watermelon heads rule!
It was wonderful waking up to coffee and flowers last week. It made me feel smiley and special.
It was wonderful waking up to coffee and flowers last week. It made me feel smiley and special.
How are you doing? I feel like I've been gone for a while! I'm back! I think (and hope) that tomorrow will be the day my new shoes come in the mail. I can't wait to run in them this weekend. New shoes always feel so wonderful, and asics can't be beat! I've been keeping up with my running (every other day), and it feels great. In September I want to start this running program up again, like I was doing in the winter, because it was amazing without going overboard (only 3 running days a week).
On Saturday I picked a whole bunch of wild blackberries, and I've since been contemplating how to use them. I decided to make a crisp (what is the difference between a crisp and a cobbler anyway?). I mixed about 5 cups of berries with 3 peaches, and made an oatmeal streusel topping based on this recipe. It's got a lemony tart flavor because I added in a bit more than a tablespoon of lemon rind to it, plus the berries are a little puckery at times. I taste tested it with some lemon creme pie ice cream, because someone's gotta do it! The ice cream perfectly accents the natural taste of the berries, and the peaches give a sun-warmed sweet boost.
I made a little notebook today that I want to share with you. It's a fun little project, and it uses common items you most likely already have around your home. I love little notebooks, always have. The excitement of owning a fresh new one is thrilling. Ready? Here we go!
You wouldn't think that today would be a perfect day for a picnic in the park (being that it was a bit rainy and gray), but it was. I was the volunteer face painter and helped turn kids into bulldogs, tigers, jaguars, and cats, with whiskers on their little faces and paw prints on the backs of their hands. I also held the most darling baby girl. I love holding happy sleepy babies. It makes me feel peaceful and lucky, like I can't believe I've got something so wonderful in my arms.
Hello! I hope you had a beautiful Tuesday. I finished my scarf on Sunday. It had about a million strings hanging off of it, so it didn't quite look finished, but they were surprisingly quick to weave in. The only thing I have left to do now is block it.
In between cleaning out my papers and trying to declutter, I cooked up these pink Korean noodles with some basil, tomato, and garlic sauce. The strands are so fine they cook up in just 4 minutes! I didn't get through all the papers I wanted to organize. They're in a pile on the floor. I figure if I leave them there, and have to see them and step over them all the time, I'll do something about it quickly! Doesn't this sound effective? (you don't have to answer that!) I've been really feeling the need to organize lately. I don't know what it is. Today I went through my bookshelf and put some old college textbooks for sale on half.com. I don't like having too much stuff especially if I'm not putting it to good use.
A copy of Cooking Light happily found its way into my mail box yesterday. The cover recipe features German apple pancakes. I modified the recipe a little bit, but it turned out light and delicious. I used 4 egg whites and one whole egg instead of the egg substitute, cut more than half the sugar, used two apples instead of one, and sprinkled pearl sugar on it as a finishing touch. I didn't have a cast iron dish like the recipe suggested, so I cooked the apple on the stovetop, and then arranged them on the pie plate, and in a loaf pan (leftovers!). It was so much fun to watch the pancake rise like a fluffy down pillow in the oven. It puffed up and would move and bubble in the heat. I felt like I was watching it come to life. It's amazing how the batter just lifted the apples up to float on top of the pancake.
The consistency reminded me of the fläskpannkaka my mom would make for dinner. It's one big eggy pancake made on a baking sheet with bits of bacon in it. I can't think of anything that smells better in the oven... speaking of which, I must ask her for that recipe!
I can see myself making this again for breakfast or dessert. For breakfast, I can see myself adding bacon to the apples. For dessert, it would go really well with vanilla sauce. I really like Cooking Light recipes. I feel good about making them (especially the desserts) because they keep recipes interesting, tasty, and healthy at the same time.
I ate what was left of my farmer's market berries in my new blue bowl. It's colored like a robin's egg and even has cinnamon colored specks and a scalloped edge. The berries were like jewels inside a pottery nest.