Lemon Doughnuts and more Napa with Kim!

Where to begin.......
Kim and I have been having the best time! We have stayed up late, enjoyed wine and girl talk, lots and lots of laughing, and some baking thrown in there! We went to Napa on Wednesday. I wanted to take lots of pictures of our tastings and all the different places we visited, but I forgot. I have a few pictures though. We went to four different places, and had a picnic lunch. The weather was absolutely beautiful. My kids even got us a free tasting at one place because the lady thought they were so cute. With our wine clubs, and the cute kid discount we didn't have to pay for a single tasting that day. It was great!!

Enjoying our picnic lunch!
Kim and Kate

Aiden doing his running class!

The vines A vine up close, no grapes right now!

Last night we decided to re-create the perfect meal we had at Robert Sinskey the other day. Corny was making steaks, fries, and the olive butter. Kim and I were in charge of the lemon doughnuts, with lemon curd and mint whipped cream. Corny was determined to find duck fat to cook the fries in. We searched high and low at the Asian market and never found it. But we did find a really fun Karaoke place where you have your own room and instruments and you can sing as long as you want! Okay back to duck fat, Corny had to give up on that idea and he was sad. He started working on the steaks while Kim and I caught up on some Oprah and wine. After the most wonderful dinner ever, Kim and I started on the lemon doughnuts.

Lemon Doughnuts

1/2 C water

1/4 C lemon juice

6 oz butter

1/2 t salt

1 t sugar

3/4 C flour

3 eggs

Kim squeezed all the lemon juice, while enjoying a glass of wine.

This is the lemon curd I made.

The doughnuts. Bring water, lemon juice, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil.

Remove from heat and mix in flour. Return pan to medium heat and stir until the mixture pulls away from the pan.

Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl. Mix for one minute to cool the mixture down. Then begin to blend in eggs one at a time. Make sure each egg is blended well before you add the next.

Scoop the mixture into a pan of oil at 375 degrees. Cook until puffed and golden.

Our doughnuts!!

Yummy doughnuts* We made the lemon curd, as well as the whipped cream blended with fresh mint.

Today we are going to go into the city and have lunch at Burger Bar, go to a wine (surprise surprise) tasting event, and then have a girls night. I have not had a girls night since before I found out I was pregnant so I am really looking forward to it. Corny should expect Kim and I to probably get into lots of trouble.

*So in reality the doughnuts were not yummy at all. Kim and I messed everything up, and destroyed the kitchen. Maybe it was the wine, who knows. The problem was I let the oil get too hot. And because it was too hot I melted Corny's thermometer (which goes over 400 degrees, whoops) so I could not tell how hot the oil really was. The inside did not cook. We were sad, Corny was sad, and Aiden was sad. We will try again. Having the correct oil temperature is really important. We feel as though we let Alec down (the chef at Sinskey who gave us the recipe). When we woke up this morning we were told to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen before we were allowed to have breakfast. Corny is mean.

Bread!!

I made my first two loaves of bread with my Kitchen Aid! I love the way baking bread makes my house smell. I didn't get to take to many pictures because I was so excited I forgot, and it only took me about 5 min to make the bread dough. I made a quick rise bread since it is my first time making a loaf. I basically just through flour, butter, sugar, salt, and yeast in the bowl and began mixing as I added in warm water. Easy!! Then it rose in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, and it was ready to throw in the oven. I can do that everyday! Corny has a list of all different kinds of breads he wants me to make, but I need to master the basics first.

About to go in the oven!

Fresh from the oven! Wish you could smell it!

Ready to eat!

I also made another Italian Cream Cake for Corny to take to work on Monday. Kim came on Sunday so she helped me. I was kind of distracted during the process because we were too busy discussing our exciting lives so I felt like I over cooked it a bit. But Corny said it received wonderful reviews!

We decided to take another trip to Napa today since Kim is here. She is a member at 2 wine clubs so we are planning on going to her 2 clubs as well as my club, so it will be a free day! Most likely we will go to at least one more place though! I will do my best to take lots of pictures and give a complete run down tomorrow.

T-ball-Wine tasting-Kitchen Aid.....Doesn't get much better!

This has been a jam packed week! I guess I will start with today and work my way back. Aiden started his first day of T-Ball today. He was so excited he woke up at 4:30 am and did not go back to sleep. So between him coming in and out of our room and Stella waking up every three hours to eat last night, Corny and I were dragging this morning. We made plans to go to Napa straight from t-ball so it was a chore to get up, get all of us dressed and out the door on time! Aiden did really well with the other kids, but his techniques will need a little practice! My favorite part was when he would turn and yell across the field, "I love you Mommy!". Someday he will be embarrassed by me, but not yet!!

Aiden is in the blue and white sweatshirt looking ready to play ball!

You always get bored in the outfield!! I know from experience!!

