finger thumb

campfire

Because why go camping when you don't have to? I'm not really a huge camper. I like beds with real sheets on them. I like toilets that flush. I care for electricity a great deal and I'm not a big fan of bug bites. So camping is not way up there on my list. I know, I know we camped A LOT when I was a little kid and I LOVED it then, but I'll tell you what, camping as a child and camping as a mom are very, very different. I don't even think I need to outline the differences here for you all, I just pretty much have to say one thing: workload. 

So at this point in our lives, when there are still diapers and little people who cannot swim, I'm in no rush to camp. However, there are some really fun aspects of the camping experience that I know the Little Dude will just love, and I did not feel the need to deprive him of any longer. So this past weekend, we did not pack up a tent and trailer and sleeping bags and bear proof coolers and sunscreen and bug spray and drive for several hours and then get everything dirty and drive it all home again and spend three days getting everything clean again (a process usually known as "camping"). But what we did do was have a campfire.

We invited the Grandparents over to help us out, and got a nice fire set up in our back yard. 

Everyone was really interested in the whole process, including the baby (who is already in his p.j's and all ready for bed after he's had a chance to see a little bit of that fire action).

He even chose a special friend out of the firewood pile.

A little "log buddy" just the right size for toting all around the yard with him. Hubs and I could not help but sing "It's lo-og, its lo-og, its big, its heavy, its wood! It's lo-og, its lo-og, its better than bad, its good!" a la Ren and Stimpey.

We soon had our fire up and running.

And the kids were all up and running too! Look at GranGran's awesome baby monitoring technique. Nobody is falling down with a log in their arms on her watch. No sir!

And of course, fire is nice and interesting and all, but the most important reason to have a campfire should be obvious. 

And that reason is MARSHMALLOWS! That's why Hubs was chopping us some nice green sticks in the picture above. So we can roast some marshmallows. 

This was the Little Dude's first experience with marshmallows too, and to say he was enthusiastic about it would be a bit of an understatement. 

Being allowed to poke a stick in the fire is awesome to begin with, but topping that stick with a gooey chunk of sugary goodness... heaven!

Grandpapa has honed his technique down to an art form. Look at those perfectly roasted marshmallows!

It took a little bit on convincing to get the Little Dude to roast his marshmallows before eating them (he really, really liked them plain too), but eventually he was willing to try. 

We turned our backs for a moment and even the Baby managed to get his little paws into the bag and have himself a snack. We only let him have one bite (because really, a baby does not need that much sugar) and then it was time to pack him off to bed. 

As it got darker, we all worked on our roasting methods. Hubs found L.D. a nice pronged stick, so that the long wait for roasted marshmallows was rewarded with twice the treat. 

With a little parental guidance, he was getting the hang of roasting them.

And he needed no help at all with the eating part.

He was a natural when it came to that.

Stickey gooey loveliness.

After eating marshmallows, his second favourite thing was staying up late until it was dark. Because then he got to use the little flashlight. I'm telling you, this kid LOVES flashlights. It was so much fun to whirl it all around and see the light beam slicing through the smoke in the darkened sky above the campfire.

I did a little mucking around with my camera and with a longer shutter speed, got these fun shots. 

Even with the low light and the blurring you can still see he was having the time of his life. Its a wonder we got him to sleep that night at all, after all that fun and all that sugar (the whole bag of marshmallows was gone by the end of the night, though there were eight people to help with the eating). And he did sleep late the next morning, even if only by a half an hour. All in all, it was a very good first campfire experience. 

 

 

chocolate + salt + caramel = cake

Pinterest is good for many things. Not the least of which is fantasizing about clothes you can't afford, houses much nicer than any you'll ever live in, stuff you don't have time to sew and recipes that you're probably never going to make. Now, those first three seem valid for various reasons, but every time I look at my recipe board on pintrest, I feel ever so much more hope. Because I could dangit, I could totally cook that! If I a) weren't so lazy and b) wasn't worried about the health implications of that much butter and sugar. 

But this weekend, I had a special occasion. A very special occasion. A girl's night. I know, I know, that seems fairly, um, suburban and painfully common, but NOT FOR ME PEOPLE. Because I have two kids under four, live at least an hour away from any of my dearest friends, and have less free time than... hunh, I'm looking for a hyperbolic way to say that I don't have any free time that is not hackneyed or insensitive. Nope, I've got nothin'. My point is that free time has gone the way of discretionary income in my life. That is to say, there is not much of it. And I cannot tell you how stoked I was about this girls night. 

The plan was to spend the night at my older sister's house. She who lives almost a couple of hours away. Whom I NEVER get to see unless we are celebrating family birthdays/holidays at which point we never get to talk, unless you count "Have you seen the purple bag with the bathing suits?" as conversation. And since I was going to be at her house overnight and my small children were not, I'd get to sleep for the whole. damn. night. That's right, the only person who would be getting up during the night to use the potty would be ME. Hallelujah.

