Dessert Friday #19

Hold on to your hats, folks. Guess what I didn't have for Dessert Friday this week.

Cream puffs.

Nick was in charge of it this week, and, as he put it, got us something different "to change things up a bit."

Magnum.

Magnum bars. Yeah, I'd never heard of them either. Apparently Nick didn't know about them but just got them because "they were the fanciest" at the store. Works for me. It's an incredibly decadent ice cream bar with chocolate and caramel.

Yup.

Not the usual cream puff (or cupcake), but equally delicious.

Did Bailey want some? Yes.

Hey can I have one :) ?

Did she get some? No.

No ice cream for Bailey :(

Don't worry. She got her full can of wet food this morning. Which she didn't fail to remind me about, nice and early.

Hello it's time to feed me.

Fall Days

Oh, wait. Is it fall? I'm not sure, because in the middle of the day today, Chicago snowed buckets. Literally buckets. I looked out the window at work and thought that someone was standing on the roof of our building with a gigantic fan blowing fake snow down to the streets.

And then, in typical Chicago fashion, it was sunny with blue skies five minutes later. Nice.

Despite the crazy weather, some of the trees here finally have red leaves.

Like this one!

And we've even got some ivy on our back porch that's turning lovely shades of yellow and orange.

Definitely fall.

With all the leaves falling off the trees, Bailey has been keeping vigilant watch over the apartment because you never know when those leaves might attack.

MUST PROTECT

She gets a little nutty. Which is a little annoying, but then she's so completely exhausted that she usually just passes out for hours.

Yup.

But as long as she's even the tiniest bit awake, she'll be keeping an eye out for the leaves.

On guard.

Obviously she thinks this is a really big deal. I tell her she's just silly.

Please. The apartment would be in shambles if you didn't have me.

Yup, that's probably true. But since we do have her, we just come home to mail on the floor, the rug turned over in one corner, teaspoon measuring spoons on the living room floor...shall I go on?

I worked from home earlier this week because our radiators weren't working properly and it's, oh, what, 30 degrees outside? Thankfully we got them fixed. But since I worked from home, of course this happened.

Yes it did.

How did that bag of chips get on my desk? More importantly, how did more than half the bag get eaten? Beats me.

And of course this happened.

YAY PARENTS ARE HOME

What can I say. She likes stretching out on clean laundry (that has been folded neatly into piles).

Nick went on a Lord of the Rings kick last week, and demanded (literally, demanded) that we watch all three movies. Thankfully not all on the same night, so we've been slowly making our way through them. We watched the second one last night, and I figured movie means snacks which means chips and dip, right?

 

Right.

I would just like to point out Nick's dainty pinky.

P.S. The foam roller is an absolute miracle healer. My back is about 98% back to normal. Everyone, go get one. Even if you don't have back problems, go get one. Just in case.

Dessert Friday #18

Yeah, I know I've been kind of slacking with posts lately. However, I have not been slacking with the desserts .

Cream puff, anyone?

Yup, third week in a row. It happened.

Remember the filling? I do.

Maybe next week I'll try to be original and pick something else. Although the something else would most likely be cupcakes, so that's not exactly being original. What's the most extravagant dessert out there? (Please say red velvet cupcakes.)

To counter my endless ingestion of desserts, I made a healthy autumn salad last night for dinner.

Colors!

With Brussel sprouts. I swear, as I was chopping up the Brussel sprouts, I seriously considered just not including them at all because they smelled weird. I didn't like it.

And continuing with the healthy kick, homemade garlic bread on the side. Because everyone needs a little fat, right?

Right.

Thankfully the Brussel sprouts turned out edible. As long as I had squash on my fork as well. No, I'm kidding, they actually tasted good (Katelyn, you can make them for Thanksgiving now) and definitely smelled good in the oven.

Is that rum + Coke in the back? Yes it is.

And some Bailey pictures, of course. The best ones I had were on my phone, so I apologize for the graininess and small size (apparently I didn't want to email them to myself with the "large" size option).

I judge you. Who wouldn't want to see a big picture of me?

And then there's this gem. Hilarious to me, probably embarrassing to her.

Eh? What's over there? What was I doing again?

Hahahahahahahahaha.

In complete other news, continuing with the completely random post that this has become, I went to a Pilates class last Wednesday and discovered the joy of the foam roller.

<3!

Really, someone should have told me about this before. This thing basically gives you a massage. My back was practically dancing with joy after I used this. After class I immediately ordered one of my own, and ever since it arrived yesterday, I've basically been living on it. Regular 24-year-old back, here I come.

Dessert Friday #17

Happy Halloween! I'm incredibly late with this one. Apparently having a gimpy back makes me want to sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing. Or maybe it just makes me do everything twice as slowly, so I end up not feeling like I have enough time to do everything I want to, and then I get demoralized and do nothing instead. It's a tough call. In any case, my back still sucks, and I still haven't exercised despite having ingested more sweets than ever.

Last Friday: Beard Papa's cream puffs for Dessert Friday again.

Yup.

These things are so insanely good. Unbelievable really that I'd never heard of this place until two weeks ago. Despite lugging around two decently sized boxes with me for two miles, I still went and picked up a box of these (the boxes are a long story). Let's just say walking home was tricky and involved me using my chin as a third hand.

Strawberries and cream.

Nick likes the strawberry ones. So he got three of those. I prefer honey and pumpkin, myself.

Yes indeed.

Seriously, someone, get me the recipe for this filling. Or any recipe for a similar filling. Is it hard to make?

:D

I think I'd be happy if I could just have the filling in a cup.

Me too. Can I get some of that?

There was a plethora of sweets today at work, in the spirit of Halloween. I don't have any pictures, because I was too busy stuffing my face (but really, I was). Muffins, cookies, cake, everything pumpkin...etc. You get the gist. I kind of don't want to see sweets for the next month. Wait, no, I take that back already. I'll be good to go by tomorrow.

My cubicle row at work also won a Halloween cubicle decorating contest. Pictures to come. In short, it was an awesome victory because none of us really wanted to decorate in the first place, but then we kind of started and then...kind of took off with it. Apparently we're big on crafts, more so than the actual holiday.

So really what I'd like to do is take a week off work and lie in my bed with a heat pad on my 90-year-old back and not move.

Just like this one is doing.

Just hand me some water every half hour. I'll be here.