Crazy Sexy Chocomole

 Attention Banana "soft serve" lovers: I have a new guilt free dessert recipe for you! Stay with me here, because I know that you are already thinking that this is INSANE.

 Throw all of your ingredients in the blender, along with 1/2 cup of water, and pulse to a smooth, pudding consistency.  You'll probably have to scrape the sides a few times & keep pulsing til it's just right.

 The best, healthiest, richest tasting Dark Chocolate Pudding, or Chocomole, you will ever eat.

Throw some fresh strawberries on top, and enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Pudding

(aka Chocomole*)

1 ripe Avocado

2 tbsp Agave Nectar (you may want to add more if you like it a bit sweeter)

1/2 tsp Vanilla

4 HEAPING tbsp of Dark Cocoa powder

1/2 cup water

*this recipe was adapted from a recipe you can find in Kris Carr's book Crazy Sexy Diet....more on this to come!

Bottling the Brew

 Yesterday was bottling day! M spent the morning sanitizing everything while I shot some custom print requests for my Etsy shop.

 Emmett could tell our attention wouldn't be centered on him for a bit, so he pouted on the couch.

 Sanitized bottles all ready to go!

 I didn't get any photos of us transferring the beer from the fermenting bucket to the bottling bucket because it was quite the process. But here is what's left behing in the bottom of the fermenting bucket: a thick layer of sludge.

 M is testing the alcohol content of the beer with the hydrometer.

 Sanitized caps ready to go!

 I had the honor of filling 47 bottles.

 This was the set up. And yes, I'm in my pajamas. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon.

 M was the capper, because I have no upper body strength.

Our batch made 2 cases of beer. It needs to sit in the bottles for 2 more weeks until it's ready to be tasted. Stay tuned!

suggestions

Let It Snow...

1. Snow Flurries

2. Snow Bunny

3. Winter woodland art

4. Snow Falling On Trees

5. London Snow

6. Winter Trees

letters

Dear April,

I'm so excited for you to get here already! Please hurry!!

Dear Crazy Sexy Diet,

You are amazing, you make sense. Now I just need to acquire a taste for Green Juice, and we're all set.

Dear Dairy Products,

You make my tummy feel funny. I've known this for years. Yes, I can take a pill to make you more agreeable. Yes, there is nothing more tasty than a glob of melted cheese. I'm sorry, but we're taking a break. It may not be forever, but I think it's in my best interest if it is. It's been fun, but it's over.

#febphotoaday

I know many of you have already been participating in the #janphotoaday, but are you ready to commit to the entire year? Chantelle at FatMumSlim has unleashed the prompts for February. I'm so happy she's created this! I had been thinking of doing a 366 project this year because it's a leap year, and these prompts will help keep that project from getting stale. In other words, there won't be 366 photos of just Emmett ;)

Are you down? Here's what to do:

1. Using the list as inspiration, take a photo each day.
2. Share it on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #FEBphotoaday. You can also share on your blog or on Facebook ... or even keep the photos privately for yourself.
3. Check out other people's photos and like them or comment on them.

date day: let's get real

M and I made a "resolution" so to speak of turning our weekly diner breakfast into a day trip. So far this year, we've gone to an out of town diner twice. This week we had planned trip number three, but when that morning rolled around...sleeping until noon seemed more appealing. So off to our local favorite: Jack's.

M will probably kill me for posting this photo, but let's be real: we went out in public like this, so why can't our friends on the internet see it as well. ;)

In the spirit of keeping it real, here's what M was staring at: me without anything done to my hair and no makeup. Scary, right? But real.

Our waitress at Jack's is so awesome. I think she could recite our order to us before we even open our mouths. She asked us here we'd been lately, and had to tell her that we recently moved a few towns over. Her reply, "well, that's not too far!"

After breakfast, we went over to browse the bookstore. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is one of my favorite books. I haven't seen the movie yet because I can't convince M to watch it. Despite being a HUGE Tom Hanks fan, he's iffy on the 9/11 story line.

M was checking out some Maximum Rock n Roll best of 2011 lists, and I spied the cover of MAD Magazine over his shoulder. 

What are your real date days like?

Snow Dog

Emmett definitely enjoys being out in the snow more than I do...

letters

Dear Winter,

You finally started to show up. Now how about a little snow with the cold temps?

Dear Job,

I love you.

Dear Emmett,

Let's try to focus a little more in your classes instead of playing. This is important stuff you need to learn!

Trouble a-brewin'

 My and I recently brewed our second batch of beer. We made a small batch of IPA a couple of months ago, but because it was our first time, it didn't turn out as well as we had hoped for. We think we got it right this time with round 2!

 We picked up a kit for a Robust Porter....and we did a little research and added our own secret ingredients to make it a bit unique. Hopefully this won't effect the final drinkability ;)

 We had to gate sad little Emmett out of the kitchen. Hops are very bad for dogs and we couldn't take the chance of him accidentally eating some!

 M put the grains into the steeping bag and steeped the water, turning it to wort.

 And steeped some more...

 Finally after 20 minute of steeping, the wort was ready for the boil.

 The wort was boiled for 60 minutes, with additional ingredients being added at different intervals.

 Emmett got bored of this project and crashed.

 We had a boil over, oops!

After the 60 minute boil, the wort takes an ice bath so that it can be cooled down enough to add the yeast. Then it's placed in a bucket for 2-3 weeks of fermentation.

To be continued...

Blue Benn

 On the recommendation of one of M's co-workers, we took a day trip to Bennington, Vermont on one of the coldest days of the year. Our destination: Blue Benn Diner.

When we pulled up to the front, I realized that I had eaten here with friends about 6 years ago, and remembered it being pretty good.

 The two stained glass panels in the front were awesome.

It was a shame we had to enjoy them while waiting for a table on their enclosed front entryway. That wasn't heated. On the coldest day of the year.

Luckily, the wait for a booth ended up being less than 10 minutes, and soon enough we were seated. Though it was still pretty cold inside because of the drafty nature of vintage diner cars.

Each booth has an authentic jukebox, which we loved.

 I ordered the huevos rancheros. It was pretty decent, but had a bit too many jalepenos on it for my taste.

M ordered his go-to: eggs benedict. His homefries were undercooked, to the point where he said a few bites had the texture of biting into an apple. And they were bland and unseasoned. He also thought something was off with the hollandaise sauce, that it was a bit too eggy. 

We ordered "cinnamon swirl" french toast, and were a bit disappointed when this showed up. It looked like they had taken some Pepperidge Farm cinnamon raisin bread, egged it, and threw it on the grill. I guess we were expecting something more. However, they did offer us REAL Vermont maple syrup, a little cream pitcher full for the small up charge of $1, which we thought was much more reasonable than most local diners charge for the real thing.

The interior reminded us a lot of our beloved Miss Albany Diner, which I guess is why we expected more of this place. We were expecting the same caliber of a more gourmet breakfast, and were presented with just "diner diner" food.

After our disappointing breakfast, we decided to drive around a little bit. We went up to a giant Revolutionary War monument, but because it was so cold outside, we didn't really take much time to enjoy the town like we could have. We'll be back Bennington, but maybe not until June or July!

Dinner with the fam

My Dad's birthday was late last week, so we got together for a nice family dinner out. Eating out with my family is one of my favorite things. I'm always amazed by all the new things my two year old nephew has learned since the last time I saw him. Of course he wondered why Emmett wasn't eating dinner with us.

suggestions

1. Snowball Cake Pops

2. Winter Coat

3. Winter Woodland Art print

4. Winter Leg Warmers

5. Vintage Leather Winter Boots

6. Winter Woodland Chandelier