Weekly Round Up: Jello Shot Edition

A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  In this week's edition I made jello shots and July 4th shenanigans were had.

Let's Make Jello Shots!

The weekend before the 4th I was sitting around wasting time on the internet as one does when a jello shot recipe came to my attention.  I thought about it for one nanosecond before dropping the link in our family group text to ask if anyone wanted them for our July 4th party.  In pretty short order everyone responded that they did.

Many years ago, I made a non-alcoholic jello creation for a July 4 party so I do have some experience in this area.  I knew that it would be a fun, no stress project, but beyond that there was something very familiar that was calling me that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

The morning of the day before the party, I got to work.  I didn't trust myself to eyeball three perfectly even layers, so I measured the cups and found that they held three tablespoons of liquid.

I mixed up the blue layer and measured out one tablespoon of liquid into the cups.  I was not mad when I found out that the recipe that said it was 24 servings filled 32 shot cups.

I tucked the shots into the fridge until just before lunch when I made the white layer.  As I noted in my other post about a red, white, and blue jello dessert, sweetened condensed milk is not really white, but when diluted with water/vodka/gelatine, it eventually looks pretty close.  I was the most concerned about the white layer setting properly, so I gave it an even longer chill time than the blue layer before proceeding.

A few hours later I made the red layer and set everything back in the fridge to chill.  I was a little more liberal with the pour on the final layer, so I ended up two shot cups short.  News flash: no one at the party complained about the two blue and white shots.

And then voila, everything was firmly set and I capped the shots.

And that's when I identified the familiar feeling that had driven me to make red, white, and blue jello shots.  I know someone with an entirely red, white, and blue wardrobe.

The question is: who wore it best?

But seriously, the jello shots were a huge hit at the party, and they were very easy to make.  I don't feel that they are very strong, so unless someone ate a ton of them I don't think they would do anything silly.  It's a given that I'll be making these again.  

Doggo did not mind that the party dessert stole her look.

Whatever With Your Jello Shots.  I Came Here for a Quick Dinner Idea

Yep, I've got one of those too.  It might not look like much but Recipe Rebel's one pan chicken meatballs with orzo was fast and easy.  I used pre-made Costco chicken meatballs to make it even easier.

Workouts

I finished the bike trail that I started last month.  It was a 30 mile trail and I'd done 10 miles out and back.  I found out that the rest of the trail is a loop, so I was able to finish it off in one session.

Watching

Nada.  What can I say, these days there are always enough random Youtube videos to fill my TV time.

Reading

I finished what I started last week:

• The Tell by Amy Griffin was a very good and very disturbing trauma memoir about a compulsive runner who tried psychedelic therapy and learned exactly "what she was running from".  It was a tough read, but an important cautionary tale of what can happen when your only option in life is to be a people pleaser.
• Kindred by Octavia Butler.  Solid thumbs up, solid "I can't believe I waited so long to read this".  Great when paired with Gone With the Wind as I did, and I would assume that it's just fine on its own without GWTW.

My current book is What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown.  It's about a girl who is raised in a cabin in the woods by her single dad, and where I am right now around the 10% mark she's in her teens and trying to suss out whether continuing to live with her dad is a reasonable life choice or if she should maybe get out into the world and find out how people who are not her dad live their lives.  There are definite shades of These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant, in an "if you liked that you'll probably like this" kind of way.  I picked this up because Sarah's Bookshelves raved about it and I've heard some other cheers for it.  The bloggy archives tell me that I've read two other books by this author - one I do not remember and the other was a DNF, but Sarah also said that she'd had a DNF with this author.  I'm just mentioning that so that you know what I know at this point, but so far all signs point to a good book.

Upcoming Bookclub Heads Up

If you would like to read a book with me, my book club will be reading The Lion Women of Tehran for an early September meeting, so I'll be starting it in late August.  I heard of this book when it came out last year but didn't get enough buzz back then to pick it up.  I feel like out of nowhere EVERYONE is reading it, so I'm excited to have an excuse to join in.  Stephany's podcast partner Bri raved about it on their most recent episode.

Tell Me Something Else That's Going On

I'm so happy that you asked!  There was a Very Important Birthday in our house this week.  Now of course there is no way to know Doggo's exact birthday but we settled on July 4 because we like dog birthdays that fall on holidays (our previous dog was born on Easter), and it's a reasonable estimate based on her shelter paperwork.  Her present unwrapping skills are improving.

The "ladybug on a rope tied to a sunflower" present was a hit.  Pro tip: Home Goods is where it's at for dog toys.

Happy 2nd birthday, Ms Bloggo Doggo!!!  Who's made jello shots or a jello dessert?  Who's read Lion Women of Tehran?