Key Lime Mallowpuffs

Yesterday was one of those days.  You know what I'm talking about, right?  Day starts and it's so humid that you can't tame your hair to look like something other than a wild animal.  Your walk to work is punctuated with drops of rain and gusts of wind.  Finally arriving at work you realize that you have to start your day with the thing you hate the most, running a column (insert your least favorite task in place of "running a column").

I don't know if it was the rain or my crazy person hair or my dislike of running columns, but the day just wasn't happening for me.  I also blame the book that I've been reading.  I keep getting sucked in and wind up going to sleep at midnight each night.  A totally normal time, except when you wake up at six every morning.  So tired...

I drudged through my day, things getting better, then worse, until finally it was time to go home!  A mere fourteen hours after I had entered the building.  I blame that last hour on the NMR, it just wouldn't tune.  Appartently that was my fault because I forgot a step while changing the probe.  (Sounds sciencey and fun, right?)  I'll have to remember next time I do that, don't wear hair pins while changing the probe.  Why?  The NMR is a 500 mHz magnet, and it tries to eat hair pins, ie, pull them out of your hair.  It's a very strange sensation.

Even though my day was kind of a bummer, at least I had these cookies to help me through.  Originally I was asked to make Griffins Mallowpuffs.  If you are a native New Zealander (like the person who made the request) you'll know just what I'm talking about.  If you're from the northeast, then you know them as Mallomars.  Unfortunately, Nabisco only makes mallomars in the fall as they tend to melt in the summertime.  Instead of sticking with the traditional vanilla marshmallow on vanilla cookie (like a mallowpuff), I decided to continue my key lime trend and make a Key lime pie Mallowpuff!  Make these and your day will be a little brighter!

Strawberry Gelato

I’m not a terribly lucky person. I’ve never won the Mega Millions (you might have already figured that out, knowing that I live in a 300 square foot apartment). No one has ever showed up at my door with a big check and a bunch of balloons (though, boyfriend did send me a GIANT birthday card one year). I’ve never won a March Madness pool (yes, this is a game of luck, not skill).


However, recently the tides have been turning on my luck. I might just be a lotto ticket away from moving into a larger apartment! I’ll have to buy some more furniture. Let me give you a few examples of my changing fortune…


What's in there???

While getting milkshakes at Brgr last weekend, I got the bigger milkshake. Boyfriends was ever so much smaller. Who’s the winner? Me! (Brgr makes delicious milkshakes. Delicious, expensive milkshakes!)

On a recent walk to dinner with boyfriend, we passed by a series of discarded scratch-off lottery tickets. Most of them we left on the ground, until we came to the crossword scratch-off. (I love the crossword scratch-off!) Boyfriend picked it up and we stopped, was this a winner? Whoever threw the ticket on the ground failed to realize that they had won! We took it to the gas station on the corner and cashed it in for ten dollars! Winner? The piggy bank!

Pink?  I like pink things!

A few weeks ago I commented on Mardi’s blog, because I love her blog, and was entered to win a giveaway. Low and behold, a few days later I was informed that I was the winner of a whole bunch of strawberries! Mmmm, spring fruit. I never win giveaways! A week or so later I got an e-mail from my apartment telling me that I received a package and that I should come get it before they eat it. I was so confused, eat it?

When I got home I was given an enormous box of California Giant strawberries, the whole box smelling like springtime. Eight containers of strawberries were hulled and frozen, just waiting to be turned into something delicious. Here is the first of many upcoming strawberry recipes. And it is so good…


Oooooo, dinner...



Parmesan Zucchini

I can’t believe that I’ve been living in Connecticut for almost a year now. This past year has flow by in the blink of an eye and I’ve really enjoyed being back East. Sure, there are things I miss about being in Colorado. All my crazy gym friends and teaching classes every week. My expansive mountain view apartment and its separate rooms. The crazy Colorado weather and its wide open skies.

I have come to learn that Connecticut has lots of great things too. I love being able to walk everywhere that I need to go, I haven’t driven in months. The changing seasons here in the East are all so pretty, my parents and I enjoyed going ‘leaf peeping’ this fall. I’ve met some pretty amazing people here too.

Those people I’m talking about are my Monday night girls. My Monday nights used to be full of work, dinner then sleep. Now they are filled with conversations, laughs, good food and chick TV. Being in the chemistry world it’s rare that you find a group of girls and I’ve found a great group.

Each Monday we start by heading to K’s house and making dinner. Last week it was feeling very spring-like and we grilled out. By ‘we’ I mean K cooked and L and I watched. This recipe today comes from last week’s dinner, our delicious and cheesey side dish. The main dish, while tasty, was a little more carbonized than I usually prefer... I’m never coming over and eating free food again K! (I’m just kidding, I’ll be over around 7!)