fabulously foggy hills

Sunshine and foggy trees, somewhere before Echo Summit on Highway 50...

Snowfall and cliff faces, somewhere after Echo Summit on Highway 50...

These are taken within probably 20 minutes of each other this morning, the only difference between them: 1 or 2 thousand vertical feet.  

California's weird.

Photos Posted: 127
Days Left: 238

gifting...

i made housewarming party presents tonight...i'm confident posting them on here because i don't think the person they're for reads this.  I made a cranberry almond scone recipe (based roughly on this one)and a double chocolate coconut butterscotch chip cookie mix (based on this one, but drop the chunks for chips and add butterscotch chips and shredded coconut too), all the dry ingredients and a card with how to finish them up, wrapped nicely in a tea towel and tucked in a basket.  i hope they like them!

Photos Posted: 126
Days Left: 239

shine on

Photos Posted: 125
Days Left: 240

it begins....

my old best friends:

(cookbooks)

my new best friend:

(fundamentals of engineering exam review book)

and so it begins...194 days until the october test.  thanks pops, for the book.  :o)

Photos Posted: 124
Days Left: 241

south lake tahoe...aka my soon to be new home

taken from my moving vehicle today on my way down the mountain.  just lovely isn't it?

Photos Posted: 123
Days left: 242

early update!

I'm posting my photo early today because I won't be here this evening and I don't want to forget again.  So what do I have for you?  Whats this?  A strawberry with a rosie-reddish hue?  Thats right...these little buggers are ripening!  My first strawberries that I have grown all on my own!  Hurray!  Look at how cute too!  Photos can be a little deceiving sometimes, I know it looks pretty large, but its really about the size of a marble....still, its awesome! :o)

Also, I made some fabulous rocky road fudge this morning from this recipe I remembered from longggg ago, the last time I made it I still lived in Peru.  It is the easiest fudge recipe in the world and you can find it online in millions of places under the name Super Easy Rocky Road Fudge, but I'll put the recipe here for you, since its so simple.  I know that I originally found this recipe on the inside of a label of a can of sweetened condensed milk, so I'm sure its by Nestle or something...anywho here it is, seriously give it a try.  You won't regret it!

Super Easy Rocky Road Fudge

• 2 cups Chocolate Chips (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao chips)
• 1 14oz Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• ~3 cups Mini Marshmallows
• 1 1/4 cups Chopped Walnuts

Line a pan with waxed paper or lightly greased tinfoil.  Combine condensed milk and chocolate chips in a large, microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 1 minute and then stir, if the chips are not completely melted continue microwaving in 10 second intervals and stirring until mixture is smooth.  Stir in vanilla extract, then fold in marshmallows and nuts.  Press into a 13x9 pan (for ~48 thinner pieces) or 9x9 pan (for ~24 thicker pieces) and refrigerate until set.  

This is the basic recipe, but you can mix in anything you want....some of my favorites:  peanut butter chips and mini pretzels, coconut and butterscotch chips, mint extract and crushed oreos.  I dare you not to love these!

Photos Posted: 122
Days Left: 243

new babies and new cookies!

I planted my lettuce seeds a few days ago and already I have some new babies growing up before my eyes!

I also found this very interesting recipe today on a website called cooking for engineers, which I find hilarious, and also awesome.  The recipe is represented graphically at the bottom of the page, which i found especially neat.  I followed the recipe almost exactly (rare for me, i know) except i used whole wheat flour and chilled the dough for a few hours, then formed the cookies and skipped the re-chilling part and just baked the darn things, for 15 minutes at 300.  When I took them out I thought they would be crumbly and awful for transporting to a party but after they cooled a bit they turned out pretty great.

Photos Posted: 121
Days Left: 244