Home for the Holidays

I've spent the last god knows how long attempting to start of this post with a video I took of my mother's rotating Christmas tree. There clearly is no video, but know that it was glorious, chock-full of super nice blown glass ornaments, and it rotated. This was a new addition to her already impressive Christmas set up. She has a lot of ornaments (like, a lot a lot) but not a lot of space for a big tree so the rotating allows her to display as much as possible. I was impressed. 

Anyway, yeah. I went home to North Carolina for Christmas!

Lots of precautions were taken, making sure we got tested before and after, traveling by car (14 hour drive, ugh) and vastly reducing the places we visited while there to limit exposure but it was SO worth it as I got to be there for my nephew's first Christmas and besides, after this year, it was nice to end it with some family time. 

I mentioned before that I was doing a lot of making for Christmas and this was one of the handmade gifts. My sister is a big Golden Girls fan and had given me this book of Golden Girls cross stitch patterns so of course I had to make her something for Christmas featuring one of her favorite characters.

The thing I'm most proud of though, is this Christmas stocking for M. My whole family has handmade Christmas stockings so I couldn't let M go without one. My mom made the actual stocking using some pre-quilted material and sewed the binding on the cuff- I just did the cross stitch bit.

I couldn't bear to make him a "normal" one which M, of course, greatly appreciated. Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like a large evil robot destroying a neighborhood with his laser beam eyes, right?

I couldn't let that evil go unchecked on such a special day though so on the back I sewed good ol' Saint Nick defeating the robot with his ornament hand grenades. 

It was a fantastic yet all too short trip- we had to get back in time to get tested before returning to work, per regulations. M took it upon himself to drive the entire way back home so I had a lot of chill time (I have a sneaking suspicion that my driving on the way down alarmed him, though I can't imagine why...). My sister got me a JavaSok, one for hot coffee (above) and one for cold. I highly recommend them! ...but maybe not the 7-Eleven coffee. Desperate times and all.

We've been doing a good job keeping busy doing our post-trip quarantine though, partially because my family bought us a Switch! Mike got Zelda Breath of the Wild and I got Super Mario 3D All-Stars and I'm currently working through Super Mario 64. I'm looking into getting Animal Crossing though, and would definitely take more game recommendations! 

For New Years Eve, we set up a Zoom party with our friends. We dressed up, chose a cocktail, chatted and played a party game! It was fun and even though we stayed home, it still felt like a celebration. It was also nice to get dressed up. I took the opportunity to don my beautiful silk metallic embroidered hoari (a jacket meant to be worn over a kimono) which I bought on my trip to Japan, along with a long, excellently swooshy and shiny skirt I recently bought at Uniqlo to really round out my Japanese inspired get up. I mostly think I looked like a fancy witch though, but I'm not mad.

source

M took his inspiration from a Mr. Bean t-shirt I got him for Christmas and the Mr. Bean New Years party episode we watched recently (M is a long time fan. He also does a pretty good impression. I definitely picked a winner 😊). He wore this shirt, a bowtie (he didn't want to hide the shirt with a regular tie) and a blazer. And I of course made him a party hat. We were clearly the best dress couple.

Our signature cocktail was The New Englander- a Moxie-based cocktail made with, of course, Moxie, gin, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and a lime wedge. Moxie is a very polarizing soda- you either love it or hate it. Adding gin and Worcestershire sauce might not sound like it's doing it any favors but I assure you, it's a delicious cocktail and tastes vaguely like NECCO wafers. 

For New Year's Day, I decided to break in my new dutch oven. Isn't she a beaut? I've been wanting one for ages and am glad to have one in this pretty blue. I figured I needed to make something extra special what with it being the first day of the year and all so I made some beef bourguignon, Julia Child's recipe no less.

It took about 3 or so hours all told but it was so worth it. It was a hit, though I don't think you could go wrong with some beef simmered in a bottle of wine for a couple hours. 

Served with a good chunk of garlicky baguette. Luckily this makes ton so we'll be good to go for a while.

Today I gave myself the sad task of taking down all the Christmas decorations. It's nice to have the house back to normal I suppose, but it's always a bittersweet chore. This time, I decided to take a picture of all my ornaments, partially to share but also I'll be interested to see how my collection grows by next Christmas.

They basically fall into 4 categories as shown above- birds, which I love to have hovering around the top of the tree, fill, which is exactly what it sounds like, sentimental, which I got from my parents house a couple years ago, and fun, which are largely space themed but not necessarily on purpose.

