88. Go fruit picking and make a recipe from the fruit picked.

Over Memorial day Weekend - J and I were in PA visiting family.  While there, we picked an abundant amount of very ripe raspberries from J's Dad's bushes. 

Admittedly, more raspberries would have made it into our baskets had the sweet summer taste not gotten the best of us.  When we returned home - I knew we would need to use the berries ASAP, because there is nothing I hate more than wasted produce (and alligators...but that's a whole different story).

I adapted a favorite summer recipe of my mom's and substituted in strawberries for raspberries.

1 1/4 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbs. cornstarch

1 3oz. pack raspberry Jello

1 pre-made graham cracker crust

1 1/2 cups of berries

Cook the water, sugar, and cornstarch in a pan until it turns thick.  Take the pan off heat and add the mixture to a bowl.  Add the jello and stir to dissolve.  Add the raspberries and put the bowl in the fridge.  When the jello starts to firm, remove the bowl from the fridge and pour the mixture into the pre-made pie crust. Place in fridge for a few hours or overnight to firm up.  Serve with whipped cream.

Unfortunately - I forgot to pick up a pre-made crust - so the homemade route needed to suffice. Luckily, between finding a recipe on the Internet and the leftover butter and sugar I had - this was no biggie.

Grinding up the crackers!

Ready to combo for the crust action!

Baked and ready for some berries!

After adding the cooled berry mixture and refrigerating overnight -

Perfection!

I can't wait to try this recipe again with peaches peach jello!  If you don't forget the pre-made crust - it's the perfect no bake summer dish!

Mmm raspberry close up!

71. Make 80 new recipes.

Last night for dinner - I decided to stretch my culinary boundaries and make some enchiladas!

I am a huge fan of Mexican food and when Gina posted this recipe on her blog - I knew it was right up my alley. 
The result...

awesome.  It was the right mixture of creamy, spicy, and all-around yummy.  The verde sauce really added a kick to this meal!  I subbed in cheddar cheese and it was still delish! I used Gina's method to make the pulled chicken and stock which made this meal super easy.

I'll be having the leftovers tonight with a simple taco salad.  I love easy summer meals!

72. Bake 10 kinds of sweet treats.

Yesterday was J's Birthday - so I attempted to recreate one of J's favorite desserts (and overall favorite aspects) from our past cruises....

Allow me to introduce, The Chocolate Melting Cake.

Hello Friendly Chef! Two orders please!

Warm, melty, delicious, calorically extravagant, cake. J and I had taken a tour of the kitchen on our past cruise and at the end, we were rewarded with this pure gold recipe.

• Carnival's Chocolate Melting Cake:
• 
  
• 8 ounces of semisweet chocolate
• 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter
• 7 eggs, divided use
• 6 tablespoons of sugar
• 1/2 cup of flour
• 
  

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Melt the chocolate and butter and cool for 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix four eggs with sugar. Whisk. Then add flour and whisk. Add the remaining three eggs and add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture. Pour this entire mixture into individual ramekins. Bake until just done, about 15-20 minutes (interior will be melting). Serve with vanilla ice cream.

I have no pictures from the preparation process as it was a quick one.  Between the melting chocolate, whipping eggs, and frantic stirring - we were just happy the batter eventually made it into the cups.  I cooked it a bit too long - resulting in more cake vs. melting - but we enjoyed it just the same.

Served with some butter pecan ice cream and candles - it make the perfect birthday cake for my love.

Happy Birthday J!

Blowing out the candles!

First bite. total win.

77. Go on a date with J once a month. (June 2010)

Seriously - June flew by.  J and I escaped the New York City heat by heading to Canada for a few days - but I wouldn't count that as a "date".  We did however score tickets to the King Tut Exhibit in Times Square through Groupon - perfect for our June date day.

I would classify this a much more of a date - minus the whole eating-in-McDonald's-because-it's-the-only-place-without-a-5967838 person-wait-for-dinner thing :)

The exhibit was seriously awesome.  Like nerdy awesome. It was well put together with lots of fantastic artifacts and tons of information about them. 

It was more of this...

Less of this...darn.

For instance - when Tut was King the pyramids were ALREADY 1,000 years old.  Ridiculous, I know. 

Some of the artifacts, particularity the one's found in Tut's tomb were so well preserved it was hard to grasp that they were actually THOUSANDS of years old.  Seriously, if you have the chance to see this exhibit - do it - you will not be disappointed.  Now, if you excuse me, I need to go google Steve Martin's King Tut skit.

32. Take a yoga class.

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to score a Groupon (if you do not know what this is - you MUST check it out!) for 5 yoga classes at Prana Mandir Studio.  I had my first class earlier in the week and I am still sore. 

hmm...I don't look like this quite yet.

I chose to do the Beginning Vinyasa class because it fit my schedule best and well, I am a beginner.  It was a great workout and we ended the class with a little meditation, just my style.  I was so pleased with the studio and look forward to my next class there, oh, and the soreness that will follow.