I don’t even know where to start!

The last eight months have been very busy for us, and this last month was no different. 

We started May by sending C home to get his baby.  I don’t have any pics since we’ve been back, but here’s a pic of it back home:

Then we went back to Utah for two weddings.  I had an old roommate get married, and then my little brother, with a week in between … a week of fun with my mom!  We did a little of everything.

We visited with relatives …

We went to the zoo … (you can tell poor J got tired out with all the excitment!)

We went to the aquarium …

And then we got to the main event!  Congrats to my brother and his beautiful bride!

You’ve never seen a wedding like this one!  They did a really good job of putting their personality into their wedding.

I have to say the flower girls were especially cute,

as was this little man!

We wore ourselves completely out!

Meanwhile, the kids keep getting bigger.  I hate it when I get outfits given to me, and then when the kids grow into them, the season doesn’t fit!  Poor J has this beautiful fleece outfit, and now it’s summer!  Oh, but he’s so cute in it!

L got this shirt from her Great Grandma (the one she’s named for), when she was born, and she’s finally grown into it.  (This one does fit!)

It reminds me of Grandma, how simple, but classy it is.

At home, I’ve finally “mastered” that laminated dough recipe.  This one I put some marzipan and chocolate in the inside, and wow, I was very pleased.

And …. We added to our family this month!

My friend down the street was trying to get rid of her bunny, and I couldn’t help but think how a rabbit would fit all our pet restrictions and requests … so I brought him home!  Meet Trouble, who is actually a lot of trouble!  First, I had to make him a new cage … some thing he could live in outside without my worrying about if it will rain on him.  So, in our final trip to my parent’s house, my amazing dad took a day and helped me buy and cut the lumber to put together this:

We’re really enjoying him, and as rabbits go, he’s a very friendly bunny.

So, that’s our life in a nutshell.  Hopefully I’ll do better keeping up with the blog posts in the future.  :-)

Our little mover and shaker!

S has never cleaned up so fast in her life as when J started rolling around on the floor, getting her toys. She threw them all in the bucket, then just got out the ones she wanted at the moment. And she and J sat there having a conversation.

I especially like the way J goes up on his toes in a plank at about 32 sec. It cracks me up!

Danish Braid Attempt #2

Don’t go looking for attempt #1.  I didn’t put anything about it on the blog.  It was a result of my own arrogance in assuming I could just find any old recipe and throw it together.  Well, ask for humility, and you get it, and while everyone who ate it said it tasted good, it was a horrible mess and didn’t turn out anything like it was supposed to.

I found this recipe:

http://sisterscafe.blogspot.com/2008/06/daring-bakers-june-challenge-braided.html

I didn’t know making a pastry was supposed to be difficult.  Then I found out.  So, this is my 2nd attempt:

First off, Craig thought the orange flavor of the first one was weird, so I left off the orange zest and replaced the OJ with water.  I also left the cardamom out … because it’s crazy expensive.

The first change this time was that I didn’t warm the milk up before putting the yeast in it.  I always warm the milk to make dinner rolls or bread, so I had warmed it the first time.  Then, in my googling and you-tubeing after my first attempt, I found out the dough is supposed to be very cold.  So I didn’t warm the milk.

So I carefully put together the ingredients for the dough, following a pastry chef’s instructions to only touch it with my fingers, so it will stay cold, and not kneading it much at all. Then I wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.  Already this batch looked a lot more like the recipe, and less like the first attempt.

Then I prepared the butter block.  Yes, this is a pastry.  Yes, there is an absurd amount of butter in it.  But this time I knew my folding would go easier if my butter block was the same consistency as my dough.  So, instead of warming it, so it would spread easily, I beat it with the four until it was just a little soft, barely spreadable.

The dough, after sitting in the fridge for a half hour, rolled out quite nice, and I was able to get a lot more of a rectangle shape out of it than last time.  It looked *almost* like some of the examples I saw.

The butter was just smooth enough to spread, and I was feeling pretty confident right about now that it might actually work.  I folded the sides over, as instructed, and put it in the fridge to sit.

When I rolled it out the second time during my first attempt, I had butter squishing out the sides.  This time, it didn’t happen, and my 2nd turn was without incident.

It was followed by a third:

and a fourth:

… successful turn, with no leaking butter!  Then into the fridge to sit overnight.  I forgot to take any pictures as I rolled it out and put in the strawberry filling, but here is the end result, after all those turns, a night in the fridge, and a little cutting and shaping.

