calling all lemon lovers!

I just made these cakes for book club and OH MY! If you like lemon just a little, try these! Recipe from my new favorite cooking blog: http://www.pastrystudio.blogspot.com/ These are EASY to make and sure to please...I had to sample...and so did my kids!

**Jennefer, I will put this recipe on Sugar Moon and Erika, it will go on Delicious D's. This recipe would be something Dad would love for his birthday next month!!!

Lemon Cakes

butter (8) 5 oz. ramekins and sprinkle with granulated sugar, tapping out excess.

Preheat oven to 325.

5T butter @ room temperature

6 T plus 3/4 C sugar

5 eggs at room temp.

zest from 2 lemons

6 T flour

1 1/4 C whole milk @ room temp.

2/3 C fresh lemon juice

1C heavy cream (for garnish)

1T confectioner's sugar

1/4 t vanilla

berries (garnish)

Cream the butter and 6T sugar until light in color, about 2 min. Add egg yolks one at a time. Stir in zest and flour until blended. Add milk and lemon juice and beat thoroughly.

Whip egg whites until soft opaque peaks form. Slowly drizzle in 3/4 C sugar and whip until the meringue forms stiff glossy peaks. Gently fold into lemon mixture.

Scoop the mixture into prepared ramekins and gently smooth top. Place in a large baking pan and fill with boiling water to 1/2 way up sides of ramekins. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove cakes from water and cool completely.

Whip cream with sugar and vanilla. Serve with berries.

Valentine's Festivities

Cookie decorating lessons until midnight with Brooke and Erika! Brooke is amazing AND the most enthusiastic and patient teacher! We had some good laughs while we made beautiful cookies! What is Valentine's without the heart shaped cookie?

Ahhh, the Valentine boxes! Curse the boxes! I'm keeping these to hand down to Sam and Jenna! Noah's-Snowman (this picture was taken AFTER school so the carrot nose is missing) and Bailey's-a tissue flower!

Where is her coat? It was cooollldd out there!

What boy doesn't like to shoot something? Noah hit and demolished a 7 UP can that was across the yard!

The bird girl reading. She was distressed when she finished her book but didn't have another to start on! The book is called "Star Girl" and her little friend on her head is "Star."

The first catch of the day!!!!

Waiting for a bite! Kelly loves to take the kids ice fishing. This was my first time. I froze!

My nephews with the ogger.

The biggest spud I've ever seen!

Miss "Denny", my sister-in-law's sweet horse!

Bailey riding bare back.

V-day. Best seat in the house (or out of the house!) Gorgeous views! So peaceful. We sat outside in the sun all afternoon talking with Chris and Nikki and watching their lab fetch a number of things in the deep snow!

Valentine's wasn't just Sunday for us, it was really a week of celebrating that went from Valentine cookie making to a weekend in Teton Valley! My kids had 4 hours of candy eating while we drove to my brother's house in Driggs this past weekend. The bird came too of course. (Bailey wouldn't entrust her care to just anyone). Our DVD player is broken so we listened to a lot of music, boys played their DS games, Jenna sang to the bird, Bailey joined in mine and Kel's conversations and asked a lot of questions and jumped out into the freezing weather to get her picture with the "Welcome to ID" sign. We had GORGEOUS weather, blue skies and fresh snow. We enjoyed many outdoor activities such as shooting, ice fishing, horse back riding. Kelly and Bailey went snow shoeing around the 10 acre yard (which I sadly didn't get a photo of!) We stopped by Rexburg on our way home to reminisce (I graduated from Ricks in '94 and Kelly and I did A LOT of courting there! It was fun to see the new temple too! Thanks C & N! We miss you already, especially that precious baby of yours! Until spring!

hot CHOCOLATE!

for valentines...

I haven't had ANY hot chocolate this winter....until NOW! Why? Because all the store bought stuff just doesn't do it for me! If you've ever had the hot chocolate at Cucina Toscana in SLC, you know why I feel this way. At this AMAZING Italian restaurant in my favorite nook of Salt Lake they serve a hot chocolate that #1 you have to ask for because it's not on the menu. #2 It comes served in a tiny white mug that you think is way too small. #3 This chocolate that is hot is heaven on earth and is ONLY (ha ha) $4.00 for literally a shot glass amount. Is it worth it? Oh yes! So I've been playing around with recipes and here is a good start if you want a rich hot chocolate and you don't want to drive down town to get it (or pay $4.00!!!):

4 cups whole milk (I think they use light cream in theirs!)

2 T Dutch Processed Cocoa

3 T sugar

4 T finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate (I like the mini chips-no chopping!)

1/2 t vanilla or your choice of flavoring

Simmer and serve!

*the better the cocoa and chocolate quality, the better tasting hot chocolate!

the real deal: i love thrift stores!!!

