What a day…

27 04 2009

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Today, I did not go to work. Today was my “Good Friday” holiday that I didn’t get to take off because we were too busy/behind to do so at the time. And today was great. I woke up late, did some intense laundry, had lunch with Keith, cleaned up cat vomit (yum!), took my crappy kites back to Dollar Tree, strolled the eerily empty aisles of a Monday afternoon Target, and purchased pepper plants and planted them (see above). I bought two Mexibell plants and an orange Bell pepper. The plants on the far left are just wildflowers. I’m not sure why I put them in the picture. Do you have any idea how much a single orange bell pepper costs in the produce section? I got the whole plant for $3! Let’s hope I grow lots of peppers. Now I’m debating what’s next. I had intended to go to the gym downtown and work abs and legs. However, I’m finding it difficult to get moving. I could just do cardio….decisions, decisions.

As for the upcoming wedding, I don’t have any new announcements yet. We will probably get married sometime early next year. We are working out the details; I’ll keep you posted.

And, congratulations to our friends Shauna and Levi, who had a big ole baby boy on Wednesday. Sweet baby Warren weighed in at 8 lbs., 14 oz. He has a headful of curly brown hair, and is cuuuttee! Also congratulations to my friend and co-worker Kristi, who is adopting and was recently matched with a mother who is 17 weeks pregnant.


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Happy Easter + We’re ENGAGED!!!

14 04 2009

I must say that some of my fondest childhood memories are of Easter. I shared this knowledge with Keith over the weekend during our lazy and relaxing Saturday. I probably went on for about half an hour about how my cousins and I competed for who could find the most eggs, how I loved to dye them crazy colors, how I enjoyed searching for them so much, and how I would most certainly still hunt Easter eggs if it were socially acceptable for adults to do so. So you can imagine how excited I was when Keith told me Sunday morning that he bought some eggs to hide for me.

So, while I was out picking up our Easter lunch from Subway (yes, Subway), Keith hid them around the apartment. He wanted to do it outside, but it poured all day, so that wasn’t an option. He told me that there were 12 eggs total and that I had to open each up as I found them. I found the first couple, hid in our living room and kitchen, and they all contained chocolate. I thought it was strange that I had to open each up if they all had two pieces of Dove chocolate in them, but I didn’t say anything. I found a couple more eggs in the guest room, and I realized the only room left was the bedroom. When I went inside, there was an egg sitting on top of my jewelry armoire. I opened it, and it said “look in the top drawer.” This is when things started to click and I got kind of nervous. I opened the drawer and in one of the compartments was a pink egg. And when I opened it, there was a ring. I don’t remember a lot about what I said, except for “seriously?” and “are you sure?” But I do remember turning around and he was on one knee. So that’s the engagement story. I’m still feeling pretty loopy, and we haven’t really made any plans or set a date yet. I’m completely thrilled; I hoped for this day for a long time and often thought about what it would be like and how it would happen. It all came together perfectly, and I’m so happy I can call Keith my fiance. He is so unbelievably amazing! I’m sorry for getting all sappy, but it was the greatest moment of my life, and I couldn’t help but share it.


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lemon cheesecake cupcakes with lemon curd icing

11 04 2009

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Keith made these delicious cupcakes this week from our cookbook, 125 best Cupcake recipes by Julie Hasson. They are one of my favorites, sweet and tart, due to the lemon curd. I thought I’d share the recipe…

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  • Muffin pan, lined with foil liners

Crust

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1 tbsp packed light brown sugar

Filling

12 oz. cream cheese, room temp.

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

3/4 cup lemon curd, store-bought or homemade

  1. Crust: In a small bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and brown sugar. Press crumb mixture into bottmors of prepared baking cups.
  2. Filling: In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, pulsing until smooth. Add sour cream and process until smooth. Add eggs and lemon zest, pulsing until smooth (don’t overprocess).
  3. Scoop filling over crust in baking cups. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until the centers of cupcakes are firm. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Before serving, place a dollop of lemon curd over top of each cupcake and swirl lightly with back of spoon.

Lemon curd

1/2 cup superfine sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 egg yolks

6 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces

  1. In a heavy saucepan, whisk together sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in lemon zest and juice and egg yolks until well combined. Whisk in butter and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, for 6 minutes or until lemon mixture is thick enough to hold marks of whisk.
  2. Transfer lemon curd to a bowl, placing plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate for one hour or until cold.

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I should be sleeping, but I may have gotten up at 11:30 today…

6 04 2009

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It’s true. We slept in pretty late today. We went to see Adventureland last night and didn’t get home till 1ish. Then I stayed up an extra hour or two on the timesuck that is Facebook. Why? I have no idea. Like I said, timesuck. So here’s how our lazy Sunday went:

  • 11:30 a.m. wake
  • 12:30 p.m. still in bed contemplating getting up
  • 1:30 ish eat lunch at Panera bread *yum!
  • 2:30-3:30 p.m. drive around aimlessly looking at houses
  • 3:45 go to park and try to unsuccessfully fly our Dollar Tree kites. I bought them in a two pack. One was a purple unicorn (for me) and the other was a skeletal pirate (for Keith, of course). What a deal, right? Incorrect. Dollar Tree apparently forgot to include the wooden dowels that cross the kite horizontally. Crapsticks.
  • 4:15 work out my anger at the gym, where I ran four miles on the treadmill. Blisters, sore legs.

The rest of the day was pretty getting-ready-for-the-week-like. Groceries. dinner. cleaning. I’m probably about to crash on the couch. But first, here’s a pic of a stone I got cut recently. I blogged about my Christmas present bucket of rocks here. This is one of the stones from the bucket, an adventurine. Gem Mountain in NC cut it and sent it back to me. Now I just need a pendant for it.

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