What-What?! Week of December 3rd

This week was pretty slow; mostly just recuperating from the holiday.

The husband did cook a new recipe, though!

Alton Brown's Tuna Croquettes

We've been watching old episodes of Good Eats, and this recipe was in one of them.  Adding more fish to our diet has been on our list of things to do, but the expense makes it difficult.  Luckily, these are just fine with canned tuna (and good luck finding a 7 ounce packet of tuna anymore!  They are all tiny now...), and doubling the recipe worked out perfectly for our family meal.  It is a little bit fiddly, because after you create the mix, you have to divide it out and let it rest for 15 minutes.  Overall very nice, though.  Osric isn't super keen on them, but the other kids like it fine.  They are on the menu again for this coming week.

What-What?! Week of March 5th

And we are sick... again.  Another fricken' cold, the third one since the beginning of the year.

I am, quite literally, sick of it.

Was suppose to take the family to see the Lego Batman movie, and take Corwin shopping for pants.  Guess that will happen when it happens.

Not too much else going on.  The husband asked me to start teaching him some HTML and CSS, so we've been working on that together -- that's been pretty fun to watch the obsession kick in.  That "well, I just need to do this part, so..." and then finding yourself tinkering with it for hours. xP

The husband also made shakshuka, a North African tomato and egg dish, for the first time this last week:

This turned out quite delicious.  I don't have a link to the recipe he used, but it was very simple; sautéd peppers and onions, canned crushed tomatoes, spices, and eggs.  Served it with some crusty bread, the husband and I thought it came out well.  None of the children liked it, though that's not too surprising, given the tomatoes and spices (paprika and cumin... not really their favorites).

Looking like this next week will be spent catching up from things we didn't do this past weekend...

What-What?! Week of February 12th

Last weekend, Saffron and I got out her Girl Scout Cookie Oven and made some cookies!  We made Thin Mints, which turned out not a ton like the regular Girl Scout cookie, but were delicious anyway.

The water is added using a syringe, which was pretty interesting.

Mixing!

Putting them in the oven...

Then waiting...

Putting them on a plate to cool.

Covering them in mint chocolate.

Done!

What-What?! Week of May 22nd

This week was pretty slow; go to work and do stuff, come home and sleep.  We had started a project at work about a month ago, but we hit the first milestone and then all the other departments decided that what they had described to us when we were gathering requirements isn't what they really wanted.  So that's on hold and we're doing bug fixes.  Which is kinda nice because I'm allowed to do development work for bug fixes, so I've been doing that.

Southwestern Style Chicken Soup

This is very much a 'do what you want' soup.  I've made it with quite a few variations, depending on what we had floating around the house at the time.  I like to serve it with tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, olives, and avocado.  If you like it spicier, then adding some diced jalapenos would do the trick.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds Boneless skinless chicken (breasts, thighs, whatever), cut into small pieces
• 1/2 Onion, chopped
• 1 Bell Pepper, chopped
• Oil -- a few tablespoons
• 1 can of Diced tomatoes (or Mexican-style stewed tomatoes, salsa, etc.)
• 1 can of Chili beans (usually we get the pinto beans in chili sauce)
• 1 can of Black beans
• 1 can Chicken broth (or two cups homemade)
• Salt
• 1 Lime (if you have it; it's still good without)

Brown chicken, onion and bell pepper in oil.  Add canned goods and bring to a simmer.  Let simmer for 30 minutes.  Add juice from the lime (if available), and salt to taste.

That's it for this week..

What-What?! Week of February 7th

So the past couple of weeks have been exciting.  The husband's last day at his job was Friday, and I'll be starting my new job on Wednesday.  With us parents switching roles, things will be very exciting, at least for a while.

So, uh... I dunno if I'll be posting next week or not.  Might just be a short blurb, because I don't know if I'll have the time or energy to do anything other than go to work and commute.  My expectations at this point are pretty low. :P

TV Shows:  Mad Style

No one cares about Mad Men anymore, because they've all seen it already.  Except I haven't, because I don't want to watch anything that depressing right now (I assume everyone dies at the end, like a Greek tragedy.  So I keep watching Top Gear instead).

