Destination Anywhere

My last grad school class was Monday night, and in spite of a very involved program at the preschool for the next three weeks, I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My last day of school is June 3.

For the first summer in years, there's no trip planned (except for The Dreaded Alaska Cruise with the Mother-in-Law, but we don't talk about that). I'm still dealing with NTOTHDD (No Trip on the Horizon Depressive Disorder), but thought I'd start thinking about what I will be doing this summer, and new opportunities.

Continue reading "The "Don't Have To Do" List" »

This is a lovely recipe, and seems very adaptable. I actually had mini bundt pans leftover from my Family Childcare days (we used to bake on Fridays so each child could take home a mini cake). But since I then discovered I'd run out of cooking spray, and couldn't cope with greasing all those little nooks I used my large bundt pan. The mixture filled it halfway, and baked in 46 minutes. It easily came out of the pan, and looked gorgeous. It was fun to paint with the grappa syrup!

Here's a slice, with a dollop of whipped cream sweetened with some of the syrup, which I also dribbled around. Delicious! The downside of using the large pan is that you get less of the booze-soaked, slightly crunchy outer layer! Next time I'm definitely going to use the small pans.

It's a dismal day, I have a pile of work to do, and all I want to do is climb under my quilt and take a nap.

Umm. Nap. On the other hand, these Developmentals won't write themselves.

I'll be entertaining tomorrow, OK? Or at least have cake. In the meantime, some purple lilacs and tulips from my garden.

This even more self-indulgent entry than usual brought to you by the letter P, for Procrastinate.

We were all laughing after receiving my son's SAT results. There's a new Writing section, and that was his highest score. He hates to write, so the score was viewed with considerable amusement in my house.

My mother's reaction was "Well, of course--he can't help it."

Continue reading "The Family Business" »

The dough for these was extremely easy. Just throw flour, salt, red pepper into the bowl, proof yeast in water and sugar and pour in, mix, add butter, oil and cheese, and mix again.

I love Aleppo pepper for its deep flavor.

Happy yeast

As suggested, I let my dough rise overnight in the fridge. In the morning, I let the dough warm up for 1/2 hour, and rolled out the breadsticks. I found the easiest method was to first roll the dough in my palms, and then finish it by rolling on the counter, beginning in the middle and then rolling to the ends.

Continue reading "Sunday SlowBakers--Babbo Grissini" »