Favorite Expressions from a Five-Year Old

I haven't been as good at documenting my favorite sayings from my youngest child, as I have with my first born. Isn't that always the way of things? My mom, after all, cannot find her photo album of my baby pictures, and I'm the third child.

And so, here are some of my favorites...

1. Mama, I'm listening to yu-zick (music).
2. Can you warm up my feety-feet and piglets? (feet and toes).
3. I have an ouch-y (ouwee).
4. Itchy mama, itchy (when clothes are too small)
5. DADDYYYYY, Bring mama her coffee! (When I'm still in bed)
6. Mama 4 more minutes okay? Then I can come in and snuggle wif' you. (At bedtime)
7. Do I have school today? No? Then I'm staying in my pajamas.
8. Do I have bow-yay? (ballet).
9. Look daddy, a noogie caw! (Smart Car - no one knows where she got that name).
10. I miss Tico (Tico was what Lily nicknamed Assante, our dog. We put her down a few weeks ago).

My princess

Holiday Season of Baking

White Bread (Finished)

I can safely say I've baked enough to feed a town. Maybe a small town in Montana. I have been gluten free for a while, so imagine the fun I had baking every thing with so much gluten it was deliciously sinful.

White Bread (Baking)

I baked so many types of cookies, including one gluten free version. I made sludge. Well, it was fudge that I'd adjusted and it was a failed chemistry experiment, until I froze it and it set!

Salted Almond Sludge turned Fudge

I made bread. Raisin Bread that is sort of like German Kaffee-Kuchen mit Rosinen. I made white bread - two loaves. I made Raspberry thumbprint cookies. Polvorones (Pecan Mexican Wedding Cakes). Maple Pecan Granola - my favorite 3-pound granola, which is thus named because I typically gain 3 pounds when I've eaten through a batch.

The only thing I didn't do was the icing mess with kids, decorating sugar cookies (sorry girls, but you'll know I meant to and then, skiing became a priority).

Here's wishing you all a wonderfully delicious 2016.

Thumbprint Raspberry Butter Cookies

Raisin Bread - Kaffee Kuchen

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

Dodo's Christmas Date Cake

Day 10: My sister found a recipe from our aunt and sent photos to me. I made the following changes:

1. Instead of 2 tsp of butter, I added 2 tblsp of butter

2. After boiling the dates, I let them cool and then added the dates after adding all of the spices and alternating with flour, 1 cup at a time. 

3. Put in a bundt or angel food cake pan.

4. Baking time was over an hour for me at 325 degrees (at my folks house).

Dodo's Christmas Date Cake

Back in Savannah

We had a marvelous stay in Savannah again this past Spring. This trip, we met some old friends who now live in Virginia - they drove 9 hours to meet up with us and we stayed together for about a week. Our clans got along swimmingly. Here's a preview of what we did.

Happy Hour at the condo

Climbed the Lighthouse tower

Played in the water

Picked up slimy creatures

Got our nails done

Crabbed and frolicked

Dined on 5-courses chez Olivier

Found religion

Made new friends

Said goodbye, family style

Benny Grimms - Recipe

Here it is. Our old family recipe...

12 Days of Baking

On the first day of Christmas break in Montana, I baked enough for an army. I wasn't in the mood before our trip because I had too much work to do. Now that I can breathe freely, I'm working on 12 days of baking.

Day 1: Fudge. I love Betty Crocker's recipe, by the way. One tip: swap out two ounces of sweetened chocolate and add unsweetened. With so much sugary condensed milk, I bet you can offset some of that sweetness and make it rich in chocolate flavor. Also, the higher quality the chocolate... well, you know. The yummier.

Day 2: Blondies. I alter every recipe I find. I didn't like the Food Network's recipe. Too complicated. So I stuck to Martha's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, adding nuts, coconut and oats, and threw it in a glass pan.

Day 3: Mexican Wedding Cakes. Not only did I enjoy the Food Network recipe, my 3-year old watched the video about three times.

Day 4: Sugar cookies. Dare I publish Liz's family recipe? Here's a picture... :)

Day 5: Benny Grimms. These are chocolate balls, with maraschino cherries in the middle, and rolled in coconut. They are probably called something like coconut cherry balls, but an old family friend (before my time), used to eat all of these chocolate balls, so it's named after him. Oh wait, I just googled it and this is the closest I could find online to the recipe -- at Cooks.

Day 6: Peanut Brittle. Well, mom did this one, not me. Too sticky! But scrumptious, nonetheless. Not sure of her source, but I'll share once I find it.

Day 7: Lemon bars. Another mom treat. Her recipe is an old one and they are the best, bar none. And well, it's sort of a family secret... unless I've already shared it? Hmm...

Day 8: Okay, I have five more days and need to get busy. So I'm open to suggestions for the next five days. Help!
Dad just chimed in with a request for oatmeal raisin cookies. :)

Sunshine and Sunflower Seeds

Seems I'm always in baking mode when the weather cools down. Sadly I didn't take a photo of the apple pie we made, but it was pretty good. However, it didn't trump the homemade ice cream Paul whipped up (with a machine). That's always the best.

I took a class on making gelato a while back and we now use the recipe over and over when the sun starts to peek around a cloud or two. You know, Seattle summers.

Sadly I've misplaced that damn recipe hand out, but I promise to share a few when I find it!

Meanwhile, during clean up time, our monkey decided to spread out a bowl of her very own sunshine - can you see the sunflower seeds on every step?