Friday, April 4, 2014

Cherry Jello


leaves and flours vegan Cherry Jello

Even with the last minute snow, spring is officially here. Yesterday I saw the first daffodils. It's a good sign. It's time to crawl out from under my comforter and stop watching so much television & reading too many novels. It's time to repair my bike & ride around the city. It's time to make some plans for my future & stick with them. It's the time to fight to be the person that you want to, because the long days and cool nights are on your side. It's ok to sleep a little less if you're out enjoying the sunshine and smiling endlessly. Spring is when I finally feel motivated again.
Springs also a good time to look back at the last few months and assess my position. Whatever aspect of your life, it's always a nice time to change directions and work on something new & inspiring. Just because things have been quiet around here, doesn't mean I haven't been working hard on things. I just haven't been digitally documenting them like I use too. I dropped the camera that I borrow to photograph things for this blog while photographing these macarons. Maybe because I was in a hurry to eat my Valentine's sweets but probably because I am the most klutzy (so it's actually a little surprising that I didn't drop it ever before in the last year). One time at work I dropped a five gallon glass jar of coconut oil. Of course it was summer in a bakery, so the coconut oil was molten. I cut three of my fingers and ruined a pair of jeans trying to gather up all the little shards of glass in the slippery mess. The camera was a little less dramatic, but has had more lasting effects on my life.

leaves and flours vegan Cherry Jello

Winter decided to spurn me one last time by leaving me with a super swollen throat & sinusitis. I spent most of yesterday afternoon gargling salt water and craving jello. My jello of choice & what's pictured here was the unflavored Natural Deserts jel pack & tart cherry juice left over from the frozen bins of cherries I order for the bakery. In the last few months, the company seems to have stopped making their jel must to my avail. I have searched high & low and have only found two boxes of flavored powders. I found a substitute for my old standby made by a brand called Simply Delish. Their strawberry was good, and the raspberry was even better. The texture is ever so slightly tougher than Natural Desserts jellos were, but my main problem is that Simply Delish doesn't seem to offer an unflavored powder so I can control the flavors like I would prefer. I know that I can use agar powder to make what whatever flavored jello I want, but the packets are so nostalgic. And if spring makes me anything, it's wistful.

leaves and flours vegan Cherry Jello

While I have waxed poetic before about my best friend Jenna and I having same-brain, she also shared some similar feelings regarding the approach of spring & talked about some of the exciting life changes she is going through on her blog Kitty Cat Stevens recently. I hope you will seek her out on the internet and encourage & help support her business if you are a book lover too. There's nothing more wonderful than giving a friend a gift that someone has poured so much of themselves into. One of my favorites gifts in the last few months was the napkins photographed here. They were a beautiful present from my housemate for feeding her cats while she was away for the holidays. I mean of course I would feed two of the best cats in the world no matter what, but the textiles screen printed by Sara Lee Parker were the icing on the cake. So if you're looking for something nice to give to a special person here are two great places to start. Here's to spring, feeling re-energized & ready to start anew.

5 comments:

  1. Yay, a new post. I love your blog! Just wanted to get that out..

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't agree with you more. Spring has definitely been trying to strike up some motivation in me to do better. That jelly looks delicious! I'd love to have some on a warm piece of toast.

    Bummer on the camera, but that macaron photo came out amazing! You know, I've never tried macarons before. :( I've seen them in the mall, but for some reason I never bought one. Probably because I wouldn't know where to start! Any recommended flavors?

    P.S: My husband would have killed me if I dropped his camera!! I'm pretty clumsy myself so I have to ALWAYS wear the strap around my neck so the camera won't fall. Hahah
    Hope you have a wonderful spring!

    vegcourtesy.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it depends on what flavors you want. I love almond and pistachio, so I definitely suggest those. But lavender and citrus are so great at this time of year too!

      Delete
  3. We must be twins. I left a block of coconut oil on a kitchen window sill and then we left for vacation. When we came back there was a puddle of coconut oil in the kitchen. A giant one. Plus coconut oil on the heating, on the wall and behind the heating.
    I nejoyed all your pictures on instagram. I am glad you post them over there because I don't know what I would do without your food porn.

    ReplyDelete