Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Lovely Photo Wednesday - Come and Link up!

Lovely Photo - Wordless or Not-So-Wordless Wednesday at Aspire
It's time for this week's LPW! Hope to see all of your smiling faces in that linkup box below! I had a blast checking out all of the lovely entries last week and reading your darling words...or...not reading your words. Many of you went titless--for which, you deserve buckets of cookies. Or my good friend Morgan's rainbow-colored cake. But onto other matters...

If you're friends with me on facebook, you've likely already seen this photo. It was taken up on my vacation a month ago to Duluth with my grandparents, aunt, and brother, Brennan.

I miss Duluth. I really do.

imissduluth

This is just a taste of the photos from the trip--I know, it's been forever, but I'm hoping to get my post written about the vacation soon. It's just that sometimes the memories are so poignant that you're afraid that your words won't justify them. So you let them roll around in your head for awhile, until you've found the right ones to say. Or close.

But enough about me, I want to hear about you! Or more appropriately, I want to see your lovely photo! So join in and in the theme of i heart faces, make sure to check out at least three other entries. Spread some love and bloghop around a bit. I can't wait to see all of your lovely pictures!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

And finally...Eli's birthday.

blowingoutthecandles

So begins the epic tale of a darling little two three year old. Also begins the story of a girl who lost her USB cord for her camera after going on a vacation, who then was unable to use her camera to upload or take pictures for two weeks until she discovered it buried underneath books and other miscellanies in her laptop case.

They're both very thrilling stories. Really. But there's no glass shattering, fudge burning, ER-trip-visiting involved.

Which is good.

laughing

socute

Many of you have commented on the cuteness of Eli. Looks can be deceiving. He is cute. He is also three. Those of you with children will understand.

car1
car2
car3
car4
car5
car6
car7

Why am I taking so many pictures of cars? Perhaps I like cars. Perhaps I like the color. Perhaps at heart I secretly want to become a race car driver. Perhaps I like the thrill of cars. Or perhaps I like the fact they can sit still for one second. Yeah. Point taken.

likethisshot
I like this shot. I like it a lot. In fact, I like it enough to use it twice in the same post. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. Point and shoot cameras don't produce good bokeh. Period. But they can give you background-blurring on rare occasion. If you're lucky. Or if you try every possible angle. Either one. And when I can get it--BING. Instant happiness.

By the way, the BING is related to something on my twitter, where I mostly ramble about cliche writing phrases, hot jalapeno poppers, and shamelessly retweet witty tweets.

Tweet is a funny word. Reminds me of treat. Which reminds me I'm rambling. So back to Eli...

mmmblackandwhite

He had a good birthday. My grandparents came over and celebrated with us as well. Nothing much to say, except it was fun. And restful. Which is also very good. He loved his presents, including this bubble blowing thing which I'm convinced I'll have at my wedding someday.

Wouldn't that be awesome?

licking it up

This shot wasn't posed. I promise. He was eating. So I told him to hold still. That's not cheating, right? Wait, don't tell me--I don't want to know.

notposed

Speaking of cheating...Eli snuck some of his whippers before we cut the cake. Ahuh. I told you it was good.

sogood

How's your week been? Had anything yummy lately? Let me know. I'm all ears.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Yesterday I made...fudge.

alltherecipes

Yesterday was one of those deliciously yummy summer days when the weather is perfect and you're just itching to do something--anything--as long as it's exciting.

chocolatechips
condensedmilk

So I made fudge. I'm not sure that's necessarily considered exciting, but it was spontaneous enough for me that it made for a fun afternoon. Being the amazing chef that I am (HA! I usually just leave it to my sister, Chloe, because she's actually good.) I googled "five ingredient recipe fudge." and "easy fudge." Because I'm just that talented.

Seriously.

I ended up going with a recipe that seemed simple enough. I'd hunt it down for you, but you can find oodles of fudge recipes at allrecipes.com (where I went). You can find oodles of any recipe there, actually. It's a stockpot. Hence the "All Recipe" part.

butter

So my journey began. I was venturing in the vast wild unknowns of fudge. As we have no microwave (sadly, it died a few weeks ago) I had to make the fudge on the stove. Did you know that fudge can burn? My mom reminded me a few times. I was not gonna have burned fudge on my hands, no-siree-bob! (I was actually hoping not to have burned fudge in the pan either...)

chocolatechips

Then my mom said to just put the ingredients in a glass bowl and put the bowl inside a pan. What? Okay. I'll trust her. Even though she did just buy The Joys of Jello cookbook. (I admit, it was for sentimental reasons.) Won't the glass break? I asked (I had earlier asked to just use a glass bowl on the stove--ouch! And you didn't believe me when I said I was no maestro!)

"Nope." She assured me, and with visions of glass exploding and shattering in my face, along with burnt fudge, I began. I had several moments of panic, because I couldn't find a few ingredients (after I poured the other ingredients in the bowl of course--oh, boy!) and then some pan issues, and all, but I was ready. I hadn't been waiting to do something spontaneous all day to end up with burnt fudge and glass in my hands. And a trip to the ER. Nope. Didn't want that either.

fudgerecipe

As my water began to boil, I frantically put the glass bowl in the pot and waited for the ingredients to start melting. Panicked, I saw only little smears of chocolate chips--no full blown, "Hey, look at me--I'm melting, what a world, what a world!" Granted, it hadn't been a minute yet. Don't look at me like that!

ingredientsinthepot

I lifted the bowl out of the pot for a moment and was deluged with steam. Yowch. Add second degree burns to that list of injuries I didn't want to come into the ER for. I put it back in and stirred the ingredients and they turned into goop! Really ooey, gooey goop.

