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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

bye-bye blogger...

and farewell. i am leaving you for tumblr, and i thought that i would be honest with you and come right out on and say it. its been fun, its been real, and now its time to move on. i don't get to post here as often as i would like to, i have been experiencing life instead of writing about it. tumblr is fun, fast, and easy... and much more user-friendly. at least to me, and i think (or hope) that i will get more use out of it! i will leave this blog up for a bit, i may even transfer somethings i've written from here to there. in the meantime, if you want more of mandy you are going to have to check her out at http://itsthatamanda.tumblr.com/!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

holy smokes!

its already april!! happy april fools day!

Monday, March 22, 2010

obsession: MD's Southern Style Chicken!

okay. normally mickey d's equals gross to me. but i recently tried their Southern Style Chicken Biscuit and i sorta fell in love. not good for my badunkadunk, but good nonetheless.



this post is going to be short, due to my embarrassment on posting about a mcdonald's sandwich and my lack of knowledge on the subject (besides it being yummy) but something about its juicy, crispy, slightly pickle flavored goodness makes it worth of a mandy post. the pickle flavor could throw you off... i don't think its supposed to be "flavored" by anything. remember i tried the biscuit first, and later the sandwich. the sandwich comes plain with only pickle and the biscuit is totally plain. but the biscuit chicken has the faintest taste of, i don't know, dill? it's good. i know the pickle thing, and the "southern style" thing is a direct bite off chickfila but let me say... this sandwich is better than anything that chickfila has ever thought of having on their menu. and bigger! and i love chickfila! so enough about the stupid sandwich, but if you ever find yourself unlucky enough to be in the mcdonalds drive through, especially before 10:30 am... eat up and smile.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

sweet springtime & an "heirloom recipe"

i love fruity desserts! i would much rather have something light and fruity over rich chocolate any day. (my mom is shaking her head and wondering if i am really her daughter right now!) don't get me wrong... i really haven't met a dessert i didn't like, including the rich chocolate ones, but with spring right around the corner (this saturday!) its time to lighten up! what we have here is an old-school southern key lime pie recipe. warning... you may want to double your recipe as you may end up eating the filling before it goes in your pie shell!

this is one of those recipes your grandma tells you, maybe you wrote it down but once you make it a couple of times, you remember by heart. i call this an "heirloom recipe"... look for more of these from me!

you need:
can of eagle brand milk
1/2 cup of key lime juice (you can also use lemon or regular lime - and i used the kind in the plastic lime)
1 raw egg (don't be scared... the acidity of the lime juice "cooks" it)
zest of half a lime, save the lime to use the rest of the zest for topping
deep-dish graham cracker crust
whipped cream

with an electric mixer on medium speed beat together the first four ingredients for one minute incorporating as much air as you can into the filling while doing so. pour filling into pie shell and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, more if you can wait that long. top with a generous amount of whipped cream and the rest of the zest from the lime. for easier slicing you can put the pie in the freezer for about 30 minutes... the pie is delicious served straight from the freezer for a frozen treat!

it doesn't get much easier than that! a perfect party treat is to line a twelve cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners (cheap ones... you will be throwing them away) and place two vanilla wafer cookies in the bottom of each liner. spoon the filling over the cookies and refrigerate overnight. the next morning top with cool whip and lime zest, and pop them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. about fifteen minutes before serving, take out of freezer and remove cupcake liners for the cutest (and tastiest!) mini key lime pie you'll ever eat! recipe makes one pie or twelve mini pies.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

obsession: OWLS!

"i hate all birds of the night."
i said that once. its actually bats i don't care for, not all birds of the night. i think owls are pretty cool. last year i decided owl "stuff" was something i wanted to collect. it stemmed from my librarian mother trying to send me home with an odd painted metal owl that was left to the library by one of its patrons after he passed away. they don't really have room for it in the library anymore but my mom wanted to give it to someone that would take care of it, as this patron was someone important to the ahoskie library and its community. i haven't found the perfect place for him yet (he is kinda big) but he did spark an overnight owl obsession in me. i wish i had a picture of him to post, but maybe once richard and i get through with our spring cleaning and re-arranging of our home i can bring him here and take one. until then, here are some other items that i have collected since then and some "owl inspiration" for you..


my owl blanket from thirtyone gifts...
a birthday present from my bestest friend!


ADORABLE owl backpack for kids from branch
 


neat-o owl charms i purchased last week...
can't wait to make something cool with them!
 


the owl from labyrinth... one of my favorite movies ever


awesome vintage owl headband from mon petit vintage on etsy
 


and lastly, my vintage owl necklace... also a gift from
my bestest friend ever, and an heirloom from her great-grandmother
 


don't you just love them OWL? i am such a dork! :)

like this? stayed tuned for lots more of MANDY'S OBSESSIONS!