Wednesday, July 28, 2010

good. bad. ugly.

good: The Help by Kathryn Stockett on audiobook. I'm totally engrossed.

bad: 85 degrees and 70% humidity in my apartment when I woke up this morning.

ugly: the knot above my right temple where I accidentally bashed my head into the corner of the printer in my office upon coming up from retrieving something that had fallen on the floor...and no husband around to kiss and make it better.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Berry Good Summer So Far

Today was a very satisfying day in my kitchen. I kicked things off this morning by baking a batch of blueberry muffins, using some of the blueberries Travis and I picked a couple weekends ago in Michigan (which I'd frozen in the meantime) to make the blueberry muffin recipe from The New Best Recipe Cookbook (the heftiest and most helpful cookbook on my shelf). Both were a first for me (blueberry picking, and making this recipe) and both will definitely be repeated! Travis and I had a lot of fun out there in the field, filling our buckets (and our tummies) with blueberries, and are hoping to go raspberry picking this fall. The muffin recipe, while a bit more involved than your average muffin mix, produced THE BEST blueberry muffins I've ever made. These will square off against a blueberry muffin recipe I received from a co-worker (who is a long-time blueberry picker), and then a champion will be named and forever written into the family cookbook.
On to more berry goodness! It's no secret that I love making trifles. So easy. So pretty. So because it's our turn to bring a snack to our small group meeting tonight, I decided to make a Lemon Berry Trifle. Behold: 

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

City Dog Goes to the Country

ANJING'S FIRST ROAD TRIP: This series of photos documents the weekend I (hereafter Auntie Suz) took my nephew (aka best friend's dog) on a road trip to Michigan to visit my in-laws and meet my niece (aka sister-in-law's brand new baby). Narrated by Anjing (the dog).
 On Friday afternoon, Auntie Suz was all over the place. 
I could tell something was up.
 Then Uncle Travis came home and they loaded up the car. Road trip!
 I like car rides. Usually after a while I just lie down and go to sleep. About half way there, I was rudely awakened by what they called a Silly Satterlee Sing-a-long. Those people are crazy.
 Look Mom! I'm in Michigan!
 We stayed at a house where they had this thing called a "fenced-in yard." I'd never seen anything like it! I could run all over the place without a leash...
 ...and pee anywhere I wanted, whenever I felt like it. It was great.
 This was my kingdom for the weekend.
 I mostly ruled from the porch, where I took naps in the shade.
 Auntie Suz wanted to get a photo of me with the pretty flowers. 
I wanted to give her a kiss instead.
 Uncle Travis and I played lots.
The people there were obsessed with this tiny human they called a "baby." It made lots of noise and smelled funny. At first I wasn't sure what to think so I growled at it. That didn't go over real well, so I decided I should be friendly instead.
 One afternoon Uncle Travis took a nap. 
This is when I decided it was time for him to wake up.
 Auntie Suz, where are we gonna go next?