I had the best day with you today...err yesterday?

Yesterday, Gracie came to visit me for the day - Heidi was in town for work. It was so fun, that today has been ultra boring and lifeless.

Baking pink cupcakes was the first thing on our list of things to do. (pinkalicious planted the idea). The internet does wonders when it comes to instant homemade pink cupcake recipes. "Look Abbey It's red!" Gasp. Red food coloring is Mia's new favorite toy! Hilarious. I stifled laughs and blankly explained that we never play with food coloring - it doesn't matter the weather or if we are happy or sad. I will always be able to see her innocent little eyes looking up at me with the I-know-I-did-something-wrong-but-I-don't-know-what-because-I-like-my-pink-hand expression. haha. Once my heart returned to my body, we danced to enchanted and aladdin music to keep our minds busy while the cupcakes baked. They tasted delicious- everything is better when it is the color pink.

Swan Princess.
"Abbey! She isn't a princess anymore!She's a duck!"
"Why is she a duck?"
"Because she wanted to go swimming."
Duh.

Hide n go seek ended my perfect day. My sister's boss said you are such a nice sister to babysit her. I was totally taken aback. Nice? As if it was inconvenient for me? Freak, if being nice is code for being given the opporunity to play with my adorable and squishy niece, I will definately be nice more often. I definately am the one being benefited when her and I get to play. Truly blessed. Love her.

I had the best day with you yesterday...

I am a chef. :)

Some of the wonderful things I am learning in my culinary arts class:

When you saute something, you are supposed to put in the ingredient in when the pan is already hot (yes it makes a difference).

Blanching is useful before you saute something. Blanch is to place the item into boiling water. Boil for a few minutes and remove and cool instantly. (it just partially cooks it--who knew?)

That you can poach more than eggs :)

16 T is 1 cup. 3 t is 1 T. Therefore, 48 t is a cup.

Fish stock does not take that long to make and is relatively easy (this is important because that is a goal I have in my life - to make fish stock. Weird I realize. Fish bones have a lot of calcium!)

There is a difference between relishes and chutney. relish = pickled ingredients. chutney= contains some sort of acid.

That honing you knife makes it last longer (Ellen got to see me a creeper and hone my knife. It was pretty cool).

Mise en place is french for "to put everything in its place." (in other words, have every dish for dinner ready and hot at the same time :)).

So this was a very exciting and informative post. Why I just posted about cooking? I have no idea. But I hope you enjoyed it. and now you will hone your knives and blanch your vegetables. hehe.

Goal for the day: Change someone's life today! Smile, wave, hug. Try to make another person happy instead of yourself!

Abbey Worry Maughan

Cheesy. yes. Abbey Maughan is cheesy. And cheesy is abbey maughan.

Laughs. Fog. Basketball (whaat). Kiwis. Madre. Preach My Gospel. Sleep. Yoga. Nieces. Cell Phone. Washers and Dryers. Cars. Ice Cream. Music. Forgiveness. The Atonement.

Those are just a few of the things I have been grateful for today. I will try to post things to similiar to this a couple times a week. :)