Then it went into a warm oven (not even on, just warmed up – it’s supposed to rise at 90 degrees, and it’s not that warm in my kitchen!).  Then I baked it …

It wouldn’t win any awards, but considering the way my last one opened up and unrolled and rose every which way, I was pleased that this one turned out even this well.

I hadn’t put in enough filling, so it was just in that tiny portion at the bottom, so I just topped it with more strawberry glaze and whip cream. 

As we were eating it, C said, “You know what would be really good?  If you stuffed it with pulled, barbeque pork!”  Well, his birthday is coming up, and I haven’t perfected my technique, yet.  Twist my arm a little more, will ya?

Easter 2011

We kicked off the weekend with an Easter Egg Hunt. 

L waiting for the starting whistle.  She’s gotten to be quite big, but this picture still made her look like my little girl!

S waiting for the start – she’s finally stopped insisting on her Pebbles’ ponytail, and the past few days she’s requested “one in the back, like Mommy’s.”

Actually, it turned out to be more of an Easter egg scramble.  I took the girls over, with J in my sling.  Since L is in the 4-6 yr category, we went to the 4-6 yr area.  If I were to do it again, I’d take both girls to the 0-3 category, where S should have been.  It was a vicious! I’ll try and sum it up for you: the parents around us were telling their kids before it started, “Go as fast as you can, get as many eggs as you can!”  It was probably over less than 60 sec after it started, and L was upset because she’d only managed to get 3 eggs.  S, on the other hand, was pretty happy with her 3 eggs - she worked hard for them!  Luckily, they had people handing out toothbrushes, and L cheered up at the sight of one with princesses on it.

When L had her second Easter, she got this basket and promptly turned it into a hat, with the handle under her chin.  S used it that way, too.  And our dear J already has a head too big to fit in it!

  Of course, we had to dye Easter eggs … L asked why we were going to kill the eggs.  He he, clever girl.

The Easter Bunny came sometime last night.

J didn’t have much use for his basket, but his sisters were more than willing to help him with his toys.

Happy Easter! 

Easter Prep

L asked me the other day if it was time for Christmas.  I told her no, but that Easter is coming up.  So we had to start getting ready.

J had to be taught about Easter …

And of course, Easter food had to be made …

These are the “Bunny Buns” from the recipe in the Friend, but I think I cut the strips too thin – our bunnies looked long-faced and emaciated, instead of cute and round like the ones in the picture.  Oh well, they tasted just as good, I’m sure!

How to peel a hard-boiled egg

I saw this video and had to watch it over and over, trying to figure out if it was a April Fool’s joke. As far as I can tell, he’s serious, but when I tried to do it, I was … well, less successful than he was. Can you do this?

For fans of Nutella

I’ve been wondering for a while what it would taste like if I replaced the cinnamon filling of a cinnamon roll with Nutella.  Well, as a treat for General Conference weekend, I tried it out.

I realize the picture’s not very pretty, but let me tell you, C ate one bite and said, “Oh, this is good!”  And that coming from my chocolate hating husband!  Then he ate more.  And more.  For a guy who never goes back for seconds on desserts, it was impressive.  My girls preferred the cinnamon rolls, but I think this is right up there with chocolate cheesecake on my list!  (And the fact that I didn’t even get a picture until it was half gone really tells how good it was!)

I used a recipe for “Cinnamon Rings” to keep the chocolate from scorching on the bottom of the pan.  It makes two rings, so I did one in cinnamon and one in Nutella.

Cinnamon Rings:

2 c water

1 tbsp yeast

1/2 c oil

1/2 c granulated sugar

1/2 c powdered milk

1/2 tsp salt

4 1/2 c flour

1/2 c cinnamon sugar

Powdered Sugar and water for icing

Mix first six ingredients.  Add flour until the misture is no longer liquid and it begins to lose it’s gloss.  Allow to rise in a warm place for at least 1 hr.

Divide into two portions.  Roll out one portion to form a rectangle.  Place ~ 1 tbsp oil in the middle and spread with a rolling pin.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and roll up.  Pinch edges to seal.  Use thread to cut edges and bring sticky ends together to form a ring.  Place in a greased pan and cut slits in the roll, cutting about 1/2 way through the roll, all around the roll.  Let rise until double. 

Bake at 350 until golden brown.  Drizzle with icing.