But the fashion is fricken' awesome.  I love it.  I love each character's fashions, how they change through the seasons while maintaining their own individual styles, the silly hats, the dainty gloves, the three-piece suits, all of it.

So when I found this series of articles that looks at each character's fashions, I was quite excited.  There are a million of them (five pages worth!), so I have yet to read them all.  But believe me, I will.  Right now, my favorites are the articles on Trudy Campbell, as she's a character who I don't always like, but I feel like I understand her more than other characters.

Cooking: Roasted Garlic

I had been wanting to try this out for forever, and just never got around to it until recently.  Roasted garlic is the simplest recipe, but so transformational.  Roasting removes any hint of bitterness and brings out a lovely nutty flavor in the garlic.  I've used my roasted garlic to make garlic bread, and it was to die for.  I look forward to making it again, possibly doing several at a time and freezing them for convenience.

Ingredients:

• Head(s) of garlic
• Oil -- olive, vegetable, peanut, whatever you have.
• Aluminum foil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cut off the top of the garlic, maybe an inch or so down -- you want to expose the tops of each clove.  Don't worry about the paper or how you're going to get the cloves out.  Place the garlic on a sheet of foil that's large enough to wrap the whole thing.   Drizzle the garlic with oil, then wrap it up.  Bake for about 45minutes to an hour, then let cool.  To get the cloves out, simply squeeze from the bottom of the garlic, and they will pop out.  Use however you would regular garlic.

I like to make mine while I have something else going in the oven, because that's efficient.

What-What?! Week of January 10th

This week has been busy.  We took the kids to the dentist, and that went well; no need for fillings or anything.  Poor Oz was sad and unhappy about getting his teeth checked, but he had a good time with their toys anyway.  The kids have also been sick.  Corwin caught some sort of virus, and it's slowly made its way around the house.  Corwin was sick for about two days with a fever, then a few days went by and Saffron was sick with a fever for about two days, and now Osric is sick, but not with a fever.  So we've stayed home all weekend.

On the other hand, it's been a very productive weekend so far.  I spotted a good deal on metal shelving at Home Depot, so we bought two shelves and put them up in the garage.  Then we rearranged the kitchen, moved some stuff to the garage, and generally organized things.  The husband also took the Christmas tree to a recycling event, so our living room is significantly less cluttered now, too.

Apple Brown Sugar Dutch Baby

(No picture -- ate it too fast)
Earlier in the week, I wanted something sweet for dinner.  I normally make a dutch baby with cherries or cranberries, but I found myself without either.  Apples made a great substitute, and the brown sugar caramelizes while the dish is cooking, which really kicks it up a notch.  Some toasted almonds or pecans would be lovely addition for next time.

Ingredients

• 6 Eggs
• 2 tablespoons granulated Sugar
• 1.5 cups Flour
• 1.5 cups Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 6 tablespoons Butter
• 2 cups chopped Apple
• 1/2 cup Brown sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, flour, milk, vanilla extract and salt until well combined but still lumpy.  Put aside.  In a 12-inch ovenproof skillet, melt butter, then add apples and brown sugar.  Let this cook on medium until the apples are soft and the brown sugar has started to caramelize, about five minutes.  Give the batter one more mix, then carefully pour over the apples, making sure to cover them completely.  Put the skillet in the oven and bake for 18-23 minutes, until the dutch baby is browned and puffy.  Enjoy!

What-What?! Week of December 27th

Happy holidays everyone!

Our first Christmas in our own house!  Yeah! :D

I have a million pictures.

Playing MarioKart with the family.  Ozzy is actually gunning for the husband here.

Early on Christmas Eve, we had the barest breath of snow.  The kids woke us up yelling "It's snowing, it's snowing!".  They were quite disappointed when it stopped.  But not too disappointed -- we played board games and videogames, and had a pancake dinner.

We had about a million presents this year (and we especially appreciate that our families out of state sent us so much!).

So, I have no pictures of children unwrapping presents, because it just didn't happen.  Would have been blurry anyway. :P

The kids played with their newly-gotten Legos extensively, though:

Corey and Daddy building Minecraft Legos.

