Wednesday Was a Busy Day

I was so busy yesterday, I didn't even have a chance to watch or even listen to Le Tour de France!!! I did get a lot done, though. I made a second batch of baked peaches. This time I decided to parboil and peel them, and it turned out OK, but I won't waste my time doing that again. I think it actually turned out better when I didn't peel the peaches. But I have six portions in the refrigerator now, ready for my lunches. I also cooked two batches of gluten-free brownies. It's one of my go-to night snacks, and I was down to two portions left, so it was time to get restocked. 

Pamelas's Gluten Free Brownies is one 
of two brands I buy for my brownie mixes. 
I like this one because it only uses a single 
egg, and it's fork-mixed. The other brand 
I sometimes use requires two eggs and the 
use of my stand mixer. 

Today it's a work day, and I'm sure I will find my desk full of "to-do" notes and tasks. I'll worry about what I'm supposed to do with X Y and Z when I get there. I've got some swim time first, and that'll be fun. We've been cool for our nights lately, it's a bit warmer today (in the low 60's F, 17.2 C), but the previous two days were in the 50's (12.7) and it was a COLD walk into and out of the pool area. I'm quite grateful that we're warming up again. It's summer. It's supposed to be a warm season. 

I actually think I posted the incorrect stage map for 
yesterday's stage, and I apologize. Today it's an up 
and down day as they head for three days in the Alps 
starting tomorrow. I do love the Alps - BIG mountains, 
small bicycles, and totally used-up men on machines. LOL

I did take a bit of time to work on my beadwork project yesterday afternoon. I looked at the small stack of "deal with these things" that DH had left in the middle of the study floor. I then looked at my loom and the clock which said I had approximately an hour of "free time" left in my day, and I piled the stack of stuff into a box to be handled on Friday, grabbed my loom and beading materials, and sat on the porch for a little bit. That was quite pleasant, and I did manage to get two more pieces done. It's slow, but steady progress and I'm hoping to get some more done on Friday AFTER I've actually gone through the box of stuff which is currently under my laundry collection basket. That's tomorrow, though. One day at a time. 

Tuscan canteloupe has these sections in the rind. 
You want to choose one that has more gold than 
green in the section dividers. The more gold it 
is, the more ripe it is. 

We're in the height of fruit season here, and I adore fruit, so I also bought a Tuscan cantelope and some organic apricots yesterday. That was in addition to the peaches that I baked. My house has a lot of fruit in it right now. It's not great for my weight - fruit is sugar, after all - but my tongue is happy. Sometimes that's equally important - LOL. 

I went to my co-op yesterday - I hadn't been there for a 
while and needed one thing I buy there. While there, I 
picked up a few organic apricots. SOOOO good! I also 
noticed they had my collagen on sale, so I picked up a large 
container of that, plus a $3 off coupon, AND it was the 
second Wednesday of the month, which gave me an additional 
10% off on the price of supplements. I scored a $54 jar for 
less than $40! Whoot! 

So, have a fabulous Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. I hope your day is filled with good experiences when you look back over the day before you go to sleep tonight. Enjoy and Slava Ukraini. 

Recipes, Thoughts and Miscellaneous - My Life in a Nutshell - LOL

As I mentioned in my short post yesterday, I survived the surgery and all is good. In fact, all is great. There are minor issues that I'll deal with as I heal, and I'll have to see what happens in future, but basically, this is wonderful. Colors are brighter, images have greater clarity, and except for a minor bout of astigmatism (which may or may not go away, but can easily be corrected when I get new glasses), I'm totally set for summer. 

I'm getting some double-imagery that my check-up doctor 
yesterday said might be astigmatism. Basically, that's when 
the lens isn't quite round - more football shaped instead. 
It can cause double-vision and blurriness. Some of this 
will disappear as I heal, but some may be permanent. 
Fortunately, it's easily correctable with glasses. 

I'll have my next check-in on the 8th, this time to get a baseline on my vision and arrange for a new prescription. Since I've worn glasses since I was 10, I fully expect to be wearing them again. I've got good distance vision now, the vast blur now has definition, but close-in work - reading or craft work - needs a bit more clarity. I've always been near-sighted, so this is a bit of a variation for me. Right now I'm using a single panel of a tri-focus lens in a set of eyeglasses I used more than a decade ago. That's allowing me to use my phone and read easily. 

