Brunch is the New Dinner

We had our friends over for brunch on Saturday.  We have decided that it is much better to have people over for brunch than for dinner.  We get up at the break of day anyway, the kids can play the whole morning and you don;'t have to rush home for bed time or face the impeding doom if you don't.  It is a perfectly lovely way to entertain.

I made 2 new recipes for the event.  Don't ask me why I try new recipes out for guests, but I often do.  Luckily it doesn't turn out too badly most of the time.  This time I made a Belgian leek and goat cheese tart and it was delish.  I could have eaten a bowl full of the leeks.  They were sauteed in butter until they became soft and slightly sweet and oh so good.  But combined with the eggs and goat cheese and heavy cream, it was wonderful.  The crust needed work.  But I am definitely adding this recipe to my go to list.

I also made this chocolate pound cake.  It was fair.  At the end of each piece was this dense, moist and very chocolaty bite or 2, but the closer you got to the outside edge, the drier it became.  That is the very thing I am trying to avoid with cake baking.  No one likes a dry cake.  

So I'll give the recipe another go this weekend.  I'll adjust the cooking time and perhaps even calibrate my oven to see it the temperature is what it claims to be.  I've never done that, and I have a feeling that is what a good cake baker does.

Rainy Day

It was a rainy day, which put me in a baking sort of mood. The boys and I made bread.  We used to make it every week, and then I had Lilly, and let's just say baking bread fell to the bottom of the list of things to do.  But I forgot how good it is.  Hot from the oven with a big pat of butter on it?  Mmmm.  Perfect for a rainy day and the big pot of soup I made last night.  

Speaking of that soup, I think I am finally becoming a cook.  Or at the very least I am trying to.  The soup was really good.  Know why?  I made my own stock.  For the first time, I am ashamed to say.  It was so easy  and I don't know why I have never done it before.   

Speaking of things I've never done before (wait, didn't I just say that?) I also made biscuits the other day.  Again, ashamed to say, for the first time.  What is wrong with me?  Why haven't I done this before?  Maybe because I didn't grow up in the South where biscuits are like salsa is here.  Or something like that.  Or maybe because my Mom wasn't a biscuit maker either, so they just don't often come to mind.  But they have been in my recipe file under "To Try" for a long time.  So I did.  

They were light and flaky and buttery and delicious.  Just like a biscuit should be.  I used the Martha Stewart recipe for baking powder biscuits, so my next foray into biscuit land will be of the buttermilk variety.  I want to see which I like better.  James liked these ones a lot.

I also made this cake.  One of my goals for the year is to become a cake baker.  A baker of good, no, really good cakes.  I started with an easy one.  It was so easy, I actually made it twice and improved on it the second time.  I got it from my favorite food blogger, Molly, over at Orangette.  I must admit, I was swayed in its favor by 2 things: I love lemon pastries, and it is French.  How can you go wrong?  

It turned out not to be my favorite cake.  While it was better the second time around with more zest in the batter and more glaze on the cake, I'm still going to keep looking for that perfect lemon cake.  

Tonight I'm going to try another new cake.  (I'll let you know if this goal of great cake baking helps me achieve another of my goals: get in shape, or if it just helps me gain 100 pounds) It is a chocolate pound cake.  We'll be sharing it with friends.  I'll give you the verdict tomorrow. Until then, go bake something.  It really is a very warm and cozy thing to do.

Crazy in Love

Actually, I would say these 2 are crazy in the water.  Crazy to be in this water anyway.  Not only is it cold, but this is the LA harbor, the area where the LA river empties, and some plain ol' dirty water.  Still, it makes a nice picture, doesn't it?  Hope you remember to tell someone you love them today.

Sunday Morning

On Sunday mornings I like to get out the door early and hit the grocery store and the Farmer's Market before church.  I choose this time because I can go ALONE.  Going to the store ALONE doesn't sound like much.  Unless you usually go with 3 others who make everything a tad more grueling.  

I don't always make it, but this Sunday I did.  On the way, I saw this incredible trailer. 

We love trailers around here.  A very large painting of one hangs in our living room.  Aaron dreams of owning a trailer, and until we do, he paints pictures of them.  I had to get some photos of the trailer for him.  And for me because, don't you know, my favorite color is red, and doesn't this trailer look so stinking cute in red?  I love it!  I want a painting of this trailer.  (I find I am much more likely to get art from my artist in residence if the subject matter excites him.  Thus the "I brake for trailers" moment.)

At the Farmer's Market. I saw some other cool stuff.  

Yummm.  Aren't you hungry right now?  Especially for strawberries?  This last one is cauliflower.  Yes.  That's right.  It looks like some sort of sea coral.  I thought it was amazing.  God has made so many beautiful things for our enjoyment.  Even cauliflower.

Playtime

I love William's hands.  They are like the hands of both his grandfathers.  

I love these little animals too.  I've started a collection for all 3 kids.  William got the dolphin for Christmas because dolphins  are currently his favorite animal.  The penguin was from when he was a baby and he used to hit his arms on the side of his body just like little penguin wings. I miss those days.  

I'm Back

I've been hiding.

But my hands have been full of so many other things.

And now, I'm back. Oh how I have missed this blog. It has been a long while since I have been here. There are so many reasons why I have been unable to post new photos on Me Too. One of which was I had completely, or very nearly, filled our hard drive with photos. Therefore I could not add any new photos for fear of crashing the whole thing. That would be bad.

So I waded through many, many photos and threw out hundreds. It was actually quite a nice exercise because I was able to see how my photos have improved in the 6 short months that I have owned my lovely, lovely camera. My eye for lighting and composition, colors and, why didn't I ever do this before, turning off the flash has made my photography much better.

But I still have so far to go. I would say that this year has been a pivotal one for me as far as unwrapping this creative part of myself. I hope that this coming year will be that but so much more. I am excited about learning new things and trying new things. One of my goals this year is to learn how to use my camera. For Reals. That means reading the manual and turning off the auto focus. But for now, here are a few pictures taken in Fallbrook over Christmas break. Enjoy and look for more soon. One photo every day, right?