Yes it's true. I spent the entire day yesterday at D.I. and consignment stores around SLC! I came home smelling like it too but fully satisfied with my finds! My sister Emily and I had a great time hunting for just the right "shabby chic" and ended up with a car full of treasures! I have a passion for vintage and we were lucky to find: amber drinking glasses, a small bell jar, an Anthropologie napkin (which will make a beautiful pillow face), a two teared tea table with ruffly edge, an ottoman (which Em will cover in a cute fabric for her family room), an antique globe, and an old black and white photograph from Europe signed by the photographer. My favorite find as of late is this adorable chair! It was $15.00! It needs a paint job and a re-upholstered seat but that will hardly cost anything at all! AND it will be fun. AND I am up for the task! So, wait for an "after shot" because I am all ready dreaming of fabric and paint options!!!!

quick, easy, fresh, and everyone will be happy!

Cilantro-Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa

2T minced fresh cilantro

2 1/2 T fresh lime juice

1 1/2 T olive oil

Chicken Tenders (I like these better than chicken breasts because they cook fast and the portions are smaller, plus they are so tender!)

1/4 t salt

1/8 t pepper

Directions for chicken:

Mix cilantro and lime together with raw chicken and salt and pepper. (Or just through it all in the pan together!) Saute in oil until chicken is done. Set aside and keep warm.

Salsa:

1 C chopped plum tomatoes

2 T finely chopped onion

2 t fresh lime juice

1/4 t salt

1/8 t pepper

1 avocado chopped

Rice:

1 C rice

1 pat butter

dash of salt

1 C water

1 C chicken broth

2 pinches Saffron (gives great color to the dish and a slightly different flavor)

To serve: Put rice down with chicken on top and then the salsa. My kids love tortilla chips with this! Very healthy and my kids LOVE it!

1994

This is appropriate for the month of February. I just dug this baby up and couldn't believe my eyes! Yikes! What was up with my hair? Kelly looks great!!! (We had been dating for maybe 6 months? Those were some good times! He was pracicing here for the real deal 6 months later! Happy Valentines!

country road take me home

I grew up in the wine country of Northern CA in a place called Healdsburg. This was and is a small town but now it has thrived and become a tourist trap for wine tasting, vineyard hopping, historic homes and fancy shops. I am getting ready to go back there for my Uncle David's funeral. He was my closest uncle in proximity to our home and in my life! He and his family lived right over one big rolling hill from us. They lived on a Dairy Ranch and we lived literally walking distance away on our ranch! His children, our cousins were our playmates and friends. I have had many adventures with them and I feel blessed to have that closeness because that was the only family that we had any kind of relationship with on my dad's side of the family (and he comes from a family of 8!) They were Catholic, had 7 children and so, they made good allies for a Mormon family of 10. Just putting myself back on 4785 Westside Road brings back a flood of memories. I was just reading to Jenna when the memories started rushing in. Sadly the book I was reading to her was "There's Something in my Attic." Doesn't sound like a very romantic book to bring on the trip down memory lane, right? Well, we had two attics and they were both FASCINATING to me as a child! One was on the second floor of our old house. You could only get there from the "pink" room or the room I shared with Leslie and Erika. There was a door that opened to it like a closet. When you stepped inside, and looked up, there was a typical trap door in the ceiling and that led to the second or "real" attic. But if you opened yet another door immediately ahead there was the attic we used to store things, that had belongings from past residents (the home was kept in the same family over years and years until us.) It had old rickety wood floors that were very dusty. It had exposed beams on the slanted roof. It had boxes and boxes of old shoes, clothes, costumes, Christmas ornaments, letters, pictures, supplies, nick knacks, hats hanging from nails, one hanging light bulb, and lots of dark corners! The wood floor didn't cover all the attic space so you could only walk so far and then you had to step only on floor joices (I never ventured that far but my sister did which resulted in a foot through the ceiling in our main floor hall!) This place gave me the creeps but it also intrigued me like scary things do to children! It was mysterious! The old clothing and shoes were glamorous in an old, antique way. The attic was cool, dark and musty. I was always afraid to step in and pull the string to turn the light bulb on. Then there was the attic that opened from the trap door in the ceiling. This was a place even more mysterious because we couldn't get up there and more importantly, we weren't allowed to go up there! All I new of that attic was what my oldest siblings told me about it because at one time they got to play up there. Well, one day when I was in Jr. high? my dad let me and my sisters Emily and Erika got to venture up there! It was basically one small area with boards put down as a floor and it was used by past residents as a play house for their children! There were little dishes and a table and chairs and a calendar on the wall. It was walled off partially from the rest of the attic space. It had a window too and that's all I remember! We brought a tin of figs and some water up there so we could "survive" and I can't remember what else we did or played! It was just fun to be somewhere that was completely new in your very own house! AND it had old stuff from some other time and some other children! I wish I could see it again...

When I go back for my uncle's funeral, I will pass my old house. I plan on stopping as usual and having a moment to stare and reflect and try to believe that I spent my entire childhood there! There are stories in each room. I like old things. I like other times and people. I am that girl who sat in the attic years ago with a racing heart! I can't wait to go back!