Crossfit crazy and Paleo nuts

Over the past year I have been missing from the blog world. Well maybe not the entire blog world but I have not written anything here in about a year. All though I have loved to write and express myself here at A Wonkey Donkey I decided to take some time and better myself. Not just better myself but better understand myself.

So I joined a gym or Box, changed my eating habits, and all around cleaned up my life. Amazingly once you get started on these things it is hard to stop. As soon as I started working out at my box I realized it was not enough to sweat for 30minutes but I needed to eat right. Once I started working out and eating right I knew I needed to get my finances in order. Shall I go on… no for now that is where I am all though I know I am not finished. I wished I had cataloged my changes, actually let us call it progress, up until this point sadly I did not. It is interesting how we change in our lives and how we come to the conclusions we do.

So all in all here we go the beginning of the next chapter of my life. Crossfit Crazy and Paleo Nuts.

In the next few Articles I am going to bring you up to date on how I got started and where it has taken me.

I hope you all enjoy.

Ohhhh How I love breakfast

I love my Sundays and Mondays, my two days off. I have time to relax have a lazy morning but still have time to make a great breakfast. There are so many things I love to make and eat that I have such a hard time deciding what it’s going to be. It will take me an hour before I can really make my mind up most mornings. Eggs over easy or scrambled, egg sandwich or maybe an omelet, how to decide. Then you throw in Pancakes, waffles, or even biscuits there are just to many choices. Cereal, oh my that is one of my favorites but I think that can only be eaten on the weekdays not the weekends. It does not seem right to eat cereal on the weekends. There is also Quiche, I do love a good Quiche, with Ham and Swiss. Where do you begin really there are just so many options that it is hard to figure out what you want to eat more than the other. So this morning after a long hour of hunger pains and a great cup of coffee finally the decision was made, WAFFLES!!!!

There is something to be said for a great Waffle with its crispy outside and a soft inside. Make sure they are not to dense they should be light and fluffy. I have searched for a while for a recipe and a waffle iron to love, well I think I finally found the right combination. The iron not only makes the perfect waffle but it is so much fun too with the flipping action. The iron you pick needs to be able to get hot enough to really make your waffles steam as they cook to make the outer crust. There is something about the steam coming out of the iron and the crackling sound that makes you salivate waiting for it to finish.

Steamy Waffles

ummmm waffles

Sorry I have been MIA

Hey everyone just thought I would let you know that I am sorry I have been missing. I am so sorry the posts are getting stale like last weeks bread. I want to just say I am back and ready to go so I should be posting more regular. Also I have closed my other web site down and will be able to concentrate my energy here. There are also a few new pages that are being worked on where you can purchase the aprons and soon Shopper and Hand bags. It is taken me some time to figure all this out but I think I am almost there and hopefully I can call parts of this finished and work on the fun stuff. I look forward to hearing feed back from all of you.

Thanks again.
Alicia

Working hard I think not

Tabitha

BOO.

Ha ha ha, sorry about that scare I gave you. I am just so excited that my favorite Holiday is just about here.
By the way I am Tabitha

Any way back to my favorite holiday, HALLOWEEN, I hope it is great this year all that candy. Yummy. My moms say my teeth are going to rot if I eat it all but that has not happened so I am not going to worry about it.

One of my Favorite things about this Holiday is the costume. My mom makes my costume every year that way no one will have one that looks like mine. We also make great treats so I can take them to school for my friends. I think this year I want to take popcorn balls. They are so good I love them. We make a sweet kind and a salty, I think my mom calls it savory, kind of popcorn. My favorite is the sweet but sometimes we do a taco popcorn that is great. We like to try all kinds of different flavors with popcorn some are good some are gross. My mom said that popcorn is great to experiment on because it does not have a lot of flavor of its own. The flavor it does have melds well with all kinds of other flavors. I wonder who a tomato popcorn would be. That just sounds gross and funny. When we are getting ready for Halloween we do all kinds of crafts and decorations and fun candy for the party. I wear the cutest apron while we are working on everything like the jack-o-lanterns. It is soooo cute I am going to put a picture at the bottom so you can see it.

My mom said when she was a kid she used to get lots of homemade candy at Halloween. I asked her why we don’t give homemade candy at our door. She said that people are afraid to let their children eat candy that is not prepackaged and sealed. I think it is silly that people should be so afraid. She said not silly just sad that people don’t trust anyone anymore.

