My little Picasso

 

I seriously love watching that little finger work. 

Easter brunch anyone….

I tried the Breakfast Pizza recipe from my favorite food blogger Smitten Kitchen the other day.  It was good, and really so lovely to look at.  Too bad we jumped right in and started eating before I remembered to take a photo.  So you only get a look at one slice.

You’ll have to give it a try for brunch on Sunday.  Or heck, it tasted great at dinner time in our house.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/breakfast-pizza/#more-5827

Breakfast Pizza
Use recipe for your favorite pizza dough.  You can make it for dinner, or let it proof over night in the fridge and take it out and let it rise for an hour in the morning.

6 strips bacon
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 cups grated mozzarella
6 large eggs
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced chives
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 shallot, minced

Fry the bacon in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until crisp. Cool on a paper-towel-lined plate; roughly chop.

Dip your hands and a ball of dough into the flour. On a lightly floured countertop, pat the dough into a disc with your fingertips, then drape the dough over your fists and carefully stretch it from beneath to form a 12-inch circle.

Generously dust the surface of a pizza peel or large inverted sheet pan with flour and place the stretched dough on it. Sprinkle the dough with half of the Parmesan, mozzarella and bacon. Crack 3 eggs over the top and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes on a baking stone, rotating after 5 minutes. When the crust is golden, the cheese is melted and the egg yolks are cooked,  transfer the pizza to a cutting board. Sprinkle the parsley, chives, scallions and shallot on top. Let cool for 2 minutes, slice and serve immediately. Prepare the second pizza in the same way.

What has become of us… or US

This post has been brewing for several weeks now – and I’ve tried to remain silent as long as I can.  But the vote on the health care bill this past Sunday has just been too much for my mind to grapple with.  I do believe there are some very sane, intelligent people who may have lost their minds a bit.  

The crazy fear mongering that has swept across some people in our nation is absurd!  Poisonous in fact.  I watched Glenn Beck the other day and would have wished to say that at most I found him laughable – except that it was too scary to even laugh at.    I get that there are a great many people who oppose Obama and the things he’s fighting for.  Fine.  I can respect that on some level.  The ability to voice our opinions in opposition is what democracy is all about.  But I’m so tired of all the blatant lies and false accusations and all the fear inducing sh*t that comes from certain people and groups.  Can we not, just have honest discussions about these ideas without trying to scare the living daylights out of people. 

And now all the death threats and hate mail coming to the Reps who voted YES to the bill….. please, please people opposed to the bill… please tell me that actions like that are not condoned by yourselves.    Please.

I am amazed at the newspapers, facebooks, and other social media outlets where people are saying things like “We should be fearful” and ‘I’m very afraid about our future”….. to you I would say, it’s time to turn FOX NEWS off and get back your grip on reality.  Don’t you get that these people are making money off of your fears and the sensational drama they create??  We are going to be fine.  The sun will come up tomorrow.  The day will go own.  And we’ll be fine.  And we will continue to have ridiculously MORE than other people in this WORLD!

In fact, I personally believe we’ll be better than fine.  This is a great country of Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, gays, straights, rich and poor.  And for far too long, I think we’ve looked past our neighbors and cared not to know too much about the people different from us.  We turn a blind side to these difference.  Not my problem.  Not my responsibility.

My family has medical insurance.  We have amazing medical insurance.  Yet when I hear of tragic stories of health and people without coverage, how can I not be moved by the injustice of it.  I take Beckett in to have a nurse check his ears for a possible infection without a blink of an eye…. yet for others, and far more major issues, have to make a decision to supply food or go to the dr.  And thankfully Leif works for a company that values their employees enough to provide outstanding coverage…. shouldn’t everyone be valued?  Smart companies – no matter how big or small – know the cost of valuing their employees.

I feel as if we’ve lost sight of what it means to be humanitarians to our own people.  Devastating earthquakes and tragedies hit around the world and billions of dollars are donated. It’s amazing to see that outpouring.  Amazing!   Yet, if we could also take a look around and see that we have devastation right here we turned a blind eye.  I saw a Facebook group the other day that was something about “Cutting off Welfare if they don’t pass a Drug Test.”  Seriously?!?  Like that would solve all their problems. 

The seriously big kicker for me about the fear of Big Government and controlling our daily lives (which I hear from my own midwestern farmer father), need I remind you of a little program called CRP.  ??  Is that not government telling you when to plant your own crops?  Yet I hear no one fearing that program! 

