I don’t have children, but there are so many babies in my life whom I can’t imagine loving any more than I already do if they were mine biologically. I have celebrated their births and birthdays, their first steps and their first words and their first days of school. I have tended their boo-boos, dried their tears, sung them lullabies, and grieved more than a couple of heartbreaking losses and too-early deaths. I have watched their mothers endure difficult pregnancies, pain, exhaustion, and exasperation while prioritizing the lives and happiness of their babies above their own, and I have witnessed them do so without a second thought, without caveat, and without bitterness or regret. They have fought fiercely for the title of Mama, Mommy, Mom, Mum. Motherhood hasn't come easily or effortlessly, or without cost, to any woman I know. I proudly name these warrior mamas among my family, my closest friends, my most favorite people … my heroines.
For reasons that I cannot comprehend, it’s become posh to criticize motherhood. Mommy bloggers passive-aggressively insinuate themselves into positions of mock authority and through a computer screen, anonymously berate working mothers and stay-at-home mothers, mothers of only children and mothers of multiple children, mothers who breastfeed and mothers who don’t breastfeed, mothers who co-sleep and mothers who place their sleeping babies into cribs, baby-wearing mothers and mothers with strollers, mothers who are indulgent and mothers who emphasize discipline, home-schooling mothers and mothers who sacrifice to pay private school tuition. No mother is immune from their venom; no mother is ever good enough.
I would like for us to acknowledge collectively that being a good mother does not mean adhering to a singular chronology or design. Good mothers are everywhere, and they are just as perfect and just as imperfect as the children that they parent. I love that I get to celebrate mothers this weekend because now more than ever, it is my fervent wish that these women feel valued, respected, appreciated, and empowered. So here’s my message to all the mothers I love:
You are doing a good job. Your babies are fed. Your babies are sheltered and warm. Your babies are held and cuddled, loved and adored, and well looked after. Whatever choices you’ve made, don’t capitulate. You are doing everything right. You are a shining example of what a strong woman should be. You are a blessing to your children, and you show your children in a million ways that they are blessings to you. Your kiss heals in an instant, and your voice comforts the greatest fear. Your lap is a refuge from every storm, and your house will always be home. Your smile is “good morning, sunshine” and “good night, moon” and every sweet, timeless moment in between. Your hands offer the softest touch and the strongest support. With your hugs, your arms celebrate every victory and soothe the worst hurt, but won't do their most difficult job until later, when they let go. I think that you are spectacular, astounding, and miraculous. And I believe that if you ask your children, you will find that they think so, too.
Showing posts with label Holidays & Celebrations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays & Celebrations. Show all posts
09 May 2014
19 November 2012
Thankful
The holidays are a strange time, huh? It's the end of the year, and just as I'm relishing in a tiny bit of relief from triple-digit Arizona summertime temperatures, I'm thrown into this whirlwind season of forced festivity and gift-giving anxiety. Even shopping, which I love, reduces me to a ball of stress because I become neurotically fearful of choosing the wrong present and disappointing someone that I love. Every public building - malls, post offices, grocery stores, airports - morphs into a sea of humanity that sets my teeth on edge and makes me want to run, screaming, toward the nearest exit. In the middle of my panic, though, I occasionally have moments of lucidity, seconds when I remember that all of this stress is simply a distraction from what's important, and that the method of celebration really shouldn't detract from that which is being celebrated.
I am blessed, and fortunate, and happy.
And so, I am thankful:
For lipgloss, the redder the better, and sparkly nail polish, any color (except orange, because as Blake says, "Orange is for Auburn." YUCK!).
For Blake, Malak, Abby, Mattie Grace, and Isaiah, and especially this year, for Charlie and Ben. Nothing makes holidays more magical than big smiles on little faces.
For pretty shoes.
For NPR.
For old friends, most of whom are distant geographically but close in all the ways that matter.
For new friends who are becoming old friends, and who are there to laugh at all my various predicaments, and then help me get out of them, and then laugh some more.
