Boss

Griffin held me hostage for the better part of a day last week, until I produced a "Robin the Boy Wonder" costume for him. He'd gotten the idea in his head a couple of weeks before, so we paid a visit to our good friend, Google Images, until we found just what we were looking for. The costume didn't turn out exactly as I'd hoped, mostly because Griffin was breathing down my neck the whole time, saying, "Hurry up, Mummy! I need it, I need it!" No matter though, Griff loves his costume and wears it every day. As a matter of fact, we played "Batman and Robin" for most of the day yesterday. This consisted mainly of Griffin bossing me around, telling me that I could not drive the Batmobile (only Robin can), that I could not throw Batarangs (again, only Robin), and that I basically had to do whatever he said. I just love the Griff is so into costumes, just like Camden was at this age (and still is to this day).

Miracle in a Tiny Jar

Where have you been all my life ?

(or, the last five years at least...)

Seriously, the best foundation. Ever. That is, if you are foundation-wearing kind of girl. This is the stuff that Ellen DeGeneres hocks. I bought this the other day because I love that Ellen is a Cover Girl, and I love Ellen (those Cover Girl Execs really do know what they are doing!). Oh, and I'm getting old. At this point in my life I really need a good foundation, but can't stand picking out stuff like that. So I bought this on a whim the other day because of Ellen. So glad I did. I might have to start hoarding it in case they ever decide to discontinue it.

Happy, Happy Birthday

Devoted Husband

Wonderful Father

Amazing Papa

Happy 69th Birthday, Dad...

You are loved beyond measure!

Pure Comfort

This past weekend was kind of crazy. It started on Friday with a burned-out first grader who had a very rough day at school. We progressed into the weekend with Daddy away at drill, which never goes over well with the little boys. This led to the previously-mentioned first grader, not wanting to go to bed, i.e., stalling, getting back out of bed, etc., etc. Thrown into the mix was a 3-year old having nightmares and waking up throughout the night. On Saturday night, after a particularly vicious nightmare, Griffin crawled into bed with me, snuggled right up, and about an hour later, wet the bed (yes, all over his mother). So, by the time Monday rolled around, we were all over-tired and a bit on the cranky side.

Like most people, I find potatoes very comforting, so I thought I'd make a pot of potato soup in an attempt to soothe my weary soul. I cracked open Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and settled on Potage Parmentier (Leek and Potato Soup). It couldn't get any easier than this:

~1 lb. peeled potatoes, diced
~1 lb. thinly sliced leeks including the tender green (leeks can be pricey, so you can also use 1 lb. of onion, thinly sliced/diced)
~2 quarts of water
~ 1 tbsp. salt (I used 1/2 tbsp. because I don't like things overly salty)

Simmer the potatoes, leeks, water, and salt, partially covered for 40-50 minutes until vegetables are tender. Mash the vegetables with a fork or run through a food mill.

**I actually prefer a smooth potato soup, so I put the soup, in two separate batches, into my blender. I quickly pulsed it 4-5 times, just enough to barely puree the mixture. Make sure to only fill your blender half way if you use this method, because the hot liquid will expand.

Right before you are ready to serve, stir in 6 tbsp. whipping cream, or 3 tbsp. of butter. I decided to use 3 tbsp. of whipping cream, and one tbsp. of butter, just to be crazy.

The result, a no-frills, completely comforting soup with delicious flavor. While I did serve it the day I made it, it tasted so much better the next day, and it was quite a bit thicker as well. If you like potato soup, this is an easy, delicious recipe - - one that I will make over and over.

Retro Goodness: Kid Edition

Griffin and I hit the Thrift Store Jackpot yesterday.

After months of searching, we procured a Sit & Spin.

For $1.75

Griffin has been spinning ever since!

