Baking Heaven

This is to illustrate that I don't only take photos of food - Oh, lemurs, how I miss you!

And here is the picture of food - see what I have to distract me? It's terrible!

So, this is what I do instead of do work (which I will be doing right after this and finishing my croissants): Bake 'n' Blog! The week and a half that I have to share is really only the former half, though ...REALLY.

I believe we ended our story on Wednesday, August 6th. Thursday, I ate out twice in one day! I went to lunch a pretty high-up lady in the paper lobby - who is probably crazier about recycling than I am. This was at Organic To Go! Kind of ironic how my first experience at this Issaquah, WA based eatery was in DC...Dinner was a lovely catch-up with a friend at Amsterdam Falafel. Not a huge fan of falafel, but the toppings made my day (and it was all vegetarian). Friday night I went to my first Shabbat service all summer, which was followed by a vegetarian potluck.

Saturday was nothing too exciting, just farmer's market, and a 5-mile run ending at TJ's. Bought chocolate, sugar, peanut butter, and some useful things. I think I tried to work at Starbucks for a while (that may have been Sunday, tho).

Sunday began as a typical one might. Swimming, a quick stop at Whole Foods to see if they finally got my yeast in (they hadn't). Then, that evening, as I'm watching the Olympics, I get called over to the cabinets being cleaned for our newest house member...lo and behold - there is unclaimed peanut butter, sugar, honey, oatmeal...oh, lovely. Then, the slab surfaces. This huge chunk of Ghirarrdeli dark is just screaming for some love and attention. My housemates present me with the ultimate challenge: use the entire block by the time I leave in three weeks! Will all the training pay off? Can she win the gold? Tune in during primetime to find out LIVE.

Turns out, having large slabs of chocolate around me is very dangerous. Sunday night I made some delectable peanut butter fudge, which involved two bowls to make (and therefore lick when done). During the week, I also made brownies twice (first time, too fudgey - although yummy, but the second time fantabulous), and pudding a few nights. Half of my croissants will be Pain au Chocolat, and this week's line-up includes hazelnut biscotti (some chocolate, some plain, and some chocolate-dunked) and buckeye balls. I did not eat ALL of these products - I brought them to work to feed hungry government employees. However, I have consumed a good deal more chocolate in the past week than usual (supplemented by my purchases at TJ's) and have had considerable my trouble falling asleep at night (that silly theobromine - look it up).

Can you tell that was the highlight of my week (and next two weeks)? Well, I did a few other things this week...like watch a lot of Olympics, not get enough sleep, go on a tour of three Traditional Neighborhood Developments (you can ask me if you actually care), go out to Java Green twice, and see a bizarre Italian movie, La Notte, at the National Gallery. There was a reunion of sort at my house last night, which unfortunately used my deck, but they were nice folks.

Is today already Sunday? And almost 5pm? Ok, stop distracting me...I have important work to do! Make sure to stay tuned to see what chocolate delicacies I cook up next (and if I can live up to the challenge)!

I'm Reading: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (and you should, too!)