So that’s how strawberries look like outside of Costco! Hahaha! My thirty-something self felt like a kid and shared in the excitement my 6-year old was feeling.

I gave my little girl instructions to only pick the biggest, brightest red and bruise free strawberries she could find.  She nodded her pretty little head, of course.   But when we got home, I still found a couple of strawberries that shouldn’t have been in my daughter’s pail. Oh well.  She did try.  She was just happy to be doing something with her friends. Here she is with one of them comparing harvests…

After a while, she lost interest in being a strawberry picker and handed her pail to me to continue filling it for her.  We ended up with a little over $11 worth of strawberries, which were priced at $2.75 per pound.

If I may be honest, I’ve had sweeter, better tasting strawberries.  We should probably pick strawberries at the farm where Costco gets its strawberries.  But as one of  my gal pals put it, Costco’s strawberries may be sweeter and cheaper even, but taking pre-packaged strawberries in in the cold storage of Costco does not make for very good photo ops. Hee hee.  Ok.  Fine.

We’re glad we got to go strawberry picking.  We’ll do it again in a heartbeat, far from sweet strawberries notwithstanding.  So what did I do with our strawberry harvest?  I turned them into homemade strawberry filling and used it in two cakes I made last weekend.  We still had some leftover, which we can use as topping for waffles or for some good ‘ol peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  We’re taking it easy on the filling though.  Too much of it, even if it’s not so sweet anyway, might lead us to apidextra. No, thank you.

I got the strawberry filling recipe HERE, contributed by Danielle Michalski.  You won’t believe how easy it is to make!

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 C coarsely chopped hulled strawberries
1/2 C sugar
2 1/2 T cornstarch

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring all ingredients to a boil in a heavy small sauce pan, stirring constantly and crushing berries slightly with back of spoon.
2. Boil 2 minutes to thicken, stirring constantly (mixture will be slightly chunky).
3. Pour into bowl and cool completely.

Quick and easy!  It will take  more time to get in the car and drive off to Walmart to buy a jar of strawberry preserves.  It would be cheaper, yes, but where’s the fun in that? :P

Like I said, I used the strawberry filling for two out of the 3 cakes I made over the weekend.  You can very well guess what I’ll be posting about next!  *wink*

The above photo was taken last Saturday (morning).  Because we had nothing planned for the weekend, I thought it was about time I kept my promise to my daughter, one that I made almost a month ago.  And that is, to let her decorate cupcakes at home.

The cake mix that I jazzed up that morning yielded 24 cupcakes.  I reserved 11 for the Li’l Munchkin to decorate.  It would have been 12, had we not needed a cupcake for taste testing. :D  For the frosting, we used the canned Pillsbury frosting.  Not the most ideal for cake decorating, but given it will only be used for “play”, it was the most logical choice.

I only helped with the first two cupcakes…

The rest, my eager student did on her own.  She also got to use a spatula to spread frosting on the cupcakes.

For the finishing touch, she added candy sprinkles on them…

Isn’t it pretty?  Here’s another one…

I say these are the prettiest cupcakes…EVER! :)  They’re the yummiest, too.  Not even the threat of the possibility of needing to gulp down the best diet pills due to sugar overload could stop hubby and me from enjoying these treats.

Here’s the slideshow that I made to document that special day.

Today, cupcakes.  Tomorrow, cakes! :D  Lighten up.  That was just a figure of speech.  Hee. :P

Have a great week, y’all!

*This is entry #48 for .*

Alas, when I opened the tray of eggs, I couldn’t help but gasp.  Not only was one egg conpicuously missing…

…one was cracked and slightly brown, too!

In fairness to the store where I bought these eggs from (Walmart), I had 30 perfect eggs the one and only other time I got eggcited and went egg crazy.  Oh well.  I betcha even experienced chefs (yes, even the ones from popular chains like Westgate) get duped, too, every once in a while.  Hee hee.  I’m charging this one to eggsperience.  :P

Craving for fish and chips?

Wish granted!

Care for some sausage?

Tada!