This is NOT my feeder, but I am getting hummingbirds 
at my feeder quite regularly now, so I'm quite pleased. 
I saw several yesterday afternoon when I allowed myself 
to relax in the yard for an hour in mid-afternoon. 

I'm back at the shop today and tomorrow, then I'll have two days off for the holiday weekend and Memorial Day. I won't be posting on Monday, except maybe a quick "Honor" post for our veterans and those who sacrificed everything for the sake of our contentious freedom. 

Freedoms seem to be shrinking lately, and it's very 
concerning to me. I don't conform well - never have. I've 
always been the non-conformist, that voice speaking out 
for personal freedom of choice. I'm becoming quite 
uncomfortable in the world we seem to be moving toward. 

Of course those freedoms. so hard won, seem to be shrinking lately. Issues I thought were long handled are popping up again, and personal freedoms are being curtailed. I'm quite glad, in this instance, that I'm old - I'm looking at no more than three decades of idiocy. I am finding it hard to believe that we, the generation of Peace, Love and Rock-and-Roll have turned out backs on our ideals and embraced the confines of our parent's society. We rebelled against everything they believed in, and here we are, slipping into the ruts in the road that they left for us. 

I think my baked mango turned out quite good. Not 
as good as their photo, but still not bad. If you're 
interested in the recipe, you can find it here: 
https://www.kitchenathoskins.com/baked-mangoes/

I spent a pleasant hour in the kitchen yesterday, making some Mango Crumble. It's basically cut mango baked with a covering of crushed nuts, shredded coconut, oats, and honey. I had two mangoes that I wanted to use up, so I played with a new recipe and it was quite lovely. I made several larger slices and with the smaller pieces, used ramekins to put in the mango, covered with the toppings. All of them turned out to be really tasty. I'm bringing one ramekin to the shop for Chickie's lunchtime treat today. The next thing I want to try is a flourless almond cake using almond flour. Maybe next week. 

I want to try this almond cake recipe next. 
It looks amazing, and I think it will fit in 
well with my WildFit life. If you're 
interested in this recipe, here's a link 
for you: 
https://www.dishbydish.net/flourless-almond-cake/

So, I'm wrapping this up. The outdoor pool opens tomorrow, but I can't swim until late next week. Still, I know it's there and I'm already looking forward to it (even though the outdoor pool is more crowded than our indoor one - everyone comes from throughout the Cities to swim in our pool in the summer). I'll have my opportunity, and I'll do my best to take full advantage of it until Labor Day. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Friday Was A Busy Day - Cards Are ALMOST Done!

I worked hard yesterday, but it was a day of accomplishment, all told. I started out by a quick grocery shop, followed by heading to the shop until Chickie got in from her doctor's appointment. I was holding down the fort until she arrived in case she got caught up in traffic and ran late. I had everything ready to go for her, so it was a quick "Hi" "Bye" and I was back out the door to pick up the bag of sugar I had forgotten to buy earlier, and head home. 

This isn't the best photo of the Baking Sale flyer, but 
it's a photo of my computer screen, so it's a bit pixelated. 
My apologies, my photos are usually quite a bit better 
than this - LOL. 

A quick note on the sugar - my local grocery store is running their annual "Baking Sale" with some spectacular bargains on the staples - eggs, butter, sugar, flour, etc. They had a four-pound bag of sugar for 99  cents for members of their shopping club, and we go through 3 or so bags during the average year. I use it to feed my hummingbirds, DH uses it for his coffee, cooking and baking. He'll pick up a second bag on Monday when he shops, so we should be set for a while. (He's a sugar addict and uses a LARGE spoonful of sugar in every cup of coffee he drinks). 

Some day I'm going to get all of these, but I do 
think my gift to myself this year will be to buy 
the refill inks for all of the colors I do own. I have 
six of them already - needed them a year or so ago. 
But I need the rest. I would have found painting my 
cards much faster and easier this year if I had 
refill inks available for my colors. 

