cake research

Understanding the basics of cakes - formulas.

MINIVAN MONDAY

Most of the day was spent going somewhere with the kids in the minivan in the hot Summer sun. But not before a quick and healthy breakfast...full-fat yogurt and dark rye bread with almond butter and honey (sour cherry jam for me - and coffee).

This week the younger two started swimming lessons. Sagey was hesitant at first and refused to take off his shirt. Seena seemed to enjoy being in the water and did quite well today.

After lessons, I dropped off the younger two at home with my husband and took Saffi to run some errands. I take turns with them - Seena and Sagey went with me yesterday, so today was Saffi's turn. Of course, the other two protested about not getting to come along as well.

We came back with a 4-lb container of strawberries. I prefer smaller berries, but the girls and Sagey were fascinated with the large strawberries.

Then it was gymnastics for the older two while Sagey stayed home with Papa and slept until his sisters came home.

The children spent the rest of the afternoon playing with their toys. Seena was playing at the Lego table downstairs...

...and Sagey played with his Lego Duplo blocks upstairs...

...alongside his older sister who continued building on her track layout.

Guess what we had for dinner tonight? If you guessed filet mignon with herb butter, grilled onions, and a tasty salad - you're wrong. That's what we were supposed to have, but since my husband was still working during dinner and since I rely on him to light the charcoal to get the grill going (and to make his delicious grilled onions), I decided on something that was fairly quick. (Yes, I can start a fire - if I had really wanted to. I didn't.)

I'll give you a hint. This is the main ingredient...

If you guessed puffy pancake, you're right. We had another puffy pancake for tonight's dinner - the second time this week. Nobody minded at all. In fact, everyone was happy when I said I was making the same pancake as yesterday - the one with Grand Marnier and orange zest. Although I used the exact same recipe I wrote yesterday, tonight the pancake puffed up really big in the oven and started to fall over the edge. 

Saffron exclaimed, "That's too puffy!" when she saw it in the oven. Yes, but it deflated rather quickly and tasted so good.

FIRST DAY OF JULY

The first day of July greeted us with rain. Much needed rain although more would be better. It was overcast and cool – a mere 81 degrees around noon - but got warmer later in the afternoon.  At breakfast, my husband mentioned that it was cold. I said that I liked it and it was a perfect day to be in the kitchen to make some soup. “Welcome to Germany”, he said. I think I will like it in Berlin later this month.

I spent most of the day in the kitchen while the children were upstairs "cleaning" their main playroom. I say "main" because the rest of the house is also being used as a giant playroom with toys scattered everywhere. I don't think there is a single room without at least one of their toys, papers, or crayons. I'm sure that one day we'll miss seeing these little signs of childhood. For now, we'll try not to step on them.

After they decided all was clean, they wanted to play. In this case, it meant taking out nearly every wooden train track and building an entire station. Saffron is really good at building intricate layouts.

A late lunch. Another puffy pancake. This one with Grand Marnier and orange zest and better than the first two. It was all gone within 5 minutes. I need to think about using a larger pan and revising the recipe. It was hardly enough for 5 hungry people.

Sagey must be going through a growth spurt. He's been sleeping a lot lately. After lunch, he took his elephant pillow upstairs and fell asleep in Papa's office.

Meanwhile, the girls were downstairs packing for Oma's house - despite the fact that it'll be another 3 weeks until we leave.

They filled their backpacks with books, a lantern, paper, pens, and even a present for Oma that Saffi wrapped (I think Papa helped her with the bow).

Afterwards, they grabbed the iPhones from both me and my husband and sat on the bed to watch some cartoons.

It still hasn't sunk in that we're actually going. I've been wondering what I will need to take from the kitchen. Which tools might be missing at the rental apartment? The first thing I noticed when I saw photos of the place was the light coming in through the kitchen window. The bakery is next door and I'm looking forward to walking for groceries. Every day - except Sundays, because everything is closed on Sundays.

