My Cooking: The good, the bad and the what the ?!

Over Labor Day weekend we went to Austin, but of course I have no photos from there. I do, however, have pictures from my recent adventures in cooking. Since it had been a while since I really branched out in the cooking world, I decided to go all in and make homemade dumplings (it helped that I just watched a Nate Berkus show rerun and they did this on the show...and I was hungry...)

So, homemade dumplings! Actually, pretty easy stuff.

1) Make your own dough (OMG IT'S JUST WATER AND FLOUR, WHO KNEW!?!?)
2) Dumpling filling: ground pork, some ground ginger, cabbage, sesame oil. This is easy.

3) Mix filling together, let dough rest then roll out. Crap, don't have a roller. Oh well, will use a hot sauce bottle (see above)
4) About 50 dumpling rolls later, I'm over it.

5) Sear the dumplings in a hot pan and then add about a half cup of water and cover to let steam. Burnt my hand. Great.
6) Final product: more dumplings than I can eat in 3 seatings. And everyone knows dumplings aren't really that good reheated.

Voila! Here's the recipe, instructions etc.

Since I was on my high horse after that feat, I tried to make homemade cookies to take with me when I visited a coworker and her new baby. Apparently I had way too much confidence, as this was the final result. (Important note #1: it was NOT supposed to be a cookie CAKE. Important note #2: I did not take it with me, obvi).

See what happens when you get all cocky?

Until the next adventure!