Osric taking a break from building in order to savagely rip the head off his skeleton guy.

Saffron building a bed and accessories for her Lego girls.

Saffron is already on chapter two of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows!  You can also see the hand-painted bookmark that my brother made for her... more pictures of that next week, since all the photos I have of it right now are rubbish.



I got Corwin a Minecraft shirt, because how could I not?

My sister got the husband a Dorkness Rising shirt.  Which is awesome.

And she got me a Kiki's Delivery Service shirt, featuring Jiji.  Looking at the Wikipedia page, I have just found out that it is based on a novel.  Might have to pick up one now...

And she also gave us a squirrel bathmat, which is adorable.  My mother actually specifically asked for a picture of this after I told her about it over the phone. :B

And my husband got me some My Little Pony books... which is so nerdy.  I will talk about these more in another blog post.

Not shown is all the cooking things my parents sent us.  The husband used the chef's knife to carve our Christmas roast, and it was like going through butter.  Nice to have a sharp knife.  They also gave us some Bobby Flay dishtowels, which have a really nice texture to them.

Christmas Dinner

And as I've just mentioned, we had FOOD!  I didn't take any pictures of it, because we just ate it.  I don't think any of it was really too photogenic, though, except for maybe the Yorkshire pudding straight out of the oven (all puffed up!).  We had a beef roast, Yorkshire pudding, mushroom gravy, and cranberry sauce that was too tart for mere mortals (Saffron and I still liked it).  It was all delicious, and a nice change of pace, considering we haven't had a proper beef roast in quite a while.

For dessert, I made chocolate pudding pie, peach pie, and maple pecan pie.  The chocolate pudding and peach pies were nothing particularly special, though good all the same.  Next time I make peach pie I'm going to do a crumble topping instead of a pastry top, because it'll add some variation in texture.

The maple pecan pie is one I haven't made before -- I don't make traditional pecan pie because the recipe always includes corn syrup, which I don't keep in the house and can't be bothered to buy just to use once or twice a year.  I followed the recipe exactly, and it came out looking like a pecan pie.  The very top of the pie formed something close to a pecan brittle, which gave a nice crunch to offset the maple custard.  Overall, the flavors were very good, though it could do with a bit of help -- the recipe is a bit soupy.  The maple syrup/brown sugar combination actually soaked into the pie crust, which fused it to the pie plate.  We haven't been able to pull even one nice looking piece out of the pan.  I think maybe even just a tablespoon or two of extra cornstarch or flour would fix the problem.  Other than that, I was very pleased.  This is one that I will definitely make again!

What-What?! Week of November 29th

Happy weekend-after-Thanksgiving!

We've had our first Thanksgiving at our new house, which was immensely satisfying.  I am so thankful for all the help we've had getting here.

The spread, with waiting children.  They were super excited!

And I did a lot of cooking... actually, I should say that we did a lot of cooking, because the husband and I always cook Thanksgiving dinner together.

Dessert was pumpkin pie (not shown, looked like pumpkin pie), mini apple pies, and lemon tart things.  The pies were delicious!  I really liked being able to just pick up the apple pies and eat them out of hand.  I am going to do that again, for sure.  The lemon tarts were a disaster, because they fell apart and just needed help.  Next time will be different.  I already have a plan.  And a lot more lemon butter, too:

I still feel like I should've made a double batch, though.  The stuff is scrumptious.

Now, something that's not food... not food... Not?  Food?  Hm.

How about Legos?

Osric made all of these robots.  He builds robots all the time.  We had to clean them all off the dining table so there was enough space for Thanksgiving dinner.

In other news, my daughter has an extremely loose tooth, so today I'm sewing her a tooth pillow.  It'll be rabbit-shaped with some pink patchwork bits.  Will post a photo next week, for sure. :3

What-What?! Week of September 20th

ARRR!  Yesterday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day!  YAR.

We didn't do too much, though.  We had pirate ship sandwiches, which we ate too fast to take pictures of (oops).

Peach pie.  YUM!

