Tags
AnniPotts, Aunt C, birthday, family, Fleur, Food, Indy, keeping cool, Mariah, movies, Mr. T, recipes, road trip, Sae, smoothies, summer, sunburn, The Duchess, Uncle C, weather
Currently my plan to survive this summer includes smoothies. Lots and lots of smoothies. I’m on a food plan that calls for a serving of fruit at every meal, and I see no reason why this can’t be frozen fruit blended into refreshing cold things. I figure it’s God’s way of making up for the lack of proper temperature/humidity control. So far my basic recipe goes something like this: dump 6 oz of frozen berries (I like raspberries the best so far) into the blender. Add two little packets of stevia powder, and 1 c. milk. Blend like your life depended on it. The resulting shake will be too thick to pour, so get out a spoon and start spooning frozen goodness into your mouth. Beware of ice cream headaches. Enjoy. You’re welcome.
Besides the frozen fruit goodness, the rest of my heat-survival strategies all involve fans, ice water, and taking a cold shower right before bed and falling asleep before the cool wears off. I’ve heard of an old trick of sprinkling baby powder on bed sheets right before sliding in that’s supposed to feel awfully good, but I’m pretty sure that the dust-allergies this would kick up would make it not worth it. I’m also doing my best to stay out of the sun. The sunburn I got at the Craft Fair of Doom has proceeded to blister like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. The blisters have gone down, and now the skin is peeling off in shaggy white shreds (very attractive, I promise you). I’ve never been burnt like this before, and I’m definitely not in a hurry to risk any more sun exposure, not even in an attempt to correct my weird, drippy tan lines. I don’t know that I’m quite ready to declare them a Fashion Statement To Be Embraced, but still – I’m done with sun exposure for at least another year.
As for news, well, The Duchess and I made it safely home from Wisconsin late Saturday night. The trip was mostly uneventful, except for the most spectacular lighting display in the sky over Indianapolis (no rain though, and almost no thunder – odd, that). We wanted to be back for AnniPotts’ birthday brunch on Sunday, which was an extra big deal because Aunt and Uncle C were in town. They’re Brooklynites these days, we don’t see much of them, so this was special. Usually when one of us has a birthday meal Mom asks us what menu we want, and then distributes the different dishes among the various siblings attending. This time, however, AnniPotts decided to do something a little different. She had each person bring a sack lunch, which we then distributed as if it were a White elephant gift exchange. It was a lot of fun. I think Indy’s homemade stromboli was the most hotly contested item, with Mariah’s baked brie with chutney, baguette, and tiny chocolates coming in a close second. I ended up with an Italian sub from Milano’s. It was darn good, especially since by then everyone was very hungry!
After the brunch was over, Sae and Mr. T. had a class they were going to, and asked me and The Duchess if we would take care of Fleur while they were gone. We thought we might go down to Riverscape and play in the fountain, but Mariah had already made plans to see How To Train Your Dragon at the cheapies. Even though Fleur had already seen it, “Like, a hundred times!” she agreed to go along. Afterwards we got ice cream, and for the first time I got to experience an aunt’s privilege: get the kid hopped up on sugar and then send her home. It was lovely.
"That's a dancer's leg, Margaret!" 
Smoothies are the best! You can also add fresh spinach for added nutrition. You just have to get beyond the green color! 🙂 Bananas, strawberries (or mixed berries), spinach and some pineapple juice make a phenomenal smoothie, with no added sweetener.
Huh. I never in a million years would have thought of adding spinach. I might just have to try that.