You get two days in a weekend. You can meander, binge watch, run errands, and if you're really on your game: be productive! Imagine, prep for another glorious Brush & Bulky pickup, cooking and time for some celebrating. All in a couple day's work!
You did read that correctly, Brush & Bulky returned to the Boswell House! We take winning in the Brush & Bulky games very seriously, as you well know. Part 1 of 2015 was right on target.
The Lattice!
Once upon a time, we had a very large Tombstone Rose bush in front of this lattice. It grew in and out of the lattice and actually became part of the structure itself.
It looked quite a bit like the opposite side:
That worked great, until the rose bush croaked on us. Once we got the dead roses detached (which you may recall from previous Brush & Bulky pickup weeks) there was just a bunch of sad, busted lattice bits in it's wake.
The long term plan is to replace it all with new lattice, but you can't tack up new ones without step one - taking down the old! We grabbed a couple of hammers, a pry bar and the sledge hammer.
The lattice came down.
As the lattice came down, the Brush & Bulky pickup pile grew and grew!
Okay, so there was more than just the lattice we needed to get rid of. It's all part of the greater good.
The craziest part of removing the lattice is how different it looks from inside the house
Even Arnie sat there staring at it for a while.
A Brush & Bulky haul like that one certainly makes one hungry. Hungry for something spectacular. So, you have to take inventory of what you have on hand and hit the internet for some ideas.
We just so happened to have all the other bits and pieces required to whip up some Chicken with Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce. Sounds fancy, right?
First you whip up a delicious, creamy, tomatoey sauce
Add some chicken that you quasi-browned earlier
Baste it in all of its delicious tastiness - then bake it.
Then you NOM.
~Ah~ You've tackled a large portion of your back yard, you've eaten a gourmet meal you cooked up yourself, and there's still some time off to enjoy! What do you do? I have an idea, prep for the birthday of someone who happens to be a giant Star Wars fan.
Alright, so technically, this was for a coworker. At work, there's a few factors at play when it comes to birthdays. We have some food sensitivities, some folks watching their calorie intake, and a large mass of people who want to indulge a little. I volunteered to make my favorite flour-less almond butter cake that's magically only sweetened with a quarter cup of maple syrup! This cake is a miracle of modern science I tell you. Anywho, the birthday-haver loves Star Wars and we wanted to incorporate that somehow.
I found some cupcake liners and cute little candies - then I got creative. I had never tried to make almond cake cupcakes, and I was worried that they wouldn't rise properly if wasn't all in one square - so I baked the square first and then crafted cupcake-like treats. Check it out!
I used a shot glass to carve out my little cake rounds and piped frosting to make delicious almond cake sandwiches.
A tasty, fun-themed end to a fantastic couple of days.
