it's it

are you familiar with the magical it's it? it's a treat to be sure. if not, keep reading, i'm about to educate you.

this is an it's it box. it also comes in green (mint) and brown (cappuccino). you should be excited when you hold one of these because good things are inside.

this is an it's it package. note the colors and flavors. note they are a san francisco tradition. an sf treat. maybe this is where rice a roni got it's name. copycats. you cannot get it's its outside of california unless you are very lucky or want to pay a lot of money.

this is a vanilla it's it. not my picture. i might have set it on a bed of gold shavings. that's how much i like it's its.

now that you are in the know, i'll continue.

it's been hot in sd. i say that knowing i'll probably get a shoe thrown at my face if any of my east coast constituents are reading this. we live on the 2nd story with no AC. we're hot. our form of air conditioning has been frozen treats. it's working out well. our freezer it stocked with popsicles of every genre. all fruit, creamsicles, fudgesicles, you get the idea.

while prowling the frozen aisle on friday night, i spotted this childhood memory. i used to buy an it's it regularly (dare i say, daily?) while in junior high and high school. just ask my sister. she did the same thing.

my healthy lunches consisted of it's its, taco bell burritos and mini powdered donuts. i have NO idea why i couldn't stay awake in class. moving on...

while i squealed in delight, aaron scratched his head. he had never met an it's it. i quickly remedied that problem. sometimes it's so fun to introduce him to american things. i'm sure he feels the same way about watching me try canadian things.

last night he had his first bite and loved it. we bought the mint variety. another satisfied customer!! try one today!

feeding america

last night aaron and i volunteered for feeding america san diego. i had done it years ago and wanted to go back. our 2 hour shift flew by and we had a great time.
there were various tasks to do, but we were assigned to break down large shelving for the first hour and got quite the work out. then we headed to produce where we unbagged, sorted and re-bagged onions.
aaron has no desire to eat an onion ever again. all i can say is hallelujah we weren't doing something more nutritious like the kids at the carrot table.
here we are in all our sweaty, stinky, dirty glory. we had fun and it was great to give back to such a noble organization. i'm itching to take the yw there and get them involved. fun!

a friday funny

all you dog lovers will laugh and probably recall a time when something like this happened.

the rest of you, become dog lovers immediately. it will lower your blood pressure. until they knock the cake off the counter.

even if you can't relate, it's still pretty funny.

aaron says it's my pre-birthday card.

i hope it gave you a friday afternoon smile.

cookie monster

i am a cookie monster. it's a compliment i give to myself.
a dear friend confided in me that her nickname in grade school was 'cookie monster' because she would try to barter for classmate's cookies. she calls this embarrassing. i call it ingenious. i'm slightly jealous. anyway, another friend fed my habit by recently gifting this book to me. i immediately stopped what i was doing and began to look through it, mentally highlighting the first few i would make.

last weekend i jumped right into a favorite: lemon bars. luckily, i have homegrown meyer lemons at my finger tips and they never disappoint. neither did this recipe. it's tart, to be sure. 3/4 c lemon juice. but, a healthy dosing of powdered sugar gives the perfect balance. also, the crust is divine. perfect taste, doesn't crumble and would never dream of allowing the filling to seep into it's cracks. it stands up to pushers that way. not that the filling would ever dream of oozing. i like my separation.

aaron declared it a winner and another friend (the lemon tree owner) said it was absolutely the best lemon bar she's ever had. 'a little lemon meringue pie' she called it. make it today. but use fresh lemons!!

Ingredients

Crust:
3/4 C (1.5 sticks) of butter, frozen
1 3/4 C all purpose flour
3/4 C confectioners sugar
3/4 t coarse salt

Filling:
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/3 C granulated sugar
3 T all purpose flour
1/4 t coarse salt
3/4 C lemon juice
1/4 C whole milk
Confectioners sugar for dusting

How to:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13x9 pan and line with parchment. Make an overhang on all sides since you'll be pulling this baby out of the pan later. Just do it.
2. Grate the butter on a grater with larger holes. Work quickly so your hot hands don't melt the butter like mine did. Your arms will hate you then thank you for the workout.
3. Whisk together dry crust ingredients.
4. Add grated butter and stir into the dry mixture until it looks crumbly and combined.
5. Transfer mixture to your dish. Press down to flatten and fit into the corners. Freeze crust for 15 minutes, and then bake until slightly golden, 16-18 minutes. When the crust is done, remove from oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees.
** NOTE ** This will not shatter your Pyrex like I feared. Carry on.
6. While the crust is baking, make the filling. Whisk eggs, granulated sugar, flour and salt. When combined, stir in lemon juice and milk.
7. Pour the filling over the hot crust.
8. Bake until filling is set and edges are slightly golden brown, about 18 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and leave it in the pan. Allow it to cool on a wire rack slightly, then remove from the pan to cool on the rack completely. This is where you'll thank me for the parchment overhang.
11. Once the squares have cooled, dust with powdered sugar, cut into squares, and try really hard not to eat them all.
Enjoy!!