Well as much as I love homemade candy and treats I also love to have a candy bar or sweat tarts.
ohhhhhh I am so excited. I have to figure out what I am going to be this year. I have not figured it out yet. I was a Princes last year and a Flower Fairy the year before. maybe this year I am going to be something scary like….. a witch or a goblin. I know Frankenstein bride ha ha that would be great. I would have to spray my hair black and have a white strip. Oh that sounds like a blast. That’s it Frankenstein’s Bride thanks for listening while I worked out what I should be. Wait till I tell my mom what I am going to be she will think it is great.

Well I had better go I am going to go out and play with a couple of friends. Ohhhh I cant wait to tell them what I decided to be. I am so excited.

Me as A flower Fairy

Me as A flower Fairy

This is my Apron that I use to make all of our candy.

Tabitha Apron

my Jack O Lantern

Fall pics of Florida

OK everyone I keep trying to take fall pictures in Florida but lets face it it still looks like summer out. There is really no difference from now to winter to spring or summer. That is one of the things I love about Florida always nice outside. The trees are a beautiful green, the grass is lush but really the pictures just are not that impressive for fall pics. So I wont bore you with such silly ideas as that.

Thank you

Just for fun

Found this and thought it was too cute.

Summers End

Every year at this time people around the nation get the pleasure of another change of season. For those in the north looking forward to the coming snow fall starts about now. For those of us in the far south we are looking forward to the cooler months that we are actually able to spend outside.

Personally the end of summer starts my favorite season in Florida, Fall.

The rain starts to wane
The temperature lowers gradually
The humidity becomes bearable.
The sun strong overhead
Wrapping a warm blanket around my body
The sky big and blue
Clouds scattered sparsely
Gentle ocean breezes flow through my hair
Kissing my shoulders and neck
Fresh air pungent with the smells of the ocean
Refreshing our scenes
Flowers start to hibernate preparing for springs renewal
Calm, serene, tranquil
Summers End and Falls Beginning

As I look out my windows towards the beach I realize how lucky I am to be here. Working the hours I work that afford me to be able to do the thing I love and spend time with the people who matter. I cherish these days that are brought to me. Cherish the people who are in my life. Taking the time today to reflect and to look forward to the next chapter.

I can’t believe I don’t have a picture of Florida in the fall so here are some of my favorite spots during fall. This weekend I think I will go take pictures and add them next week.

Early fall in Upstate New York

A Colorado Fall

Happy Birthday Shelly

It never seises to amaze me the fun that can be had when wearing n apron. Really you would not think that it would change the party at all. In actuality I always feel a little better when I wear one of my aprons. It is like the apron literally brightens my day.

another glass of wine

A couple of nights ago I had a couple of people over to the house for my sister Shelley’s dinner. We were having a great time but it instantly got better the moment we got ready to start cooking. Shelley dawned a Gabriella which fit her to a tee. With its lace up back it was snug in all the right spots perfect for cooking in a sloppy kitchen, my kitchen tends to be just that while I am cooking. I decided to pull out an apron I have not worn in a while the Jillian. I love the wrap style so cute. Once we put our aprons on the party really started. we were laughing uncontrollably. Talking about pass silliness that took place. The time I wanted to get worms for my birthday too came up a couple of times. Mainly the question, why the heck would I want a bag of fishing worms, I have always hated fishing. Well, I never hated it I am not very good at it so why bother. I much preferred to lay and tan on the boat and talk so much that my dad would tell me I am scaring all the fish away. Well dad I say to bad ha ha ha.

We really had a great dinner with great food. The pork was perfect the mashed sweet potatoes were just sweet enough and the broccoli roasted with just enough sesame seed oil to add a great flavor. To bad we could not eat it all.

Way to much food

One of my favorite vegetables is Broccoli. So many people hate it but I really think it is done to over cooking it. I love to blanch the Broccoli then roast it with the oil. The oil really helps balance the flavors and bring out the sweetness of the Broccoli.

I really love having parties and cant wait to do this again soon. Great food, great friends, great fun. What else in this world do we even need.

Shelley birthday

Buzz Apron

BANG, BANG, BANG “Buzz man your station we are under attack. There is a large blobby monster over taking our ship. Help Captain Buzz save Me. Engines are failing we can’t out run that huge icky monster any more.

“NO General Bombardier, we are flying in a rocket ship we have to get away. Don’t give up General I will save you. I am Buzz Apron and I have utility pockets that hold anything we need. Lets see what I have in here, a rubber band, a marker. Gosh I hope mom doesn’t find out I have a marker in my room I would be in such big trouble. What else do I have a Photon Phasor. That should knock that monster out. Oh no it’s not working.

“Captain Buzz Apron the oozing blobby monster has started seeping into our cabin. You have to do something and quick.

