use real butter

Recipe: eton mess

We’ve got three things going on here today, so keep your pants on! Are you ready?

First – I finished processing the photos from Antelope Valley. Serious orange-out is all I can say. That, and California poppies are my favorite wildflowers ever. Okay, I like the other guys too – I just love that there are so MANY of them.

tiny goldfields

poppies glow like little lanterns in the sun

If you want to see enough flowers to make your allergies tickle you can view day 1 and day 2 on my photo blog.

Next – we have a giveaway. I’ve been waiting to give this thing away for about… four months, but it had to get the stamp of approval from the law-talkin’ guys first. No matter, because it is certainly worth the wait. Back in December, I hosted a Nintendo-sponsored Wii Fit Plus party for my gal pals in Boulder! Easiest party I’ve ever had to host because all I had to do was send out invitations and show up. Nintendo took care of the space, the equipment, the food, and beverages.

fruit juice shooters

everyone was let loose to try the yoga and the games after a quick demo

we had a blast

Oh, that was seriously fun. What I love about Wii Fit Plus and the Wii in general is how it’s more than just a gaming system. It gets you moving and it can be a social activity (I’m definitely hosting Wii parties at my house!). Exercise made fun. I’m a big fan of the multiplayer mode. My favorite activity is the Rhythm Kung Fu.

that’s my Mii character

we even have a Mii pet for kaweah

The good people at Nintendo have given me an additional Wii and a Wii Fit Plus game and I’m giving them away here! You merely have to answer the question:

How will you fit some fit in with the Wii Fit Plus from Nintendo?

Let me translate: How are you gonna get your Wii on?

Here are the rules:

1) Leave a comment on THIS POST answering the question above by 11:59 pm MDT Sunday, April 25, 2010.
2) One entry per person. If you submit multiple entries, you will be disqualified.
3) The winner will be selected at random using a random number generator and announced on Monday, April 26, 2010.
4) Contest is only open to US residents 18 years or older.
5) Anyone related to me cannot enter.
6) Nintendo employees are ineligible to win.

Full disclosure: I received a free Wii™ system and Wii Fit™ Plus package (including Balance Board™) from Nintendo. The Wii Fit Plus party was entirely sponsored by Nintendo. The giveaway Wii system and Wii Fit Plus package were given to me by Nintendo, and I’m giving them away.

And finally: the recipe. California strawberries are popping up in the grocery stores around here. Yeah, I know they aren’t local, but who can resist a luscious red strawberry after months of winter? Heck, who can resist a luscious red strawberry ever? My favorite way to enjoy a strawberry is straight up, but a close second is an Eton Mess.

strawberry

separate the egg whites from the yolks

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: waffles

It was not my intention to let February go like that. It shouldn’t surprise me, but it always does. I forget that February is a short month and find myself face-planting into March. BLAM! March is going to be good. March is going to be fun. March is jam-packed with mucho mas mejor! I will have the photography workshop site up and running for registration sometime mid-month, so please do keep your pants on!

It’s our anniversary today. Thirteen years of wedded bliss. Make that 17.5 years of effortless bliss. Jeremy and I aren’t so big on the wedded bit, except for that free driver you get to add when you rent a car (woohoo!). I’ll not go mooning on and on about him. I will just say this: Jeremy is good people, he is the absolute best.

jeremy and our juvenile delinquent

I have had a minor obsession with waffles ever since I left home. It’s not that I wanted to eat them, I just wanted to make them. I never ate waffles growing up. I’m a savory breakfast type – I like the eggs, hash browned potatoes, bacon (oh the bacon), sausages, country ham, corned beef hash, biscuits… not so much the sweet stuff. But waffles intrigued me because they required a specific tool to make them – a waffle iron. On the rare occasion when I ventured to try a waffle, I determined I preferred them much more to their pancake cousins.

it’s what you do with the eggs that makes the difference

oil, milk, and egg yolks

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: friands

It’s rare that we get completely overcast days around here. The sun almost always makes an appearance. Even with clouds plastering the sky, the light is rather bright – especially when it is reflected off of all that snow in winter. We’ve had snow all weekend with only a couple of sucker holes (windows of blue sky) in an otherwise monochromatic landscape. Our snow is fluffy and squeaky – *squeak* *squeak* with each step. It offers no resistance when you kick through it and it sticks to Kaweah’s schnoz when she sniffs about for dead things.

that bright blob is the sun

on our walk this evening

she may be getting old, but she still loves to romp in the snow

A few weeks ago I was testing out a recipe I had been wanting to make for years. Friands. I had heard about them, seen them, even have several recipes for friands in various books, notes, and bookmarked blog posts. They are so cute that it’s hard to believe I didn’t get around to making them sooner. They are based in large part on almond meal and almond is one of my favorite flavors.

mix the almond meal with the powdered sugar and flour

stir in the egg whites

**Jump for more butter**