Day Late and a Dollar Short

So, yesterday Jay sent me on a lovely, therapeutic, child-free shopping trip. He jokingly said, ‘ok, see you in 4 or 5 hours!’ as I was leaving. That sounded like instructions to me! So I took my time, driving slowly down the coast. I stopped in this small grocery that I’ve been meaning to visit since we moved here but never made the time to. (Plus, up until Saturday I didn’t have my own wheels, Jay had commandeered them while his car was still in NH.) French and Brawn is on the corner in Camden and looks very fancy. They have a little produce and all the basic groceries, but then you go to the back of the store where there is a LOVELY meat counter, deli and their bakery. I had an almond croissant and it was glorious!

I tootled (that’s what my grandma does when she goes out with nowhere particular in mind. She tootles.) down the road a bit more and stopped at The Market Basket. This Market Basket is not at all like the Market Basket I was used to visiting in Concord, NH. It’s a fancy little shop with all sorts of fun little extras to splurge on! Sauces and olive oils, jams and jellies, spreads and crackers, chocolate and more chocolate!  They have a bakery with just gorgeous looking loaves, I’m still kicking myself for not picking one up! In my defense, I was a little preoccupied with the chocolate, mmmmmm! They also have sort of a little bistro menu and a few tables. I can’t WAIT to take my mom there for lunch!

Then I stopped in Fresh From the Farm. They have wonderful, local and not so local produce. Meyer lemons! I’ve never seen Meyer lemons in a grocery! I can’t wait to try some! The have lots of natural and organic products and a large bulk section that I’m going to have fun playing in! There were honey roasted whole pecans in there that I have some serious plans for. I picked up some almond extract that made the grocery store bottle I had hang it’s little head in shame and go hide in the corner!

I needed to go to Wal*Mart and I had such a nice time just browsing at my own pace and not having to try and race my children’s attention spans through the store. Then I went to our TJ Maxx and picked up a few things and then finally hit the Shaw’s for groceries. It was about four and a half hours later when I got back home! Then there were groceries to put away and dinner to make and this and that so, um, I didn’t get my contest taken care of yesterday. Excuses, excuses!

But I did it just now and the winner is . . . . . . . . . Lisa (I think?) at Deer Hollow! Congrats! I’ll get the fudge whipped up today and in the mail tomorrow!

 

And for everyone else who didn’t win. . .  .here’s the recipe! It is absolutely to-die-for and embarrassingly easy!

Lemon Fudge

3 cups white chocolate chips

14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon lemon zest

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Prepare a small baking dish (8x8) by spraying it with Pam and laying two strips of parchment paper (going opposite directions) in the pan. You’ll use the paper as handles when the fudge cools to just pop it neatly out of the pan, so make sure they’re both as wide as the pan’s base.

Melt the white chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat. (You can also do this in the microwave, just go really slow so you don’t burn the chips. I’ve done that. It’s heartbreaking. Especially when you don’t have more chips!)

Pour in the sweetened condensed milk and stir to combine.

When your mixture is heated through, add the zest and the juice.

Pour mixture into the baking dish and let cool a while at room temperature before popping it into the fridge to ‘cure’. At least 4 hours.

When it’s nicely set up and firm to the touch take it out and use the paper to pop it out of the dish. Use a long knife or a bench scrape and cut into pieces. I wipe the blade off in between cuts to make cleaner looking squares.

Enjoy!