Solar Eclipse Day

Today was a much-anticipated day…the 2024 Solar Eclipse finally arrived!

We’ve been looking forward to the eclipse for a long time, and we’ve been enjoying themed treats for a couple of weeks now, including the Solar Eclipse Sundae from Lic’s Deli and Ice Cream, the Blackout Slush Float from Sonic, and Solar Eclipse Doughnuts from Krispy Kreme:

I had a whole themed out for today, including this cute grouping of space-themed Erstwilder brooches:

Our area was over 99% eclipsed. I’m not going to lie…it wasn’t as cool as the Great American Eclipse of 2017 when we were in the full totality zone, but it was still really awesome. The darkness gradually fell, the street lights came on, the temperature dropped, and the crickets started chirping. Pictures don’t do it justice, because it really did get quite dark (we needed lights inside the house, too), and we watched the light waves move across the ground just like we did in 2017:

I repeated one of the meals we had for the last eclipse, too…eggs sunny side up, eclipsed by “moon muffins.”

And we also had Excel Brewing’s Darkest Hour black cherry soda and Moon Pies, of course!

We are so lucky to have witnessed two eclipses in less than 10 years…I know they’re experiences I won’t forget!

Mani Monday

This week’s mani is inspired by the Cardinals home opener last Thursday. I used Holo Taco “Sacrificial Lacquer” (which is practically Cardinal red!) and “Circuit Breaker” as the main colors, with “Red Flake Taco” as a topper on two nails for a little extra glitter. And my Baublebar Fredbird bag charm is the perfect accessory to show them off!

M*A*S*H Day

“I didn’t hear you say that. Because it isn’t possible. It’s inhuman to serve the same food, day after day. The Geneva Convention prohibits the killing of our taste buds!” Alan Alda as Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H

Happy M*A*S*H Day!

Ok, I made that up. But today is 4/07…and that’s as close as I could get to the 4077th date-wise, but that’s good enough for me! Really, I was just looking for an excuse to make a themed meal from Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess by Private Igor, I mean, Jeff Maxwell. We started the day with “Klinger’s Section 8 Omelet,” which included spinach, mushrooms, and salami, and was crazy delicious!

For dinner, I made “Fractured Fusilli with Balsamic-Pepper Sauce” which was a nice departure from tomato-based pasta sauces. I think it will make an especially nice, light summer dinner!

For dessert, I made “Charles’ Blueblood Berry Cake with Lemon Frosting.” It’s a classic flavor combination, and it was so delicious!

Secrets of the M*A*S*H Mess is a really fun book. I was super excited when they released a new, updated 50th anniversary edition last year, because I hadn’t been able to find it anywhere. The recipes are fun (and occasionally frightening, like the “River of Liver” and “Creamed Weenies,” both dishes actually mentioned in the show), but the real draw of the book is the letters home from Igor, behind-the-scenes tales, and cast photographs. It’s perfect for a M*A*S*H fan like me!

Sartorial Saturday–Accessories for Opening Day

This week was the St. Louis Cardinals home opener, and I had the perfect new accessories for it…and one of them I’ve been wishing for for a very long time!

Loungefly finally added a Cardinals mini backpack to their MLB collection, and I was especially happy to purchase it a local store, First Capitol Trading, Inc. in St. Charles, MO. I know that some fans weren’t impressed with the floral pattern on the bag, but I actually love it…I think it’s really unique and pretty, and adds some great pops of color!

And to make it even better, Baublebar released a Fredbird bag charm, which I was only too happy to add to the bag! He has just the right amount of sparkle on his head feathers and shoes!

They make the perfect pair, and it’s such a fun way to show my team spirit! The only problem is, ironically enough, I wouldn’t be able to carry the bag into Busch Stadium if I went to a game, because it’s too big!

First Contact Day

Happy First Contact Day!

On this date in 2063, in Bozeman, MT, Humans will meet the Vulcans for the first time…only 39 years to go! To celebrate, today I made recipes from The Star Trek Cookbook. For dinner, we had Gagh (udon noodles mixed with paprika-seasoned beef “noodles”), with homemade Grapok sauce. I’m not well-versed enough in Klingon cuisine to know exactly what kind of gagh it was, but hopefully it was none of the types mentioned here: “Torgud gagh wiggles. Filden gagh squirms. Meshta gagh jumps…Bithool gagh has feet.”–Ezri Dax

Here’s a closer look at the Grapok sauce. It featured beet juice, with a bit of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. It was very thick and surprisingly delicious!

