:: thank you all

 Thank you

For the thoughtful birthday wishes! Husband and I had a wonderful birthday.

As if it wasn't enough to spend my birthday learning about cake-baking from Julia Child, Husband gave "us" tickets to a play (Peter Pan, in honor of my in-process children's literature M.Ed.), and I gave "us" a 2-volume set of the world's best English Language Dictionary. Husband has been wanting one for our growing library.

The cake was gone in four days. We planned to share some with our neighbors... but alas.

It was a good birthday and an even better birthday cake.

For the JC fans out there, we had the Le Glorieux (chocolate cake with filling, page 495-6 of Vol. II) and the Crème au Beurre, Mѐnagѐre (Butter Cream with powdered sugar and orange liqueur, page 681 of Vol. I)

meet claude... and the champion of truffle cakes

This is Claude Snowman.

And like every Snowman, Claude has a story.

His life was short, but it was full.

It all began in a place where snow-- the stuff that made Claude who he was-- comes like a thief in the night. Only the truly watchful residents of the place could have hoped to design a specimen with the caliber of character Claude possessed.

And the residents of this place were truly watchful. They watched the weather and the skies all day until snow started to fall. Then, while the rest of the neighborhood was sleeping, they made snow angels to ensure it was just the right snow. And it was.

Then, they fueled themselves on adorned pancakes and rest until the morning light seeped in,

And they consulted the secret blueprints that had been waiting for just the right snow to fall.

And it was then that Claude was conceived in a ball of leafy, dirty snow, which the truly watchful residents took great care to purify before Claude Snowman was introduced to the town of Backyard Bliss.

Each piece of Claude was rolled with care,

Given buttons of solid Holly Berry,

Molded down to his very feet,

And patted to a state of perfection that few others in his species have ever known, even if their lives were longer.

And the truly watchful dogs of the neighborhood wondered silently what their humans were up to. They wondered if perhaps their humans needed to fetch a ball-- the good, yellow bouncy kind-- in order to lure them back into reality.

Until,

The truly watchful residents stepped back and said hullo

To the exquisitely amiable

Claude Snowman.

At least 6 feet tall and more stunningly charming than his blueprint suggested he would be.

And suddenly,

Even the dog understood.

So, that's the story of Claude Snowman.

I will not share the pictures of Claude's demise later in the afternoon. I want the world to remember him in his prime.

Our Valentine's Day

consisted of none other than Julia Child's

French Onion Soup,

which I've been wanting to try because of the Farmhouse Kitchen's raving review.

And it did not disappoint.

And for Husband:

the world's Gold Medalist in the Chocolate Truffle Cake event.

I will post this recipe sometime this week. It's one of the few desserts that I have made more than a few times. Husband loves it, hence the Valentine's Day meal.

It's so good that I have to hurry and brush my teeth after dinner so I can say NO to a slab of it right before bed. This isn't the stuff you want hanging out, making itself at home in your gut just before snuggling down for the night, I assure you. It would move in and set up camp in the thighs, chin, and upper arms and only leave by severe force. It's the kind of stuff you want to eat much earlier in the day-- like for breakfast-- so you can burn off at least a smidgen.

It's MMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Speaking of, I think it's time for breakfast :)

I hope you all enjoyed meeting Melissa of Hoot Baby and hearing her career story yesterday!

dogloos, watercress soup, and a whole city shutting down

2.5 years ago, Khan lived in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida where a January afternoon often consisted of a merry romp through salty waves and fetching seashells across the sand.

We then moved to Charlotte, where he has often wondered what happened to that place called the beach and why we don't take him there in the afternoon. No matter, he concludes. The Charlotte parks are fabulous havens for a dog.

So that's all fine, but now THIS, the Khan thought early Saturday morning.

What's this curious thing outside our front door?

So the brave Khan checked it out. And determined it was good.


We got barely enough snow to cover the ground by the time it was finished.

But that was enough reason for Charlotte to shut down.


There was hardly a soul out on the road or walking the streets downtown. The entire choir skipped church on Sunday and the lack of their leading voices caused the substitute pianist to cut the recessional hymn down to two verses instead of four to put the the thirty folks in the congregation out of their humiliating misery. We who came to church to hear a sermon and say a prayer just couldn't get the tune by ourselves. It left me very thankful for the choir.
And today, school is canceled indefinitely.


In the meantime, the colors that usually blend to make a harmonious palette of earthy tones and occasional hints of brighter, merrier colors, are popping out like fireworks against the snow.

It feels very wintry, indeed.

I havn't even noticed before now that Husband has not pulled his shriveled peppers from the ground, they blended so well in the dead grass.


Yes, Charlotte's population had a good time with this winter luxury, which the weather channel termed "ice pellets" rather than snow.



It crossed my mind to metamorphosize into a modern-day Laura Ingalls Wilder and pour squashed strawberries and sugar into this bucket for nature-made slushies. A vague understanding of pollution and human filth was all that restrained me.

Khan noticed some things that brought him joy and enthusiasm as well.

He worked long, hard hours to excavate his favorite sticks from the snow.

And soon he resembled a frozen version of that dirty-nosed pup on the beach.

In honor of the cold, I made Julia's Watercress Soup.

And discovered I don't like watercress soup.

So,

I won't be making that again.

I did, however, like the peppermint mocha brownies I made to share at a cookout and a Bible study.

And Husband made a Dog-loo for Khan,

but couldn't force him inside

So he agreed to let him sit beside it and have his picture taken.

I also made a Linzer Torte:

Which wasn't exactly delicious,

But we ate it anyway because we were snowed in :)

It's been fun having a little snow this winter!