Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving.... and Go Frogs!

I hope you all had a relaxing, tasty Thanksgiving!

We have two Thanksgiving get togethers over here.  On Wednesday we go visit one big group of family, and then on Thanksgiving we visit another group.  Being a vegetarian among a bunch of meat-eaters, and people who like to cook their veggies with bacon, I brought a yummy veg-friendly dish to both places.


This year I decided to try something new, the Festive Chickpea Tart from Let Them Eat Vegan by Dreena Burton.  The one I made Wednesday was kind of dry and crumbly.  But the one I made this morning turned out great and I thought it was quite tasty.

I also made Dreena's Artichoke and White Bean Dip, also from Let Them Eat Vegan.  Zoey and I thought it was pretty good.  Make sure to let it sit a little bit before eating it.  I tasted it right after making it, and it was much better by the time it was actually being served.

For Christmas, which will be at our house, I think I'll try a couple of her other holiday meal ideas.

Now as for the last part of the title... You see, Ben is a University of Texas grad.  And yours truly went to Texas Christian University.  And at the moment, we're watching a TCU vs. UT football game.  So, definitely a big Go Frogs.  Otherwise, Ben and his brother (who is also a UT grad) will never let me hear the end of it. 

Friday, November 16, 2012

Newly Listed - Roll On Perfume

I've had three scents of roll-on perfume made up since before Arbor Daze.  And yes, for those of you keeping track, that was last April.  And I just realized today that I never photographed or listed them in my Etsy shop.  Big whoops on my part! 



So here they are, listed just in time for Christmas gifting that special woman in your life (or yourself!)

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Ben's Favorite - It's Shiner Soap!

Ben likes beer.  He likes all kinds of beers.  But his favorite is Shiner Bock.  Ben also likes to collect beer bottles.  In our kitchen, the ledge at the top of the cabinets are completely covered in beer bottles.  There are also boxes of other bottles that have no place to go, because the ledge is completely full. 


That is Ben's Shiner corner.  Shiner has made several different flavors, and has changed their Bock label a few times.  I'm pretty sure Ben has most of them.

Years ago when he was out of town for the weekend, I made a batch of soap with Shiner Bock.  I hid it and gifted him all nine bars for his birthday.  It was his favorite soap, and from what I remember, he told all of his friends about it.

Recently he's been... nagging... me to make it again.  So I present to you Ben's Favorite Beer Soap all ready to be put to bed in the oven. 


Unlike my Brighid soap, which is made with beer and a fragrance, or Michelada, which is beer and lime, Ben's Favorite Beer Soap has nothing to add to the scent except beer.  Cheers!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

What's Cookin' This Weekend?

This afternoon I've been working on making restock of two sugar scrub scents that are almost out of stock: Ginger Milk and Oatmeal, Milk and Honey.  Well, hopefully I can make the second one.  I pulled out the fragrance oil and it was surprisingly low.  As in, I hope there's enough for me to put .5 ounces in there.

There's currently some Shiner Bock in the fridge getting nice and flat.  Tomorrow afternoon I plan to soap it up.  Ben's Favorite Beer soap! 

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Happy Belated Halloween!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

This year was the first time Zoey went trick-or-treating.  My little bumblebee had a blast.  For the last month or so since we've been talking about Halloween, she has a sentence that she says over and over.  "On Halloween, if you wear your bumblebee dress, they will put candy in there."


I guess when I explained trick-or-treating I somehow left out the part about going up to houses and ringing the doorbell.  The first house we went to was our next door neighbor.  When I tried to guide her up the driveway, she almost had a meltdown.  "We can't go trick-or-treating!"  But I told her that we were actually trick-or-treating, we just had to go ring on the doorbell for them to give her candy.

After that, it was smooth sailing and she quickly became a pro.  She said thank you for her candy and everything!

And by the end of the night, her little Elmo basket was pretty full.  For someone who only has candy every once in a while, she's got quite a stash of it!