I also made an Icoberry Spritzer made with a blueberry-blackberry syrup…fortunately no one here suffers from adverse effects from icoberry juice like itchy spots! 

For dessert I made Kalavian Biscuits, which are kind of matcha crinkle cookies. I had to make some substitutions, so the texture was all wrong, but they still tasted good!

I really enjoyed trying some new recipes from this cookbook, and I’m already thinking about a Captain Picard Day celebration this summer!

2023-24 School Year–Week Twenty-Seven

It was quite a challenge to get right back to work following Easter, but we did plan a trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden in the middle of the week, which gave us a chance to enjoy the spring flowers (especially the tulips!) if not spring weather!

Ladybug worked with geometric sequences and series in pre-calculus. She read about the rise of the papacy around the time of Pope Leo I in religion. In health, she finished reading about bones and muscles. She did the final review and paper for Macbeth. She finished the chapter on Coulomb’s Law and the electric field in physics. In world history, she read about the rise of the Ming Dynasty in China.

Chickadee learned how to calculate percents in math. In history, she read about Copernicus and Galileo, and the contributions they made to modern science. We are almost done reading The Door in the Wall. In writing, she learned how to construct a two-level outline. She learned about antigens and antibodies in science.

The end of the school year is so close now…I’m hoping for lots of good opportunities for field trips to keep us going to the finish line!

The Home Opener

Today was the St. Louis Cardinals home opener…and they won! We had our annual Opening Day feast, and it was a little bit familiar and a little bit different. We decided that this year, we would skip our usual Chicago style dogs and brats and instead try recipes featuring “Sonic’s Signature Chili” from Sonic the Hedgehog: The Official Cookbook. We had “The Perfect Chili Dog,” which was topped with chili (of course), shredded cheddar, chopped onions, and mustard. Next was “A Rival’s Chili Dog,” topped with chili (again), and a simple slaw. Both were delicious!

We also tried a (red) drink from the Sonic cookbook: “Knuckles’s Fruit Punch” which was light and refreshing (and yes, I chose blue swizzle sticks so we could pretend they were Sonic’s quills!).

I let Schnucks take care of dessert, with a giant cookie cake from their bakery and Cherry Cardinals Crunch ice cream!

We didn’t have nachos or pretzels this year…we really didn’t have time to enjoy eating them with how busy today was. But we really enjoyed trying some new recipes, and even if the menu was slightly different, the vibe was the same!

Animals Aglow

It’s already been two weeks since we’ve been to the Animals Aglow Lantern Festival at the St. Louis Zoo, and it was such an amazing experience…I’m really excited to share some of the pictures I took of the amazing displays!

As the name suggests, most of the lanterns are, of course, animals. We walked two laps through the displays, and it was really cool to see them before the sun set, and then as it got really dark, as well.

There are also quite a few insects:

The centerpiece of the event is the dragon, which is a tunnel and also set off “smoke” periodically:

There was also a “Year of the Dragon” special at Starbucks while we were there, which had mango, dragonfruit (of course), and matcha foam…it was delicious!

There are a few other walk-through displays, as well…the flowers are especially cool!

And some botanical pieces in addition to the animals and insects:

There is also a really cool rain cloud that you can stand inside:

Another beautiful display is the butterfly tree, which had a ton of movement and shifting colors:

I loved the lanterns that are on the water:

The best example of this, in my opinion, is the swans by the south entrance…the reflections are outstanding!

This was a really fun event, and I’m glad we had the opportunity to see it!

Tasty Tuesday–Lavender Lemonade Milkshakes

I am on a major lavender kick, so of course I had to buy the lavender-lemonade whipped cream at Target the first time I saw it…but then I had to figure out what I was going to do with it! Since we love lavender-lemonade to begin with, I thought why not make lavender-lemonade milkshakes, and use the whipped cream to top them? It was just as delicious as I hoped…perfect for spring! I’m sure they would be good with regular whipped cream, too, since the special variety is a seasonal item.

  • 4 cups vanilla ice cream
  • 12 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
  • 1 tsp. lemon zest
  • 1/2-1 tsp. dried lavender

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until combined. Top with whipped cream and additional dried lavender, if desired.