Time to make the...bagels.

Earlier I said I would post pictures if I made some bagels. I DID make them...and the result was a very hot kitchen! And a couple more bagels to add to my stash for Brayden's birthday brunch coming up in a few weekends :-)

Meet my kitchen-aid mixer. As you can see, it is not new or fancy. As a matter of fact, this is old. It has spots on it that don't come off no matter how hard I scrub, and it is even heavier than the ones that you buy in the stores today. I love this kitchen-aid because it belonged to my great grandmother, and to know the woman is to love the woman. I think of her every time I use it, so there is an extra pinch of love in everything that it mixes. :-)

Here it is, mixing up the bagel dough...see it forming a nice little ball?

Dough made and kneaded...nice and smooth and round, ready to be divided. From this dough, I made 8 bagels...obviously, you can make more or less depending on their size.

Once the dough is divided into balls, you let it rise for a while...then you make the actual bagels and let them rise again. Here's what they look like before they rise...they definitely look homemade...but I think if you're hand rolling them, they should, right? They get a little bit better each time I make them :-) I'm thinking that this will be part of a home bakery's charm...things are clearly homemade...hmmm....don't you think? I mean...don't you hate when you buy cookies or cupcakes that are so perfect that you KNOW they were made on some machine and you have to wonder if human hands touched them?

Here they are...yep, in boiling water.

Post-boiling...ready for baking....

oooooh...can you smell them? They smell soooooo good! And they're just the plain ones...when cinnamon bagels are baking, I just want to dive in the oven with them! :-)

Finished Product...check 'em out! They're what we call "GBD"...golden brown and delicious!

YUM! Happy Friday night, everyone!

Hello, Friday

Hello and Happy Friday!


We had a lovely morning today. Brayden got up at his normal time, right around 7. I, knowing that I wanted to get out the door after breakfast, had already gotten up and showered. (I am not a morning person and my average shower time is 10-10:30ish, so this in itself is impressive...Sam slept until 9:30 until Brayden started waking up at 7...Brayden used to sleep that long too...sigh) By the time Brayden was done nursing, Sam was awake, so he got up and dressed. We ate breakfast (coffee with mine, of course!) and headed to Binghamton. We dropped off some homemade icing (I made that last night) and my cancer ribbon cookie cutter with my sister, stopped in Binghamton to have my recent TB test read, and then headed to the park. We WERE going to go to the Rail Trail in Vestal...but Daddy happened to be taking his lunch break so we met him at the Carousel Park on Oak Hill in Endicott. Poor Brayden was sooooo tired (it was time for his morning nap) but, as usual, just grins from him. He didn't want to swing, but he was just as good as always. Sam was SO EXCITED. I lost count of the number of times he went down the slide! Of course...my camera was sitting on the counter at home. Boo. Especially boo because my sister brought her kiddos over and they are all so cute together! I just love my nephew and niece, they're sweet as can be. <3<3<3 We ended up getting these ridiculously delicious sandwiches at Joey's, a place across the street, which also has great ice cream if you're ever up for a treat in Endicott. Three people asked me if Brayden and Madison were twins...I was there with the kids while my sister went to grab the sandwiches (birthday treat for me! Thanks, Nicki!)...hmm, they don't look very much alike but, to be fair, they ARE only a few weeks apart in age. Either way, that was FUN!
The bummer of the day was that I was supposed to have a long overdue cup of coffee with a friend and I didn't get home in time :-( We try to get together about once a week...and it's been several. Guess that happens. I'm hoping maybe she will join us for dinner...I'm making...mmmm...Pad Thai!! Yum!! (Do you wonder why I only lost ONE pound this week?)

I am looking forward to tomorrow, as one of my college roomies, Carrie, is coming down from Ithaca for the afternoon...hooray!! What should I make for dinner tomorrow? Thinking about grilling up some spedies...a novelty item for any non-locals. I don't know if they make them as far north as Ithaca...anyone? yes? no?

ANYway...on the bakery/cooking front...I need to get in touch with the department of agriculture to find out what's going on! I'm not really sure our official status...I can't WAIT to officially be open for business...until then...shhhh...if you want something....call me :-) I'm also working on a pamphlet with some pricing and whatnot...anyone want to take some and place them strategically around for me? Free cookies if you do!


