40 Days

My church is doing the 40 Days of Purpose right now. I have to say I was intrigued by it when they did it at the church I grew up at back when it was really popular, but I was in college at the time and when they actually started going through it I happened to be studying abroad in Norway. I did get really excited when I saw a 40 Days of Purpose poster outside a church in Hamar, though!

So I was excited to hear my church was going to do the series. I also thought this might serve as a good time to reign in my sweet tooth, so while we go through the series I'm not eating any desserts. I figured 40 days is a good amount of time to let my body get used to less sugar, and this is an easy way to keep track of how long 40 days is. I have to say, a week in and it's really tough! I know the first week is the hardest and then I'll get used to it, but it seems like all I want is chocolate, cake, chocolate cake, cookies...I think I already would've broken down if it wasn't for Matt holding me to it.

Despite the not eating desserts, I've been enjoying the series so far. We're even hosting a mid-week small group for it, which is exciting as well. I really enjoyed our first meeting this week. It was fun to hang out with a couple of friends we've known for a little while and get to know a couple of new friends, too. Plus, in addition to our small group, we're going through the study with the youth - so Matt and I are going to know the material well!

Anyway, I'm excited to see where the rest of the 40 days go. On that note, I'm going to go eat a pear.

Applebee's vs. Domino's

A few years ago I discovered my love for Applebee's Chocolate Lava Cake. Warm chocolate cake with hot fudge pouring out of the center...I still don't understand how anyone could not like it. It seems like since then all sorts of other restaurant have realized how popular lava cake is, so they began selling their own versions - none of which were up to par with Applebee's (I try them everywhere I go).

It just so happens that a few days ago we saw a TV ad for Domino's free lava cake when you purchase an order of Domino's BreadBowl Pasta. Matt and I had been talking about ordering pizza for dinner, and although I'm not much of a pasta person, I wanted that cake. Needless to say, for dinner that night we ate pizza, a pasta breadbowl and two lava cakes (Matt knows I have a really hard time sharing dessert). I have to say, this lava cake greatly exceeded my expectations. It was amazing. The cake part was a bit more crunchy than I anticipated, but it had a really nice flavor and it turns out I ended up liking the outside a little crunchy (crunch like a cookie, not like a cracker). The chocolate on the inside of the cake was rich, milky, and warm - even though it'd been sitting in its box until we were done with the more substantial part of dinner.

Applebee's, you've met your match. Not only did Domino's lava cake taste better, but it's about a third of the price, and you don't need to leave a tip (unless it's delivered). Yes, it's much smaller, but that's good. The smaller serving was much more reasonable for a person to eat on their own, and it left me wanting more instead of feeling sick to my stomach. Applebee's cake has been demoted to second favorite and Domino's now gets the distinction of finest lava cake in all the land (at least according to Emily). I kind of want another one now...

National S’mores Day, Chocolate and Julie & Julia

First of all, happy National S’mores Day everyone! I won’t really be celebrating because we don’t have access to an open flame, there are no marshmallows in the house and I’m allergic to graham crackers. I might be able to dig up some chocolate to eat, though…

One of my favorite types of chocolate is 70% dark chocolate “Concerto Batons” from Trader Joe's. Unfortunately they discontinued them a few months ago, but my mom is awesome and drove around to several local Trader Joe's to get them while she could and while they were cheap. When Matt and I moved to Washington, she rode up with me in the car and brought an entire box for the trip, which she let me keep upon our arrival at the new apartment. We (or rather, I) did a really good job of not eating the whole thing all at once, but then the heat wave hit a few weeks ago and we didn’t think to put them in the refrigerator before they melted =( They just don’t taste as good anymore, although that hasn’t stopped me from eating them. The only chocolate we have in the apartment is now the last baton…and I think today might just be the day to finish it off. It is National S’mores Day, after all.

Today is my parents’ 35th wedding anniversary, too. Yay – go Mom and Dad! Congrats on being happily married for so long.

So last night Matt took me to see a movie he had no interest in seeing: Julie & Julia. I really liked it. For those of you that haven’t heard of it, Julie & Julia is the story of a woman named Julie who decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook in a year. It also tells Julia Child’s story of getting into French cooking and creating her cookbook. I really identified with Julie’s character because I could see myself reacting the same way in similar situations, and Meryl Streep portrayed Julia Child as such a wonderful, vibrant woman. I have to say, the movie inspired me to cook. We desperately need to go to the grocery store (which we’re planning to do today), so I’m planning to pick up a few items to help with one of my favorite things to make: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! I know it’s a much easier dish, but I’m more of a casual cook so I think that’s okay. I’m excited to try out the recipe in my America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook that my aunt gave me for Christmas a few years ago. It’s by far my favorite cookbook ever. Not only does it include recipes they tried out and recommend, but it tells you how long things should take, which brands they recommend you buy and why food reacts certain ways. Everything I’ve made from it has been easy to cook (which is good for the casual cook) and tasted delicious.

I also finished reading BoneMan’s Daughters yesterday. It’s not my favorite of Ted Dekker’s books, but I still enjoyed it. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being amazing) I’d give it a solid 8. I haven’t decided what I’m going to read next. Matt decided he wanted to read through Harry Potter, which I think sounds fun too, but I want to give him enough of a head start so we won’t both be in the same book at the same time…so we’ll see.