Just desserts

If you follow me on Twitter, today you might have read this:

I asked my husband if he would bring me a cupcake.

He asked me if I would not love him anymore if he didn’t.

I’d had a shitty day- I tangled with a difficult client (no fun!) so I told him it might keep me from killing someone.

When I got home, this was waiting for me!

Brian for the WIN!

He is all kinds of awesome, everyday.

If I could clone him I’d make a fortune.

Inexplicable

Inexplicable how one minute they are tiny infants and the next they are reading and writing.

Had some pictures taken, this is one of the proofs. I'm evil- I couldn't wait for the disc to get here to share, so here is a sneak peak. This one is my favorite!

And have two wiggly loose teeth.  I’m not sure why the teeth have me all weepy, but they do.

Such is parenthood, I guess.  Always bittersweet.

Life list

So you know my life list?  Instead of adding to it, I’ve crossed one off!  This is the first one I’ve crossed off and I’m pleased with myself!

#47 Make a souffle!

I don't actually OWN a souffle pan, so this had to do- it worked well. I will decrease the baking time next time- it wasn't quite "gooey" in the center as the recipe said. But HEY, I've never made one before and YEAH! One Item crossed off my list!

Well of COURSE it’s chocolate! What? You are surprised?  Delicious!

Emma checking to see when it's going to be done.

Mmm! It was scruptious!

Buster thinks it's BULLSHIT that he doesn't get any!

He does, however, think that snuggling inbetween mom and dad is the awesomest thing ever!

Buster the Chug (Ribbed for his pleasure)

(Sorry, couldn’t help myself) It is! LOOK!

All right, maybe not "ribbed", perhaps "nubbed?"

Either way, HE LIKES IT, and he’s not ashamed!

If you want me to bite it mom, I will. Nom Nom Nom.

Buster is FUN!  He can be a pill, like the other morning when a huge wind came through in the night, knocked the wheelbarrow over which broke the fence, resulting in a two slat opening, JUST wide enough for him to squeeze through.  Which I didn’t know when I let him out to go potty before I left for work.  So when I let him in 10 minutes later and he didn’t come in… There was much terror. And ten minutes of us driving through our neighborhood looking for him.  Emma was crying that someone was going to steal her dog.  We found him…and Brian fixed the fence when he came home.

Emma adores him:

Love:)

They sing, they dance!

Kisses! Kisses!

Sometimes he just tolerates her exuberant affection, but he loves her lots!

All we need is love!

This dog is SPOILED.  I cannot go shopping without buying him something.  And he’s a chewer, so most thing go quickly.  Here is his assorted loot in one room.

One room's worth, although he does tend to carry his favorites around with him

He got a new baby tonight, see?.

I'm such a good daddy! Or wait....

I'm very small and alone and helpless and cute!

Oh, I have fear!

And having owned hedgehog for exactly two hours the squeaker is already gone!

Gator has seen better days- but is his most favorite of toys. I found him in Winco and will be looking for a replacement next timeI go.

And OMG, do you see his cute little wrinkles?  Around his nose? I just want to bite them, they are so cute!  He is SUCH a cute dog!

Big Bone! Big Bone! This is his nylabone, which he love very much too. DAMN but them's expensive!

Just so you don't think my life is *so* easy, I'll have all of you know she made me SIT for this milkbone and then lay down and THEN? SHE TRIED TO PUT IT ON MY NOSE! My mommy is HEARTLESS, I tell you. My life? One huge tragedy.

He will never be a Chuck, I’m afraid…

Don't look at me like that, I live a life of TORTURE! TORTURE!

O.M.G! LOOK at his face, his cute little face and TELL me how you can not love him? I mean seriously, LOOK AT THIS FACE!

He has an appointment to get his balls chopped off next month- since it’s tax season I need a Saturday appointment.  He spends his spare time looking at girls on the internet- He thinks Ella is QUITE fetching and Pearl has LOVELY eyes and a stunning coat!  He’s quite the ladies man, he just doesn’t know it’s about to come to an end!

