FRY white diamonds / Vania and Pussycat Dolls / Starbucks Frappuccino

I got a white diamond in Bookworm on the word "FRY" by using two blue sapphires on the F and the Y. The white diamond was a letter C, which I used on the word "ICK." Good times!

This afternoon, Sophia accidentally called me. It turns out she was using the church directory and dialed the wrong number - hey, it happens! A while later, I went for dinner at the Crab House in Continental Plaza with Vania / my siblings / our parents / Juliana's parents. Vania's dad interrupted us near the end of the meal while we were joking about the church theme - Loving Through Caring is NOT Loving Through Hugging or Loving Through Kissing, or even Loving Through Holy Chest Slaps. (ah, Jon and Jeremy...) He said he wanted us to go around the table and share things which we were thankful for, but it was soon apparent that he just wanted an opportunity to grill Jon about Harmony, haha. Harmony actually called during this interrogation, too. We also talked about certain people's (non-)suitability as drivers for Timothy camp, Sean having no sense of direction ("it's at Broadway / Oak!" "... where's Oak?!"), Isabel and Terra Breads, moving up to David Fellowship, Eric's health issues, summer school, literature, reading about food, exercise, Korey, 30-degree temperatures, Danielle singing, Vania being nominated as Resonate leader, 40 Days of Community, and more. Such a good seafood dinner!

Jon kept on bugging us girls with the Pussycat Dolls song "don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" I finally had to hit him a few times! He doesn't even like that kind of thing, but it got stuck in his head because it was playing overhead somewhere recently! Erin's going on a cruise to Greece with her family soon, which is all very well and good... but they want to stick the whole family in a small cruise ship room. Five to a room?! Yeah, they'll feel like sardines after a while! Mom brought up nuns for some reason, said that their habits were RABBITS, and added that they were like the Playboy bunnies! My siblings, Vania, and I were all like: "... MOM! NO! HAHA."

After a while, my parents decided to invite Vania's family over to the townhouse since they'd never been there before: sure thing! I went along, and took ten minutes to send someone a quick MSN message on my brother's slow laptop! Oh well, at least it was sent! Listened to our parents talk about old people and such while drinking more tea. Steph went out for a run, and Jon talked to Harmony on the phone. Mom wondered where Jon was when she went into his room to give him some coffee - he was on his loft bed, haha. After about an hour or so, Vania's family drove me home before going home to Surrey. Good times, capped off by a great thing later. :D


Last recipe in that torrent that Corey sent me:

Starbucks Frappuccino

Here's one that I get requests for all the time, and that you won't yet find in any book. This is a clone for Starbucks' "Lowfat Creamy Blend of Coffee & Milk" that you can now find in the all-too-puny 9 1/2-ounce bottles in most stores. Those little bottles will set you back at least a buck, but this Top Secret Recipes version costs a mere fraction of that. Plus, the recipe actually makes enough that you can get a pretty major caffeine buzz. Then, when you get down to the "Tidbits," I'll tell you how to clone espresso with a standard drip machine and ground coffee. Cool!

1/2 cup fresh espresso
2 1/2 cups lowfat milk (2 percent)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon dry pectin*

Combine all of the ingredients in a pitcher or covered container. Stir or shake until sugar is dissolved. Chill and serve cold. Makes 24 ounces.

Tidbits
To make the "Mocha" variety: Add a pinch (1/16 teaspoon) of cocoa powder to the mixture before combining.

To fake espresso with a drip coffee maker and standard grind of coffee: Use 1/3 cup ground coffee and 1 cup of water. Brew once then run coffee through machine again, same grounds. Makes about 1/2 cup fresh espresso to use in the above recipe. Run a pot of water through machine, without grounds, to clean.

* This is a natural thickener found in fruits that is used for canning. You can find it in the supermarket near the canning supplies. It is used in this recipe to make the drink thicker and creamier, and can be found in the original recipe. It does not add to the flavor, and can be excluded if you don't care so much about duplicating the texture of the real thing.