strawberries!

A few weeks ago I was checking out at Publix and saw on the cover of April's Southern Living this multi-layered strawberry-bonanza of a dessert.  I promptly decided, "oh I need to make that."  I got home, thought about it a bit more, then forgot.  THEN, a blogger I follow posted how she made it, and she posted a recipe and some tips.  Donesies.

On Easter weekend I bought the ingredients, and knew this recipe wasn't playing around...16 oz. marscapone, 4 cups of heavy whipping cream, almost a dozen eggs, etc.  On Easter Sunday at church I was telling my good friends the M's about it, and asked if they'd want some if it was good (fortunately, they did).  I got home, Z came over, and we got to cooking.  Meringues.  Filling.  Cutting berries.

It was my first time baking meringues, and didn't realize they needed almost 4 hours in the oven.  That bumped dinner plans of making a tart so we went and grabbed a burger, got in touch with the M's, and went out to their house to share.  And by "went out" I mean we got there as fast as possible.

One thing about the dessert was that height (and let's be honest, calorically) is ginormous.  I didn't want to waste any or have the meringues melt, so I cut the meringues into pieces (the meringues having been taste-test approved), layered some filling (bowl-licked clean taste-test approved) and berries, then topped with another meringue and berries.  OMG.

I also played around with my own recipe this week.  I had a decent amount of whipping cream left, and some berries that were too soft to eat and enjoy, but not bad enough to throw away.  I had biscuits on the brain, so I found a basic drop biscuit recipe from Joy, washed and mashed up the berries & added a bit of vanilla and let them sit, made up the biscuit dough, added a heaping spoonful of powdered sugar, added the berries, dropped, and baked.  While they were baking I whipped up the cream and added a tiny bit of powdered sugar to it.  I didn't take a picture of them with the good camera because I was too busy eating them, so I just got an instragram pic.

It was like strawberry shortcake, but less messy and less time consuming.  I'm a fan.

this week.

I started this post midweek because I didn't want to forget anything.  Things like how on...

Monday, I tried to fix the soles of my shoes and ended up super-gluing myself to the floor.

Tuesday, roomie needed some information from my car.  I went to go get my keys, and I couldn't find them.  I looked and looked, then realized, "I may have locked them inside my car this morning!"  I rush out to my car (while mentally berating myself for not having a spare made yet), to find them hanging in the passenger side door.  It's now after 3:00 p.m., and they had been there since 9.  Glad no one wanted a free-to-them Honda...

Wednesday, unscathed I think!

Thursday...food messes.  Most mornings I eat cereal in a large 2-cup measuring cup in my car on the way to work.  With the measuring cup I have never spilled anything, until Thursday morning.  I was trying to put on my seatbelt and I somehow caught the spoon and flipped a good bit of cereal and milk all over my lap.  Ugh.  I get to work, wash my skirt out, and carry on.  Later, at lunch I'm eating my go-to, greek yogurt.  It splatters in my hair.  Usually NBD, but it was first-day hair (aka, I had washed and straightened it that morning!).  I try to get three days minimum out of straight hair (I have a lot of hair), and now yogurt was in it.

Saturday, my hair dryer shot flames at me.  I'm going to consider the adrenaline rush I had a boost to my morning cardio.  OMG.

None of these are a huge deal, but definitely moments I don't want to forget!

a coating of chemicals

(I acknowledge I may be late getting on this train of thinking, but I'm on it now.)

I'm pretty aware of (most everything) I eat/make/cook. I like knowing where all my ingredients come from, and what all is in my food. Tonight for example-tomato with basalmic vinegar and parmesan, kale that was cooked with garlic and olive oil, corn on the cob with salt, and a baked potato with grated cheddar. I can list all the ingredients, and that makes me happy.