This past week, I actually did some cooking.  I made the grossest vegetarian chili, which the husband says wasn't too bad, but I was thoroughly disgusted by.  It had good bones, but I have to do some research before trying again.

We picked up a lot of apples, which we're eating, and will turn into applesauce or other things.  I made a caramel cream cheese dip yesterday that turned out really delicious with these apples.  I bet graham crackers would be fantastic, too.

The kids did some craft stuff.  I printed out some coloring pages, then put them into sheet protectors.  Then the kids could add decorations using playdough.  Surprisingly, the one who was most into it was Corwin.  Saffron tends to be more art-oriented, but this just caught Corey's imagination.

What-What?! Week of September 6th

Last weekend I didn't post, because we were without power from 11am Saturday morning, until about midnight Sunday, for a total of over 36 hours.  There was a giant windstorm, and greatest point, there were 170,000 people without power.  Entire trees were being pushed over.  We had gone out to McDonald's to eat, and there was a tree right by the parking lot that had been cut in half, with the entire top of the tree lying on the ground!  It was a demonstration of the awesomeness of wind power.

The husband and I played Descent in the dark.  It's a dungeon crawl game.  Our lighting sucked.

For us, we had part of our fence line knocked over, and a large branch fell from our tree.  A few days ago, I realized that another large branch had fallen off the tree as well, but is now caught up on a few other branches.  So we're probably going to work it out of the tree today, 'cause I don't feel good about how well it's up there.

Pile o' sticks.  Children for perspective.  Not that you know how big my children are. :P

The kids and I were out on Friday, picking up all the sticks we could.  There are still tons and tons of little bits all over the yard, but they are difficult to round up.

Not Alton Brown's Gumbo

I did make some kickin' gumbo this past week, though.  Inspired by Alton Brown's recipe, though honestly, I tend to look at Alton Brown's and Cook's Illustrated recipes, and say to myself "Whelp, not doing that".  Because I am not putting the roux in the oven for an hour and a half, nor am I buying fresh shrimp and making a seafood broth.  I just don't have the time or energy for that stuff.  So this is what came about...

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of Sausage (Andouille would be the most authentic, but I used Kielbasa)
• 1 tin of Sardines (mine were packed in water, but oil or tomato juice would be fine)
• 1 can Chicken broth (or two cups homemade chicken broth)
• 1 can Diced Tomatos, drained
• 3 or 4 stalks of Celery
• 1 Onion
• 3 Carrots (or not -- these aren't very authentic, but my kids will eat carrots, so in they go)
• 1 Bell Pepper
• 4 tablespoons Flour
• 4 tablespoons Oil (I used peanut, but veggie oil or even butter will work fine)
• Pepper
• Thyme
• Cayenne pepper
• Salt

Cut up sausage and vegetables.  Brown the sausage over medium heat in a large pot.  Add oil and flour, and let cook for about 2 minutes.  Add vegetables, and let cook until the onion is translucent.  Add chicken broth and stir until thick.  Open the can of sardines and smash them up with a fork, then add the contents of the can to the pot.  Add tomatoes to the pot, and simmer on low for about 20 minutes.  Add spices and salt to taste -- TASTE before you put in the salt.  I barely had to add any, since both the sausage and the sardines are quite salty by themselves.  Serve over rice.

What-What?! Week of August 9th

Oh my goodness, I am so embarrassed!  I totally forgot that today was Sunday. >.<

Thursday, we picked up 75 pounds of peaches from a local farm.  It was a screaming good deal, and I'm sure we won't run out of peaches for a good long while.  Today, Saffron and I blanched 25 pounds of them, and then the husband and I cut 'em up and froze them.  It is so convenient to have a kid who's big enough to help out in the kitchen.  I'm not at the point of trusting her with a paring knife, but she was fine washing and stacking peaches for me.  Eventually these peaches will be turned into cobblers, jam, crisps, put on top of ice cream, and so on.

Yesterday, the husband barbequed us some beef and chicken... and peaches!  We ate them as dessert, with brown sugar and cream.  I have been wanting to try this forever, and we are totally doing it again.

