Monday, March 14, 2011

The Creation of A Cake

This cake was Keishon's invention.  He wanted to make a fluffy white cake with lemon filling and lemon frosting.
 I translated that as
 White Genoise with Honey-Lemon Curd Filling and Whipped Lemon Frosting.  
We spent the afternoon creating his cake. 
 Tomorrow  there will be a small birthday party with his best friend and twin, E celebrating both of their 9th birthdays. 




Cutting parchment circles for the cake pans.




 Keishon making beurre noisette.  
Just browned butter, really.  But beurre noisette sounds much nicer, doesn't it?




Weighing the eggs for the genoise.



Ah, nice fluffy batter with the flour and cornstarch sifted over the top and just waiting to be folded int gently.  That is a mommy job, ya know.


And into the oven to bake, with our fingers crossed because, after all, genoise is sometimes fickle.


But all is well, and now the cake is cooling nicely while we move on to the next step.


Honey- Lemon Curd.  Oh yeah!!!


K's first egg separating experience. 
 He loved it, and who can blame him? 
 It IS amazing to feel the white slide through your fingers and to hold this lovely round yellow orb in your hand.


Stir, stir, stir!!!


Brushing the layers with simple syrup.



Spooning on great mounds of Lemon Curd.


He seems remotely happy. Don't you think?


and now for the frosting, and a bit of mommy help.


Dream cake completed.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Hiking ~ Family ~ Nature

Today was lovely in every way. Inspiring. Quiet. Peaceful. Restful. and just plain Fun.
In the early afternoon, Duane suggested a short hike and we all headed out to enjoy this awesome weather.


Macy loves the water and she took off ahead.  We found her swimming happily in the swamp waters when we arrived.


The boys really wanted to join her out there.  Adison announced, "Mom the water is really warmish, coldish." I have a feeling that it was certainly more "coldish" than "warmish".


Of course, they all stayed dry and clean...........well, not exactly dry..........and I suppose clean isn't the word to use either.  But they enjoyed it, and that is what really matters.


Lexie checked out some dry grass, enjoyed the warm air....



...and snuggles with Daddy.


I  absolutely love watching these two interact!!!  They are the BEST!!!

Spring Is In The Air


The seedlings are doing well.  Just maybe, I might be getting excited about the new garden.
It felt so overwhelming just a few weeks ago.  Today is a sunny 77 degrees and somehow it makes me feel like being out there cleaning things up and seeing things grow again.  We still have some winter crops.  Kale, Collards, Spinach, and Chard.




The chickens are laying more eggs...



 and the fish are happy to be warm and keep literally jumping out of their pool.

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Experimental Makeover



It's a case of a boy confiscating his daddy's razor. 



How long does it take for eyebrows to grow back?

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

More Than One Color

He said, "Momma, look what I have." 
He opened his hand to show me a picture in beans. "You see,  this is our family!"