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Anyway, stepping off my soap box now and I have to tell you I feel like I’ve unloaded a ton off my chest.  I’m going back to my amazing, blessed life.  One where I am grateful to my God for all that I have and feel compelled by Him to do what feels right.   And I am not afraid of these changes to come,  because I know it is for great good of humanity.  

THis entire rant was spurred by not only Glenn Beck, but also one of my favorite bloggers.   She’s usually hilariously funny, but her personal story of how the health care reform will change their lives is one from just an ordinary, middle class person whose live will be greatly affected by this reform.  http://www.dooce.com/2010/03/22/mommyblogging

There are millions of Americans who strongly support this reform… so next time you hear some say ‘The American people don’t want this…..’,  know they aren’t talking about me and many others. Then ask yourselves if perhaps there are any other grossly misrepresented generalization sweeping the airwaves these days.

My Camellia

One of my favorite plants in our garden – the Camellia - is finally blooming (one downside of having the most mild winter weather – not enough frost to make these beauties bloom earlier).  So although there are hundreds of buds on the three bushes I have – not sure how many more will be forced open.  But I’ll savor the few I have.

Field Trip

I went along with Christian’s preschool class to the Seattle Aquarium last week.  The kids had a lot of fun.  I came home and needed a nap.

Christian is usually very timid about touching anything living.  But I was proud of him and he touched a few things.

The interesting fact of the day:  Sea Cucumbers eat all the gunk left behind in the water and poop out nice clean sand.  So we have the sea cucumbers to thank for all the beautiful sandy beaches.  I didn’t know that.  Christian said he might think twice about rolling in the sand this summer.

Christian and his buddy Indi.  So cute!

Happy belated St Patrick’s Day

You have to make this cake with your left over Guinness beer.  Seriously good.  And once again from the goddess of sweet Nigella Lawson. 

Here is her recipe:

This cake is magnificent in its damp blackness. I can't say that you can absolutely taste the stout in it, but there is certainly a resonant, ferrous tang which I happen to love. The best way of describing it is to say that it's like gingerbread without the spices. There is enough sugar — a certain understatement here — to counter any potential bitterness of the Guinness, and although I've eaten versions of this made up like a chocolate layer cake, stuffed and slathered in a rich chocolate frosting, I think that can take away from its dark majesty. Besides, I wanted to make a cream cheese frosting to echo the pale head that sits on top of a glass of stout. It's unconventional to add cream but it makes it frothier and lighter which I regard as aesthetically and gastronomically desirable. But it is perfectly acceptable to leave the cake un-iced: in fact, it tastes gorgeous plain.

Ingredients for the cake:

1 cup Guinness
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Ingredients for the topping:

8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Nigella's Suggestions:

For a simpler dessert, replace the frosting with a light dusting of powered sugar.

Preheat the over to 350 F, and butter and line a 9 inch springform pan.

Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter — in spoons or slices — and heat until the butter's melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

When the cake's cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the frosting. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sift over the confectioner's sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsifted confectioners' sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.

Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

What a weekend

Ever have one of those weekends that seems like it was really good and long?  Yeah, doesn’t happen as often as we’d like either.  But this was one of those fun, action packed weekends that as I sit down to write about it on Sunday night, the things we did on Friday night seem so long ago.

I won’t bore you with too many details… but I’ll just say that it was filled with swimming, reptiles, fancy designer shoes, playgrounds, art projects, snow, tubing and Darth Vader.  All and all, not a bad weekend!

(A few snapshots of the weekend when we remembered to bring the camera.)

 

“Hmmmm, so many choices.  Which color should I pick".”

“Guess it doesn’t matter which color.  I hate it anyway.”

 

Becks was not at all keen on the idea of sliding ridiculously fast down the hill no matter what color his tube.  He much preferred to just walk around and avoid touching the snow at all costs.  Hopefully he grows into those Norwegian genes of his.

Everyone else however, was pretty crazy about it.

  

We couldn’t have asked for a better day at the close of the season.

  

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I do believe two of my boys were in Comic Book HEAVEN this weekend at the Emerald City Comic Con.  I’m thankful that they decided not to have their picture taken with Leonard Nimoy for $60.  (Yes, I said $60! And then for an additional $20 you could have him autograph.)  Geeks indeed!

But they did get their photos taken for free with a bunch of other crazy Star Wars fans.  

And luckily, as he told me later, Darth Vader didn’t cut off his arm.

Or his tongue.  Luckily

 

Crazy fun weekend.  Hope yours was too.