What to do

Left over Manchego cheese? This is what do to with it. This is what we should have made for the international dinner. Forget that quince paste (although it was quite tasty.) If we were to have a re-do this would be added to the tapas collection.

Over triangles of Manchego cheese, drizzle honey and then sprinkle with coffee. It will change your life.

Lori, if you are reading this - you must know that this combination was made for you. Try it. It is time to move on from the Trader Joe's Honey Chevre.

A Worldly Meal

On Sunday we had an international dinner with our neighbors. Each couple (there were 4) drew a country and a course. Bryce and I drew Spain and the soup,salad or side course. How fun, right!

We started the evening with an appetizer from Sardinia. We were served fried ravioli filled with pecorino cheese and topped with a wild boar ragu. You'll be proud of me, I even ate the wild boar. And liked it! The dish was impressive and delicious.

Bryce and I were the next course, naturally we went with tapas and sangria to drink. We had fried Marcona almonds, Spanish olives, tortilla espanola, manchego cheese with quince paste, cucumber bites and Vodka flamed chorizo (we couldn't get it to ignite!!)

For the main course we visited Vietnam. We had a delicious pork Banh Mi. It had cilantro, carrot, a sweet pickle relish and tangy aioli.

Dessert took us to Hawaii (yes, yes, we know it is not a country.) We enjoyed coconut cupcakes from Cake Envy. And can I say that it was the very best cupcake I've *ever* eaten hands down. I didn't know cake could taste so good. Don't even get me started on the frosting. All I know is I'm a fan!

We all had so much fun we made plans for another similar evening. This time we decided to keep it in the US, using regional recipes. We threw in a bunch of states, added the courses and this is what came out:

Appetizer - New York (Bryce and I)
Soup, Salad, Side - Minnesota
Main Course - Alaska
Dessert - California

Do you have any suggestions? I know there are New Yorkers, Minnesotans, Alaskans, and Californians out there. Don't be shy.

Right Now: End of January

Listening: to Pandora Radio. The girls are addicted to the Beach Boys station. It certainly is feel good music.

Enjoying: Our Saturday ski days. Being outside, being together and breathing the fresh air - all really good things. Reading: This parenting book. It addresses just what I've been thinking about and noticing in children lately. Just started this for my book club. I'm hooked already.

Making: Macarons. About a batch a week. Still struggling with baking time. My last batch was under cooked and wouldn't come off of the parchment paper.

Appreciating: Quiet days.

Hoping: We are able to make it to Luxembourg this summer. Missing the peeps there and really wanting to reconnect.

Eating: Protein. This is a challenge for me as it is not my go-to food group. Trying to get 25 grams per meal. Fage in the morning makes it a bit easier.

Feeling: Excited for spring. Warmer temps and less rain; I'm hopeful!

Watching: We're still hooked on 30 Rock. Just started season 5. I think it is the most hilarious show on TV. We just watched this movie on Saturday - an interesting concept.

Coveting: Not surprisingly, another cup of coffee.

What about you? Where are you right now?

Winner

Thanks to those of you who entered the drawing!

The winner is #1 - Kelleyn who wrote, I have never had that brand before. What a cool wrapper. One of my favorites is mo' bacon and maple. Second would have to be Lindt' s Sea Salt, and the third is a lavender blue berry, but I don't know who the maker is on that one. I also adore Fran's almond gold bars.

We've nearly made it through January - good bye blues!

I just remembered the other day that I used to sew. I'm going to see if I still remember how by attempting to turn this fabric into patchwork duvets for the girls. Fingers crossed.

Snowpocalypse

You'll be happy to know we made it through the snow that hit Seattle last week. Actually it was not the snow we were worried about, it was the inevitable melt and the threat of a wet basement! We're so happy our basement stayed dry. Our sump pump hasn't stopped running since Friday.

Snow is such a funny thing in Seattle. The city freaks out and everything shuts down. The kids had exactly 2 hours of school last week. 2. hours. I remember the first snow we had in Luxembourg. I was convinced it was going to lead to a snow day. Little did I know. The city knows how to handle snow as it is a common occurrence each winter. The roads are plowed and salted and life goes on. Pretty much the exact opposite of Seattle.

The part of these snowy days that I absolutely love is that it brings everybody out of their houses and into the streets. Every hill is filled with sledders (of all ages!) I talk to more neighbors during the snow than I do at the annual block party. And the dogs. The happiest dogs in the world. The kids are excited and having so much fun sledding. It feels joyful. And it feels like we're truly part of a neighborhood.

Unfortunately and fortunately snow is a short lived phenomena in Seattle. Now we're back to rain. I would call it rainpocalypse but it is not. It is business as usual here in Seattle.

Don't forget to enter for your chance to win some local chocolate! I'll close the entries on Friday.

