Day 1280: 2016: The Beginning

Halfway through the year and you know what that means: it's time for a look back at the fix six months of 2016 and some of my favorite blog posts! To see favorites posts from previous years, just click the following links: 2013 (Part 1 | Part 2), 2014 (Part 1 | Part 2), and 2015 (Part 1 | Part 2). Now, onto January! 

Friday, January 15, 2016: Day 1110: Never Tell Me the Odds

My trip in January with Frank was filled with adventures, but none quite as grand as our Four Parks, One Day Challenge, which then led us straight into an attempt to see all the Walt Disney World fireworks in one night. Needless to say, we somehow managed to accomplish both, and while we definitely went home at the end of the day completely exhausted, it was so worth it. 

Friday, February 5, 2016: Day 1131: Santa Fe

A definite highlight of the spring semester was heading with my parents and Shovell to see Newsies at our local theater. We'd been waiting for what seemed like forever to see this show, and it definitely didn't disappoint! 

Thursday, March 3, 2016: Day 1158: Travel Life

While I wouldn't recommend trying to be in two states at the same time, the weekend I spent going back and forth between the Twin Cities and home was actually one of the best experiences I've had so far. It was a chance for me to expand academically, travel alone for the first time, make new friends, and explore a city different from my own! 

Wednesday, April 6, 2016: Day 1192: Disney By the Numbers: Epcot

In an attempt to explore a new graphics editing website I came across, I did a bit of research to come up with Epcot By the Numbers, including a few different numerical facts about the park, like how many triangles are really on Spaceship Earth, and how many attractions are listed on the park map! 

Tuesday, May 24, 2016: Day 1240: Pressed Pennies

I definitely have some of the greatest friends in the entire world, as is showcased through this blog post from May, when they finally completed a project they've been working on for over a year and a half: this beautiful pressed penny Mickey Mouse! 

Wednesday, June 22, 2016: Day 1269: Macaroons

When it comes to making Disney recipes, I think I just took things to the next level, at least with my own skills. I'd never made macarons before, but Disney inspired me enough to try and create some of my own. I've made some another time since this blog post, but I think these were better, so we'll just not talk about those other ones. 

And there you have it, the first half of 2016. Since I got rather behind I don't really have any bonus posts to share, but keep an eye on things for the second half of the year because we've still got a long way to go until 2017! 

Have a magical day!

Day 1269: Macaroons

Since I'm lucky enough to not have an extra summer job this summer aside from working on Everyday Disney and making YouTube videos, I've definitely paid attention to the odd collection of goals I'd like to accomplish. I made what I call a "Very Doable Bucket List," which is going pretty well, but aside from that, there's a few projects that have gained my attention.

One of those projects was the crazy idea I had not long ago that I'd like to learn how to make macaroons. Up until this past January, I don't think I'd ever had a macaroon before, and then, of course, I ended up trying one at Epcot and my whole life seemed to change. Suddenly cupcakes seemed much easier than normal, and I felt like I wanted a new challenge. I wanted to learn how to make macaroons.

Honestly, these little cookies seem like they'd be a lot harder to make than they actually are. Over the past couple of weeks I gathered recipes on Pinterest, learning about the two ways to make Macaroons - French and Italian - and contemplated what kind I'd like to make. Of course, because I was inspired by Disney to make these in the first place, it only seemed fair that I took that inspiration one step further.

What you have here is are Strawberries and Cream Macaroons, as is inspired by the Strawberries and Cream Ice Cream Macaroon Sandwich from the France Pavilion. They're much smaller than the ones filled with Ice Cream, but they're definitely delicious and honestly remind me a lot of the ones they serve there. These actually came out pretty perfect for a first try, and I was really keeping my expectations low just in case they burned or completely fell apart or something. Obviously, they didn't, and even my fresh strawberry jam and vanilla bean buttercream came together quickly and easily.

I'd share my recipe, but really I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to figure out exactly what all went into it because I mixed a bunch of recipes and then also changed things to make it my own, meaning that I don't remember precisely what I did. I'm positive this isn't the last time I'll be making macaroons though, so I'll try to include a recipe next time! Now it's off to work on the next project, which I'm sure will appear on the blog soon!

Have a magical day!