COFFEE TALK

Yep, I did it.  The evidence was on Instagram so you know it’s official.  I finally made a unicorn cake - six layers of the most cloying sweet rainbow you ever did see.  I still hate making cakes, but I hated this one a lot less because, ah - it’s just so cute! 

New things are happening.  Sometimes it does not feel like they are, but they are nonetheless.  I step back and see changes in myself.  I watched this music video earlier this week and cried.  Right at 1:03pm I sat at my desk and cried.  Why?  I do not do that sort of thing...at least, I didn’t.  Are newlywed hormones a thing?  I really hope so because that would make me feel better about crying SO EASILY at every little sentimental thing since the wedding. 

I am thinking (read: begging Mr. Pedantic) about getting a bunny.  I’m home alone for the greater part of each week and I want someone to talk at.  I do not need it to talk back, I just need a listener and someone to occasionally make me feel needed.  Ice cream just hasn’t been cutting it lately. 

I made this salad for dinner last week and it was SO GOOD!  I have recently become a huge honey mustard fan. 

These are the prettiest sodas I ever did see. 

All my shoe dreams came true this week and then died within three hours because they instantly sold out.  These are the times when I really wish I was an impulse-buyer.  Maybe I'll just have to "settle" for these dreamy darlings.  I feel like a faux-sporty look is in my future, and I like that.

My mom has been trying to push me into her Aldi’s obsession for months and I have resisted…until now.  Now I am joining the band of reusable-grocery-bag-toting fans and keeping a quarter in my car at all times.  While it may not be able to compete with the charm of Trader Joe’s, if Food52 is on board, it must be hip.  

I've been thinking it is time to make croissants again.  Maybe almond this time?

What are your plans for this weekend?  I'm really looking forward to cleaning out the vehicles with Mr. Pedantic, which sounds frightfully boring...especially when it is typed out.

Happy, happy Friday!

Sincerely,

Pedantic Foodie

my forever valentine

February fourteenth, two-thousand-seventeen.  Today marks the third Valentine's Day I will be celebrating with Mr. Pedantic, but only the first as his wife.  This new facet enhances this day in that "good morning" is no longer said through text, and our celebratory date this evening will not end in "goodbye," only "goodnight."  It is a pretty special thing indeed to wake up and have breakfast with your best friend every single day, and to no longer endure those sad goodbyes and lonely walks to our separate cars.

This year, just like the two before it, I have written Mr. Pedantic a valentine.  It is what one does this time of year. However, it seems to me that no message could be more fitting than a simple repeat and reaffirmation of my wedding vows - my forever valentine to my forever sweetheart. Yes, this is a cloyingly sappy post, but it is Valentine's Day after all, and I would wager this is still several degrees less repulsive that a heart-shaped box of Whitman's toothpaste-filled "chocolates."  Oops...  is my snobbery showing?

"Sweetheart, I'm standing here today - your almost-wife - about to make you some promises.  We stand here because of love - the only thing that would possess us to pledge these impossibles, and the only thing that will help us keep them.  But what is love?

To Daisy Buchanan love was an escape.  To Hemingway it was to be beautifully and utterly ruined.  To Shakespeare, it was complete acceptance. To me - to us, my darling, it is Christ.  Josh, there were trillion ways to say what I will stand here and say today, but the best one was the simplest. I love you.  I love you, and I vow to you that I will strive to truly demonstrate love - Christ's perfect definition of love- to you every single day.  I've already failed so many times, and it is hard to understand why you would still want to stand here next to me.  But, it is a wonderful reminder that the greatest part of Christ's love is the element of grace. Josh, I vow to shower you with the grace and forgiveness our Lord and Savior so freely grants us both each day.  Someone once said, "we must love ourselves before we can love another," but I feel that it is much better put, "we must know that God loves us, before we can love another."  When we understand the love of God, His grace - His sacrifice, and when we trust Him when He tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made - that is when we see what love is - love in its most perfect form.  Only then, can we truly love another imperfect sinner who will fail us just as we fail our Heavenly Father. 

You captured my eyes long ago beloved, and I promise that these eyes will always be faithful to you and you only.  My eyes are and always will be only yours to delight and my heart yours to protect, love, and lead.  

Our beloved Hemingway once said, "when you love, you wish to do things for, you wish to sacrifice for, you wish to serve."  Darling, I can think of no better privilege than that of serving you for the rest of my life.  I vow to care for you, to comfort you, and to serve you selflessly always. 

I vow to put your wellbeing above my own desires, my work, my passions - all will be secondary to loving the husband God has so graciously entrusted me with. 

