Oreo Cake

Two weekends ago we had friends over for dinner, a dinner which I actually made everything myself. This hasn't happened very much since George came along. Earlier in the week I had hoped we'd get to be outside for dinner on the patio, however the weather had other plans. It was usually cool and rainy, not your typical Memphis spring weather, well at least the cool part. The friends came and played with George, who was pretty well-behaved. I made a chicken dish that had a lot of cheese in it (recipe here). However, you know that dessert is my favorite thing to make and so for dessert I made a very delicious cake with an ungodly amount of Oreo cookies in it. It's a single layer chocolate cake, split into two layers after baking (no Oreos in the batter) with 'frosting' made entirely of heavy cream and crushed Oreos. For real. It was crazy good. I know Oreos are processed junk food and all but the remind me of being a kid and taking just the right amount of time to dunk one in milk before it broke off into mush. Oreo Cake recipe via Serious Eats.

Three books with wonder in the title

I'm sure how this happened, but for a period of about three weeks every book I read had the word wonder in the title. 

First I read Wonder by R.J. Ralacio. It's a YA (or younger?) and it was a really nice, super short read. It also made me cry. It's the kind of book I hope George will want to read and take lessons from. 

Then I read Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this book. The beginning was dark and parts of the middle were grim and the end was not puppies and sunshine either. It left me feeling depressed? 

The final book was Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby. It was another YA read and while not 100% uplifting it was a needed palate cleanser after the JCO book. It's a story that includes characters based on some of those in Tod Browning's 'Freaks', but more sanitized for the younger set.

Currently, I'm alternating between Beautiful Creatures (hasn't really held my attention) and The Dinner. More on those soon.

May!

I've been on an unintentional hiatus, but here's to a new month and hopefully the return of regular posting/updates. It's been a busy few months, we took a spring break trip to New Orleans, did some house updating, bought a new washer and dryer that is rocking my world (I didn't know I could love appliances so much), celebrated Easter (two of the three of us were sick), we've eaten more donuts than we ever should have, some friends and I went to hear Dan Savage speak, I have consumed many, many espresso drinks, we enjoyed the sporadic spring weather, I volunteered for the WEVL spring pledge drive, George has finally cut a tooth and is pulling up on everything, I celebrated my 32nd birthday (eek), and just last weekend we had nine-month pictures of George taken. Plus nine million other little moments.

 

(these are my two pretty friends with Dan Savage, I was too shy to talk to him)

Happy heart day

What I'm reading in 2013

Hi, I'm alive, just not mastering the whole 'get everything done at once' deal. Anyways, we're seven weeks into the new year and I have had time to read. I use the Kindle app on my phone to read while I'm nursing or pumping. I still love actual books and I can't imagine not having physical books but I will say that the Kindle app has given the opportunity to read way more than if I didn't have it. I've also been using the ebook section of our local library's website, which allows me to 'check out' ebooks, it's pretty great.So here is what I've read so far:

Just Kids by Patti Smith

(image found here)

I wasn't sure about this book, normally I'm not a massive fan of biographies but this caught me eye. I also only knew a tiny bit about Patti Smith and her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. I am so glad I read this, it was so well written and the life she has lived is amazing. Reading this led me down a rabbit hole of searching for information about the Beats and William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg and Andy Warhol. 

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

(image found here)

I had read the blurb about Wild on a couple of different sites and I finally caved and read it. Again, another really wonderful book. She's brave and honest, a few spots in the beginning are pretty raw for sensitive folks but it's all part of the story. It's amazing that she was able to do what she did with so little money and experience and without being injured.

Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz

(image found here)

Julia Child is someone I greatly admire and I loved reading about her extraordinary life. Last year I read My Life in France and enjoyed it too but I liked reading a book written from an outsiders perspective with input from others in her life. The end had me in tears, there's just something heartbreaking about reading a book of someone's life from birth to death. 

After all the heaviness of these biographies/autobiographies, I need something to cleanse my palate with. Last night I downloaded Beautiful Creatures, which I think bears a strong resemblance to the Twilight series...

