Makin Taters.

Most nights Tim cooks dinner. He's better at it (seriously) and finds it relaxing and enjoyable whereas I tend to find it stressful probably because I always insist on trying a new recipe. Sometimes, like tonight, I get all domestic and homemakery and map out a whole meal plan. On today's menu it was

Turkey Burgers

Sweet Potato Tater Tots

Balsamic Broccolini

Open Faced Blueberry Pie

That's like, straight out of a Jamie Oliver's School Dinners episode. Except put together by me. BAM! And it was delicious! And healthy! Here is a grainy picture that you probably already saw on Facebook. If you want to see fancy photos, click the links above for the recipes. Also, some tips:

1. To keep the burgers from drying out, I put white cooking wine in the pan (you could probably just use water as well)
2. I doubled the Tator Tot recipe and left them in the oven probably 5-10 mins longer so they were really crispy on the outside.
3. I would use half the sugar recommended for the Blueberry Pie. I also cheated and used an organic whole wheat pastry crust for my base, because who has time for all those confusing directions on how to make your own. Not this gal.
4. Most importantly, make sure you haven't started heating up the skillet before STICKING YOUR FINGERS IN IT to spread the oil around. Brutal. I don't have any feeling in my finger tips except stinging.

Tim's Random List

Last night I came across a piece of paper that had been torn out of a notebook and had somehow gotten wedged into a  stack of random bills, tax info, miscellaneous documents etc. - we're not the best about filing over here. On it was written a list in Tim's teeny tiny penmanship. I read the list about five times trying to make sense of it's cryptic contents and the correlation between them. Here is the list in it's entirety (I had to make assumptions on some of the wording as his lettering is so miniscule) followed by a list of burning questions I had as a result:

The list in question

Adae   NJ   H.S.   Ranya  N.Y.   School

Bday 31 Days:  Andrew May 6th Waiting Fam  May 5th
SUV - MiniVan:

No Red Meat:

More than 25 mi:

Ate fast food 24 hrs:

Never spoke in Public:

Multilingual:

Works from home:

Picture of sig. other:

2x pets:

8x cups of water:

Sings well:

Chocolate:

New Years Resolution:

Video/CPU Games: Andrew

Reality Shows:

Coffee:  Andrew

 

1. What is the relation between these things? For example, "SUV - MiniVan:" is followed by "No Red Meat:" and "Sings well:" is followed by "Chocolate:" WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!
2. Why the use of so many colons?
3. Furthermore, why are the colons not followed by some sort of correlating list or response - except in two instance with the name Andrew?
4. Who is Andrew?
5. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN????

After much (much) thought, I finally figured out what this was all in reference to and had my suspicions confirmed by Tim. Now that I know the answer it all seems so obvious but I wonder if anyone else out there can crack the code. Submit your best guess! GO! 

I Made Scones!

If you follow me on Facebook than this is old news.  Scones with clotted cream, jam and butter was my favorite guilty pleasure while in England and I wanted to bring the cream tea tradition home with me. So I did. And I'm happy to say that despite a lack of confidence in my ability to bake the perfect scone, I felt the results were commendable considering it was a first attempt. The recipe I used can be found here,  though I would definitely increase the sugar to 2 1/2 tablespoons. Clotted cream is hard to find - the only place I know of is World Market and it's $2.99 for a tiny jar. So worth it though!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 ½ tsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
4 ½ Tbs butter (cold)
⅔ cup milk (+ 1 Tbs for egg wash)
1 egg yolk
1.  Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, and sea salt.
2.  Drop in the butter in tiny cubes and work with fingers until no butter is larger than a pea. Add the milk and mix briefly, just enough to bind the wet with the dry. Do NOT overmix.
3.  Drop onto a well-floured board and knead very quickly only 3-4 times.
4.  Pat into a circle about 1 inch thick and cut out scones with a small glass or cookie cutter. Knead together remaining dough and cut out more scones until all the dough has been used.
5.  Beat the egg yolk lightly with one Tbs of milk and brush the tops of the scones with mixture.
6.  Bake on baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm with clotted cream and jam.
- See more at: http://accomplishedyounglady.com/2010/12/proper-british-scones/#sthash.GgPzrYUB.dp

