I learned I must do more squats. I did one every time I placed a folded towel in the laundry basket when I was taking the towels off the clothesline. Man, my butt is sore today! So yes squats are a necessity for my bum.

Dinner with Olivia was another splendid evening with my experimental cooking friend. She made some awesome chili with black beans and corn that I’m going to have to try to replicate. I have a fairly standard way of making my version of chili, although every time it is a little different as I never measure. Liv doesn’t either which makes us both up for adventure when we cook together.

I tried my hand at making ice cream again… this flavor should have been fantastic but something changed as the cooked concoction cooled. It started out as vanilla lavender and then I added lemon extract. I also cooked the mixture this time with an egg yolk. Tasting the batter before running it through the ice cream maker, it was like a yummy lemon sugar cookie. As solidified ice cream, the sweetness wasn’t there and the lavender I added seemed to have taken over. We ate it anyway of course =) The lavender bits had almost a nutty mouthfeel which was interesting. I’ll have to give the remainder another taste now that the ice cream has been in my deep freeze and see if the flavor has further changed.

Experimental cooking is fun despite the let down at times. And really we’re both good cooks so usually we don’t mess up too badly (steps above “just edible” at our worst). I’m enjoying our cooking nights. It’s nice to be using the kitchen regularly again and to have a partner in removing gluten and dairy from my life.