A lot of the sentimental ones were given to me by my grandparents, including the small Hallmark nursery rhyme books (they open and close!) which they gave me from 1993 to 1997. Its nice to have those up and read my grandmother's recognizable scrawl on the side of the boxes. 

I'm glad my "fun" category is growing though- if I buy ornaments myself now, they usually fall into that category. A friend of ours was clearing out his Christmas stash and is going to give me some Hallmark Star Trek ship ornaments so it's only going to get better! Aside from those, my goal is to make some for myself next year. I'll have to start early though as I always take on so many projects for other people around the holidays that I never find the time.

Since that was a lot of (kinda sad) work, I intend to get as much done on this No Face cross stitch as possible while lazing on the couch watching murder mysteries. Tomorrow I might do some much needed cleaning... or I'll continue with this. Plenty of time to be productive when vacation is over. Besides, one of my big new years resolutions is to finish what I start so I'm not allowing myself any new projects until this is done.

And lastly, check out my sweet needle minder. It always makes me smile and think of M, my own personal Mr. Bean. That, and I've stopped dropping my needles so much only to find them when I step on them later on...

I hope everyone had a great holiday and has a fantastic new year! It can't be any worse than 2020, right? 

...right?

source

Definitely probably one of many beach trips

When I lived in North Carolina, I was a good 5.5 hours drive from the ocean which meant I didn't go to the ocean. My NC hometown was adjacent to national and state forests filled with various lakes/rivers/waterfalls/swimming holes so did I go swimming? Yes. Was it in any way a reasonable replacement for the entire grand Atlantic ocean? Most definitely not.

That is why, when I moved to Massachusetts, I promised myself I would be at the beach every week during the summer. Right now, I'm at minimum but no more than an hours drive to the ocean which still, even 7 years after my move, blows my mind. That's pretty far for some I'm sure but man! I can just pop on over to the beach whenever! So crazy!

This of course, does not ever happen. I go on average... maybe 3 times. The whole summer. Every year, as Spring quickly warms up, I think I'm going to beach it up constantly. And every year I end up, well, not doing that. This weekend though, covid and all, I resolved to go as it was supposed to be a scorcher. Sunday was forecasted at sunny and 95, how could I not go?

I planned carefully and decided that Wells Beach in Maine would be a good choice. Yes, it was in a different state, but Massachusetts beaches, as well as ones right over the border in New Hampshire, tend to get especially crowded. It makes sense given the high population of the area. Sure, Maine normally gets its fair share of crowds but what with the whole global pandemic thing, it's many regular visitors from Canada aren't making the trip this year so it's not so bad (sorry guys).

Wells is a double bonus in that, though it has the necessary bathroom facilities and things, it doesn't have a full boardwalk right at the beach that people tend to flock to. It's lined with summer homes which makes for less crowds and some great additional scenery for my many shoreline walks.

I am happy to report that when we got there, I was not disappointed. 

Look at all that wonderful social distancing. Sure, it got a little more crowded in the afternoon (we got there at about 10:30) but there was always well over 6 feet distance between groups of people. 

My guy, going out to cool off in the ocean, always the whitest one on the beach. We're both pretty fastidious about sunscreen application but M is especially vigilant in the hiding-from-the-sun area (note that we have an umbrella also). I know it's not good for my skin but I will admit, one of my beach related weakness is a good beach nap. Something about taking a snooze in the sun while listening to the ocean... that's some high quality relaxation. 

Beach walks along the shoreline are probably my most favorite beach activity though (and probably where I got my slightly red nose from. I need to invest in a hat) and I took a couple. I'm not a swimmer (as in, I can only manage a disappointing doggy-paddle) so I'll at most wade in up to my waist, which I most definitely did this time because it was HOT. Oh god it was so hot. 

I knew it was supposed to be hot this weekend but thought we'd get some relief at the beach. I suppose the beachy breeze and access to the icy Atlantic technically count as relief but it was still definitely 95 freaking degrees (Google tells me that's 35 degrees Celsius to the rest of the world)! We were fine, taking dips in the ocean and huddling under our umbrella but then I thought sitting outside eating clams was a good idea...

A short drive up the coast from Wells is Kennebunkport, an awesome touristy town my family always went to on our Maine trips. Tons of shops and restaurants in a cute/walkable downtown area. There's also... The Clam Shack.

