Tenuous Balance

I play a game with the Babe where I try to stack a tower as tall and complicated as possible before she knocks it over. She got distracted away from this one and it stayed in the middle of the floor almost the whole day!
I should be an architect.

Rocky Road Biscotti

This is probably one of the most blatantly unhealthy things I've baked. Chocked full of chocolate chips, white chocolate chunks, marshmallows, pecans, butter, sugar, drizzled with even more white chocolate... The recipe called for toffee bits, too, and I had them, but there simply wasn't enough batter to mix in more sweet and chunky goodness.

doesn't that yellow flower paper plate just make you happy?

(counting down the days to spring...)

I don't even like biscotti. One of the reasons I made this particular recipe was to find out if I added enough candy, chocolate, sugar, and nuttiness if it would compensate for the uncomfortably dry and crunchy texture that I dislike about biscotti.

The result? I liked this biscotti, but I don't think it was because of the chunks. It was the butter. In my Christmas cookbook it mentions that European biscotti is rarely made with fat, but American biscotti is much more cookie like, made with butter. The second baking allowed that butter to magically mingle with the newly cut edges and crisp to a tasty, lightly fried texture. That little bit of greasiness was delightful! Who would've thought?

I just might make biscotti again. Just might.

Modern day Chiasmus

I was reading a recent talk by David A. Bednar and was struck by his prose. As I analyzed it, I realized he was speaking in a chiastic structure! There were two chiasmi and both had the same central statement.

"As disciples of the Savior, we are not merely striving to know more; rather, we need to consistently do more of what we know is right and become better."

So true. Read it yourself. It's a great talk.

Babe in toyland

I was cleaning up today and noticed this collection of miscellanea on the floor known in this context as "toys."

I was in the throw-everything-in-the-toybox mode and I realized not one of these things goes in the toybox. Before this Christmas I think we spent money on only one toy. Most of our toys have been gifts, accidental acquirements (such as the ball pictured below from a medical conference), or not toys at all.
I'm sure glad that babies aren't too picky about those details. Someday she'll probably want Barbies and brand names, so I'm going to enjoy this time of blissful carelessness when everything I give her is a toy.

Popcorn flour?

Sounds exciting. Sounds unique. Sounds like something I can do without buying any additional exotic ingredients. I like popcorn. What really sold me on this bread was the generous melted butter brushed over the top immediately out of the oven.

The popcorn flour was popped popcorn ground to a small grainy texture. It absorbed way more of the liquid than I thought it would. After the ground popcorn I was supposed to add 5-6 cups of regular flour. After only 4 cups it looked just right, but I convinced myself I needed to be a little closer to the recipe, so I added another half cup of flour. Bad idea. I think I ruined the bread.

Well, honestly, I don't think I ruined it that much. It wasn't that great anyway. What I envisioned as a buttery delightful bread with a little crispy popcorn goodness inside ended up being a dense white bread peppered with annoying popcorn hulls that get stuck in your teeth. It wasn't even that buttery. Granted, I left out the "butter extract" but what else would I possibly use butter extract for? I didn't think it was worth it.

Write it down

"You will have significant experiences. I hope that you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experience."

~Gordon B. Hinckley

Blueberry craving

Last week I was craving a baked good with either blueberries or bananas. Blueberries won.
Made these last night for FHE. This recipe is definitely a keeper. It's like blueberry crisp in a bar. The recipe (from my new Christmas cookbook) called for 1.5 cups of oats. After I started I realized I only had one cup. Hmmm... So I ripped open a Maple Brown Sugar instant oatmeal pack, took out the hunk of sugar, and then added some baby oatmeal cereal until I had 1/2 cup. Hey, it worked! And maybe that little maple flavor helped make it so good.

Starting the day

with a dozen caramels may sound like a good idea, but it isn't. I'm crashing and it's not even 10 a.m. yet. And I have a stomachache. But, mmm mmm mmm, they were yummy.

I made these caramels last night because 1) I meant to make them during the holidays but never got around to it and had all the ingredients, 2) I LOVE almond and caramel together, especially in almond snickers and wanted to see if I could make something close to it, 3) I wanted to.

I'm brand spanking new to candy making. I think I've made one or two attempts in the past, but candy is tricky. These were a little firmer than I hoped they would be, but overall I'm pleased with my first attempt at caramels. Maybe I should coat them in chocolate. Mmmm.

I used this recipe, but added toasted almonds to the pan before I poured the caramel.

Resolution

I seem to have moments pretty regularly when I realize that I've been rude or inconsiderate without knowing it. When I had my baby I got a gift from every one of my sisters and sister-in-laws that had babies, even if they lived far away. I had never even thought about sending baby gifts unless I was invited to a shower. How could I not even have thought of it? I don't know. But I've made a new resolution. For each new niece and nephew I will send a gift.

It started this Christmas. I made my first baby quilt for a new niece that was born in October.

Fully alive

"This body that we have, this very body that's sitting here right now in this room, this very body that perhaps aches, and this mind that we have at this very moment, are exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, and fully alive."

~Pema Chodron

Muffin Decadence ...almost

I got a delicious baking book for Christmas. I decided to christen its entrance into my kitchen with a recipe titled "Pralines-and-Cream Pecan-Caramel Muffins." Seriously. How can you go wrong with a name like that?

They were delicious even if they didn't look it. They actually looked kind of gross. Let me tell you what's in them. After a really yummy muffin batter with ground pecans in it, you squeeze a "squirt" of caramel sundae topping on the batter in the muffin cup, then you spoon on a cream cheese cheesecake-like layer over that, then you top it off with a pecan streusel and bake it. YUM! Next time I need to be more careful with the sundae topping. It burnt along the edges and made everything look bad.

Also, note to self: get fresh baking powder. I think my baking powder expired in 2005.

Perfect.

"If any of us are imperfect, it is our duty to pray for the gift that will make us perfect. ... No man ought to say, 'Oh, I cannot help this; it is my nature.' He is not justified in it, for the reason that God has promised to give strength to correct these things, and to give gifts that will eradicate them. If a man lack wisdom, it is his duty to ask God for wisdom. The same with everything else. That is the design of God concerning His Church. He wants His Saints to be perfected in the truth. For this purpose He gives these gifts, and bestows them upon those who seek after them, in order that they may be a perfect people upon the face of the earth."

~President George Q. Cannon, quoted by Robert D. Hales

renewed motivation

Ok, so this blog has lain idle for too long. I have a new direction. Rather than using it just to vent my soapbox, which was my original intention and which I clearly don't do, I will devote it to my projects or experiments. I already do these relatively frequently, so this can be a source of documentation. These may be tangible projects or personal development experiments. We'll see what I come up with. Happy new year and a new beginning.