Yesterday I said that I try to make/bake something every day. I didn't end up making bagels yesterday. Which is too bad because once you have a freshly made bagel, you'll never go back. (want some? Ask me to make some for you sometime!) Yesterday afternoon I made...carrot chips. HAHA! This does not count as cooking, as all I did was peel the carrots. Literally. My husband canNOT miss a chance to play with our mandoline! We bought a 5 lb bag of carrots and have been wanting to turn them into chips for fun dipping. (We're both trying to slim down...a hard task when we both love to cook great food!) Look below...see how cute they are? Of course that is more fun to eat than a plain old carrot stick ANY day! :-) My favorite dip is lowfat white bean hummus...mmmm...I'm such a nice wife, I sent the rest of THAT in Christian's lunch today! Oh, right, the photos...here ya go:

One lone carrot chip...this picture is dark, but you can see it...and you know you want to eat it...oh wait, you can't, I nibbled it as soon as I snapped this ;-)
A bowl full of carrot chips...

Above is Christian doing his thing...he loves gadgets...well, he IS an engineer, after all. :-)

Today? I'm making pad thai for dinner, does that count? Maybe that batch of bagels will make it in the oven...I'm feeling so tired this afternoon! For no good reason, just sleepy. :-) Brayden is snoozing at the moment, so now's my chance...maybe I'll post some pictures of THAT process later on...so much fun! And so worth it! Hoping these will be a big seller someday...who doesn't love a bagel? I'm even formulating a specialty item that Friehoffers or Lenders or whichever bread/bagel company you like will have WISHED they thought of first.

What I really should do this afternoon is exercise and fold diapers. Yep, I really should! Does dancing while baking count as exercise? That'll get me going!

Friday night...what to do? I think there's a bottle of something chilling in the fridge, a birthday treat from my friend Jaime...ooh la la!

Ahhh....if I'm going to make some bagels, I better go get on top of that while all is quiet....I'll try to post some photos later. :-) If I don't....have a great night/weekend! Check back for updates on my business status or anything else I might have to say. (Are you sitting on the edge of your seat yet? haha!)

Happy Birthday, Hamm! :-)

I had such a great day/evening yesterday...what a fabulous birthday! Thank you to everyone who helped make it a special day. Something EXTRA special...my cousin's wife delivered their new baby on my birthday! I TOLD her when she first found out that she was pregnant that she should aim for April 28...little Sidney, named for our grandfather, was listening! Yay!

Today, I am stumped over what I should blog about. This is the reason I have held off on starting a blog for years. I mainly started this one to chronicle my journey of starting a home bakery and what goes into that...and to advertise for the business once it's officially open. But, as I warned yesterday, until I'm really busy with that, it will be a lot of rambling.

You know that I'm prone to rambling, right? If you're reading this blog this early in the game, I probably know you in person, and you probably know that I ramble. Which probably also means that I've apologized for rambling. I'm totally aware of this problem, but it never really improves, spoken or written. :-) I have a lot to say. I'm not sure how much of it is very important, but I have it to say anyway!

See, I just wrote an entire paragraph about rambling. THAT is rambling. And now I'm starting a paragraph about writing a paragraph about rambling. MORE rambling. Let's change the subject before it gets even more ridiculous.

Sam, Brayden, and I ALL slept late this morning. It felt great to stretch out and go back to sleep after Christian left for work :-) Brayden, bless his soul, had a bit of tummy trouble this morning...the type of tummy trouble that really makes me consider throwing a cloth diaper into the trash! Eww! After a couple of nasty diapers, he had a bath and is now sleeping peacefully, fresh and clean...I hope he stays that way when he wakes up!! So basically I got nothing household and/or kitchen related accomplished so far today. Sam, bless HIS soul, informed me that it is Hamm's birthday today. Hamm is the piggy bank in the Disney Toy Story movies, and Sam, a Toy Story fanatic, has a stuffed Hamm. Hamm is wearing a party hat, and he would like cake and singing please. Hamm must be happy because we have sung "Happy Birthday" to him several times!! Luckily...I had some cupcakes in the freezer. I think Hamm mostly wants cake because Sam wouldn't even try a bite of the blueberry coffee cake my mom brought over last night! HAHA! In all fairness, it didn't LOOK like a birthday cake, but it WAS delicious! Thanks Mom! Do you want to know my dirty little bakery secret? I am NOT a cake fan! I'll take cookies, pies, or brownies any day, but cake, I can take it or leave it. I do love coffee cake and muffins though...and those, my friends, are technically "quick breads"

Happy Birthday, Hamm!! :-) There is the special birthday pig, posing with Buzz Lightyear himself!

Ahhhhh....so that has been my day so far. I "accomplished" nothing...but I had the time with my boys, and that is why I do what I do! Love them!!

