Entries from August 5, 2007 - August 11, 2007
THE Mommy
Today is BamBam’s 2nd birthday!
BamBam had us worried early on. He put me through 9 weeks of bed rest prior to his c-section delivery one month early. However, he was the sweetest, most easy going baby. As he enters the “terrible twos”, he is beginning to have moments of frustration followed by tantrums. I must say though that he is much, much easier to talk down than Princess ever was.
I love both my children with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. I feel truly blessed to be able to experience being a mother of a beautiful 5 year old diva in the making…and my little BamBam, 100% BOY (expect for when he’s wearing his sister’s princess costume and high heels!).
Happy Birthday, big guy! I’m thankful that I get to be your mommy!
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This is the first “WTF Thursday” post. I will be highlighting things that make me want to say “WTF?!”, aka “What the f@#?!”, or the more PC “What the frig?!”.
I received a phone call from the Hillary Clinton campaign a couple of days ago. It wasn’t one of those automated calls; it was a real, live person. I really don’t want to discuss politics too much on this blog because I do feel there are PLENTY of other bloggers already covering that arena. However, the call left me thinking "WTF?!".
Truthfully, I registered in the past as a Democrat. However, I have a difficult time declaring allegiance to any political party b/c I don’t buy into their beliefs 100%. I’m kind of the same way religiously…I went to 12 years of Catholic school, yet was never even baptized. Growing up, I also was sent to Baptist and Congregationalist Sunday schools at times. (We’ll save the reasons why for a future post.) OK, I suppose if I had a gun pointed to my head and had to vote right now or else, I would probably go with either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Rudy seems a little too freaky to me. There’s something about Edwards that bothers me…maybe I just don’t trust lawyers. I have a friend who works for Romney, but he’s a little too “slick”.
SO, getting back to the phone call...it was to let me know that Hillary would be speaking on Wednesday (yesterday) at the Opera House here in town. I’m very concerned that ANY of these high profile candidates would need to market themselves by calling individual households. That seems pretty pathetic to me. Wouldn’t you expect them to fill the house, or in this case, the small Opera House in freakin’ Rochester, New Hampshire with little to no marketing?! WTF?!
This is the first Midweek Menu post. I plan to post favorite recipes or menu ideas every Wednesday.
My kids are big fans of Emeril Lagasse. There was a time when THE Daddy was traveling all week for work and I had to handle bed time solo. You would think that Princess and BamBam would want to chill out at the end of the day to a cartoon on Noggin or reading “The Very Hungry Catepillar” for the millionth time. Alas, the only thing they were remotely interested in watching was Emeril Live! They love Doc and the music and have fits of giggles whenever Emeril yells “BAM!” or “Kick it up a notch!”. Princess even imitates Emeril while playing with her little play kitchen. I like to believe that their love for the kitchen comes from their namesakes. Princess was named after my grandmother, who passed away during the hot summer when I was stuck on “bed rest” while pregrnant with BamBam…and BamBam’s conception only occurred because my uncle from Missouri passed away and THEDaddy and I were actually sleeping in the same zip code. He was supossed to be travelling for work at the time. Grammy was quite a baker in her day and my uncle ran a successful catering business.
For this first Midweek Menu, I’d like to give you a very yummy Emeril Recipe for Very Strawberry Shortcake as posted on foodnetwork.com:
2 pounds fresh strawberries, washed, patted dry, hulled, and quartered
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Totally-from-Scratch Biscuits, recipe follows
1 1/2 cups Real Whipped Cream (you'll need to make 1 1/2 batches), recipe follows
Position rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
Macerate the strawberries by combining the strawberries, 1/2 cup of the sugar, water, and orange zest in a large bowl. Stir well to combine.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the strawberries have softened and given up their juices and mixture is chilled, about 1 hour.
While the strawberries are chilling, make the Totally-from-Scratch Biscuits.
When the biscuits are done, using oven mitts or pot holders, remove them from the oven and transfer to wire racks to cool. The shortcakes can be served warm or at room temperature.