When we got there, we decided to cool off in a bar with some water and a cocktail (Hendricks gin and tonic for me, the finest summer cocktail in my opinion). Then onto the Clam Shack for the very best fried clams. Usually when I get seafood I have a go big or go home attitude and opt for scallops or lobster (especially lobster when in Maine). The Clam Shack fried clams are too good for even me to pass up though so I couldn't leave Maine without some, especially since M had never gone. 

I mean look at those babies. That batter is something magical. 

This was definitely a fantastic idea in theory, except... did I mention it was 95 degrees?? Sitting in that heat eating fried clams did not really sit well with me so I started to feel a little unwell (I believe a direct quote from me was "M, I think my heart is beating faster than it should be..."). I'm a little sad to say our plans to explore Kennebunkport were rainchecked and we left shortly after.

And yet, I have absolutely no regrets.

[Oh and do not worry, we drank lots of water throughout, I just think I'm especially heat intolerant. I quickly recovered with the help of car air conditioning and more liquids.]

We got home at about 6/6:30 which was plenty of time for us to binge watch some TV recover before coming to work today. We had both had a pretty rough week so we needed a relaxing weekend I think. On Saturday, my biggest accomplishment was winding bobbins for my big cross stitch project and buying a plant. 

It was such a zen weekend, I didn't fly into a rage when I realized I was STILL missing a color floss (HOWWWWW?!?!?! That's 5 store trips and counting...).

And this is my newest addition, a Raven ZZ, something I've really been wanting but haven't found it at my local nurseries. This bad boy I stumbled across, pot and all, at the grocery store of all places. ZZ plants are supposed to be hardy and easy to grow and but I specifically held out for this super cool black variety.

I hope everyone also had a great weekend! Here's to a good week!!

Freedom Isn't Free*

Welllll I've been gone longer than I meant to be. Life happens, no big deal, but I'm happy to report that it's because I've been consumed with p r o j e c t s. A few recent discoveries led to a renewed excitement to do some sewing but more on that in a sec. Right now, I have to brag a little about my recent holiday.

Happy belated Fourth of July to my fellow Americans out there, here's to hoping this year we do a little much-needed positive personal growth, yes? I spent the day at work, sporting a Keith Haring t-shirt I stumbled across in Target of all places when I ran in the day before to get some essentials. 

Looks great with my photo ID/keycard lanyard doesn't it? I'm not one for getting decked out in super patriotic gear but I do love Haring so I made an exception. Plus, I like to go slightly over-the-top if I have to work a holiday in the hopes that I help make the day more fun/exciting for the kids stuck in the hospital.

I was pretty psyched to get home because I had a hunk of pork shoulder sitting in my crockpot waiting to be turned into barbecue which, to southerners, is pulled pork as opposed to a catch-all term for any grilled meat. A crockpot doesn't technically barbecue make but I worked with what I had. Want to make your own stupid easy crockpot barbecue? Here ya go:

-cut excess fat off your roughly 4lb pork shoulder then rub on a dry rub of your choice.

-put 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar and 3/4 cup water in your crockpot, then put in your meat, being careful not to rinse off all your dry rub.

-cook on low for about 8 hours until shreddable. 

-take out the meat, let it cool, then shred it with your hands being sure to get all the fat and cartilage bits out (yummm, amiright?). I suggest disposable gloves for sure.

-spread shredded meat on a baking sheet and put in the broiler for a few minutes so it's more like barbecue and less like pot roast. Keep a close eye on it though, you want crispy edges, not dried/burnt meat!

If you're wondering what do to with all this shredded meat once you've got it, this is what you do:

The good ol' barbecue sandwich on a toasted/buttered potato bun, smothered in bbq sauce, topped with coleslaw, with a side of chips. There was also definitely beer involved (Cisco brewing Grey Lady if you're curious. A great summer beer). Sure, not the most healthy dinner but it was delicious and hey, this is the US after all. Har har har.

Speaking of unhealthy, this wouldn't be complete without dessert of course so I picked up these little angel food cakes at the grocery store and made a 4 berry compote and whipped cream to top them up with.

I was pretty generous with my berries apparently. 

I was very happy with myself for making all this food- I've been phoning it in a little on the dinner front lately and was happy to get stuck in and do some serious/different kitchen stuff.

Aside from that, like I said earlier, my life has been overtake by a new project. I discovered a new online forum for fellow crafty people and it made me realize that I never had someone to really nerd out to about my crafty stuff. People in my life are super supportive of the things I make of course but they're not makers themselves (aside from my mom, which isn't quite the same as discussing it with your peers) so there are aspects of it I can't really discuss with them. I didn't realize how much I was missing that outlet until I found it.

