Danielle the Decorator.

For Christmas Danielle got some kid kitchen tools. She loves to cook with me and she is so darling. So today when she asked we made a cake with the star cake pans my sister in law Kathryn gave me a while ago. Danielle was very good at mixing the cake up- even though she was a little disappointed that she didn't get to roll it out with the kid roller.
Then came the decorating. She put whipped cream on it and blueberries. I meant to ask John to buy three little packages of blueberries but I asked him to buy three pinks of blueberries instead- which is a lot of blueberries. So we used a lot of them. And of course topped it with about ten million pounds of red sanding sugar. Just a little fourth of July goodness in December. Danielle said she loved it but really wished she could have made a bigger one. We've been storing the pans in the box they came in, which features a three layer cake with blueberries and strawberries.
After we made the cake we ate it. and I threw away that stupid box.

Read more...

Cooking Lessons with Maunifa

My friend Maunifa is from Syria. She is super awesome because she is bossy and opinionated. I like bossy people. She seems to think I need someone to come and clean my house every week. I totally agree. Also I shouldn't eat salad dressing because that makes you fat. And one day a week I should put my kids in daycare so I can have a day to myself. I wish I lived in her world.
Maunifa loves to cook. She is teaching me.
Carlie tells me that good photos make a good food blog. Since I am not a food blog I don't have to take great food photos, but really food is one of my major loves in life. I think about it probably about 60% of the time. Or more. The first time Maunifa cooked for me she made something with rice and lamb and okra and a spice mixture she made herself. I was almost as excited as I was about the turkey at the Nelson's house. I LOVE TURKEY. Needless to say I have a huge mom crush on her- who just makes Syrian food every day? Someone from Syria. This is food I would pay a lot of money for in a restaurant. She is teaching me how to make it. Next week I am going to get a lamb at the Arabic store. I don't know how I feel about it- since I wish I was a vegetarian I decided to never eat lamb again- then she fed me something wonderful and now I ordered some. That 7 year long fast ended soon.
It is good for me to have to prepare the foods though- that makes me want to eat meat less. Just imagine if I had to hunt the animals or clean them. I would never eat meat. I think our society let's us be more emotionally detached from food with our production and food supply.
The last Syrian Meal- Falaffal and pitas with onions, lettuce, tomato, and a mixture of parsley tomatoes and other stuff. Quite healthy.
except the deep fried part. Maybe I need a deep fryer. Everyone seems to have one- just like everyone has a crock pot. Or a dirty festering stink pot, as I like to think of them. How else can I deep fry my falaffel and cook my lamb for four hours- then act like I just whipped it up in no time. Also how the heck do you spell falaffel? falafel falafal fallafel whatever.

Read more...

Snickerdoodles.

I decided to make snickerdoodles the other day. I didn't have a recipe so I just used the first one that came up online.
I think next time I will call my mom. Not just to ask about why there was no salt in the recipe.

Read more...