My old room-mate, Evin, always makes the most amazing food. She always wants people to test the new recipes and as you can imagine, I'm eager to help.

In the past I've received homemade Oreos, fresh strawberry/blueberry cupcakes and some kick ass chicken parmesan. This time though, she's really out done herself. Freshly made pickles, folks.

Jealous much?

Grown up Jello Jigglers

"Why are you taking a picture of a bowl of lemons?", you might ask.

Oh. Those aren't lemons.

Those are lemon jello-shots served in a lemon rind.

This is some Martha stuff we're talking about here.

These things are pretty, pretty exciting and taste dang good, too.

All you need is

• 6-8 lemons (depending on size)
• Lemon Jello
• 1 cup vodka
• 1 cup hot water

Cut the lemons in half down the long side. Then squeeze juice to help loosen the segments and scoop out remaining contents. All that should be left is rind. Then prepare jello to proper jello-shot specifications (1 cup hot water to dissolve jello and 1 cup vodka). I added about 2 TBS of the lemon juice I squeezed earlier for some extra delight.

Next pour jello into the lemon vessel you so diligently created. I placed the lemons in a muffin tin to keep them from wobbling over. Let sit for 4 hours in fridge.

Once stiff, slice once down the middle (using a straight knife, a serrated knife will cause the jello to separate).

The next step is the hardest. Try not to eat them all before showing them off.

These were a super big hit and I'm already thinking of other ways to make them. Definitely making the orange and lime version, but I think an apple and watermelon might be in the works.

Recipe adapted from Baker's Royale

Food Porn

I'm not taking a lunch break at work this week so I have shorter days sitting in front of my glowing screen.
It's pretty darn nice not having to prepare lunch in the morning or spend an arm and a leg buying something at the mediocre cafeteria downstairs.
It sure as hell makes you preeetttty hungry though (especially when your co-worker leaves early to go to a pizza buffet, which then leads to a discussion of favorite toppings. Thanks, April).

So, here I sit.
I sit on an extra slow day attempting to not think about lunch.
Not think about the one hour and seventeen minutes until I am gone for the day.

It works for a bit.
That's when I realize I haven't checked my favorite blogs for the day...almost all of which are friggin' food blogs.

I wonder if food porn is acceptable at work?
Drooling over pickled grapes and pea-pesto seems almost as sad as finding out your co-worker is into S&M.

Until I can walk (power-walk/run without being awkward) home, I think I've found a new screen-saver...

Compliments of Smitten Kitchen

...and I'm not embarrassed...sort of.