Shopping Today, Baking Yesterday (and the day before)

Ok, it's seriously SERIOUSLY been wayyyyyy tooo long since I have blogged!  I know that I keep getting way behind in our other ministry blog and I figured it was pretty bad for this one, but almost 2 whole months have gone by!  That is SERIOUSLY out of control!  But, here I am!  We are venturing out today to do our pre-Christmas shopping... meaning, scout out what in the world's out there!  Being in a new country, we are going to have to put out our feelers.  Not only for where and what to buy, but looking for the cheapest prices...  It really does feel like the start of the Christmas season, which I know seems a bit early to be starting in October, but I think the coldness of the season here plus all the rain makes it seem a whole lot closer to Christmas.  Although, I was reminded yesterday that yes, there are only 2 months left!  Every time I think of counting down the days, I am reminded of that scene from the Grinch in the beginning where the Whos down in Whoville are Christmas shopping and it is the most chaotic thing EVER!  And, there is someone always shouting out how many hours are left to buy all those gifts :)  Funny!

To kick of this season, I start getting in that mood of wanting to BAKE!  Tuesday night, I busted out all the ingredients to make my apple pie!  Now, seeing that they don't have crisco here, I had to ask for a pie crust recipe without crisco.  I got one, but then I perfected it to my liking.  And now, I couldn't be happier!  I experimented with Bromley apples, since I know have access to them living here in the UK, and seriously liked them!  YUM!  Different than those granny smith in the way that they cook and their flavour is just a tad different, but YUM.  I think next time, I am going to experiment with putting different spices into the crumble topping.

My next baking adventure was last night.  I made pumpkin bread.  And seriously?? I LOVE all things pumpkin!  Just a couple weeks ago I made pumpkin cream sandwiches!  Deeeeellliiiisssshhhh!  The bread was a mix from Trader Joes that one of our friends brought us from the states.  It was suggested to make a streusel topping which I played around with and decided it was exactly what they bread needed for the topping!  That, drizzled with a bit of icing and it made the bread!  Everyone in the house LOVED it! So much so, that there is hardly anything left of it!   I have a tin of pumpkin in my cupboard that I am saving for something really great... apple pumpkin butter.  Once I make it, I will let you know how it turned out.... if anyone really reads this thing :)

That's all I can think of for now!  Happy baking!

Seriously? Seriously!
Trista

Rainy Day Box-o-Fun

I just realised that the blog title makes it sound like it rained today, but it didn't!  I am anticipating all the rainy days we will eventually have and decided that I am going to make a rainy day box-o-fun!  Hitting up the art supply store today to get my free art supplies definitely added to that box-o-fun {if you want to read more about my day, you can visit my other blog... parklondon.blogspot.com}  I am open to any suggestions that anyone has about what to add into my box-of-fun!  I will tell you what I have so far:

*a half finished scarf*

*acrylic paints and canvases* 

*sketch book*

*charcoal stuff*

That's not very much stuff!  I must think of some more fun *cheap* projects!  

I know it's seriously short, but I am getting very sleepy!  Must get to sleep!  Church in the morning! 

trista.

Fun Project of the week!

I was trying to figure out how to organise my work space.  Suzanne had given me some containers that were originally for some wall art to use as pencil holders that I had placed on my desk a couple of weeks ago.  After looking at them for a couple of weeks, I decided they needed some "tristifying", which basically means that they needed a trista makeover!  I thought with some cute paper and some rubber cement, I could come up with something cute to put on my desk.  While I was at the grocery store yesterday, I picked up some wrapping with cute flowers and butterflies.  After working for a bit once I got home from the grocery store, I decided it was time for a break and created my cute pencil holders!  All it took was cutting them down to size and rubber cementing the paper on.  Next time, I would probably use thicker paper as I had to double up otherwise the writing from these cardboard canisters shown through.  Doubling it up caused some creasing on the bottom and top that I don't exactly love.  But, for now, I seriously LOVE them!  They work great and look super cute on my desk!!!!

xoxo

Coffee and Tea! Sounds good to me!!

A few years ago, I decided that I did NOT want to drink coffee EVER again!  I began drinking all kinds of tea.  I LOVE tea!  There are loads of flavours to choose from!  I was doing really well with not having any coffee whatsoever, until Saturday.  When I had my very first cup of coffee in a very long time.  {Hubby did remind me that last year while we were in Paris I had a cup of coffee, but I couldn't recall}  Anyway, it was decaf {I clearly don't need the caffeine} and so tasty!  I have to admit, I didn't stop drinking it because I didn't like it, but I had to stop because I couldn't live a day without it!  Seriously!  No GOOD!  And, the place that I was working at when I decided to stop had a pot of coffee on all day, so I would drink it all. day. long.  Unhealthy!  No one should drink coffee that much.  That led to tummy aches and headaches, blah blah blah.  Oh, and in the midst of that, I had heard something about green tea being good for you.  So, I made the switch.