How about a side of sauerkraut?

Cool off with a cup of ice cream.

Grab some pretzels to munch on while watching a jousting match!

The pretzels were certified bestsellers!

Who would have thought Kettle Popcorn go as far back as the 16th century?  Tee hee. :D

We had a wonderful time immersing ourselves in the Renaissance period, a time when auto insurance quotes were unheard of. *wink*

The above photos are the “tastes” from the festival.  Here are but a few of the “sights”, my other WW entry.

Last Saturday, after coming from a children’s party, Hubby, Abby and I headed to Ikea to check out their Labor Day Sale.  We decided to have lunch there, too.  This time, except for Abby, Hubby and I both ordered something we haven’t ordered before.

Hubby went for the day’s special promo meal of 1/2 Baby Back Ribs served with a side of fries and corn bread.

1/2 Baby Back Ribs with Corn Bread and Fries

From the photo of the ribs, would you be able to guess if Hubby enjoyed his meal?  I don’t know if Hubby just got unlucky but the ribs he was served looked like it came from a malnourished pig.  It was all ribs and no meat.  It tasted ok, according to Hubby, but he wished there was more to taste.  Hee hee.

As for me, I ordered the Pasta Marinara and Side Salad combo.

Pasta with Marinara Sauce

Side Salad

I wasn’t very happy with my food as well.  The sauce was too bland for me.  I added a dash of salt (a couple of times at that!) but that didn’t quite work for me.  I grew more interested on the car insurance comparison conversation on the next table (which was a little too loud!) than on the food before me.  I was only able to finish half of my pasta. :(  Next time, I’ll stick to the Salmon Rice Pilaf.

Redemption came in the form of dessert, our usual chocolate cake.  That, I enjoyed.

I hope y’all had better meals this weekend. :)

Check out Shamu’s Happy Harbor, my other WS entry.  Visit more Weekend Snapshot participants here.

Have a great new week ahead!

When we went up to Mammoth in California last month, we had dinner at Roberto’s Cafe, a typical Mexican restaurant.  Hubby and I love Mexican food.  But we were not prepared for the size of Roberto’s Burrito Grande (or was it called Grande Burrito?  Whatever!)…

To say that it was huge is an understatement!  We haven’t seen a burrito this size in Tex-Mex food rich Texas (or we just don’t go out that much!). :D  It was my aunt who ordered it and even she was overwhelemed by the size.  When you are served food this size, you suddenly lose whatever feeling of  hunger you might have before.  Seeing it alone fills you up already.  My aunt ate only about a quarter of the gigantic burrito.  The rest, we ate over breakfast.  This is easily good for a family of four.  Hee hee.  That, of course, is an exageration! :D

Did you know that last Saturday, 21 June, officially the first day of Summer, was National Flip Flop Day.  :D  We didn’t.  It’s a Tropical Smoothie Cafe imposed holiday, I think.  Coming from my daughter’s dance recital, we decided to get some rest at home before we did anymore weekend activities.  We noticed a few people at the main street corner going into our subdivision carrying signages.  I couldn’t make out what they said exactly except for a few random words…free…smoothie…flip flops.  Hubby got it though, thank goodness!  Apparently, the signs say that everyone wearing flipflops will get a free smoothie at Tropical Smoothie Cafe.  Woohoo!   

The Cafe is just a very short walk away from our house.  We, of course, went home first to change into flip flops.  Hee hee.  Yes, all three of us.  Instead of resting at home, we decided to rest at the Cafe instead. :D  When we got to Tropical Smoothie, we were each handed a coupon for a, get this, 24 oz. Jetty Punch Smoothie.  It’s not just a regular-sized smoothie…it was a large one at that!  A Jetty Punch smoothie is a low fat strawberry-banana smoothie.  We love strawberries.  We love bananas.  We love smoothies.  We love freebies!  Hee hee.  How lucky can anyone get?! 