That freaked me out. Of course I would be the one to end up with inedible fudge--typical Hannah.

inediblegoop

But then, something magical happened. The goop turned into soft, thick and completely mixed in fudge! It wasn't goopy anymore! And it smelled good. Really, really good. Enough for my siblings to snitch some of it off the spoon.

Perhaps I wasn't a flop after all! The first time since making it, I had hope.

I spooned into a pan and then tried to smooth it out. Tried. How on earth do those chefs get perfectly flat and smooth pans of fudge? And you know what chefs I'm talking about. Those chefs, the ones on Food Network who can make anything look and taste good with no sweat. And they never get burned by fudge, or have glass blow up and shatter in their face, or make trips to the ER because of burns from steam. (luckily, I hadn't either, but I still wasn't clear.)

After I put the pan of fudge in the freezer I waited patiently for it to be done. It took about a half an hour to set and get firm. I checked it at 20 minutes, took it out, and asked my mom to tell me what she thought. She pushed it with a finger and said, "It's done." I however, wasn't so convinced. It wasn't that hard. Clearly her overeagerness to taste my delicious fudge had blinded her to such a degree that she would do anything to eat it. Or maybe she just didn't like super hard fudge. But I, being selfless, said that I'd put it in the freezer for ten more minutes. There was a loud groan from my siblings because of this.

This was how I looked.

me

Like I said, I was patient. Then I cut it (and probably bended the spatula I cut it with. Yes, spatula. I didn't want to end up accidentally cutting myself! That fudge was hard then!) and took the smallest piece for myself. Which in hindsight, I question, but it was the most accessible.

By then, my siblings were standing near me with plates. Yes, plates. For fudge. Sorry, kiddos, I'm not that generous with my portion sizes.

I had a small spasm of panic. What if it doesn't taste good? What if no one likes it? What if it just tastes like melted chocolate chips? These thoughts did not stop me from tasting it. So far, I hadn't had glass explode, the fudge burn, get burned myself, or accidentally cut myself cutting the fudge. So far so good.

And then, it got better.

That fudge was good. And so worth it. Even despite all of my fears (however reasonable or highly unreasonable they were.) Now I've gotta get rid of it. Oh, wait. Never mind. It's almost gone. All my hard labor (hee hee...) devoured. Like flies to honey. Like moths to light. Like my siblings to the fudge. Wait. Oh, right. It was my siblings.

fudge

What have you done that was spontaneous lately?

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Lovely Photo Wednesday - Come and join in the fun!

Lovely Photo - Wordless or Not-So-Wordless Wednesday at Aspire
I've seen all the Wordless Wednesday threads and link-ups floating around everywhere, so I thought, (or rather, my brilliant mother gave me the idea) of creating Aspire's own Wordless Wednesday. Now how's that for fun?!

So as I like to be spur of the moment (not really; I just couldn't wait to get this up and share it with all of you) today will be the first link up of Lovely Photo Wednesday! (the abbreviated form is much too long, so Lovely Photo Wednesday it is!)

So grab a button and link up! Put in a photo of yours that you've just fallen in love with, or maybe one that has a hilarious, side-splitting back story to it. Be as wordy or as silent as you wanna be. You can even be a rebel and have no title.

Ooh. Dared you. Up to the challenge? Kudos to you if you actually brave the lands of blogging-without-a-blog-post-title!

But seriously, join in! The more the merrier! And before I forget, here's my own submission. From Eli's birthday (a post on that coming soon, friends-o-mine!)
Blowing out the Candles

And since I'm so excited for this (can't you tell?)...I'm opening up the link-up tonight! Remember to bloghop around and check out the other entries! Can't wait to see what you all come up with. Ciao, lovelies. Cookies for the no-titled posters. And I mean it. Metaphorical cookies, of course.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Yes...we like pancakes.



We like pancakes at our house. There's something so delicious about the simple, yet oh-so-yummy taste. And it's easy to make. Which makes it a must for mornings where we have no cereal, or any other breakfast food. You can put just about anything on pancakes, and we have. Syrup, butter, jam, hot sauce...





I was just kidding about the hot sauce part.




But pancakes taste even better when you have a certain three old boy make them. Or at least stirs them. And if he decides to lick some pancake batter that he accidentally dropped on his finger, that's fine by me.





After all, all great chefs taste their food, right?




Oh goodness.



And sometimes, we put green food coloring in our pancakes. Except this "sometimes" was only once and it didn't turn out so green after being cooked.




The boys thought it was cool though. The green made up for the pancake letters that somehow broke--let me just tell you that to do a "B" is nearly impossible. And Eli loved being able to say he made the pancakes. We had fun.



And that's good enough for me.



What's a favorite breakfast food at your house?

Friday, August 20, 2010

Happy Birthday Eli

Today is my sweet brother Elijah's birthday.
eliman
He is turning three. Or as he says, seven.
moreeli
We're still working with him on his math skills.
elidriving
Eli is a man of many names. Such as Moochie Man, Lijah, Muscle Man, Eli-Boy, Lijah-Boy, Moochie, Buddy, Buddy-boy, and Lijey, to name a few.
eligogglesandall
We like nicknames in our family.
moreeli
Eli is smart. Funny. Creative. Darling. A lover of food. Silly. Goofy. A dreamer. Inventive. A toughie. A sweetie. Adorable. And very loved.
justhopingandstaringwaiting
He is a mischief-maker sometimes.
allinnocent
But when you see this face...
elicryingupset
 oops. not that one. hold on a second.
when you see this face...
eliwavesmilemyheartmelts
...it's hard not to smile.
eliboy
Happy Birthday, Elijah.
eating
I love you.
eligrinningiloveyoubuddy