We finally started to clean out the last room of our house. It's a mess right now, but it's slowly getting there. We went to Target and looked at night lights and zoo animals--for Lana or some other toddler who will run around our feet.

We found all these old documents from California. Pictures and letters and little trinkets we through in a box and called it a memory. I told Nolan it's hard to look at those things, to think that we were so different just a year ago and how we have a farm in the Ligonier Valley now. How we just ate to pass the hours and fought to fill the gaps between work and sleep. We were different then; but it makes me nervous to look at those relics and think maybe we were exactly the same.

I remember the second meal we had in California, in the northernmost part of San Diego county where we were living at the time. It was just Starbucks, nothing fancy. But it was hot out and we never got the hang of just relaxing back then, so we went for somewhere with air conditioning. I got an iced coffee and a turnover. We kept calling it a turn-up and couldn't tell why it didn't sound quite right.

I paid $4 for a pastry I could have made at home. But now, now I am different. I make things myself. I save money where I can. I do it myself and make it at home. I don't want to run away to other places as much anymore.

Cherry Lemon Poppyseed Turnovers!

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry (10" x 10"
8 oz cherry pie filling
1 vanilla bean, scraped (or sub 1 TB pure vanilla extract)
Zest of 2 lemons, separated
Juice of 2 lemons, separated
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 TB melted butter
1 TB heavy cream
2 cup confectioners sugar
1 TB poppyseeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400*F and prepare 2 half sheets with parchment paper
Cut puff pastry into 8 equal squares (4 per sheet at 2.5")
Mix cherry pie filling, zest, vanilla, juice of one lemon, white sugar, and salt together and mix with a wooden spoon
Equally arrange your 8 squares on your prepared sheets
Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling into the center of each square
Brush all edges with butter and turn each pastry on a diagonal
Crimp edges with a fork to seal (obviously, I did not do this step too well as mine opened up...but it was prettier this way!)
Repeat with remaining
Brush all with butter on top as well
Pierce with a fork to vent out a bit of air
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and puffed
Allow to cool. While cooling, mix together remaining lemon juice and zest, cream, and confectioners sugar to create a thin icing
Pour over your turnovers and sprinkle with poppyseeds and enjoy!