Dress Help, Please!

Mr. Bean and I are attending another wedding this weekend. I haven’t gone out and bought a new dress (my bank account rejoices), so I need help deciding what to wear. Fortunately, I have quite a few dresses. Saturday is supposed to be fairly hot, so I’m only including one “little black dress.” I like you so much I’m showing ridiculous pictures of myself in various dresses and have included a poll for you to choose your favourite:

1. Little Red Dress

2. Black and White Swirl Dress (Please imagine that the tie is over the waist seam and there is no plastic loop hanging out.)

3. Purple Dress

4. White and Black Flowy Dress (I wore this to Mr. Bean’s cousin’s wedding.)

5. Little Black Dress (Minus the Top Hat, unfortunately.)

6. The Red Bubble Dress (I bought this for my cousin’s wedding in September.)

Please help me out!

Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste: Class 4

Tonight was my last Wilton Cake decorating class. Preparing for it was quite difficult – given that my presentation was today, I didn’t have time to make a cake, so Mr. Bean went to the grocery store, bought a cake and scraped off the decorations. In addition, I made 10 daisies on Saturday but I put them on a plate to dry. However, when I tried to take them off the plate this evening, they all broke.

We practised making favour boxed (the purple thing on the cake) and cutting out shapes. I then re-made my daisies, a bunch of leaves and stems. My inspiration was daisies growing into the sky. What do you think?

This concludes my Wilton Cake Decorating Adventure. Thanks for following along!

Ack!

I’m really ticked off at myself as I apparently forgot to save the latest copy of my presentation so that I can practise it tonight at home. The copy that I stayed 2 hours after work working on because my dry run was a fail. Sigh.

Oh yeah, if you could pray for me at 1:30 pm MST, I would really appreciate that. Thank you.

Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free July: Camping Food

This month’s theme for Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free is “Make me a happy camper” hosted by Shirley at Gluten Free Easily.

What makes me a happy camper? The first thing I thought of was bannock*, so I tried to make it and it was a fail. Second thing I thought of were salad. I love salads – what is nicer on a ridiculously hot day like we’ve been having recently? I like them so much that I made not one, but two salads.

Carrot Salad

This is a classic that my family would eat frequently as I was growing up. There’s no strict rule for how much of each ingredient you use so my amounts can be changed.

3-4 large carrots, peeled and grated
1 apple, diced
Bunch of grapes, halved
Handful of raisins and/or currants
Handful of nuts (almonds/walnuts/pecans) chopped or broken into piece
Light Mayonnaise

1. Prepare ingredients as directed and put into a large bowl.
2. Spoon in some mayonnaise until salad is coated to desirable level.
3. Eat right away or serve chilled.

Vegetable Lover’s Pasta Salad

I was looking around for a good pasta salad recipe and I didn’t find any I liked as they all had token vegetables. So, I made my own salad with a sufficient amount of veggies – it’s not a salad without vegetables! (Unless of course, it’s fruit.)

3/4 package of brown rice noodle shells
1 cucumber, diced
4 tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 jar of canned artichokes, drained
2-3 pieces of celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
Block of feta cheese, cut into small(ish) pieces

Scant 1/2 c. olive oil
3 tbsp. lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, minced (I used garlic powder as we ran out of garlic)
lots of parsley
salt, pepper, other spices to taste

1. Cook noodles until very Al Dente. Drain and rinse with lots of cold water.
2. Prepare vegetables and cheese as directed and put into a large bowl. Add noodles.
3. In a glass measuring cup, prepare the dressing and stir together with a spoon.
4. Pour dressing over salad and toss until coated.
5. Put salad in fridge until ready to use.

Note: I took and extra GF Freybe sausage we had cooked, sliced it and ate it with this salad for lunch today. Very tasty!

Anyone else made any good salad lately?

*If you really want to see the bannock and have the recipe I can – just ask!

Letters from Bean

Dear Anxiety,

You are like the carpenter’s ants in the foundation of my mind’s “house.” I would like to get rid of you but my pest control is severely lacking. I especially want you to go away for the next few weeks. You are not welcome at my presentation this Wednesday – I do a good enough job of being tongue tied and making a fool of myself already, thank you very much. I also need to you be gone the following Wednesday as you’re really difficult to be around and make job interviews even more unpleasant. I can always wish that you were out of my “house” completely and forever, but you persist relentlessly. Please leave me alone until at least August 6th, okay?

Thanks,

Bean

Dear Confidence and Self  Esteem,

I miss you both greatly – when are you coming back? When you left 9 months ago, you almost destroyed me. I know that having a 9 month Caribbean vacation is preferable to Calgary, but the weather is getting nicer in hopes of drawing you back. I hear that the next two Wednesdays are supposed to be gorgeous, so perhaps I can tempt you to please come visit me? We can go out for dinner – my treat – and spend the evening by the pool if you’d please meet me by noon both days.

Thinking of you and missing you both terribly,

love,

Bean