Thursday, May 22, 2008

*shouting* FOOD PORN


ok, so i know, right? two posts in two days! whoa!

i just had to share some photos and a recipe...

Chocolate Chip Macaroons w/ Pecans
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg white
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cup flaked or shredded sweetened coconut
1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
2 tablespoons pecans, toasted & chopped finely (optional)

i always double this recipe (today i tripled it), one can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz) and two bags of coconut seem to do the trick. i use the entire bag because well, why throw the little bit of leftover away. since the can of milk is a bit bigger than i need by about 2 oz then it compensates for the extra coconut.

1. preheat oven to 325, line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. in a large mixing bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, egg white, vanilla and salt.
3. stir in the coconut, chocolate chips and pecans.
4. drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto the baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart.
5. bake 1 sheet at a time, until the cookies are golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.
6. remove the sheet to a cookie rack and let stand until cookies are completely cool.

my notes, i have never used pecans. only the chocolate chips. i also let the cookies cool for about a minute on the sheet then i move to a cooling rack, i never have any issues. i've lost a few but hey, a broken cookie still tastes like a cookie right? just means more or me :)

and one more photo for good measure :)

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

what's been going on

whew, here i am... i know i know long time no update. we've had a few busy weekends and andy is "waking up" from being an impossible infant so he's needing me to entertain him more and more. plus, max has become a bit more needy lately too.... not sure what that's all about but we'll just have to roll with it i guess... for me it just means less time online. which isn't all that bad really.

ok, let's see, two sunday's ago was Mother's day. we had a lovely day here, it was raining so we didn't get to sit on the deck and eat out their either but we managed to enjoy ourselves inside. we hosted both mom's at our house, this is the 3rd or 4th year that we've done this. usually we grill something and the "kids" all take care of the food. we made a yummy marinade for chicken, it's lemon based, i made a broccoli salad that was OUT OF THIS WORLD and a regular salad. i'll be making the broccoli salad again very soon. my brother and his fiance brought dessert and my sister in law brought pasta salad. it was all really tasty! and it was a nice relaxing day. OOH, and from my boys i got a white dog wood for the front yard. and i can't believe that we didn't take any photos that day...

this past sunday andy was baptized. then we had both sets of parents, siblings and the god parents over for lunch. i made baked ziti (really penne but who really cares) with ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella, pepperoni and jarred sauce. it always goes over well. plus i bought a sandwich tray from costco! it was turkey, ham, and roast beef croissants with an herb mayo spread and dijonaise type spread. all very good! and for dessert... ooh dessert.... i also went the store bought route and got a coconut cream pie from costco! oooh it was good! a HUGE pie for $9.99, you just can't beat that! here we are at church. andy was super good, max, not so much.... andy is wearing the same gown that my mother was baptized in, so was my brother and me and max too. this makes 5 babies to wear this gown. it's pretty simple but super cute and has held up surprisingly well for the past 63 years!

this week we're preparing for my brother's wedding. they are having their wedding at their house. i was there this morning to meet the tent people, they set the tent up and delivered the tables, chairs, glassware and linens. they were super nice and very friendly and worked very fast. the tent looks great. it takes up the entire backyard. it's going to be crowded but i'm sure it will work out. tonight i'm heading back over there to help her make tissue paper flowers like these.

before saturday i have a few things i need to do.... one, hem both sets of pants for the boys.... i got them the cutest outfits to wear, they'll be in matching searsucker pants with little white shirts. thank god it's supposed to warm up :) i also need to paint my nails again and maybe find a super duper undergarment sucker inner for my deflated tired around my waist... ooh and bake another batch of cookies, i did one batch last night. i need to make the macaroons tomorrow. (sorry this paragraph was sort of a mental note to myself)

then friday, out of town guests start arriving. i'll be picking a few up from the airport that morning. entertaining one for lunch that day, then later that afternoon we'll head to my parents to meet up with the rest of the travelers and visit with family. that night we'll have dinner with them, then saturday at 5 we'll be at the wedding. not sure what else we'll need to do that morning.... still waiting to be told what they will need us to help with... frankly i'm not sure they even know what they need help with yet.

sunday, my parents are hosting brunch. then i'm sure more visiting and a few naps in there for max.

then monday, we're having a cookout for just a few guests that aren't leaving until that evening. we're just doing burgers and salads, easy peasy.

on the knitting front, i have a baby shower to attend on June 1st. and frankly i wanted to make something for her but i just didn't know what... i thought maybe another btrs baby blankie but i wasn't too excited about that... so i picked up MDK and POOF, remembered that i wanted to knit a baby kimono for someone at some point. so i cast on with yarn that i already had and here i am, just about 10 days later with two more rows to knit and then a cast off and i'm done. it's super cute, i used yellow and pink. the body is pink, the arms and neck are yellow. it's adorable and wow, super simple to knit! i even added the adorable little eyelet edge around the neck. so cute! i bought ribbon for the side ties too, yellow, pink and orange. should look nice with the whole thing. photos to come soon, here's one that i took a few days ago. i want to get her a few other things too, i'm thinking some essentials would be a good addition to this little sweater since this can be worn with just about anything. maybe if i find a little pair of jeans i'll get those too... but we'll see.

Monday, May 5, 2008

my adult life

so i think i have just entered adulthood! ha! some of you might say, "oh honey that happened when you turned 18!" well, no i beg to differ. yes, when i was 18 i graduated from high school and went to college but i was by no means an adult at that point. i was still very much a kid/teen/irresponsible soul.

in the past few years, i have indeed gotten hitched and had a couple of kids and yes, LOTS of responsibilities came along with those new parts of my life but yesterday i experienced a moment that made me realize that i'm one of the adults now and it was cool!

this all occurred to me while i was at a party and was sitting there with the other moms and mom's-to-be and i looked out to find my husband and oldest son who where playing in the yard. at that moment, i caught a look around to find that there were older people/grandparents/people my parents age, young people/abercrombie & fitch wearers and us/moms/moms2b and then all the dads were out in the yard with the kids. i'm not sure where i'm going with this, but it was a funny realization. now, realizing this doesn't mean that i have to change my behavior or anything but it does mean that i'm finally an adult and i guess that people out in public view me that way too now. i still think of myself as a young adult. which i'm clearly not. in fact i think i'm actually on my way to middle aged. *gasp* thank god i'm not there yet....

oh my god... as i'm typing this i'm thinking about the actual number that is attached to my age and i seriously had to think for more than a quick second about how old i actually am. 'wait, i'm 32, no wait, 31. hmmm, dec 1976 - may 2008, ok... i'll BE 32 this dec.' god, in fact, it took me typing it out to really get the numbers straight! gha.... what is WRONG with my brain.... yet another sign that i'm on my way to middle aged....

anyways, i guess my point was that i'm happy with this stage of my life. i have two kids, a husband who is wonderful and caring and works his bum off for me and our boys. my parents are still living and mostly healthy, same goes for chris's family. i love watching my parents love my kids. and i love watching my kids grow and start to interact with each other. and as a side bar to this life, i love the other mom's and friends i have made recently. it's awesome that we've all come together and all have our kids and a few hobbies in common. and apparently we all have the same life stage in common too!