30 May

She calls one outfit "doctor clothes", thinking they look like scrubs. "Do you want to be a doctor?" "No Daddy, I want to be a cocktail waitress." Free to Be You and Me didn't teach quite the lesson I'd hoped.

29 May

For 12 years, I swam competitively. Unlike my daughter, I never viewed my cap and goggles as a fashion statement.

28 May

Threatening rain. So they decided to read their library books in the garage.

27 May

Shredded wheat or strawberry rhubarb crisp for breakfast? It really isn't even a choice.

DB: Strudel

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Using this recipe, I made both savory and sweet strudel. For the savory filling, I roasted potatoes, garlic, broccoflower and onions in some butter and olive oil. I seasoned them with garam masala, cumin, coriander, aleppo pepper and salt. In part due to the lack of moisture in this filling, it almost reminded me a lavash bread crust.


My sweet strudel was a strawberry-rhubarb. I sprinkled some demerara sugar into the crust along with the breadcrumbs and then again over the top.

It's better to photograph strudel with moist filling soon after baking. 24 hours later, it tasted fine, but looks a little mushy.


Could you read the newspaper through my dough? Not really, I got a bit frustrated as it began to tearing.

26 May

It had been too long since a trip to the store. She ate the container of blackberries in a matter of minutes.

TWD: Chipster Topped Brownies

The foil wasn't really part of my photo staging. I was still in holiday weekend fog when I realized that I was about to send the last two brownies off in lunchboxes. It was only 12 hours later that I realized we had eaten the brownies on MONDAY, making today TUESDAY.

These were tasty, but in the end, I'm not sure that I wouldn't rather have a great brownie and a great chocolate chip cookie individually.

25 May

Some things aren't so little. Like remembering the day I married my best friend. Lucky I still have some leftover cocktail napkins.

Habit-like

I've been reading the blog habit for a month or so. I'm completely taken by the photography and the little ways that these women find to celebrate the little things in life. In an effort to do a little bit more celebrating of my own, I'm going to try my own (less skilled) hand at it.

"We drew straight lines by ourselves." More impressive than writing the numbers inside.

Feet look way to big to be just 5.

TWD: Fresh Mango Bread

I might never make banana bread again.

I used TJ's frozen mango chunks in place of fresh. Slightly defrosted, they worked beautifully. I wonder if this would bake well as a 9" round? It seemed perfect for a fork.

TWD: Fresh Lemon Tart

It's so hot I can still hear it sizzling.

Chunks of lemon
took forever in blender.
Glad I kept blending.

Predicted a pucker
it didn't seem to appear
from my lick of the filling

A real bite will wait
until family can join
tomorrow.

TWD Tiramisu Cake

You know the lousy photos that accompany my posts. Well tonight, I thought I'd treat you to all 32 photos that I took of my tiramisu cake. That's right, normally, I'm a three shots or fewer kind of gal; it's a direct result of overextending myself in lots of areas.

But, as you can tell, I haven't been completing my TWD desserts on Tuesday recently. I baked up this lovely lady on Wednesday, alternating the tiramisu with Dorie's Raisin Brioche Snails (those might be my new favorite). By this afternoon, I'd successfully and unsuccessfully unloaded much of the cake on my neighbors. So after dinner, I set out to capture it with my belated Christmas gift tripod. Hence, the 32 shots.

Verdicts on the day: The sun was shining. Liked the cake. It improves with age. Kids loved the cake. Dig the gorillapod. Really dig the jacket I picked up while shopping for the gorillapod. Next step, editing my tripod taken photos.