19 Jan
Saveur has a fantastic social media presence—I especially love their Facebook page. They regularly share interesting articles, great kitchen tips and incredible recipes, like the one for this easy Onion and Bacon Tart. I made this for my family over the holidays, and based on their feedback, I’d consider doubling the salt if (when!) I make this again. Other than that, it seems darn near perfect.
16 Jan
Ava, in a colossal understatement: “I have a lot of questions.”
Olivia: “If you stand on a mountain to talk to the moon, you might hear an echo.”
15 Jan
I bought season basketball tickets last fall, which is perhaps the best bad decision I’ve ever made. We’ve had a great time trekking out to the weekly games over the past couple of month. On Saturday, we also had Bryan’s company tickets, so we took the girls with us. Despite trailing behind Iowa State for most the game, the Jayhawks secured another win. Here are few shots from the day.
12 Jan
Two notes about this very traditional chocolate layer cake, made from Martha Stewart’s super easy, one-bowl chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream recipes: First, layer cakes are apparently the hip, new thing, and second, they always remind me of a sentiment I share with my girls — “I love you more than cake.”
When Ava hears this, she rolls her eyes, and says, “MOM. You should say, ‘I love you more than the earth,’ because without the earth, you wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be here, and there CERTAINLY wouldn’t be cake.”
When I say this to Olivia, the look on her face tells me that she loves cake enough to truly understand and appreciate just how I feel about her.
10 Jan
Shortly after Ava arrived home from the last day of school in December, I found this little package under the tree, and I swear my heart grew three sizes.
Then, later that same day, she searched frantically for a little missing snowman ornanament that was supposed to sit on top of this gift to her parents. She didn’t want to share too many details with us for fear of ruining the surprise, but she did leave this little note for Santa. It made my newly-enlarged heart sink:
Thankfully, Bryan found the ornament under the car in the garage on Christmas eve—she must have dropped it on her way in the house. We tucked the note away, but Santa found it and left a short response, much to sweet Ava’s surprise.
We did indeed like the present—a cute little storybook Ava created on her own at school. And, that snowman ornament will happily hang on our tree each Christmas, a reminder of how thoughtful and generous a six year old can be.
7 Jan
Over Christmas break, our local paper reported unusual Snowy Owls sighting in the area as they move south in search of food. Our friend Dawn emailed last week to say she’d twice seen a Snowy Owl below the dam south of town.
We headed that direction this morning on what we thought would be a long shot. But, as we turned to drive below the dam, we found a group of people watching a Snowy Owl as it perched on a speed limit sign.We never imagined we’d be so lucky!
Despite the cars and spectators all around, the owl stayed put for quite a long time.
You can see the owl below—he’s just left of the roof rack on blue SUV.
As we headed down this road, we ended up a bit closer.
6 Jan
The girlies woke up pretty early Christmas morning—Ava was up before the sun. She scoped out Santa’s spoils before heading back up stairs to rouse her sleepy sister.
The girls tore into their gifts, with grandparents and an aunt and soon-to-be uncle watching (while downing coffee–it was early!).
Highlights of the morning included doorbells for the girls’ rooms (what was Santa thinking?!) and a “Let’s Play School” set that has already elicited hours of joint play.
Many thanks to our family members for joining us in Kansas. We all headed back to Nebraska that morning to join other celebrations—we had a great week of travels!
5 Jan
For the second year in a row, we spent Christmas Eve at home in Kansas with my family, and we had a few extra days to spend on fun projects like reindeer food. Ava and Olivia mixed up a special snack that included oatmeal, granulated sugar and red and green sanding sugar (the “magic” ingredients to aid the reindeer in flight). Once their concoction was complete, they spread it throughout the yard.
Then, it was time for the girls to turn their attention to the big guy. Following a present opening with the grandparents, great grandparents and Katie and Tom, Ava and Olivia donned their new Christmas pajamas and set to work on letters to convince Santa they were indeed more good than bad.
Were they successful? You’ll have to wait and see!
30 Dec
Apparently, this blog has been home to various video ads, unbeknownst to me. WordPress helpfully conceals this fact when you view your own blog while logged in, but thanks to a quick upgrade, the problem is solved. Apologies for the errant content. (And speaking of apologies for content—or specifically lack thereof—I’ll be back next week!)
24 Dec
This year, I decided to do individually-packaged cupcakes for coworkers and friends—26 in all. I found a Peppermint Mocha Cupcake recipe on Bakers Royale, which served as the base for the project. I used the foolproof One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart, adding in espresso powder—I wish I had thought to substitute coffee for the warm water. I used Martha’s Swiss Meringue Buttercream (with a bit of peppermint flavor) to top the cakes.
I was a little concerned about the pouring chocolate—I was worried it wouldn’t harden (and therefore be difficult to transport). But the suggestion to freeze the cupcakes before pouring the chocolate worked very well. I added peppermints (and peppermint pieces) to the tops:
We have a fantastic new baking shop downtown where I found these cupcake boxes.
The supplier has stopped making inserts that keep the cupcake stable, so I hot glued a fluted cupcake liner to the bottom, and set the cupcakes inside. It wasn’t the most reliable solution, but with some very careful transportation, the cupcakes seemed remain mostly upright inside the boxes.
We packaged the boxes into sacks, adding a little bottle of homemade Irish Cream with each one.
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