- I got my hairs cut last night. After years of living down here and just going to whoever was free at whatever salon I happened to be close to, I think I’ve finally found a place and a girl that I really like. This is the fourth time she’s cut my hair — not to mention that she also did my hair for my wedding — and every time I’ve loved the outcome. So if you’re local and in need of a haircut, I recommend Natalie at Shear Pleasure in Friendswood. I wish I could make it look that nice every day (i.e. I wish I was willing to spend 20 minutes styling my hair every morning), but fortunately it looks pretty good even without any styling — which is another sign that Natalie is good!
- Jen and Jonathan are on vacation in Japan and she’s updating her blog pretty often, so I am TOTALLY living vicariously through her this week. I have such fond memories of our trip to Japan two years ago. I really want to go back there someday.
- I am really enjoy listening to Harper Blynn at the moment. Christina’s brother-in-law is the “Harper” in the band, so I bought their first album a couple years ago because of that. But I keep looking forward to new stuff because they are actually really good in their own right. You should buy their albums.
- I decided to put a sewing machine on my Christmas list. I’ve been wanting to try a few simple sewing projects for a while, but the voice of reason in the back of my head keeps telling me that it’s wishful thinking and I probably won’t spend the time to sew much of anything even if I DO have a machine. So I figure it would make a great Christmas present — something I haven’t bought for myself, but would be excited about receiving as a gift! (A Kindle also falls into this category, if you are wanting to buy me a great Christmas gift! Hint hint!) The only problem is that I know only the barest minimum about sewing so I don’t even know what machine to ask for, which lowers the chances that someone will get me one. If you’re knowledgeable about sewing and have any good advice, I’d love to hear it.
- I finally bought the Angry Birds game for my iPhone. It is just as addicting as everyone says.
- Last night I made these pumpkin whoopie pies. I wanted to make something for tomorrow’s meal, but it needed to be something I could make in advance and take with us to Corpus Christi, and these looked like they’d work. I made the cookies and the frosting last night but kept them separate, and I’ll assemble the pies this afternoon. Since I haven’t finished them, the jury is out at the moment. I’m a little worried that they may not be a slam dunk — they are different than the image I had in my head, not in appearance but in texture. The cookies are very cake-like (as a whoopie pie is, I realize, but I expected them to be more cookie-like). They are yummy, but I checked on them this morning and they got VERY sticky overnight. This seems to happen to pumpkin bread a lot. I put them in the fridge for the day in hopes that the stickiness will decrease before I assemble the pies this afternoon. The frosting is good, but extremely sweet and I suspect I might personally end up preferring just plain whipped cream (I’m not a huge icing fan). In any case, I’ll report back on how they turn out.
- Related to the above: Becca had never heard of a whoopie pie, so I assumed it was a southern thing. Not so! They are apparently also a New England thing.
Don’t you remember how there would always be whoopie pies at the 4th of July picnic at the farm? I think Laura usually made them. That’s where I remember them from, not from the south. Pumpkin ones sound good!
There was an article about whoopie pies just recently in the Observer, and it said, “if you haven’t heard of them, you’re not from PA.” Isn’t half of Becca’s family in Philly??? She should have heard of whoopie pies! Everyone at the farm makes them and apparently they have become popular. They are always good and I agree w/ Katie — pumpkin ones sound good!
I guess I know them from the farm then! Yeah, I sent that link to Becca and she said “oh I’ve had those, I didn’t know they were called whoopie pies.”