Pops and Pics

We finally used our Zoku Quick Pop Maker!

I had finally caved and bought it during our freakishly hot March weather.  And then it got rotten out.  I felt like I was to blame for the terrible shift in weather.  I thought I was off the hook when I sold my Jeep a couple years ago.  Usually the bad weather would kick in when I took the top off.  But I see now that the popsicle maker must have had the same effect.  I am a (fairly) rational person USUALLY, but sometimes I have a hard time getting it through my head that stuff like this isn’t true.  Also, that my actions do not influence the way the Cubs play baseball.

And now, we’ve finally made popsicles.  And do you want to know what happened to the weather after that?  BAM!  Cold and crappy!!  I’m telling you guys.  And the Cubs are playing like shit this season, too, come to think of it!  Although, I mean, the Cubs play like shit regardless I guess.

On to our Zoku Adventures!….

I put the Zoku in the freezer on Tuesday because they were predicting nice weather on Wednesday (it has to freeze for 24 hours before you can use it.)  This felt a LITTLE like tempting fate (see first paragraph.)  And then my Wednesday wound up being so hectic that I didn’t really get a chance to make anything fancy.  I grabbed all the ingredients for fancy pops, and then when I realized what I still had to do that day, I grabbed a pack of Horizons Organic Vanilla Milk and called it a day. 

Actually, I said “Lola, do you want chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla milk?”  and she said chocolate, and THEN I grabbed the vanilla, because I LOVE that vanilla milk.  Am I the only one who totally overrules their kid like that based on their own preferences?  You should have seen when I told Lola she could pick out the next foaming hand soap smell from Bath and Body Works.  This is usually our tradition, but as soon as she started trying to pick, I found this AWESOME SMELLING pear one.  And she’d try to pick out watermelon (SO GROSS!!!!!!!!) or cherry and I literally spent 15 minutes trying to subtly get her to pick the pear. 

“I like this one [watermelon.]”          Oh yeah, but what about THIS FANTASTIC PEAR ONE!? Big happy face.

“Strawberry one!”      Ooh, look at those pears on the picture!  You LOVE pears, remember?

“This one is purple, I like purple.”       Oh, hey, did you see this AWESOME BEST EVER ONE with the PEARS!?!

I finally felt ashamed of myself and let her pick.  ANYTHING BUT WATERMELON.  We ended up with raspberry.  But it’s getting low already.  Any suggestions on how to get her to pick the one I want next time? 😛

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So back to the popsicles. 

I think this picture is so funny.  First of all, look how she’s looking at those things, lol.  That is how I look at my baby.  Or, okay, SOMETIMES it’s how I look at pastry.  But also, I feel like this picture is perfect evidence of why I haven’t lost a pound of damn baby weight.  Notice the big chocolate cake (made with dark beer, for added richness and calories), and the giant Mc Donald’s cup.  Not to mention, nothing suits organic milk popsicles like red food coloring and white chocolate chips.  They tout the zoku as a maker of HEALTHY treats.  Well, that sounds like  dare to me.  🙂

That face?  It lasted about 10 seconds.  Even though the Zoku makes popsicles in about 7 minutes, that is roughly 6.5 minutes too long for a 3 yr old.  I sent her to play while we waited impatiently and then came the moment of truth.  The only negative reviews for the Zoku talked about some people’s difficulty removing them from the machine, some people even broke their cute little plastic sticks and whatnot.  I twisted my special pop remover tool and I hoped and wished and … they popped right out perfectly!  YAY!

While they turned out really well, I would like to note that vanilla milk does not make for a very tasty popsicle.  Freezing deadens flavor, and the resulting popsicles were really bland.  Not that Lola noticed!

Someday, Summer will finally be here for real.  Hopefully it won’t fall on a weekend that I work.  (:-P)  And then I’ll test Zoku recipes and hopefully be able to share some really good ones.

I also tried AGAIN to take a picture where BOTH of my kids look AT the camera with REASONABLY PLEASANT facial expressions.

Take 4.