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 ½ tsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
4 ½ Tbs butter (cold)
⅔ cup milk (+ 1 Tbs for egg wash)
1 egg yolk
1.  Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, and sea salt.
2.  Drop in the butter in tiny cubes and work with fingers until no butter is larger than a pea. Add the milk and mix briefly, just enough to bind the wet with the dry. Do NOT overmix.
3.  Drop onto a well-floured board and knead very quickly only 3-4 times.
4.  Pat into a circle about 1 inch thick and cut out scones with a small glass or cookie cutter. Knead together remaining dough and cut out more scones until all the dough has been used.
5.  Beat the egg yolk lightly with one Tbs of milk and brush the tops of the scones with mixture.
6.  Bake on baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm with clotted cream and jam.
- See more at: http://accomplishedyounglady.com/2010/12/proper-british-scones/#sthash.GgPzrYUB.dpuf

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 ½ tsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
4 ½ Tbs butter (cold)
⅔ cup milk (+ 1 Tbs for egg wash)
1 egg yolk
1.  Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, and sea salt.
2.  Drop in the butter in tiny cubes and work with fingers until no butter is larger than a pea. Add the milk and mix briefly, just enough to bind the wet with the dry. Do NOT overmix.
3.  Drop onto a well-floured board and knead very quickly only 3-4 times.
4.  Pat into a circle about 1 inch thick and cut out scones with a small glass or cookie cutter. Knead together remaining dough and cut out more scones until all the dough has been used.
5.  Beat the egg yolk lightly with one Tbs of milk and brush the tops of the scones with mixture.
6.  Bake on baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm with clotted cream and jam.
- See more at: http://accomplishedyounglady.com/2010/12/proper-british-scones/#sthash.GgPzrYUB.dpuf

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 ½ tsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
4 ½ Tbs butter (cold)
⅔ cup milk (+ 1 Tbs for egg wash)
1 egg yolk
1.  Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, and sea salt.
2.  Drop in the butter in tiny cubes and work with fingers until no butter is larger than a pea. Add the milk and mix briefly, just enough to bind the wet with the dry. Do NOT overmix.
3.  Drop onto a well-floured board and knead very quickly only 3-4 times.
4.  Pat into a circle about 1 inch thick and cut out scones with a small glass or cookie cutter. Knead together remaining dough and cut out more scones until all the dough has been used.
5.  Beat the egg yolk lightly with one Tbs of milk and brush the tops of the scones with mixture.
6.  Bake on baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm with clotted cream and jam.
- See more at: http://accomplishedyounglady.com/2010/12/proper-british-scones/#sthash.GgPzrYUB.dpuf

That One Time Moses....

Well, it finally happened. 

I've been barfed on.

See this Starbucks cup?

A few nights ago it was filled with a delicious latte for Tim (and me, a little). 

Several hours later it served as a mini vomitorium.

Who could have known.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It all began at midnight when Moses woke up crying and on all fours in his crib. I just knew as soon as I picked him up that he was about to throw up and sure enough out it came, all over the front of my dress. Tim had already gone to bed so I quickly woke him up to assist in crisis management. He was just as flustered as I was - probably more so from being woken up - and just kept saying "What should I do?" as I continued to hold a crying, barfing Moses. Except I was just as clueless as he was - even though it's not the first time Moses has barfed, it was the first time there was barf in the sink, on Moses, in a towel and on me. 

So for the next 30 minutes I sat with Moses while he watched Shaun the Sheep and very calmly barfed into the Starbucks cup without taking his eyes off the t.v. Strange, but I wasn't complaining.  After his system calmed down I put him back to bed and began cleaning up the mess. Whether I woke Tim up to help or he woke up on his own I can't remember but nevertheless he appeared with a willingness to assist.  Since I had a lot of soiled wet wipes and a seriously offensive Starbucks cup to dispose of, I asked him if he could grab me a plastic bag. He came back from the kitchen grasping a giant pile of Ziplock sandwich bags. *shakes head* I don't even know. I'll blame it on his being half asleep. 

By morning, Moses was himself and I was proud of how well I'd handled being barfed on - something I've been dreading! I think it must be the adrenaline that courses through your brain and body as you try to comfort and contain the mess that comes from a crying child who doesn't understand why food is spewing from his mouth. 

All in all, not as traumatizing an event as I was expecting.

Next time I'll be prepared with Starbucks cup at the ready.

Reading is Good for Me.

I have read some seriously good books lately. I tend to go through spurts with reading - a lot all at once or not at all. It's been "a lot all at once" kind of summer and they're coming one straight after the other which is totally thrilling for me because I love to read.  So far this season, I've read...