And the third member of our party would be my University room mate/best friend/hillarious story teller and honorary sister. She of the belly laugh, and the awesome guacamole. The only person who loves home made salad dressing as much as I do. So it was shaping up to be an awesome night. 

We had a very loose plan. There would be dinner. There would be drinking. There would be more eating after that. And we'd talk until we fell asleep. And maybe paint our nails, but only if we were still sober or ran out of things to talk about (so probably not). 

Anyhow, I'd offered to bring Sangria and Dessert. I knew for sure that I'd be using The Pioneer Woman's recipe for Sangria, because it has four kinds of alcohol in it and I appreciate that kind of extravagance. I halved it, (because there were only three of us, and I'm not insane) and swapped the pinapple for strawberries. Though next time I will also throw in plums and peaches because I think that'd be awesome. And you guys, it was really, really good. We called it fruit salad with an alcohol dressing, just to make ourselves feel better. 

But I had to look around for a bit to find out what I'd make for dessert. I have kind of a cake rep to uphold, so I really wanted to knock their socks off. Though really, after a couple of glasses of that Sangria, we'd have happily eaten a Deep and Delicious freezer cake with our hands. But whatever, I still wanted to bake something. And then I saw what I was looking for. Perfection summed up in six words: Salted Caramel Six-Layer Chocolate Cake.

This is actually a Martha Stewart Recipe which does not surprise me at all. That woman knows what she's doing in the cake department. But man, I thought my Lemon Poppy-Seed Charlotte was kind of a lot of work, but compared to this behemoth it looks like a walk in the park. Also, check out the ingredient list. There are 7 and a half cups of sugar in this puppy, when you combine the sugar in the cake, the caramel and the icing. Really, its ridiculous. My hand did waver as I chopped a pound of chocolate for the icing. And added half a pound of butter to the caramel after there were already two cups of cream in there. Yikes. But I had set my hand to the plow and I would not look back. 

And after two days, the cake was ready (made the layers on Friday, made the caramel and icing on Saturday, assembled it at my sister's house). And I have to say, that cake was ridiculously good. Even though I managed to screw it up. The most stressful part of this cake was making the caramel. The directions tell you to combine the 4 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of corn syrup and 1/2 cup of water, put it in a saucepan over high heat and DO NOT STIR it for 14 minutes, until has turned a deep amber colour. Boy, was it hard not to stir it. High heat, people, how the heck is that not gonna burn? I compromised and set it to 8 instead of 10. And watched it as anxiously as a pot has ever been watched. And pulled it off the heat the second the timer dinged. It appeared to be fine and I added the cream and the butter and let it cool. But when all was said and done and I tasted it, I felt it had the aftertaste of burnt sugar. Hubs assured me it was not so. And I was not about to use another four cups of sugar and two cups of cream and half a pound of butter when I'm told it is fine. But still, next time I'm only giving it ten minutes. 

Anyhow, after our delicous appetizer courtesy of Sara (as seen in the above photos) ... and lovely dinner courtesy of my sister, 

and more Sangria and a good long walk......we hit that cake like a ton of bricks. 

Next time I will cut very small pieces though. 

Because this is one of the richest cakes I've ever eaten. None of us could get through our entire pieces. At least not in one sitting. 

Would you look at that caramel. My sister said it tasted like eating a huge gooey Skor bar. You know, next time I make this cake, I will do it as cupcakes. Because that way it'd be more manageable, and you'd have a chance at least at getting through a whole cupcake. 

My favourite thing about this cake is the fleur de sel that you sprinkle on top. I'd put more on next time. And I'd put it on the sides too. The lovely little melty saltiness in each dense chocolatey bite is really incredible. As my sister put it "Its the icing on the icing on the cake." Indeed.

 

moody cupcakes

Alright, so if you've ever been off wheat and dairy you'll know that one of the biggest challenges is baking. And I so love to bake! Its really hard for me to NOT be able to whip up a quick batch of cinnamon rolls or cupcakes, as is my wont from time to time. But I am nothing if not persistent, so I got a book out of the library which I've been carrying about with me like a security blanket. Its called Allergy Free Desserts, by Elizabeth Gordon. So far, it has provided me with the most successful gluten and dairy free baking recipes yet. For behold!
Coconut Cupcakes with Meringue Frosting. These are some pretty darn good cupcakes. They were AMAZING warm out of the oven last night, and still very good today. The key ingredient is garbanzo bean flour (waaaaaay better than rice flour, which can be so gritty and does not hold a crumb together) Also, she has an amazing egg replacer trick which involves ground flax seed meal. Though after I made the cake part, I realized that, duh, Hubs is not off eggs, so next time I'll probably just try it with the real thing. And instead of mucking about with a vegan faux buttercream icing (for which there is a very nice sounding recipe in the book), I just went ahead and made a big ole' batch of meringue to top them with. I used the Italian Meringue recipe from Martha Stewart's Cooking School book, which is so far the best dollar I ever spent at a garage sale. Seriously, I was just going to try and re-sell it or give it away or something, but I have learned so much from that book. Its my new go-to for techniques I'm not sure about, beating out the Joy of Cooking in that regard. Its the good photos and step by steps with lots of minutiae. Martha will always go into details and I really like that about her. 

