Tag: cake

My 5 year old

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Elly turned 5 years old on Tuesday.

My first baby has become a spunky, kind-hearted, and sweet little girl.

A letter to my Elly Angel:
Your Daddy and I are so proud of the lovely girl you have become. You are a wonderful, caring sister to your siblings. You welcomed both Brooke and Malcolm into our family with open arms. You ask to hold Mal every day, several times a day. You can’t wait to play with Brooke when you get home from school.

You are a wonderful daughter, brightening my day with your cheery disposition and kindness. I am amazed and occasionally frustrated by your conviction and stubbornness.

Here is a list of some of the things you like:

Your favorite color is purple.

Your favorite meal is french fries and spicy chicken (aka buffalo wings).

You would wear a leotard every waking hour of the day if I would let you. Periodically, we have long discussions of why leotards cannot be worn to school.

Like most other girls we know, you adore Queen Elsa.

You love mermaids and wish you could be one.

You are a natural born leader, taking charge of what games to play and dictating how to play them.

You enjoy making crafts at home and at school.

You enjoy school, but often put up a fight before school because you miss your family while you are there.

Any drawings that you make either has our family in it or a rainbow. Sometimes it has both.

It has been a fun 5 years, Elly. Here’s to many more.

Sunday Snapshots (of cake eating)

Marie Haigh1 Comment

We attended a birthday party for our friend’s daughter. She was turning 3.

Elly had fun playing at the water table, hiding in the cardboard house and running after Niffler the cat.

But the best part of any birthday is the cake.

No need to remove the wrapper on the cupcake.

Picking up Speed

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Remember how I said this blanket was going to take years to complete? It’s looking like I may have to admit I was wrong. Give me a little bit of knitting time and I don’t screw around! Ha!

Since Elly is more and more independent with each passing day, I am back to bringing my knitting bag with me everywhere I go. While visiting my godsons for the eldest’s birthday, I managed to sneak in a few rows.

In the past 4 days, I have knit 1/3 or 2 sections of one hexagon.

Why I just might finish this blanket in the course of a few months. Oh, I hope so. I have so many other knitting projects I want to make like a skirt for Elly, a jacket for me and a sweater for Dan.

More Zucchini Please

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Article first published as More Zucchini Please on Blogcritics.

Beginning last week, the zucchini plant in my garden started bearing fruit. Thus far I’ve made sautéed zucchini rounds, zucchini bread and zucchini chocolate cake. That might be enough zucchini for some folks, but I was hoping for much more.

I’m the sort of person who likes to buy several pounds of a fruit or vegetable that is in season -much more than Dan and I could possibly eat before it all spoils. Then, I sift through my pile of cookbooks searching for ways to use it all up.

I had come across some zucchini recipes I was excited to try: soup, a walnut bread, etc. Mostly, I just want an excuse to bake another Zucchini Chocolate Cake. My, it was so good. The zucchini made the cake incredibly moist. I didn’t even bother to ice it. Though Dan turned his nose up at the idea of putting zucchini in a chocolate cake, he was impressed by the results. Unless you grated the zucchini by hand or someone you trusted swore she put it in the cake, you wouldn’t believe it. You don’t taste the zucchini at all.

The recipe I used can be found here. Though the instructions didn’t specify, I finely grated the zucchini and drained off the excess liquid.  I also made a change to the list of ingredients by adding 1 teaspoon of espresso powder. I learned that little trick from Ina Garten. She always adds coffee to her chocolate recipes to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

Well, here’s hoping the current orange blossoms on the plant bear more squash.