cutest skillet in the world

panda skillet

"that guy likes kid rock so much, he has a shirt for it!"

i've been a baking machine this weekend. i went to a friend's surprise birthday party on friday night, so i spent the afternoon hanging out with lots of butter, chocolate, and sugar. martha stewart and her double-chocolate brownie cookies totally failed me, and i cursed as i was dealing with the gooey batter. i ended up throwing them out. i fared better with the brownies.

i am so very lazy on some saturdays. but not yesterday! i took helen's bedding to the laundromat, gave her a bath, and made the ultimate campfire dinner. beef barbecue in the crockpot (for sandwiches), homemade coleslaw, and baked beans. rollum asked me to pick up from smores ice cream from the store, but instead i made some smores bars for dessert. (then rollum pointed out the campfire-ness of it all). my dad joined us for dinner too, and we listened to randy newman and linda ronstadt records.

then on to the basement for the hotpipes and the nobility. courtney urged us to go to the red door to meet up with her dude crew and i proceeded to act like i was 21 again. waffle house + 4am bedtime = i am getting too old for this but i still had lots of fun. speaking of getting too old, i'll be 31 in 20 days. and the belcourt is showing better off dead for the midnight movie, so if you like that movie and/or me, you should come!

pie time

i spent the better part of sunday afternoon making this bad boy. it's probably a good thing that apricot season doesn't last longer, or else i'd be tempted to make it more often. a good mixture of tart and sweet, and the hazelnut topping adds a little saltiness to it too. i didn't change anything about the recipe, except i shortened the cooking time (even still, the bottom of the crust got a little burnt).

apricot-raspberry pie with hazelnut streusel topping

we watched the diving bell & the butterfly last night...very, very good. earlier in the week i watched persepolis. please share any movie recommendations with me. i've hi-jacked the netflix account for the time being. i think i need something without subtitles next...