April 2012

Last night, after falling asleep on the couch right before they announced the winner of Iron Chef (I do that every. week.), I had a crazy fun dream.

I was in New York, visiting the set of White Collar (our favorite), watching the crew shoot scenes and goof around. And suddenly, there was a ruckus – someone attacked someone else, I heard whispers of a stabbing(!), and I was pulled away from the set with Willie (Mozzie) and Matt (Neal).

We ran through the dark streets while I tried to figure out what had happened. I had no idea where I was going so I followed them, trying to ask questions while I lagged behind.

Who was it on set that attacked? Was anyone hurt? Why were we running away? And where in the world were we going? I’ve never been to New York. I don’t know where I am or where we’re headed or if I’m safe.

Then Matt turned around and gave me one of those charming Neal Caffrey smiles and said “Happy Birthday! We’re going to solve this thing, together, as your birthday present. A White Collar view of New York, if you will – plus you have me and Mozz to help figure out what happened. Are you ready? We’ll start at Neal’s loft for dinner and wine while we talk about what happened on the set, then we’ll go to Peter’s house and get going. Sound good?”

Uh…duh.

…and then, I woke up.

And tried desperately to get in bed as fast as possible to pick up where I left off.

But I lost it. I dreamed some other crazy dream that had nothing to do with my birthday caper scavenger hunt.

Isn’t that the worst?

I’m pretty sure my birthday this year won’t include a trip to New York, a visit to the set, or crazy manhunt around the city with Neal and Mozzie. I wish it would.

I’ll probably have to work all day, then come home to wash dishes, and maybe grill some burgers. On homemade buns.

If my birthday can’t stack up to that dream present, we’ll at least have light, fluffy, hot hamburger buns for my birthday burgers. For backyard birthday parties, I don’t think it’ll get much better than this.

Quick Homemade Hamburger Buns

Makes: 12 buns

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/4 cup honey or sugar
• 1 egg
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer or any other large bowl, dissolve the yeast in your warm water. Add the oil and honey and let this mix stand for 5 minutes until it’s bubbly and looks creamy.
3. Mix in the egg, salt, the 2 cups of bread flour and 1 cup of all purpose flour to form a soft dough. If your dough is still sticky after this flour is mixed in, add a bit more all purpose flour until it is smooth and soft.
4. Knead the dough (with a dough hook/mixer or your hands) until it’s smooth and springy, about 3-5 minutes. Bonus: we don’t have to let it rise!
5. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each section into a ball. Plop the rounds 2-3 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.
6. Cover the buns and let them sit and rest for 15 minutes.
7. Bake at 425° for 10-12 minutes or until the buns are golden on top. Take out of the oven and cool for a few minutes before slicing.

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