Anyhow, today we gave them to the boys to eat and they were a hit.  I know this is probably the darkest, moodiest image of a small, curly-haired child eating a cupcake you will ever see, but he was standing in a direct sunbeam and I was mucking about with the settings on my fancy camera and this is how it came out. 

Kind of dramatic and weird, but I really like them somehow. 

It makes me feel somehow that this cupcake is struggling to understand the deeper meanings of life as he contemplates his own mortality. He faces his own destruction and yet is filled with the ennui of existence. Right. That or I need to open change my F-stop.

Anyhow, I turned and took a shot in the other, not so heavily backlit direction and got a completely different feel. See, there's my little baby-bellied bird, swooping in to eat muffin out of his Daddy's hand. I'm telling you, this kid's main mode of conversation is chirping. Its the cutest darn thing. 

best. cookie. ever.

So I would never have thought that a trip to the emergency ward would lead me to a cookie so good that I have made two batches in the last 48 hours. 

The short version of this story is that Hubs and I went to emergency AGAIN this weekend. And no, this time there was no power tool involved, or bleeding gash, or work related injury. Be not alarmed. He just had some, er, how to put this delicately, gastrointestinal unpleasantness. Yeah, lets go with that. It was unpleasant, in the digestional sense, so we went to see a doctor at the hospital and they said, "yeah, maybe you should see a specialist, but you seem to be fine. Get a referral from your family doctor." Which is good. But also, not really a diagnosis in the strictest sense of the word. So the next day we went to see my Mom's naturopath, who very graciously saw us on short notice on a weekend. What a nice lady. Anyhow, she feels that Hubs has an inflamed intestine and gave us some enzymes and a remedy and also said "I think you should stop eating wheat and dairy."

Oh, how I hate to hear those words. Its like saying, "enjoy the colours, but just don't look at anything red or blue." Yeah, that'll narrow down my options a bit.

But whatever, we're going to try it. I've done it before (and I found it really hard) but what's easier this time is a: I'm older and I know more stuff about food and cooking. and b: its not ME who has to go off wheat and dairy, it HUBS, so I cans still eat butter and cheese when he's not around. Really, I just have to cook one NW/ND meal a day, which is doable. 

But still challenging. But thank the Lord in Heaven for the internet. Seriously, what did we do before the internet? I've made some good meals. A nice Spinach and Mushroom Risotto served with a thinly sliced medium rare steak was very good. Also today we had a Red Lentil Coconut Soup that was pretty great, especially when you add a spoonful of peanut butter to it. Very tasty.

But by far the best part of this diet has been the discovery of this cookie. The Flourless Dark Chocolate Fudge Cookie. Good old Pinterest, its my favourite recipe searching device lately. I didn't quite believe that you could make a cookie with essentially four ingredients, but these are a-MAAAA-zing. Its basically a chewy chocolate meringue with chocolate chips. So really, what's not to like? Now these are dairy-free and wheat/gluten-free, but I'd be lying if I told you they were some sort of health cookie. There's 3 cups of icing sugar in these. THREE! Its basically a giant bowl of sugar and cocoa that you stir three egg whites into (which is tough going, but keep at it, its totally worth it) but when you can no longer eat cheese for pete's sake, you've got to have some sort of indulgence. The batter is sort of a brownie consistency. 

And just for experimentation's sake, I split the batter into three parts and did one just like the recipe called for (stiring in chocolate chips) but then put shredded coconut and oats in the other two, respectively. They were good too. Heartier though, and didn't spread as much when you baked them. I liked the coconut ones and Hubs liked the ones with the oats.

Here's what they plain one's looked like when they came out of the over. I cannot even describe how ridiculously good these were fresh out of the over. Sort of like a cross between a brownie and a meringue. Which is like a cross between a Unicorn and Kitten. Which is to say, awesome.

We ate them all over two days (we had help, guests and of course, the Little Dude pitching in and doing his part) so I made another batch today for Hubs' work lunches, and we added walnuts (because that's gonna make them healthier. Am I right?). I'm going to try and keep my sticky little fingers off them, as I can still eat butter and cheese and all that and leave Hubs his delicous cookie consolation.

