Bloggy hiatus

I seem to have taken an unintentional vacation from blogging and all things internet related. I've still be toting my camera around with me so at least the last few days have not gone by undocumented!

All the baking I did was so much fun. Here is the chocolate mousse, apple pie and pumpkin pie. The chocolate mousse was the best I've ever made!

My apple pie experiment went perfectly. I hadn't made an apple pie before Thursday, and I was very pleased with the result!

We had a great time at my cousin's home for Thanksgiving dinner, although we had a little accident in the driveway!

Then on Friday we just did projects around the house. I washed the dogs and took pictures in the yard.

Pink carpet:

Cactus blossom:

Angel's trumpet tree (that I nearly killed prior to planting, now it's blooming!):

Sassy Lola:

Saturday was completely lazy. I stayed in bed for a while and Lola came to join me. Thomas threw the covers over her and she stayed all cuddled up for a long nap.

All in all it was a much-needed, quiet, restful weekend. The morning will bring a busy week of freelance jobs.

Choco-holic

I am excited to get started with my baking today! Maybe I shouldn't say baking, because both items I plan to make today are no-bake. I will be making the chocolate mousse I talked about here, and Russian cream. I can't start to early in the day because I have some work to do this morning and that really needs to be out of the way before I commence the mess making I call baking. Because the first step to cleaning up, as we all know, is licking every bowl, utensil and surface clean of chocolate mousse until the sugar rush is so intense you couldn't possibly engage your brain to do work at a computer because you're so cracked out you can't even sit down! Hooray!

A creature of habit

Do you ever stop and notice something occurring in your everyday life? We drink about five hot drinks a day in this house. After making tea this morning, I set the spoon on the counter, just as I had set one down the night before, and the beverage before that. Yikes!

Is there a bit of something obsessive compulsive hiding in the back of my brain or am I just a creature of habit? I vote for the latter.

Does anybody else do stuff like this?

Dinner extraordinare

This six pound tome is fantastic. My wonderful husband bought it for me at Costco a couple of weeks ago and I finally had the courage to open it. What a reward! I made the vichyssoise (leek and potato soup) and it was awesome. Tonight, however, we attempted a dish we have heard about again and again but had never eaten. Risotto is our new favorite word. A time-consuming but easy dish, barolo and mushroom risotto is worth the wait. Apparently to make a delightful risotto one must be patient, otherwise the creamy texture evaporates before your eyes and never hits your tongue. Risotto is officially a household favorite thanks to The Silver Spoon!

Old friend, new blog

Meet Sue! She's my favorite friend and she's started a blog!

Sue is mom to Ruby, an adorable sassy one year old. Her blog includes stuff about mommyhood, great books to read to your tot, modern conveniences for busy moms and good beer recommendations.

Here we are prepping for my wedding, we look so fancy and put together, HA! Five minutes before this photo was taken, my mom came in the room to find us sitting on the floor, in our dresses shoveling sushi into our mouths. Then my poor mom tried to iron out the wrinkles from my dress, yes while I was inside of the dress, and burned my bum with steam. All I remember is Sue laughing hysterically at the entire situation.

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Sue's blog: @ny price, go here to check it out, and don't forget to comment!