It was after 18h and I still didn't have any idea what to make for dinner. Pasta is easy and always a favorite of the children, but I wanted something with more flavour. So, I looked in the pantry and the refrigerator to see what I could make with what was available. I cooked a cup of beluga lentils in water for about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, I chopped a few cloves of garlic and walked out to garden to pick a few fresh sprigs of Italian oregano and thyme. Those were then added to the garlic and further chopped. I took two small red bell peppers from a farmer's market purchase and chopped those along with broccoli. Cook garlic and herbs in olive oil. Add peppers. Add broccoli. Briefly cook. Remove from heat. Cook spaghetti. Drain beluga lentils. Return to pot. Add veggies, zest of one lemon, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Salt, pepper, feta. Simple, healthy, and delicious. Saffi was the only child who ate the lentil mixture. The other two ate the spaghetti with feta.

All three asleep before midnight...

SATURDAY IN BLACK AND WHITE

A late breakfast is not unual for us - particularly during the weekend. Noon is typical. This also makes for a later start to the day. I would have preferred to have gone grocery shopping alone this morning before everyone woke up, but the night before I had promised Cinnamon that she would go with me. I also ended up taking Sagey, the first time with no diapers or Pull-ups. Of course, he insisted on buckling himself in his carseat every time.

So, I found myself sitting for at least 5 minutes in the minivan with the air conditioner on...waiting on a parking lot. Sometimes he would figure it out, but other times he would let either me or his sister help. With the three different places I ended up going this Saturday, this took forever. Or so it seemed. The post office was the first stop, followed by Central Market, and finally the Turkish store to stock up on our special Croatian Franck Jubilarna coffee and Kraš napolitanke (wafer cookies). I will definitely be taking the briki (coffee pot) with me on our trip along with one or two packages of coffee.

As I sat outside with my coffee and napolitanke, I had just cracked open Paula Figoni's how baking works when I noticed the sky getting darker and the trees starting to sway.

I passed by the tomato plant on my way inside the house and noticed my losing battle to the "thief" birds who keep pecking away at the baby tomatoes. The plant has not been doing too well lately due to the intense summer heat. Most of the leaves have fallen off, but there are almost 50 green tomatoes still on the vine. I hope I get to eat most of them.

The sky cleared up within a few minutes so the girls and my husband sat outside to eat Speck and napolitanke.

Sagey was inside sleeping the afternoon away wearing Papa's shirt. He slept for at least two hours.

In the meantime, his sisters went to the community pool with Papa. Sagey woke up minutes before they returned and walked upstairs where I was ironing, asking for Seena. Then he opened the front door, still wearing Papa's black shirt, put on his shoes and walked outside to see if he could catch a glimpse of his sisters. He was overjoyed when he saw them.

THE BREAKTHROUGH

A mere minutes ago, my 3-year old son looked at me and said "Bum Mama" (Sagey speak for "Come Mama"). Standing on the back patio stair landing, he started to walk inside the house. He kept looking back to see if I was following him. I knew what was coming - or at least I hoped that's what it was. He kept walking into our master bedroom and turned into the bathroom. Standing in front of the potty, he simply looked up at me. He needed to pee.

My little boy, who before would cry and scream when even confronted with potty training, has reached every parent's dream of success - potty training! Now if I can only get the three to eat veggies.

Later in the day we went to swim lessons for Saffi...

...and the rest of the afternoon we spent getting papers notarized for the kids' German passports and trying to find a post office which could expedite Saffi's expired US passport. Red tape. No fun.

Having to deal with a unhappy postal worker was also not fun.  It's your job lady, at least fake a smile. She told us the line was closed and no more passports were being processed even though I had called yesterday and found out that there were open until 14,30h. She completely ignored my husband as he asked her a question. We happened to find another post office that was fairly empty and didn't require an appointment. Luckily we were out of there within 10 minutes.

Attempting passport photos for Sagey's German passport was challenging. He kept looking every which way but directly at me. The middle photo is the closest I could get to "perfect".

After that I photographed the last seven cookies from last night's baking experiment. Shortly thereafter, the cookies disappeared.