The Things We Did: After the Final Rose

January and February are pretty “low-key” months compared to the rest of the year. With New Year’s resolutions, snowy, dark days, and people getting back into the groove of working… things seem to get kind of boring. Luckily we found a great way to get through winter and to look forward to Mondays… don’t roll your eyes… but we loved watching the Bachelor!!! 

How charming does Chris Soules look?
Apparently so charming that he broke the record
in Bachelor history for locking lips with basically
ALL the ladies. Go Chris.

This season featured Chris Soules, a lone farmer from Arlington (aka the middle of nowhere), Iowa who was sadly rejected in Andi Dorfman's season of the Bachelorette. The season was one of the most eventful and dramatic as it was full of so many crazies... which really made for some great T.V. entertainment.

To make our Monday's a little better and a little sweeter, as some of you who follow our Instagram (@th3thingswedid) would know, we decided to make it a tradition to pick up a new dessert each week. Every Monday for 5 weeks we tried different desserts from local businesses around Calgary and that's how "Dessert Mondays with the Bachelor" came to be! We also decided to put ourselves in the shoes of the bachelor and give “the final rose” to just one dessert. Not going to say we had it as tough as Chris Soules, but how does one pick a favorite dessert when they were all so satisfying?

Week 1: Made by Marcus Ice Cream- Vanilla Bean Flavour

We started our dessert bachelor journey with this delicious ice cream we picked up at the Calgary Farmers' Market located in Southeast Calgary. We loved this ice cream as it was so rich and creamy and to be honest, who doesn't love all things creamy? Made by Marcus is a local Calgary brand that makes ice creams, dessert bars, and macarons. Needless to say, this dessert disappeared from our freezer very quickly...

The left is a raspberry and lemon
curd flavor, and on the right is
the ever so delicious vanilla bean!

Week 2: Monplaisir Macarons

Please note: not to be confused with MACAROONS (duh). On our way home one day, we were perusing the shopping racks at Holt Renfrew and instead of leaving with clothes, we ended up leaving with a delicious box of macarons. There were many flavors to pick from and after trying a few we both agreed that our favorites were the pistachio and coconut flavored macarons!

Heaven in a box is a thing right?

Week 3: David’s Tea

Dessert teas are great when you don’t want to unravel a really good workout. As we were wandering down 17th Ave one night, we stopped by David's Tea and of course left with our hands full. A few teas we picked up were "Santa's Secret, Mothers Little Helper and Chocolate Macaroon". No surprise that our favorite ended up being the Chocolate Macaroon. Not the same thing as the actual dessert… but still delicious none the less.

We love all the teas we picked up,
and they're even better with these new
tea infuser mugs David's Tea has!

Week 4: Going Nuts - Coconut Cashew Butter

When we first discovered the coconut cashew butter at the Crossroads Market, we were literally going nuts. This butter became the default snack in the household for the longest time. Thick and creamy with just the right amount of coconut flavoring, this nut butter is delicious on almost anything. We like it with apples though, since we like to think that it's maybe somewhat healthier that way... :)

Just a little spread of this butter
on some fruit or bread is a great
way to spruce up a snack!

Week 5: Gulab Jamun from Rajdoot

This week in light of Holi coming up, we decided to go back to our East Indian roots and have some Gulab Jamun. For those of you who don't know what that is, here is some Wikipedia education for you: 

"Gulab jamun is a milk-solids (freshly curdled milk) based dessert. These milk solids are kneaded into a dough, sometimes with a pinch of flour, and then shaped into small balls and deep fried. The balls are then soaked in a light sugary syrup."

It might not sound that appetizing... but trust us, its amazing. They tasted especially good with some home made chai!

Our parents would be so
proud of us right now. 

This is where we are good citizens and must say: BACHELOR SPOILER ALERT!

Week 5: The Final Rose

Just like Chris gave the final rose to Whitney Bischoff, we gave the final rose to the Made by Marcus Ice Cream. We decided after 5 weeks of indulging in various desserts, we liked this one the best! To make our 3 hour Bachelor watching night more exciting, we decided to enhance the ice cream by making it a sundae. We topped it with candied walnuts and almonds, chocolate and caramel sauce, sprinkles, chocolate chips and a chocolate covered cherry. It was obviously so good.

Yes we even got a rose and presented
it to our sundae. We wanted to
obviously make the experience
as real as possible.

Our thoughts on the show:

And... the winner! Whitney Bischoff.
She was a clear winner from the
beginning, and it was no surprise that
Chris picked her. She was literally
begging for that ring by the end though.

Let's just put it out there: this season of the bachelor was definitely one of the craziest. Throughout the season we constantly wondered… WHERE DID THEY GET THESE GIRLS? Some of our favorite moments were crazy Ashley S. and the onion... we never did get to find out if she was on drugs or not. Super excited to see her on Bachelor in Paradise this summer. Also the Kelsey and Ashley I. showdown in the middle of the desert? Amazing. We really do wonder if they hired these girls for pure television entertainment...

Becca Tilley: through it was evident
Chris was falling for her hard, she
was playing too hard to get and wasn't
ready to milk cows and have babies
in Arlington, Iowa.

The end of the show was really no shocker to us. Chris picked the safe choice of Whitney, but we all knew that if he picked Becca, she would go to California and sit on the beach one day then realize that she could never live on a farm. Not just any farm. A farm in the middle of absolutely no where. Like the majority of Bachelor seasons, we are likely to hear about their break-up in T-~5 months. But you never know… maybe it is real love for Chris and Whitney.  

We are excited for the next Bachelorette season with the 2 IT girls that were eliminated this season- Kaitlyn Bristowe and Britt Nilsson. The double bachelorette season should be interesting and we're curious to see what Bachelor Nation will bring this time. May 18th can’t come fast enough!  #teamkaitlyn! Who do you want as the next Bachelorette?