Dutch Babies...and not the little blond kids in wooden shoes either

Once upon a time, in a land far more north than my current location, is a little box, a pit if you will, a whole in the wall that goes by the name of Merritts Country Cafe. This little Cafe is the home of a happy (and very deliciouse) pile of fried dough dipped in powderd sugar named Dutch "yum" Baby. When its alll alone and warm fresh out of the pool of oil it gets crispy in, and out laying in the sun on a plate- it likes a little cool squirt of lemon. This is where i come in. i take little Dutch and shove it in my mouth and savor and eat and LOVE every second of yummyness that it brings into my life! Its the kind of treat that when you eat your pants tend to fit a little more snug-but you dont care becasue it is incredably worth every sweet, tangy, deliciouse second of it. This was what happened on Saturday. Not having been to Merritts in almost a year i would have kicked myself had i not made a stop in to see my old friend Dutch-Baby. the crooked floor, the cluttered covered walls, the old juke-box and the picture on the bathroom wall (the Birds eyes follow me EVERY time... i swear!!) the smell of coffee are all things i loved when i lived in Boise only a few min drive where all my closest friends would gather at a table or 4 and eat greasy-smokey-truck stop food and enjoy eachothers company. The Waitresses knew us by name and "the regular" that we always would get. Good Times, Good friends, Good food, Tight pants, DUTCH BABIES OF BLISS-nothing more required.

( i told you, fried dough..powderd sugar...lemons...and a gob of honey butter= happyness and tight pants)

(And making them at home just isnt the same.)

Bills, Mail, and a Glue stick!

When i was a missionary,I LOVED getting letters and packages- and now... i get bills- and junk mail... and on the rare occasion, a box( personally purchased off EBay or something) but i wanted to get COOL letters and "stuff" like when i was back in Oklahoma- so i turned to my crafty roommate-WHO told me about... SWAP BOT! - okay so lets start at the beginning...
You could say I'm a little crafty-Martha Stewart ESK even. So when my roommate Danelle turned me on to this sight that allows you to have pen pals, be crafty, and get more than bills in my PO Box i signed the dotted line and logged in to http://www.swapbot.com/

This sight lets you sign up for various art projects so to speak-that you send to multiple one-time "pen-pals". On September 9, 2009 there is a "swap" where you send out 9 postcards, to 9 people- and in return you GET 9 postcards from all over ( the WORLD even!) so while BORED out of my mind at work i crafted me up some post cards- (easy simple layered paper, some glitter, and a little drawings with a sharpie and I'm good to go!) so 9/9/09 someone will be getting one of my 9 ( sensing a theme, no?) home made postcards!

Along the same lines as the postcards only smaller scale is some thing called and "inchie" a 1"X1" piece if art- i have 8 collected so far, and when i reach ...well, more than 8 my plan is to frame them- BUT you make little tiles on little paper or any art medium and you send them, again all over the country/world. Here are some i have made for my upcoming "swap"

A Visual of how small these REALLY are!!! (with my nubby little fingers)

Ill let you know how it all turns out and show you what I get when they come! because lets face it, who only wants to open the mail box and get bills??

SECRETS!

WHO doesnt love a good secret ?? the kind that smile, and get all giddy inside because its just so good...and YOUR one of the few people that knows about it??

I LOVE SECRETS probubly a litle to much, and right now i am currently sitting on a really good one!

Thinking of secrets ( and there jucie-ness) my roomate turned me on to this completly addicting websight. http://www.postsecrets.com/ trust me ADDICTIVE-

People send in a post card to some randome address and share there secretes with anyone wanting to hear them. I love this idea so much, in fact i have about 5 pages in my journal dedicated to my own home made mini-post cards full of MY "secrets"

Why is hearing little snipits of peoples hopes, fears, and secrets so exciting and thrilling? well for some reason it is, and there are books, websights, blogs... and 5 pgs in my journal to prove it.

WELL... finally happened. For someone that doesn’t really like chocolate very much, the other day I was overtaken by a sudden urge to make ooey gooey melted toasted sweet SMORES. What follows is the story of my smore craving gone very very tastily wrong.

#1 the hunt for smore making materials ended in me sitting on the couch with a baggie of 100 calorie ( if you only eat one bag) TEDDY GRAHAMS, a baggie of what tasted like really old marshmallows, and the piece-de-resistance, a LARGE Hershey chocolate bar.

#2 after one super yummy bite- of regular un melted, un burnt O-natural marshmallow-chocolate and teddy graham tower… the sugar may have set in- and I got creative
This is Sammy-the-smore. He looks like a gloomy Gus, but Ohh contraire, he is happy as a clam.

#3 after the initial sugar shock started to ware off, and the “cold” smores I had been eating got “old” I tried to re-invent the magic that is a warm toasty golden delicious smore J here is where I get creative.

( well I guess at this point it may be PAST "crativity and borderline insaine)

On my kitchen counter sits a very lonely and unassuming Toaster Oven. In my mind and forever it will be known to me as “My Easy Bake Oven”- SOO into the easy bake oven went a few innocent marshmellows to be toasted and baked ( kinda like a little tanning bed for the albino blobs of sugar)

#4 after what seemed like SECONDS out pop the newly tan and mushy melted marshmallow!
Look how pretty they look!!! Crispy and gold- is there a prettier sight in the whole wide world?? Not today.

#5 now those sweet mellow gobs of yummyness
couldn’t just hang out by themselves for to long before a hunk of chocolate plopped down on top causing the “mellow” to smoosh and become a little patty ( of goodness!!!) top it al off with a tiny ( really tiny) little bear … the sugar still speaking, his name is “Teddy”-creative I know..

#6 to much sugar makes for a very happy and a little loopy Ryanne-

#7 now, I know your thinking to yourself how is it possible to improve on the simple yet perfect smore?? Well ill tell you- its call Smore-NATCHOS !!!

yep, I said it. NATCHOS
well of course with just a little push and tug and a sturdy fork I have invented the most sugar-headache inducing food known to man. Don’t get me wrong- it was AMAZING-

#8 end of story I guess is- good thing I only had 100 calorie snack pack of graham crackers. The next morning wasn’t the greatest for me- but it sure was fun and tasty ( again … PRE headache).