For my DVR.
For a mom who doesn't stop answering the phone even after I've called her nine times in half an hour.
For a dad who taught me to love the law, and never gets tired of me asking him to explain it to me just one more time.
For my grandparents, Horace and Ruthie. Nothing I say could ever be enough, so I won't try.
For philosophy's eye hope under-eye cream.
For cousins who were like siblings as we grew up, and more importantly, who are my friends now.
For a job that's more than just a job, and for coworkers who are more than just coworkers.
For good music.
For The MISS Foundation, which reminds me to be grateful, mindful, and gentle, and which inspires me to live and love fiercely.
For Google.
For Google maps.
For Instagram, Skype, Goodreads, Facebook, text messaging, email, and mobile phones. My friends and family are busier than ever and scattered to the four winds, but I still get to laugh with them when they're happy, cry with them when they're not, share with them a well-beloved book, watch their babies grow, and tell them I love them.
For a hairdresser who doesn't mind a challenge, or that I constantly change my mind.
For sweet tea.
For pearls.
For Sephora (and Barney's).*
For the quickly-approaching awards season.*
For a God who lavishes His grace, mercy, and forgiveness even when I forget to ask and even when I don't deserve it, and who answers prayers I didn't even know to say.
Happy, Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. xo, avb
*Added at the request of SCM, who knows me so well.
I am blessed, and fortunate, and happy.
And so, I am thankful:
For lipgloss, the redder the better, and sparkly nail polish, any color (except orange, because as Blake says, "Orange is for Auburn." YUCK!).
For Blake, Malak, Abby, Mattie Grace, and Isaiah, and especially this year, for Charlie and Ben. Nothing makes holidays more magical than big smiles on little faces.
For pretty shoes.
For NPR.
For old friends, most of whom are distant geographically but close in all the ways that matter.
For new friends who are becoming old friends, and who are there to laugh at all my various predicaments, and then help me get out of them, and then laugh some more.
For my DVR.
For a mom who doesn't stop answering the phone even after I've called her nine times in half an hour.
For a dad who taught me to love the law, and never gets tired of me asking him to explain it to me just one more time.
For my grandparents, Horace and Ruthie. Nothing I say could ever be enough, so I won't try.
For philosophy's eye hope under-eye cream.
For cousins who were like siblings as we grew up, and more importantly, who are my friends now.
For a job that's more than just a job, and for coworkers who are more than just coworkers.
For good music.
For The MISS Foundation, which reminds me to be grateful, mindful, and gentle, and which inspires me to live and love fiercely.
For Google.
For Google maps.
For Instagram, Skype, Goodreads, Facebook, text messaging, email, and mobile phones. My friends and family are busier than ever and scattered to the four winds, but I still get to laugh with them when they're happy, cry with them when they're not, share with them a well-beloved book, watch their babies grow, and tell them I love them.
For a hairdresser who doesn't mind a challenge, or that I constantly change my mind.
For sweet tea.
For pearls.
For Sephora (and Barney's).*
For the quickly-approaching awards season.*
For a God who lavishes His grace, mercy, and forgiveness even when I forget to ask and even when I don't deserve it, and who answers prayers I didn't even know to say.
Happy, Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. xo, avb
*Added at the request of SCM, who knows me so well.
01 November 2012
"It's about to be Halloween..."
So much has happened in my life during the past year, though looking at this pitiful blog, you’d never know it. I’m gonna’ try to do better, though. Promise. And to start, I want to talk about the most significant addition to my agenda.
About two years ago, I started reading a blog, Rockstar Ronan, at the urging of my boss at the time. She had gone to law school with the blogger’s husband, and she told me about how her friends’ son had been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a particularly insidious and deadly form of childhood cancer. Ronan lived in the Phoenix area with his family, so maybe that’s why I immediately felt such a connection to them; I joined thousands of others in sending up prayers for his healing. The blog posts were primarily positive and funny, mostly because Ronan is such a cutie, and his mom often posted photos of him. Y’all know how I love kid photos. Though I wasn’t a daily reader at first, I almost always checked in weekly to see how Ronan’s treatments were progressing, and to be honest, I was really quite certain that he would recover because he never “looked” sick in pictures, and his mom’s stubbornly bubbly tone made a cure seem inevitable.
