Compared to last month, this month's DBers challenge was a breeze. Hands down I will be making these again. Possibly in cigar format with mousse in the middle. MmmMMmm I made these tuiles for some friends and tried my hand at making a sweet little star cup. While the plastic placemat worked perfectly as a pattern, the original star pattern I made was just a little too detailed for the recipe. Now I know what to do next time. Not only was the tuile just downright tasty, the ice cream complimented it nicely.

Tuile Recipe:

Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example) Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch ¼ cup softened butter (not melted but soft) ½ cup sifted confectioner’s sugar 1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract) 2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork) 1/2 cup sifted all purpose flour 1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice Butter/spray to grease baking sheet Oven: 350ºF Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly. Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (350ºF) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable. If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

The first night on Christmas vacation, sister-in-law, Brooke had Penelope dialed in. The whole week we were there they were two peas in a pod. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have the camera rolling for Penelope's laugh attack.

Contagious, isn't it? My cheeks hurt terribly from smiling and laughing while editing the video. Maybe I should just play this thing every time Penelope gets on my nerves? Also, we can't seem to replicate this level of laughter even though we try and try. Brooke, can you teach us your secrets?!?

I just wanted to announce that Penelope is now 9 months old. Here are her milestones, Penelope can:

• Pull herself to stand
• Bounce really high in her bouncy swing
• Say ma ma and da da and boo and ga
• gurgle
• blow raspberries
• occasionally wave
• maintain a completely straight face while complete strangers try to make her smile [and go to great efforts to do so]
• eat all solid food in sight pretty much without a bib
• call family members from my cell phone
• cry and throw a whirlwind of a temper tantrum [wonder where she gets that from?]

Penelope's doctor's visit went really well on Friday. She's growing spectacularly. Here are her stats:

• Height: 85th percentile [up from 73% ]
• Weight: 83rd percentile [down from 90% ]
• Head: 99th percentile [up from 95%]

While we've had a rough couple of weeks [it wasn't all bad], she still is my favorite. Chris's favorite, too. I love you Nells Bells.

Nothing spices up oven-fried catfish like a deformed lemon. Chris and I make sure to pick all of the weird ones from our tree first, mostly because they're the tastier ones.

A couple of nights ago I made catfish fish sticks from a recipe I found online titled Fishsticks in a Flash. Of course I'm going to make them. If it's made of few ingredients and takes less than a half hour, I'm all over it. The fish sticks took 20 minutes. BONUS. They tasted just like the large cat we always order at Jonathan's Fish & Chips. DOUBLE BONUS. And Chris couldn't stop talking about it. TRIPLE BONUS. Penelope even had a taste. She was mad we didn't give her more.

Fish Sticks in a Flash

1/2 cup cornmeal 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons canola oil 1 pound U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish fillets, cut into 1-in thick strips 1. Preheat the oven to 475°F. 2. Lightly oil or coat a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. 3. Combine the cornmeal, cheese, garlic powder and salt in a medium bowl and mix well. 4. Place the oil in a small bowl. Lightly coat each piece of fish in the oil and then roll in the breading until well coated. 5. Arrange the fish on the prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

Dear Vivian,

If you ever want to see your dear dolphin (or platypus?) ever again; meet me at the park tomorrow at noon with my mom's green plates. OR ELSE!!

Penelope the Destroyer

Vivian's Response:

Update: Dolphin and green plates were returned to rightful owners. No harm or incident occurred at the park.

I'm definitely a monkey see, monkey do-type person and unfortunately Christmas break wasn't long enough for me to glean from my mother-in-law's mad knitting/crocheting skills. Fortunately, the books she gave me teach to the lowest common denominator.

Here's my first attempt at making something functional. A washcloth. Maybe I'll make a uniform square next time.

I've really enjoyed learning something new, and while crocheting is new to me, it somehow reminds me of elementary school where my friend, Michelle, and I would sit at recess making scarves and bags from a square loom. I hope I'm not that awkward anymore. Thanks, Michelle, for staying my friend through all my weirdness. Oh gosh... remember SNEILAs? Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Who knew washcloths could be so embarrassing?!?

The sun shone so brightly. It was perfect weather for play. So we went to Pottery Barn on that bright, January day.

We had a lot of fun going to see the Cat in the Hat on Saturday at the local Pottery Barn. Thanks Jane for initiating it.

We arrived just in time to see the Cat in the Hat make his big entrance, but had to stow our strollers and by the time we got back, there was a line spanning the store. We were all so bummed that the line materialized so quickly. The wait wasn't too bad, though. We were waiting in Pottery Barn for goodness sakes, there are cute things to look at/play with all over the place.

And next week she'll be wearing makeup and high heels. Here comes trouble. Katie, Thanks again for the cute outfit!!

January's edition of the Mountain Echo has been out for a while and I'm thinking, Maybe I should post what I did! I've blogged about Barefoot Contessa's Pesto Pea Salad before, and decided I'd share it again, but with a few additions of my own. I'm the type of person that likes a hearty salad that could double as the main dish, so here it is; BC's Hearty Pesto Pea Salad. While I love it, Chris isn't a fan, and I'm really at a loss for why. Maybe it's because he doesn't particularly like peas. Maybe.

Hearty Pesto Pea Salad

adapted from Bare Contessa's Pesto Pea Salad servings: 4 prep time: 15 minutes 8 ounces chicken 2 cups of frozen peas 2 tablespoons pine-nuts 3 cups baby spinach leaves 1 cup grated carrots 3 tablespoons pesto 1 cup grated parmesan Cube chicken, cook in frying pan with a little olive oil until lightly browned. Toast pine-nuts in a dry sauté pan and cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes, or until evenly browned, tossing frequently.To assemble salad, place the spinach leaves in a salad bowl. Sprinkle the peas, pine-nuts, parmesan and carrots over the spinach. Add the pesto and toss.