I settled down in the computer room with my paints and the last fourteen cards that needed to be painted. Finally got those done, and started finalizing my mailing list, formatting the envelopes, and getting them printed out. I had EXACTLY enough cards and envelopes for the number of people I send to this year, so I'm quite happy. I didn't have to make decisions about who to drop from the list. There are always some that are on the line - people I haven't heard from in too long, or only hear from once a year (if that). Relatives, of course, are always exempt - they're relatives, they get a card. LOL

I dislike eliminating people from my holiday card list, 
but have done so in the past and probably will do so 
again in the future. I always put those who actually 
request a card at the top of the list, right after the 
necessary cards - relatives, mostly. 

After the cards and mailing list were complete, I went to the Post Office to purchase my stamps - 11 International stamps and the remainder of what I needed for my domestic ones. I'll be signing, licking and getting my cards ready for the mail today and they should be in the mail NO LATER THAN MONDAY. I then decided to "relax" a bit by baking some filled and iced danish treats. Although I was never able to get the icing to set up well (so it turned into a glaze instead of a drizzle), the filling is magnificent and I'm totally in love with them as a nice treat. I'll make this again, and be much better at it. It certainly uses my kitchen equipment, though. Both the food processor and my blender were used in this one, along with the oven, of course. 

It's a three stage recipe for these Lemon Blueberry 
Danish. There's the basic danish, then there's the 
filling which is the BEST thing I've eaten in an age! 
Finally, there's the icing. My danish will be better 
next time, I got the hang of shaping them about 
half-way in. The filling needs NO improvement, 
but I'l need to figure out more things I can use it 
for because it's SO good. The icing, as I said, just 
didn't set. That's a problem and I need to figure 
out how to make it stiffer. Maybe flavorless 
gelatin. I can't use most of the usual things - powdered 
sugar, flour, etc. just don't work within my food 
choices. 

So, that was my "relaxing day off" and I hope your Friday was equally productive, or at least enjoyable. I'll feel much better once my cards are in the mail and I can concentrate on the upcoming Christmas holiday. Of course, DH reminded me that we work tomorrow - URGH! I'm already sorry for the fact that I allowed myself to be talked into three days of Sundays. I hate having to work that extra day. Oh well, it is what it is. Hockey today, so I'm wearing my Kaprisov jersey and hoping the Wild can keep their momentum going. Have an excellent day and weekend and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini. 

It Was A Day-Off Fraught With Issues, But A Successful Day Nonetheless

Yesterday was supposed to be my Day Off - a day of errands and cooking, along with some other tasks on my mental agenda. That all came to a screeching halt when Chickie phoned me shortly after 10:00 am with a computer question. It seemed that the Sales Register computer was suddenly not talking to the Host (Main) computer and thus, it was unusable. We tried a couple of things over the phone that didn't work, and I gave up on baking the gluten-free blueberry muffins I had been planning to make and headed over to the shop. 

It wasn't quite the "Blue Screen of Death" that 
we were getting, but it was a communications 
error that we couldn't manage to track down. It 
took Dale and I more than an hour to figure out 
exactly what was going on, but once we had it 
figured out, it was an easy fix. He only charged 
me for an hour. He's SUCH a sweetheart. 

Once I got there, I didn't have any more luck than they did. Chickie was hand-writing sales using receipt books we keep on hand for emergencies (and repair tickets) and DH was grumpy because he couldn't get any of his computer work done. I gave up and phoned Dale, my Computer Guru, leaving him a message on both his mobile and his business phones. I figured he'd get one or the other. Then I headed out to the craft show I had wanted to see and figured I'd get at least some viewing of pretty things in before Dale returned my call. 

I love going to "Peggy's Holiday Craft Boutique" show. She 
has 150 different artists on display for nine days and it's always 
crowded and extremely well attended. The quality level 
is top-level and I've purchased items from artists who 
exhibit there in the past. This time I only got 1/2-way 
through the exhibitors before I had to leave and return 
to the shop to deal with the computer issues. 

About 30-45 minutes later, Dale called, and I hopped in the car and headed back over to the shop. That started about an hour of "try this, OK, now try that" efforts before we finally isolated the problem, double-checked our solution, and went with it. Voila! Success. Dale billed me for an hour of his time (well worth it), I read him a credit card number, and we were set once again. He's a good friend and on my Holiday Card list. He's one of the many who actually save my cards, which I consider such an honor. In pre-Covid days, I used to sit in one of his chairs while he worked on my equipment, and we'd talk theology. He's frightening intelligent, and I'm sure would love me to "come to the dark side" (which means Christianity in his case), but I'm quite happily Pagan and have no intention of changing my beliefs. Still, we discuss innumerable things because we're both fascinated with religion and I have a pretty solid knowledge base in Christianity, although I don't subscribe to it for my personal life. 