I said I'd try. I can promise nothing. 

home made maple syrup

At long last, my Hubs has realized his (modest) dream of making maple syrup. He's had big plans for some time now, and last fall, he went around our little forest marking the sugar maples in preparation for this spring.  Last weekend he went out and drilled some holes and put some spigots and lines up. He didn't buy enough spigots (mistook splitters for spigots, so he only had three in the end) but it turns out that this is not a problem, as he works full time and if we were collecting sap from ALL the sugar maples in our little forest, he'd have a SECOND full time job boiling sap. (if you want more information about collecting sap/making syrup, Tap My Trees is an excellent source. Good clear information but not too overwhelming.)
As it is, he comes home from work at 5:15, heads out to the bush and brings in a bucket of sap, and then spends the evening boiling it down. Often, he is accompanied by the Little Dude, who likes to help collect the sap.

These pictures were taken last week, back when we still had snow. This was the first time we checked on the trees, only a few hours after they'd been tapped, and we already had enough sap to fill this 2L pop bottle.

We all needed to taste the sap too. It was very exciting. Like when you find wild berries growing out there and there are enough to pick a whole pint full. It feels like a gift.

One of those big buckets takes two evenings to finish, so he's always working with an overlap. Though the sap doesn't flow as hard some days as others, so he does manage to catch up. Here's the sap, just as its turning into syrup. It will suddenly go from a clear yellowish boiling liquid to a frothy boiling mass pretty quickly. And then you have to flick in a few drops of cream or a smidge of butter to get it back down to a simmer. Then you know you're close to syrup.

Almost there.

Ah, liquid gold! Hubs poured the first batch off into his Bodum, as that was the only heatproof glass he could think of at the moment. We eventually got it into a proper bottle once it cooled. 

But we did not wait till morning to have our first taste of it. We buttered some bread and cut it out rounds with a cookie cutter and poured warm maple syrup on it. One for each of us (minus the baby). As you can see I almost did not get a picture of them before they were gone. So, so good. The syrup is rather light, with a flavour that has a hint of buttered popcorn to it. Very interesting. We're careful and use it sparingly on dishes where it will really be enjoyed. Tonight I made buckwheat crepes, and rolled them around breakfast sausage and grated cheddar and drizzeld them lightly with our own home made syrup. Heaven. 

best turkey meatballs ever

We had the best dinner time experience we've had in a loooong time tonight for two reasons a: I'm a freakin' genius, and b: these meatballs. 

Lets go back a little. My Little Dude has always been a good eater. I mean, veggies: fine, textures: fine, sushi: fine. Until suddenly he reached the age of 3 and 3 months and it started to change. Suddenly he was turning his nose up at things. Things he used to eat and love. Just a few things here and there though, so I didn't mind too much. And then he got sick last month. Do you remember? No, why should you, but BOY do I remember. Because he was really sick for a long time and it SUCKED. And he hardly ate while he was sick, but then, after he got better his tastes had drastically changed. I know I've mentioned it before, but really, its very frustrating. Now I know how spoiled I was before with my "I'll eat anything" child. Because this new "I don't like that and I'm going to spit it out on my plate now" child is much less fun at dinner time. 

But I'm telling you, I refuse, I absolutely refuse to cook three meals. As it is, the Baby, (though we are doing our best to integrate our food choices into his), still requires some specific baby-manageable food, what with how much he likes to feed himself and all. So I have to make dinner for Hubs and I, and remember to do some extra plain veggies and pasta or something like that for the Baby, but then, if I have to do a separate toddler meal on top of that I will LOOSE MY MIND. Because the hour from 5 to 6 pm is already hard enough as it is. That kid will eat what we eat (or a very, very similar but sauce free version of it) or I'm going on strike. I mean it. They can forage out of the bottom of the bread drawer if they have to.

So his general thing is he just wants to eat carbs. The whiter and more flavourless the better. I hear that's known as 'the toddler diet'. With a little bit of cheese maybe, but only the plainest of the orange cheddar varieties will do. And he'll always eat a banana. But seriously, with a diet like that this kid will never poop again. So clearly, something has got to be done. (I'm not saying that he'll only eat those three things, he still loves his oatmeal and fruit, but still, there is a very heavy carb bias) Not that I have anything against carbs. But too much of any good thing is not a good thing anymore, right? So I was reading this article about a book called Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman about her experience of raising her children in France. I can't say I agree with all of it, but she made a very good point about why she feels that there are very few 'picky eaters' among the kids of France. Not only are children introduced to a wide variety of flavourful foods early on (yeah we already did that) but also, and more importantly, they don't snack. Theoretically, French mother's purses are not filled with tupperware containers of goldfish crackers and cheerios. (because there's not enough room what with all the Hermés scarves and Channel lipstick. haha.) There is only one snack time in a French child's routine and that is at four o'clock. Otherwise, meals are eaten at meal times. And as a result, by the time a meal rolls around, they are hungry. And voila, the braised endive for lunch looks pretty good to a four year old when they haven't eaten since breakfast. 

