Get a drink - this is a lengthy one.

Yesterday and today Tim had the day off from work. Of course that means we did lots of good cooking. Actually, that means HE did lots of good cooking, and I assisted/tasted here and there. :) Not a bad position to be in. So let me tell ya what we made.

Well all day yesterday it was really rainy up here. I mean, I seriously think we got at least two inches of rain. It wasn't bad thunderstorms or anything, just a good steady downpour. To me, rainy weather = soup (or chili). So we ended up making a shrimp and corn chowder. Not any recipe in particular, just taste as you go. Oh. My. Goodness. Finger lickin' good. (I know it's not a finger food but just go with it.)

Oh! Let me back this little story up with a grocery store find that I was SUPER excited about. I mean, I wanted to do a cartwheel in the aisles of Jungle Jim's. People. Do you KNOW what I FOUND? I'll tell you. MAUI WINE. Yes, as in Maui, Hawaii. And they had TWO different kinds!! TWO! Maui Blanc (pineapple) and Maui Splash (passionfruit). Of course, I got one of each. That stuff just totally made my week. (Obviously, there's not too much excitement around these parts.) ;) I'm giddy just knowing that it's in my fridge right now.

So, back to the food. Tonight for dinner, Tim made a wonderful salmon entree with some sort of sauteed zucchini and yellow squash teriyaki sauce. All of this to go with the pineapple wine. Delicioso. Wait. I'm not done yet. Dessert was a .... trifle. Actually - I'm not exactly sure what to call it but I'll tell you what we did and then maybe you can figure it out. (Pictures will be posted later.)

First, we made our own lady fingers. That was an interesting process. Then we poked a few holes in them with a fork and drizzled a little Mocha flavored Kahlua and let it soak in while we made the rest of dessert (the other layers). Next comes the pastry cream. Kind of like what you would get in a cream puff I guess. Not heavy like in an eclair. Anyway, I digress.

We drizzled the pastry cream on top of the layer of lady fingers. Then comes blueberry sauce. (I really wish I were better at culinary terms.) I don't know if you would call it a sauce, but it was similar to a blueberry pie filling. Then another layer of lady fingers, then more cream, and then a layer of strawberry "sauce."

The third layer of lady fingers was put in, then another layer of cream, then a thinly-sliced layer of bananas, followed by a cherry-chocolate sauce. (Are you drooling yet?) :) Then a final layer of the pastry cream and then top it off with the last layer of cherry-chocolate drizzleness. So if you're a visual person, it'll look like this:

cherry-chocolate sauce -- top
pastry cream
cherry-chocolate sauce
pastry cream
thin layer of bananas
pastry cream
lady fingers
strawberry sauce
pastry cream
lady fingers
blueberry sauce
pastry cream
lady fingers -- bottom layer
bowl

done.

HOLY COW. It's making me hungry again just thinking about it and typing this. It is so decadent.

Enough talk about food.

Actually, that's the perfect segue to another thing I did this week: Buy a gym membership. :) Lord knows if we keep up this kind of cooking it will definitely come in handy. I went to Fitness 19, the YMCA, and Urban Active and I ended with Urban Active. They had the better value overall. Plus, that's where Tim's membership is so it'll be nice to workout together every now and then.

Now, y'all know I don't like to run unless the building's on fire or something; I'm definitely more of a yoga and spinning kind of gal. But Urban Active has the Cardio Cinema thing which may be just what I need to get off my butt and do more cardio. Imagine this: you are in a dark-ish room (maybe like a movie theater? hmm?), there's a good movie playing (with surround sound), and you have your choice of a treadmill, elliptical, or bike. And you can work out however long you want to. You can watch the whole darn movie and not have to do a sign-up sheet or anything. HOW COOL IS THAT?! I'm so in love with that idea. I know that when I miss a spinning or yoga class, I'll definitely be in there.

So, today we took the dogs to two nearby parks. The first one is next to the school and is going to be the location of the OG employee picnic next week. The other one was more of a nature preserve -- a great little photography spot. The awesome thing is that they're both only about five minutes away! Such great exercise for us and the dogs just walking around checking everything out. (And especially for me to just get out of the house. Whew.)

I can't wait to see what else Cincinnati has in store for us this summer.