June 21st, National Flip Flop Day at Tropical Smoothie Cafe

Three cheers for free smoothies!  Hee hee! :D

Anyone is welcome to claim a free smoothie without any obligation to buy anything else.  But because we are much too shy to be able to pull an act like that, hubby and I decided to split a salad while Abby had a ham and cheese sandwich.  Coming from the recital, Abby was hungry.  So it was a good decision on our part to take something.  :D

Chicken Caesar Salad

We missed last year’s National Flip Flop Day.  We’re glad that this year, we didn’t.  I’ll make sure to add this to my list of important holidays.  Hee hee.

I did mention it was also my daughter’s dance recital last saturday.  I posted a few photos HERE, my other Weekend Snapshot entry.  Visit other WS participants here.

Have a wonderful week! :)

Since I stopped eating pork and beef in the middle of January this year, I have been eating a lot of chicken and ground turkey.  During an idle moment a few days ago, I thought, “how about ostrich meat”?  Is that too crazy? :)  Have you ever tried eating ostrich meat? 

My lack of knowledge about ostrich meat and recipes where it is used led me to google the subject matter away. :)  I’m glad I did because I found out very interesting facts about ostrich meat.  Seriously!  Here are some that I got from About.com in an article by Derrick Riches with the no-nonsense title “Ostrich”:

1. The ancient Egyptians hunted the ostrich for food.
2. These large flightless birds can weigh in at up to 250 pounds and stand 7 feet tall.
3. Instead of being similar to poultry, ostrich is much more like beef in taste and texture.
4. It has a great versatility and can be bought ground, cut into steaks, as sausage and even hot dogs.
5. Ostrich can be substituted for most any meat and grills very much like lean beef.
6. It is leaner and lower in cholesterol than most any other meat, which is why ostrich is frequently found in health food stores.
7. Because it is so lean, you will see a lot less shrinkage during cooking.
8. Ostrich is higher in iron than beef so it has a very red color to it, even when it is properly cooked.
9. It is a great way to reduce your fat and cholesterol intake, while still giving you a meaty meal.
10. Ostrich has a great flavor of its own and is generally well liked by the pickiest of eaters.

What do you think?  You know what else?  You can use ostrich feathers for other things, too, like turning them into center pieces!  Now that’s making full use of the bird!  Hahaha! :)

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday! :D

Seasons doesn’t have a very extensive selection of fresh seafood.  But as long as there are shrimps, I won’t really complain. ;)

This is Oscar. :)  He was in charge of all the cooking at the seafood station.  He made us very yummy tempura and if I remember correctly, he also made me some shrimps in garlic and butter.   

Kebabs overload!  Oh why did I ever stop eating beef and pork? :D

 
Cookies and assorted chocolate goodies to tickle the kids’ tastebuds…and those of the kids at heart, too! ;)  You bet I was tickled silly.  Hee hee!

This is the part of any buffet spread which I will most likely skip so I can have room for the “dessert heavy weights”…heavy in sugar and heavy in calories.

The Halo-halo station.  That time, I skipped this one, too.

This is Melvin.  He made me my favorite buffet dessert of banana caramel crepe topped with vanilla ice cream.  *sigh*

The next two photos are of terrible quality but I just wish to show you how dessert was so beautifully presented…

Isn’t that the prettiest flan ever? 

And here are more uniquely plated desserts .  I can no longer recall what these are exactly but I’m guessing sans rival, chocolate mousse and strawberry cheesecake.

By looking at these pics alone, I think I’ve gained a few pounds already!  It looks like I’ll have to invite hubby to join me hit the treadmills at the gym tomorrow.  *cross fingers*

It was hubby who ordered the sushi platter for himself but shared it with Abby when the little girl wouldn’t stop asking to taste it.

For now, Abby uses  kiddie chopsticks, which are simply chopsticks held together by a clip.  Hopefully, she’ll soon learn how to use it without the clip. :)  I was 8 or 9 when I learned to use the chopsticks..the real slippery ones and not the wooden kind used in restaurants.  I practiced a lot on instant noodles.  Hee hee. :)

Do you like sushi?  When did you first taste sushi?  And when did you learn to use the chopsticks?  Just wondering. :)