So, our new routine is three meals and two snacks (I'm not quite French you see) and those snacks must occur at minimum two hours before a meal. In other words, no snack after 10, and no snack after 4. And those snacks are small and plain. A handful of pretzels, or something like that. Oh, and here's the part where I'm a genius. Because even with these provisions, and only healthy food on the table, the bread and cheese and pasta are the things that get eaten, not the veggies and protein. So at 11:45 today, when he was really hungry, but it wasn't quite lunch time, he had an appetizer that looked like this:

Veggies and hummus. There were more, but in the time it took me to find my camera he ate quite a bit. Served to him where he was playing (which made it all the more attractive.) And he ate every last bit of it. Awesome.

And then for dinner time (again, no snack after four) I put out a plate of broccoli and meatballs (a protien and a veg) and he ate it all again. And when it was gone, he asked for a piece of bread. No problem, since he'd already eaten the other stuff. Then after the bread was gone, he had more meatballs. I was very, very happy.  But quietly so, of course. I don't want to jinx it. 

So the moral of the story is; Kids will eat when they are hungry. Duh.

ok, and finally, my awesome meatball recipe. 

Turkey Meatballs

 1 lb ground turkey

½ cup panko bread crumbs

¼ plus 1 tbsp of milk

1 egg

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp freshly ground pepper

¼ tsp oregano

¼ tsp oregano

¼ tsp thyme

¼ tsp sage

 cornmeal for rolling (optional)

 olive oil and canola oil and a pat of butter for frying.

 

Dump the bread crumbs into a large bowl and stir in the milk. Let them sit for a minute to absorb the milk. Then add the turkey, egg, salt pepper and spices. Mix with a fork, but just until blended because it you mix it too much they get tough. Roll them into meatballs with your hands, and if you like them extra crispy, put some cornmeal on a saucer and roll each meat ball in the cornmeal. They get a nice crust then. Put them on a cookie sheet and throw them in the freezer to chill if you have time. Don’t freeze them, just let them get cold, because that way they stay round when you fry them.

 Pour a few gluggs of olive oil into a pan, and another few glugs of canola oil if you like, and then a little pat of butter, just for flavour. I really like a cast iron pan for this, as they don’t stick and it cooks them nice and hot, but that’s just my preference. Use what you have. Turn the element to med heat, but on the low side. Don’t crank it to eleven like I am always tempted to do. (So impatient) Once the oil is hot, put in a layer of meat balls, but don’t crowd them. You can do multiple batches, that’s fine. Cook, turning as each side gets browned. When they are done, put them in the oven on a plate covered with a little foil to keep warm and cook the next batch. It’ll probably take two batches. But you could easily double this recipe and then do four. If you have more than three people who will eat them, you should probably double it. And don’t worry if you have too many, the left overs are awesome in spaghetti. Or on their own for lunch.

 Also, don’t worry it you can’t find panko crumbs (though they have them at the evil Wal Mart here, so I’ll bet they have them near you too). I ran out tonight, so I improvised and crushed up some cornbread crackers and used that instead and they were just fine. Regular breadcrumbs would probably work too.

 I like to serve them with a fruity jelly (memories of Ikea) so tonight I mixed some President’s Choice Hot Pepper Jelly with Hub’s home made wild grape jam and it was awesome. But cranberry jelly is also very good. Also, mashed potatoes, gravy and a green veg will round out the meal nicely.

 

Lemon Poppy Seed Charlotte

I'm always nervous about posting a recipe that I didn't make up myself or at least heavily alter. But this one is one I've made over and over again and people always ask me for the recipe (including you, dear regulars). But all I have is a butter stained shred of paper ripped from a magazine at least a decade ago. I don't know where it comes from, but I do know that it's great and should be shared. If you created this recipe, feel free to contact me so that I can credit you or redirect readers to a web source for it, or at least a cookbook. But I looked and could not find it anywhere, and I don't feel the world should be deprived of it any longer. So there you have it. This is at the front of the 'cake' section in my recipe binder. It rose to prominence in my baking repretoire while we lived in Montreal. It is light but decadent at the same time and flavourful without being too sweet. It was a big hit both with the foodies and the conscious eaters at art school. Kids love it, adults will rave about it, and it just seems to ring everybody's bells. Unless you don't like lemon, in which case, forget about it.