Apple + Orange Cake*

makes: one small bundt cake total time: 40 minutes Cake: 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 egg 3/4 cup applesauce 1 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ginger 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teapoon soda Preheat oven to 350º and grease small bundt pan. Cream sugar and butter, add egg and beat well. Stir in applesauce, then slowly add dry ingredients. Pour into greased bundt pan and bake at 350º for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out smooth. Glaze: 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed 4 teaspoons cornstarch 1/2 cup orange juice 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon orange grind, grated 2 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon light corn syrup 3/4 cup water Mix the sugars with the cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Gradually add the orange and lemon juices, stirring vigorously to avoid lumps. Stir in the orange rind, salt, butter, corn syrup, and water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the sauce thickens, 5 to 8 minutes. Serve hot. *Glaze recipe taken from The Winter Vegetarian by Darra Goldstein.

I used to be a regular contributor to this blog, at least for a while.  Melissa has since taken over, and the quality of the posts has increased substantially. Melissa and I were trying to checkout at the Safeway self checkout last Saturday.  The woman in line behind us was checking out too, and she was not happy.  Let's call her Cranky Sue.  Apparently Sue had purchased a full sheet cake from the bakery and was trying to pay for a few other items she'd picked up.  The sheet cake was in a pink box under her cart basket, and she wasn't making any effort to run it through the scanner. A four-and-a-half-foot-tall Hispanic woman was overseeing the self checkout scanner that we were using.  Predictably, the shorter woman wanted to see Cranky Sue's receipt for the sheet cake.  We were busy scanning our cheddar cheese and crackers, so I didn't catch much of the exchange, but the self checkout wrangler was soon joined by a second woman who must have been her manager.  The second woman was also very short and could barely see over the edge of Cranky Sue's  cart. The two short woman crowding around Ms. Cranky Sue must have made her a little nervous, because she suddenly raised her voice and started to shove her cart toward the store exit.  Cranky Sue could not, however, seem to maneuver around the self checkout ladies, who again demanded to see her receipt.  I started to pay closer attention at this point. Sue is pissed.  She raises her voice and says something about how ridiculous these ladies are being, as if SHE were trying to steal a sheet cake, and then announces to the entire store that she is "never shopping at this store again!"  She throws a five-dollar bill at self-checkout-lady number one, somehow slips her cart through the now crowded self checkout and makes for the exit. Melissa and I had just finished our own checkout, so we followed about 20 feet behind Cranky Sue, who was barreling through the automatic doors and out into the parking lot.  I leaned over to Melissa and whispered, "I hope her cake falls." I feel like Harry Potter when he first realizes that he has supernatural powers. As soon as the words leave my lips, the cake starts bouncing forward.  It's about six inches off the front of the cart for another 20 feet or so before sliding the rest of the way forward.   The cake is half on the cart's undercarriage and half leaning over the front and bouncing off the ground.  Sue doesn't hesitate.  I can't take my eyes off of the pink cake box.  The front edge of the box bounces along for another ten feet before finally catching on the asphalt and flipping top down. To her credit, Sue didn't use any expletives.  She squeaked a high pitched "oh no!"  and, unwilling to suffer alone, piled the remains of the cake back into the cart, spun it all around and headed back into the Safeway. I'm not wishing bad things on anyone ever again, no matter how much they deserve it.

Remember how excited I was when we got our torch? The trial brazes on copper were all so lousy. I did one of them. Disastrous. However, Chris has mastered the art of brazing [not that hard, apparently] and has made some serious progress on the bike. He's had one setback only because he ordered the wrong fork-ends for the rear triangle, but other than that, everything is awesome-o. The bottom bracket has oxidized a little, but this shouldn't be too big a deal, since it's only on the surface. Chris will be sanding everything before he paints it. The bike is getting so close, it's actually looking like something. Let's admire the handy-work. Chris is so cool. While Chris has made some big progress, there's still so much to do before he'll be able to ride it. Until then, he'll just have to admire it.

O ne of my favorite blogs has inspired me to carry my camera around more often. I was particularly glad I had it last night. I'm really loving my new DSLR and Lens, I've been able to push the limits of my photography with its low-light versatility. I'm not a very savvy flower person, but I'm pretty sure it's not common to see irises in the middle of January. The weather is beautiful, so I don't blame them for coming out to play. What the pineapple? Found this one just outside a local sushi restaurant. Thought it was cute. Reminds me of the Melissa Pineapples sold at Safeway [they're so cute and we share something in common].

My friend compiled a book of sweet notes and tributes from friends and family for her husband's birthday. She had me bind it. I just wish I thought of this idea when I failed miserably for Chris's birthday. I'm happy to have such thoughtful, creative friends. I love the manly fleur-de-lis/leather combo.

For some reason, I didn't really feel that scared about jumping out of a plane. Okay, I was a little scared, scared of freezing my buns off because the temperature was probably 30 degrees at 10,000 feet. Thankfully, my Mother-in-law shared her gloves and wind-resistant jacket with me. And her shoes. I wasn't about to jump out of the plane in slip-ons [the only shoes I brought to AZ].

This video is a little hard for me to watch. It's somehow incredibly embarassing to hear myself saying "OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!" a million times. My favorite part is when my tandem diver says "oh GROSS" in reaction of Chris and I swapping spit, then immediately follows it by a hang-loose sign and "SWEET!!". What a weirdo. Also, for your listening pleasure we cropped and re-edited the video to new music. Ratatat seems more fitting for skydiving than raver music.