Good morning!

Yesterday turned into movie day for Ben and me! First we went to see The Other Guys with Will Farrell & Marky Mark and…walked out 3/4 of the way through…it was BAD you guys! The pesky group of teenagers drinking vodka and pretending they were the only ones in the theater, thus talking at an enhanced volume the entire time, really pushed us over the edge.

Hey, at least there was popcorn. Look at that butter glisten!

Later that night we picked up The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo while we were on a walk . Twisted and disturbing, you guys. But still pretty good. Ben loved it! I chalked our movie experiences up to .75 for 2! 

This morning I got up at the crack of dawn and went for a 4 mile run. I’m happy to report that it still smells like summer out there. I swear I could smell burning leaves and the trees changing colors on my morning Mom walk a couple times last week, but today it was all lawn, summer dew and humidity. Yes!

Dug into a big bowl of Apple Cinnamon Oats shortly after.

In the mix:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 2/3 cup water
• cinnamon, vanilla extract
• Stewed apples (diced apples, cinnamon, vanilla, agave nectar & splash of water, nuked for 1.5 minutes)
• Sliced almonds

Ever wondered how to get a good cube going? The definition of “cube” is: to cut a solid into cubes of 1/8 to 1/4 inch. 

You can use these instructions for anything you want to cube, but I’ll show you how to do it with an apple:

1. Peel your apple

2. Cut the four quarters of the apple off the core.

3. Take one of the quarters and slice it into 1/4 inch wide slices.

4. Turn the quarter onto its side and make another 1/4 inch wide slice.

Your quarter should now be cut into four, 1/4 inch wide “sticks”.

5. Slice along the sticks in 1/4 inch increments so you have cubes.

See?

If you want to get really fancy, and not have any rounded corners, slice a quarter like above,

but discard the outer, rounded slice.

Turn the quarter on it’s side, and make a couple more 1/4 inch slices.

Discard the outer, rounded edges,

and cube per usual!

Cubing an apple literally takes 30 more seconds to do than if I were to just chop the apple up, and it makes everything so pretty, gosh darn it!

Use this technique on potatoes for your next chowder, cheese for your next pasta salad, or mango for Avocado-Mango Salsa! 

Now go forth, impress your friends and family, and cube!

On tap for today:

• Library and/or bookstore (going to get a Rick Steves Italy book!)
• Shoe shopping (STILL can’t find a cute pair of brown flats for Italy)
• Grocery shopping
• Blog work

Have a fab Sunday!