He sleeps with Brian and I and prefers to be IN THE MIDDLE.  When we are settling in for the night he tries to sneak in- it’s hilarious, the innocent look on his face.  He KNOWS he’s supposed to be at the bottom of the bed but he wants SO desperately to be in the middle!  A couple of nights ago I woke Brian up laughing because he’d wiggled up between us and was tummy up, snoring! ( He does snore, but not as much or as loud as a pug does.)  As it is, one of us is constantly moving him back down and to the side.  SOMEONE complains about it but when I said we COULD kennel him if we had to at night, someone wouldn’t hear about it. SOMEONE loves this dog just as much as I do.

We’d both prefer it if he wanted to sleep with Emma, but he’s very much oriented towards adults it seems.  And she likes it when he snuggles her, but since he’s a cuddler and she’s a sprawler they are both contented to sleep apart.  We just need a bigger bed.

Speaking of beds…I’m off to mine:)

Grace in Small Things 48.365

• Mexican food (A holiday gift from a client! WOOT!)
• Lots of RSVP’s for our party tomorrow!
• Double sided tape
• Bread pudding (I’ll share the recipe below)
• Emma

I may have shared this recipe before and I have no idea now where I got it from, all I know is it’s good.  Divinely good.

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding!

For the bread pudding:
4 apples (Braeburn, Gala, Fuji or Empire recommended), peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
pinch of salt
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 loaf of Brioche or Challah bread, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla (increase to 1 tablespoon if omitting the vanilla bean)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
1 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted

For the cider caramel sauce:
1 cup apple cider
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup heavy cream, warmed
4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt

Equipment

8×8 baking dish
Large saucepan
Non-stick baking spray
Pastry brush
Rubber spatula
Tall non-reactive metal pot
Whisk
Wooden spoon

Preparation

For the bread pudding:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Toast the bread cubes in the oven until they are crispy, but not burnt, about 10-15 minutes. Place in a large bowl and set aside.

Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Add the vanilla bean, brown sugar and salt, stir until the sugar is dissolved and then add the apples. Sauté the apples until caramelized and the sugar becomes a thick syrup consistency. Set aside to cool.

Combine the heavy cream, milk, vanilla and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Remove the milk from the heat and slowly temper the eggs with the hot milk, whisking as you combine the two. Whisk in the cinnamon and nutmeg and remove the vanilla bean. Pour the liquid over the bread cubes in a large bowl; add the caramelized apples, walnuts or pecans and mix to combine. Let sit for about 1 hour to completely soak all of the bread with the liquid.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a baking dish with either non-stick baking spray or butter. Place the soaked bread cubes into the prepared baking dish and gently press to create and even layer on the top. Bake in the preheated oven until the custard is set and bread is puffed and golden brown on top, about 45 minutes.

For the cider caramel:
Place the apple cider in a small saucepan. Bring to a low boil over a medium flame and simmer until the liquid has reached a dense syrup-like consistency and has reduced to approximately 1/4 cup. Set aside to cool slightly.

Combine the sugar, corn syrup, water and lemon juice in a tall non-reactive metal saucepan. With one hand work these two ingredients together until it feels like wet sand. With a wooden spoon, stir the sugar constantly over low heat only until the sugar is completely dissolved. This step prevents the caramel from becoming grainy. Remove from heat and using either a pastry brush or your hand, clean the insides of the pan so that there are no stray granules of sugar on the sides. Do not stir.

Return the pot to the stove and bring to a boil over moderate heat. Cook, without stirring but swirling the pan occasionally, until a golden caramel color is reached. In a separate pan or in the microwave, heat the cream to slighlty warmer than room temperature. Remove the caramelized sugar from the heat and carefully whisk in the warmed cream. It will spatter and boil up, so it is best to stand back when adding the cream. Place back on the heat and whisk to remove any remaining lumps of sugar. Quickly pour into a clean glass or metal bowl to cool. Whisk in the butter, salt and reduced apple cider. Let cool to room temperature.

[Chef's Note: We use the "wet method", which when just enough water is added to sugar to make it a sandy texture, to make caramel in this recipe. During the boiling process, any excess liquid evaporates, causing the syrup to thicken, the sugar concentration to increase, and eventually the color to change from opaque to a rich, golden brown. This method takes longer than the "dry method", cooking sugar without the addition of water, but is easier to control and does not burn as easily.