Lowe's Build and Grow

Saturday, I took the kids to Lowe's for the Build and Grow event.  We wound up taking them home and doing them here, because the local Lowe's just has an abysmal setup.  This week's project was the Hulk's tank, though Osric kept referring to him as "the ork".  I blame World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings. :P

Must... not... eat... truck!

In other news, last week we planted flowers and cucumbers, and now have flowers sprouting by our front door!  The kids have been helping, and are really excited.  No sign of cucumbers yet, but I'm sure we'll see something soon.  Next week I'll see about taking some pictures of our planter box and flower sprouts, for sure. :3

What-What?! Week of June 14th

Where did this week go?  What did I even do? It felt very long, but was pretty unproductive.  I suppose that, since the house hasn't burned down, the kids have been fed and schooled, and work has been worked, we'll count it as a win. :P

Iron Man, hanging out with the baby wipes. :P

I did take the big kids to the Lowe's Build and Grow clinic yesterday, where they built themselves an Avengers jet.  This is the first time we've gone to the Marysville store to do this, and it was certainly different than the Everett one; at Everett, there are stacks of wood that are used as tables, while in Marysville, you sit on the floor.  This was a bit annoying at times, but it did seem like the kids spent less time trying to run a hammer into their faces, since the project was farther away from said faces.  The poor mom sitting next to us was really frustrated by the subpar instructions, but I did find this to be one of the easier projects.  The next one is in two weeks, and the project is going to be Captain America's motorcycle.  I might have to sign Ozzy up for that one, too, because he is just crazy for motorcycles.

Oh, I forgot to talk about what the husband made for my birthday dinner!  It was a tri-tip roast, barbequed Argentinian-style, with chimichurri sauce.  The chimichurri sauce was especially delicious, with earthy flavors and a good amount of heat.  It was extremely green.  We ate it on pretty much everything, it was that good.

This past Sunday, the husband and I cooked German food; he made pork schnitzel and cabbage salad, while I made spaetzle.  It was a great comfort food meal, perfect for a Sunday night.  And we cooked together, which is always fun. :)

Oh!  I know what we did!  We got a baby pool:

Fill 'er up!

And... relax!

What-What?! Week of January 25th

The last week of January!  How did that happen? :P

This week, the husband and I had a big parenting achievement; we gave the littlest one a bath without huge amounts of screaming and crying.  I always thought that my middle kid was the worst for baths, but then we had Ozzy.  He always screams like he is dying the moment he touches water.  It is so loud that it makes my ears ring for a while after he's done.  Just horrible.  But with the combination of daddy holding him in the bathtub, bubbles, a whisk (we have the weirdest bath toys), and a little luck (he was in a good mood), we made it through with very little crying.

The husband and I have also started house shopping in the area.  There's not a ton on the market yet, being January and all, but there are already a few options.  We're probably not going to wind up living in Everett, but the surrounding towns are pretty nice, and quite close, too.

My middle kid made friends with a librarian when we went earlier in the week -- the guy was shelving books in the children's section, and Corey just started talking to him.  His first question? "Are you a big kid?".  Ha!

Cooking:  This Aint' No Yankee Cornbread and Corn Dog Casserole

Last time I hit up the grocery store, the husband suggested that picking up some cornmeal in order to bake some homemade cornbread.  Usually, we pick up a boxed mix for cornbread, but I figured 'why not?'.  We use masa to thicken soups and stews, so even if the cornbread venture went poorly, it wouldn't go to waste.

With that backstory, this is a two-fer; the cornbread itself, and the casserole.  I'm going to review each separately.

The Cornbread:  This is one of the simplest recipes I found.  The recipe makes for a very hearty cornbread, but the next time I make it, I will probably "Yankee" it up a bit by adding some brown sugar.  It was just the tiniest bit bitter, and I think the addition of either brown sugar or honey would offset that nicely.

The Casserole:  Like the cornbread, the next time I make this, I'm changing it.  The idea is good, but you can do a lot better than hotdogs.  I think something like a kielbasa would be brilliant in this casserole, and the addition of some fresh or frozen corn would add a nice bit of texture.