**GIVEAWAY**

Hi! Do you know what day it is? It is Blue Monday, supposedly the most depressing day of the year. How are you feeling? Are you blue? Thankfully, I'm feeling just fine this Blue Monday. Last year was a doozy but this year I'm flying high (well, at least flying.)

For those of you who are trudging through a January funk, I'm offering a feel-better giveaway of some local Seattle chocolate. To enter leave a comment and tell me your fav kind of chocolate, brand and type. On Monday a reader will be chosen randomly to receive the goods. Good Luck!

Birthday Girl

I'm the mother of an 8 year old as of today.

Happy Birthday, Eva!

S is for Success

Not a perfect success, but I'll take it. Since my failed attempt at making macarons I've made 2 more batches (using this tute.) Both of which resulted in something very much like a macaron. Yipeee! I piped the cookies a bit too large and over cooked the second batch, but other that, people I'm making macarons.

My hunch is that aging the egg whites (leaving them out for 1-2days) is what made the difference. In the class I took we were told that the eggs should be room temp. I even asked about aging the egg whites to which the chef replied, no need. Perhaps she is right. But I believe it was the aging that lead to my success.

The other truth that became clear to me is that you really need to have the proper equipment to make macarons - a digital scale, a fine sifter, a piping bag and the proper tip. I also think a stand mixer would be a huge help too. I have a hand mixer. All this makes a difference.

I've since become macaron obsessed! I've read about it happening to many a blogger. It is not about eating them. It really is about making. Perfectly and with ease. I can hardly wait to try again. I'll roll my sleeves up again just as soon as my piping bag, #12 tip, and supply of powder food dye arrives. It is all about the proper equipment.

One question I still have about macarons is how to tell when they are done. Anyone know?

F is for Complete Failure

Friends, it wasn't pretty. I could tell by the meringue. I told myself to dump the meringue and try it again. But naturally I didn't listen to myself so I continued. And they were a joke.

My errors were in the meringue. I broke 2 of the 3 tenets for making a successful meringue -

1) egg whites at room temp. NO, too cold.
2) No yolk pieces in the whites
3) "Stretch" the egg whites* before beating them. My new hand mixer doesn't seem to have a low. Position 1 seems to be the same speed as 6. grrrrr.

*Stretching egg whites means to beat them for a minute on low before turning up the speed. The chef who taught the macaroon class paralleled it to pulling a balloon a few time before blowing it up.

Here is the evidence:

Don't be fooled by this pretty looking meringue. I stood there with my hand mixer for 1o minutes at least! It never got light and had the consistency of marshmallow cream.

Ready to go in the oven. They should have spread out so the tops were smooth. The fact that they still have peaks and lumps is a huge red flag.

Baked. Need I say more?

But today, today I found some success. I'll tell you about it. Check back.

American Macaroning

I bet you thought my posts about macarons were over now that we've landed in America. Think again! Yesterday I took a 2 hour class all about making macarons. It was so fun.

I learned all about the characteristics of a French macaron - the pied (foot), the small frills that form along the bottom of the cookie and the skin; the shiny top of a macaron. Macs are supposed to be crunchy with a slightly chewy middle.

I also learned some new fancy words:

Macaronnage - The technique of mixing flour and meringue to make macarons.

Macaronner - The technique of mixing the batter until it is firm and drips slowly when scooped.

The class was divided into 4 groups. Each group made a different flavor macaron. The instructor made one too. So we had 5 different combinations - mint with rum cream, coffee with vanilla custard, sesame with white chocolate ganache, cassis with blueberry butter cream and coconut with coconut filling. The best? Sesame with white chocolate ganache. A surprising combination that gave a lot of flavor.

I was part of the group that made cassis macs. As you can see we had some trouble with the piping! Much harder than it looks. Due to some old, thick purple dye we ended up over mixing our batter. That made it too runny and also lead to baked macarons that wouldn't come up off of the parchment paper. Don't over mix!

Above all though, I had a really great time. Now I'm about to dash upstairs and try to make some on my own - back tomorrow with results!

Thank you notes

The girls and I finished up their thank you notes this weekend. Whew. It always feels like a big job. Last year I think I dropped the ball on notes so it was very important to me to bring this routine back into practice. I stole this thank you note idea from my SIL who did something similar a few years ago.

We attached these pictures to cards and then each girl got to write a message inside. To prevent any "space" arguments, one girl wrote on the top portion of the card, the other got the bottom. Eva was completely self sufficient this year and wrote really great thank you messages. For Audrey, I just wrote down what she said and she signed her name. Before she lost energy, though, she added - I really do like you in her own writing. So cute. And so Audrey.

How do you handle thank you notes? Please leave a comment.

Friday Funny

My new fav tumblr site. Cat + Scanner = The Cat Scan

Have a great weekend!