A few good gems

While I'm relieved the weekend is upon us, we are all itching for summer to officially begin. We've got kids up late, kids working, kids swimming, and they STILL have to wake up early for school. Stop the madness! ​

Just thought I'd throw in a shout-out to Steel Magnolias. When the boyfriend came to visit we indoctrinated him into the SMC (Steel Magnolias Club). Jordan reports that NONE of her college friends had seen the movie, which I feel is a downright tragedy and indicative of the failing state of our cultural values. Recently, the movie was taken off of Netflix. Don't worry, my letter-writing campaign has already begun.​ So, go. Watch Steel Magnolias. It's chock-full of one-liners and makes me cry like a baby every time. "Laughter though tears is my favorite emotion."

And a few other gems:​

• ​I've seen this abridged version of David Foster Wallace's 2005 commencement address circulating in a few spots this week, but it deserves repeating. I'm always up for some wise life advice.
• I'm making this for Madison's grad party. Just waiting on the fabric to arrive.​
• I'm also considering these awesome embroidery hoops to hang above the table. Although I might hang mine facing down. ​
• I was drawn to this quote by Jeanette Winterson because my girls are facing so much change right now. On another note, Jeanette Winterson is an interesting writer who doesn't get a lot of press in the US. She falls under my specialty of 20th Century British Writers, so I've read her for work . . . but also read her for fun. She's a win/win.​
• It's getting hot in Houston. I'm excited to try some new summer recipes, like this one.​
• For you bibliophiles, check out this archive to The New York Times Writers on Writing. I love hearing about how writers work, what their process is. I read about their fabulous work ethics . . . then I go watch another episode of The West Wing. It's not working for me.​

That's it folks. Have a fabulous weekend!​

So long, farewell

This past weekend was my daughter's farewell. 'Farewell' is a Mormon term for when the soon-to-be-missionary speaks in church. Ideally, the farewell occurs the Sunday before the missionary leaves, but because of a host of scheduling difficulties we held Jordan's farewell a few weeks early. And because I like to celebrate every event with the trump of exhaustive fanfare, we made an entire day of it. Lots of visiting family (and one visiting boyfriend) converged on the church Sunday morning to hear Jordan speak. After the service, we all caravanned to my mom's house where she, my SIL, and my sister put on a brunch for 30. Remember, we are Mormons...that's pretty much just immediate family.​

After brunch, my crew headed home to finish our preparations for an Open House to be held in the evening. And by finish, I mean DO A BUNCH OF STUFF. As you may have gathered from my macaron-making posts, I had settled on a French food theme for the Open House. ​This experience has yielded me an exceedingly close relationship with my pastry bag. The only downside with the French foods was that much of the menu needed last minute finishes, so I was cooking down to the wire. The final hour of prep found all hands on deck in the kitchen. We even put the boyfriend to work. 

I went with the colors of the French flag and a little gold thrown in for good measure. Coming up with a color scheme early on in the party-planning process really helps streamline procurement of the party ​goods. I'm not a big fan of the cooking, but I do enjoy considering the presentation. Some of the most time consuming part for me, then, is collecting the supplies -- cups for the fruit, tiny square, plastic shot glasses for the pots de creme, table runners, flowers, teeny, tiny spoons. But it's worth it people! What's a party without tiny plastic shot glasses?

Here's a blurry pic of the mini strawberry and cream eclairs we made by the dozens. (Seriously, over 100 . . . and not a single leftover). Eclairs are deceptively simple to make. I did all of the shells in under an hour. From here on out, we'll be having eclairs at every family function. Or until I get sick of them. Which will probably be never.​

Tada!!! I went back and forth on the macarons about two dozen times.

I'll make them.
No, they're too hard.
I CAN DO IT.
No, they're too hard.
I can buy them.
I should buy them.
But they are $2 a piece!
I'm definitely buying them.
Nope, making them.​

Even though my understanding and expertise of the macaronage did increase with practice, I'd say overall my success rate was only about 50%. I ended up with 150 total: 50 vanilla, 50 strawberry, and 50 chocolate. We flew through those 150 macarons in about 45 minutes. I call this "America and the Macaron: A Love Story."

And just for your planning pleasure, here are the deets:

Macarons: The vanilla and strawberry macarons use an Italian-style meringue. For the strawberry I tinted the shells pink and used strawberry puree in the buttercream filling. For the vanilla I tried Swiss Buttercream, which pretty much changed my life.​ The chocolate macarons are also an Annie's Eats recipe, although they employ the French method.

