Teacups

"Cups cups cups cups cups" said the silly little fairy from Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" as she looked around for the proper utensil to make Aurora's birthday cake.

What a great movie.

I watched "Sleeping Beauty" over and over when I was a little girl, sighing at the courage and manliness of Prince Philip as he fought his way through the thorns to the castle where Aurora lay imprisoned in sleep. Oh, and the part at the beginning when they first meet. I love how he surprises her by singing and dancing along with her. That's right, sigh with dreamy eyes.

It amazes me how, for the majority of females, this innate desire for romance and a dashing prince starts at such a young age. I babysat a little girl who was not yet 2 years old and already she delighted in taking me upstairs to her room, opening her dresser, and showing me all her clothes, shoes, purses, hair bands, and other accessories.

And this past Sunday at Costco (why did I go there on a Sunday...), right as I walked in I saw a little girl trailing behind her mom, holding a baby doll up to her shoulder as she tenderly patted it's back as if it were a real baby. I rolled past with my cart, observing, completely amazed, thinking, "Wow, so young and yet already training to be a mommy."

I Love Bread!!

So, I made my first loaf of homemade bread a few months ago and it actually turned out like real bread! I was so excited that my first batch
(I made 2 loaves) turned out so usable and delicious. It really made our entire home smell good, too!

Unfortunately, when I tried making bread a second time a couple weeks ago, I got busy and left the dough to rise in a cabinet for a day and a half. I know, I know, how nasty am I to leave the dough out for that long...
When I finally got to it, the dough smelled like wine. Completely fermented. But, I baked it anyway just to see what would happen. Sure enough, when it was finished it still smelled strong like wine and tasted just like it; kinda bitter. Ugh. Totally not edible.
-But- It still looked pretty enough for a photo so I left the brick, I mean bread, on the counter covered with some plastic wrap. Days later, my mother-in-law came over and, since she's super hungry, decided to unwrap the brick bread and eat a mouthful even though I specifically warned her it was fermented and not edible.

Well, what can I say. The woman's got a mind of her own. I watched, incredulous, as she shoved a chunk of fermented brick-bread in her mouth and started chewing. I gotta hand it to her though, she actually chewed it for about 7 seconds before spitting it out in the trash. Seven seconds is way longer than I would've chewed it. I tried it. It was gross.

So even though the poor brick-bread was a failure at feeding starving people, at least it was a winner when I photographed it.

Which one is the brick loaf? Well, I'll let you decide which loaf was full of alcohol.

Spinach Dip

On a sidenote, Jon came up with such a great little snack the other day. He bought a fabulous uncut loaf of whole wheat bread at Wild Oats (kind of like a Whole Foods) which he thinly sliced, toasted, then spread with some tasty garlic and herb hummus, and topped the entire thing off with a layer of julienne-cut sun-dried tomatoes that'd been marinated in olive oil and more herbs...
It was so yummy and easy to make!!! What a genius. We ate it too fast for me to get a picture but I'll have to recreate it one of these days for a shot. Oooo, it was sooo yummy!

Oatmeal and Sliced Strawberries

Needless to say, oatmeal is not my favorite thing to eat. I'm a Malt-O-Meal girl myself. However, I do like strawberries. They always make things look edible, even it is oatmeal. :)

Lifehouse Everything Skit as seen on GodTube

This video is amazing. I saw it on a friend's site yesterday and it made me cry. The skit dramatizes what really goes on everyday in our lives and it is so awesome to see such a dramatization and remember how wonderful God is to us. He really is fighting for us every step of the way but there are just so many distractions in our lives. We easily go astray yet he is constantly beckoning us back, ready to welcome us no matter what we've done.

A Fine Pair

JELL-O!

When it comes to Jell-O I always think of Bill Cosby and those old Jell-O commercials he used to do. Ah, The Cosby Show. One of the greatest shows ever. TV isn't the same these days. A lot of fluff out there...course, what do I know since we no longer own a TV -- haven't had one for months. I miss it sometimes but Jon's crazy addicted. He'll watch for hours.

Gorgeous flower bowls provided by Raylene Ramos. Way to go Raylene! You rock! Thanks for being so accommodating. You've got a ton of great stuff and I appreciate it so much!!!

Parfait

A perk to shooting food? Eating it afterward. And let me tell you, it was good. Real good. Antioxidant good.

Lemon Zest Custard with Blueberries

A little bit of lemon zest goes a long way. The zest was such a treat, permeating the custard with the taste of lemon. And to think I always threw the peel away before. What a waste! I'm going to incorporate lemon zest into my cooking from now on. What a delight a little bit of lemon peel can be.

Pancakes, The Quintessential American Breakfast...besides eggs

Hotcakes, flapjacks, griddlecakes, battercakes, johnnycakes...

Special thanks to Raylene for the awesome glass pitcher.

Sushi

Unlike many of my friends I'm not a fan of sushi, but these plates demanded sushi. And if a plate tells me it wants sushi then sushi it gets. It's interesting to note, though, that as I was shooting these little "delicacies" they actually started to look quite enticing. But I resisted the urge to pop them in my mouth because
1) The wraps taste fishy and I am not about fishy food,
2) I don't like the taste of the wraps, and
3) The seaweed wraps taste like fish!!

Begin Dream Sequence...

Ever get the feeling that someone's....watching you...?