buggin' out

first i want to say thank you for your sweet comments. i wish i could invite you all over to enjoy some rawspberries and cream!

my preggie friend missy requested a strawberry banana ice cream cake, as the weather's been warm, baby marlie is expected any day now and miss is really craving cold things.

lucky for us i was able to get locally-grown strawberries and already had the other ingredients needed, so i got most of the ice cream cake done yesterday.

unlucky for us the banana ice cream on the top layer turned brown over night in the freezer! must have been the addition of cashews or vanilla extract.

i whipped up another batch of nanner ice cream, this time just bananas and spread the new layer on top. i thought i had saved it (the outer appearance anyway) until i overheated my chocolate! then the strawberries kept getting frosty every time i tried to snap a photo... ugh!!!

the lumpy chocolate should have been a sign to walk away from the cake and go back to it later, but i dipped the strawberries in it anyway. then i piped some chocolate chips while tiffany's "could have been so beautiful" played in my head. =(

(you know my motto, when life hands you funky chocolate, make chocolate chips!=)

i thought taking a photo near my strawberry plants would add a nice touch, but the bleepin' bugs came and ruined that idea.

see how nice the strawberries looked pre-freezer?

though not a big fan of insects, i try not to kill them (ticks found on my animals are an exception). i try to save the lil' buggers in cups or napkins to release them outside. this fly's life was spared today, but i sure could have released a lot of aggression swatting away with a dish towel!

john's impressed with my ability to capture flies. years of practice i guess. i'd really like to catch them mr. miyagi-style, but i think that would squish 'em.

funny i posted miyagi with chopsticks because today i made a light linner of veggie sushi rawls to fuel me for my evening yoga class.

our classes have been held outside by the river during sunset, under a big beautiful tree with birds chirping overhead. i can really use the serenity of this class tonight.

quinoa usually subs for rice in my sushi rolls, but this time i got the brilliant idea to use chopped jicama with a bit of rice vinegar. it was delightful - light, fresh, and very tasty. jicama has a nice sweetness to it, which i like in my sushi rolls. did you know most japanese restaurants add sugar to their sushi rice?

next time i will strain the jicama better as it was a little too moist and made the nori sheets fall apart. you live and learn, right?

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so tomorrow i will be bringing the cake to missy and we'll see how the inside looks. either way, i'm sure it will taste great. (it better!=)