Truffle Shuffle

As a single gal, I am a reliable, and yet slightly boring Valentine. Every year I buy my sister and niece the same box of Sjaak's truffles. I buy one for myself too, because I love me, and I might as well get the most out of the shipping charges. We had our traditional V-day dinner last night and ate way too much food. I wasn't even going to break out the purchased treats, since we have homemade ones that will expire much sooner.

By request, or rather, pushy demand, I made cookie sammiches. These have been a favorite since the first time I made them. They're also the reason I load up on EB sticks and shortening whenever we make a run to the "nearest" veg friendly store. I hope to be able to remove the quotation marks one day but I think we'll move closer to a major area  
before they bring any goodness out our way.
For a surprise, I decided to finally make the Oreo Truffles I printed out ages ago. I feel bad I do not remember where I got it from and can't link to it or give credit. I know it is all over the internets though, so seek and ye shall find. I'm still trying to figure out if my food processor sucks because it is too small or because it shares a motor with a blender, or because I just put too much stuff in it at once. I seriously thought I killed it when I added in the cream cheese but I pushed a few other buttons and it worked just fine. I will read the instructions before I use it again, don't worry.

The rest of it was easy, kill time while the "filling" refrigerates, melt chocolate in your makeshift double boiler and dunk the little balls of yum into the melted chocolate. Of the two of us, my sister is the one who makes chocolate covered sweets so I was not as adept at fishing the truffles out and nicely laying them on the wax paper. I know if we were racing side by side she would have totally kicked my butt because I take way too long, trying to make sure each one is sufficiently coated. Meanwhile the chocolate starts to solidify and there is not nearly enough left to finish since I don't get it right until halfway through the process. Luckily I had more chocolate to melt and learned to be less picky about how they turned out. They're incredibly rich and remind me of brownies, which is fine by me since I love brownies but have yet to make them just right.

Next year I'll remember to either make or buy treats but not to do both. It's far too much of a good thing. If I really get a good thing going maybe someone will be treating me by then.

happy (f)easter!

i think i started revving up for easter some time in mid february. i fell for the seasonal shopping trap of jumping from one holiday to the next in the blink of an eye. unfortunately by the time easter actually got here, nearly all of my interest was gone. i had been so excited to see family and keep our traditions alive even after my uncle had passed. i was eager to don my rabbit ears and give my niece a big basket of nonsense and bite the head off an organic dark chocolate easter bunny from sjaak's. i had even agreed at the last minute to join an easter morning soccer game my sister's boyfriend was planning. for whatever reason i just couldn't maintain the excitement and motivation i had earlier in the season.

last night i made a late trip to the grocery to get makings for bean salad since i could not show up empty handed. i think i stayed up until around two dragging it out since i was tired but also didn't want to rush it and ruin it. going to bed so late made me not want to get up to play soccer so i flaked out like a jerk. it sure was nice to sleep in though. i had breakfast and walked the dog, then started getting ready to head out, but not before putting a basket together and hiding some plastic carrots around the house for my niece.

as we rounded the corner of my uncle's street and started to see everyone's cars it all came back. there were so many people and so much food i think the first ten minutes or so were solid hugging/greeting time. we didn't have all of the original activities, but we still had an egg hunt for the kids, tug of war and my unfavorite, the raw egg toss. we used to also have sac race or three legged race but not for a few years now. one or both will be back next year according to my cousin. my niece found 29 eggs in the hunt, with a little help from my sister, her boyfriend and myself. i didn't last too long in the egg toss but at least i didn't get any egg matter on my outfit since our egg hit the fence. i was on the winning side of tug of war, but my one of my havianas lost on the second round. i was able to fix it, thank goodness.

for dinner we had a fast food feasting frenzy after forty days of abstaining. we had taco bell and pizza. i must admit it was disgustingly delightful. i also enjoyed my easter chocolate, perhaps a little too much. i had two rounds of peppermint tea and a long walk with the pup afterward since we missed the usual 4 o'clock park trip. i make sure she gets all her walks in, or rather that we get all of our walks in, sometimes they're just shuffled around.

it was a great day but i am glad it is over. i'm updating my playlist and i'm out. happy easter everyone.