Friday, March 30, 2012

Breakfast this morning was Yogurt Fruit parfaits (picture to follow!). I started making my own yogurt using the EasiYo method developed in New Zealand. They use a powdered form complete with yogurt cultures rather than the older method of heating your milk, cooling it a bit, then adding purchased yogurt as your culture. You then heat it for 8-12 hours and you have yogurt. The EasiYo method is pretty self-contained and easier. I prefer Greek yogurt-it has more protein in it than regular yogurt, plus I like the taste and consistency better (Greek yogurt is usually thicker).

We left home after cleaning up dishes and made a stop at Michael's first (to check out crafts for baking), then went on to Trader Joe's. Vicki had never been to a Trader Joe's. She's hooked now though, lol. However, there are no Trader Joe's in Texas. Bummer... Since we were so close, I took her to "Nothing Bundt Cakes" and "Edible Arrangements". She was impressed by those also!

We had lunch at BJ's Brewery down by Mt Rose-got right in and enjoyed a salad and flatbread. Vicki especially liked their Tropical tea and even got an iced tea to go.

From there, we drove up to Virginia City. I can't believe she's never been! The drive up to Virginia City was sunny and just lovely, but by the time we reached our destination, it had gotten cloudy and colder. Even so, we walked from one endof the town to the other, stopping in several shops. We had out picture taken in the Virginia City "jail" and bought ourselves some fudge and toffee at "Grandma's Fusge". We stayed a couple of hours then came back down the mountain.

Our next stop was the Chocolate Bar. Vickie said she has never been to a chocolate bar, so how could we NOT go?! We got our seats, then proceeded to order the chocolate fondue (it came with bananas, strawberries, cubes of pound cake and brownies) and thw Caramel Brownie with ice cream. We had so much sugar, we ended up ordering a steak appetizer to add some savory to our sweet. You could have rolled us out the door. I think Vickie has a higher sugar tolerance than I do, lol! She ate more.

After the Chocolate Bar, it was home to make dinner for Jordan (ugh! More food?!). I made pot roast with carrots and potatoes. It takes less than an hour to put it together, then cook it in the pressure cooker. Vickie and I did eat a little-it was probably good for us to eat "real" food! Besides, Jordan needed the company at dinner.

Vickie and I have been talking a lot about baking since she got here. I showed her how I make my No Knead bread (from Jim Laey's book by the same name). She was impressed at how easy it was. The dough will sit overnight and I'll bake it in the morning. We'll see if she is still impressed tomorrow!

It was a long day and the day was full, so now it's bedtime.