OK General. Oh man what can I use to stop this horribly smelly oozing blobby monster from seeping into our cabin. I have Stickers in my other pocket but they are not very big. I know, I will stick all of my stickers around the door to seal it so that creepy creature can’t get in here. Ha Ha what about that you ugly monster. It is still trying to get me, it just wont stop trying to get me. I don’t want cooties so you can’t touch me.

Captain Buzz don’t touch the Floor the ooze is still spreading and it has covered the whole area. You can do this Captain Buzz Apron you can do it.

I have to get back over to the controls to see if I can get away from this sticky icky smelly oozing blobby monster. Watch your step don’t fall on the floor. I have to get to the map to find a way out.

MOM MOM MOM, Buzz stole my Diary and he locked his room so I can’t get it back. Make him give it to me.

Shoot, that nasty sticky icky smelly oozing blobby monster has called for backup I must hide my map and be calm or I will be eaten Alive.

Buzz Apron, give Phiona her diary back and both of you come down and have a snack. I made your favorite Ants on a Log

Buzz and the things he finds in his pockets

Sophie Tablier

Bonjour, my name is Sophie. I am a cousin of Lillian’s and I asked if I could join here in the quest to beautify the work that all of us have to do on a daily basis. I am not sure how different we are from the USA I guess that will be up to you to decide. In many ways we are probably very much the same. Minor differences are probably what separate us. Some difference we have are that we like to shop everyday for our food that way it is very fresh. This is one reason that we have very small kitchens because we don’t store very much. I have seen pictures of the refrigerators in the USA and they are simple massive. We don’t need things quite that big here. For those of us that want things like that it really is not possible. Our homes are much smaller because they are much older and we just don’t have the space. Due to that, we get to shop more often. Not only getting fresh food but getting us out there to see the sights and smell the smells of our surroundings.

sewing with Sophie

I am very lucky in the fact that my mom likes to wear me to go to the market. Another major difference is that we have to go to several different shops for one meal. I love to go to the Butchers shop because it is so wonderful to get custom cut meats, just the way you want it every time. The butcher we go to is a true artisan. Today we went and got a chuck roast with beautiful marbling that we are braising. I think you have special shops like this in the USA but people don’t utilize them as much as I think they should. My favorite shop is the flower shop. In the spring I love it when the tulips are in season. Life just does not get better than that. OK, there maybe one thing better than the flower shop, and that is the bakery when they are baking breads. Even when we are not going to the baker I love to walk near it just so I can smell the fresh bread wafting through the air. Speaking of smells wafting through the air the Pot Roast that we are cooking is making us hungry. Although we go into several different shops to get everything we need,they are located in one small square. Most of them are even attached to one another. So it really does not take very long to get what we need.

We are very lucky that although we live in the countryside we are close enough to the village that we can ride our bike in to do our shopping. Although there are many times that we drive into town my favorite is to ride in. It is funny to me that all though my partner is a young and beautiful woman she rides an old-timey bicycle and wears a tablier. I think she loves the feel of a vintage and more simple life. That is why she loves her life here in the french countryside. It is quite and simple, not much stress for her. When she does get stressed she loves to go in the garden and work. Although I am her favorite tablier she tends to not use me in the garden, thank goodness. She much prefers to use my friends and sisters Julie Tablier or Della Tablier. When she wants something with pockets she goes straight to Julie she has four huge pockets where Della does not have any pockets.

By the way, did I tell you what my mom does? She is a seamstress. And a very good one to. She makes her living mainly taking in pants and skirts or hemming a sundry of things. Her love is wedding dresses and other formal gowns. She is very talented. Many of the weddings in the past few years in our village have had brides that wore her gowns. She has many of pictures on the walls of the brides in their gowns. Some of those pictures are with here during a fitting and low and behold what is she wearing, me. She loves to wear a tablier when she works not that she gets dirty or anything. She like to be able to keep things close at hand in a pocket or pins that sometimes she pokes me with. Which by the way I do not like so much, being poked. She really needs to just use her pin cousin for that. Any way now that you have heard a little about my life you can decide for yourself if we are that much different. Au revoir everybody, hope you have a great week. My mom is going to eat and I am hoping she is going to spill a little roast and wine on me so I can have a taste. Au revoir.

Anabella and Bella Apron

Hey everybody it me Lillian Apron just thought I would stop by to introduce a couple of friends of mine. Anabella and Bella are they’re names and they just joined our family. I think I will let them tell their story. I best be going I have a Quiché to help prepare. So thanks for stopping by and we will talk later.