So next on the agenda was to head up to Napa to visit the winery we are members at, Robert Sinskey Vineyards. Besides loving the wine, we love them because they incorporate food pairings with their tastings. Every month we get 2 bottles of yummy wine, some type of cooking utensil or food product, and a recipe to make to enjoy our wine with. Every month they have a wine release party for their members where they cook food for us and serve us wine (and its free for us!). We always run out of time to enjoy this perk, and Napa is only 30 minutes away! I decided we were going to go today, and we were so glad we did. Even though we had the kids with us it was so nice to sit on the back patio and look at the hills and vineyards and just spend a hour relaxing. We ate the best food, and drank the best wine. We decided that from now on we will make an effort to go up there every month and enjoy the napa goodness!

Here is our menu. The wine is pretty expensive, but it is our monthly splurge. The wine is also well worth the price! I don't know if you can see what we got to eat so I will tell you:

Grilled Skirt Steak with House-Cured Olive Butter and Duck Fat Fries

Warm Lemon Doughnuts with Meyer Lemon Curd and Apple Mint Cream

It was so good, if I had not been at a winery I might have licked my plate! Here is Aiden. He gives the Gig 'em thumbs up in every picture these days. Makes Poppy and Uncle Shea proud though!! Me and a sleeping Stella, and of course Aiden tried to jump in!

Of course we had doctors appointments for Stella. Still no answers on what is wrong. The main problem is her weight. If it does not improve they are thinking about a feeding tube. I am not okay with this (well I mean if she needs it then of course I will be), so Corny and I have decided to take matters into our own hands! We are trying to get her to eat Soy formula, but she wants none of it. I guess compared to breast milk it is no good. I added a little Karo Syrup to sweeten it and add calories (I know I know I know this is not completely acceptable, but we are getting desperate and my aunt used to do it!!) and she does not want it until she is starving. I feel bad waiting until she is starving, but I am hoping maybe she is just extremely lactose intolerant right now and soy will help. Aiden used to spit up a lot too, and once he switched to soy he stopped. I am also going to start feeding her rice cereal, I need to fatten this girl up!! After one Dr appointment I decided I needed to go shopping for new jeans. All of my pre and post pregnancy jeans are too big (yay!!) so I needed a cheap pair of in between jeans until I hit my goal weight, and once that happens I am going to treat myself to the best jeans! I decided to go to Kohl's because it was right there. After I found jeans I wandered over to the cooking section to look at my Kitchen Aids. I do this regularly. I gaze, touch, and pray they will go on sale. That day my prayers were answered. I saw a sign that said 10% all Kitchen Aid products, so I looked at the price tag of one. It was regularly $300 for $150, half off!! I started yelling at Corny to get over here!! I said this has to be a mistake go get the lady. The salesperson came over and said the price was correct and I asked her why?? In her most sarcastic voice she answered me, "Because its on sale...". I had to have it. I am not the best at buying expensive things for myself but I found ways to justify it:

1. Since I died my hair dark I just do it my self at home, that saves a lot!

2. We have absolutely no life, never go out, never go to dinner, never go see movies, that saves a lot!

3. I have taking up the art of clipping coupons, researching the ads, and planning out weekly menus before going to the grocery store, that saves a lot!

and

4. If I can just sell 2 cakes it will pay for it!!! Buy my cakes!!

So I am the proud proud owner of a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer!!

So Pretty!!!!

Corny wants me to start making him bread (another way to save money!!), so that will be my first adventure with my new mixer.

Daisy Cake

Well we got through Valentine's Day! Yay! Our Walgreen's presents were fabulous. I hope they have personal shoppers there every year.

Last night I decided to make a cake. I have been feeling tired lately and spending my down time on the couch watching mostly the Olympics, and that is not okay! I probably should have cleaned the house, but making a cake seemed like more fun. I wanted to try out a few new things. I am really not thrilled on how it turned out, but I learned what I think looks good and what doesn't. I wanted to make a yellow and white daisy cake, because I love daisy's and I love yellow! At the beginning I thought it was going to be another cake disaster though. I was mixing my white cake and somehow got my spatula caught in the beaters. It broke my new mixer I got for Christmas, sorry Dad!! I am hoping it will be covered in the warranty though. I got mad, said ugly things, and probably slung cake batter everywhere. I kept going. As I was pouring the batter in the pans I realized there were bits of metal and plastic in the batter. Then I was more mad. Luckily, I was concentrating on decorating tonight so I was only using a box mix. I threw everything in the sink and rinsed and started over.

I made 2 white cake layers, and one lemon cake layer. I made a lemon curd to put between the layers, and just a whipped cream frosting to put around the cake. Then I made a fondant to cover the cake. I added pictures of the decorating I did.

I make my own fondant. I find it is easier to use than the kind you buy, plus way less expensive. You start with about 16 oz of marshmallows. Put them in a microwave safe bowl.
You will microwave them for about 2 minutes. You will stop every 30 seconds to stir the fondant.