These two recipes were perfect for my "I haven't defrosted any meat and don't know what to cook" day, and I'm definitely keeping them in mind for the future.

What-What?! Week of January 11th

Peter had to work this week.  It was lonely (due to a typo, this almost said 'lovely' -- oops!).  But making money and paying bills are good, so I guess that's okay.

Food wise, this week has been excellent.  Thursday, I made chicken and dumplings, based on The Pioneer Woman's recipe.  If anything from that recipe, the addition of corn flour to the biscuits is a unique touch that is worth doing.  I added masa to a recipe Bisquick biscuits, 'cause I don't look down on cheating. :P  If it's cold where you live, make this.  It is so, so good.

After that, on Saturday, the husband and I made a German-themed dinner of spatzle and schnitzel (no recipe for that, sorry).  This time, rather than making it "off the board" as is traditional, I used a flat cheese grater, which I pushed the batter through with a heat-proof spatula.  This made my spatzle much more consistent in size, and was much easier to do.

I started teaching Saffron how to cross stitch early this week, and she completed her first little motif:

She did most of the stitching herself, though I had to pull out sections sometimes for her to re-do (one time, there was a HUGE knot).  This next week, I think she's going to start on a cat one.

A picture of it in progress:

 

My project isn't finished yet.  I have to go to the store and buy supplies, since I've apparently lost stuff during the move.

The stages of making German helmets. (Introduction section)

For a somber read, I suggest looking through the WWI photos over at The Atlantic.  There are a lot of pictures there, including many showing somewhat unusual content, like animal hospitals, horse gas masks, and the soldiers from Middle East theater.  Some of the historical commentary is a bit untrue (like the sheer ridiculousness of Austria-Hungary's demands to Serbia), but for the most part it is very good.  Keep in mind, though, these are photos of war, and can be graphic in nature.

What-What?! Week of November 30th

Warning:  This week's post is all about food.  If you don't want to read about food, then I suggest reading about how to make knots, or maybe just stare at pretty colors.

Edit: It snowed!  And now the snow has partially melted, and turned into ice!  Yay, ice skating!
(Yay, right?  ...Right?)

We survived Thanksgiving, yay!  The husband had a short week at work, which was absolutely marvelous.

The Dinner was pretty simple this year; turkey, cornbread stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, roasted sweet potatoes, and gravy (of course).  Dessert was Kentucky Pegasus pie and pumpkin pie.

We did some minor shopping on Black Friday, mostly online.  I grabbed Saffron an inexpensive winter coat from Goodwill -- it's bright, shiny purple and she loves it.  Also bought two more turkeys from Target, because the price per pound was unbeatable.  No more space in the freezer now, and we'll be eating turkey for a month... oops, I guess? :P

Kentucky Pegasus Pie via Food.com

I've made this pie before, but it's been quite a while.  It's akin to eating a cookie that is also a pie, and it is delicious.  Because it'd been about a year since I last baked it, I followed the recipe closely, only adding a bit of salt.  Next time, I think I'm going to use half brown sugar and half granulated sugar, and add more pecans... a lot more pecans.

(The history of the Pegasus pie is also pretty interesting, if you're into reading about food history).

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Usually, I follow The Pioneer Woman's cranberry sauce recipe, which is good, but a bit too fluid.  Wanting a thicker sauce, I used this recipe from the Food Network, and adjusted it so:

Ingredients:

• 1 - 12oz package cranberries
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• Pinch of salt

Put all ingredients into a large pot (larger than you think you'll need --my cranberry sauce always splatters).  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and let cook for about 10 minutes.  Let cool, and enjoy.

What-What?! Week of November 23rd

Let's do this newspaper style, shall we?

Cheers: It's been warm enough that we could take a layer of blankets off the bed.

Jeers: The baby has gotten used to getting up with me at 6am to work.  Sleeping in on the weekends is but a dream now.

Cheers:  The husband is getting a week and a half off work for the holidays.

Jeers:  Only three days of that time off are paid holidays.  The other 7 days are coming our of his paid time off, or are unpaid.