Chrimas & New Year in pictures

Here's a super tardy post-holiday post. Unfortunately we spent the first part of December sick, all three of us. Our Christmas cheer was dampened slightly but perked back up thanks to a round of cough medicine, antibiotics and a lot of tea and honey. It was George's first Christmas and we didn't go overboard with gifts but he got lots of toys and books. It snowed a tiny bit the day after Christmas (a TINY bit).

We spent New Year's Eve at home, it was cold and rainy and generally gross outside. For dinner we ordered takeout from Gus's and I made a flourless chocolate cake for dessert. I bought some silly hats and sparklers too. We lit the sparklers on the front porch and George found them pretty fascinating.

2012 really blessed us and I hope that 2013 will be just as kind! 

Fall knitting updates

I finished the Molly hat, just in time for cooler weather. It's very fall, from the persimmon/cinnamon color of the yarn to the cable and textured stitches. Normally it wouldn't have taken me more than a week to knit but it's harder for me to find knitting time so it took about twice that. The pattern is well-written and I'd definitely use it again.

For my next project, which will probably take forever to complete, I cast on the Estelle sweater from Melissa Labarre, using Quince & Co. Lark yarn. It's an open front cardigan with fan and feather trim and some midsection ribbing. I'm almost ready to pull off the sleeves so I'm hoping it will go fairly quickly. I had bought the yarn last year and never found the time to start it until now. When we reorganized the house most of my stash went to live in bins in our backhouse/storage area so it's fun to go 'shopping' in the back because I've forgotten about a lot of skeins.

My holiday knitting is going to be minimal this year. I want to knit matching hats for Doug and George and I think I've found a pattern that will work for dad and baby. Our eldest niece has requested a hat in cream colored yarn so I need to get on that too. And maybe, a cowl or two for George's daycare 'teachers'.

Muffins for Saturday morning

Lately we have a silly Saturday morning routine, we sleep as late as George will let us and then Doug will go get us coffee and doughnuts and then we'll all lay around in bed watching Roseanne reruns most of the morning (I can't believe that show is 20+ years old). One morning I got the baking bug and decided to bake our doughnuts instead of sending Doug out for them. Technically these aren't doughnuts per se, they're doughnut muffins. Regardless, they're delicious and while they are more time consuming than a doughnut run they're well worth the effort. 

Chai Spice Glazed Doughnuts Muffins - recipe here  

Photos from October

October went by waaay to quickly, I can't believe it'll be Thanksgiving in a few weeks.

Our friend's annual pumpkin carving party, we won 2nd place (of course the one year we left early). The finished product didn't last for very long. It started collapsing a few days later.

 

Visit to Jones Orchard corn maze and pumpkin stand with my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew.

George in his Halloween costume

Halloween knit night at my house

On to November!

A new fall hat + yarn p*rn

I had been really, really good in not purchasing new yarn for several months. Well, expect for the Magnolia Club, but I don't count that. A few weeks ago I was looking for a skein of yarn to use for backup in case I ran out for what I was using on a shawl I was knitting. When I ordered that I also found a skein of extremely pretty yarn in a very autumnal color. I clicked 'add to basket' and it arrived at my house a few days later. I decided it should be a hat for fall. The yarn is Jill Draper Makes Stuff - Hudson and the color is Cinnamon but I think it reminds me of a persimmon. I bought it at Happy Knits and they have some other really lovely colors. For the pattern I pulled the Molly hat out of my Ravelry queue. So far it's knitting up really quickly and has a super easy pattern, which is great for my addled brain.

 These gorgeous skeins are what I got with this round of the Madelinetosh Magnolia Club.

This first is Tosh Merino Light in Astrid Gray:

 The second is DK Twist in Chapterbook:

And finally, 80/10/10 Fingering in Sand Dunes:

I'm sitting out the next round of the club, the yarn is always beautiful but I'm at maximum capacity for yarn right now. Plus I still have to figure out what I'm going to do with all this pretty stuff!