over the weekend. Janie, Joe and I were all watching YouTube videos at Janie’s house. (This is after we all went down to her office on a Thursday night to make sure she blew out her candle.) Earlier this week I saw a very funny video, it was even on perezhilton.com, and showed it to Janie and Joe. I must admit, the version I showed them was not funny, but it was the original version I saw either. They watched about 10 seconds before turning it off. Typical Annie: I show the unfunny video.

Over the weekend, things got totally back to normal. I was house-sitting for my younger cousins while my aunt and uncle celebrated my aunt’s 50th birthday in Chicago! So when some weirdo’s showed up to the door and said “we are here for the party” I asked and “who is hosting this party?” I know, I could have said something WAY cooler, but that is not my style. The story also would have been better if the kids did not know my cousin’s name, but they did. Thank you Trip for bringing that up last night!! Janie and Joe got a huge laugh out of that.

So like always, I am reminded by myself and my family, just how much of a middle child I am.

How this all got started...

2008-11-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

Hello,
My name is Annie, and I am a middle child. For those of you who know me, it probably seems uncharacteristic of me to start a blog. That was part of the appeal! But I started this page for a couple of reasons, keep reading and I will tell you why.

It all begins with my grandmother, Neanie. Up until a few years ago, she was a hostess at a restaurant my uncle started. She still goes three to four times a week and has her own parking spot. It is her life! About two years ago my sister, my brother, my brother-in-law, and myself started taking my grandma to dinner every Tuesday night. We only go to my uncle’s restaurant. Going anywhere else is blasphemy to my grandma. These dinners have turned into the McFall’s version of “Tuesdays with Morrie.” This means that we substitute the emotional story line with alcohol. McFalls have three very obvious characteristics: we like to drink, we are great hosts (parties, guests, etc.), and we are emotionally troubled. You will learn more about that in the future!!!

For some time now, I have wanted to write about our dinners. I take advantage of this time, which my sister and brother love to make fun of me about, to really get to know my grandma. I ask her about her childhood, her life growing up, her family etc. A couple of years ago we had a scare with Neanie, and I want to know everything I can about her before she goes. I want a place to write about her and our dinners, but I am not the journal type.

Another reason for this blog is to write about my life. Not only am I the middle child but I am the black sheep as well. My sister and brothers love to point this fact out to me, especially at dinner when we are all together! I don’t mind being the middle child. I have come to accept my place in the family and realize that it is when they stop picking on me is when I need to worry. This blog is not to put them down. They are my family; they say yes when the world says no. Even though the jokes are normally at my expense, they are funny and should be shared.

There they are! The reasons for my blog. At times I will stray from the original purpose, but its my blog and I will do what I want to. I hope you enjoy…

2008-11-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

Yeah, welcome to my blog!