Thank you Lillian for the introduction I am so happy to be part of the family at A Wonkey Donkey I am Anabella Apron and this is my daughter Bella Apron. What can I say about Bella… she has a very sparkly personality and is so wonderful to be around. She is diffidently a swatch of the old bolt. She has such a sparkly personality and her favorite food is cupcakes. Bella absolutely loves cupcakes, I think she would bake them morning, noon, and night. Her favorite is a Chocolate Apricot cupcakes with whipped cream frosting. They really are great and she even gets a little fruit with her cake. I guess the cupcake doesn’t fall far from the counter Because my favorite food is also cupcakes. I prefer my cupcakes to be a yellow cake with a cream cheese frosting with sprinkles.

So, I was asked to tell you guys how we became part of the family. It really is a short story, I will try to make it interesting. A couple of weeks ago our mom Alicia found some fabric at someone’s house. She fell in love right away. She knew she had to have it so she adopted us, brought us right home and started planning. Alicia thought long and hard about what she was going to do to bring us to life but could not put her finger on what the plan should be. Then in the middle of the night she woke abruptly and had to start drawing. Like a crazy person she ran to her drawing pad and started to sketch. An hour and a half later and several crumpled pieces of paper she came up with us and went back to bed. Well even though she had gone back to bed she could not sleep she was really wanting to start cutting the pattern and sewing us together. The next morning she woke up early and started her work.
Spreading our Fabric out on the kitchen counter doing a snip snip here and a snip snip there. All of the sudden we were all cut out and starting to feel almost whole. Miss Bella was cut out first then I got the chance to see what the plan were for me. I told Bella soon we will be whole and loved more than the love we feel now (if that was possible I don’t know). Well it wasn’t long for us to become just that, whole and truly loved by our mom and creator. Alicia says soon we will be adopted by a loving family and although we will be leaving her, she will love and cherish us for all time. Although I will miss Alicia and all my friends here I look forward to meeting my new family. I know that we will be loved and used all the time and I would not have it any other way. I think that we are going to go, I promised Bella we would make some Chocolate Apricot cupcakes.

Olivia

Hey everyone my friend Lillian asked me to come by and introduce myself. Lillian is really great and so pretty, me on the other hand. Although I am pretty with all my rich deep colors, I am more of a work horse. Having four large pockets makes me so useful for anybody. By the way I forgot to tell you my name well it is Olivia Apron. Last week I was helping my owner in the garden, she really puts me though the ringer. I was so tired that day but had a relaxing bath afterword with some other friends. When we were in the garden we were planting some new flowers and weeding. Those weeds can really be pesky making everything look overgrown. I don’t like when things become overgrown, neat and tidy is where it’s at. That’s why I have so many pockets so that everything has a place. When we were digging in the ground to plant Petunias we saw so many creatures. Creepy crawly creatures, hip hoppy creatures, flying by creatures, and even a slippery slithery creature. Some wanted to land on me, some ran from me, some just sat and watched. I don’t know what all of them were but some were just plan gross. Thankfully my owner takes care of me and she would not let any get to me. At one point she actually screamed when we saw what she thought was a snake right next to her hand. She is so silly it was just a huge bullfrog. She then sat in the grass laughing at herself. That’s when she took her gloves off and put them in my pocket went in side and got some lemonade from the fridge. I think it was more than just lemonade because she spilt some on me and it tasted a little like coconut rum. When we were finished with the drink we went back to work and finished planting. The Yard looks great now all neat and tidy just the way I like it. If you are interested in the drink she made check it out on the recipe page. I best get going and will talk again soon. Bye

anyone for lemonade

Lillian

Hi my name is Lillian it is great to make your acquaintance. I am here to introduce myself and tell you some of what I have done. As an apron I get to do all kind of fun things. Like last week I was at a fourth of July party BBQ with my friends. I was spilt on horrible while I was being worn by my owner Alicia. Thankfully she was not hurt. Sometimes I get taken out to be worn in the kitchen or the back yard. There are times I get left in the pantry where I hang and a friend gets to go out and help Alicia. Lets get back to the 4th of July what a fun day. I was out most of the day which really made it fun for me and Alicia, she really looked great that day. Alicia’s favorite thing to do is entertain our friends and family, they’re all a little on the crazy side. Everyone ate ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, salads and so much more. I think that most of them ate too much. They were moaning and groaning as they pushed away from the table, those silly people. Did I mention the great baked beans we had. They were made by our friend from Columbia everyone was raving about them. Hopefully Alicia can get the recipe and she will put it on here for all to try. Well I best go there are things that need to be done and I need to help. Baked Ziti here we come. Look forward to talking again soon. Look for Alicia’s easy Baked Ziti recipe on the Recipe Page.

cooking in lillian