Things I am thinking about today: cleaning up the yard, designing a "logo" for Capo Cucina, finishing painting the kitchen (we ran out of steam when we started 3 years ago...windows and some of the trim are STILL not painted and the cupboards are in need of a touch-up), organizing my entire house (yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh.)...do any of you have any great ideas for a logo?

What's for dinner at your house? Italian sausage with sauteed potatoes/veggies here. (vegetarian sausage for me, obviously) Mmmmmm.....I could totally eat the pesto that Christian made last night...it...was...sooooo...good....and worth falling off the weight watchers band wagon for the night. Nothing beats homemade pasta sauces!! He didn't make the pasta from scratch, as that is definitely a weekend endeavor...but it was still to die for!! I teased him for making me brownies from a box...I'm a "scratch baker" ONLY, to buy brownies is to commit kitchen blashpemy as far as I'm concerned...but they were Ghiradelli, so they were still really YUMMY! (Did I mention that I had 3 birthday cakes and lost track of weight watchers points by early afternoon yesterday? whoops.)

I try to make/bake something every day. Yesterday I made some wheat Italian bread...not my best bread, but fresh bread is almost always good!! Sent the extra loaf home with my mom and dad. What should I make today? The day is really getting away from me today...hmmm...maybe some bagels, as I'm stocking up for Brayden's first birthday party brunch...we'll see...pretzels have been popular lately around here too. :-) Even finicky Sam loves a fresh soft pretzel! Who doesn't? Yum! The soft pretzel "problem" in this house is that *I* like New York style and Christian likes Philadelphia style. Sam and Brayden both love any pretzel! haha! After the late morning and tummy trouble....it might just be the kind of day when cooking dinner counts as making something.

Have a great day, everyone!! :-)

27 Years...Here's to 27 More!

Today, I turn 27. So, in 27 more years, I will be 54. That seems like such a long time away, but I've realized as I have gotten older that time gets a little faster each year. For instance...at this time last year, my baby Brayden was just a gigantic bump on my belly...and now the little stinker is almost a whole year old. I'm pretty much in denial that my boys are going to be 4 and 1...not sure how that happened! I just want to yell STOP and have them stop growing so FAST! Just slow down a LITTLE!! I wonder how my own mother feels when she realizes that I, her first baby, am 27. Hmmm. I cannot fathom being a grandparent...but who knows what life will look like in another 27 years!!

Anyway, yes, it's my birthday. I spent a lovely morning with my boys over at Jaime and Ja'dyn's house. We love playdates with them! I especially love them when coffee and fruit dip is involved! haha!! I wonder when it stops "Feeling" like your birthday. 22? 23? Not sure! Tonight, my husband is actually making dinner...one of my favorites...homemade pesto and roasted tomatoes!! So simple, so delicious! My parents are coming over for dinner this evening...well, it's only fair...my mom did all the real work to get me here, ya know! :-)

So, this is my first EVER blog. I've been thinking about this for some time now, and as I have made the decision to open a bakery, and as I have stepped into another year of life, and as I have received several suggestions about starting a blog to advertise this business, here it is. Thanks for reading! I'm pretty sure that, until my business is really started, this will mostly be rambling about my husband, my kids, losing weight, laundry, various daily experiences, etc...but that just gives you all a glimpse of our world and the journey the Capotosto family is on as we begin a business and trek through life.

I am so nervous about this decision. If you know me...you know that I am NOT good at "failure". For crying out loud, I once received a 90 on my report card and spent several days crying because a 90 is technically a B+ and not an A and it kept me off of high honor roll. Yes, that's me. So please...order some baked goods from me...haha!! HOWEVER...my good friend Emily posted a quote on facebook yesterday from Paula Deen: "The sin is not in failing, the sin is in not trying." I am inspired by Paula...I listened to an interview with her where she talked about starting her own business out of her garage, and look at the woman now! I'm not sure I will ever be that successful...but keep your eyes open, you might be seeing me on The Food Network sometime in the future!

In addition to being nervous, I am so excited!!! Aside from my family and reading, cooking/baking is one of my biggest passions!! What is better than sitting down to break bread with your family and being satisfied that the loaf of bread was kneaded by your own hands? I LOVE to bake and to cook, and I'm hoping that something homemade and delicious from MY kitchen will be finding its way to YOU when I'm officially open for business!!

Thanks again for reading, and I'll do my best to keep everyone posted as I start my new journey as a business owner and continue my life as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, handyman, nurse, security guard, maid...and baker!! Perhaps, if people still keep blogs in 27 years, you'll sign on in 2037...and who knows what will have happened! Welcome to my adventure!!