There you have it, folks.

Cooking:  Cranberry Upside-Down Cake via Martha Stewart

I actually cooked something new!  I haven't done a lot of interesting cooking lately because using my kitchen makes me angry.  It is so small, there's no where to put things.  I can't get out my stand mixer.  If I bake something, I have to put the pan on the stove while I mix the ingredients, and if there's something already cooking there, then I have to juggle.  The whole thing just makes me sad.

But I bought a two pound sack of cranberries from the store last week on an impulse.  Two pounds is a lot more than I need to make cranberry sauce, so I had to find other things to make.  I ran into this cake recipe, saw the brilliant red topping, and just had to make it.  I did substitute oil for the butter, because at the time, even room temperature butter was too cold to be beaten with sugar (yes, that's how cold it was in the house).

The cake turned out brilliant.  I didn't quite grease my pan well enough, so the topping was a bit messed up, but it still tasted great.  This was very good with vanilla ice cream next to it.  Some of the reviewers remarked that there wasn't enough batter to properly cover the cake, but I didn't have this problem.  I wouldn't recommend increasing the amount of batter much at all, because then I think it just wouldn't have a good cake to topping ratio.

I've also done a cranberry/pecan version of this dutch baby from Smitten Kitchen, which also turned out beautifully. :)

(img via marthastewart.com)

What-What?! Week of July 13th

It has been nearly a month since we left California.  Life here isn't bad at all; the weather is quite nice, the people have been very friendly, and living in a larger town has its benefits.

Still, I get homesick.

Sometimes the homesickness catches me by surprise.  The other day, I was coming home from the store when I saw someone that looked strikingly like one of my brothers.  I was then promptly run over by homesickness.  I miss my family, and I miss the husband's family, too.  I know the homesickness will get better over time.  But especially right now, without a regular job or being in school, it's pretty easy to feel it.

The husband started his job on Tuesday; it is a very physical job, but he seems to be doing well with it so far.  On Friday, he came home from work, including doing an hour of overtime, and then assembled my new computer desk.  I was impressed.

I am now working with a temp agency, and while they don't have a real position for me yet, they do have a variety of one-day and short-notice work which will give me hours around the husband's job.  I'll be doing my first gig this evening.  It is nice to make some money.

Being home with all three children by myself makes the day go by slowly.  Because the kitchen is small, I spend a ton of time washing dishes.  It's annoying.  On the other hand, I have a lot of time to cook and do other things...

Cooking:  Homemade Egg Noodles via The Pioneer Woman

I've made noodles before, many times.  Mostly with a food processor, which brings an ease to the process that is really unmatched.  I haven't made noodles entirely by hand in quite some time, but with the food processor packed in a box, and not much by way of counter space anyway, I decided to make these egg noodles by hand.  It was much easier than I had expected, and when the dough was finished, it really was a dream to work with.  Very easy to roll out and cut.  I added mine to some chicken noodle soup, and the noodles really made the soup something special.

(img via thepioneerwoman.com)

What-What?! Week of April 13th

For the past five years, my husband has worked at the farmers' markets, for the first 18 months as an assistant, then as a full-fledged manager of the fourth largest market in California.  Tomorrow is officially his last day as a manager for the California Farmers Market Association, and today is possibly the last time he works at a farmers' market.  Yesterday, I went up to see him manage the Saratoga market for the last time.  It was kind of bittersweet; I've loved having my husband work at the markets, but it's definitely time to move along.

His last day of work marks the beginning of really, really preparing to move up to Washington state.  I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't concerned about the future, but I think this is what we need to do, and that, in the long term, it'll be for the best.  The husband and I have all ready started on packing, sorting, and cleaning, which has made it clear that we've continually decluttered enough that we don't have much more to get rid of before we move.

In other news, you may have noticed that I've updated the color scheme of the blog.  I'm not entirely sold on the blue, but I liked it best of the options I considered.  I also posted an article early last week, 4 Funniest Non-Show-Accurate Toys Ever, which discusses some of the most ridiculous TV and movie toys I've seen.

