project: brittle.

This week I've been working on a little Christmas project and that's making brittle. It's a bit time consuming but it's also pretty relaxing. One batch makes roughly 2lbs. And I've made about six different batches. To me, this is definitely a labor of love. I really like baking but for some reason this is my favorite. 

I started off making just the plain peanut brittle then figured I could add some different flavors and it kind of took off. Several different flavors, a few different nuts but for the most part one awesome outcome: everyone that's tried it loves it. 

This year, I had been searching all year ( on and off) on how to make a bacon brittle. I couldn't find anything but just candied bacon. So I took matters into my own hands and decided to make a bacon peanut brittle. It came out pretty decent. Not a complete wow like the spicy nor the cinnamon brittles I make but it wasn't disgusting so that's technically a win in itself. 

Pictured is the different steps to the bacon peanut brittle. 

adventures in the gym...

So, new goal... hit 200lbs on squats. I did about 95lbs today including the bar. And also to "rack out" the power squat, right now I'm only four 45lb plates away.  I plan on doing this by Christmas. Updates will come.

Gotta remember... everyone has to start somewhere.

... adventures in bowling?

So lately, been trying to figure out what type of new stuff to try out for the winter.  When it's too cold outside to be tromping through water and thought about giving bowling a whirl.
Before, you couldn't even get me to go through a whole ten frames, more or less, put on house shoes. Just something about wearing shoes that other people's feet have worn, thinking about where said feet been, state of hygiene, etc. Yes, I know they get sprayed down but that's not the point.
As of this past week, I've bowled six whole games and have gotten progressively better. I don't have a pic yet of me bowling so I'll leave you with this... a pic of me wearing "house" shoes. Ick.

kitchen adventures: s'mores cupcakes

A friend of mine had given the idea to make s'mores cupcakes... I didn't know how to exactly execute this so it took a bit. I finally figured it out and I'd say it turned out pretty awesomely. It's a graham cracker crust, chocolate cake middle and a marshmallow fluff frosting. This was a nice bounce back from the mishap that the Root Beer Float cupcakes were. 

adventures with bubbas.

Today is my pitbull, Bubbas, sixth "gotcha day". Yes, I realize its somewhat cheesy to celebrate this but he's made such an odd impact on my life. He's definitely not an easy going dog unless its just me and him. I always say he's my "Marley" like the dog from Marley and Me.

There's no denying this dog is a handful since the day I picked him out of the litter and he went full speed almost crashing into a door. While, trying to teach him basic manners there were tons of tears and just shoutings (not directed at him) of frustration. I wasn't the only teacher in this, he even managed to teach me a few things.

I think if I went through all the stories and pictures I have of him, we'd be here for hours... so I'm just going to leave it with a picture I took this morning of him. Maybe, I'll start adding in random stories and pictures of him. Living with this dog is always an adventure. 

taylor creek: a bit of flora, a bit of fauna.

Second time hiking the Taylor Creek trail inside the Kolob Canyon section of Zion. It had stormed the night before so there were lingering clouds, cool temps and humidity. I'll save the actual hike for a different post, for this I'll have pictures of some of the plants and the animals (or their tracks) that I came across. 

Raccoon tracks. 

Deer tracks. Oddly, these were the only two prints I saw. 

This is one of the two squirrels that was "nice" enough to humor me and my constant need to take pictures. It seemed pretty comfortable around people, as long as you wanted to "drop" a snack here and there. A little squirrel skirmish broke out between the two but I wasn't able to get a clip of it. 

I'll have more on this hike up soon, including better pictures of the Double Arch Alcove, a panoramic and the two homestead cabins you can see along the way. 

riding in cars with dogs.

This is always an adventure. Today, they go to the doggy hotel (boarding) for the weekend. These two are balls of energy. Bubbas (the pitbull)... gets nervous on car rides no matter how many times he's been in the car over his 6yrs of existence. He normally rides in a popup crate but since he sees the girl, Pickles ( Australian Cattle Dog), just wandering the back, he feels that he's been left out and needs to do the same. He, also, drools and slobbers up the windows. If you ask me that's a small price to pay for no whining and him trying to break out of the crate. Well, it isn't exactly... but it is a lot better than him constantly rolling the popup around trying to break free.

kitchen adventures: creamsicle(ish) cupcakes.

