Like Endless Rain Into a Paper Cup

My Labor of Love (and calorie intake)

It's that time of the year again.  If you were to walk into my house, you'd hear the whirring of the Kitchen Aid, the hum of the hand mixer, and the whizzing of the food processor.  You'd smell cloves, vanilla, almond, and simmering fruit.  You'd see an apron wrapped somewhat crazed woman stirring 3 pots and juggling spatulas.  You'd feel the warmth of the oven and the air thick with excitement.

And last, but not least, our favorite of the five senses.... TASTE. 

If you were at my house, this is what you'd taste:

 

A cornucopia of cupcakes - candied ginger, cinnamon, and peanut butter.  Topped with buttercream and chocolate ganache.  Displaying them in a grid fashion made them even tastier. 

How about fruit on a stick?  Shaped like flowers?!  Add in hand dipped butterscotch apples with chocolate drizzle. 

You're drooling, and that's OK.

 

These light and airy meringues will melt on your tongue.  Cocoa sprinkled or chocolate drizzled?  The choice is yours!

Your head spins with such delightful choices.

 

Now for the fruits and nuts.  Mini flakey almond tarts and rich and fruity spiced pies.  TOPPED WITH PASTRY STARS! 

Tell me to stop.  Say it now.  SAY IT!!

Ready for something savory?

 

How about a zippy olive tapenade in hollowed cherry tomatoes?  Chase that with a creamy stuffed potato.  It's a joyful mouthful. 

Now to balance out our food groups... let's head over to the proteins.

 

Oh, Mr. Deviled Egg - always the party pleaser.  Especially when paired with herbs, lox, and roasted red pepper.  A culinary AND visual delight.  And cheese in pastry??  It's like love wrapped in joy.  The only thing that could make it better would be bacon.

Did someone say BACON?

 

How about some jalapenos stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon?  Those flew off the table faster than most Americans can eat up Glenn Becks cheese stuffed BS.  And I think he's wrapped in bacon, too. 

For those with non-spicy tendencies, we have a bacon and porcini mushroom dip.  Yes, porcini's.  They're earthy and they're spectacular.

Second only to the expensive and fussy porcini, is the cremini mushroom.  These little mouthfuls are a delicious blend of herbed bread crumbs and cream cheese.

You can never have too much cream cheese.  Cream good.  Cheese good.

Like here:

 

No buffet is complete without the cheeseball.  Or the ornament shaped cheese knives.  Cute explosion!

 

My friends from the sea are represented here in crunchy AND spicy corn cups.

And my poultry friends are represented here:

...atop little parmesan magic carpets.  Stop and rub your magic lamp now.

 

Veggie's in stick form?  Yes, it's magic.  For I have taken the juice of the vegetable and herb and infused it into bread.  I shall speak of it no more.

For those scared of the dark arts, I present to you vegetables in their pure form:

 

And some luscious December strawberries coated in cacao.

This is my labor of love.  Taking food and making it beautiful and bite-size.  There is something about it that makes me happy.  Maybe it's because I get to share it with my friends?!

 

Just a few of my biggest fans.  In all honesty, nothing tastes good unless you have people like this to share it with. 

Even in the DARK. 

Even in the SNOW.

(Witness earlier in the day:)

 

With friends coming from all over the DC region, the snow put a slight dent in things.  But for those who braved it... THANK YOU. 

Another lesson learned:  You can never have too many candles.  Because if the power goes out (due to heavy snow) you'll need them!  But you'll probably miss out on a lot of pictures.  Boo.

Having lighted ice cubes was also helpful for some.  These adorned various cocktails, namely the Gingerbread Martini, Hot Apple Cider, Buttered Rum, and the Christmas Cosmo.  But I speak no more of this.

It was a great evening.  A fabulous evening!  I got to meet people from K's office... he got to meet friends I've made in the neighborhood.  The kids got to have some of their friends stay over - with the power outage only adding to the excitement.  And let me not forget to add the chirping smoke alarms that woke up babies.  I tell ya, we can throw a party!! 