The problem turned out to be my Network 
Switch which had become confused. After 
tracking down which cable led to what 
and switching things around, everything 
worked properly. Then, when we returned all 
of the cables to their original positions, the 'fix' 
was already in place and everyone played nice. 
The computers were once again talking to 
each other and we were back up and running. 

So, crisis solved, it was already early afternoon and baking would have to be quick. I still had my Ogre Juice to make for the next week, and Aearwen was going to phone at 4:00 pm since our usual Wednesday chat had to be postponed. Instead of making blueberry muffins, I made gluten-free brownies before diving in to make my Alkagizers. Pushing through, I had the last of the dishes washed and put away and had enough time to make a hot cup of tea (to which I added a splash of rum) before Aearwen phoned. 

The brownies are quite tasty. I'll definitely 
make these again. It's easy - three eggs 
and the mix in my mixer, then bake. Just 
about my speed for baking - LOL. I kept 
eight in the refrigerator and froze the other 
eight. 

I ate two of the brownies last night (an 8x8 pan made 16 brownies, so they're small). They're actually pretty tasty. I'd do this one again. The mix I was using was from Bob's Red Mill and it's pretty darned good. I'll make the blueberry muffins next week and I hope they'll be equally tasty. The muffin mix makes six muffins. 

I'm looking forward to making the 
gluten-free muffins next week. I haven't 
had a muffin in a long time and I rather 
miss them. If they're as good as the 
brownies are, I'll be delighted. 

So that was my excitement for the day. I never did get back to the craft show, but I go for inspiration, not really to buy anything. I'll catch them again next year. I hope you have a wonderful Saturday and weekend. I'll start painting my cards tomorrow while I'm watching football and I'll let everyone know when they are in the mail. We're almost there! Peace and Slava Ukraini. 

Buns, Ferns and Goals - It Was a Very Busy "Day Off"

The day has finally come - swimming pool reservations are no longer required because the outdoor pool is now open. That gives us an additional lane, and the water exercise people generally stay in the diving well section (which is off to the side of the main pool). It will be this way (except for days with thunderstorms and lightning) until after Labor Day. For those from other countries who read my posts, Labor Day is the first Monday of September. So, it's a brave new world of swimming beginning today, and I'll be diving into it again on Tuesday. (Of course, I'm hearing thunder from outside, so the outdoor pool may not be open this morning after all.) 

In this photo, you can see the length of the swimming lanes, and 
also, the diving well in the short L towards the upper middle 
of the photo at the end of the pool. The water exercise 
folks usually are in the diving well, leaving all six lanes 
of the pool open for lane swimmers. 

I went through my phone and deleted all of my "Reserve Swim Time" alarms. I'm as ready as I can be for the outdoor pool, and hopefully I'll be up to the challenge of an Olympic sized pool length. I'm a "casual" swimmer, not a competitive one, and I'll have people sharing the pool who might be a lot faster than I am. I'm not super slow, but I'm also not an 18-year-old speed demon in the water. I'm sticking to my Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday schedule, and we usually don't get a lot of extra people in the pool for the 5:00 am time on weekdays. I'll have to wait and see. 

I seasoned the top of my buns with "Everything But the 
Bagel" seasoning. I probably should have done an 
egg wash as well, but thought about it a bit too late. 
If the recipe is good, I'll make it again and make 
it even better, but I'm pretty happy with how these 
turned out (so far ... I haven't eaten one yet). 

Yesterday was a lovely day, until the afternoon when it got cloudy and started to rain. I, however, was busy in the kitchen. We're having hamburgers on at least one of our two weekend days (Sunday and Memorial Day) and I wanted a bun for my burger. Some hunting through recipes brought me to one called (Pillowy-Soft!) Gluten Free, Paleo & Keto Burger Buns (link here if you are interested in the recipe) and after reading it through carefully, I decided this one held possibilities. There were a few ingredients I didn't have at home, so I added Whey Protein Isolate, Xhanthan Gum, a six-pack of eggs and coconut cream to my shopping list and headed out. 

