Our girls are growing so fast. Jadzia starts kindergarten and Ludi begins preschool this year. So while we were in San Antonio, it seemed about time to introduce them to SeaWorld.
Continue reading “An adventure at SeaWorld, and visiting family”
Syllabub
Today Yoli made a concoction called ‘syllabub’. It’s heavy cream with juice from 2 lemons and 1 orange, white grape juice and a half cup sugar. You whip the cream and add the other stuff.
This recipe came from the American Girls Felicity cookbook.
It was tasty!
A menu fit for a princess
Jadzia’s most recent Scholastic book order form included a title called “Disney Princess: Royal Recipe Collection.” Just as the Disney marketing machine hoped, Jadzia was immediately intrigued.
Rather than purchase this book, Yoli checked to see if the library had a copy. They did, so we requested it.
This morning we began cooking our first recipes from it. Our breakfast was “Fairy Godmother Wands” (aka sliced French toast). The girls were eager to help prepare it, but quickly became “tired” once they started assisting. The toast was accompanied by an orange dipping sauce.
Later for “dinner” (our meals were way off their normal times today) we had “Get Your Work Done Smoothies” (a reference to Cinderella’s stepmother). We followed those with one of my recipes — black jewel popcorn topped with butter and freshly-grated parmesan.
The princess recipes we had today were decent, but overall I’m not especially enthusiastic about this book.
In contrast, tonight at the library I found a Felicity cookbook, from the colonial-era character in the “American Girls” series. The recipes are far more authentic and the book is more educational. We’ll probably try a few in a few days.
When cakes don’t come out right
Yoli wants everyone to know that her cakes don’t always come out right. Usually it’s because she forgets to add a key ingredient. Such was the case last night as she was baking a special cake for Valentine’s Day.
Yoli forgot to add sugar, but didn’t realize it until after she pulled the cake out of the oven and saw it had not risen very much. So she had to bake another one, this time with all the ingredients.
You can see a comparison of the good cake (left) and the messed-up one (right) in the photo above.
Fortunately, we have girls whose palates are not particularly discerning, especially when it comes to pastries.
Yoli offered them some of her “bread” and they have been happily chowing down on it ever since.
Yoli’s culinary creations
Here’s a little photo gallery of various — mostly baked — foodstuffs Yoli has made over the years. (Truth be told, this really only scratches the surface Yoli’s culinary adventures. Usually we forget to take photos!)
This cheddar bread has no fats/oils other than the cheese. But it does have ale. Yoli says the “Z” is for “Zorro,” which is a family joke. She also says her dad would say the “Z” was for “Zegarra,” his last name.
Some delicious tiny loaves of bread with cranberries, nuts, and other dried fruits
We bought pita bread from the store the other day and the girls enjoyed making sandwiches with it. Yoli wanted to see how hard it would be to make her own pitas.
Yoli had some mashed potatoes, asparagus and pork for the girls. But those stubborn creatures have recently decided they don’t like potatoes. She turned them into a face and put some leftover cranberry sauce on the pork and they ate it all.
Yoli made a sort-of asiago bread that used cheddar cheese. It was very tasty, turned out better than other “cheddar bread” recipes she has tried in the past.
Eaten in Sweden on Dec. 13 each year. Jadzia read about this in one of her “Kirsten” books.
Yoli saw one of these for sale at the farmer’s market and decided to make her own.
Yoli made this for our anniversary. Very tasty.
I handled the grilling, but Yoli did almost everything else.
Who needs the Pillsbury Dough Boy?
Was designed to fit with the party theme decorations.
It looks like a chick!
For Jadzia’s 5th birthday
Pecan shortbread crust, a moscarpone cream, and strawberries in a sauce
A cake made for Yoli’s class
For Josie’s birthday
It was a pre-baked kit that Yoli and the girls decorated.
Bells shape
Nutcracker shape
Jadzia requested a monster cake for her fourth birthday.
Jadzia requested a monster cake for her fourth birthday.
Made for Ludi’s birthday in San Antonio
With peaches and blackberries
Entered in the 2009 Ferguson Farmer’s Market pie contest.
This cake looks like the “Weighted Companion Cube” from the video game Portal. Yoli made it for our friends Eric and Nancy.
Pretty tasty-looking loaves of bread
This is a airy bread with dried fruit that is popular to eat at Christmastime in South America. In the past we have bought them from Walgreen’s, Aldi’s, and even Volpi on the Hill. Finally Yoli decided to learn how to make her own. And her own have always turned out awesome.
Made for my mom’s birthday
This is from an English recipe. It’s more like a pudding than what we would think of as a “cake.”
Another cake Yoli made for her niece’s 15th birthday.
A cake Yoli made for her niece Leya’s 15th birthday.
Yoli made this for Jadzia’s third birthday, in Bolivia. It’s a 3-dimensional teddy bear cake.
Took this for the Renaud Family Picnic one year, but people seemed to not want to mar its beauty by cutting it up and eating it.
The flowers and wreaths were especially pretty.
This is a pixel-for-pixel representation of Donkey Kong. Yoli made this to serve at the “Kong Night” movie event where we invited friends to watch the “King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” documentary.
This is a Bolivian delicacy eaten for breakfast. It’s sort of like funnel cake, but with anise.
Yoli made this for me to take to work in the Post-Dispatch sports department after the Cardinals won the World Series in 2006.
For a kid’s birthday
Made for Yoli’s cake class
Chocolate buttercream icing woven basket-style
Made with fondant
Yoli made this for Jadzia’s second birthday.
Three-day, seven-year anniversary celebration
Some of you may not know that Yoli and I sort of have two anniversaries.
Being from two different countries, it was necessary for us to obtain a visa so that Yoli could join me here in the U.S. After we got engaged the question we faced was which visa? Marriage visa or fianceé visa?
Continue reading “Three-day, seven-year anniversary celebration”
Finally tried grilled pizza – in November!
The unbelievably warm weather this week, plus the threat of rain tomorrow conspired to get us to try a recipe we have been putting off forever: grilled thin-crust pizza.
Continue reading “Finally tried grilled pizza – in November!”
Strawberry pizza
My day at the Ferguson farmer’s Market started early this week.
I got up at 7:40 in order to get there right when the market opened. Yoli needed fresh strawberries for her entry in the strawberry contest that would be held 2 hours later.
We sprang for Springerles
We took two unplanned trips to Hermann, Mo. this week in search of Springerle cookie molds. Hermann is a wonderful old city on the banks of the Missouri River founded by German immigrants.
Looking for Springerle molds
So the Post-Dispatch recently published a story about Springerle cookies.
I pointed it out to Yoli because I knew she would be interested. How right I was!
The first thing that caught my attention was the recipe’s use of “hartshorn,” which is actually baking ammonia. This is an ingredient that is not cheap or available in every store.
We happen to have some that we bought in Bolivia, because Yoli has some recipes that call for it. Let me tell you, when you bake with ammonia, it will stink up the house. But once the smell dissipates, the cookies or whatever taste great.
Yoli was excited to try the Springerle recipe, but the problem is molds. There is a local artist who hand-carves them. His carvings are amazing, but at $20-30 bucks a pop, it’s a more expensive way to get started than we would like. We are hoping to find used ones at a thrift store or maybe some resin copies … something more affordable.
We did actually come across two Springerle “boards” at 309 Antiques here in Ferguson, but they are $50 each. Apparently, many folks collect these hand-carved molds. Yoli just wants to bake with them.
Anyhow, anyone out there have any local Springerle resources?