Oh, and here comes the best part.... the next morning my friends were up, awake, and cleaning up the kitchen!  Coffee was brewed and carols were being hummed.  Well... maybe it was more like Guitar Hero...

 

... but nevertheless, it was perfect. 

I love food.

I love hosting.

I love people.

So Much To Be Thankful For...

A warm cozy house on a foggy Thanksgiving morning.

Virginia and DC. My favorite place on earth.

The sound of the Macys parade mixed with the giggles of my children.

The smell of freshly baked gingerbread.

Decorating freshly baked gingerbread.

Football.  (This one's for K)

A juicy brined turkey.

Hot apple cider on the stove.

Friends that are so close and dear that it feels like a family Thanksgiving.

Antibiotics for my son's two petri dishes, otherwise known as tonsils.

Clara's sass and attitude.

Clara's naps.

Max, aka Tiny Tim, declaring at the table that "I love Thanksgiving!  I love you all!" and "Oh, this beautiful turkey smells like yummy meat!" and "Oh this is such a great Thanksgiving and I love this day so much!"

Pecan pie (even if it took 2 tries this year).

Mashed potatoes with butter and cream.

Leftovers.

 

 

 

 

An Email from My Dad That Made Me Smile. K Can Commiserate.

"This reminds me of eating lobster with you in Georgetown."

"Thought you might like the attachment.  Being in Washington to get you enrolled at George Washington was a fun trip and I enjoyed it more than you can imagine.  It was just a nice time to be together with you."

Agreed!

Uh, No.

Girlfriend, when you walk downstairs wearing THAT, you're going to get mocked. 

 

(Note: Skirt, socks, and underwear are backwards and inside out... bless her little mismatched heart.)

Yeaves!

Well hello there gorgeous!  Having fun playing in the leaves?

 

I think so.  You tell that you "yike yaying in the yittle yeaves"!

With your brother too...

 

 

High Five!  Leaves Rock!

 

Royal Icing or Royal Pain?

I'm in a baking mood.  Is it the fall?  Or am I just crazy?  Probably both.  But, I've decided that I need to master the art of cookie decorating - along with my cupcake and cake endeavors.  And at this time of year, I have a million reasons to make treats.

Like these: (for Max's birthday school treats and Clara's school fall festival treats)

 

Credit due to this website.  Sometimes I'm much better at copying.

Now, entering the technical arena, is my 4 week battle with royal icing.  Oh, Royal, how you tease me with your intense fickleness and extreme sensitivity. 

Here, I lost the battle:

 

See the separating and chalkiness?  Yuck. 

BUT, after discovering a lovely "no fail" recipe, I have found "Royal" success.

Behold:

 

Oh mama!  Just too cute, huh?  I've finally figured out how to pipe a "dam" and flood a cookie.  The white one above is a little rough (you can see the border around the edges), but check this one out:

 

Forgive me the wonky circle, but that royal is as smooth as ice.  As each layer dries you can add more details.  This was like Try #27.  My life has been coated in meringue powder.

A squirrel with his acorn:

Sweet little mushrooms:

 

Do they taste good?  I really don't care.  I'm going for looks here. 

BTW, credit for the design and technique of these cookies goes to sweetopia.net.  

And last but not least, here's my halloween pumpkin cake:

 

He was delicious!  A pumpkin spiced cake with almond buttercream and homemade vanilla fondant.  Unfortunately, the filling was a little heavy and he sprouted a "growth" on his backside.

But it was a delicious growth!

It's Just the Greatest Holiday, Isn't It?!

 

 

 

 

Hello, I'm Earth. Have We Met?

Guess what?? I am SIX years old!  My birthday party was on Saturday but my for reals birthday is TODAY!  I am so happy to be six.  Clara is still two, though.  I told her that and she yelled at me.  But I'm RIGHT!