This is definitely a special occasion cake, as there are a lot of ins and a lot of outs. But its totally totally worth it. DO NOT be scared of making your own lemon curd. Its so ridiculously simple that you'll wonder why you never did it before (if your the type to wonder about such things). It is so much better than any of the ones you can buy at the store. And please, for the love of Mike, don't use lemon pie filling or lemon spread. That would be a disaster. And you don't need a fancy stand mixer, I've always made it with my $19.99 hand mixer with lovely results. What you do need is a ton of berries for the garnish. Take the money you saved not buying a KitchenMade mixer and get yourself, like three or four pints of berries. You will not regret it.  Wash berries and lay them out on a clean tea towel to dry. If you are a pattern nerd like me, you can lay them out in rows. Very pleasing. Ok, on to the recipe.

Lemon Poppy Seed Charlotte

Cake

 ½ cup melted butter

7 eggs, separated

½ tsp cream of tartar

1 cup of granulated sugar, divided

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cups cake and pastry flour (that’s one and one-third, don’t screw it up!)

1/3 cup of poppy seeds

 

 Frosting

 ¼ cup granulated sugar

1 envelope unflavoured gelatin powder (about 1 tbsp)

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (do not use that stuff you have in the fridge in the little lemon shaped squeeze thingy)

1 cup of home made lemon curd (its really easy, you can totally do it, see recipe below)

500 ml container of whipping cream (about two cups)

 

Lemon Curd

 4 egg yolks

2 whole eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup butter

2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 

 

1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees F. Grease two round 8-inch cake pans and line bottoms with waxed paper or dust lightly with flour. Melt butter. Set aside to cool. Separate eggs placing whites in a large bowl and yolks in a separate medium sized bowl. (It’s smart to do the separation egg by egg over a little bowl, and then pour each successfully separated white into the big bowl, because it you screw up and break a yolk and any yolk goes into the white, it won’t beat up as airy as you need it to)

 2. Beat whites with cream of tartar just until soft peaks form when unmoving beaters are lifted out of the bowl. Do not over beat. Gradually beat in ½ cup of sugar. Beat until very shiny, stiff peaks form. Set aside. Beat egg yolks until very thick and lemon-coloured, (about four minutes). Gradually beat in remaining ½ cup of sugar and room-temperature melted butter, salt and vanilla. In 4 additions (of 1/3 cup each), sift flour over egg yolk mixture, gently folding after each addition. Fold in the poppy seeds with the last 1/3 cup of flour.

 3. Fold egg yolk mixture on top of beaten egg whites and fold just until no big streaks of white remain. Turn into prepared pans. Gently smooth tops. Bake in centre of 350 degree over just until tops string back, about 20 minutes. (while you are waiting for them to bake, make the lemon curd, see below) Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely. Using a serrated knife , cut cakes in half horizontally to make 4 layers.

 4. To make the lemon curd, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice in a small heavy bottomed saucepan. Cut the butter into chunks and add to the pan. Place saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until sugar and butter are melted. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Then, stirring constantly, cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 7 minutes. Fill a one-cup measuring up and set aside until room temperature. Pour the remaining into a jar and refrigerate once cooled. It will keep well for several days (if it lasts). Enjoy it with yoghurt, scones, fruit, whatever. It is so, so good.

 5.  Meanwhile, to make frosting, in a small saucepan, stir sugar with gelatin. Then stir in water and lemon juice. Stir constantly over medium heat until gelatin is dissolved, about 4 minutes. Pour into a large bowl. Immediately add room-temperature lemon curd. Whish until the mixture is smooth. Put in the fridge to cool just to room temperature, about 15 or 20 minutes.

 6. Beat cream in a large bowl until soft peaks will form. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in about one-third of the whipped cream into the lemon mixture. Fold in the remaining cream just until no white streaks remain.

 7. Get a pretty plate or cake stand. Set one of the cake layers on it. Spoon about one-fifth of the lemon/whipping cream frosting onto it and gently spread almost, but not all the way to the edges. The put the next layer on top of that and repeat until you’ve used all four layers. Frost top and sides with the remaining mixture. Then garnish as you please. This is really the most enjoyable part. I like to use a couple of pints of raspberries or blue berries and just completely cover it with them. But I’ll bet strawberries would be lovely too. 

Here is the blueberry garnished version. See, you just completely stud it with blueberries. You could also do a sort of fibonnaci swirl pattern, that would be very cool. I had to dig through my old photos to find this. I made it and a matching no-sugar mini cake for the Little Dude's first birthday, back in 2009. Looking at the pictures just blew my mind, because he was the exact same age as the Baby is now, and it seems a lifetime ago!
Seriously! Can you believe that! So cute. And so liddle! And yet, so big. He was much bigger at that age than our current Baby.

Lookit 'im stuffing his face on my lap. It boggles the mind, I tell you.

Its such a great example of how everything changes and yet so much stays the same. I look at the pictures we took just yesterday and they are so similar. Cards and presents and cake and excitement. We just all get a little older (or a lot older as the Little Dude's case may be). 