Beautiful McCall

While my parents were here over the holidays, Steve and I managed to escape for an overnight in McCall, Idaho. McCall is North of Boise and a beautiful drive. We hadn't been to McCall in about six years, so we were both really excited to head out. McCall reminds me of Maine in a lot of ways - - the landscape is much different than where we live. It is a resort town, situated on a lake, and near a ski hill, so it is a popular vacation spot.

Beautiful!

Steve, humoring my foolishness along the way

Dinner (and beer) at the McCall Brew Pub

The lovely Hotel McCall - - I'd always wanted to stay here and am so glad we finally did!

The next morning, Steve got right up and went cross-country skiing. I opted to walk around town in the snow, take pictures, sip a delicious mocha from the Fogglifter Cafe, and soak in the jetted spa tub. I took a picture of this little bench at the Hotel because I want one just like it. Anyone want to build me one?

We then enjoyed a lovely lunch at Ruperts, and then headed over to the McCall Community Congregational Church, to see our friends Dennis and Tanya get married. The perfect end to a perfect getaway.

Cooking With Julia

One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year came from my husband. A copy of the movie, Julie & Julia, and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking box set.

I think I've mentioned here before, how much I love this movie. I'm not too into giving my endorsement on movies, because whether a movie is good or not really depends upon what a person does or does not like in a movie. For me, this one is right up my alley. I love the food, cooking, blogging, history, relationships, etc. - - I absolutely loved it. I adore stories about people who follow their passion, no matter what. As for the two-volume cook book - - I'd never thumbed through it until Christmas Day. Really, the cookbook is amazing. I tend to prefer a cookbook with a lot of pictures so I know what my end result is supposed to look like. These books have no pictures, aside from a few pencil drawing here and there. What it does have is explicit instruction. Explicit. I really believe even the most novice cook could pick a recipe from these books and produce a fabulous dish.

I had my heart set on making Boeuf Bourguignonne (Beef Stew in Red Wine, with Bacon, Onions, and Mushrooms) for New Year's Day dinner, and I'm happy to report that I did just that. Not only that, but I also decided to tackle one of Julia's desserts, too - - Reine De Saba (Chocolate and Almond Cake). Mind you, I was in the kitchen for almost the entire day, but I loved every minute of it. I do believe that at one point, Steve came in to check my progress, and I jumped up and down and clapped because I was having so much fun.

Here's the "boeuf"....

....and the "bourguignonne"...

The end result was a dish that I never would have guessed in a million years that I could have produced. The flavors were amazing and I must admit that it was completely satisfying to enjoy a meal that I spent such a long time preparing. It was so much fun!

Part of the process was to learn to properly brown-braise pearl onions...these smelled soooo good while they were simmering.

I also learned that to properly brown mushrooms, you cannot crowd them in the pan. Yes, those mushrooms are swimming in butter and oil...yum.

As for the cake...it was also a delight to prepare, although I didn't think it was very pretty to look at, unfortunately. I think the cake decorator in me expects to see high, perfectly decorated end-result. What I learned is, a cake does not have to look like it came from a bakery to taste divine. This cake only contains a half-cup of flour, and therefore results in a texture similar to a chocolate truffle - - smooth, creamy, and bursting with chocolate (and rum, I might add).

Next on my list? Coq au Vin (Chicken in Red Wine with Onions, Mushrooms, and Bacon). I'll let you know how it goes.

A Merry Little Christmas

Oreo Truffles

Okay, so recipes for Oreo Truffles are all over the Internet, but they are so yummy, and so easy to make, that I had to post the recipe here. If you like Oreo cookies at all (who doesn't??), then you will find it hard not to eat these until your stomach aches.

Oreo Truffles

1 package Oreo cookies

1 package cream cheese, at room temperature

white or milk chocolate candy coating

(if you want to use a color, then you can also use Wilton candy melts - - they come in all kinds of colors and can be found at WalMart and at Michael's craft stores)

Crush Oreo cookies in food processor until finely ground (there should not be any chunks of cookie at all). Put into a bowl. Add softened package of cream cheese and blend together with a hand mixer. Roll into walnut-sized round balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or parchment. Refrigerate for one hour.

