50th Anniversary Cakeballs

I baked and rolled up 2 batches of cake balls today for my grandparents' 50th anniversary party next weekend.  I'm making 25 centerpieces with them.  I bought clay flower pots and dowel rods with bases, and round styrofoam balls.  I'm going to make cakeball topiaries!  From what I measured, I'll need 400 cakeballs for all 25 centerpieces.  I'm just going to make as many as I can, and make do.  I can't promise 400.  I made rainbow sprinkle and butter pecan today.  I still have to bake and roll chocolate, lemon, carrot, and red velvet.  That will get me almost half of what I  need, and I'll see which ones I like best for the rest.

I am keeping them in the freezer until I'm ready to dip them in chocolate, but I don't want to dip them too early or they'll go bad. You can't refrigerate them once you've dipped them.  We're leaving for San Antonio next Friday, so I have to have them all done by the end of the night Thursday night.  I'm hoping I can get them all dipped and decorated Wed and Thurs.  It is going to be a LOT of work for just 2 nights.

Matt has his Fantasy Football draft today/tonight.  I think he's spending the night there, so that means I get to watch some chick flicks tonight and catch up on my reading.

Sharon Price

My parents had me at a young age, so I have always been lucky to have young grandparents. Most of the memories of my grandparents put them right around the same age as my parents are now, perhaps a touch older. As I've grown older, I haven't expected them to age with me. It was a rude awakening when my grandmother passed away 6 years ago today. I've never lost anyone so close to me before, which I suppose makes me both very lucky and in the minority. How is it possible that 6 years later, memories of her bring a tear to my eye?

She passed away 7 months before I met my husband, and it will always disappoint me that she never got to know him or my kids. I wish I could convey through stories what a completely wonderful person Sharon Price was. But I know that no story will be enough for my kids to feel what I feel for her. I am so thankful that my parents make such an effort to be an active part in my kids lives, and I hope Kaylen and Jenson realize how lucky they are.

My failures as a cook

The shame about the Examiner articles I'm writing is that I can only post my success stories! Who wants to hear all about how great someone's recipes are? Nobody. People love failure. That's why we read the tabloids and watch American Idol!

I made mini meatloaves the other day. The taste was great, but they looked like dog food. Jenson actually LOVED them and ate more than we did.

I made twice-baked potatoes, but I didn't use a recipe and I should have. I thought they were too dry. I put a ton of cheddar cheese, cream cheese and sour cream in the potatoes, so why were they still so dry?? Oh, and they were fat free (obviously).

I also bombed on a Pumpkin Soup recipe. Again, Jenson was a huge fan (and so was Kaylen) but Matt hated it. I know it sounds gross, but it actually wasn't bad. Different, but not bad. It had Prosciutto, onions, garlic, pumpkin, chicken broth, nutmeg, and some other stuff.

Manhattan Clam Chowder gets a D+

The Manhattan Clam Chowder wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. I think it just comes down to preference. I prefer my Clam Chowder white and creamy. This one was spicy with a red sauce. I thought I'd like it, but I really wasn't a fan.

I skipped my cardio this morning because Matt and I stayed up late watching American Idol. I know! Its a horrible excuse to miss exercise.

Clams in a can look nasty. You'd think I would have learned my lesson from the scallops.

I jumped on the scale for the 1st time yesterday since before the holidays. And I mean I literally jumped on it in a fit of rage and disbelief. I've been doing cardio every morning since Thanksgiving, and I even worked out Saturday! But I think its going to take a little more than that. I love to eat WAY more than I want to be skinny. So I have to adapt. I went to the gym once last week on my lunch break, in addition to doing my cardio in the morning. I am going to try to go twice this week. Time to turn this flab into solid muscle! Or at least firm jello.

It never fails, when I think about working out, I think about how much I love to eat and what new recipes I want to try. I have a recipe for cinnamon cream cheese squares that I'm dying to try. But I made the Apple Cake on Saturday (which Matt and I ended up devouring directly out of the pan as we stood over the kitchen counter on Sunday) and he made his Mom's recipe for Chocolate Cake on Sunday night. We still have some cake left, but I'm trying to avoid it so I can save the calories for the next dessert I want to try. Matt is under the impression that we have to eat the whole thing, whereas I have no problem eating a few pieces and throwing the rest away. Out with the old, in with the new! Lets throw those calories away so we can substitute them with different ones. Makes sense to me!

I made a recipe for Manhattan Clam Chowder . The picture looked great, the recipe sounded delicious, but when I put it all in the crockpot this morning it looked like something you'd pull out of the garbage disposal after a busy night at Pappadeaux. And it didn't smell great, either. So tonight we'll either come home to a crockpot full of a savory, mouth-watering clam chowder, or we'll microwave Sunday's leftover hamburger patties. Either way, we'll have chocolate cake for dessert, so at least we have something to look forward to.

Scallop, you are hideously ugly. But I still love you.

My daughter is an inquisitive eater. She wants to know everything about what she eats. Not because she doesn't like it, but because she has a genuine curiosity. She asked the other night if these scallops were animals. That turned into a discussion because Matt and I are not self-professed experts on scallops. But we did know enough to tell her that yes, they are sea animals, and they are invertebrates. That's about all we knew. What do they look like when they're not in the frying pan? Do they have an outer shell? Inner thoughts? Mouths? I explored the fabulous world of Google and came up with this lovely picture. Really? That's a scallop in its natural form? I wish I hadn't gone down this avenue. I'm a bit horrified, actually. I did find out some interesting tidbits of information, though. Did you know scallops are active swimmers? They swim by flapping their shells. I always pictured them as barnacle-type beasts. Stuck to posts and sunken pirate ships.
Either way, I still adore them. And in my research, I discovered that due to several factors, Bay Scallops on the U.S. East Coast are declining in numbers! Mainly due to shark-fishing. Sharks eat sting rays, and sting rays eat scallops. So lets stop eating those nasty sharks so I can have more scallops!