Worth a thousand words

This is the perfect mug for this morning, when I've been up more or less since 3:30am.  Sorry, guys, no TWD here today.  Just wanted to let you know I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  I might get some sort of blog post up later, since I'll be home with the small one today.  Yep, looks like Gillian now has what Brianna had last week.  We'll be heading to the doctor later to double-check.  And then there will be naps...
 

Crossroads

It's been that kind of week. No, I think it's been that kind of month. I feel like I can't keep up with much of anything. (School starting this week has definitely added to that feeling.) One of the things I feel like I can't keep up with is the Daring Bakers. I should be posting the August challenge today, and I haven't made it. Since I missed last month, I really need to if I'm going to continue to be part of the group. Which leads me to the question that's been sitting in my brain all week. Is it time for me to leave the Daring Bakers? I know it's only once a month, but it seems like I always end up leaving the challenge until the last minute and then stressing myself out trying to get it done. TWD and the BBA Challenge take up a lot of my time (no plans to quit either of those--I love both too much), and I want to bake other things as well. I joined the Daring Bakers to expand my baking skills and try things I wouldn't do otherwise. The recipes I've made have helped me with both of those. And I hate letting go of something that I've been a part of for a year and a half. But part of me is ready to move on (plus I get a lot of challenge from my other baking groups, too). I just can't decide what to do.

I don't have to work this weekend, so it's possible that I may be able to make the August recipe, though late. Guess we'll see...

My kitchen library

I've talked a bit in the past about my extensive cookbook collection.  Okay, mostly I've talked about the additions that I've been making to it. =)  When we moved into our house (going on eight years ago), we put a bookcase in the kitchen to hold my cooking and baking books.  I figured I had plenty of room for growth.  (The computer is in the kitchen as well--I've got a great set-up!)  But I've been acquiring new books faster than I expected, and for a while now space has been getting a bit tight.  In fact, even though I weeded out some books that I don't use much, the bookcase got to be completely full, with books stacked on top of books and more on the floor.  See:

Yes, this is just the cookbooks.

I've wanted to do something about the cramped conditions in my library for a while now.  I've been scouting out options, and found something at IKEA that I thought would work nicely.  And a couple weekends ago, we finally bought it!  We brought everything home (we got some other storage stuff while we were at it) and being of sound mind (mostly), waited until the girls were in bed to start putting things together.  I have to say, I've put together quite a few bookcases in my time, and this one was probably the easiest I've ever assembled.  

We only ran into one problem.  I measured the space where the old bookcase was, to make sure the new one would fit.  And it would have, as far as height and width were concerned.  But I didn't realize that the new one was much deeper than the old one, and it blocked the access to the bathroom off the kitchen.  After putting our heads together, Jamie and I decided that it would work better in the living room.  So we moved the new one over there (not far) and put the old empty bookcase back in its original spot.

We were too tired that night to actually transfer the books, so that had to wait for the next day.  My kitchen table looked pretty interesting for a bit:

Jamie was at work (morning of Memorial Day), so Brianna and Gillian helped me move the books over to their new location.  It took me a little while to decide how to arrange things and how to adjust the shelf heights, but when we were done we had this:

How cool is that?!  I was able to fit everything into the new bookcase and still have some room left for growth.  I actually put stuff in there that I'd weeded out of the old one due to lack of space.  For now at least, I figure I have the space, so why not just keep them out.  The left side is mainly baking and the right side is mainly cooking. 

Here's a closer look at the baking shelves.  On top are the smaller books which are mainly collections of food essays, rather than regular cookbooks:  

Then we have books from Dorie Greenspan, King Arthur Flour, Rose Levy Beranbaum, and my other bread books:

Next we have chocolate, cakes, and other pastry books from the likes of Alice Medrich, Sherry Yard, and the CIA:

And at the bottom are the more scientific books, from America's Test Kitchen, Alton Brown, Shirley Corriher, and Harold McGee:

So the only question left is, what did I do with the old bookcase?  Well, when we moved into this house, I also thought it would take a really long time to fill up my kitchen cabinets.  But with all the baking I've been doing for the last year and a half, I've managed to acquire a few new pieces of bakeware along with my cookbooks. =)  So I've decided to put some of them on display, along with some of the dishes I use for taking blog pictures: 

Hopefully this will hold me for a while! =)

Breakfast for mom

Mother's Day is a difficult one for me right now. I'm still coming to terms with my mom's death a little over a year ago. I miss her a lot. Since we live so far away from the rest of my family, I was used to not seeing her all the time. We talked often, but not every day or anything. But it still hurts that I can't just pick up the phone and call her whenever I want. I hate the fact that Gillian can't remember her at all (she was only about a year and a half old when Mom died). Brianna doesn't have that many memories either, and none of her before she was ill. So I'm trying to find ways to keep the memories alive and share them with my girls.

