On a Sunday...

...we did a lot of cooking. The menu was yellow curry chicken with raita. We also had some delightfully tart lemon cookies.



I wore my favorite shoes & pretended to be Julia Child.


I had the most fantastic sous chefs, Craig & Devin.
Excuse me--Sous CHeffs.
Who can CHiffonade.

 
I also got some cousin lovin'. Apparently, love of polka dots & ridiculously excited faces run in the family.

Isn't it great to have paparazzi friends?
& Farberware knives?
& chiffonade skills?
& cousins?
& curry? 
The answer is all of the above.
My belly & my heart were rather full of happiness.

 

Thanks to Jeremy & his lovely Canon camera for making me feel like a famous chef.

Oh, yes. There was also a fish. & Devin.

Alluring Tart Lemon Cookies

I know that "autumn" & "lemon" don't always go hand in hand. But today, I wanted something full of zesty lemon flavor. A mere lemon cake was not enough. So lemon cookies. With lemon icing. Sometimes you just need something really fresh on a chilly fall day. These lemon cookies are super simple and very lemon zingy. The cookies are pretty good, but the icing makes them something semi-celestial. And alluring.

(We had a very hard time finding a fitting adjective for these cookies. We also considers subLEMONal, luxurious, and lusty. Beware.)

Cookies
1 lemon cake mix
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup water
2 tsp fresh lemon zest


Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Shape cookies into small balls, about 1 inch in diameter (the cookies spread out & get very thin). Bake at 350ºF for about 9 minutes. 


Icing
Note: This icing is more like a glaze. It should be thin. Don't worry. It will all work out in the end.


3 tblsp. cream cheese
3 tsp fresh lemon zest
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tblsp. milk
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (a blend of ginger, cinnamon, allspice,
the juice of one fresh lemon


In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, milk, and the lemon zest. Beat with a hand mixer on high until smooth. Add nutmeg & pumpkin pie spice. Stir in powdered sugar. Add lemon juice & blend until smooth. 


Once the cookies have cooled (at least a little--I know you're impatient), drizzle the icing over the top. Enjoy!  

newsflash

Fact: Eating more than a dozen cookies in one day might make you easily excited by things that are shiny. Or wiggly. Or completely normal.

*twitch*

Brownies, anyone?

ba ding da ding ding ding

Under the Sea

I now have photographic proof of my newly-found epic nature. Why do I feel the need to declare my own awesomeness? Well. I scuba dive. In Cozumel. That's why.

Big thanks to my daddy, who spent a lot of hours convincing me that my claustrophobic ankles would be totally fine & that I "wouldn't even notice" all the gear once I was below the surface. Turns out, he was right. Go figure.

PS- I had the soundtrack from The Little Mermaid stuck in my head on one of our dives. It was perfect.