The "Big" Upgrade

It's a play on words. It's big because I pondered and researched for months and an actual decision/purchase is monumental. It's also big because it's just well, big! Yes, my peeps (all 3 of you, my readership!) I finally upgraded my camera. My Canon Powershot has SD30 served me well for the last 4 years but I had sort of outgrown it and wanted a new toy with more features, higher resolution pictures & more control. My research took me from point & shoots to dSLRs and back. I don't know how many times I told Dave that I had decided on one to buy and then didn't. I finally bit the bullet right around the 4th of July and bought a Canon Rebel XTi (body only) and bought a really nice everyday lens that will hopefully allow me to not have to buy (& carry) around extra lenses. When it arrived and I took it out of the box, I just thought "Wow, it's too big" so definitely had a bit of buyer's remorse (and not even about the $$ cost!). But we played around with it and took some pictures and I have to admit, they come out pretty well - and that's on the auto setting. I've posted 2 of the first set - let me know what you think. I have 2 upcoming weddings (hope not to be mistaken for the wedding photographer!) and will see what I get. Amazon has a great return policy, so it's make or break this weekend!

Bread Attempt #4 - Yeast-raised Waffles

I am counting these as a bread attempt because of the yeast & the rise time (might be a stretch but who's in charge here?). So these have to be started the nite before so the batter can rise all nite, but it's really simple b/c they use the same ingredients as regular waffles just with the added yeasty punch. Process-wise, it's nice b/c on Sunday am, it's ready to roll - just heat up the waffle iron. Dave made a bunch (he freezes the leftovers for quick weekday breakfasts) - about 16 total. I thought the flavor and texture were really good, but they seemed sort of small-ish - no wow factor visually. The recipe is from the LA Times food section a few weeks back and were reportedly "heavenly" and "melt in your mouth" . . .don't know if I'd go that far. But with the added fresh blueberry compote (fresh from the market, cooked with a bit of brown sugar, water & vanilla extract), quite delicious! Sorry, the picture is not so good, but I'm still practicing (see next post for more info.)

Happy 4th of July!

We had a fairly uneventful day - Dave worked at home while I did some shopping (need shoes for the upcoming weddings but no luck). We finally got a BBQ after much discussion and research (mostly gas vs. charcoal) - we ended up with a Weber Baby Q100. We figured we'd be cooking for just us and charcoal is a lot of work to grill 2 burgers or 2 pieces of chicken. So we gave it a whirl tonite and grilled broccoli, asparagus, fresh onions (not sure what that means, but they were from the CSA) & some skirt steak. Turned out great! The grill turns on by clicking a button, heats up quickly, stays hot and is easy to clean. My kind of grill. We went to watch the fireworks - right in our town. Our town is small, but for whatever reason, has a pretty good fireworks show! So back to work tomorrow, this one day off in the middle of the week is kinda sucky. . . . Hope everyone had a nice day off!