Photo 26/365 Scrapbooking

Lest you think I'm really going overboard with collecting QK, these were gifted to me by a friend. Scrapbookers are so generous!

Popovers

I thought I would be domestic and make popovers since Mr. Fix-it enjoys pastries and also I had milk in the house (we're not big milk drinkers here, but I just had to take advantage of the milk deal at the grocery store; most of the milk went to BIL's for the kids). I used David Lebovitz's recipe, but next time, I'm going to try Rose Levy's recipe or maybe a combination of the two.

I used my Pampered Chef muffin pans and made 10 HUGE popovers. If you follow the Lebovitz recipe and use regular muffin tins (I think the Pampered Chef pan is the same size), I recommend filling the cups 1/3 full, definitely less than 1/2 full, and baking for 25-30 minutes. I used baker's sugar (finer than regular sugar) for dipping, but I think I would have liked the crunch of regular sugar better.

Here are the popovers, pre-dipping (first butter, then cinnamon sugar, yum!). You can see how much they "popped." And this is after they had collapsed a bit.

Happy Friday!

I've been feeling a little down lately, not sure why, hence the radio silence. I assume you don't want to hear me whine about being middle aged or wishing I had more money or complain about work (at least I have a job, right?).

We're not too busy at work this week (well, the Localization team was pulling their hair out, but the English team wasn't busy), so the timing was right to take a vacation day. I'm supposed to be domestic and take this opportunity to catch up on housecleaning since we're having someone over on Sunday, but instead, here I am at the computer again. My plan was for every 40 minutes of housecleaning, I can spend 20 minutes on the computer. Let's see how long that plan lasts. Time's up so it is back to housecleaning. Catch up with you later.

$2.93

Haven't posted one of these in a while, but yes, I still fill the tank every other week. I stopped at a more expensive gas station because it was convenient. I decided the 40 cents I would save going to the cheaper station wasn't worth it.

Recession, what recession

A couple weeks ago, we went to one of the high-end malls so I could check out this darling salt and pepper set. Let me present Mr. and Mrs. Chin:

They are from Alessi. The set is from a collaboration between the company and the National Palace Museum of Taiwan, which hold a special place in my heart. In addition to the salt/pepper set, you can buy magnets, an egg cup, and other items (I really want the timer too). But at $56, I decided that cute was too expensive. Hopefully, a certain someone will read this and add it to my Christmas wish list (given a choice between the two, I'd like the kitchen timer;) ).

As we walked around the mall, we were struck by how many people had shopping bags and were waiting in line to buy more. All of the stores were busy, busy, busy. Maybe when you shop at the expensive mall, you don't need to worry about the recession?

On the way home, we stopped at the 99 Cents store and while the selection wasn't the same, boy, that place was rockin'! People had shopping carts full of stuff, mostly food. So maybe that store is a better indicator of the economy.

I was hoping to take advantage of President's Day sales and talked Mr. Fix-it into taking a drive to one of the outlet malls (that was my Valentine's Day present, lol). We got a late start and arrived about an hour after the mall opened. Bad idea since the parking lot was already full and people were circling for parking spaces. We lucked out and got a parking space in front. I couldn't believe that people were leaving already, and loaded down with bags. Maybe they're more efficient shoppers than I am. Unfortunately, we did not do our part to boost the economy. I was hoping to get a few pairs of shoes and some work clothes, but didn't have any success. While all the stores had sales, I guess I'm either built wrong for today's styles or I'm too cheap so I only ended up with one blouse. Unfortunately, it has been that way for a few years and I'm desperate for new clothes/shoes. Hopefully, I'll be able to boost the economy later, lol.

Thankful

Although "thankful" is usually not the theme of President's Day, that's what I was feeling today. Thankful to have have the day off, and not only that, but as a paid holiday. And thankful that the new grocery store down the street finally opened and now I don't have to go so far to buy organic or bulk groceries. And thankful to have most of the meal planning out of the way for the week.

And happy for all the new jobs the store created. As it turns out, it was the first day on the job for the checker and the bagger was also new. She had been out for work for three months and he had been out of work for a year (though he needs to work on his bagging skills, I could barely lift one bag out of the cart).

On an unrelated note, I hope to catch up on my blogging and post a few photos. I'll be back dating the posts so don't be confused.

Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day

It was a double celebration (I can't remember it ever happening before) with the start of Year of the Tiger and a day for love. We didn't do anything special, which I hope is not a bad omen for the coming year, but then I'm not really superstitious. I did find time to make Mr. Fix-it a card (nothing like waiting until the last minute) and then a neighbor brought over some yummy snacks. So while we did not do anything traditional, it was still a nice day.

All quiet on the western front

No new blog posts for a week, no new tweets for almost a week, and hardly any facebook updates. Sorry, nothing much to say at the moment. I don't expect next week to be any different. (although I do have some photos to upload eventually)

Photo 25/365 Scrapbooking

My latest acquisitions. It is an addiction, I tell you. Does it help that I bought them all at least 50% off MSRP?