Have your cake and eat it too!

I'm a doer.

I like doing things for other people.

Its just in my nature. 

Unfortunately sometimes I get busy doing and agree to do to much.

Case and point: This weekend.

Gawain's coworker was taking donations for an auction this weekend.  I agreed to bake a cake for it.  Its an auction right?  It has to be fancy! (um that was my stipulation, not the coworkers).

Yes, you are correct!  I did in fact make a triple layer keylime coconut cake with key lime frosting in between the layers and swiss meringue buttercream frosting on the outside with sprinkled toasted coconut  and a key lime on top. (yes those are the key limes I got from Lee's Market)

Yummy right?

We were so sad to see that go out the door.  We couldn't really eat it anyway with our competition going on.

Froggy's best friend was also having his birthday this weekend.  His mommy asked if I could make the cake, to which I promptly agreed and also offered to make cupcakes for.

Again, a doer.  

All of this wouldn't have been such a big deal if they weren't all needed on the same day (Saturday) and if I didn't have some weird ear infection/cold/sinus infection with which I was feeling more like dying over and not so much like baking.

As you can see it turned out ok in the end.

(I guess I actually just really like baking when it comes down to it, and since we can't have any good stuff with this competition, I haven't been able to bake as much as I'd like)

Thank you for my cake, but seriously, do I have to wear this stupid hat!?!?!?

The price is right!

In an effort to help us Gawain win the Biggest Loser competition , I have been trying to buy more veggies and fruits. Just 5 servings is an easy one point. Actually we really like veggies and fruits any way, and tried to eat plenty before the competition. I'm sure you know that they aren't exactly cheap.

Enter Lee's Market.

A couple of months ago we were at a party and some friends told us about this market where all of the produce is really, really cheap. Like they had bought 2 avocados for like a dollar. Dude! I had just bought one avocado that day for like 2 dollars! They said that it was in White Center and I should check it out.

Ok, I have a confession to make. I am TOTALLY TERRIFIED of White Center.

Yes, it is basically only 2 blocks from my house, but seriously, it is like one of the ghettos of Seattle. You only have to say "White Center" and people you are talking to are like "Ohhh...." like "Oh dear I can't believe you are still alive." Like seriously, in the first couple of months that we lived here, our car was broken into 3 times, the second time, the stereo and speakers were stolen and the third time the starter was destroyed in an effort to start and steal the car. The main drag of white center has at least 3 porno shops, which like to display the nativity scene at Christmas time and there is just overall general seedy-ness. I hate to stereotype, but, there you go.

ANYWAY, I decided since times are tough and money is tight I would overcome my fear and go to this Lee's market and check out the produce.

Pictured below is a typical trip to the market. Please guess how much I spent.

Go on, guess!

Can you believe everything pictured above (except the dog) was only $9.10???? I'm serious! I can barely believe it myself!

It works like so:

Already bagged things are $1.25. Anything not bagged is either 3 for a $1 or 2 for $1 or some insanely cheap amount per lb. In fact, I go in there so often, sometimes the nice lady behind the counter just lets me have stuff for free (like a single jalapeno pepper or a tiny little thing of ginger). There is a catch, in that they don't always have the same things (like for a while they had a giant bag of romaine hearts for $1.25, haven't seen that in a while) but if you aren't picky they have lots of stuff to enjoy. The best thing we've found twice now is a bag of about 50 key limes for $1.25. at the store 1 lb (about 30 limes) is 4.99, and it takes 22 limes to make our favorite dessert. The quality is actually suprisingly good for the price you are paying. I see them outside pulling off the bad bits of lettuce and bok choy and just putting the good stuff in bags. They may be smoking while they are doing it, but hey, I wash it all of when I get home anyway, right?

Here's to hoping you have something as equally awesome in a ghetto neighborhood close to you!

Spring at last

So I've been meaning to post this for quite some time, inspired by my friend Caboose's blog when she did a similar post.  Enjoy the first signs of spring (from like a month ago actually....)

Tiny daffodils under our douglas fir in our front yard

A cluster of crocuses...croci?....anyone, the plural please?

Umm...you'd have to ask Gawain...I'm not sure but they're pretty!

Spring: new life bursting forth from the dirt...sure is something, isn't it?

Happy Spring!