When making caramel, there is always a danger of crystallization, which can give the finished caramel a grainy texture and cause it to cook unevenly. If the pan or spoon is not completely clean, if the syrup is stirred once it boils, or if the sugar is not properly dissolved, you are bound to get lumps of sugar that will agitate and crystallize in the caramel. However, this is easy to avoid by using a clean pot, adding a pinch of an acidic ingredient such as cream of tartar or lemon juice, and taking caution not to stir the sugar once it boils. Swirling the pan during cooking also helps to evenly distribute heat and color to the sugar without stirring.]

Service

Serve the bread pudding warm, drizzled with caramel sauce. Bread pudding is delicious eaten cold, too. For easier slicing, refrigerate the bread pudding for a few hours and then reheat before serving.

Grace in Small Things 47.365

• Waking up to a new possibility
• The smell of Brian’s neck
• Having people over
• The movie Juno (It’s good!)
• Being first in line for that coat.

Grace in Small Things 43-46

• Getting to bed not too late
• Sausages
• New gloves
• Funny movies
• New candles

• Sleeping in
• My husband putting up the Christmas lights
• Calf massages
• Hot tubs
• Quirky people

• Mashed potato pancakes (!So Good!)
• Christmas cookies at 2 in the morning
• Enough snow to make it “white” without making the roads slippery
• Pleasant clients
• The words “I’m sorry”

• The internet
• Fry Sauce
• Chamomile Tea
• Vitamins
• Getting to bed before midnight

Christmas Eve

Buster is staying.  My sister and I talked and she loves the hell out of this dog.

She loved him enough to admit:

• She can’t keep him safe from my sisters very aggressive and big dogs,
• She doesn’t have a job (not from lack of looking) so how can she pay for food and vet bills,
• She doesn’t know where she’s going to be living,
• She’s going to college *somewhere*

She’s a good girl, she really is.  She’s thinking of moving in with her boyfriend which I think is BAD BAD BAD, as she’s 18!  And he just turned 23.  Five years is an eternity when you are that age.  It’s not that I don’t like the BF (don’t know him) but she’s so young! She should be having fun and running away to exotic places on spring break!  I don’t want her to feel trapped.  I want her to go out and experience life.

But she’s 18 and invincible and has to make her own mistakes and I understand that- I got married at her age… Scary. She’s still a baby.

So Buster is staying with us.  I spent an hour last night checking the fence and now I know for sure he can’t get out.  It’s cold enough he’s happy to go out, do his business and come back in and snuggle.  We need a bigger bed, since he HAS to sleep with us.

Emma has been begging BEGGING for a dog so it’s an early Christmas present for her (and for us) and you should SEE how Brian adores him.  He claims to not like small dogs but there is definite adoration when he talks to Buster.

Emma is off for her Christmas Eve visit with her paternal side.  I’ll pick her up at 10 tonight.  I hope she’s having fun.  I’m at work for a couple of hours and then I’ll be off to shop for a couple more things, and wrap and bake.

I’m lonely for my baby- always.

But soon she’ll be home and guess what?

It FEELS like Christmas to me. It’s been a stressful couple of months for us- but things are better now and sometimes? A little struggle makes you appreciate what you have.  Brian keeps asking me what I want for Christmas and the answer is what I already have.   I have him, I have Emma, we have each other. What more do we need?

Grace in Small Things 42.365

• Friends
• Family
• A warm house
• A little snow on the ground!
• Leaving work early

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Grace in Small Things 41.365

• Homemade Chili!
• Getting LOTS of items crossed off my list yesterday
• Baths
• The smell of a freshly clipped lawn
• Roses underneath my window

Grace in Small Things 40.365

• Dog snuggles- (I’ve been sitting my sister Katelin’s Pug/chihuahua mix.  His name is Buster- I call him Buster Boo Barnaby Bigglesworth.  He kinda thinks I am the best thing ever.)
• Hashbrowns
• Christmas Trees
• Color
• Bottled Fiji Water