I vow to you to not be lazy. To set aside childish things in order to work in our home, care for our family, and to serve others by being the hospitable caretaker of our homestead.

I vow to you to always seek your good, to help you fulfill God's calling in your life, and to be your support when you are discouraged. 

The final promise I give to you is that I will fail to keep all of them. Probably every day.  My love may fall short of overcoming my selfishness, my words may sting rather than sharpen, and my hands may grow weary of serving. But sweetheart, I promise you that I will always strive to love our Savior, and that I will look to Him for the strength I need to love you in the purest sense possible.  I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life practicing. 

Forever will never be long enough with you."

Happy Valentine's Day to my darling, pedantic husband.  I love you.

Sincerely, 

your foodie

I am absolutely sure that no one would ever consider reproducing these most personal and heart-felt words (wink, wink).  But, just the same, I do ask that these vows not be reproduced or copied in any way. Thank you so much! 

COFFEE TALK

Can we take a few minutes to talk about how I am really, really not into February?

While it does bring about one of my favorite holidays, it is without fail one of the dreariest months, and one that I always wind up dragging myself through.  January, though it is grey and Christmas-less, is full of promise.  We are eating well, drinking green things, and keeping those adorable color-coated planners up to date.  Then, February arrives and we wonder how we ever had the energy to make a lunch that involved more than M&Ms and tortilla chips.  I think that when you cross the February border all of your energy is suddenly zapped for the next 28 days, or maybe it is just that I have had a lingering cold for about six weeks.  Bleh. 

So, Valentine's Day.  To say I'm excited about this Valentine's Day would be quite the understatement.  What's your game?  Are you going with a cozy dinner at home or braving the crowds for a no-clean-up-required night out?  Are you actually celebrating on Valentine's Day, or waiting until the weekend?  Either way, I really hope he brings you a truly fantastic cupcake and stays clear of anything with "plush" in the name.  If I see one more teddy bear holding a heart I might just scream...

For our first Valentine's Day as Mr. & Mrs., we plan on going to one of our favorite restaurants, sitting at our very favorite table, and maybe seeing a movie.  And no, not that movie.  Please no. 

I loved the idea of having a romantic meal at home, but I knew I would end up spending an hour or so cleaning up afterwards.  I am trying to get better at prepping and getting most of the cooking and clean up done in advance but...well, I'm not quite there.  I need to figure it out though because these napkins would be just perfect for an intimate dinner at home.  I think I need them. 

Our favorite doughnut shop just closed.  The doughnut shop that happened to be on our way to church.  The doughnut shop that we visited on every special occasion we could.  The doughnut shop that made the very best Boston Cream donut.  I'm so sad and now I cannot even have a doughnut to cheer me up. #pathetic 

I tried this chocolate cake Tuesday night when Mr. Pedantic’s family visited.  Other than my bumping into the oven door and causing the center to completely sink in, it was delicious.

On that note, what is the secret to swiss buttercream?  Please tell me.  I tried it this past week, on the fallen chocolate cake, but it was far from the light, airy frosting I’d imagined.  Do not mistake me, it was delicious, but it was heavy and very thin.  Sort of like cornstarch mixed with water, in that it looked stiff until I scooped it out.  Thankfully, no one besides myself knew how wrong it really was.  Fake it till you make it! (Or until your in-laws leave and you cry about being a total mess to your husband.)  Oh, I also stuck a fork into my finger right as they arrived.  I still don't know how.

Moving on... 

Sprinkles.  I’m on a sprinkle kick right now.  I keep picking up my phone and scrolling through page after page of sprinkles.  I pretty much want all of these.  Can I get a sprinkle subscription please? 

Speaking of subscriptions, what are your thoughts on that trend?  I have been so tempted to try some of them, especially the cosmetic boxes, but then I realize I’d be spending $40 for a box of stuff I will probably love and then be required to keep buying, or hate and then feel guilty for buying.  Welcome to my brain.  This is why it takes me three months to buy a dress. 

I finally got tired of throwing away greens and did the unthinkable.  I googled for help.  The Kitchn had some words for me and next week I’m buying myself a plastic bin just for green-preservation.  Here’s to hoping slimy spinach is forever behind me. 

It might not be as exciting as a sock subscription, but these are my favorite pastry bags and that box lasts foreverrrrr!  I’m about to place my next order because my supply is just about empty - the box I bought five years ago!  It's so nice to just throw the greasy bags right into the trash without guilt. 

Joy the Baker has me crushing hard on Luna Skye jewelry right now.  I’m smitten with this necklace and these cluster rings.  

This pizza.  Game over. 

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!  Drink lattes, eat donuts, and stay clear of those February blues. 

Sincerely, 

Pedantic Foodie