little victory

our return flight for the 4th weekend from slc to long beach was canceled as we arrived at the airport.

we were so kindly re-booked on a later flight to lax. huh. my car is in long beach and i'm flying to lax. doesn't seem to add up. but, it did to delta.

i finally wrangled some ground transportation out of the ticket agent. but, still. getting home hours later and sitting in traffic to get to your car. yuck.

of course, the carrier has no requirement to give you compensation if the flight is canceled. if you're bumped, you can get something out of it. canceled? only a 'next in line please'. i wasn't having it.

i emailed delta the next day to complain. not cool, guys.

i quickly received a reply to apologize for the inconvenience and give both of us a $50 voucher for next time travel. was it still a pain to fly home? yes. but, getting $100 for a 5 minute email? a little victory.

crazy glass lady

that's what they'll be calling me soon. i only have the WS outlet to blame. i didn't mean to become one, but each time i go there they have adorable glasses for thievery prices. each time i take home a set. i have quite a few sets. none of them match. roosters, fruit, cows, etched, painted, you name it, i got it. i fly by the seat of my pants and pick whichever makes me squeal the loudest. i very much like the idea that one day i'll have them on display and they'll be slightly cracked and chipped from a lifetime of use.

here's my latest acquisition. mason jars with handles!!

mine don't have a logo on it, which i'm perfectly happy about.

while at my gma's over the 4th, i saw her washing out a recently emptied jam jar. she buys yummy jam in such cute handle jars! the light went on above my head and i said, hey gma, can i have that jar? followed quickly by, do you have any others? she said, yes, i have 4 empty ones in the pantry downstairs. score! 4 + 1 = 5. no one likes an uneven set. i became the official toast pusher of the trip to make sure we emptied out another jar.

i carefully wrapped 6 precious pieces of cargo and carried them on the plane. i want a set of 12, so eat more toast utah family members!

if you like rib sticking food

don't be jealous of what you're about to read.

it's pretty amazing.

after our crazy day of traveling (if i gather enough strength to write about it, i'll post it), we found ourselves hungry, exhausted, fed up with the world, crossed our hearts 3 times vowing to never fly again, and decided to eat before driving home from long beach.

aaron insisted we try rosco's chicken and waffles.

i've wanted to try it for a long time, but never got around to it.

it's located in a very, ahem, authentic neighborhood. we even drove past snoop dogg's high school. he was a jack rabbit in those days.

we both ordered the 1/4 fried chicken and waffle combo. behold.

note the orangey neon glow. it's not my camera. it's the inside of the restaurant.

i hear the fried chicken was delicious. i think i remember it faintly. but, once i put a piece of waffle in my mouth, it was all over. three thoughts instantly crossed my mind:

1. how much of this can i shovel in before i am too full to breathe?

2. why haven't i tasted a waffle like this ever before?

3. great. now that i've tasted this gloriousness i'll never enjoy a waffle again. dang.

i'm not kidding, kids. no words fit. the waffles are good, but there is something about that syrup. butter and cinnamon were distinct flavors. it was a traditional maple syrup, so don't go suggesting buttermilk syrup or something like that. i might even move to long beach and get a job at rosco's just so i can be an apprentice to that syrup.

dreams were fulfilled and shattered all in one night. all with one bite. it's only my right? i'll stop.

if you're within 30 miles of long beach, please go. you'll thank me.

ethnic celebration

july 1st was canada day. with aaron around and a canadian missionary in our ward, we weren't going to let the day pass us by without a celebration.

we had pollo asado burritos. we can't completely throw out the baby with the bath water. we also served poutine. for those who do not know (you may be many), poutine could be called the national dish of canada. it consists of french fries, covered in gravy, topped with cheese curds.

i'll provide an illustration of how widespread this dish is in canada: it is served at taco bell.

we're fresh out of cheese curds in sd, so we cheated and used shredded mozzarella cheese.

the two canucks were in heaven.

the two americas kept quiet.
please, puh-lease, ignore my almost bare and ugly wall. we're in the middle of a photo collage project. i use the term 'in the middle' liberally because it's sat untouched for about 2 months.

for dessert? the national treasure of donuts.

until next year.

dinosaur

i saw this the other day while driving down the freeway.
well, i wasn't driving. aaron was.

where could this dinosaur be going?

the car has az plates. retiring from gila bend, on the way to it's final resting place?
destined for a child's birthday party?
headed for someone's bed to mimic the horse head scene in the godfather?

we may never know.

oh, the things you'll see on a southern california freeway.