So There.: Things I Love

Showing posts with label Things I Love. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Hulling Strawberries - the easy way!

Ever seen this trick on Pinterest before?

I FINALLY remembered to try it. Oh man. It's a good one! And it's infomercial tagline totally lives up to its claim.
"Are you tired of cutting off the top third of your strawberries just to remove the stem?!"
...Why yes, I am.
"Next time, just use a drinking straw! It pushes the core and green stem up and out, leaving the rest of the whole fruit in tact!"
...Yep. Accurate.
Just keep a few plastic drinking straws around in your knife/kitchen tool drawer and never waste part of a strawberry again!

It does take a touch of finesse and elbow grease to aim exactly for the bottom middle of the berry, and then push to detatch the stem from the berry top.
But, it is super easy, and doesn't take any longer than carefully cutting off the stem with a knife.
Total win!
Try it!!

Especially with perfect farmer's market strawberries! Yum.

A perfect strawberry! No waste! Definitely a good trick to keep around.

Linked up With:

A Pinch of Joy

Lemon Tree Dwelling - Saturday Night Fever

Monday, August 11, 2014

OC Fair 2014!

My sister and I have an annual tradition of going to the OC Fair, riding Tilt-A-Whirl, eating our weight in fried foods, winning some tiny-ass stuffed animal prizes, and just having a grand ol' time!

After quite the indecisive parking disaster, we finally made it in and headed straight for the (ok, for the bathroom first!, then for the) Australian Battered Potatoes with cheese and ranch!
If you've never had these before, you must make them a fair staple! They are amazing!

The Cheesy Bacon Bombs, caught my eye next, and were the greatest decision ever! Basically croissant biscuit balls stuffed with cheese and bacon. Ain't nothin' wrong with that!! They were, like, actually legit good. Like, appetizer at a party good. I might have to make them someday! I actually Googled them, and apparently they are a real thing. Outside of the fair world.

We found the Deep Fried Doritos I wanted to try this year, but, honestly, they looked kind of lame. They looked just like a plain Dorito chip. Barely any batter or anything...looked dry and boring. So we passed.

Then, we walked around a bit through all the infomercial booths to get our appetite back, after stuffing our faces with "dinner".

We always have to get our photo booth on!

This yellow background was everything this year! Changin' it up from our usual black and white photos.

We decided on a little roller coaster in place of our usual Tilt-a-Whirl ride, because, let's be serious, we are getting old, and there is always a huge risk of an instant migraine and/or nausea from fair rides these days. Boo.

Games were next, which are all too expensive lately! But worth it! So worth it.
Even for these sad, sad, tiny prizes. Didn't the boobie prizes used to be a little better?!
Sigh. Womp Womp...

Next up was dessert!!
Obviously, I couldn't decide between a few last fried options, so we got two to share!
We chose the deep fried cheesecake, and deep fried slice of red velvet cake!
OMG you guys. a whole, huge slice of cake. With frosting and all. Straight up battered and fried. It was amaaaazing!!! So was the cheesecake, as it got all melty and delish. Oh man. These were a great decision. No matter how full we may have been.

A quick stop to see the leetle goats, and other animals, and we were on our way!
They actually had the Budweiser Clydesdale horses there, and even the Dalmatian dog from the commercial! Gah! So cute! Except it's always sad how small the cages are :( Ugh.

They also had oxen and camels which was really cool. And those dang Alpacas are so cute!

Ah! I love this tradition. I look forward to the fair every year! So much fun!

Love you, Seester!!!

Did you get to go to the fair this year?
What was your favorite food??

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Joys of Pinning

Happy New Year!

OK, um. Pinterest is the greatest thing ever.

I used to email myself links to blogs or websites I wanted to remember - crafts, recipes, etc. NOW I just "pin" them to my oh-so-organized Boards and can save them all in one place. PLUS I can see other people's pinned ideas and find MORE great ideas!

If you need an invite (yes it is invite only...ooh, la, la how exclusive) to Pinterest, let me know your email address and you too can soon be in Pinning heaven.

Coming soon: Trying lots of fun new recipes and even more fun home decor and craft ideas. Guess the point is to actually TRY the ideas, not just pin them as I have done thus far.

OK, here I go!

These might be the first few...

Recipes:

Chicken tamale casserole

Roasted baby potatoes with mushrooms, asparagus and parmesan

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

Crafts:

Sweater Vase

Braided Tshirt Scarf

Photographs in a jar

Happy pinning!

So There.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Pier 1 Strikes Again

Loving Pier 1 Imports' wall art and lamps right now:

I also received a $10 off $10 or more coupon (Awesome.), so I headed down to my store and got:

a really cute reusable bag

and adorable, pink butterfly wall hanging for Kylie's room.

I like free things.

So there.

Lazy Beach Days

I have two new favorites for my beach days this summer:

BEACH CHAIRS. Why have I been going without you all these years?! Laying in the sand on a lumpy towel?! What a rookie. Joe has since shown me the ways of the beach chair this summer, and there is no going back!! We got ours for pretty cheap at Rite Aid: they have canvas handles for carrying on your shoulder, and adjust to recline back.

Needless to say, though, my front is much more tan than my back, because tanning my back does require leaving my wonderful chair for said lumpy towel...