I had the best birthday party ever.  My favorite thing in the whole world to talk about is not even this world. It's OUTER SPACE!  I know all the planets and all about stars.  Stars that die are called black holes.  I learned that at the planetarium. Black holes kind of freak me out.  The other night I asked my daddy what would happen if I shined my flashlight into one and his head almost exploded.  I think that kindergarten is making me SMART!  So is watching Space Balls.  But my mommy doesn't like it when I pretend to zap people in the "dude."

Since my favorite thing is OUTER SPACE!, my mommy and daddy planned an outer space party for ME!  I invited all of my best friends AND my Grandma and Grandpa who flew all the way from Salt Lake City JUST to be at my birthday!

And do you know what was so cool?  All of my friends got to pretend to be for reals astronauts.

Look at Gabe and Hallie and James!  AHHHH!  They're floating into outer space!!!

   

After we floated into space, we got to make rocket ships!  You're gonna FREAK when you see what they did!

 

My daddy filled them with rocket fuel and "kick" and then we LAUNCHED THEM INTO SPACE!

 

Told you you'd freak!

My friends thought this was GRRRREAT!

  

Guess what else we had to do?  We had to go and find REAL moon rocks.  They were hidden all over our basement and we had to find them and put them back on the rocket ship to the moon.  How did those rocks get there?!!!

 

  

After the fun games we got to go and eat lots of FOOD.

 

We even had Tang which is the stuff that REAL astronauts drink. That makes all of us almost REAL astronauts.  

And then guess what?!?!!  It's time for CAKE!  

 

Holy Awesome Oh My Gosh!  That is what I said when I woke up Saturday morning and saw my Outer Space Cake!!  I kinda already knew what it was going to look like because my mommy drew a ska-matic, or something like that, and it was hanging on the fridge for a while.  But can you even believe it?  It had my favorite planets even!  Jupiter cause it's the biggest, Mars cause it's the reddest, Earth cause it has me, and Sateran because it has rings.  On my cake, Sateran's rings fell off.  But my mommy said "IT CAN'T ALL BE PERFECT?!" really loud.

And it tasted really good too.  I had a piece of vanilla sun and chocolate outer space.  I wanted to eat Jupiter but my mom said that you can't eat plastic.  I wonder if astronauts can eat plastic?!  I BET THEY CAN!

 

Blowing out SIX candles is hard work.  But I can do that EASY.  

After we all ate PIECES OF OUTER SPACE!!!!, we got to go open presents.  My mommy said we better hurry or else I might blow a basket, or something like that.

Do you know what is SO cool?  Besides that I'm six and I had an outer space cake?  My friends got me the best presents EVER!  Like fun games, a moon for my room, a sun with planets, an ANT farm!, legos, and books about space.  My mommy and daddy got me the Star Wars movies, too.  And the thing that made me scream the loudest was the Millennium Falcon that Grandma and Grandpa got me!  It is the BIGGEST toy ever.  Even my mommy loved it cause she said "Oh Joy! That toy is so big it needs a room of it's own!"  I want all my friends to come over and play space ships with me.  I feel SO HAPPY!

After the party was over I got to play a little bit with my friend Dignan.  His mommy was my mommy's best friend when she was little.  Isn't that COOL?!

 

I had the best birthday ever.  I loved turning six!  And I think that next year my birthday party will be on the real moon cause I'm getting smart about space travel!!!!

My favorite place on the earth is Virginia in the fall.  I just wanted to put that out there.

And the best thing to do in the fall?  Visit your local pumpkin patch!  We've tried a new one every year we've been here.

First it was Belvedere Farms in '07:

 

(Remember the broken arm?!)  And if I remember correctly, it was a HOT day!  Very hot.

Last year it was the Pumpkin Playground in Burke:

As well as a visit to Cox Farms where it was FREEZING!:

 

And finally, this year was Great Country Farms.  The weather was PURR-FECT.  And this was by far the best pumpkin patch visit yet.  

