Weekend Recap

Whew, I had a busy weekend--here's what I did:

Friday afternoon, I headed home to get Emma and we went to a dog park one exit down from my house in Brentwood.  I really liked this dog park even though it was quite a trek for tiny legs just to get there.  Emma had the best time barking at the dogs in the "big dog" dog park!  We were alone most of the time we were there, so she could walk around and sniff without being chased by other dogs.  This was our first time to visit this park, but we'll be back for sure!

I had to be sneaky with my video camera--she always stops doing whatever she's doing when she sees a camera!

Unfortunately for Emma, a trip to the dog park also meant a bath.  She hates the bath part, but loves the hairdryer afterwards!  She feels so soft after being brushed out and bathed--if she liked it even a tiny bit, I'd bathe her every day!

Saturday was our lazy day.  I did some laundry in between napping and watching TV.  I got a second wind around 10PM and scrubbed my bathroom for a while including some time on my hands and knees cleaning baseboards--what a Saturday night, right?  I also made pie crust in my new food processor.  I don't know why, but I'm always almost out of butter while I have plenty of margarine.  Thankfully, I had three sticks left which was just enough to make three pie crusts.  I whipped these up and then stuck them in the fridge per Martha Stewart's directions.  I also knitted another square for a blanket my work knitting group is making.  I think we have about 30 squares now and need 19 more to finish our 7x7 blanket.  I've got to stop trying to do complicated things and just pick a pattern I can finish without too much thought!

Sunday was a very busy day.  I went to church and then hit the ground running.  First, I grabbed some lunch and went to work to try to finish a few projects.  Things didn't go as I'd hoped, but I still got about three hours in.  Then, I went to Home Depot to have some spare keys made--that reminds me, I need to make sure they actually work since I seem to have a problem with new keys every time I have them made.  Then, I went to the grocery.  I don't know how I manage to spend $75 and barely have anything to eat.  I did get ingredients for the two pies I made later in the day and several "staple" ingredients (milk, eggs, butter, etc.), but I had to think about what I actually had to make for dinner. 

After unpacking the groceries, I set out to make my pies.  I decided to make a chicken pot pie for a coworker with a new baby and also to make a chocolate meringue pie to share at work.  I've made the chicken pot pie several times in the past, but I've always used store bought crust.  I had more difficulty rolling out the crust and then transferring it to the pan than I expected.  I tried using parchment paper and then tried my silpat, but neither worked as well as I had hoped.  I think my dough was too warm at first and then too cold after a few minutes in the refrigerator.  At least I got the pie made and I wasn't too embarrassed to give it away this morning.  The chocolate pie was a little more difficult since the crust was definitely too warm when I finished working with it.  I still managed to produce something that was eaten at work, but I didn't flute the edges or do anything else pretty with it.  I have to admit, I did a little happy dance when I peeked at it in the oven.  It may not be perfect, but it looks quite good for a first attempt if I do say so myself!  Grams would be proud of me for trying to replicate her recipe!

I'm not going to quit my day job to become a food photographer anytime soon!

My kitchen was an absolute disaster when it was all said and done last night.  I tried to clean as I went, but I still had a completely full dishwasher and then more dishes to wash by hand.  I think I used every one of this set of bowls from Williams-Sonoma--the best kitchen purchase I've made in a long time!!

All in all, it was a good weekend.  I wish it lasted for another day or two, but that's just not in my control!  Now that I've made pie crust (#1 on my summer projects list) it's time to tackle yeast rolls (#2 on the summer project list).  I've had trouble with these in the past, but maybe I'll have better luck this time!