I'm hoping the buns end up looking and tasting 
as good as the photo promises. I've missed having 
bread. I eat grain-free bread almost every day 
for breakfast, or a grain-free bagel, but I haven't 
actually made a bread that I've kneaded and 
baked for decades. It was a lot of fun to play 
with flour, eggs, yeast and heat again. 

My afternoon was spent making six yeasted hamburger buns and I think they turned out really nice. I'm not sure how they'll taste, but I'm going to try one for my lunch today to test it out. The yeast proofed really well, the buns doubled in size while they were proofing after being formed and put onto the baking sheet, and everything seemed to bake well. The rolls give the right hollow tone when I knock their bottoms, so I think they're baked through completely. 

When DH and I wandered the garden in the early morning, 
this was our upper back yard. I thought I'd share a little of my 
fern heaven with all of you. The upper yard consists of 
ferns and trees. I have one tomato plant behind me to 
the right, and the sidewalk along the west side of 
the house is also behind to the right. The ferns right 
now are almost shoulder high, certainly higher than my 
waist. They extend to my left, and all the way to the 
corner of the fencing in the middle of the photo. 

It was really fun to make bread again, even though it was a totally different type of bread from what I used to make. I'm pretty sure that if/when I make this recipe again, it'll be a bit easier for me, now that I've done it once. When I was in college, I made two loaves of whole wheat bread for myself and my three roommates every week. Kneading the bread was a wonderful way to get rid of extra tension, and it was a good recipe - very popular. But I haven't done much with making home-made bread since I moved up here, so my skill set is lacking a bit. Still, I'm happy with the look of them. 

The Taylor Digital Kitchen Scale got 4-5 stars 
ratings in a lot of reviews, and was on sale for 
a bit under $20. I needed something to weigh 
small numbers of gram weights for my recipe, 
so it was worth the purchase price. It worked 
great, and is now in my cupboard next to 
my Krups analog scale. 

I didn't get a chance to do much else besides kitchen stuff yesterday, though. I made up a batch of Ogre Juice and did the hamburger buns, that's about it. I did take a quick run to Target for a digital kitchen scale. I have an excellent Krups analog scale that I've used for more than 50 years, but it wasn't accurate enough for bread measurements in grams, so I bought a kitchen scale for just under $20. I think it was a good purchase - it worked well with the burger buns. I also picked up a splash guard sheet for my oven at the same time. It might help DH when he bakes frozen pizza. 

The Colorado Avalanche beat the St Louis Blues 
to advance to the Conference Finals against 
Edmonton. The winning goal was scored in the 
final 5 seconds of regulation play. Here's 
a link if you're interested in seeing that goal. 
It's a good one! 

https://youtu.be/K9cPykH7cTw

So, I'm out of here. The Colorado Avalanche won their game against St Louis last night, so they're progressing into the Conference Final! I'm thrilled to still have one horse in this year's race - LOL. (DH just woke up, got up, and came downstairs to congratulate me, then headed back up to bed.) Score! I'm delighted! Have an excellent weekend and I'll be back on Tuesday (with a quick post on Monday for Memorial Day). Live well, be kind, and Slava Ukraini. 

Counter Space - Do You Have Enough? Is There EVER Enough?

Yesterday was a day of semi-accomplishment. Although I actually got a lot done, it didn't really feel like it at all, and there were significant things I had on my agenda that didn't get touched. Still, it was a good day, all told. I did get a batch of "cookies" made. Now, understand that since I don't do grains and I don't do dairy, my cookies are dates and nut butter. But, blended together in the food processor and actually baked in the oven, they're a cookie. They're not as sturdy as a chocolate chip cookie, but they're tasty. Will I repeat this recipe? Maybe not. It seemed a lot of work for the result and I'm not that much of a cookie person. But it's always good to explore options. . 

Although the recipe turned out to be tasty, I'm not 
sure it was worth the prep work and all that sticky 
from the dates. I might try this again down the line 
though. It was easy enough. 

I did come to the conclusion that my food processor is horrid. But, I rarely use a food processor at all. I'll have to look into an upgrade, but it's not high on my priority list. I'll stumble along with the one I have for a while longer. I think the blender is all I want to spend appliance money on this year, unless we start a serious hunt for an over-the-cook top fan/microwave hood. That's on our joint agenda, and if we could replace our large microwave with an over-the-stove style, it would free up some much-needed counter space. 