One day in May 2011, I found out that Ronan had died. And then Taylor Swift wrote a song called “Ronan.” And somewhere in the middle of those two things, I learned about the MISS Foundation and Dr. Joanne Cacciatore.
I remember the night I filled out the application to volunteer with MISS. I had just read a particularly heart-breaking blog post, and I sat in the middle of my bed and typed out my responses to the application’s questions on my iPhone. To be honest, I never thought I’d even be contacted again. What could I possibly offer them?
Fast-forward to July 2012. I had accepted a new job and planned to start following a week-long vacation with my mama (btw, we had so much fun). Right about that time, I got an email from MISS explaining that they had reviewed my volunteer application and wanted to know if I was interested in a position on their Executive Board of Directors. I was shocked. Also, humbled, terrified, and a little bit speechless, which doesn’t happen to me very often, as y’all know. I spent a couple hours on the phone with some of their leaders, and I fell in love with their spirit, their kindness, their energy, and their motivation.
I’ve been on the Board for all of two months now. It’s been more rewarding that I can even articulate.
And so now it’s about to be Thanksgiving. In addition to being more thankful than ever for all of the beautiful babies in my life, I am also grateful that MISS is here for all the families with missing babies. And, I’m so grateful that I get to be a part of that.
About two years ago, I started reading a blog, Rockstar Ronan, at the urging of my boss at the time. She had gone to law school with the blogger’s husband, and she told me about how her friends’ son had been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a particularly insidious and deadly form of childhood cancer. Ronan lived in the Phoenix area with his family, so maybe that’s why I immediately felt such a connection to them; I joined thousands of others in sending up prayers for his healing. The blog posts were primarily positive and funny, mostly because Ronan is such a cutie, and his mom often posted photos of him. Y’all know how I love kid photos. Though I wasn’t a daily reader at first, I almost always checked in weekly to see how Ronan’s treatments were progressing, and to be honest, I was really quite certain that he would recover because he never “looked” sick in pictures, and his mom’s stubbornly bubbly tone made a cure seem inevitable.
One day in May 2011, I found out that Ronan had died. And then Taylor Swift wrote a song called “Ronan.” And somewhere in the middle of those two things, I learned about the MISS Foundation and Dr. Joanne Cacciatore.
I remember the night I filled out the application to volunteer with MISS. I had just read a particularly heart-breaking blog post, and I sat in the middle of my bed and typed out my responses to the application’s questions on my iPhone. To be honest, I never thought I’d even be contacted again. What could I possibly offer them?
Fast-forward to July 2012. I had accepted a new job and planned to start following a week-long vacation with my mama (btw, we had so much fun). Right about that time, I got an email from MISS explaining that they had reviewed my volunteer application and wanted to know if I was interested in a position on their Executive Board of Directors. I was shocked. Also, humbled, terrified, and a little bit speechless, which doesn’t happen to me very often, as y’all know. I spent a couple hours on the phone with some of their leaders, and I fell in love with their spirit, their kindness, their energy, and their motivation.
I’ve been on the Board for all of two months now. It’s been more rewarding that I can even articulate.
And so now it’s about to be Thanksgiving. In addition to being more thankful than ever for all of the beautiful babies in my life, I am also grateful that MISS is here for all the families with missing babies. And, I’m so grateful that I get to be a part of that.
01 December 2010
Thanksgiving!
