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?

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

St. Valentines Day is a day of giving. Or so I'm reminded every time I enter a retailer. I succumb to marketing like the next yummie mummie (my new brand), so I have been making goodies for the gals to bring to school.

Today I'll be dropping off some Whole Wheat Banana Muffins (altered recipe from Cooks Illustrated).


1¾ cups (8¾ ounces) whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon table salt (I omit)
6 large very ripe bananas (about 2¼ pounds), peeled (I only had 3)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 large eggs
¾ cup packed (5¼ ounces) light brown sugar (I did half white and have brown sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375 and fill mini muffin tins with cupcake holders. I use an icecream scoop to fill the mini muffins.

First mix wet ingredients and then add dry.

Mix just until blended. I also completely omitted the part where you cook the bananas (stew them for more flavor). See recipe above if you want to try it out!

And Voila - I decorated with Chocolate Chips. This is for a class of 1-2 year olds so I omitted nuts.

Funny Expressions

"Mom, I made a wish that everyone would love me tonight", says E. "Really? And what does that mean, exactly?", I ask. "You know. That my family is nice to me and loves me with all their heart".

E asks L to look at her wrinkly hand after bath time. L tries to lick her hand. E giggles and giggles that L doesn't understand the difference between "look" and "lick".

Sadly on November 19, 2012, L stopped saying "MO" for no. She now says (or yells) no.

L still spits when you ask her to spin in a circle. Although she also spins.

Every night L asks "Yaya go? Papa go?" (referring to my parents).

And... L still screams to have Yaya when she's p'd off at me!

In other words, they are two major monkeys.

Paris at home

Since we couldn't live in Paris and drink café au lait daily at some quaint Parisienne boulangerie whilst munching on flaky pastry... (and gaining about 20 lbs), we have brought a taste of Paris to Seattle.

It's 2013

It's 2013 and I'm still thinking about sending out Christmas cards. Maybe if I start now, I'll get them done by next December!

This was a low-key holiday for us. Family was scattered, with at least four who were sick with a flu of sorts. I still got the decorations out and filled the house with Christmas, took my eldest to the Nutcracker and baked up a storm with both kids.

Here's the year summed up with three of my favorite things.

1. Baking (or receiving baked bread).
2. Family chaos.
3. Travel (especially where there's sunshine).

I hope you had a fantastic end to 2012 and an even better start to the new year!

Lee's Fruit Bread, (figs, dates and nuts) wrapped in cheese cloth and soaked in rum before fermenting for 2 weeks at room temp.

E on a boat in Chelan

Me and the Goof Goof

L in her new hat

Peanut butter balls. Yes!

Band-aid nosed L with daddy

More baking!

Breakfast Sans Paul

Whilst Paul was away in Paris, the girls had to make due with "mama-cook".

"Dad's the best cooker", says my oldest monkey. 

I can make anything, I assure her. So she requests an Oven Dutch Baby for breakfast. Well, just to prove my baking prowess, I also made pumpkin muffins a la Moosewood the next morning (which turned out a little rubbery) and a pear gingerbread cake from the same Moosewood cookbook that we ate after dinner - warm out of the oven. Now that was scrumptious!

Singing Your Own Song

Tonight after picking up the girls from school, my eldest was super excited about her choir practice and was singing her warm up for me. It went something like this:

Do, a deer, a female deer
Re, drop of bowling sun
Meat, a name, I call myself
Fa, a long long way to run
So, a needle na na thread
La, a note to follow So,
Te, a drink with cambon bread

Reminds me of my childhood when my sister, brother and I had to pray aloud every night.

Our father, who wart in heaven.

I had no idea what that meant, but I knew the words by heart!

Homemade Bread and Butter

Mom and dad spent a couple of weeks with us and, on their last day visiting, mom left a surprise in the kitchen.

It has been another crazy day in the life of the Olivier clan. How wonderful to come home from work to the scent of freshly baked bread. Mom had been busy. Helping us with laundry, organizing our drawers and baking bread!

Although rushing to get to our aunt's for dinner, the girls each had a slice of bread with butter. It was still warm enough that the butter seeped into the bread. Delectable.

Dad! Mom! Come back!

Dining Chez Olivier (the premier)

French is a funny language. I, of course, think all things French are fanciful, flavorful, flamboyant and filled with fervor. Some friends, who don't understand a lick of francais, accuse the French of swallowing entire syllables when they speak.

We dined at the First or "premier" Olivier - as in, dad-in-law, and man was it like being on a cooking show. He is so charming, you feel like you are speaking to a French brand.

Then there is his stylized food. He puts it together with such ease, you'd think the cameras were hidden behind the paintings of Van Gogh and Macke on his walls.

Oh, and did I mention the decor? I felt like I was still in Paris, with the whole clan, speaking Freeench. Weee weee. We enjoyed a "light" meal of Lamb, Scalloped potatoes and bell pepper salad. It was spectacular. (The wine was fabulous, too. I forgot to take a picture...but, I think it had "Olivier" in the name!)

The Olde Pink House

When you have daughters, pink is like an explosion all over your house. It's in your hair, on your arms, in your clothes, on the bottom of your feet. It's in the form of hair clips, play-doh, stickers, accessories, E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G.
And, if that wasn't enough, it's also the one and only restaurant we ate at for dinner in Georgia whilst on vacation. There are two reasons. One, dad-in-law cooks so well, there is never a need to eat out because the dining experience would pale in comparison. Two, with children, why put yourself through misery. Oh, and the unmentioned third reason? That was one of the only "kid friendly" restaurants listed on Yelp.

All in all, good experience. House was built in 1771, (for more info., click here), located in the heart of Savannah near a beautiful park, and the staff were sooooo gracious. We really enjoyed it. I'm reminded by my spouse reading over my shoulder as I type (ahem) that the Declaration of Independence was first read aloud from these steps, when it belonged to someone named Habersham. It was also a bank, at one point.

Savannah beckons historians, or shallow tourists like me. After dinner we strolled along the old town district. Why does everyone here have a ghost story? They even have a "ghost" tour bus. Charming and warm enough for the beach (even in March), if you haven't been to Savannah, it's worth the trip! Whether you want to get in touch with your intellectual side, or shallow side!