And I'm throwing this one in just because its another good shot of the cake, but also an awesome picture of my Dad. What a good lookin' fella. Doesn't that face just say, "I have a pick-up truck, do you need help hauling anything?" He's got a heart as deep as a four layer cake that man. Just sayin'. 

party!!! (the sequel)

We had another birthday party this weekend. For the same person as last weekend. Yes, we double birthday partied our one-year-old. We are those people. Though I will say in my defense that we did not rent a hall for 100 guests, or hire a band or cater it like really crazy people do. We are just a little bit crazy, so we just had my parents, my siblings, my best friend, and their respective kids. Sixteen people in all. It might be the most people we've ever had over at one time for an event. We usually have these sort of family gatherings at my parent's place, but its a whole other ball game when one hosts. I know my mom always does a lot of work to get a party on, and it was nice for a change to get to see her sit down and spend more time talking with people instead of worrying that everyone has something to drink and eat. But boy, am I pooped tonight. I swear I've been cleaning and baking for two solid days. But it was all worth it because we had a blast. It was a PARTY. The kind of party where you know you had a good time because there is not a single clean glass, or clean plate or dry pair of mittens left by the time the day is over. 

There were presents again of course, which were as exciting for the giver as the receiver.
And sometimes even more exciting for the giver to be honest. We had some very excited givers.

And also, people who were eager to 'share' the new gifts, all under the good natured pretext of demonstration
"I have to show him how it works!" I was told by more than one excited party guest today.

It was so fun, all the hustle and bustle and chatter of little people and big people. There was nearly every stage in human development represented, with almost no two the same age, but yet everyone got along so well.
I was generally so busy finding extra forks and just one more plate that I didn't supervise any play time at all, but there were plenty of older cousins and helping hands around, so we had a loud, but pleasant day with no big conflicts, no minor wounds or even bruised feelings.  Oh, and the Baby even received a big of nostalgic goodness; You may remember Baby Tugs the Care Bear from that post I wrote a couple of weeks ago, who was kindly passed down to the Baby courtesy of his Uncle Lemur Boy. Now he's not just an old pop culture reference, he's an heirloom.

And of course there was cake, more and more cake. 

Which received the same enthusiastic raspberry scarfing pleasure as it did last Sunday. 

And the Little Dude did not wait long to get in on the action, much to the delight of the crowd. 

We finally moved him to the table...

...and cut him a piece of his own which he demolished with gusto before I was even finished cutting and serving the grown-up cake. 

I made my go-to favourite party cake, which is a Lemon Poppy Seed Charlotte that I absolutely smothered in raspberries. I just did a quick web search to find out if the recipe was floating around there in the ether somewhere but alas, it is not. I myself ripped it out of a magazine well over a decade ago. I'll try to find time to post the recipe for it this week, because really, I don't mean to brag, but it is a truly outstanding cake. So light and flavourful, and decadent without being heavy. It was enjoyed by all today, and we even have a little piece left over that I plan on eating tomorrow. Maybe even for breakfast. 

The Pioneer Woman Cooks.. with lots of sugar and butter.

Got this new cookbook out of the library recently, and have been pouring over it ever since. I read a review of it on Gluten Free Girl that was so great that I just had to try it for myself. Its The Pioneer Woman Cooks.This is one of those cookbooks that you'd enjoy even if you never cooked a thing out of it. Its the work of a blogger named Ree Drummond, so its a cookbook with a narrative, which is something I especially enjoy. I got all excited about trying new and exotic (to me) things like Chicken Fried Steak. You seen, the blog this book comes from is The Pioneer Woman, and she's sort of an urbanite who married a cattle rancher so its pretty down home style cooking. I was especially obsessed with the aforementioned Chicken Fried Steak (which does not involve chicken, but is a steak that you bread and fry as you would chicken, hence the name). I've made it twice now, and the jury is still out on it. I think I'm not doing it right, as all her recipes serve, about 12 (rancher husband and, like four kids, none of whom are toddlers anymore, so there are big appetites I'm thinking) so I had to quarter the recipe, and I think I've screwed up the proportions on the spices. The texture is great (crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside) but they don't have any kick. But I'm going to try again, as I'm pretty sure its me, and not the recipe.

What was much more successful was this steak sandwich. Excuse the not very good photo. Meat is really hard to make look good if your lighting is not optimal. And I'd just finished making this and the kids were all antsy and it was the usual pre-dinner craziness, and I was dying to eat this, so I just went 'snap' and then tucked in. So, so tasty. I served it on cibatta buns with romaine hearts and a balsamic dressing for dipping them in (which is my favourite lazy salad of late). 