Mom with my sister Merri and me; I was probably about 3 (1974)

My mom was one of the most stubborn people on the face of the planet. =)  She hated having her picture taken, so I don't have that many of her.  She didn't hesitate to say what she thought, but she wasn't very demonstrative when it came to emotions.  We all knew that she loved us and was proud of us, though.  We seldom heard it directly--I'd tell her something and she wouldn't say much, but then I'd talk to one of my sisters and they'd say that Mom told them about what I'd said or done.  That was typical.  

Both my girls have a ton of blankets and afghans--many given as baby gifts.  Last weekend, Brianna pulled out one of the afghans and asked where she got it.  It was the one my mom crocheted for her.  Then of course we had to look for Gillian's.  =)  My mom loved to crochet and do other needle crafts.  It was a lot harder for her to do by the time my girls were born, but she still made sure that Brianna and Gillian would have something that she made.  I have no idea how many others she made as gifts over the years, but it was a lot.  

It's the little things that I want to remember.  Like the other day, when I remembered that Mom knew how much I disliked red jelly beans.  So there were never any in my Easter basket.  She was constantly reading, and always had a ton of books around--which in turn taught me to love reading and do the same.  (Though I'm pretty sure my cookbook collection far exceeds what she had... =)  ) And now I'm forever tripping over the books that Brianna and Gillian leave everywhere.  When I'd ask her if I could do something or go somewhere, she didn't say yes or no, but asked me how I was going to make it happen. She taught me to think for myself.  I was laughing with my Aunt Alice recently about one of Gramma's favorite sayings--"So if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?"  Yep, I know where Mom learned that one. =) 

Mom with Brianna and Gillian, April 2007

Someone suggested to me recently that one good way to remember my mom would be to make one of her favorite foods for Mother's Day.  So we had chicken parmesan for dinner (her favorite was with veal, but she liked the chicken version, too), and I told Brianna and Gillian why I made it.  As for breakfast, I mainly remember Mom eating eggs--she liked them just about any way you could cook them.  That love of eggs is one thing I definitely did not get from her, though, so I made crumb cake for breakfast instead. =)  I'm pretty sure she would have eaten that, too. =)  

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there reading this.    

Allspice Crumb Cake

(adapted from recipes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours)

Streusel topping

1/2 cup (2.25 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)

1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

pinch kosher salt

5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Cake batter

3 large eggs

1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (4 ounces) plain whole milk yogurt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups (6.75 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

3 ounces canola oil

powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray the inside of a 9-inch springform pan with baking spray.  (I also wrap the bottom of the pan with non-stick foil before attaching the ring.)

For the streusel topping, mix the flour, sugar, allspice and salt together in a small bowl.  Add the cold butter cubes and use your fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbs form.  Place the streusel in the fridge while making the cake batter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar.  Whisk in the yogurt and vanilla.  Stir in the dry ingredients.  Then fold in the oil, using a large rubber spatula.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.  Take the streusel out of the fridge and crumble it evenly over the top of the cake.  Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Place the cake on a rack to cool.  After about 10 minutes, remove the outside ring from the springform pan, then let the cake cool until just warm or room temperature.  Dust with powdered sugar if desired.  Serves 8-10.

Unfinished business

I had every intention of making this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.  This week, Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle chose Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding.  I've never made bread pudding.  Heck, I'm not even sure I've eaten bread pudding.  And this was chocolate bread pudding, and I love chocolate.  

Unfortunately, the picture above is as far as I got.  I made bread--I made hamburger buns for Sunday's dinner and turned some of the extra dough into a small loaf.  I cut slices of the bread and left them out all day Monday to get stale.  But I guess it just wasn't meant to be, at least this week.

This'll be familiar to a few people that I talk to on Facebook...  Gillian is driving me crazy.  She's two and a half, and it shows.  She's lucky she didn't go to school naked yesterday.  Jamie and I pretty much had to wrestle her into her clothes, with her screaming the whole time about how she didn't want to get dressed, or go potty, or pretty much anything else that we wanted her to do.  I remember Brianna going through a similar stage.  I just hope Gillian's is short-lived, because I don't know how much more of it I can take.  And to make things that much worse, this is exactly the sort of situation where I really wish I could just pick up the phone and call my mom.  I did talk to Dad, and one of my aunts, but it's not quite the same.  *sigh*  

So between kid issues and work issues, I just feel completely worn out.  I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to bake or to blog about the things I have baked.  I have 4 or 5 blog posts started that are just sitting there, waiting to be finished.  I am baking (check out the baking log on my sidebar), but nothing fancy.  But I'm trying to work through this funk and get going again--I think I'll feel better if I do.  I'll have an unofficial TWD rewind post coming in the next day or two, along with a Pay it Forward giveaway that's long overdue.  I'll also have some information soon about my participation in Adopt-a-Blogger.  (It's now closed to newbies, but if you're an experienced blogger who would like to be a mentor, head over to Kristen's blog and let her know.)  So be sure to check back!

Meanwhile, head on over to Lauren's blog for the chocolate bread pudding recipe.  And head over to Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll and see how everyone else did with this week's recipe.