Concoctions

On Friday I was in a frenzy of domestic activity.

On Saturday we were having my brother and his family over for a bbq as well as another couple who have a wee baby.

It was our first big "do" in our house (or our backyard, at least). 

We lucked out that the weather was perfect - sunny but not too hot and the humidity made itself scarce.

This was the one thing I was determined to make but I was nervous about my capability as a baker and the combination of heat wave/melty vanilla ice cream.

The "cute" factor was a big incentive. I mean, really, how cute are these?

The answer?

Pretty cute.

See?

Totally worth the trouble!

(it's really more of a time commitment than difficulty. Lots of waiting for cooling and baking.)

I also made potato salad from an old family recipe. 

I squealed with delight at my success.

It came out perfectly (accompanied by a flood of memories upon eating the first bite.)

I know, you're probably thinking - big deal. 

What the heck us with this mess who is excited about some stupid potato salad?

Well here's why - 

I used to make this when I was a young teenager (before I couldn't be arsed with culinary cares) and I was always told that if you made the dressing properly, it would be almost white once you pour in the vinegar. 

But mine always came out kind of yellow (other ingredients included yellow items such as - mustard, butter, eggs. I think the only other ingredients are flour, cayenne pepper (which is red) and vinegar so the yellow to non-yellow ingredients ratio is fairly uneven. Just saying.

Anyway - mine usually ended up yellow and the response from my sister, mother, aunt or whoever was around would be along the lines of "well, I guess you didn't do it right."

So encouraging.

Very little I did while I was growing up was met with much encouragement. 

Usually it was criticism.

So it delights me when I discover that I can do something I never thought I could.

Even if it is just homemade mayonnaise.

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