Monday, September 24, 2012

First Fall Weekend

This weekend Stephen and I headed home to Edgerton and continued the wedding preparations/celebrations for my sister Elizabeth's wedding. Here is the bachelorette ready to hit the town! We had a great time celebrating with you, E!
And two of the bachelorette party goers--me and my best friend from college, Caitlin. She is also a good friend of Elizabeth. Stay tuned for her musical stylings at the wedding.
It was so much fun to see Caitlin--both Saturday night and then Sunday for brunch (just like college). And then we capped off the weekend watching Luke score 2 goals in his soccer match. Here he is post goal--just to the right of the goal celebrating!
I am looking forward to a few new recipes this week and some fall inspired baking. Here's to fall weddings and all of their celebrations, crisp mornings, and pumpkins!

PS As a fall resolution (if there is such a thing) I will find a more creative way to post pictures!



Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Ernest Hemingway

My two readers out there (I am estimating here), will have to forgive any typos or formatting errors. I am typing away on the iPad as my husband holds the computer hostage. I am long overdue for a post so I thought I would dive in and type.

I have been in a bit of a Ernest Hemingway mood. For those of you who know anything about my literary tastes, he is not my cup of tea. His buddy F. Scott is great, Hem, not so much. I picked up The Paris Wife  at the library not too long ago. It was a wonderful character development of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson. It grappled with issues of feminism before the character herself was aware she was grappling. Plus, it had all the romance of that living in Paris in the 1920s does.

So I came off my book high and re- watched Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris. The film is truly a pleasure to watch if you have any knowledge of the art and literature scene in the 1920s. Then I rode that high right back to the library and picked up For Whom the Bell Tolls. And now a week and three chapters later I am stuck. At first I was relieved the novel is not like The Old Man and the Sea. Now I wish I could fight the good fight.

So, do I keep fighting or give up. I have read the Italian to English version for middle schoolers of a few different Hemingway novels (think readers digest for language learners), the aforementioned good fight novel and a handful of short stories. There are so many books and such little time, so should I stick with Hem or move on like I have oh so many wives to get to?

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Homemade Ice Cream

This past weekend the husband and I made homemade ice cream, twice. It is so easy! And delicious. If you don't have an ice cream machine, you are probably remembering some horrible 2nd grade experiment where you made salty, slightly chunky chocolate milk and your arm was tired from turning the crank.

Well, this experience was not like that, at all. We made Reese's peanut butter cup ice cream.

1. First we mixed the base. Peanut butter and sugar, anyone? And the recipe explicitly denigrated all natural peanut butter, so Skippy it was.
2. Then we added cream, and more cream, whole milk, and a pinch of vanilla.
3. We poured the creamy mixture into the machine and 30 minutes later came back to ice cream!
4. Oh, and we added chopped up peanut butter cups right before it was done.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the finished product...but it was delicious. And so was the chocolate ice cream we made on Monday. So much better than baking, I loved it!