Ice Cream Safari - Week 2

It's amazing to me that there are ice cream shops in the area that we have not been to yet! Today's stop had only four flavors of (really good) soft ice cream, but a big assortment of sprinkles, toppings, and dips.



Dora chose lemon lime twist with cotton candy sprinkles. It was gorgeous! I loved the colors! Unfortunately, she wasn't as excited about the ice cream - the fruit flavoring was very subtle - and they didn't have sugar cones, which are her favorite.



Theo got his usual favorite, twist with rainbow sprinkles. But we should have gone baby size, because it was too much for him to finish!



Clark was snoozing when we arrived, but woke up in time for a choc-van twist with (favorite color alert!) BLUE sprinkles, very exciting.



And the kids really got a kick out of this sign!

Ice Cream Safari 2011

We are very excited to have another Ice Cream Safari this year! We started out this week at a shop that I've driven by thousands of times in the six years we've been here, but never stopped in. It always looks closed - it's a huge shop and a huge parking lot, but we rarely see cars parked in front. They specialize in homemade custard and it was delicious! A bit more expensive than the shops we usually frequent, but it was a good treat.



Dora LOVED it. She was having such a hard time deciding on a flavor, because so many looked good to her. She begged to come back another time so she can try more. Two thumbs up!

Are you planning your own Ice Cream Safari this year? Here you go!

Get your passports here.
Covers updated for 2011 here.

Pen & Ink

We've been having a very Harry summer in our house - Potter, that is. Theo's been playing the Lego game for awhile and I checked out The Chamber of Secrets audio book from the library to jump start interest in the series. Both kids loved it - Dora couldn't wait to share the discs, so she started reading the books ... and zipped through all seven in FOUR weeks. She's always been a remarkably fast reader, and I continually worry about her comprehension, but she does seem to absorb everything, as she often refers to minute details and characters that I barely remember. Theo is about a third of the way through book four. Both kids are going to a Harry Potter camp in August and are way excited.

On a picnic this weekend, Dora and Theo collected geese feathers (quills!) and wanted to try their hand at writing with ink. Happily, I still had some stashed away from art school days along with a couple of pens and showed the kids how to use them.



They came up with some awesome creations!



This is Theo's self-portrait. He's missing three teeth right now, can you tell? (Which reminds me that his recent one is still sitting upstairs. Bad Tooth Fairy!!)



Dora drew some characters from the books. I love the texture and look of these drawings, I never would have thought of doing pen and ink with the kids, but am happy we did. Dora grasped right away how easy it is to do fine detail and we talked about how many book illustrators use this medium and thought of some examples.



I am in love with her drawing of Snape!

Baking Monday - Cinnamon Sugar Butter Cookies

Yes, it's Tuesday, but yesterday was a holiday. A couple of weeks ago, I hosted my first ever Tupperware party, and it was loads of fun. The consultant gave me a choice of a few things she could demonstrate making during the party, and I chose salsa (it was yummy). So, I opted to go for a whole southwest theme for the party, including margaritas (also yummy), tropical fruit salad and mini taco appetizers.



I was searching for a cookie that would go well with the mix and decided on these cookies from Mrs. Fields. Very snickerdoodle-like, they were buttery and delicious. They spread quite a bit during baking so make sure to space them far apart on the baking sheet.

And I just happened to have this perfect little plate for the occasion ... Theo's second birthday party had a cowboy theme, and our neighbors brought dessert on this plate for us to keep, and this is the first time it's been used since then. I have no idea why I hung onto it for so long - probably for just such an occasion!

Sorry for the lapse in posts the last couple of weeks, we're finally in summer vacation mode, which means late bedtime, late sleep-ins, and very little time to myself. I spent last week's spare moments baking and cleaning for our yard sale (YAY), so I'll have lots of treats to post over the next few days.

What I Love This Week - Snack Edition

These little containers are meant to be used for freezing jams, but are the perfect size for snacks on the go. They are easy to open and stay securely closed. They also stack and snap together, which is convenient for storing but also when mom is trying to carry snacks and water bottles for three out the door. Like!

Random Baking

Pics of baking projects over the last month or so ...



First Communion cookies - I loved this color combo.



Cookies for school Ice Cream Social - still having bleeding issues, hoping to solve them with ...



... new icing colors! Had to give the new Americolor gels a spin. I challenged them with my two toughest color combos: blue/gold and green/gold. Good news: no bleeding! Still having spotting problems, though. Will keep trying. I also Disco Dusted a few cookies to try it out ... this will take some time to perfect! My family was very happy to eat the test batch.



LOVE these silver sprinkles. We don't have a good baking supply store here, but do have a wonderful farm store that has jimmies and sanding sugar in every color of the rainbow for super cheap.



Vanilla cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting and ...



... chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing. These were for our friend's bridal shower last week. I accidentally filled the first tray of liners too full and they all baked over the edge. Again, family was very happy to eat the mistakes.

Baking Monday - Caramel Pretzel Bars

I made this recipe for pool practice on Friday night - pretzel crust with a caramel Kisses and topping. I think they would be just as good with regular kisses or chocolate chips in the middle, but the caramel kisses made them extra gooey. They are reallllly good. A bit crumbly, but then everyone who had one also found themselves picking the crumbs off the plate, too.