But, the other day, David had coffee and I could taste it in my mouth.  Seriously!  I could!  So, I HAD to HAVE a sip... or three.  That led to me making my own cup on Saturday from those instant via coffee packets from Starbucks {one of my FAVOURITE places EVER - not just because of their drinks, but because of the amazing ministry opportunity God has given me there right now}.  Oh, and I chatted with one of my friends early that day who said I should treat myself to coffee once a week.  So, instead of it becoming a necessary essential part of the day, I decided that I want to keep it as a special treat and stick to decaf.

While I was working the other day, I had gone to Starbucks for some chai tea {my absolute FAVOURITE!} and seeing my special Starbucks mug from the states that I had them put my tea in, I decided I wanted to be fun and take cute photobooth pics of me enjoying my Starbucks tea.  So, here they are:)

Ending with my Favourite!!!

Must get Recipes!!!

Hi those who read my blog.  I need YOUR help!  {picture smokey bear pointing finger at you and saying "only you can prevent forest fires}

Basically, this AMAZING place I live in does not seem to have crisco...

What that means...

I am MISSING a very major ingredient for my very special most amazing PIE CRUST that my wonderful aunt had taught me how to make...

Reader, here is where you come in....

Any delicious pie crust recipes?  Post them to my blog so I can experiment and hopefully find a good one!

Mind you, my aunt's in my all time FAVOURITE!  And I know it's going to be different, but, without pie crust, that means NO PIE!  And that is a serious tragedy!  Especially if you know how much my hubby LOVES...

APPLE PIE!!!!

One other recipe that I am looking for....

PIZZA DOUGH!!!  {YUM}

Seriously looking forward to what you post!

I LOVE PINK!

In case you haven't figured it out by now, my favourite colour in the whole entire world is the colour pink! I hated it when I was younger, but I have now grown to LOVE it!  It is the most beautiful colour!!!  And because I like it soooooooooo much, I buy things that are pink.  If I had my way, I am sure our whole bedroom would be pink, but because I love my hubby and know that he probably wouldn't like that very much, it's not pink...  It's blue.  But, because I can't have an entire room full of pink, I get super excited when I get a pink accessory.  So, the other day, I was at Marks & Spencer (a grocery store just by our house) I poked my head over at their clearance.  And guess what I found!?!  PINK SHOES!!!  I have been looking for flats that I can wear out and about when I don't want to wear flip flops but have NO desire to wear trainers.  These are the perfect in-between shoe!  And the best part!?!?  They were CHEAP!!!!  Living on a missionary budget doesn't allow to buy things very much at all and forget paying full price!  That's why I charity shop!  But, occasionally you can find GREAT deals in store, just like these shoes...  So, before I continue on about how much I seriously am EXCITED for these shoes, I'll just show you a picture:)

Or two...

I seriously LOVE pink shoes!!!

Yummy in my Tummy!

Today was.... BAKING DAY!!  YAY!!  About a month ago, one my dearest friends from the states sent me a care package with some of my favourite things!  Among those things that I have been missing were two bags of the Trader Joes gluten free brownie mix!  YUM!!!  I just have to say, I totally made a mistake!  The back of the bag says to bake for 30 mins or until a toothpick can be stuck in the centre without gooeyness coming out with it.  Well, I did that little test, and SERIOUSLY!  It did not come out clean after 30 mins of baking time.  So, I kept it going and going....  till I burned the brownies... OOPS!!!  No good!  It was sooooo silly of me!  Normally, I know my limits, but I was just having a very hard time telling if it was done or not.  The brownies were making this bubbling effect which really made it seem like they were not finished.  Also, with this oven, I think it tends to bake on the hotter side of things and it just seems to go a lot quicker.  So, they were probably done right on time, but I didn't listen and baked them longer.  And, for the first time EVER, I used a silicone baking pan which seemed to change things a bit anyway.  The good news is?  I still ate some!  And, I have another bag to play with.  I will probably wait a few weeks till I have recovered from burntness of this batch.  

On the upside!  I made Sweet Potato Bread!!!  It is the best thing I have EVER had!  Well, at least today anyway!  The funny thing is, we have been looking for some sort of pumpkin bread thing which is one of my most favourite things EVER and can't find a mix and the pumpkin in a can is actually quite expensive!  Since it's not autumn, there aren't any pumpkins to puree even if I wanted to!!!  NOPE!  NONE!!  So, I am now decided that this sweet potato bread is the next best thing.  It has almost all the yumminess pumpkin bread would have... I subbed a few things out for healthier options... and you could add whatever spices it doesn't have that pumpkin bread would have as well!  SUPER EASY!!!!  I have heard some very funny things about sweet potatoes... know anything?  I am thoroughly convinced they are one of my favourite things!!!  By the time I baked this bread, I knew I needed to watch it and take it out on the earlier side... so I did.  It only took 20 minutes!  A lot shorter than the recipe said, but I knew that probably would be the case as I didn't not use the size loaf pan they said to use cause I don't have one and I probably won't get one until absolutely necessary!  I can't wait to have some yumminess in the morning!  I think I will go to bed now dreaming of sweet potato bread..  It makes me want to watch ELF!! SERIOUSLY!  It smells like CHRISTMAS!!!  Oooooo!!! Christmas in London!!!! It's gonna be AMAZING!!!  And, the weather today is really dreary.... that makes it seem like autumn and winter are right around the corner....

Seriously? Seriously YUMMY!!!!