Four For Friday!

It’s Friday! Which means you made it through the week! Go have a donut* to celebrate!

*Replace donut with cookie, cupcake, ice cream sundae, or whatever your treat preference might be.

Let’s get this one out of the way from the get go…

1. The Solar Eclipse

If you were in the path of totality, I’m totally jealous of you. I knew we weren’t going to get the spectacular show as other spots across America, but I hoped for a little more darkness. I waited on my front porch, noted the temperature change and the loud chirping of crickets, but that was about it.

Plus it was cloudy. So this was the best view I got:

Yeah, my inner astronaut is crying a little.

2. Cinnamon Rolls

My cinnamon roll game is on fire right now. For years, I only made the Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls.

I’m not knocking them, promise, but I tend to have a hopeful yearning of “this can’t be the best there is” for pretty much everything I love in life*—cinnamon rolls included. Last Thanksgiving, I made two different kinds of cinnamon rolls and even made my family vote on their favorite.

*I guess that makes my philosophy on life: The best is yet to come

I’ve recently been attempting cinnamon rolls with croissant dough, and people, it is out of this world.

Like a solar eclipse.

3. The Price of Vanilla

I mentioned this briefly before, but it’s starting to sink in the closer I get to the bottom of my last bottle of homemade vanilla.

Vanilla beans are turning into gold.

Weigh in on this for me, friends. Do you think $75 is too much for 25 vanilla beans? I use 4-5 beans for each 8 ounce bottle of vanilla I make. I’m trying to talk myself out of it—but buying in bulk might be my only option to actually save money in the long run.

4. Poutine

You may recall my first encounter with poutine in Rhode Island last year:

The Red Fez in Rhode Island

While the above bowl is still the best poutine I’ve tasted, whenever we see poutine on a menu, Hubby and I cannot resist ordering it.

Even in Jersey.

Crispy fries topped with a savory herb and black garlic glace, crumbled cheese curd, praline bacon, and green onion

Langosta Lounge’s poutine was a close second with another delicious poutine we experienced during our New England travels. I’m not sure which I liked more, the beautiful black garlic flavor or the sweet praline bacon. But I do know it had many components I expect in poutine: crispy fries, some kind of meat, gravy, cheese, cheese, and more cheese.