Mini eclairs with strawberries and cream: This Martha Stewart recipe is seriously easy and tasty. People were eating these in multiples. Make sure you have real vanilla beans on hand for the filling. I bought mini eclair papers, but found they fit fine on cupcake liners, which ended up taking less space on a platter, (according to my husband who is something of an efficiency expert in these matters).

Baked brie en croute with apple compote: My brother and SIL had made this before for a family dinner and it is delicious. I made the apple compote the day before and used frozen puff pastry, so this took like 7 minutes to put together. The only bummer was I forgot to thaw the puff pastry. If I had it to do again, I'd set a timer on my phone that screamed "TAKE OUT THE PUFF PASTRY." I did two of these...and there was not a bite left.​

Bite sized Greek salad: Okay, this isn't exactly French, but I wanted something savory, and Jordan LOVES feta. And I thought they would look pretty.​ I wish I had a picture of these for you -- lovely little appetizers lined in rows on a square, white porcelain platter. I found feta for the best price at Costco.

Pioneer Woman Pots de creme al'orange​: My SIL and brother made these. They did 40 and people were literally fighting over them. We put them in these containers and included tiny spoons, which somehow make eating decadent cups of chocolate even more fun. Like that's possible. 

Pain au chocolate: I originally planned on buying these from Central Market. But when I arrived at Central Market on Saturday, they had all of three on hand. I made a call to Panera, who obliged me with two dozen. I cut them in fourths, dusted them with powdered sugar, and put them in cupcake liners.​

Fruit: I've seen these fruit cups on Pinterest any number of times. At first I thought the cups might be too small, but they were the perfect size. I included watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. We originally put out 40. Then made another 20. We could have easily done 80-100. The cups are super cute and have a shiny coating that make them perfect for fruit. I bought mine here. ​

I also served Petite Palmiers and truffles coated with cocoa powder -- both from Costco. We still have some leftover truffles, which call to me from time to time from their shelf on the pantry. Do NOT buy these truffles. They are dangerous and evil. And I love them dearly.​

And that's it folks. We have a bit more shopping to do, some serious packing (only two suitcases allowed), and then she's off to Lyon via the Provo MTC. If I didn't have an impending high school graduation to consider, I'd probably be bereft. I'm saving bereft for mid-June. Meet me there?​

It's getting hot down here. . .

I think this May just might rank as the craziest month of my entire life. There is family arriving, multiple celebrations, and umpteen preparations. In fact, I have so many irons in the fire at the moment, I'm sure to blow something up. I'm just waiting. Somewhere I'm forgetting something VERY IMPORTANT.

Last night we had a crawfish boil at my Mom's in honor of my very sweet Aunt Rebecca, who is visiting from Utah. Unlike our Cajun neighbors, we are relatively new to the crawfish boil. For myself, I prefer the baguettes, corn-on-the-cob, and new potato parts of the meal -- partly because I don't like getting my hands messy with the crawfish and partly because I don't like dismembering the crawfish. I'm a delicate little flower; it's true.​

​Sterling and Jordan. Trying to soak up every last moment before she heads to France.

My contribution to the party? Our family's favorite homemade ice cream -- affectionately known as the orange ice cream (cuz it's orange). I could also mention at this point that when I was very young we had three horses: Whitey, Blacky, and Browny. Our family seems to lack a certain amount of naming panache. We're working on that. But this ice cream? This ice cream is orange-y, and fizzy, with more than a hint of sweetened condensed milk. And, it takes about five minutes to throw together. Yep, it's the dessert trifecta: quick, tasty, uses sweetened condensed milk. I can barely contain myself even writing about it.

I've often wanted to share this beloved ice cream recipe on the blog, except I've been waiting for a whiz-bang Orange Ice Cream photo shoot. That, it seems, might be slow in the making. I don't want summer to get away from me . . . so I'm posting it here with just a little old iphone pic. My apologies.​

The recipe:​ [Note: This recipe is for the old fashioned, ice-with-rock-salt, ice cream maker. So put away your new-fangled, sophisticated Kitchen Aid and go old school with me.]

2 2-liter bottles orange soda 
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 large can crushed pineapple, drained

Directions: Mix pineapple and sweetened condensed milk in ​ice cream maker. Add orange soda to the fill line. Layer ice and rock salt. Plug in the ice cream maker and let it go. I like to chill the soda first just to shorten the freezing process.