My food processor - exactly this model with this blade - really 
sucks. Instead of cutting the dates apart and making them 
into a paste, it simply balled them up into a large ball which 
I had to take apart again and again to get firmly cut up and 
blended. Adding the nut butter did help, but I also ended 
up having to add a small amount of oil to get anywhere with 
the mix. Would a different food processor make a change 
with how this recipe comes together? I have no idea. 

Counter space is at a premium in my kitchen. You've seen the photos of my new faucet, which is on my double-sink. I have a small amount of counter space to the left of the sink. That's where the microwave takes up most of the area, along with my knife block. To the right of the sink is the other counter top. We keep the coffee pot and 4-slice toaster on it, along with my cutting boards. I estimate we've got maybe a yard of open space, with about 18-24 inches of open depth. There is also one pull-out "cutting" board, but DH usually uses that for his car keys, phone, and any paperwork he needs to bring to and from the shop. 

So, to the left you can see my knife block (the blue things 
are my dish washing gloves). To the left out of the photo 
is the microwave. On the right, you see DH's travel mug 
in front of the left edge of my cutting boards which stand 
upright at the back of the counter. Out of the photo is the 
coffee pot and the toaster. This is the full extent of usable 
counter space I have in my kitchen. Not much! 

The kitchen was the one room I was sacrificing when we chose this house. I walked in with eyes wide shut. In the old house, although it also had just a single run of counter top, I had a large kitchen table and used that for food prep all the time. The stove was completely separate, and we had an over-the-stove shelf for our microwave, so no counter space needed for that. The kitchen was a much larger room and it didn't seem that we were in each other's way all of the time. Our current kitchen is narrower, and although there are a lot of plusses (cabinet space, for one), our counter space is a serious negative. Still, I've lived with it since the mid-1980's, so I guess we manage. 

I do have a bottom corner cabinet with a lazy 
Susan inside. We have a few things in it, but 
very little. I'm going to move the food processor down 
here because I need the upper cabinet room, but I'm 
also wondering if a new food processor would fit 
in this cabinet. I'm not sure how they assemble 
and disassemble from the motorized base. 

Why think about kitchen space? Because I'm thinking about a possible new food processor and need to think about where it would be stored and where it would be used. So even though that's in the future, it's good to think about these things now. Surprises are never welcome when the necessity is knocking at the door. I'm out of things to say today so I'm calling it done. Have an excellent Saturday and a great weekend. I'll be back on Monday, just in time to celebrate Shirebound's birthday. Whoot! Peace! 

A Bagel, A Bagel, My Kingdom for a Bagel - LOL

I haven't had any grain products or bread items for more than six weeks now, and I miss them, in some ways. I've never been a big bread eater, but there are times when a piece of bread or a bagel ... ooooh yeah! A bagel with schmeer and stuff - cream cheese and onion with lox, or just a berry spread and a blueberry bagel. Total yum!! But, as I said, I've had no grain for more than six weeks now. 

OK, mine did NOT look this good, but maybe my 
next batch will be better. I will have a much better 
idea of how to make it and getting it into the baking 
tray without as much mess. I have never piped 
before, and the instructions said to pipe. I'll 
get better. But mine were tasty, and that's what 
really counts. 

A friend on WildFit posted mini-bagels and a link to the recipe she used and I looked at the recipe and said to myself, "Self ... I want to make these!" So yesterday being my grocery store day, I hunted for the ingredients to make these little mini-bagels that weren't really a bagel, but that would suit me quite well. The base is creamed macadamia nuts - a cup of them in the food processor. To that was added several other ingredients including what was supposed to be a cup of coconut butter. 

Coconut oil is easy to find, and I have some 
in my pantry. Coconut butter is much more 
difficult. I'm hoping I can find some at 
Whole Foods. I tried Trader Joe's but they 
didn't have any, even if the website for 
Nutiva claimed they did. My local grocer 
at least had the Red Palm Shortening which 
is a coconut product, but I think the "butter" 
would be a bit better in the recipe. 

