No use crying over spilled milk

I won't name any names, but (A) I don't drink milk and (B) that's not my side of the bed.

Does anybody have any tips to ensure our carpet won't soon start smelling like spoiled milk? Ugh, the thought of it makes my stomach turn. Please share!

Hey, Now Blogger

What were you thinking?

carriechiz posted a comment on Girl Scout Cookies and got this word verification:










Just thought I'd share for your entertainment.

Girl Scout Cookies

Turns out, M and I both bought girl scout cookies at work this year.

He bought four boxes. A box for himself (Samoas), a box for his mom (also Samoas), and two boxes for me (Tagalongs & Thin Mints).

I got three boxes of cookies -- two boxes of my favorite (Tagalongs) and one box of my second favorite (thin mints). All for me.

Thoughtfulness fail.

Tortellini: The Symbol of Love & Support

Nobody does more to support her family and friends than my mom. She's a giver. It's just her nature. It's something I admire and try to emulate.

Last week and into this week grad school has been particularly terrible. I was treading water for the beginning part of the semester. Then the clouds aligned to unleash one heck of a storm. And just like that, I'm drowning.

Before the storm, I had committed to visiting my youngest B.I.L. at college for his last basketball home game of the season. I probably should have stayed home and worked 24/7 all weekend, but putting family first, I still went. And my in-laws answered right back by creating an incredible support network for me while I tried to squeeze in work between our weekend activities.

Then there's my mom. M. & I returned from the trip to see our fridge fully loaded with food for the entire week. Not only do we not have to grocery shop, we won't even have to cook.

I love pasta with cream sauce, but my lactose intolerant stomach disagrees. So I never get to eat it. Well, I opened the fridge to find that -- among about 5 other meals, fruit, veggies and snacks -- my mom had made me lactose free cheese tortellini in a cream sauce. It certainly hit the spot!

I'm also really lucky to have the world's greatest dad & sister, plus a couple of especially fantastic friends. And I can't forget the hubs.

Last night I thanked M. for letting me lean on him. He replied: "You have to lean on me, otherwise you'd trip and fall down." He meant literally. I am abnormally clumsy. But in that moment, I was just thankful to share a little laugh before bed.

Sorry for the cheese, but family and friends really are the most important things in life. I can't imagine what life would be like without them. I know it definitely wouldn't be any fun.

--
P.S. Any lactose intolerants out there, let me know if you're interested in my mom's recipe. I'm sure I could convince her to share.

Tie Dye

Not just for t-shirts.

My coworker swears she's not a baker. I'd disagree. She wanted to do something special when her adorable daughter turned 2. So she tie-dyed a cake.

She practiced with cupcakes and brought them to work for us to try. They looked awesome and were tasty, too. Then she went all out and made a cake for her daughter's birthday party. I didn't get to sample this time, but I saw the pics. So cool. Her daughter is one lucky little lady.

Cupcake test run

Cake 1

Cake 2

I google imaged "tie dye cake" and the results were fantastic. So I got to thinking, if you can tie dye a cake, what else can you do? Let me just say, I have big plans for my 4th of July dessert this year.

Our Broken Hearts

For our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, M prepared a fabulous dinner. I was in charge of dessert.

My mother-in-law (MIL) makes unbelievable meringue -- and it just so happens to be one of M's favorite desserts. I was terrified to make it, but MIL gave me the confidence to give it a try. I found the most adorable meringue hearts on Joy of Baking. Might as well go all out.

Step one -- bring the egg whites to room temperature. I cracked the first two eggs beautifully, and then had a mishap with the third. Seven eggs later, I successfully separated four egg whites.

Before mixing, the recipe suggests tracing a heart shaped cookie cutter on parchment paper. Then you fill in the outline with meringue to form the hearts. I didn't have a heart cookie cutter, so I improvised, relying on my second grade arts & craft skills.

I also forgot the parchment paper -- and I already learned the "wax paper ≠ parchment paper" lesson. A quick trip to my mom's for the paper and I was back on track.

I used my KitchenAid to mix the meringue. I'm far from an expert, but I do believe a stand mixer is the way to go. I can't imagine trying to hold a mixer and slowly add sugar. I'm just not that good.

After only two calls to MIL -- How do i know when the meringue is mixed? And How should I store it over night? -- it all turned out pretty well.

Since my track record isn't great, I had a backup plan. My mom bought me a Valentine's Day cookie tray, so I made two dozen sugar cookies -- just in case. My sis came over to help me decorate. By that time, I was so confident the meringue was going to turn out, I sent the cookies back to college with Sister. Goodbye backup plan.

Side note: My cookies look nothing like the label said they would. And the best one -- top right -- was one of my sister's creations. Perhaps cookie decorating is not my calling...

Fast forward to Monday night. M and I had a fantastic dinner. Then I whipped up the meringue topping, adding some of my homemade strawberry jam for flavor. We packed up six hearts, topping and fruit -- two for M's parents, two for my parents, and two for M's brother and his gf. After we dropped off the Valentine's Day treats to our family, we headed home to enjoy our own.

M's delicious dinner.

Meringue hearts -- baked and ready!

That's. When. It. Happened. I was mixing more topping while M was cleaning up from dinner. Crash! I turned around to see our remaining hearts all over the floor.


I burst out laughing. Poor M was so upset he knocked all of my hard work on the floor. But it was an accident -- and a funny one at that. M picked up the pieces and tried to mend our broken hearts. Judge if you wish, but we ate that meringue right off the floor. And it was delish!

I can't tell you how many people told us laughter is the key to a happy marriage. Well if that's the case, then we're in great shape. We definitely went to bed cracking up -- pun intended -- last night.

Salad and the Super Bowl

We're always on some sort of salad kick at our house. It almost always involves spinach. I learned from my college nutrition class, the dark green leafy veggies are more nutritious than the lighter green. So spinach > romaine.

Of course, when your current salad kick involves bacon, perhaps that bumps you down a few points on the health scale.

We've been making spinach salads with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, red peppers, onions, pecans, avocado and crispy bacon. M even concocted a fantastic hot bacon dressing to go with it. He uses white vinegar, a touch of honey, sugar, lemon, salt and a bit of the bacon grease. Then he heats it before drizzling over our salads. The white vinegar gives it such a bite. Delicious.

This is what we were enjoying as we cheered on the Steelers last night. Apparently, my yinzerific wine glass wasn't good luck. In case you can't tell, it says "The 'burgh" and has pictures of Pittsburgh. M won it at his work's Steeler party last week. Classic Pittsburgh!

P.S. In M's lifetime, the Steelers have played in 4 Super Bowls. They've won two and lost two. M went to Super Bowl XL (a win) and we went to Super Bowl XLIII (another win). Coincidence that he saw both wins in person and was at home both times they lost? I'm thinking not...