Cooking:  Carrot Mash with Brown Sugar and Cayenne Pepper

This was inspired by a very similar dish on Yahoo! Food, but because I was missing ingredients, it became something different.  The children and I really liked this, though I cooked it especially because my husband wasn't here, because he doesn't like boiled carrots.

1 pound Carrots, washed, peeled, and cubed
2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
Dash of Cayenne Pepper

Boil carrots until tender, then drain and mash with a fork or potato masher (my kids were calling it a "carrot musher" :P ).  Add brown sugar and cayenne pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

What-What?! Week of March 30th

A few days ago, I posted about my revelation related to the pronunciation of my name -- and how the English language is at fault.  Check it out if you'd like to read some general ranting. ;D

Cooking:  Chocolate Color Flow Battlemechs

Red velvet cake, topped with cream cheese frosting, lasers and long range missiles.

My husband's birthday was on Friday, and to celebrate, I made him a cake using a technique called color flow.  Using chocolate and candy melts, I outlined, then colored in two 'mechs to go on his cake.  The outlines were traced from pictures that I found on the 'web, which I size adjusted and simplified.


Just after I piped outlines.

I like the technique because it can be done in advance, and the supplies needed are pretty cheap:  I did these with chocolate, candy melts, and ziplock bags; no fancy ingredients or even a piping tip needed!

The Catapult 'Mech

I have learned a few things from this:  One, make sure that the hole in the ziplock is very small, otherwise it spews all over.  Two, for filling in the outlines, thin the candy melts with just a bit of oil;  I did this for the blue 'mech, and it improved the look and ease immensely.  Three, after all parts are colored in, go over the entire back of the figure with candy melts to strengthen it, and make it easier to transfer to the cake.

The Grand Dragon 'Mech

I definitely plan to use this technique again, and hope that next time, it's even easier and better looking.  The baby's birthday is next, and we're talking about helicopters or hot air balloons.  I'm very excited for it!

News:  The Zeigarnik Effect and Quest Logs via The Psychology of Video Games

1400 quests?  I've done a lot more than that.

I came across this interesting article about the Zeigarnik effect -- how people tend to remember details better about a task that they started, but have yet to finish, than a task that they've already finished.  As far as its application to video games, I've experienced this effect while playing World of Warcraft -- that game is very easy to turn into a long list of boxes to check.  This becomes particularly evident when you look at the achievements system, some which include requirements like having to complete large numbers of quests, or uncovering the entire map for each location.  It's a pretty interesting read, so I suggest you check it out.

(img via wow.joystiq.com)

What-What?! Week of March 23rd

Tuesday, we got Disney's Frozen on DVD, and have since watched it about a million times.  I took the kids to the store yesterday, and every time we saw something Frozen-related (which was often), the baby started saying "Elsa, Elsa!".  Both the big kids want to dress up as Elsa for Halloween.  We have another six months, though, so we'll see what they say when we get there. :P

I spent most of my week working on my White Horses of England article.  I came across the phenomena accidently while surfing on Stumbleupon, and I just can't get over how common they are in England -- they currently have 16 of them, in a country that's not all that larger than California.  We don't have stuff like that here.  The stories about each of the horses are interesting, though some of the horses' histories lie in mystery.  Check out my article for pictures and more information, and the sources if you feel like spending hours and hours reading, like I did. ;D

Nifty Stuff:  Engraved Rolling Pins via Etsy

These are just cool.  Rolling pins that have been laser engraved with various patterns, including geometric, animals, and even messages like "Merry Christmas" or "Made by...".  I'm most partial to the jumping foxes, but the geometric ones are also pretty cool.  I bet these would be great for pie crusts and sugar cookies.  Too bad they cost around $50, plus $15 shipping to the U.S. (the artist is located in Poland).

Crafts:  Paper Butterflies via While Wearing Heels

Thursday was the first day of Spring, so the kids and I celebrated by making butterflies.  We've had unseasonably warm weather here recently, and we've already been seeing butterflies and ladybugs around.  As you can see in the video above, the butterflies have slits cut in them, so you can use them as a finger puppet.  Unlike the originals, we did ours simply out of paper and crayons.