Lucky me, I spent Thanksgiving with The Lambs, one of my favorite families. Mark is a police officer at Salt River, and Janel does my hair. Janel and I always talk cooking while my color is...coloring, or whatever, so I was really excited to have Thanksgiving at her house! She is Superwoman: five kids, and she somehow finds the time to sew adorable aprons (like the one I used at home during Christmas last year) and lots of other cuteness, make gourmet popcorn, work at her dad's business, do hair, and make GORGEOUS cakes, plus tons of other stuff that I'm sure I'm leaving out.
Needless to say, we had a blast! I arrived in time to watch some of the last of the cooking, and then we had lunch. Afterwards, Janel and I messed around with Mark's new camera. It's fancy and has loads of different settings, and it makes really great pictures. We even brought out the tripod and the detachable flash, and then we really got creative!
For Thanksgiving dinner, there was turkey, spiral ham, stuffing and dressing, two kinds of sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, jello salad, and homemade rolls (Mark's sister grinds her own wheat...my, oh my):
 |
| I didn't think people decorated with plates anywhere except the South. Imagine how happy I was to see Janel's Thanksgiving tablescape and the matching plates! |
 |
| Janel made the table runner...out of BURLAP and CORN HUSKS. Told y'all she was talented. |
For Thanksgiving dinner, there was turkey, spiral ham, stuffing and dressing, two kinds of sweet potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, jello salad, and homemade rolls (Mark's sister grinds her own wheat...my, oh my):
 |
| Janel's spiral ham |
 |
| Janel's dressing |
 |
| And the cranberry sauce (yuu-uum!) |
I was in charge of desserts, so I made Italian Cream Cake, Mrs. Nina's lemon squares, and a chocolate chess pie. The pie wasn't feeling photogenic, but...
 |
| the Lemon Squares were... |
 |
| as was the Italian Cream Cake (recipe is in the previous post, if you're interested) |
After cleaning up, we sat down to watch the Saints game. Y'all know that I'm not much into pro football (Bama and LSU monopolize my football-watching time), but because the Lambs were cheering for the Saints, so was I. We were all happy when they pulled off a win in the last seconds of the game!
I hope y'all had as great a Thanksgiving as I did!
26 November 2010
Italian Cream Cake
I spent Thanksgiving with some sweet friends, and much to my own amusement, was placed in charge of desserts. I'll post about Thanksgiving as a whole separately, but I wanted to include the recipe for Italian Cream Cake on its own. I keep promising to share the recipe, so here we go:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
½ cup Crisco
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, separated
2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small can of coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Sift the flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl. Cream the shortening, sugar, and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Add the flour/soda mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk until both are incorporated. Add the vanilla extract. Using a spatula, fold in the coconut and the pecans. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff. Fold them into the batter mixture.
Generously butter and flour three 8-inch cake pans OR one 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes for the 8-inch pans, or 45-60 minutes for the 13x9 pan.
Allow to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese icing.
NOTE: If you make three 8-inch layers, you will need two recipes of the frosting. You only need one recipe if you make the 13x9 sheet cake.
CREAM CHEESE ICING
8 ounces cream cheese
½ stick butter
1 box confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Mix butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar. Add vanilla extract. Fold in pecans.
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
½ cup Crisco
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, separated
2 cups self-rising flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 small can of coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Sift the flour and baking soda together in a medium bowl. Cream the shortening, sugar, and butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Add the flour/soda mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk until both are incorporated. Add the vanilla extract. Using a spatula, fold in the coconut and the pecans. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until stiff. Fold them into the batter mixture.
Generously butter and flour three 8-inch cake pans OR one 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes for the 8-inch pans, or 45-60 minutes for the 13x9 pan.
Allow to cool completely before frosting with cream cheese icing.
NOTE: If you make three 8-inch layers, you will need two recipes of the frosting. You only need one recipe if you make the 13x9 sheet cake.
CREAM CHEESE ICING
8 ounces cream cheese
½ stick butter
1 box confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Mix butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar. Add vanilla extract. Fold in pecans.
05 July 2010
Alabama: Monday and Tuesday
Wedding festivities begin!