Of course, seeing other's work has led me to realize I want to seriously step up my game and somehow, this lead me to getting WinStitch. 

WinStitch is a cross stitch pattern making software that I've always wanted to try out. Over the course of a few days I tested demos of a few similar programs and decided on Winstitch because I liked the accuracy of the pattern- to-imported-picture ratio better. I've shied away from these programs before because not only is it a new technology I have to learn (not my strong suit), I had to pony up for it. $31 for the standard package isn't bad at all I thought so here we are.

After getting a feel for the controls I finally made my first pattern and of course, it's Star Trek related. 

I always loved the Holodeck episodes of Star Trek: TNG, especially "Elementary, Dear Data" because I also happen to love Sherlock. This is the original picture I snipped Data (my favorite character) from:

Source

I cropped it, photoshopped out the background, then uploaded in into Winstich where I limited the colors from over 140 (!!!) to a more reasonable 40, added words and then a border. I might still mess with it a little but for the most part its done. 

I even tea-dyed my fabric to sew this on!

Between this and a pattern I bought from Etsy and have already started, I have my work cut out for me and I'm PUMPED. I had to got to two craft stores yesterday to get all the thread I needed but it'll be worth it. 

It's right before that last picture I took after I had finished organizing my thread that I realized I was somehow missing 4 colors and need to go to a THIRD craft store to get them. But we won't talk about that.

Here's to getting excited about making things again! I'll be sure to update you on my progress. :)

*It's $1.05

Will Ride For Ice Cream

I know it's Thursday but I wanna talk about last weekend, ok? I definitely meant to do this earlier of course but time tends to get away from me. I just painted both my toenails (lime green) and fingernails (deep purple) though so I'm currently glued to this chair on, you guess it, my porch until further notice and typing is about the only wet-nail-polish safe activity I can engage it so here we go.

Orly "Saturated" (aka purple) and LA Colors Color Last "Energy" (aka lime green)

Last weekend was yet another in a long string of actually good weekends punctuated with moments of me anxiously thinking "I'm not wasting my precious weekend am I??" Apparently I continue to need to prove to myself that I'm doing alright so I managed to snap a couple pictures along the way and with this weekend approaching being one in which I'll be working (I work every other weekend), I might also want to revisit/live vicariously though last weekend at some point. 

Friday was grocery shopping day. That doesn't sound exciting, I know, but we decided to attempt to actually eat at a real-live restaurant while we were out. Like I mentioned last post, Massachusetts is in Phase II of opening back up and in addition to retail being open, restaurants are allowing outdoor seating (I think that's a bit silly- why not just allow limited capacity inside??- but I'll take what I can get). There's a restaurant we like that's conveniently located adjacent to our supermarket of choice so we put in our name, wavered at the wait time (1.5 hrs!), decided to go for it, then killed the time by doing our shopping and taking a stroll around the shopping center. It ended up being a 2 hour wait due to the fact that they had issues with their system and lost our name but by the time we realized that we were in too deep and went for it anyway. By the time we got our beers (large ones), we stopped caring and just enjoyed being able to eat at a restaurant again. I gotta say, it's the thing I missed most.

For my first restaurant outing in months, I think I made an excellent choice and got the classic New England summertime treat: a lobster roll. I got mine with a side of sweet potato fries- not so classic but a person favorite. Lobster, plus the fact that lobster rolls scream "summer" to me, plus this being the first thing I've had served to me in ages, PLUS the 22 oz of Founders Porter made it a delightful outing, despite the wait.

On Saturday we didn't have any solid plans but I decided to try and tackle something I've been meaning to figure out for quite some time now...

Last year, my mom gave me an extra sewing machine she had lying around (because that's definitely a normal thing to have extras of hanging around the house). I've only used a sewing machine maybe twice in my life thus far and each time my mom did all the hard bits- I just stepped on the pedal and ran the fabric through. This seems to be a fairly basic, if not super current, model (I seem to remember my mom's having more dials and things), which is good because I took me half the day just to figure out how to set it up.

My first project is hemming a curtain. Very simple and straightforward and I won't be sad if I somehow mess it up, which is highly likely. I've got the machine threaded, the curtain cut/pinned/ironed but... that's it. I briefly had a go but very quickly it turned into a jumbled mess. Ah well, I'm just happy I'm finally giving it a shot. It'll be nice to learn a new crafty skill that's actually useful. Cross stitching is all well and good but how many funny Star Trek samplers do you need (answer: a lot. It was a trick question)?