And that's it folks. Sometimes, in the fiery depths of summer heat, I've been known to mix up a batch, serve it to the kids in the pool, and call it dinner.​

Desperate times call for desperate measures.​

Baby steps

Right now I'm working on macaron-making. Here's the skinny: the macarons pictured above were made using Tartelette's recipe.​ This was my second batch, and while they look pretty darn decent in the picture, they were slightly undercooked! I know. So finicky. My first attempt was an unmitigated disaster. And the third? Those went straight from pan to garbage. Ugh!  As soon as I go buy myself another kinda expensive, tiny bag of almond flour -- I'm trying these -- because I like to punish myself. 

In between macaron experimenting I started attending a boot camp in the evenings and on Saturdays. I've been three times so far. As I type this my shoulders are tight, almost crampy. I also need to cough but am trying my best NOT to cough because my stomach muscles simply don't have the energy. Also, they burn and hurt when I cough. When I'm actually at boot camp? Let's just say ​the image vacillates between sad and ugly. Guys! I have the upper body strength of a newborn. Let's not even talk about my core. It's on fire, remember?

And thirdly . . . last Friday, I had a meeting with my dissertation chair over one of my chapters. It went okay. We had a good discussion: she explained the weaknesses in the chapter, I argued my own position. She was nice, even (somewhat) complimentary at times. But she in no way patted me on the back, handed me a cigar, and told me that what I had written was brilliant, erudite, and ready for publication. No. Not any of that. There is more work to do. Argh.

When I was young, I pictured my 40-something self as capable, assured, making things happen. And yet, the real 40-year-old me is still taking baby steps -- fumbling in the kitchen, struggling on the playing field, pecking away at my computer keyboard. ​It's hard work, this life of frothy egg whites and unruly thighs and theoretical feminist concerns. I do wish for mastery, make no mistake. In some ways I need just a modicum of success, a whisper that "I'm okay," or heck, I'd take small french cookies that are perfectly baked. But right now . . . I'm feeling my back up against the wall, and it's not an entirely bad feeling. My best work generally comes from defiance. Tell me I can't do something and I WILL SHOW YOU. I'm feeling the need to gird up my loins, fresh courage take -- to make lists, to read, to run up a hill without having palpitations. 

The frothy egg whites? No promises there.​

What's for dinner

Even after 19 years of motherhood I am still amazed at how regularly these kids need to eat. It's EVERYDAY. Sometimes I like a little break, also known as "cereal for dinner," but that never goes over too well and my people are hungry exactly seven minutes later.

I don't really like to cook in the hobby kind of way. If you told me tomorrow that I'd never have to cook again (like you finally got me that personal chef I've been requesting), I would sing hallelujahs to highest hilltops. But I do like to eat. And I like to have dinner parties. And I like to gather with my family round the old supper table. So I cook. It's a forced march, sort of.

Figuring out what to make can be half the battle. So here are a couple of our tested family favorites:​

• Tonight I'm making Pioneer Woman's Chicken with Olives. My kids love this one, and it ranks about mid-way on the effort level. (As a rule, on weeknights I try to stick to meals that take less than 30 minutes to prepare.) This one goes together quickly, but plan on the 60+ minutes it takes to bake.
• Yesterday we had salmon with couscous and sauteed yellow squash and zucchini. I just brushed the salmon with olive oil and sprinkled some kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and then baked at 425 for 25 minutes. Delish. Chop up some veggies and toss it around in a hot skillet with just a bit of olive oil. The couscous is just a matter of boil and dump. MY KIND OF FOOD PREP.​
• ​My kids love this fried rice recipe from Our Best Bites. I originally tried the recipe because it doesn't require eggs (I have one allergic). It's quick, easy, and has a whole load of veggies in it. Works great for a busy evening.
  
• Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joes make for a hearty meal. (It's true I have a slight obsession with PW.)​ Make sure to pick up some Kaiser rolls because regular sandwich bread just won't cut it.

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Even though cooking isn't my passion, I do get geeky about dishes and linens and such. One of my favorite kitchen purchases of the last few years are these organic cotton napkins. OhLittleRabbit has an awesome selection of graphics here.

​I also find that good music helps with my cooking mojo. Have you heard this cover of The Lumineers "Ho Hey" by the Stella sisters? I dig it.

Happy Weekending!​