While the first two are for a book club, Redeeming Love is one Tim's been encouraging me to read for years (literally) and I never took him up on it until I was faced with two 7 hour plane rides and time to kill. It has a slow start and I would have given up on it had I not already committed to lugging it around with me for the duration of our trip (it's a thick book). Anyways, it was amazing and I already know I'll read it again. It just dawned on me that all three of these books have the same theme of imprisonment/breaking free and/or prostitution. Grim, I know. But all compelling stories.

Can I just take a moment and say I could really go for a thick slice of chocolate cake right now?

Currently I'm reading this lovely little children's novel, which I picked off the book shelf at my best friend's parent's house in England ... when I was there for a wedding and waiting in line for the shower.  I was just at the part of the story where a mysterious event happens when my turn was up and I had to put it down. That is until the kindest of souls very generously gave me her copy after I shared how regretful I was not to finish the story. She just gave me her copy like it was no big deal. Um, that's a big deal. I don't just go giving away my favorite books to people I hardly know. I greedily cling to them like a little troll. And if I happen to let you borrow it, I will make sure you give it back. Except it'll never happen because I never lend books out.  (Probably because of that ONE time I lent a book to someone and never got it back. And it had a cover on it that you can't find anywhere else, and I'm really picky about the covers of books.) Well irregardless, I just got schooled on what it means to be kind and thoughtful. Hannah - you're a better woman than I'll ever be. I still stop and think to myself "That was so nice of her!"

It was a gray day today and during the boys nap I thought "what a perfect time to carry on reading" because the whole atmosphere reminded me of England, and this book is a British classic. But then I got distracted by playing with my camera, so really this is a staged shot giving you the false sense that I had a serene moment in my day, lazily reading by the window. In reality my day was filled with lots of anxiety-ridden parenting to the point where my chest started to feel tight and I didn't read at all. 

Next up - for while we're at the beach in Goderich - I've picked these three beauties. I'm pretty sure they're lighter stories and more on the romantic side which is always a good theme while lying in the sand or in a sun-soaked cottage. 

After that, who knows where my literary adventures will take me.
But I always love a good recommendation!

Laugh Cry

Today has not been a great day in the ongoing battle with my mysterious health issues. So naturally, my way of dealing with the stress and frustration is to eat everything my body tells me not to as a way to stick it my uncooperative digestive tract. TAKE THAT SMALL INTESTINE! Because everyone knows that an organ scorned is one sure to want to turn a new leaf....

(reality is I feel like poop, am super discouraged and have declared war against my body, so clearly things are taking a sad turn for the worse)

I blame it on England and all those delicious scones with clotted cream, jam and butter. How could I say no to that? Exactly. Impossible. And then there were those Italian milk and honey tea biscuits that Trader Joe's were selling - they were totally calling my name and I was missing England and it was completely not my fault that they ended up at home and subsequently in my seriously obstinate intestinal tract. Especially considering they were served on this sweet little sheep tray alongside our amazing macro berry mugs (all from England) with my favorite tea + milk. It was a total set up, and I didn't stand a chance.

 

But seriously, say a prayer for me.
I feel defeated.

A Dream Come True.

We're back from the British Isles. It was a magical ten days. I've been using one of our boarding passes as a book mark and when I pulled it out this morning, it made me cry. Tears of gratefulness for the time we had as well as sorrow for all the friends I'm missing.

It would be laborious to go into great detail on all the things we managed to see and do while we were there but here are a few highlights:

Embracing at the airport

Picnicking in Windsor

Cream teas in Bath

Church on Sunday

An icecream by the river

A whirlwind tour of London

Pub lunches and so much laughter

Standing on the field of my old school

Sweet shops

Late night conversations

Incredible curry dinners

Coffee and lunch with dear old friends

Sitting in the bath in our bathing suits at the end of a long day

Scones at the Dobson's

Watching 3 Men & a Little Lady for old times sake

Country drives

 Eating as much duck, sausage and cake as I liked

Feeling beautiful at a beautiful wedding with beautiful people

Dancing my heart out in the best of company

Gorging myself on delicious food

Sitting on the floor of the Bridal Suite with my best friends

A glorious day in the Cotswolds with my parents

More cream teas

A beautiful evening dinner with my favorite people...

....dreaming of the future.

My heart is full with thanks for the gift we were given in this trip and to everyone who made it happen and provided along the way - you know who you are. Why God chose to bless us so abundantly with friends who love us so very much, I will never know. But I'll happily receive it all again and again.

What a dream come true.

Truly.