But not quite yet. The whole family was coming for dinner on Tuesday, but before that Mama had to teach a CPR class in Meridian. I decided to go with her, seeing as how I’d been meaning to get CPR certified for ages, but just never signed up for the class. But, even before that, I woke up and baked a cake. I know. Please, please acknowledge the amount of discipline it took to get me out of bed and conscious enough to bake, and then still get myself showered and dressed in time to leave Butler at 10:00 a.m.
What kind of cake? Italian Cream. My favorite. Ostensibly for dinner the next night, but really because I’d been craving one for ages.
I can report that I passed the test (which was a relief. How embarrassing would it be for the instructor’s daughter to fail?) and am now officially CPR certified (though I still don’t have my card yet).
Up next, a trip to Walmart (UGH) to buy all the groceries for dinner, followed up by a trip to Sam’s (I forget what necessitated this trip, but I think it might have been grapes for the grape salad). My sweet Mama bought me a surprise: the Alice in Wonderland DVD I’d been wanting.
Then, home to get all the tables set up and dressed, and of course, to cook. Tuesday night’s dinner was fantastic! I’ll post the recipes for pasta salad and grape salad. Along with that: Low Country Boil (shrimp, potatoes, corn, sausage), steaks, banana pudding (the best recipe ever, which I’ll also post), 7-layer salad (which I don’t like, and therefore will not post the recipe for) and I can’t even remember what else. OH! The cake!
I’m not sure what everybody talked about after dinner because Malak and I went back to Mama’s room for some peace and quiet. The Hopper was tuckered out, apparently, because he made it through about 20 minutes of Wonder Pets before drifting off to sleep while playing with my hair. Goodness gracious, I love that little boy.
But not quite yet. The whole family was coming for dinner on Tuesday, but before that Mama had to teach a CPR class in Meridian. I decided to go with her, seeing as how I’d been meaning to get CPR certified for ages, but just never signed up for the class. But, even before that, I woke up and baked a cake. I know. Please, please acknowledge the amount of discipline it took to get me out of bed and conscious enough to bake, and then still get myself showered and dressed in time to leave Butler at 10:00 a.m.
What kind of cake? Italian Cream. My favorite. Ostensibly for dinner the next night, but really because I’d been craving one for ages.
I can report that I passed the test (which was a relief. How embarrassing would it be for the instructor’s daughter to fail?) and am now officially CPR certified (though I still don’t have my card yet).
Up next, a trip to Walmart (UGH) to buy all the groceries for dinner, followed up by a trip to Sam’s (I forget what necessitated this trip, but I think it might have been grapes for the grape salad). My sweet Mama bought me a surprise: the Alice in Wonderland DVD I’d been wanting.
Then, home to get all the tables set up and dressed, and of course, to cook. Tuesday night’s dinner was fantastic! I’ll post the recipes for pasta salad and grape salad. Along with that: Low Country Boil (shrimp, potatoes, corn, sausage), steaks, banana pudding (the best recipe ever, which I’ll also post), 7-layer salad (which I don’t like, and therefore will not post the recipe for) and I can’t even remember what else. OH! The cake!
I’m not sure what everybody talked about after dinner because Malak and I went back to Mama’s room for some peace and quiet. The Hopper was tuckered out, apparently, because he made it through about 20 minutes of Wonder Pets before drifting off to sleep while playing with my hair. Goodness gracious, I love that little boy.
05 April 2010
Happy Easter!
I had a great Easter weekend. I spent most of Saturday relaxing, which was nice given that I had to work last weekend. Twelve straight days of work tires me out!
For Easter, I went to church and then spent the afternoon at the home of some wonderful friends. Their Easter get-togethers remind me of my family's when I was growing up. Tons of family, bunches of children, egg hunting, games, wonderful food, and funny conversation. Since I don't have any family out here, I feel so lucky and blessed to be included in their day.