Moving on though, when it comes to products I actually put on me or use, I'm usually in the camp of "what smells best?" (which is a great camp to be in) when it comes to choosing what to buy. But tonight I ran to Target to grab a couple things and as I was perusing the dollar bin I saw some lotion and went to grab it, when the thought in my head of "how many chemicals are in that?" stopped me and sent me away. I then spent way to much time in the body wash isle picking out a body wash (which ended up being the same one I was going in for originally--it smells the best).

I kept thinking about this though. How many products do I use a day that are manufactured somewhere else? I guessed 10, then started counting today's use:

Shampoo. Conditioner. Face wash. Body wash. Moose. Hairspray. Toothpaste. Face moisturizer. Lotion. Deodorant. Laundry detergent. Dryer sheets. Hand soap. Dish soap. Counter spray. Dishwasher tablet. Chap-stick.

17. Not too far off, but still (and I tossed in a couple I used in the past day or so, but definitely still "count," like laundry products). And I know only two of those can be considered to be "all natural" (Thanks Method and Mrs. Meyers). What is making up all those others?

Hmm. I'm going to continue on this for a bit, I think. And for now, stop looking at the Mrs. Meyers site...

100 something days

One day this week I checked Facebook and someone had on there how it was the 100th day of 2012. O. M. G. 100 days?!? Time is going by SO fast. I can't really remember January-February, and I'm almost convinced March didn't happen. Sometime in January I crafted with my friend Erika and one craft I did is a Pinterest inspired memory-a-day calendar. I crafted it. Numbered some dates. And didn't touch it after about a week. I think that it is time to start back at it! Oh, and of course...blog more. :)

One thing I'm fairly sure I won't forget about these first one hundred days is that one of my best friends moved to New York City this past weekend. It was something I always knew was coming and it finally came. We rendezvoused at the Swan Coach House and ran to do some shopping. Y'all. Swan House. It's lovely. Decor. Food. So fun. I had a salad called the "Cornucopia Chicken Salad" (and yes, when I saw it I first thought of Hunger Games). It was chopped chicken with apples, oranges, craisins, pecans, blue cheese, avacado, and some other goodies on greens. We both can't wait to go back on her visits back south.

fun tiers

...I'm off from work today!! FREE day off! I just don't know what to do with myself (actually, I do. I have a list).

But, to-do today. I'm aiming to strike a balance between gotta-do and fun. I was asked a lot last week, "what do you like to do do for fun?" In being asked that, I was forced to realize and articulate what I actually like to do for fun. Doing such was empowering, because it made clearly identify things I really enjoy, and I can choose well how to steward "fun time." I realized I have first-tier fun activities, and second-tier fun activities. My easy top answers are hanging out with people, photography, cooking, and exercising. Second-tier, bargain hunting, crafting, and decorating. So in today's "fun" category I've already exercised, and I have aims of crafting with a friend at some point. And, I do want to spend quality time with my new camera lenses this weekend. I recently purchased the "nifty-fifty" and I'm having a lot of fun with it:

The other is an awesome zoom lens; I just need some things to zoom on.

Happy weekend, and more so, HAPPY EASTER!

on the job

I try to never take my work home, instead preferring to just work late or come in early. However, there's a lot going on right now and I just found myself going over what I have to get done tomorrow. On the list: build two 3-D hot air balloons and continue to add content to a website. Kinda different sides of the brain to engage! One half the morning will be spent on the ball (remember, I sit on a ball, :D) plucking away at content entry, and the other half will be spent on the floor (possibly near tears) trying to sort out how in the world to make my 3-D balloon look GOOD.

Speaking of work projects, one recently rekindled my desire to sew (which culminated in getting a sewing machine a few weeks ago...project photos to come). I had to design a new bulletin board and I was bent on making a banner. Well, you make pennants with a sewing machine. The dear receptionist brought in her (vintage) machine and I got to sewing!

It's a start. (Oh, and all that space below the banner is going to be full of pictures of, you guessed it, new members).

And one more fun work thing!

I was acknowledged in a book that boss man at work wrote! That's my name under that terrible editing job (or is it?)! I was completely shocked!