500 miles of apple orchards 'til we meet

click to embiggen

I finally tried my first Joy the Baker recipe after reading her blog obsessively for a while: Fried Apple Cakes!

They were. So much more amazing than I was even anticipating. And the little bit of maple syrup with sour cream was. Amazing. Haha. I'm also thinking about just making up a bunch of batter for when I want some cause they were that good! I definitely need to try more of her recipes soon. <3

yes, this is really happening

I am in love. In love with Clif Bars. And to commemorate this, I'm going to review all of the flavors I've tried so far.



Let's start with where it all began, when I decided to buy a bulk box of 3 varieties from Costco.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Out of the 3 included in the variety pack, this one is, by far, my favorite. Awesome chunks of peanut and over all amazing. A classic. A

Chocolate Chip This may come as a surprise, but this is the worst one! Not really chocolate-chippey and has a weird glyceriny syrup all over. Edible, but kinda gross. D

Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch A nice combo of the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip, but without the weird syrup. Has a mostly PB taste with flecks of chocolate chips. Okay, but nothing special. B

After suffering through 2 variety packs of the Chocolate Chip, I decided to start buying them individually from Trader Joe's. I realized that it's not that much more expensive to buy them that way, plus I can pick out any flavors I want. Here's what I tried...

Chocolate Brownie FANTASTIC. After trying this one, Chocolate Chip is dead to me. Seriously, if you want something chocolatey, Chocolate Brownie is for you. A-

Cool Mint Chocolate ALSO FANTASTIC. Basically the Chocolate Brownie but with the added amazingness of peppermint, which is probably my favorite chocolate combo ever right behind chocolate and coffee. A

Black Cherry Almond Meh. This one's just ok. I like the idea more than the execution. It could probably use a bit more cherry and a bit less almond. I think if I want a good cherry granola bar, I'll stick with Kashi's Cherry Dark Chocolate. C

Blueberry Crisp This is another really good one. When I first tried one, I thought it might be too sweet, but now I think it's just right. It's got almost a creamy texture which is a nice change of pace. B

Carrot Cake I've never been a big carrot cake person, but I decided on a whim to try one, and it turns out it's really good! I love spiced things that make me think of autumn and Halloween and this was just that. Maybe I'll have to try actual carrot cakes now? A

That's all I've tried so far. The rest are: Peanut Toffee Buzz, Chocolate Almond Fudge, Apricot, Oatmeal Walnut Raisin, Banana Nut Bread, Maple Nut, and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. Trader Joe's only carries so many different types, so who know's if I'll ever get to try them all. I sure hope so, though. =D

off on a tangent...

Ok, I don't ususally write posts like this, but my discovery was too fantastic not to share with the blogosphere.


So I was looking up who did the song "In the Year 2525" (it's Zager and Evans, btw) and I discovered that after 9/11, a group called Clear Channel Communications made a list of songs that they found had "questionable lyrics" and that radio stations were urged not to play following the attacks. And while I feel their concern was valid, I find some of their selections wildly bizarre, and actually more offensive that they singled them out as songs of questionable taste in explicit response to this national emergency.

Anyhow, here are some of my favorites. A few make sense within the context and a few completely surprised me.

In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins



Jumper - Third Eye Blind



She's Not There - The Zombies



Rocket Man - Elton John



Imagine - John Lennon



Sabotage - The Beastie Boys



And my personal favorite: every song by Rage Against The Machine

Oh man there are so many I want to include. It's probably better if you check out the list yourselves. It's pretty amazing.

the coldest May of all time

Just the past few days or so of my Project 365.



It's been a little mundane.



But I've also had a few adventures.

bog day!

I took a trip out to Volo today. I thought it would be too cold but it ended up being just right.

(remember, click on any photo to view it larger!)

today

Icicles on the front porch today. the longest one almost comes down to my thigh.






My project for the day. I used this tutorial that I found on WhipUp. They are originally birthday cards, but I thought they could also make good "thank you" and "thinking of you" cards. And maybe with just some pink, red and white, they could make good Valentine's Day cards. I don't know if I'm ambitious enough. Maybe next year.

Rosie Posie Pudding and Pie

Just chillin.

i love this guy.

Click for a larger version =D

applesauce!

Today felt like an applesauce day. I didn't have much but I made it work. Here is how I made mine:

• 2 apples cored, medium diced, peeling optional (I like the peel, what can I say?)
• 2 heaping tablespoons sugar, to taste
• splash of vanilla extract (not essential but it makes your house smell amazing)
• a couple shakes of cinnamon, also to taste

Place diced apples into a medium saucepan, fill with water just enough to cover (apples tend to float so if it's a little less than covered, that is just fine). Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer 10 minutes. Mash apples with plastic spoon. Add sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Simmer until desired consistency. If it's still a little watery, it should evaporate off as it cools.

You can also easily double, triple or quadruple this recipe to suit your needs.

the cake is a liar

Today I experimented with cake and I would have to say it was a rousing success. I used a basic cake recipe and added cinnamon and one diced apple. The icing is just a basic glaze made with heavy cream instead of milk.

"The air was soft, the stars so fine, the promise of every cobbled alley so great, that I thought I was in a dream."

This is just something I've been playing with lately. I was introduced to textures by my friend Christine and now I am hooked on them.

It's been a pretty lazy Labor Day weekend so far. I am just so thankful for the rest and the break from work!

extreme excitement

Haha yes, I got a Wacom tablet and after hours of messing around with it, this is how I've chosen to show the world. I got it mainly to work on photo editing, especially now that I'm trying to put together a re-touching portfolio. But it's also fun to just draw with. One thing I was really excited to do with it is make journal comics but then it dawned on me that not only am I not good at drawing, but I have no reference point to start with. We'll see how it goes. Since I'll be drawing more it may start to come more naturally again.