Coconut butter turned into an impossible product to find. In fact, it was so difficult that I finally settled for an alternative - Red Palm Shortening. I think Whole Foods might have the real coconut butter, and I'll check that out on Friday, but I used the shortening in the recipe this time and they turned out OK - rather yummy in fact. 

They may not look like much, but they were amazingly 
tasty and totally hit the spot. I used a donuts baking 
sheet (Silicone) that I bought at Target for under $16, 
and I'll be making this again - the second time WITH 
the coconut butter (ideally). 

As a plus, I had purchased a pound of grass-fed free-range cattle ground beef, so I took that, split it into eight small patties and fried them up. Two patties and two "bagels" made for a lovely lunch. I'm looking forward to taking a couple of "bagels" to the shop with me for today's lunch. It's funny how just one small thing can brighten a day. 

I hope your day today is lovely, filled with only good things. I urge you to look for the the small things that will make you happier - the sound of a fountain, the song of a bird, the curl of a leaf, or the laughter of a child. All these things and more are gifts we all too often take for granted. Today, take a moment to breathe deeply and appreciate these amazing gifts for your day. Please be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Birthday Food Gifts - They're Coming From All Over!

Why is the primary reward or promotion item almost always food? I'm asking this because my email in-box is filled with a variety of offers from companies whose mailing lists I'm on. I get a free dessert from my local Italian restaurant. I get a free gourmet cupcake from my local grocer (this one I'm absolutely getting - their gourmet cupcakes are SO good). I get a free bagel with cream cheese from my local bagel shop, etc ... etc ... etc. While I'm working my way and culling through the many food offers in my in-box this week, DH is trying to determine if he can make me a cherry upside-down cake. He's complaining about the cost of the cherries, which are - admittedly - not in season. Hmmm - who knew that such a silly thing like adding another digit on my age would cause so much angst and so many calories? 

I had one of these in my email this morning. I love
their bagels. It's good for a week, so I'll probably
try to remember to take advantage one day this
week. Bad for the hips, but a wonderful treat. 

On my part, I feel sluggish. I'm struggling to get back into my own groove. I'm at the pool every day because that's what I do. I swim my mile, and I'm getting a good workout with it - I'm not backing off. But yesterday's swim was a real struggle and it will continue to be difficult while I try to lose the next five pounds. Having food offers tossed at me this week isn't helping my "get those five pounds of winter off NOW" reality. It's Spring and I want to be back to a reasonable Spring/Summer weight within one month before I leave town to attend the Bead & Button Show. 

My local grocer has absolutely fabulous gourmet cupcakes and
they are giving me a free one! I'll have to remember to cash that
in for sure! It's a wonderful treat. 

It's not so much that I want/need to have the weight off, it's the reality that I'll be super busy, won't get a chance to swim at all, and will barely have time/energy to hit the elliptical in the hotel gym. I know I always gain when I'm on an "out-of-town and away from my usual schedule" trip. I try to watch what I eat and keep my activity levels up, but it's extremely difficult when you're on vacation. 

These aren't precisely what DH made for his "Everything Bar", but
it's close. His are melt-in-your-mouth good, and he cuts them
into HUGE pieces. I always try to grab the smallest piece I can,
but they're too good to turn down. *sigh* I'm doomed! 

It's not impossible to get back to where I was six weeks ago. But birthday food isn't going to help. DH has been making these amazing dessert bars every week or so too. I swear - they're 1000 calories each! But they're SO good. Somewhere in here is a balance. Id better find that balance soon! 

Olive Garden is offering me a free piece of dessert
cake for my birthday. Of course, that means I would
have to eat a meal there first. I think DH is going to
throw steaks on the grill instead, so I'll miss this
birthday gift. That's fine though. I'm sure it's delicious
but those are calories I really don't need. 

On that note, I'm out of here and off to swim. I hope your Tuesday is glorious and happy. I'll be delighted if I can get my Cinco de Mayo weight back off by tomorrow morning. That's an achievable goal. *Hugs*

A Topsy Turvy Day

It's Thursday. I'm not really sure why that should come as such a surprise to me, the days progress through their cycle in orderly rhythm, nothing unusual and nothing unexpected to change the steady movement of time. Still, it seems odd that it's already Thursday when my brain thinks it should be Tuesday. Of course, on Tuesday I thought it was Thursday, so it's a topsy-turvy kind of a week for me. 

