what jen does

Life, home, and a little travel

Category: Uncategorized

  • holla for challah
    recipes

    holla for challah

    The ability to braid one’s hair is a skill most people have. The ability to braid one’s bread dough? A completely different story. With the number of times that I’ve rocked a side braid, regular braid, french braid, french pigtails …. you’d think braiding dough was easier. But, it was seriously worth it. I mean,…

  • meringue nest with strawberry sauce
    recipes

    meringue nest with strawberry sauce

    I just ate about 6 peppermint Hershey kisses. Before that, I ate a rice cake smeared with nutella. My chocolate sweet tooth is rearing it’s ugly head right now. I think it’s really easy to make a chocolate dessert or maybe something that is like that. Chocolate cake, apple charlotte,  strawberry shortcake …. all great…

  • split pea soup
    recipes

    split pea soup

    In the past when I’ve been documenting our Downton Abbey dinners I’ve tried to stick with writing in the order that we ate. But this week, we started eating with split pea soup.  It’s not exciting. It’s not sexy.  Split pea soup is great but it’s not a conversation starter. It’s a sidebar. Nobody says…

  • citrus haddock with bak choy and mushrooms
    recipes

    citrus haddock with bak choy and mushrooms

    Then there was the time that it was the season finale of Downton Abbey. It had been a few weeks since I attempted a full three course meal and so the finale was a great opportunity to get back in the swing of it. Baby Sister threw a bit of a wrinkle in the plans…

  • attempting Auntie Annie’s pretzels
    recipes

    attempting Auntie Annie’s pretzels

    I have a desperate weakness for Auntie Annie’s pretzels. When I see that bright blue sign, I can barely resist overpaying for some salty, buttery, carby delights. I’m not sure when they debuted the pretzel sticks to the product line but I’d consider those babies my gateway drug to the pretzel nuggets. Those suckers are…

  • nutella bread pudding
    recipes

    nutella bread pudding

    I’m fully aware that they didn’t have nutella in Downton Abbey days. I almost care about historical accuracy but then I realize I’ve been nearly nutella free since before Thanksgiving. And, I really wanted some nutella. I also really wanted to eat more of the vanilla ice cream that was in my freezer (leftovers from…

  • Happy Heart Day

    Happy Heart Day

    Last year this is how I spent Valentine’s Day. This year, I skipped working out at the gym and came home. I stopped at the market and picked up a bag of pretzel rods for a whopping $3.49. Who let pretzels get so pricey? I almost stopped and picked up a fillet of haddock but…

  • Recovering from Nemo

    Recovering from Nemo

    Right now I’m sitting on my couch after a weekend at home. My body feels a little bit like it spent the weekend in Vermont or Maine. My face is a little pink from being outside, I’m sore, and perhaps a bit tired. But, that isn’t what happened. Instead, I fell for the allure of my parent’s…

  • Thin Crust Pizza for the win
    recipes

    Thin Crust Pizza for the win

    Earlier this week it was brought to my attention that I haven’t been documenting. I guess it’s nice to know that someone noticed. There are a lot of things that I need to document. Thin Crust Pizza dough. Nutella Bread Pudding. Amazing homemade pretzels. Fried pickles. And most recently … Chicken Tikka Marsala. All of…

  • Meet Eleanor

    Meet Eleanor

    Eleanor is my new roommate.  She refuses to pay rent but also doesn’t take up much space so … I guess that’s okay. Plus, now at work I can use the phrase “I have a mouth to feed at home!”. I’m not sure if it would be worse for people to realize that mouth belonged…