We also really enjoyed the Chocolate Sheet Cake, and tonight I made Iny's Prune Cake with Buttermilk Icing which tastes so much better than it sounds. Because you know, its hard to get excited about prunes.
Though I must say, the whole dessert section of her book should be called 'a cup of sugar and a stick of butter'. Not that I'm complaining. She has this whole schtick about how she's been hiding from her husband the fact that its a PRUNE Cake, but seriously, the caramel glaze that you put on the top... prune, schmune, I'd eat my own foot if it had that glaze on it. Health food this is not. I have to steel myself to put the full amount of sugar in it that is required, as I don't usually like to go that crazy on the sugar. And I might scale it back next time. But for the purposes of reporting to you on the actual recipes, I followed it to the letter. And I must say, it was delicious. And you know who else liked it?    It is such a pleasure to see him eat something with gusto. Ever since he was sick a couple of weeks ago his appetite is much diminished, and he has become much pickier about things. So many of the things that he used to love (egg on toast with cheese, dutch cheese with cumin, broccoli, green beans, sweet potato fries, cantaloupe the list goes on and on) have been declared no longer edible by him. He's all about the carbs these days. Bread and cereal and bread and crackers and pasta and bread, bread, bread are all that he wants. He'll still eat bananas and avocados and most fruits, but is hardly interested in any vegetables (though he went to town on the carrots tonight at dinner) and protein as usual is ignored or declared inedible. Though tonight he ate meat pie with very little complaint so go figure. Anyhow, its just really, really nice not to have to put the energy into trying to get him to eat something (without appearing to try, I'm telling you its such a mind bending pain in the butt) that I practically want to make cake every night. And at least there are prunes in there. Prunes have more antioxidants that blueberries you know! Also, three eggs in there, so he'll be getting some protein. And I made it with part whole wheat flour, you know, for the extra nutrition. But I'm pretty sure the reason he ate it was for the cup of sugar. Tasty, tasty, sugar....

And now for no reason at all, here's a picture of the Baby. He's been waking up way to early from his afternoon nap, so the other day after a hug and a backrub I put him back in the crib with a stack of books. He happily flipped through them and then eventually fell asleep again. I just love how he's clutching that little knitted duck his Great Grandma made for his big brother once upon a time. So sweet.

happy valentine's day

This is how we celebrated the day of Love.  With chocolate of course!

The Baby of course, knew nothing of what was going on today, nor did he care. He's still a little on the cranky side from being sick. The Little Dude however was definitely into it. He was happy with at the thought of cupcakes, and very happy at the thought of little m&m's. He was his usual not-very-helpful, helpful self as we baked. He put cupcake liners into the tins, and then threw them all out again. He sifted icing sugar very slowly. And then he held the hand mixer for me when we made the icing. Then he leaned on the edge of the counter and almost fell off the chair he was standing on, knocking down the cookbook I was using in the process. Didn't hurt himself, but had a bit of a scare and needed hugging. And then while I was cleaning up after the fallen cookbook and scattered paper liners etc. He climbed back up on the chair and started the beaters up again, but they were at an angle and he splattered icing everywhere. As he was doing this I was telling him, very urgently to stop. When I stopped him and asked rhetorically and with a bit of frustration what he was doing, he truthfully told me "I was ignoring." 

sigh. So basically he would not do anything I asked him to, but insisted on doing anything that I asked him not to. That's pretty much the definition of three-and-a-half, right?

We finally managed to get those cupcakes in the oven and there was a batter bowl left to lick out. Which is really his strong suit. Yeah, that is a picture of ALL TEN of his chocolate batter covered fingers in his mouth at the same time. First he rubs them vigorously around in the bowl and then he rubs like a crazy little crack addict in his mouth. Seriously, he rubs his gums. There is chocolate everywhere by the time he's done. 

I had big plans for later in the day to make a card for Daddy using this technique I saw on lilla a design where you let your kids use their fingers to stamp a heart. Very cute. (This one would have worked well too) But he absolutely refused to do it. Why? Because I wanted him to probably, but the reason he gave me was that he "didn't want to get his hands dirty". Hunh. Please see above photo and feel free to roll your eyes. Lord knows I did.  And in further surprising and contradictory developments, he did NOT want the cupcake with the m&m's on them when it finally rolled around to the end of lunch time when he was allowed to eat them. He chose a plain iced one instead. Though I suppose it was smarter, because the plain ones had more icing. 

GranGran joined us for lunch and forever cemented her place in his heart by bringing him not one, but TWO 'face trains' as he calls the Thomas and Friends toy trains. Cupcakes and trains, this kid could not have been happier. 

He almost had to unhinge his jaw to fit it, but he managed. 

And it was all worth it, especially when Hubs came home and was presented with a cupcake and a handmade card (we finally agreed on a stamping method that would not dirty his hands, using old thread spools to stamp a heart). Hubs was so pleased and surprised that it was worth all the mess, clean-up and mess again. 

Happy Valentines day to all of you. Here's to the beautiful mess that it is.