This year for Lent, I gave up celebrity gossip. That might sound petty or trivial, but if you stop to consider how much time I spent checking People.com and UsMagazine.com (both on my computer at work and my iPhone), and how much time I spent watching E!, it turned out to be WAY to much time spent caring about a lot of crap that I have no business caring about. Whenever I had a few minutes to kill, I'd log onto the Internet and read mindlessly about people that I don't know and who, for the most part, disgust me with their ridiculous, silly, and often illegal behavior.
I think I've learned to make better use of my time. One positive result has been that I read the news more often, and I pay more attention to it (rather than just glancing over it). Also, I've begun to spend my free time on activities that probably won't rot my brain: playing crossword puzzles and Scrabble on my iPhone (okay, it's not really Scrabble; it's really the Words With Friends app -- my user name is avbreland, so if any of you have it, please start a game with me, and if you don't have it, get it).
I haven't reverted back to my old habits yet. We'll see how long I last, now that I don't have the guilt of Lent to keep me on the straight and narrow.
For Easter, I went to church and then spent the afternoon at the home of some wonderful friends. Their Easter get-togethers remind me of my family's when I was growing up. Tons of family, bunches of children, egg hunting, games, wonderful food, and funny conversation. Since I don't have any family out here, I feel so lucky and blessed to be included in their day.
This year for Lent, I gave up celebrity gossip. That might sound petty or trivial, but if you stop to consider how much time I spent checking People.com and UsMagazine.com (both on my computer at work and my iPhone), and how much time I spent watching E!, it turned out to be WAY to much time spent caring about a lot of crap that I have no business caring about. Whenever I had a few minutes to kill, I'd log onto the Internet and read mindlessly about people that I don't know and who, for the most part, disgust me with their ridiculous, silly, and often illegal behavior.
I think I've learned to make better use of my time. One positive result has been that I read the news more often, and I pay more attention to it (rather than just glancing over it). Also, I've begun to spend my free time on activities that probably won't rot my brain: playing crossword puzzles and Scrabble on my iPhone (okay, it's not really Scrabble; it's really the Words With Friends app -- my user name is avbreland, so if any of you have it, please start a game with me, and if you don't have it, get it).
I haven't reverted back to my old habits yet. We'll see how long I last, now that I don't have the guilt of Lent to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Waffles!
I made these for the first time while Mama was in town for Thanksgiving, and we loved them. We loved them so much, in fact, that I may never buy another box of Bisquick...and even if I do, I won't be using it to make waffles. These are the best ever; a little more effort, but SO worth it. Mama called today to get the recipe, and it hit me that I should share it with all of you. So, here we go:
3.5 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
0.5 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
8 large eggs, separated (yes, you're reading that correctly; it says EIGHT)
3 cups milk
1 cup butter, melted
(I also added an entire tablespoon of vanilla extract, and I sometimes add pecans. I just sprinkle the pecans over the top of the batter after I ladle it into the waffle iron.)
Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
Whisk together egg yolks, milk, and melted butter (and vanilla, if you add it) in a separate bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the well of the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be lumpy. Do not overmix.
Preheat the waffle iron.
Whip the egg yolks to soft peaks (I did this in my stand mixer) and fold into the batter in two additions.
Ladle about 3/4 cup batter into the waffle iron. Cook until crisp and golden.
It takes a little longer to get these crispy than it does with waffles that are more similar to the Bisquick variety. I just played around with my waffle settings until I got it right.
These are eggy, not bready. They're great, even completely dry and without a drop of syrup. I froze my leftover ones (this recipe makes a lot of waffles) and made bread pudding out of them a few weekends back. I didn't have old bread and was in a baking mood, so I improvised. Yum!
Recipe (minus my commentary) is from Breakfasts & Brunches by the Culinary Institute of America.
3.5 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
0.5 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
8 large eggs, separated (yes, you're reading that correctly; it says EIGHT)
3 cups milk
1 cup butter, melted
(I also added an entire tablespoon of vanilla extract, and I sometimes add pecans. I just sprinkle the pecans over the top of the batter after I ladle it into the waffle iron.)