I couldn't take any more pictures for a minute because my hands were to messy! Next you completely cover your hands in Crisco. It's gross but your hands are super smooth for the next few days! Then you take 2 lbs of powdered sugar and knead it with your hands into the marshmallow. Be careful because the melted marshmallows are hot.

You keep working your hands through it until you come up with a tough, elastic consistency. Work it into a ball. I have a fondant pad now that I roll it out on, but before I bought one I just covered my glass top table with Crisco and rolled it out there. Yes it is a mess!!

Back to the cakes. I made three layers, 2 white and 1 lemon. I used a lemon curd in between the layers.

I covered it in a whipped cream frosting. I wanted to keep the flavors light, butter cream would be to heavy for this cake. When you are using fondant it does not need to be perfect. Just get it on there, it helps the fondant stick to the cake. Oh and the wine is Concannon Petite Sirah, I love this wine. I can only have a little when I am decorating because I forget to drink it and wasting wine is not allowed in my house!

Next you roll out the fondant then drape it over the cake. You will just pull the sides down and then cut the excess fondant around the cake.

Then it will look like this. And you have a flawless canvas to work with. I love it!

I wanted to try painting on my design with food coloring for two reasons. First because using food coloring to dye the fondant is tough, it takes a lot of kneading to work the color through. And Second, because I need to learn new things. I diluted food coloring with an artificial clear vanilla extract to make it easier to paint.

Yeah, not really a fan of the painting. I was hoping to have more vibrant colors. Next time I will die fondant and lay across to make stripes, it would be so much more appealing.

I used fondant cutters to cut out daisy's and place on the cake.

I finished painted and I was not thrilled. I know I could have make this look a lot better. But it was 12 am and I was getting tired, so I just decided to learn from my mistakes and do things different next time.

I was however so so so happy with my icing technique at the bottom! See I can learn from past mistakes (ugly Southwest cake!). I decided until I can figure out the perfect consistency I would buy the Wilton frosting that you can use to decorate. It was so much thicker than what I had been using. It made piping out the design so simple. So that added a little more character to the cake.

Corny is going to take the cake to work and serve it in his meeting (where I am sure there will be a lot of discussion of Kevin Smith!!). I will be waiting on feedback! I am going to try and make a special welcome back to California cake for Kim this week. We will see how Stella does with her procedure this week though. I will appreciate prayers on Thursday morning. Please pray they find the problem so we can all move on from this, and most importantly so Stella can finally feel good!

Valentine's Day Dinner

Last night we had our Valentine's day. We had a nice time. Corny made dinner while I made apple dumplings, we opened up a bottle of wine we had been saving for four years, watched Couple's Retreat, and then just sipped our wine and talked. We will exchange our Walgreen's gifts on Sunday, that is if I can wait that long!! I have included some pictures of the apple dumplings, and other things from our night.

Apple Dumplings
2 Cups water
1 1/4 Cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 Cup butter
2 Cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 Cup shortening
4-6 Tablespoons of half-and-half
2 Tablespoons of chopped walnuts
1 Tablespoon of honey
2 Tablespoons sugar
4 Granny Smith apples
butter

In a saucepan combine 1 1/4 C sugar and 1/2 t of cinnamon. Let it boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 5 min.
Add 1/4 C of butter and remove pan from heat. Just set it aside for now.

Mix together salt and flour.

If you have a pastry cutter use that to cut in the shortening. I need one but I will usually use a whisk and mash it, or a for.

Add in half and half by the tablespoon until it is moist. Make sure and use a fork to stir in the half and half after each pour, you don't want it to be too moist.You are done when it is crumbly.

Work it into a ball, then roll it to a 18x12 in rectangle.

Cut into 4-6 six inch squares.

Peel and core each of your apples.

In one small bowl mix together the honey and walnuts. In another mix together the remaining sugar and cinnamon.

Place the walnut and honey mixture inside the core of each apple. Then sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar around it. Place a small piece of butter on top.

Cover the apples in the pastry. I added a heart on top in honor of the holiday!

Bring your sauce back up to a boil and pour on top of your dumplings. Then place in a 350 degree oven for about an hour.The very best wine I have ever had, courtesy of the best wine club ever Robert Sinskey Vineyards. It was perfect!

Beautiful flowers that my Dad sent me.

Corny's dinner of rib eye, and creamy potatoes. We forgot to make the asparagus, so the plate is missing a little green.

And the apple dumpling for dessert. Scoop the sauce on top of the dumpling then serve with some ice cream.

Ricci is coming over tomorrow night for dinner, so I will bake what ever she chooses. I am so excited to see her. San Francisco seems like states away even though its only about 15 miles. So I miss seeing Ricci, Kat, and Yvonne!! Have a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend!!