Imagination.

This purty little treat was presented to me.

Black Forest Cake.

This buddy was doused in liquor and chocolate ganche... and it was gluten free.

Please, just imagine what it tasted like.

Doubt.

Every supermarket advertises their quality of freshness. 

And then you get something, come home and find its gone bad, putrid, rotten, whatever you want to call it, before you even brought it home.

So you go back upset and return and get your money back.

Now they don't seem too "fresh" anymore.  You have your doubts.

I have never doubted that Fresh and Easy was "fresh" but I really don't doubt it now after finding this.

When you buy shrimp, it's already beheaded right?

That's what I thought until I found this little ticket staring at me.

Love shrimp, hate seeing their faces.

My sister was asleep when we found him.  Yes, I'm calling it a Him. My mother decided to take a picture of him with my sister in the background for proof.

Pizza.

History of Pizza : A dish of the poor people, it was sold in the street and was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time.

Now it's a kitchen recipe and the rich and the broke enjoy it equally.

There's a place in down town El Cajon called the "New York Bakery."

Way back in the day when gluten was digested with ease, the New York Bakery had pizza.

Not just any pizza. This bad boy was on an inch of fluffy, yeast risen crust.

In one bite, a rich, buttery, light crust filled your mouth.  Absolutely amazing.

It ain't back in the day no more, but its all good.  I gots yo' back.

A gluten free fluffy pizza crust.

Yeast is scary.  It's commonly know as a leavening agent for breads,pretzels, buns, crusts, you name it.  Anything that is light airy and needs to rise. 

Yeast uses the fermented sugars in the dough and turns it into carbon dioxide and ethanol.

There are many other leavening agents such as eggs, baking powder and baking soda, but those aren't going to create the air pockets needed.

Yeast is scary because it's a live micro-organism that multiplies with the right temperature while feeding off of the right amount of sugar.

Too hot, you kill your yeast.  Too cold, it doesn't do its job.

Just follow the recipe.  You'll be safe, but just follow the recipe.

Please read the page thoroughly: Pizza Crust

Something New.

What you enjoy doing becomes pointless when it isn't a challenge.  It becomes boring.

It's like solving a puzzle you've already solved.

It's still going to take time and effort to solve the puzzle, but it become far less gratifying when you know what to expect.  But you may learn a new way of solving it.

It doesn't matter if you graduated from school twenty, thirty, forty, or fifty years ago, you're always learning.

Being out of school doesn't mean you shouldn't do homework.

People gain much more appreciation for the things they've learned or inform themselves about.  Understanding the steps, the time, and the effort that has been put into what you enjoy.

Saying you want to do something you've never done before, researching it, studying it, and finally doing it, makes life all the more satisfying.

Lemons.

All of a sudden there are lemons everywhere.

The yellow studded trees gives life a fresh spark.

Seeing all the lemons is a reminder of the season we're in and the season to come.

Its fresh.

Hot summers and nice afternoons at the beach are all just around the corner.

Not to mention homemade lemon curd and scones for breakfast

and  pitcher of lemonade after a cool evening dinner.

All of it is coming fast maybe too fast for some, but enjoy those small things in life just the same.

Such as Lemon Bars.

I adapted this recipe from Ina Garten. 

*Its VERY important all of your ingredients are room temperature.  Especially the eggs, butter, and lemon juice.