Fastnacht Day, Kombucha soda, and SNL40

Happy Fat Tuesday!  Or as we say in PA, Happy Fastnacht Day!  (Fastnachts are Pennsylvania Dutch doughnuts made with potato dough and traditionally fried in LARD! Yum!  I never had one.)  But, I do need to try to procure myself a doughnut at some point today for good luck. 

For those that celebrate Lent, today is last day to stuff our faces before 40 days of fasting!  I participate in some Lenten practices like Ash Wednesday and avoiding meat on Fridays, but it's been many years since I 'gave up' something for Lent.  Many years ago I gave up soda and what do you know, after that period I didn't really crave it anymore!  Now, it's a fairly rare occurrence to see me sipping on a soda.  Anyone giving up anything this time around?

So what else has been happening around these parts besides Mardi Gras partying? 

Let's see.  My Valentine's Day was pretty low key.  I made some crafts with my 14 month-old charge at work on Friday:

And then I worked until midnight!

So Saturday I slept in until 10am, and then later went out for a 5 mile run.  I went out in the evening just as it was getting dark, and it was snowing lightly.  It was wonderfully peaceful and perfect. 

I also got a few Valentine's:

 

I am not sure what to do with that big box of chocolates, since I can't eat them?!  Anyone want to come take it off my hands?

 



Sunday it was beyond cold with negative wind chills here, so of course that ended up being the day I had a million errands to run.  I am so over winter.

 

First, I spent some time in the Barnes and Noble children's section.  Nanny heaven:

 

 

Then, I went to Target for a couple necessities and multiple non-necessities.  I saw a Cartwheel deal for this Kombucha soda so decided give it a try:

I've never tried any Kombucha drinks before so I really didn't know what to expect.  To tell you the truth, the amount of 'stuff' floating in them always scared me off!  This didn't taste like real cola but it was pretty good, with a bit of a strange aftertaste.  I think I would get it again, and maybe I'm brave enough to try real Kombucha now?!  I sipped on this while watching SNL40 Sunday night.  My favorite parts of the show were the flashbacks to the old episodes over the years, and I laughed pretty hard at the new Jeopardy sketch.  I could have totally done without some of the musical appearances, especially Kanye and Miley's cover of Paul Simon. 

While watching said TV extravaganza, I baked these muffins:

I made these from a mix (non-dairy one!), but I added in my own fresh blueberries to make them taste a little more homemade.  Not bad, Bean.  Not bad at all.

I've also been trying some new bars lately.  I take at least one bar a day to work so I'm always looking for new options.  They are sometimes hard to come by since I require non-dairy/vegan bars.

This peanut butter chocolate chip Larabar is one of my new faves.  It's not overly sweet and is just really yummy:

I picked up the new chocolate cupcake Luna Bar at Target.  This one is good but pretty darn sweet so I don't think I could eat it every day (which is surprising since it doesn't have an especially high sugar count).  The flavor is pretty close to a cupcake!

Anddddd, that's about it.  I had to work yesterday.  I can't remember the last time I had off for President's Day.  It was probably back in college!  Does anyone other than schools or the government actually have this day off?!  If you did, then lucky lucky you my friend.

Now go party it up Fastnacht style!


Do you celebrate Lent?

Did you watch SNL40?

Do you drink Kombucha?

Tell me about some new food finds!