Bites of My Life

I hadn’t really baked in what felt like forever, and I was itching. I stocked up on butter and sugar and got a surge of creativity in the kitchen. The result were these Blueberry Cardamom Pop-Tarts, Dark Chocolate, Orange, and Fig Blondies and an oldie but goodie recipe for Snickerdoodles. Baking is good for my soul and I’m glad I was reminded of that.

In addition to baking, there was a lot of dog time this past week. If you know me well you know I’m not a huuuuge dog person. I grew up with dogs, but have held strong on the fact that now is not the time to be tied down by the responsibility and cost. Like for a lot of people, once quarantine hit the idea of having a dog became exciting. I’ve had the idea on my mind since. I was around two of my good friends this weekend, one who just got the cutest puppy and the other who has the sweetest 4 year old golden. Granted these are two very well behaved pups, but they are really softening my thoughts around the whole thing…should I do it?

-Gone are the days that yard signs and balloon numbers are enough in Highland Park, TX. Full tree streamers and garland are now the musts when it comes to celebrating birthdays. So over the top, but honestly incredible.
-Blueberry Cardamom Pop-Tarts, the first recipe of the week. Any other cardamom fans out there? It pairs so good with the blueberry and is great for this time of year.
-Some may remember I posted a round up of all of the Trader Joe’s bagged salad mixes. Well they have a few new mixes on the shelves, so I had to update my post with a new fave or two. Check it out here before you go to TJs next!
-Second recipe post of the week, these fig blondies. They took a few tries to get right, but they are worth it for the amount of blondies that filled my kitchen this week.
-Full on Rent the Runway look for a sassy Friday GNO! I’m wildly obsessed with this purse and ended up buying this little black strapless top! If you haven’t already checked it out, I share all of my RTR finds on my new insta account @confessionsofarentaholic.
-Saturday snickerdoodles! Underrated but always good. While often overlooked, who doesn’t love a snickerdoodle?
-Perfect Saturday night with lots of cheese, The Defined Dish watermelon cocktail, and puppy snuggles with little Chica!!
-Sunday was a rainy and moody day, so I treated myself to a lavender matcha from my favorite place and was surprised with the message “we love you!” on my cup sleeve. Just what I needed.
-Ended the weekend with pjs, pancakes and Brinkley on my lap while having a Nora Ephron movie marathon with a few friends. And yes Brinkley is named after Tom Hanks’ dog Brinkley in Nora’s movie You’ve Got Mail.

Annie