A Fair Evening

A couple weeks ago I finally manged to convince my husband to take me to the fair.  He tried to convince me to go by myself which wasn't happening.  His first excuse was that he was sick, and he was, so I tried not to pester him too much.  Unfortunately for him every morning while watching the news the advertised the hell out of this thing.  Also, I was overdue for some fun and I love thrill rides.  Poor hubby not so much.  Splash Mountain at Walt Disney is his upper limit.  He'll do Everest at Animal Kingdom with me but he's a shaky mess afterwards and he'll never ever do Hollywood Tower of Tower or Rock 'n Roller Coaster with me.

Immediately upon entering the fair I checked out all the rides to see which one would be the most fun.  I chose this one above just because they were playing some Ace of Base and other 90s favs.  I really wanted to ride the swings but they were closed due to the windiness.  I wish I could have ridden all the rides but the tickets were pricey and we too late to buy arm bands.  This ride goes upside down.  Peter says I'm crazy, I say my hair was a crazy mess afterwards=P

Afterwards we played on the bumper cars, Peter's favorite.  Then, despite the windy cold weather, we dared the ferris wheel.  We were meat popsicles by the time we got off that thing!  I took some neat pictures though and it was a great opportunity to snuggle.

I was amazed that we could see downtown Orlando from the ferris wheel.  The sun was setting too and was gorgeous.  I just wish it could have set a bit latter because I knew we would have to go due to the cold.  On the plus side the lines were very short!

We warmed up with some funnel cake.  I keep trying to make funnel cake but haven't had any success yet. *sigh*  As predicted as soon as the sun set it got very cold.  I would choose the coldest day of the week to go to the fair.  We went into the expo area to finish our funnel cake and check out the 4H projects and art.  I got to pet a guinea pig, yay! 

We left around 7pm I think. I'm glad I got that out of my system but I really need to ride some roller coasters. It's warmed up a whole lot since that night too. Right now its 80 something. Figures. At least I got me some funnel cake.  I haven't been to a County Fair in ages and it was fun to get out and do something.

Honey Nut Chicken

This post started out as a Bzzagent review for Crunchy Nut cereal because usually when they send me free product and coupons to spread around they request a blog post.  Not this time for some weird reason.  Which sucks because I had already taken the photos and planned out this post.  Oh well, why waste a good post right?  And I did like the cereal and I did fins a way to legitimately eat this cereal for dinner (not that cereal is ever wrong for dinner!).

I took this picture to primarily show off the roses my hubby got me for Valentine's Day.  Aren't they gorgeous?  If I genuinely tried to eat breakfast on my porch I'd get eaten by lizards and then the ants would finish me off and quite possibly my plants would then take over and destroy the planet.  Did I mention that those roses are just gorgeous!

Anyways, I came up with this recipe by going to get a bowl of cereal and getting teed off that someone had just left me crumbs (or practically).  It's like leaving the milk jug in the fridge with just a sip remaining.  Just not right!  There was just enough cereal left to feel guilty about throwing it away but not guilty enough to attempt to eat the sugary mess.  So I got out my rolling pin and pounded it down to make it even more crumby.  I felt less teed off after that. Of course I then realized I didn't quite have enough crumbs to make my chicken so I sent my husband and roommate to the store for some more so that the vicious cycle can repeat itself.

I'm pretty sure most people have scene a variation of this recipe but using corn flakes instead of Crunchy Nut cereal.  I have also made a version using Captain Crunch (with out the berries!).  It's all good.

It's really simple too and involves no frying!   I love friend chicken but hate the frying step.  House smells like grease for days.  All this requires is a little dippage into some flour, then into some egg and finally into the crumbs.  Put into a really hot oven and make sure to spray the pan AND the chicken with some cooking spray before baking.  Sometimes this makes my kitchen a bit smokey and my smoke alarm goes off but my smoke alarm is retarded and goes off even when I make toast in my toaster and when we're asleep at night.   Did I mention I hate our smoke alarm?  Don't worry we have the apartment complex people coming to take a look see since they are the ones who recently re-installed the suckers.

If you like this recipe I really recommend trying it out with some Captain Crunch cereal too.  So good dipped in some honey mustard!

Honey Nut Chicken 

1lb chicken strips or chicken breast cut into small pieces
2 cups crushed Kelloggs Crunchy Nut Golden Honey Nut Crunch Cereal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
1 TBS water
1/2 tsp salt 
1/8 tsp pepper
non stick cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Place the crushed cereal in a shallow dish. In a bowl, combine the all purpose flour and the salt and pepper. In a another bowl, whisk egg with 1 tablespoon water

Working with one piece at a time, dip chicken into flour mixture and then into egg mixture. Coat pieces with with crushed cereal, pressing crumbs to help them adhere. Repeat with the remaining chicken.Transfer coated pieces to a rimmed baking sheet coated in nonstick spray.  Arrange them so they don't touch each other if possible. Spray chicken pieces with nonstick spray.

Bake at 425° for 10 minutes.  Flip chicken pieces over and continue baking for 8 minutes.

