bread, butter, and flying

It's been a busy few weeks at our house, what with company in town and work and all.  It was nice to get out on Monday (even if it was firstly for a dentist appointment!) and go do something fun!  Scot and I went to Wekiva State Park and rented a kayak.  He and I have kayaked a total of 2 times together (Haiti and the Bahamas), but I think we make a pretty good team (Meaning, I wuss out and he paddles from the back.  Kidding.  Sort of.  I try.)  We hit the river and had a fantastic time!  There were the usual Florida afternoon thunderstorms threatening us the whole time but overall we stayed dry.  Too bad, because I had my arm in the 72 degree water up to my elbow it was so hot!  Plenty of shade down the river, though.  We saw some giant birds, some turtles chilling on a log, and also a baby alligator!  Baby, as in, like 4-5 feet long.  Oh, and mosquitoes.  So.  Many.  Mosquitoes.  I didn't realize they joined us for lunchtime, but I counted probably  10-12 bites later that night.  Ugh.

I got back into baking this weekend, too.  The local cupcakery (hm, spellcheck says that isn't a word...but it also says "spellcheck" isn't a word) was closed by the time I got done with work so we decided to bake our own chocolate cupcakes with (at Scot's demand...er...polite request) peanut butter icing.  The cupcake recipe came from my KitchenAid cookbook, but here's the peanut butter icing recipe- AMAZING!!!
1 cup creamy pb
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
5 tbsp room-temp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup heavy cream
Mix everything but the cream in an electric mixer (do not use the whisk attachment) med-low til smooth.  Add cream, mix on high till fluffy.  Use your boyfriend to help you shovel it into a plastic sandwich bag with a spoon, squeeze out the air and snip the end.  Ice cupcakes (I couldn't help thinking the icing looked like little light brown piles of dog poo but DAYMN it was good!)

I also made my very first batch of French bread this weekend!  We bought spices to make dipping oils with but plumb forgot the bread during Monday's Publix run.  I found a recipe in my BHG cookbook (you know, the red plaid one that's been around forEVER) and, 4 hours later, we had the most delicious French bread ever known to man.  This is mostly thanks to Buttercup, my KitchenAid mixer (what, you don't name your small appliances?)  I used to knead my bread by hand but having a mixer with a dough hook turns me into a much more agreeable chef.
Here's my masterpiece! (I had to snap the photo before we ate anymore...this stuff did not last long at our house- Carbs are a religion here.)

Today was an extraordinarily long day as well- I had to fly one of our customers up to Pensacola, drop him off, and fly back.  The plan was to be back in Orlando by 4pm...I got back a little after 6.  Lots of weather, lots of vectors AROUND weather, lots of free time twiddling my thumbs and screwing around with the avionics on the airplane out of sheer boredom.  Every electronic form of entertainment I had was drained of battery power (that would be a kindle, an ipad, AND my phone) and I even finished the magazine I brought as backup.  It was a total of about 8 hours of flying time there and back (8 hours one-way if you wanted to drive it) and it just reaffirmed WHY I don't want to fly for an airline.  Good god I was bored!  Straight and level, straight and level, blah blah, frequency change, straight and level, straight and level...I seriously was on the verge of tears passing over the Gulf of Mexico out of sheer boredom after all my toys died ("I fly my private airplane all alone and I get so lonely" #firstworldproblems?)  

Anyway, I took some photos of the view from 8,000 feet- enjoy!

 Departing Pensacola, FL

 Fixing to head out over the Gulf

Really neat clouds from the storm I dealt with

Next weekend my bestie friend Sparkles from college is visiting for the weekend and I am BEYOND excited!  (2 days off work in a row!)  Plans are tentative, but I assure you it involves the beach and fruity cocktails.