pineapples and mangoes…all the way from texas!

Someone in Texas loves me 🙂

My dear friend, Heather, sent me a little care package filled with all sorts of yummy things that remind her of me. Actually, she had a CD she needed to mail to me, so she thought she’d include some goodies…except that she forgot to put the CD in there! That is so Heather 🙂

It was a pineapple/mango-themed box with a few other goodies. Can you believe she sent a two-liter of soda?? In a box. From Texas. Apparently it’s big down there. Well, everything is big down there.

I’ve already tried the “Just Mango” bits in a cup of tea. Neat!

Lemon Bars…ahh, this is a joke between Heather and myself that WILL. NEVER. GO. AWAY. In a nutshell: in a rare moment of imperfection (ha!), I had to throw away a WHOLE BATCH of from-scratch lemon bars I’d made for her and my joint going-away party. I just had to re-do them! I thought I’d figured out what I’d done wrong, but after peeking in the oven at the second attempt, found that the same tragedy was about to occur! Heather and I quickly grabbed the sheet pan and hurriedly started fixing the still-hot shortbread crust with our bare hands! The memory should sting, but it doesn’t, and I grew up on these Krusteaz-brand goodies (my mom was a fan). So yes, I’ll give the box a try next time.

The note says, “My princess, you are purrfect.” All I can think about when I see the cover of this card is Antonio Banderas’s voice as Puss in Boots from Shrek, saying that phrase in a sultry way to the white cat. I love it.

Aww, she doesn’t want me to get sick! I agree, the Emergen-C powder drink packets are awesome. They come in all sorts of flavors now, but I used to have the orange and raspberry stashed away.

Yes, Heather does know me well. I LOVE off-the-wall grains for cooking. Hello amaranth and teff flours!

Boy, does she know me well! What could be better than mango jam? PINEAPPLE and mango jam! I cannot wait to try this stuff…

Thank you, Heather, for all my goodies! Give my love to Margaret and Silas–we miss all three of you so much!

jeni’s sorbets

I’d been ~~salivating over~~ waiting to use my new Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams cookbook (thanks Susy!) until I was ready to make their classic Salty Caramel as my first foray into the book. That, or their Ugandan Vanilla Bean, because I love my husband.

But, as you know, in my never-ending quest to empty our teeny-tiny freezer (you’re probably wondering how it keeps getting full again. All I can say is, I manage to do it…over and over again), I found I had the exact ingredients for not one but TWO different sorbet recipes.

So, Cranberry Royale and Watermelon Lemonade it was!

You make the cranberry sorbet much like you’d make cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving…cranberries, water, sugar and maybe some citrus. Jeni’s recipe calls for grapefruit juice and zest, which you can see in the photo. Her sorbets also call for light corn syrup. She goes into detail in the first sections of the book about how to make ice cream “scientifically.” I tried to follow, but the basic gist of it is the challenge of getting everything to bond with the water molecules. Unbound water molecules = icy ice cream or sorbet, not creamy.

After making grapefruit/cranberry sauce, you puree the mixture (if you’d like) and set it aside to chill. She recommends putting it in a ziploc and setting it in ice water; I chose to leave mine in a bowl in the fridge for a couple hours. Mine got a lot thicker, although I don’t think it hurt the finished product.

Every time we open the freezer, Hadrian thinks he’s getting a treat. Ice cubes. He loves them. I do, too, since they’re free (essentially) and always available. And free. And the only mess they leave is a little water here and there.

Here’s the watermelon lemonade sorbet. A relatively decent shot, if I do say so myself. Taking into account the poor lighting in the kitchen and the fact that I was holding the camera directly above it and snapping blindly, I DO say so!

A word about the watermelon sorbet: It didn’t turn out very well. Very icy. But it’s my own darn fault. I used sub-par watermelon (that I’d already frozen–because it was SUB-PAR), and bottled lemon juice. So, yeah, I knew this one wasn’t going to be spectacular or anything.

Finished cranberry sorbet…in a ball jar. I’m getting all fancy here with my food styling. The cranberry is AWESOME. Perfect creamy texture–how did that happen, there isn’t anything creamy in it??? I guess it’s all that water-bonding Jeni was talking about… And it’s got that back-of-your-tongue bite to it that is reminiscent of cranberry sauce. In fact, my first bite made me feel like it was Thanksgiving!

I’m a busy girl today with NO BREAKFAST! Had to fast for a blood-draw this morning for a health-screening appointment (so we can get extra points or something for a discount with Moog’s health insurance…), but I’m packing a Luna bar and a banana to fuel me up so I can hit up Wegmans before a run. Then I’m computering here at the hotel, meeting a friend (I have a friend!) for coffee, making cookies at Andrew’s parents’ house, then mad packing for our trip to Dayton tomorrow! Can’t wait 🙂

sugar high

I didn’t sleep very well last night; it was as if I could FEEL the sugar running through my bloodstream! Seriously…I think I’ve become so used to a “whole foods diet” that something like a giant sundae with all the fixings will totally throw my body for a loop. Rule of thumb: extravagant desserts are for super-special occasions, single-scoops are for treats.

I fueled up this morning with the last two slices of my Great Harvest cinnamon raisin bread, fruit and yogurt before pilates and kickboxing. My lunch, however, was worth writing home about:

YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM. I’m trying to finish off my quart of plain yogurt before our trip this weekend to Dayton, so I decided to build a meal around it. I spooned about 3/4 C into a bowl, swirled in some Trader Joe’s Mango butter to sweeten it up, and topped with granola, shredded coconut, flax seeds, flaxseed meal, dried cranberries and blueberries. It was almost TOO sweet! And at 485 calories, it better keep me full for AWHILE.

I’m going to be a busy girl today–LOTS of phone calling, computering and perhaps a trip to the mall. I have TWO freebie coupons from Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works–can’t wait!