Summer Baking Championship

Last week I talked about picking cherries from my sister's tree. This week, I had to devote a lot of time to pitting said cherries. 

On Monday evening, my mom and I did so while we watched the finale of Summer Baking Championship. This was a brand-new series this year, and I'm so glad it exists. It shortens the time between Spring Baking Championship and Halloween Baking Championship. (Now I have to wait two and a half months for HBC.)

On Tuesday, I spent several hours to finish pitting the rest of the cherries. We picked them early enough that we didn't find a single worm during pitting, which has never happened before. But I think picking them earlier makes them a little less sweet. This week, I used these cherries to make cherry crisp,

baked cherry omelets,

cherry limeade,

cherry cobbler,

and cherry topping, which I put on my mom's birthday key lime pie. (I only eat desserts that are holiday themed or made with our own fruit, so this was a loophole that allowed me to eat the pie.)

When I work from home, Reggie loves to come spend time around me, and he also loves to sit on my lap and purr (like he's doing at this very moment). He brings me joy.

He is so huge!

One of the things I love about working with historical sources online is finding random gems that I'm not even looking for. For example, I had to look through digital scans of a student-published book from the University of Utah in 1907. The students drew their professors as various mythical figures, and I was amused to see James E.  Talmage (a geologist and Apostle) as a sphinx—long before the Joseph Smith sphinx at Gilgal Garden!

And some of the most amusing finds are the bonkers ads, in this case from the early 1930s. Like this one for chocolate milk.

I wonder what they recommend for dull boys?

And I saw the top of this ad.

I wasn't prepared to scroll down and see what they were advertising to help with healthy nerves.

Yesterday I ran a five-mile race as part of North Salt Lake's Liberty Fest. In 2015 and 2016, I did the 5K, but it has changed quite a bit in the last seven years. Now they offer two-mile and five-mile races (and a one-mile race for kids) instead of the 5K. (Two miles is such a short distance that it hardly seems worth registering for it.) I got third place in my age division. That seems to be pretty common these days when I participate in local races.

One of the best things about joining in races is the free shirts, but unfortunately this year the shirt was made of cotton, so I won't wear it running, and it's too ugly to wear as a regular shirt. (I have too many beloved t-shirts to wear this dumb thing.)

Another change is the raffle. You get a raffle ticket when you register for the race. In the past, the prizes were various material items or gift cards; I still use the patriotic beach towel I got in 2016. But now, the raffles are from various vendors and small businesses. There were many times I thought, "I hope I don't win this thing," like golf gift cards and math tutoring. And I won one free hour of face painting! Wait—face painting? Really!? As a single cis man who doesn't plan parties, I have no need for face painting. If you want my voucher, lmk/hmu. These prizes seemed more suitable for a charity auction than a race raffle. 

The race now is part of a larger festivity with vendor booths, activities for kids, and food trucks. I approve of that, and I approve of the new race route. But I'm not a fan of the cotton shirts and the new raffle "prizes."