“If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans”. While credit for that quote has been taken by numerous people, I honestly don’t care who said it. ‘Cuz yesterday I felt like I could have come up with it myself! This indeed was the theme for my day!
I had every intention of geting numerous things accomplished. One of which was to work on some “food styling” (that is a joke you’d only understand if you read the ABC of YDP). Even though my pretty Pit Stella woke me early (uh, it was still dark), I was actually happy because it meant I could get a head start on my to do list. But all that changed after a visit to the gym.
I’m a danger to myself at the best of times. I am literally the clumsiest person you’d ever meet. But put, say, a glass door in front of me, and a phone in my hand….well let’s say I did some awesome head banging yesterday. And I’m not talking about the heavy metal music dance move. While leaving the gym, looking at my phone to check my new “imaginary friends” on snapchat, I walked, head first, into the glass door. My fault, and a well deserved result. But what a way to learn a lesson. I kinda want to go back and ask if they have the cctv video of it ‘cuz I might laugh at it now. But I gave myself a good old wack! No blood thank God, but a big giant nugget on my head.
So what else does a new snapchat user do? Why make it a story! I chronicled the rest of the day while I had to rejigger my schedule to deal with this painful affliction. But first I had to ice it. With no icepacks in the house, I went for the old stand by…
I was a bit light headed and wobbly. Hmmm was it the bonk, exhaustion from the gym or maybe low blood sugar? I went for the later since I am so food focused and decided to have lunch and then a treat of the healthy lime bars I made on Monday. Okay, now I’m thinking some one is out to get me because when I went to the freezer to get them I was welcomed to this:
Upside down lime bars, not in the recipe description. Okay, whatever, I had things to do so I resorted to chanting the phrase the helped me climb Yosemite Falls Mountain, “must keep moving, must keep moving”.
I know from being a mommy and dealing with my kids’ bumps through the years that anything to the forehead always looks worse, but that if you keep an ice pack firmly in place the bump will subside. But as I said, no icepacks in the house and secondly, I wasn’t gonna walk around London city center whilst doing errands holding a pack of peas to “me head”. Think solution not problem…right!
I like being crafty, but I must admit I’ve never done a DIY icepack like this before! But I was really under the gun time wise because I had to do these errands and get home before 5pm because that is D-day in my house. That is when our DOGGIE has to eat her DINNER on the DOT! No joke, she’s my food focused twin.
Again, all this snapchatting, and typing commentary, etc. was taking precious time, so no I didn’t let Stella help! I managed to get the DIY ice pack securely in place with the help of my fav hat and though I ruined my mascara from all the crying (and laughing) I was set to go!
It was a race against the clock!! But I called my hubby to give him a “heads up” about what happened in case he saw it on snapchat and worried that he might have to call an ambulance. He said I looked like a Unicorn! And he warned me that I could be leaking water all over myself as it melted. But I wasn’t worried, because everyone likes unicorns and I used half a roll of duct tape to keep the water in tight!
I took one last look at the WebMD site just in case I could have a concussion and two symptoms jumped out at me. One was ‘blank expression’. I didn’t think I should be concerned about that as I’m usually pretty animated. But just for confirmation I sent a snap (a pic for those of you who have read this far and don’t know what I am talking about) to ask my “imaginary friends”. I was more troubled about the disorientation that could happen so I made myself a human luggage tag, and made sure to bring my Irish Passport!
I took pics along the way just to prove this wasn’t some sort of hoax. I was actually hurt and had to wear this headgear!
Thanks be to God I made it home by 5 pm ON THE DOT! Whew! Gotta keep her happy!
And much to my hubby’s surprise, the integrity of the DIY Ice Pack was superb! I felt a few liquid-y drips graze my brow, but I honestly think it was from sweating! I was running like mad, and on top of that the Tube was jammers with people. Whom by the way were so polite and I had no issues at all with taunts or teases. I guess Londoners are so accepting these days because of having such a diverse culture. Therefore, a lady with a DIY Ice Pack on her head, no bother. I did get one comment from a man that literally had me in stitches! He said he thought I was balancing a Christmas Cake on my head and he felt it was a bit early for “Tis the season” !
Later, I got to thinking that maybe this whole incident was a sign. Like maybe I shouldn’t be doing snapchat after all. I just thought joining this form of social media would be another way to stay connected to my American and Irish families that I miss so desperately! But maybe, just maybe, I had taken on too much with doing the blog as well. Thinking, mulling, deciding…I felt like my head was melting, and with a new bulbous head at that, melting didn’t sound like such a bad solution.
I decided I would put it out there to the snapchat community and ask them. You see growing up I never had an imaginary friend like some children have. But I liken snapchat to it because you interact with something that can feel at times non existent. You put all this stuff out there and you don’t really get much feedback. At least with Instagram or Twitter, you might be lucky enough to get a “Like” or a “Favorite”.
So I asked for some advice or encouraging words about whether I should end my short stint on snapchat. I wanted to hear from them if this door debacle was a sign, or not. And I would choose the best response and award them this gift of a London themed box of Nespresso coffee pods (which by the way are green and orange, two of the colors of my muse, tee hee).
We shall see, as I will go back on tonight at 11pm for the announcement. Though Stella isn’t gonna win any prizes with her attitude about it! It may be a dark pic, but basically it’s her sleeping and dreaming about her fav thing…
Now that I have totally deconstructed this head banging incident, here is a recipe for a deconstructed tiramisu. ‘Cuz if you had a day like mine, you might not have time for the longer, full on version. But having made this before with my cookery students it is actually a fab recipe and one of the main ingredients is funny enough, espresso! So you too have a chance to win a pack to make a few batches of this recipe. Just give me your honest advice and/or encouragement about my snapchat verdict in the comments section!
Deconstructed Tiramisu
Serves 8
4 Tbsp strong espresso coffee
2 Tbsp Coffee Liquor
85 g (3 oz) dark chocolate, roughly grated
2 Tbsp caster sugar
½ cup (4 oz) mascarpone cheese
½ cup cream
4 Tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
24 Boudoir Biscuits
- Mix the coffee with the sugar in a saucepan. Over a low, heat stir constantly until the sugar dissolves. Simmer over very low heat for one minute. Remove from the heat and add the coffee liquor. Then let it cool, placing it in the fridge when the pan is no longer hot to the touch.
- Next place the mascarpone in a bowl, along with cream, icing sugar and the vanilla extract. Whisk until soft peaks just begin to form.
- To serve, place the coffee mixture in a small cup, the mascarpone mixture in a small cup and the chocolate shavings in a small cup. Place them on a plate along with three Boudoir Biscuits. The diner can then dip away at their heart’s content with a personal deconstructed tiramisu!
Thanks for listening (rather reading)…I love you guys so much that my head is spinning!
YDP