I love topsy turvy drawings like this. I don't have
the talent to create them, and am always amazed
by the people who can draw with that
perspective and skill. 

DH usually bakes on Thursday or Friday, and I requested something with cherry for my upcoming birthday. I'm quite fond of cherry as a flavor. Cherries, however, aren't actually in season right now, so I also told him that we might do better pushing it off until the Fall. I'll have to wait and see what he comes up with. Maybe he can use dried cherries or juice to get the flavor. 

There is a cake style called Topsy Turvy. It
features offset, angled layers and should be
at least a three layer cake, although they
are often as much as five layers. 

I have a quick bracelet repair waiting for me at the shop. Fortunately this one won't take a lot of time - in fact, I had recommended that she do the repair herself and was happy to talk her through the mechanics of that. But she wanted it restrung and I'm happy to have the extra money for my upcoming Bead & Button Show trip. I'll get it fixed quickly this morning and email/phone her after the shop is open. She can pick it up today. 

In this Topsy Turvy cake, actual roses are
placed between the layers, creating a
wonderful visual feast (although those
flowers might get in the way for the
cutting and eating part). 

My shop partner decided to choose a single category of bead that has never sold all that well and clear them out. He spent all day yesterday working on this project, so now I have a massive amount of tubes to relabel with clearance pricing. I always enjoyed the 11o Triangle beads, but they never caught on the way they deserved. My customers will love the clearance prices. There's something about rooting through a "Closeout" box to bring out the bargain hunter in all of us. 

This Topsy Turvy Teapot cake would have been the perfect
cake for the Mad Hatter's tea party, don't you think? I love
the drops hanging from the spouts and the cups
precariously perched to catch the tea as it drips down. 

On that note, I'm going to end this and begin my day. Have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow, sleepy but hopefully coherent. 

Thoughts About Geodes - Those Hidden Crystal Worlds

Thanks to all of you for the various FaceBook suggestions. I sent the message out to my three nieces last night. I'll wait a few days to see if any of them respond and go from there. *Hugs* to each and every one of you. 

Geode cakes feature a cut into the side where
rock crystals are placed to replicate the shining
surfaces of geodes in nature. This cake, although
it is using fondant for the frosting, actually has
a rather nice geode interpretation. 

Did any of you catch the final episode of the Spring Baking Championship last night? The three final contestants were assigned a Geode Cake as their project, with five hours to make a layered cake of at least three layers with rock candy crystals that they had to make from scratch. It was fun to see the final cakes, but I wasn't all that impressed with their interpretations of geodes. Still - it was far better than I could have done, so silly me for criticizing at all. 

Amethyst geodes are quite common and feature
larger crystals of the well-known purple hued
stone. This one is particularly nice. 

Geodes in nature are so beautiful. The hollow insides filled with crystals are actually air bubbles caught in the rock formations while the rock was being formed. The crystals themselves are often quartz or calcite (there are other types also, but those two are the most common). The crystals range in color from clear through amethyst and everything in between. 

Here are some unbroken geode rocks. You can buy these
at your local rock shop, but (of course) Amazon also
sells them. As an aside, what did we ever do before
Amazon became the world's store and go-to place? 

At many festivals there will be a stand with "dinosaur eggs" or "crack your own geode" stations for kids and adults to experience the delight that can come with breaking the right thing. No vase on the floor here. Instead, they can crack open a roundish sphere of rock, using a hammer or device - whatever the stand is offering. Once cracked open, a new world is revealed to the light for the first time in long ages of geologic time. It's a magical moment for the purchaser as well as for the geode itself. 

A hammer is the traditional way to open geodes, but you don't
always get a good cut. Sometimes people will actually cut
them open using a rock saw. That takes more time, but can
give a more predictable result. 

Sometimes people are like geodes - very hard exteriors that are hard to get into, but insides that have unexpected depths and surprises. Sometimes it's worth the extra effort needed to crack that hard exterior, just to discover the beauty that lies hidden within. 

This lovely group of polished geodes give you an idea
about how different each stone can be. Just like people.
Variety is what makes the rocks, and each other,
fascinating and always a surprise. 

Here's hoping your day is fabulous and fantastic. Enjoy the geodes I've peopled this post with and I'll return tomorrow.