Signed, Sealed and Delivered

Caitlyn wanted to enter the local Reading Rainbow young authors contest again this year, even though she didn't win anything last year. I was glad she was excited about it, so we worked together to come up with something. For a while, we were working on the Moose and Kangaroo story she wrote, trying to expand it, but we weren't getting anywhere with it. So, when she came up with the superhero comic book, I recognized a good idea. It was easy to talk her into it, instead: she loves Babymouse, and I think I've got a graphic novel fan on my hands. So, in the spirit of graphic novels and comic books, we give you: The Adventures of Chocolot and Vonilla versus the Evil Captain Ice Cream Snicher and his cronies Spoon, Scoop and Bowl. Click on the pictures to see them better.

The Great Chocolate Cake Quest #4

We tried out the Martha Stewart recipe... the batter was delicious. The cake...

dry and crumbly. I think there are some differences between using cake flour and regular flour and between measuring flour in cups and weighing flour. Last time, I used regular flour and weighed it. This time, cake flour in cups. Maybe I should try mixing it up a bit.

I didn't bother icing it with the ganache I made (it'll keep), and so whipped up a batch of chocolate whipped cream with the leftover cream we had in the fridge.


That was Kristen's favorite part.


Most of the rest of us were so-so on the cake. Alison didn't even bother having a piece.


Caitlyn, however liked it. (I think she's done that for most of the cakes I've made!)

Three more recipes to try.

Providing Proof

I've been getting on Megan's case about practicing the piano. She doesn't like to, so I nag and nag and nag... well, we were gone the other day (I don't remember why), but she was the only one home. So she did this:


And her explanation of why she can't practice the oboe...


I don't know: should I worry that she feels she needs to do this, or be glad?

The Joys of Being Two!

Or....

maybe it's the last time we put Kristen to bed in zipper-front PJs.

Found

A sign by Megan's Thin Mint Cookies:


On the desk:

(If you click on the pictures, you can see them better.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's the fifth year we've done the "heart attack" for the girls; I think Megan and Caitlyn have come to expect it on some level. Megan got up this morning, and said, "You tricked me again." I looked at her quizzically and she said, " You only put a few in my room and I was disappointed, but then I saw my door." I told her I tried to put more in her room, but every time I opened her door, she'd sit up and say, "Huh? What?", so we just did her door.

Caitlyn had a similar reaction: she was nearly in tears until she saw that her door was decorated. The question we had while we were doing this last night, though, was how are we going to keep it up when the girls are staying up later and getting up earlier than we are?

Alison, however, continues to have the most enthusiastic reaction of everyone. She gushed over her door, over Megan's door, and when Kristen finally got up, over Kristen's room. She was so excited, so happy. It's the little things.

Kristen wasn't too excited at first, but after some breakfast and getting dressed, she noticed the hearts on the wall and got excited about them all. Especially the Dora one....

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's not THAT warm outside

Actually, this is a typical state of dress for Kristen. She can dress (and undress!) herself, and loves to put on and take off clothes. Sometimes she just doesn't bother with the shirt.

Alison's just having a moment of sister solidarity.

A Little Movie Lovin'

Alison and Kristen getting some exercise!


This is Megan's (and her friend Brooke's)science project. She's going to kill me for putting it up here, but I thought you all might like to see...

The Caitlyn Files, Episode 6

Moms Can Be Crazy
On Friday Mom had her CD on it was on The Halls of the Malls of America (by The Bobs) she started dancing at first it didn't bother me until she started shaken her bottom around then it kinda started freeken me out. I just wanted to write this so I could prove that moms can be crazy!!!

The Great Chocolate Cake Quest #3: Partial Success!

I made a ganache recipe from The Cake Bible (mostly because it's a library book and it needs to go back!), and it was excellent. Not too bitter, not too sweet. Perfect, and easy to make, too. For anyone who's interested (the original recipe called for 12 ounces of 34% milk chocolate, like Lindt, and 9 ounces of bittersweet... I was going to buy baking chocolate and candy bars, but then got a brilliant -- and cheaper -- idea to use chocolate chips...), the recipe:

1 bag Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips (60%)
1 bag Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix the chocolate chips together, weigh on a kitchen scale and remove 2 ounces. (The recipe only called for 21 ounces of chocolate. I have no idea what that is in cup size; if you can figure that out without using a scale, let me know.) Process in food processor until finely chopped up (mine is small enough that I had to do a half-batch at a time). Heat cream in microwave until boiling. With the processor going, stream the cream in and pulse until smooth. Add vanilla, pulse a few more times. Let cool at room temperature until frosting consistency. (Will keep 3 days at room temperature, 2 weeks in the refrigerator, 6 months in the freezer.)

The cake, the recipe from Baker's Catalog, was pretty good, too. I used this recipe because it was the only one I had that didn't call for dutch processed cocoa, and as I have learned, you can't substitue regular cocoa for dutch-process and get the same results.



So, I have to hunt down some dutch-process cocoa (other than ordering it from Baker's Catalog) before I can make the other 5 recipes I have for chocolate cake.


That aside, everyone seemed to like the cake (at least, everyone -- including the missionaries -- finished their pieces this time!).

It was moist and chocolatey. The only drawback (in my opinion), was that it had an overly almond flavor from the extract. (Maybe halving the extract next time will do the trick?) The other problem was that it stuck to the pan, so I lost half of the layers.

The death of one of the cake layers... it meant chocolate cake two nights in a row, though!

That's easily remedied, too, though, by just making sure the pans are really really well floured. So, I suppose if I never get around to trying the other recipes, this one will work just fine.



It's not the world's best picture, because Kristen dumped her piece on the floor (by accident) just as I was taking the shot.

My Cat is So Weird

The Kind of Mystery I Like

When we went out to get this paper this morning, this was sitting on our porch:


And when we opened it up, we found this (but no packing slip!):


Hmmm... we wondered... what's inside?


\
Yummy! And there was a card in the last box, too!


Thank you!!! :)