Tough Girl

"Vows made in storms,
are forgotten in calm." -- Thomas Fuller

Confession: I don't have much tolerance for babies... the actual child or adult kind. But when my girl dog turns it on, during the myriad of storms that the midwest tends to endure (see thudmunson.blogspot.com), I tend to have a soft spot. At least soft enough to take pictures of her meltdown while sitting in the laundry basket of Brett's closet!

The storm is upon us:

The storm has passed:
Meanwhile, the boy dog sleeps... like a dog: It's time for bed now:
We all try to help get Abby out of the closet (I hope she will always know we are an affirming household.):
This is gonna have to be a snatch and grab job:
Off to bed she goes... the storms have passed for petes sake:

(I'm sorry, I can't figure out how to turn the photo upright!)

Everything is Blooming Most Recklessly

Everything is blooming most recklessly;

if it were voices instead of colors,

there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.

-- Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

Confession: I don't really like flowers. I'd take green trees and leafy plants any day over a flower... but there are exceptions. And today is one of those exceptions.

And I just couldn't resist:

Shuffles' Big Day

"You'll wake up on Easter morning,

And you'll know that he was there,

When you find those choc'late bunnies,

That he's hiding ev'rywhere." Gene Audry

Confession: We're awful Bunny Parents. We were good once. But that was before dogs took the coveted "cuddle spot." Now the bunny is lovingly tolerated.

But, Easter's her big day... and we weren't going to take that away from her! So we got a few pictures of her, with the Easter eggs that Brett and my Dad colored, while my Mom and I cooked! (Note to self: anticipate the obsessions, it'll save you a bundle.)

Easter Sunday

Awake, thou wintry earth -Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness! ~Thomas Blackburn

Confession: I struggle with Easter. I struggle because I witness the tendency that Christians have, to allow the resurrection of Jesus to be the last word, the pinnacle... but it's not. Resurrection moments should happen every day and through his life and teachings, Jesus taught us how to make resurrection moments happen every day. The "last word" should be when no child hungers, when no mother watches her child fight someone elses war, when no father must steal or cheat to make ends meet, and when there is justice for all people regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation. Maybe then the resurrection will make sense.

Okay... heavy stuff. On to something a little more "light and fluffy."

I tried a delightful lemon recipe for Easter Sunday, that came out of the magazine Celebrate. It’s very Martha Stewart-y and I felt quite accomplished once it was finished and on the table. I made just a few changes to the recipe as it was printed, and will list them below. (Thank you Dad, for the picture!)


















Lemon Stuffed Angel Food Cake

6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (I used the frozen stuff here... and it worked great. I know the purist's out there will scoff, but I'd had a pretty full day already and the thought of squeezing a dozen lemons to get the full half-cup, seemed improbable)
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 prepared angel food cake, torn into pieces (I used almost two cakes and it filled my pan nicely)
1 container of whipped topping

Coat a 12 cup springform pan with non-stick spray. On top of a double boiler, combine egg yolks, sugar, and lemon juice. Cook, stirring constantly for 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, soften gelatin in cold water. Let stand for 2 minutes then add to hot egg mixture, whisking to combine. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

Beat cream until slightly thickened then add sugar gradually. Beat until soft peaks form. Fold cream into egg mixture.

Place 1/3 of your cake pieces evenly in bottom of prepared pan. Pour 1/3 of the egg mixture over cake. Repeat layers with remaining cake and egg mixture. Cover and refridgerate for 8 hours.

Frost cake with whipped topping.

With or Without You

"U2 is an original species... there are colours and feelings and emotional terrain that we occupy that is ours and ours alone." Bono

Confession: I don't generally like remakes but every now and then, I've gotta throw my principles to the wind...

This one is amazing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iwE1hE5T0E

Winter Wonderland

"When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels." Unknown

Confession: I LOVE the snow... even when everyone else is tired of it, I secretly pray for more!!

Well, it's a winter wonderland out there...

It's coming down pretty hard again, and I'm in my pj's, which means I'm not goin' anywhere today!

And so I figured, why not fill the house with the scent of cupcakes in the oven!

I've struggled with chocolate cupcakes -- they're always too dry or too goopey, too sweet or too plain. But today, I used a bit of every recipe I've ever used and came up with these...

A very viable option...

Banana Dreams

"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana." Groucho Marx

Confession: I hated... like gag reflex inducing kind-of hate... bananas until last year.

My mother makes the best banana bread. I mean really. I'm not a huge banana fan, but I could eat a loaf of her bread in a single sitting. And in an evil attempt to keep the banana bread comin' my way, I would purchase wholesale-huge amounts of bananas at a time, "accidentally" allow several to over-rippen, and conveniently hand them over to my mom to "do whatever" with. And it worked for a while... until there was a banana backup and her freezer began to overflow with frozen, awkward bananas.

She has since forbidden me to bring her more bananas.

And so I'm left to fend off banana bread dreams, and make them my own reality. And this is what I came up with today...
















Mom... do you remember the Girl Scout staple? The Banana Bop? Frozen bananas dipped in chocolate? Well here you have it, in it's cupcake glory!

The trick was to make sure that it had the texture of a cupcake (i.e. light, fluffy) and not the heavyness of banana bread. I topped it with melted chocolate chips (mixed with just a tablespoon of butter to make it pliable) -- when the chocolate hardened, it had that "crunch" of a frozen Banana Bop! Delightful!


What I used for the cupcake:

1 and 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
1 and a dash tsp. baking soda
5 tbsp. sour cream
3 mashed bananas
1 and 1/2 c. flour
1 and a dash tsp. vanilla

One bite gone... an entire pan to go... Banana Dreams do come true!