Melt chocolate over double boiler until smooth. Using a toothpick, dip each ball into the melted chocolate. Place back onto cookie sheet and allow to harden. If not serving right away, store in the refrigerator.

If you want to get all fancy, you can put some of the melted chocolate into a Ziploc bag. Cut a very small hole in the corner of the bag and then squeeze a zigzag design on the top of each truffle.

Weekend Projects

What a lovely weekend we had!

It snowed on Saturday, enough to cover the ground - - and it is still out there, as I type. I don't think it will be around for long though, as there is rain in the forecast this week.

On Saturday, we all found ourselves working on projects. Steve's project came in the form of trying to repair a 55-year old pocket door. While pocket doors are really nifty (we have one as a closet door in the living room, and one that separates the kitchen and dining room), they are not easy to repair, as it turns out.

Can't you see how absolutely thrilled Steve was, to be spending his day, wrestling with that thing? The good news is, the door is back on its track. The bad news is, it is very difficult to open or close now. Guess that's another project for another weekend.

Most of Camden's and Griffin's weekend projects involved snow. They must have gone in and out approximately four times on Saturday afternoon. You can see here that they are hard at work on their snow angels.

Camden also spent quite a bit of time working on a new Lego masterpiece (a ship, of course). If you look closely, you can see that Griffin spent quite a bit of time working on annoying his older brother. He's a rascal, that Griffin.

As for me, I worked on some craft projects. I love the idea of being crafty, but as is the case with cooking, I have a hard time doing something that doesn't come with specific instructions. Somehow, I have managed to break out of my cooking rut, and am finding that I can, in fact, create a lovely meal without always following a recipe. It is very liberating, I tell you! Now, I am also learning that I can find all kinds of neat ideas in books, magazines, and on the Internet, and then come up with my own versions of what I've seen.

For quite a while now, I've been infatuated with fabric brooches. I've seen them all over the Internet, on blogs and on Etsy. So the other day, I got some scraps together, and just wanted to see what I could come up with. It was so much fun! In the end, I took a fleece hat that I bought at the Dollar Tree, and then made a flower out of red fleece that I had on hand, finished it off with a polka-dot button, and sewed it to the hat. After that, I took some more of the fleece and tried my hand at making some fingerless gloves for myself. I'd bought a pattern to do this last year, but alas, the pattern was too complicated! Instead, I traced my hand and made my own pattern. They came out exactly how I wanted them to. Let me tell you, if you are a novice seamstress such as myself, polar fleece is extremely forgiving. I have a feeling that I may have to make everything from here on out, from polar fleece.

Cookies for Santa

It started with this post. Then, I read this. The end result: some cute little gifts for my

niece and nephews...

Super easy, and fun to make. The boys and I made a batch to "test" the recipe. The verdict:

Yummy.

Hey Stranger

Well now. That was officially my longest blogging dry spell ever. Hello? Anyone out there??

All I can say is that for some reason I have had zero desire to write about anything lately. I think it has something to do with short, cold days, being cooped up inside, and all that goes with that. Yeah, that's the reason!

Here is a brief pictorial of what we have been up to....

Enjoying the first snow of the season. Yes, all you New Englanders...that mere dusting you see behind Griffin was a Major Deal for the boys. Sad, but true.

Wasting toilet paper. Just because.

Loving on the World's Greatest (sweetest, smartest, most wonderful) Six-Year Old

Eating lots of Candy Cane Tootsie Pops

Inheriting Older Brother's hand-knit sweater set (and then insisting upon wearing it wherever he goes)

Receiving beautiful, hand-made jewelry in the mail from someone who seriously needs to open an Etsy shop (thank you, Kate ~ you so made my day today)

Not napping.

Napping!!

Drinking hot chocolate, eating chocolate covered donuts, while sporting a good old-fashioned case of Winter Hat Head

So, as you can see, we've been kind of busy here, enjoying life as it happens!