To assemble the shortcakes: Using a knife or fork, split the biscuits in half horizontally and place the bottom halves on each of 8 plates.
Spoon 1/2 cup of the macerated strawberries on each bottom half. Top each serving with 3 tablespoons of Real Whipped Cream. Lean a biscuit top against each bottom and serve.
Totally From Scratch Biscuits:
1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
Position rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.
Sift the self-rising flour, cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a medium mixing bowl.
Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, work the cold butter into the flour until there are no butter pieces larger than a pea.
Add the heavy cream to the flour mixture and, using your hands or a rubber spatula, stir just until the cream and flour come together to form a dough. Do not overmix!
Sprinkle some of the all-purpose flour on a flat surface and place the dough on top of the flour. Using your hands, press the dough into a 1/2-inch thick disk about 8 inches in diameter.
Using a 3-inch round cutter dipped in flour, cut the dough into circles. Be sure to press straight downward when cutting the dough – a twisting motion will prevent the dough from rising. You will need to re-form the scraps of dough in order to make 8 biscuits. Do this by gathering the scrap pieces together and pressing, re-form into a 1/2-inch thick disk, then cut as many additional biscuits as possible from the re-formed dough.
Place the biscuits on a small baking sheet and use a pastry brush to brush the tops with the melted butter. Sprinkle with the sugar.
Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
Using oven mitts or pot holders, remove the biscuits from the oven and allow to cool briefly and serve while still warm.
Real Whipped Cream:
1/2 cup heavy cream, well chilled
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place a mixing bowl and the beaters from your electric mixer in the freezer or refrigerator until well chilled, about 15 minutes.
Combine the heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract in the mixing bowl.
With an electric mixer on low speed, begin beating the cream, gradually increasing the speed to high as cream thickens. (Do this slowly, or the cream will splatter all over!)
Beat until the cream forms soft peaks. Test to see if it is ready by turning off the mixer and lifting the beaters out of the cream – if the cream makes soft peaks that topple over slightly, then it's done. Be careful not to overwhip, or the cream will separate and begin to taste like butter.
Serve immediately or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 hours.
Yield: about 1 cup
Strawberries are still yummy this time of year. This is the perfect dessert for a hot summer night...or you could eat this INSTEAD of dinner...fruit, dairy. I can find a way to justify it!
This is the first Top 10 Tuesday. Before I share my own Top 10 lists, I thought I would honor the greatest “top 10er” of all time, David Letterman.
Princess is going to a ½ day summer camp this year. I was either very tired/punchy that late at night, or this was pretty funny. You decide.
We are in the process of “finishing” our basement. THE Daddy works in construction and what they say about men in construction and their own houses…hate to say it, but it’s very true. He loves to start projects and has grand ideas, however, his follow through is, um, lacking. It’s not that he doesn’t have good intentions…he just gets busy with work other obligations and leaves every project about 90% done. Our basement project has been going on since last October and we’re nearing the 90% point. So far, it looks fabulous. We have a new playroom for Princess and BamBam, a ¾ bathroom, a family room that will double as my office and the best part…a TAVERN. Yep, we have a full bar in the basement…beer system, poker table and all. We just flipped coins to see who is telling our friend/realtor that our house is now being taken OFF the market…not that we haven’t had a showing in over 3 weeks or anything…I’ll save that story for later.
Anyhow, I am the designer and THE Daddy is the builder. We LOVE the “Historic Charleston” colors and have them all though out the house:
Russell’s Gold = Living room and kitchen (it’s an open concept)
Antique Mahogany = Tavern trim
Bermuda Stone= Tavern Walls
Cooper’s Basin = Master Bedroom
Kiawah Safari = Dining Room
The colors are very rich and welcoming. Even though they are kind of dark, they really brighten up the rooms. I’m not a real designer, I just watch them on TV. The paint colors are from Duron and can be purchased at your local Sherman William’s store. Supposedly, a small percentage of the purchase goes to the Historic Charleston Foundation.
(For the record: I have NO connections to Sherman Williams or the Historic Charleston Foundation. My dad lives in Charleston and I really, truly LOVE these colors)