On Sunday we decided to go for a "little bike ride" and somehow ended up going a full 20 miles.

There's my sweet ride. I suppose I should've taken a better picture but I was too busying hydrating at the time. It's a Montague Crosstown and has a rear RackStand which my backpack is lashed onto. M has the Urban model, it's wheel is peaking in the bottom left. The cool thing about these bikes is that they fold up, basically in half and the front wheel gets removed and it all gets tied together. The folding process is super quick and uncomplicated (when M does it anyway) and makes it so we don't need any sort of bike rack on our cars or special vehicle to transport them. Where physical activity is concerned, I've found it's best to remove any sort of barriers to it happening because we will jump at the chance to find an excuse not to do it. Also, an interesting tidbit: these bikes were designed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the HQ is still in Cambridge. Shop local, right? 

It was a really pretty day- sunny and warm but not hot. Everything was so green and nice and while there were quite a bit of people on the trail, it didn't seem too overcrowded. We did this trek last summer with M's family and not only was it hot but I made the foolish mistake of wearing denim shorts. My poor, poor derriere. This time was so much better (but my derriere still suffered a little, that bike seat takes no prisoners).

It wasn't just the glorious day that got me to invest twice as much time and effort into this bike ride than I had originally planned. It takes more than a few rays of sunshine to get me out and pumping out the miles, I also require...

Blueberry ice cream! Yes, yes I will bike 20 miles if you promise really good ice cream. Good health is not enough of a motivator for me apparently and anyway, life is about balance. 

The rest of the day was filled with games and me trying to be crafty, like the rest of my free time this weekend. It was a good mix- I exercised/got outside, ice cream was involved, good food, fun games, projects started... yep, another good weekend in the books. I feel like the weather is really helping me lift my mood and this weekend is supposed to be in the upper 80s (about 31 C) so despite having to work, I think I'll be able to get some good out of it. I'm sure the kids will be dragging me outside at the very least.

The Weekend is Alright

This weekend I've had a little bit of a struggle really getting into/excited about any particular project. This always leaves me in a bit of a funk and is something I've really been struggling with lately and Saturday it was a particularly rough. It's a beautiful Sunday today though, cooler than it has been, and I'm feeling a bit better about things so I think it's a good time to remind myself that, despite my lingering doubts, this weekend has been pretty great.

Friday was a little rough work-wise, but M and I spent the evening playing some games. We finished a game of Terra Mystica we had in progress and I'm really sad I didn't take a picture because not only did I win, I crushed M. It doesn't happen often, I have to admit. But that just makes it extra cause for celebration when I do.

source

Terra Mystica is an awesome game by the way, one of my favorites. Click on the source link for the picture above to learn more but it's a fairly intense/complex game- but not overwhelmingly so. There's a number of different races with unique abilities that you can play as and your basic goal is to most successfully colonize the game board.

Later in the evening, after dinner, we opened a beer (mine was the previously mentioned Long Trail Blackberry Wheat, highly recommended), and played backgammon on the porch. It was still beautifully warm out there, perfect for a porch party as M called it.

We briefly used that lantern because it also serves as a bluetooth speaker but of course the bugs couldn't get enough so we switched on the string lights instead. Porch party!!!

Saturday, as I mentioned above, was my real "off" day. I did my best to try and settle on something/occupy my mind. I did get some gaming in, playing a lot more Fez as shown below, and later in the evening, M and I played Diablo III until midnight. I think going forward, games will be a good tool to use when I find I'm having trouble getting myself out of a little bit of a depressive episode. They're a lot more engaging than, say, just giving up and sitting in front of the TV and I feel better after a game binge than I do after a TV binge. I still feel like I'm using my brain.

Taking a walk though is always one of the most helpful things and since the weather was so awesome  I knew I definitely had to get out. I ended up taking a little over an hours long walk (or, an entire episode of the My Favorite Murder podcast) and dude, just look at the pictures I took. So beautiful!

After I got back from my walk, I grabbed the mail and discovered I had a mysterious airmailed package. The sender's last name was Fforde which I thought was strange because the only person I know of with that last name is one of my favorite authors, Jasper Fforde....