Reasons I Love My Husband

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  In honor of mushy love I dedicate this post to my wonderful husband Peter, who makes sure to tell everyday that he loves me and that I am a wonderful person even when I don't want to hear it or I'm in a bad mood.  Sweetie, here are:

1. You always remember which ear I am deaf in and move around to my good ear in every situation: walking together, eating at a resturant, always letting me drive.  Oh.  Wait.  You let me drive because I'm a control freak and despite my road rage.  Your awesome, you know that right?

2.  Not only don’t you put up with my negative body image issues – you actively work to combat them.  Your constantly telling me how beautiful I am and I hope you never stop because I'm not sure when (if I can) I'll stop comparing myself to Hollywood bombshells.

3.  You buy me flowers every Valentine's Day and you don't mind when I randomly buy flowers for myself.  You always pick out the prettiest bouquets, I wish I could keep them forever!

4.  You like to play with my hair.  I love your hands in my hair, it's so relaxing.  Too bad you don't know how to french braid;)

5. You’ve turned me into someone who likes snuggling.  I'll be honest.  Before I met you I didn't like to be hugged or touched really but now I can't go without some daily snorgling.  I especially like it when you purr like a cat because your silly like that.

6. You like to do geeky things with like eat at Medieval Times or going to Megacon.  We play video games and board games together. I can say something random and you 'get it' (unless it's from Mean Girls because for some reason I can't get you to sit still and watch it).

7.  You're totally scared of spiders but not snakes or lizards.  Which is a good thing because as you know lizards belong outside and you're able to gently return them to their natural habitat when they are staring me down while I'm on the toilet or washing dishes.  Sorry my screamy yelps frighten you, I don't like lizards out of context and no we can never have a pet snake.

8.  I love that you miss me, even if I saw you a few hours ago.  Our work schedules suck sometimes don't they? 

9. You let me take pictures of our dinner, at home or at a restaurant. Sometimes you even help me out on my blog by writing a guest post, being my guinea pig or just holding the light source or camera.

10.  You don't mind that I sleep with a purple stuffed rabbit named Mr. Bunny and when I can't find him in the middle of the night you find him for me.  I love your penguin collection and you don't mind that I display them in our bathroom (because they're warm water penguins).

So in conclusion, I love you Mr. Penguin.  Always and forever.

XOXOXO, 

Heather

Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake

I don't know if I've ever you told you this, but my husband is a weird one.  He won't eat a orange or clementine (even the Cutie brand!) straight up but he'll sit there and cut open a Meyer lemon and suck on it.  He believes we should always have lemons (and limes) just hanging around.  Of course I'll buy some but more often then not they just end up wrinkled and old!

Meyer lemons,sugar (not pictured),all-purpose flour (not pictured),salt (not pictured) eggs,milk,butter

I do have to admit that I love buying citrus.  It's so pretty!  Bright yellows and orange.  They smell delicious too, especially in the middle of winter.  I can eat a whole bag of cutie clementines in one sitting!  My tongue hates me and I get a horrible case of heartburn but I just can't stop eating them.

Sugar, flour and salt in one bowl and the yolks, milk, butter, lemon zest and juice in another

I originally intended to make a lemon creme brulee with these lemons.  Peter has been begging me to make him some ever since I bought some ramekins.  Unfortunately, my eggs were bad.  I cracked them open, separated them and all seemed well.  The I started stirring them up and  OMG!  worst smell ever!  It smelled like rotting chicken.  I've never had eggs go that bad on me, ever.

Add flour mixture to lemon mixture and stirr

I felt bad that my honey wouldn't get his creme brulees  but I just wasn't up to all the egg separating again.  Instead I found this Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake recipe on the back of my bag of Meyer lemons.

Beat egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks form

Actually when I read the title of the recipe I missed the whole pudding part of it's description.  A minor oversight I suppose but when your expecting a cake and you get pudding and a cake it's quite the surprise.

Gently fold in egg whites into batter

After the cake had come out of the oven a cooled off I was very surprised by how kind of runny it was in the middle and sort of freaked out.  Two baking disasters in one day?  Really?!  So I take a look at my recipe again to trouble shoot and realize that everything is all right because it's a pudding cake and not a sponge cake like I first thought.  Interesting.

 

Bake until puffed and golden

So being the adventurous eater that I am I force my husband to try it out first. He was a bit confused too but assured that I wasn't trying to poison him he took a bite and didn't die.  The cake is very yummy.  I would have liked it a bit more on the sour side but Meyer lemons are kind of on the sweeter side so that might not be very possible.  If I make it again I'm going to add a wee bit less sugar.

Sprinkle with some powdered sugar and dig in!

If your interested in making this pudding cake yourself you can check out the recipe here.  I didn't make any changes and made just as the direction on the back of my bag instructed me to.

