Wondering Why

The yellow ones always come up first.

Eventually, the pink ones and the white ones come up too and they grow taller than the yellow ones. Why is that?

This fall, I'm determined to plant more colors. I want a rainbow of tulips in my little patch of dirt.

Coconut Creammmm Pie

I was craving coconut. I was craving pie. Conveniently, I just received a Taste of Home magazine in the mail and voila (I'm having issues with various creative spellings of that word. Lately, on other blogs I've seen wa la, wha la, and walaa. Oh my garden of roses! Okay, thanks for letting me vent). So along came this baby!


I'd never made a cream pie from scratch before, always opting for Jell-O to rescue me with their pudding mix (usually instant).

I did take the easy way out on the crust though. I had 3 pre-made crusts in the pantry, so I picked the shortbread crust (the other 2 were Oreo chocolate) and got started.

Did it satisfy the craving? The pie craving, yes. The coconut craving, almost.

I have adapted the original Coconut Cream Angel Pie by Ginny Werkmeister, Tilden NE, published by Taste of Home recipe to the following:

FILLING:
1/2 cup Domino® or C&H® Granulated Pure Cane Sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
1 pastry shell (9 inches), baked (or a graham cracker crust)

4 oz Cool Whip or sweetened whipped cream
1/4 cup flaked coconut, toasted
Directions: In a small heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add milk; stir until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat to low; cook and stir for 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of hot filling into egg yolks; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat; stir in the coconut, butter and vanilla. Pour into prepared shell.

Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Just before serving, spread Cool Whip or whipping cream over pie and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Yield: 8 servings.

NBC Junior

No, I'm not talking about a spinoff of the TV station. I'm talking about Nothing Bundt Cakes one more time. Thursday we went to Provo for Amy's lecture at Women's Conference (which was so totally amazing and outstanding!). Cheryl had been to N.B.C. to pick up a cake for a co-worker's birthday because of my rave review. While there, she bought me a bundtlette to try. I was very excited! Look at that cute sticker they put on the brown paper bag. Don't all addictions come in a brown paper bag?
Here's the little cutie. These photos were taken in the BYU parking lot, on the hood of my Jeep.

Then Cheryl decided she needed to take one of me with my little bundlette. Pardon the reflection of that white car in my sunglasses, and my drastic need of a haircut (which I got the next day).

So the verdict after eating it? Are you ready? IT WASN'T THAT GOOD! It's evidently all about the ratio between the cake and the frosting, and as you can see, this frosting is minimal compared to the thick streams you get on the 8-inch cake. The cake was still moist and tasty, but because there wasn't much frosting on it (do you say icing? I say frosting. Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe). In fact, it took me until Sunday morning to finish eating it. So, in my opinion, don't bother with the little guys. Save it up for the big one, at least an 8-incher. Oh, and I found out that the difference between the 8-in and the 10-in and why the larger one can serve 10 more people than the smaller one is because not only is it 2-inches larger in diameter (see how good I am at math?) but it's twice as deep, therefore, you can serve a smaller size and increase your party size to 18! They'll all thank you for sharing and will swear that they'll be your best friend forevermore. Just don't serve them each their own bundlette.

P.S. Happy Cinco de Mayo. Now go eat some guacamole!

Who Are You?

Twilight. Do you love it, hate it or are you indifferent to it? I'm on the love it side, but only for the books, not for the movie. The movie was just "meh" for me and it was "hate it" for Karen, although she loves the books. Bud saw the movie (free coupon at Redbox) and walked away indifferent.
During one of my busier days at work (I had to work on Saturday for the first time in weeks and weeks! Ugh!) I came across this survey.
Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!
This shows who I most resemble.

"You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and appreciate the kind way you always handle things."

I'm not really sure I always handle things in a kind way, but it's what I'm striving to do.
Take the quiz (all the buttons are pre-pushed to the last answer, so you have to just click on your right answer) and leave a comment with your results. It will be fun to see which heroine you are!

Paid, Two Out Of Three

Do you remember several weeks back when I posted a pay-it-forward opportunity? I have delivered two of the three promised gifts (sorry Wendy, this just wasn't for you. You'll get something else...um...soon???). Here's what it was-

It's an ABC photo album

You take lots of pictures of your featured favorite small-fry...

and figure out which expression most resembles the phrase on that page.

Have fun filling it up Stacey and Stephanie! Or, regift it and make someone else do the work of filling it up. Your choice.

What? Do I Look Like Noah?

And the rains came and the whole earth cold storage room was flooded, AGAIN. What is going on here? The biggest problem is that we didn't find out it was wet again until several days after the fact.
Does anyone know where I can buy one of these to permanently hang over my roof or under my foundation?