WAIT A MINUTE

Yup, that is a signed copy of Jasper Fforde's novel Early Riser, sent by Mr. Fforde himself. After some sleuthing (i.e., frantically texting my sister who's name was included in the personal inscription I left out of the picture above),  I discovered that Jasper Fforde created this Instagram post:

Which my sister saw and emailed him requesting one of the copies be sent to me. I am amazingly lucky to have gotten a book as there were only 21 up for grabs and I am doubly lucky to have such a thoughtful sister to try and get one for me. Its like the universe knew I was going to have a shitty brain day today and arranged for the coolest mystery mail ever to arrive.

Needless to say, I ended Saturday feeling a whole lot better than I started it.

Sunday, I woke up later than I meant to (that's what I get for playing games so late) and right away, got kind of grumpy about it.  I had meant to get up and make strawberry pancakes because I had strawberries that were getting close to going bad that I wanted to use up, but M had already eaten breakfast by the time I was up. Determined to enjoy the day, I cut up the strawberries and sprinkled on some sugar to macerate them (sugar is also a preservative!) and set about making a pound cake to later smother in said strawberries.

Not bad! Hope its good, I've actually never made a pound cake before. I used this recipe, using this method of turning my AP flour into cake flour as that is not something I keep on hand.

We also went to the grocery store which, nowadays, counts as weekend excitement. I think later in the day we'll play some more games, either tabletop or video, I'm not sure. I may read too, now that I've got a very exciting book up next after I finish my current one. A good end to a, yes Ashley, great weekend.


*Post title comes from The Who song "The kids are alright" which was stuck in my head as I wrote this.

Happy Easter!

Slightly late for an Easter post, sure, but hey, I got sick.

No, not that sick.

Yes, in a time of global pandemic and heightened contamination precautions, I managed to get a minor head cold. I'm feeling much better today though, and even made it out onto my porch with my laptop for some much needed fresh air after spending all of yesterday camped out under a quilt on my couch watching James Bond movies and eating half a box of white cheddar Cheez-Its (the king of all Cheez-Its in my opinion). I'm trying to shake off a little of my grogginess in time to take a nice afternoon walk.

I can't possibly believe this terry cloth romper was ever cool (source)

Anyway, Easter. Right.

I don't generally make a big fuss over Easter at the best, non-pandemic, of times. For some reason, my work doesn't classify it as an official holiday and it always seems to land on my weekend to work. I would normally head over to my aunt's house after work but of course I couldn't do it this year so I missed out on seeing my family and, tragically, having a good excuse to dress up (just joking, I don't need an excuse. I do like showing off a little though).
Despite these (very necessary) set-backs, I determined to make it a special day all the same. Unfortunately though, Easter crept up on me this year and I wasn't prepared to make our traditional ham-feast. I didn't think to pick any up on our last shopping expedition and I didn't want to be irresponsible and make a trip when it wasn't strictly necessary. No worries though- I had a good scrounge around my quarantine stash and came up with a pretty decent alternative.

Yes, that is a Kurt Vonnegut altar candle.

A little hard to see with all that ambiance maybe, but I made garlic butter baked chicken thighs adapted from this recipe with rosemary roasted potatoes and dill carrots, pared with the porter I talked about here. It was good, though I suppose I'm biased. We ate on the small table in our "office" because it was a little more romantic and also our kitchen table looked like this:

Eldritch Horror, not a game to be taken lightly... or with minimal table space. It takes so long to just set up that once you do, there's no clearing it off for dinner. We totally lost that game by the way.

For dessert, I made aquafaba meringues which are made from the juice leftover in a can of chickpeas (read about that weirdness here). It whips up exactly like egg whites and is a great waste-not-want-not tip. Also, you can give the meringues to unsuspecting family and friends and once they've finished, you can inform them that they just ate bean juice cookies, it's fun.

I topped the cookies with Lemon Krimi Skyr and crumbled graham crackers to make a sort of Frankenstein version of a lemon meringue pie. Again, I really nailed it here and had to stop myself from eating the whole batch.

As a last piece of Easter goodness, I had ordered something from Amazon a while back and in these days of more uncertain shipping times, I thought I'd be receiving it later in the week. The Amazon Easter Bunny pulled through though and I got home from work with the package waiting for me on my desk.

Just a little something I slipped into my cart along with the more necessary things. Its the OG nerd watch, the Casio CA53W-1 Databank. Coming in at a whopping $18 on Amazon, this dream come true was a no-brainer purchase. I love watches and appreciate the more complicated movements of traditional analog ones but there's something about Casio's vintage range of digital watches that I absolutely love. One day I'll ramble on more about my ever increasing and slightly weird watch collection but I'll leave it there for now.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter weekend and is holding up well in isolation!