The Two

that made me a mother...

I didn't get a chance to post this on Mother's Day but wanted to say thank you to my Father in Heaven for giving me the privilege to have these two spirits in my home. Both are nothing short of complete miracles.

Did you know my little one turned 3?

That's right. My sweet little boy albeit an infamous disaster creator, but still so sweet, is now 3. I can't believe it. I kind of don't want to believe it.

Carter saw a Batman cake at the local grocery store bakery and made up his mind right then and there that this would be his next birthday cake.  That was in August.  His birthday was April 2nd.  He didn't let me forget. But I didn't let him forget that I would not be ordering him a shortening-frosted-dried-out-odd-ratio-of-cake-to-icing store bought confection.

Oh no, not me. Let's just say when he saw this cake all done and ready to go, he was not disappointed.

Carter is a good eater.  He's not chubby but he is solid.  I dare say, solid muscle.  I'm pretty sure there's even some pecks going on there under his shirt but anyway, a good eater.  Likely his top 2 favorite foods are strawberries or fruit in general and soup.  You could say Zupas is his eatery of choice.  A chocolate dipped strawberry with a bowl of soup.  And just recently, he put aside his disdain for bread and started dipping some bread into his soup!  So now between his handfuls of Sacrament bread (we're working on this) and soup dipping bread, he'll come out on top with his grains/starches.

Nate-Guy, as Carter fondly refers to his dad as, had to work the day we celebrated with family.  So I transported two soups to my parent's house to share.  Unfortunately, this ended up being an epic fail.  My car now smells of outdated creamy tomato basil... but there for that afternoon, we dined on Zupa Toscana (thanks Aunt Brenda) and Wisconsin Cauliflower along with salad, chocolate dipped strawberries and of course bread, for dipping purposes.

Thai Curried Carrot Soup

I typically cook and bake with the seasons.  That's why you'll not find me making my much requested Caramel Corn in May.  But when it comes to soup, I mourn the warmer months.  It just doesn't seem right to  dine over a steaming bowl of the satisfying stuff.  Thankfully spring has been chilly thus far.  So I'm still in full swing when it comes to soup making. I love trying new flavors and combinations.  I especially like recreating soups I've tried at a restaurant, at home.

I also decided that a spring icon would be the carrot.  Bunnies...carrots?  We're all eating carrot cake right now.  So why not some Thai Curried Carrot Soup?

Here's my own version:

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 lbs fresh carrots, washed, peeled and cut into thick coins
2 green onion stalks, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp curry powder
3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
Sea salt to taste

In a large saucepan, heat oil on medium heat until it sizzles.  Saute carrot coins, both kinds of chopped onions, and garlic until they give off their juices.  Sprinkle carrot mixture with curry powder and stir until well combined.  Slowly stir in chicken stock and increase heat to medium-high until mixture comes to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are very tender, about 45 minutes.  Using an immersion (stick) blender, blend carrots until smooth or to desired texture.  I typically leave a few larger pieces of vegetable.  If you do not have an immersion blender, you may transfer the carrot mixture to a regular blender or food processor and then return to sauce pan.

Add seasonings - cumin through cayenne pepper.  Stir in coconut milk and heat until warm.  Season with sea salt.

You can make this soup heartier or a complete meal by adding jasmine rice and/or shredded chicken.

For Humanity's Sake

One of my Facebook friends posted the following article.  I loved it and it helped me process my thoughts surrounding today's tragedy in Boston.  I wanted to share it on Facebook as well, but it had a pretty major swear in it and I didn't feel it appropriate (and I only know how to cut & paste on my blog).

Some days I get really caught up in the nastiness of the world.  This is hard for me, I think especially because of what I do for a living.  Some days I seriously question leaving my house.

From Patton Oswalt...

Boston. ____ horrible. 

I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, "Well, I've had it with humanity."

But I was wrong. I don't know what's going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths. 

But here's what I DO know. If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. (Thanks FAKE Gallery founder and owner Paul Kozlowski for pointing this out to me). This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness.

But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, "The good outnumber you, and we always will."

RIP Neapolitan Coconut Sundaes

Some of you may say that the things I discuss could at times, be called random.  However to me, coconut is far from random.

Please read on.

The other day I received a rare gift...a better part of an afternoon to kill.  No, not kill as in maim or harm.  I wouldn't blog about that, sillies.  Kill as in time. As in no kids; just yours truly. So what did I do?  I did what any red-blooded, American girl would do.  I went shopping.  As in old school, kickin' it at the mall.  And it was some good stuff.  Retail therapy.  I didn't over do, in fact I was quite reasonable.  I found these on clearance!

28 bucks baby! I wanted these so bad last year but couldn't bring myself to spend $74 on warm weather canvas flats.  When I finally located some on clearance right before the first snowfall, they were out of size 10.  But I digress.

Back to the mall and my intent with this slightly inappropriately impassioned post...as I ambled by the Candy Barrel store - you know the one where all the hard to find candies are displayed in distillery barrels but are really only about 1/32nd of the way full?  Anyway, my endorphins were in full swing with my recent red shoe find and I thought I would treat myself to a half pound of these little darlings:

I walked the perimeter of the store...twice...and didn't see them.  Now one would stop right there and ask the 16-year old candy girl on duty.  But not me.  No. You see the 16-year old girl doesn't even know what these gratifying layers of substantial coconut are. Blasphemy. And I didn't want to hear some depressing and likely erroneous news that the Candy Barrel doesn't stock them anymore.  No, I would rather walk around the store coming up with scenarios in my head.

I finally caved and asked said 16-year old girl.  Surprisingly, she knew exactly what I was talking about.  Then, the words that no coconut connoisseur ever wants to hear:  "Oh, the company stopped making those."  Initially I felt deflated.  But only for a moment.  Because it was then that I recognized that I knew way more about these chewy charmers than this 16-year old Candy Barrel employee who just works there did.  Oh yes, I would get to the bottom of this.  I think some of you will recall my Dove Coconut Creme Egg Odyssey?

So I left and googled "Brach's Neapolitan Sundaes" and found all kinds of pictures that brought back sweet memories.  Like this one:

I totally had those yarn ribbons!  And those ponytails!  But I doubt my mom ever let me choose candy from here. She was all Shredded Wheat (not the mini kind with frosting no, the biscuit kind) and my mom would have never worn a yellow dress. Nope, treats at the store were my Dad's department...Troph.  And he probably would have picked some of those Jelly Nougats too. Bleh.

No matter, Troph would have let me get my Neapolitan Sundaes.  The ones they used to make with a caramel layer.

Back to my online searching... to my horror, multiple websites told me the same thing: Confectionery Adolescent Employee was in fact correct; this product was discontinued.  What?  I mean I get the Pick-A-Mix had seen its day but places like Candy Barrel and Vermont Country Store HAD my coconut connection to childhood. Right?  Wrong. Turns out Brach's Candy has been sold like 14 times since ye old pick-a-mix was seen at your local grocer.

Copious websites tried to pass these off as the "bar version" of Neapolitan Sundaes:

If disgusting artificial strawberry carcinogen red is your thing, well, there you go.

Floating Around Facebook

Just too good not to share.

Remember this?

The wallpaper, not the hair.  After much blood, sweat, tears, and swears, the dual layers of wallpaper have been removed (along with the layer on the ceiling).  Plaster walls skim coated and fresh paint applied!

We went with a gray to somehow compliment the pink tile.  You see we did updates, not a full on remodel.  Silhouettes done and framed.  Hopefully more pics coming soon!