Link to Recipe:  Meyer Lemon Pudding Cake

Bzzagent Review: Nutrogena Hand Cream

My latest BzzKit: Neutrogena Norwegian Formula hand cream.    My kit was filled with one full size hand cream (unscented) and 6 mini/travel sized samples (original scent) to give out as samples.  As always, being a BzzAgent means I get free samples, coupons etc as long as I spread the word and my opinion about the product and I get to share the samples and the coupons with others.

One 2 oz (full size) bottle of this cream provides around 200 uses because all you need is a pea sized amount.  Nutrogena hand cream retails for around $4.99 a bottle and can help repair 7 signs of damage: dryness, chapping, splitting nails, dry cuticles, scaliness and roughness. 

Sounds like a pretty good lotion to use daily and after a d.i.y manicure to me!  I can't imagine paying someone to do my nails.  It's so easy to do yourself!  I would like to try that new gel nail stuff though.  I love to wear color on my nails but it usually chips that day and looks so ugly and I hear that get stuff lasts about two weeks.  True?  I have no clue, if you do leave me a comment will ya.

Anyways, first step to an at home manicure:  go get your stuff.  Don't want to be digging through drawers and bags looking for cotton balls in the middle of getting your nails done.  You'll need:  cuticle cream (if you don't have a small bowl with some warm soapy water), non-acetone nail polish remover, cotton balls, nail file, cuticle pusher and some Nutrogena hand cream.  Optional: clear nail polish ( I love OPI Nail Envy), cuticle oil, and a Sally Hansen nail white pencil.

Before removing your old polish or getting your hands wet, use an emery board or nail file, rounding the edges slightly. Always file in a single direction; if nails are thin or peel easily, angle the file so that it lies slightly under the nail.

Remove your old polish with a cotton ball dipped polish remover .  After removing your old polish, wash your hands and give your nails a good scrubbing with a nail brush. Make sure you completely remove the remnants of your previous manicure.

Apply cuticle cream to each nail and rub in, if you don't have any prepare a bowl with warm water and dish soap.  Soak your nails and cuticles for a couple minutes to soften them up.

Use a cuticle pusher or orange stick wrapped in cotton to remove cuticle overgrowth from the nail bed (pic #3); trim hangnails along the sides of the nail with a clipper. Never cut the cuticle! That's a good way to invite infection.  Gross!

If you have some cuticle oil (pics #1&2) now would be a good time to apply it.  If not, skip to the next step!  Just make sure to wipe your nail down with some more polish remover so your polish sticks to the nail good.

This step is also optional but makes for a pretty manicure.  Sally Hansen makes a nail whiting stick that you use under your nail to whiten the tips.  You just dip it in a little water, wipe off the excess and Viola!  instant french tips=)  

After applying the whitening stick to each tip I then use some clear polish to set my manicure.  Like I said before I really really love OPI Nail Envy.  It really helps strengthen the nail.

Your final step is to rub in some Nutrogena hand cream (or something similar).  I like lotioning up my hands before going to bed.  This hand cream is very fab.  It really does what it claims to do, my hands look awesome!  It does feel oily at first but quickly rubs in and really is fragrance free.  I also love that just a dab will do ya.  In the winter I can really go through the lotion, lol!

So if your looking to try out a new lotion and want to see results I give Nutrogena hand cream two thumbs up=)

Disclosure:  I am a BzzAgent and received these products from BzzAgent.com for review at no cost to me. I receive no monetary compensation for my open and unbiased review. All opinions are mine. 

Strawberry Chocolate Cake Pop Hearts

Valentine's Day is coming up.  It used to be a day I really really hated.  I remember being in High School and getting jealous of all the girls and boys who would get roses from their secret admirers and boy/girlfriends.  The Student Council (or something) would sell them and usually do a love compatibility thingy. I always bought mine just see who it would pair me up with.  It was amusing because I'm pretty sure a lot of the people taking the quiz would lie thus making your matches questionable. 

I saw a facebook post, either from Duncan Hines or CandyQuick, stating that Frosting Creations flavor mixes could be used in chocolate melts without seizing up the product.  Intrigued I immediately rushed to the store to pick up a couple flavors to test out in some Wilton candy melts.

I made some heart shaped chocolate cake balls to coat in my flavored chocolate.  They were a pain in the butt.  For some reason they just didn't want to stay on their sticks (because I stuck them too far in).  Then after I got them coated and place in the holder, every single one toppled over.  Hooray for chipped candy coating.

On a positive note:  The candy melts didn't seize up and the coating tasted just like a strawberry candy.  I can't wait to try out other flavors in my candy melts to use in my cake pop makery.  What other cake and frosting creation flavors should I use?  Chocolate covered strawberry was a no brainier so maybe some thing a bit less traditional next time.

Oh yeah...now that I'm married, I love Valentine's Day.  Last year we went to Medieval Times and he bought me clearanced candy from Target the day after.   He spoils me rotten (and not just on Valentine's Day!) which is 10xs better than a stupid fake fabric rose.  Not that love should be about material things anyways but who doesn't like to be spoiled?

Also, I should let my husband start editing these posts.  The original title: Starwberry Cape Pops.  * le sigh*