4th page news

Look who made the Ridge Business Journal (which I didn't even know existed);
Who's that peeking over everyone's shoulder, second to left? It's me, shorty magee! If this makes me an official Lilliput Bakery employee then I want my free weekly employee loaf of sourdough bread!

Baking baklava

I had lofty goals of making real baklava for work on Monday, but ended up finding an easier recipe that calls for the baklava filling (chopped walnuts, sugar, honey, butter, cloves, cardamon, cinnamon and allspice) to be encased in puff pastry instead of layers of phyllo dough.
They came out soooo good. The Canadian liked them, but said they'd be better without the walnuts. Um, then they wouldn't be baklava now would they? The recipe said if they sat over night they'd get stickier, more like traditional baklava. I hope my little work guinea pigs enjoy them.

I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener....

....that is what I truly wish to be
cause if I were a Oscar Mayer wiener
everyone would be in love
oh everyone would be in love
everyone would be in love with me!
Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon the Oscar Mayer wienermobile at the Safeway parking lot this morning. This is until I figured out they were giving stupid wiener whistles to all the kids who were then blowing them enthusiastically around the store. Good idea or horrible bad idea?

How our garden grows

Our tomato-only garden is loving these hot temperatures following the weeks of rain in June.
They're as tall as me - though that's not saying much. And this year every plant is a producer.
Dear cherry tomatoes, please hurry up and ripen because I am ready to eat you.

The hops are still doing great, too.
They're getting so big I expect soon that monkeys will be swinging from them. Or wild Canadians.

Peanut brittle

The boy and I had this horrible game plan this morning which involved waking up at an ungodly hour (i.e. before 8:00 a.m.) and getting started on chores/outside activities before the heat set in. My plan included making my peanut brittle for work tomorrow since it involved warming up the kitchen with hot boiling liquids.
This was my first attempt at peanut brittle, but I think it's going to work. I've got it chilling out under the dining room ceiling fan so that I can start breaking it up in a little while.

I feel so productive today since I've already made my work treats, paid the church bills and did the dishes. Now I've just got a pumice stone and toilet calling my name and then I can officially kick back for the rest of the day. Niiiiice.

3rd of July extravaganza

Today was the big get together at my best friend, C's house, up in Paradise. It was a 3:30pm family bbq followed by a commissioning service at her church in Magalia for her family's upcoming missionary deployment to Papua New Guinea in January 2012. All of C's brothers, and families, were there as were Todd's numerous siblings. C and I visited during lunch while I marveled at how big all the little people are getting between each time I see them. There are now nine kids between C and her brothers.
As usual, Todd wowed us with his bbq prowess. I went for the pulled pork sandwiches and was not disappointed. After our bbq we gathered around for the cake cutting to celebrate C's mom's retirement from (and sale of) her assisted living facilities as well C and Todd's final six month missionary training in N Carolina that they leave for in three weeks. They ordered a special cake from Safeway in the shape of a suitcase.
After cake and coffee we caravaned up to the church in Magalia for a very nice service dedicated to C and her family. I'm very honored to have been invited to share in this special occasion with her family.

The great cookie debacle

In celebration of Canada Day I attempted to make the Canadian some maple leaf shaped sugar cookies in remembrance of his mother land. The plan was pretty simple, I bought a log of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough and rolled out each slice large enough to use my cookie cutter on it, and then topped them all with red sprinkles, the official sprinkle color of Canada.
However, 12 minutes in the oven later....
Damn you Pillsbury cookie dough! Damn you straight to French Canadian hell!! Obviously Chris wouldn't understand the significance of ginormous sugar cookie blobs so I ended up having to go back to the store and thankfully found some maple creme filled cookies that were literally a product of Canada. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a cold, refreshing bottle of Molson Ice to wash his cookies down with and had to settle for the newest Sierra Nevada release from their partnership with the local monastery. But oooooh no, Chris wasn't impressed for a minute and demanded to know where his crappy cannuck ale was. My mom was right, there's just no pleasing those damn dirty Canadians!