This week's was a tiny bit of a misadventure. I was trying to make a cream soda frosting but it came out more like a glaze. Hopefully, I know where that step was wrong and soon I'll work on fixing it. These are kinda my take on a creamsicle.

Cupcakes hanging out on the cooling rack

The cupcake front and center is one of the six that I tried with the glaze mishap. Still good and it did taste like cream soda but it didn't come out like it should have. Oh well, can't always come out perfect. 

One of the next cupcakes on my list of ideas to try is a root beer or one with Blue Moon beer. Of course, I'll be posting it so cross your fingers. 

kitchen adventures: cherry lime cupcakes.

I didn't exactly have a recipe for these, just an idea.  They're a lime cupcake with cherry frosting. Not much to change on them, maybe flip the flavors or add some garnish.  Pretty satisfied with the way they came out and that's saying something. 

Here they are close to getting out of the oven. One of these days I'll remember to take pics from start to finish. They even smelled delicious.

Taken right before frosting on the cooling rack. 

Here they are all frosted with some garnished with lime zest. 

adventures in the gym.

While it may not seem like a lot to some of you, this is huge for me. My summer goal for squatting was 200lbs... here it is close to the end of June and I knocked it out of the park. I hit 325lbs. today.  It's an awesome feeling. 

"We only become what we are by the radical and deep-seated refusal of that which others have made of us."

Jean-Paul Sartre

kitchen adventures: mountain dew cupcakes.

I've always been a fan of taking a recipe and making it my own. Strawberry peanut butter cookies, spicy peanut brittle... you name it. This time I went looking for this recipe for mountain dew cupcakes, I've tasted them before and they were delicious so I had to see if I could make them for myself. It was fairly easy just a bit messy to make. I'm definitely going to work on perfecting these.

kitchen adventures: apple turon

During the week I found this awesome recipe courtesy of CASA Veneracion. It's an apple turon (think sweet dessert eggroll). I'm pretty sure it's a keeper.

This is the not yet baked but rolled up drizzled in butter. 

And this is the end product. It didn't need the powdered sugar but it sure does look nice. 

spring creek.

This was a really easy Sunday morning hike that was more getting to the scenery than walking in it.

I got stung or bit by something that just seemed to have aimed for my leg and dive bombed right into it. With a few expletives and some jumping around, I even had to check on it. All that's there right now is a big red spot and some yuck. Took some time for me to blurt out a couple more expletives,  curse the bug's life and kept moving. The hike was about 4 miles give or take. Mostly sand,  bugs, saw a snake or two. 

Crossed a tiny creek a couple times, saw where the creek used to be.

There were some places where you knew a gorgeous waterfall used to be but they were long dried out.

All in all it was nice to get out and stretch the legs but I'm not in a huge rush to get back here. 

adventures in the gym.

Today, I hit my max weight on leg press and squats. 315lbs!! Did about 3-4 reps each. Not too shabby for only being a month into heavy weight lifting. A special thank you to those who said I couldn't. This one's for you.

taylor creek.

Taylor Creek is inside the Kolob Canyon part of Zion National Park. A fairly easy almost 5 mile hike roundtrip, the worst part about it was at the very end when you need to climb these stairs made for giants. It was a nice hike, could hear the birds chirping, see lizards doing their pushups, weren't many bugs just yet.

I had to cross the creek a few times. Beautiful scenery, cool perfect about ankle deep creek water and there weren't many people there. (Made the mistake of going on Memorial Day Weekend)

At the end of the trail was the Double Arch Alcove. Wow, that thing was amazing. And it echoes. If you ever visit, make sure to sit on a log or a rock... because the sand gets everywhere.  

This was the view from inside the alcove. A couple groups, nothing too bad. 

One thing I wish I did was take a panoramic of the place. Maybe take a video or two... But since it's pretty close to where I am, I think I'll have to go back and do that.  

this morning's quick little adventure