Sunday Morning: Gigi's Cupcakes, Sweet Tea Ice Cream and Limoncello!

A little background music to get you going on this Sunday morning.  I LOVE Something's Gotta Give.  I could watch it over and over and over again.  Do I get an amen?  I'd watch Diane Keaton read the phone book honestly.  I just love her. Anyway, here's the video.  Enjoy the music while you read!

Speaking of movies.... Tom and Katie.  For real?  I wonder how much he'll pay her so she won't tell the world what a stark raving mad freak he is?  Notice the other two wives didn't speak up after signing the divorce papers.  We can now tell our daughters that the young man on the poster in their room that they dream about and pine over may turn out to be more of a psychotic toad than a prince charming, just go ask Katie.  On to cupcakes.

Gigi's Cupcakes are in the house!  Okay, not my house, but Haywood Mall.  When the cupcake chain  posted the news that it was going to be the opening day for their mall kiosk and we were coincidentally heading to Haywood Mall that day, I threw my hands up and praised God.  Seriously.  I've been wanting one of their cupcakes FOREVER!  I'm subscribed to their Facebook updates and they regularly post cupcake pics which I drool over and pass around so others can drool as if they were indeed real cupcakes.

Well, on this day, I had my first sample.  I let my daughter choose and she picked out a Princess Cupcake with Strawberry Cake and Buttercream icing, sprinkles and a fondant little crown. We sat down a few feet away, opened the cute little box and dug in with two forks. Sweet goodness.  Please go spend the $3.25ish so you can at least say once in your life you had a darn close to perfect cupcake. I don't get to the mall often, but I can not wait to get back to Gigi's little cupcake kiosk.

Sweet Tea Ice Cream.  Okay, admit it.  You'd be tempted to try, too, wouldn't you?  We were in Ingles last night and I was perusing the ice cream isle for unique brands to try when I saw Front Porch Carolina Churned Ice Cream.  I covertly put a pint of Sweetie Tea and a Nana's Pudding pint in the buggy as to not draw the attention of the hubs. My child blew my cover.  Any rate, we busted into them with spoons as soon as we got home.  I love the melty tops of just-back-from-the-grocery-store ice cream.  They were both creamy, but so not what I expected.  You could tell there was a little sweet tea flavor to one and the other sort of tasted like it was artificially flavored.  We won't be raving about either here, but I thought I'd share in case you are stricken with the same compulsion to snag one.  Spend your money on Ben and Jerry's.

And on leaving you on a happy note: the limoncello I started in late May/early June is ready!  After zest from 20 lemons soaked in 2 750ml bottles of top brand vodka for 6 weeks, we added a simple syrup, let it sit for a week, filtered and then stuck it in the freezer to enjoy on the 4th.  So worth the wait.  I'm making more for Christmas gifts.  Here's the recipe we used for Homemade Limoncello.  Cheers!