 

First of all, I got to wear my favorite boots for the first time this season.  As I was pulling them out of the closet, I looked at K and said in a deep announcer voice... "They're Back Baby!"  He rolled his eyes. 

Second of all, the weather was perfect.  Wait, I already mentioned that.

For reals second of all, we got to go with some good friends and their two darling girls.

Third, this pumpkin patch had a dinosaur!  That's right, a pumpkin eating dinosaur of death and destruction!

 

Dude, look at those teeth! 

 

EWWWWWW!  "Dat's Dross!" - as Clara would say.

 

The kids had to inspect the carnage.  It was one of those irresistible urges, like having to smell your own fart. 

Other things that make this the best pumpkin patch ever:

 

A giant "pumpkin pillow"!  It was huge and had a zillion kids on it.  Clara lasted about 5 seconds before being bounced to her butt and then doing a twisted version of stop-drop-and roll to get off.  She was not pleased.  Max tried coaching her, but she'd have none of it.  Of course he LOVED it.  The boy hasn't stopped bouncing since he bounced out of my womb 6 years ago.

Next:

 

A barn full of corn! 

 

This one was a big hit with Clara.  She's my child of the corn.

Next:

 

A place to lock up Max!  This sign couldn't be further from the truth actually.  A more appropriate sign for him would be "Will not eat meatballs" or "Called his mother a buttstick" - which he did that day.  I don't know why, but my feelings were ever so slightly hurt.

Next:

 

The giant slide!  No burlap sack, though.

Next:

 

A pig race!

 

This lady freaked Max out. 

Next:

Apple dumplings!  A very small picture of me taken while experimenting with my new Blackberry.  After which I was told to stop "cracking out on my crackberry" by my husband.  Sheesh... he's the one that got it for me.  And he should be grateful too, because I now have access to vital information at the click of my thumb.  Like what is the temperature RIGHT now?  How about now?  Want to know what it is now?  Let's check it against what the car temp. says!!  Oh this is FUN!!  Oh, and in a moment of humility he asked very nicely if I'd check the Steelers score.  And I did.  Because I would never deny him the joy of my unlimited data plan.

Next:

 

Picking out our very own pumpkins.  Off the vine!

And listening to Max go ON and ON about how heavy his pumpkin was.  And then trip over a vine.  I laughed.

We also stopped to listen to a folk band.  The kids frolicked amongst the pumpkins.  K and I were busy shoving our faces with fresh kettle corn.

Seriously... fall in Virginia can't be beat.

It brings out the love in all of us.  That is, until someone gets called a "Buttstick."

 

 

Where I Drag the Kids to a Craft Fair and Then Make Them Eat Fried Garbonzo Beans

It's hard for me to pass up a craft fair.  It's impossible for me to pass up a craft fair when it is called "The Crafty Bastards." 

A few weeks ago, after some early Saturday morning piano theory for Max, we headed up to the Adams Morgan area of the District.  Oh how I love Adams Morgan!  It is such a vibrant, diverse neighborhood.  You'll see bumper stickers like this:

 

Wall murals like this:

It was there that I saw the Drag Queen Brunch.  Ten years ago I witnessed the annual "High Heel Drag Race" which was exactly what it sounds like.  So it was no surprise to me that this neighborhood would host the coolest, quirkiest, craft show in the world.  And it wasn't even that perverted.  There was even activities for kids along with a playground.  K hung out there while I wandered and coveted about 75% of what I saw.

Being on a budget, I only picked up one thing - a print from this lady. 

This craft show was like a virtual walk through etsy.com.  I could have stayed there all day.  But alas, the kids insisted that they needed to eat lunch.  Sheesh.

But hey!  We're in Adams Morgan, a place unmatched in international culinary offerings.  Note: We chose not to take them to an old favorite haunt called Madams Organ. 

Instead, we found this place:

 

It was a taste explosion.

Crafts, falafels, sunshine, and joy.  That's a perfect day.  (Until the falafels gave us all really bad gas.)