Sift together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
Whisk together egg yolks, milk, and melted butter (and vanilla, if you add it) in a separate bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the well of the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be lumpy. Do not overmix.
Preheat the waffle iron.
Whip the egg yolks to soft peaks (I did this in my stand mixer) and fold into the batter in two additions.
Ladle about 3/4 cup batter into the waffle iron. Cook until crisp and golden.
It takes a little longer to get these crispy than it does with waffles that are more similar to the Bisquick variety. I just played around with my waffle settings until I got it right.
These are eggy, not bready. They're great, even completely dry and without a drop of syrup. I froze my leftover ones (this recipe makes a lot of waffles) and made bread pudding out of them a few weekends back. I didn't have old bread and was in a baking mood, so I improvised. Yum!
Recipe (minus my commentary) is from Breakfasts & Brunches by the Culinary Institute of America.
26 March 2010
twenty-NINE
Well, there it is. I turned 29 on Monday, and I've been expecting the gray hairs to sprout and the lower back & knee pain to start ever since. Luckily, neither of those has transpired yet (although I will admit that I found one gray hair a couple months back and basically had to be talked down from throwing myself into the canal).
That said, the big day itself wasn't nearly as traumatic as it might have been. I went to work, like I always do on Mondays, and my boss brought Sprinkles cupcakes to celebrate. I had lunch with some funny friends who always make me laugh. Dinner with more wonderful friends followed work, and then I went to sleep pretty early.
There is a wonderful legitimacy that comes with being 29, I think. I've decided that this is going to be a great year. I feel blessed and lucky to have the family and friends that I have, and despite the fact that I live so far from many of them, I think that as I get older, I appreciate them more and more. My job is dynamic and interesting, and I'm finally comfortable enough with my experience and skill set that I can relax a little bit and enjoy it. I guess that as it turns out, 29 isn't all that rough after all...
That said, the big day itself wasn't nearly as traumatic as it might have been. I went to work, like I always do on Mondays, and my boss brought Sprinkles cupcakes to celebrate. I had lunch with some funny friends who always make me laugh. Dinner with more wonderful friends followed work, and then I went to sleep pretty early.
There is a wonderful legitimacy that comes with being 29, I think. I've decided that this is going to be a great year. I feel blessed and lucky to have the family and friends that I have, and despite the fact that I live so far from many of them, I think that as I get older, I appreciate them more and more. My job is dynamic and interesting, and I'm finally comfortable enough with my experience and skill set that I can relax a little bit and enjoy it. I guess that as it turns out, 29 isn't all that rough after all...
27 December 2008
Home for the Holidays
I've been in Alabama since last Thursday, visiting for the first time since last Christmas. It has been too long! Everyone's kept me busy...so busy, in fact, that the time has flown by, and sadly, I'm flying back to Phoenix tomorrow afternoon.
Between a hair appointment (blond highlights!), visits with some of my favorite little ones, a wedding, and two or three separate Christmas celebrations (not to mention church services...I had Communion 3 times in about as many days), I'm exhausted!
Note: I spent my last weekend in Alabama with my cousins in Birmingham. Look to your left, and you will see a link to Amanda's new blog -- The Benson Family -- created tonight. I encourage all to take a peak, mostly because there will be photos of Blake. Cuteness. Speaking of, I finally got to meet Abby (more cuteness can be found if you click on her name, also to your left).
Between a hair appointment (blond highlights!), visits with some of my favorite little ones, a wedding, and two or three separate Christmas celebrations (not to mention church services...I had Communion 3 times in about as many days), I'm exhausted!
Note: I spent my last weekend in Alabama with my cousins in Birmingham. Look to your left, and you will see a link to Amanda's new blog -- The Benson Family -- created tonight. I encourage all to take a peak, mostly because there will be photos of Blake. Cuteness. Speaking of, I finally got to meet Abby (more cuteness can be found if you click on her name, also to your left).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)