A Day of Forgetfulness and Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

So on Thursday I had a couple of errands to run. First: to get a new phone because Liam ate mine, and Second: To target to get stuff to make a dessert for life group. Since Liam isn't awake for long periods of time yet, I have to make good use of his awake time. So I headed to the AT&T store to get a phone, but they said I couldn't do anything to the account because it's in Dylan's name and he has to "authorize" me. Nevermind the fact that Dylan knows nothing about the account and I'm the actual one that handles things. But then I realized that I forgot my wallet and wouldn't be able to buy a phone anyways so I left. I then headed to target and filled my cart up with all the groceries I needed to make the dessert and was about to get in a checkout line and realized, I STILL don't have my wallet. So I made the walk of shame to the costumer service desk and told them to put everything back.

I went back home so Liam could take a nap and when he woke up we headed back to Target. I did remember to bring my wallet this time. I got home and started making my pumpkin spice cupcakes. Super easy. A box of Spice cake and a can of Pumpkin. I added a little water because it was so thick I couldn't mix it, but it's supposed to be a little dense. When I got around to making the chocolate cream cheese frosting, I realized I forgot the cream cheese. So I had to wait until Dylan got home from work and send him back out to the store just to get one package of cream cheese. Geez.

Needless to say, they were a hit. In all the chaos I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but I will definitely be making them again.

Carbonara Fail

So I attempted to make Spaghetti Carbonara for the first time. And I emphasize attempted. I found a recipe online that seemed simple and pretty legit but what turned out was a salt fest. You could tell the potential was there but the sodium was intense. The only salt I added was to the pasta water, so my only thought is that the pancetta was super salty. I've read online that you can blanch it to remove some of the saltiness, so maybe I'll try that next time. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 lb. spaghetti
1/2 lb. pancetta (sliced 1/4 “ thick at the deli, and cut into lardons)
4 lg. eggs (locally raised and cage-free if possible)
1 Tbs. garlic, finely chopped
1 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, freshly grated
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbs. finely minced fresh parsley
freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated parmesan reggiano to pass at the table

Method:

Put salted water on the boil for the pasta.

Meanwhile, in a very large skillet, saute the pancetta lardons in the olive oil over medium heat until the bacon has rendered much of its fat. You don’t want to cook the pancetta to the point of being crisp, it is better with a little fatty “chew” still left in it. Just before the pancetta is done, add the minced garlic to the pan and allow to cook until the garlic is golden brown. Set the pan aside to cool. (Allowing the pan to cool some at this point is important, because if the pan is too hot when you add the eggs later, they will immediately scramble, and not gently cook into the creamy sauce that is your ultimate goal. The dish will still taste fine if this happens, but it will look like someone gacked in your pan, so be careful.)

Grate the romano cheese and set aside.

Finely mince the fresh parsley and reserve.

Break the eggs into a medium sized bowl and whisk them till smooth. Add the grated cheese to the eggs and keep handy.

Cook the pasta to the maker’s instructions for “al dente”, and as soon as it is done, quickly strain it and toss it into the skillet with the pancetta, reserving a cup of the pasta cooking water to thin your sauce later if needed. Add the cheese and egg mixture to the pasta along with the parsley, and toss to coat. The heat from the pasta will gently cook the eggs, and melt the cheese into a luxuriously rich and smooth sauce. If the sauce is too thick for your liking, add some of the reserved pasta cooking water to loosen it. Check the sauce for seasoning before plating.

To serve, place the pasta into warmed bowls, top liberally with freshly ground black pepper, and sprinkle with some freshly grated parmesan.

Lately

I'm attempting to write my first blog in like 10 days. Things have been a little hectic lately. I'm sure that Liam will wake up from his nap while I'm writing this, so I'm gonna keep it short and sweet. Last week was the week of visitors. My parents, Dylan's parents, and my brother and sister-in-love all visited during different times. Let's just say that Liam wasn't lacking attention. It was so great to have lots of hands to help but yesterday was really hard to recover.

I've been keeping myself busy learning to juggle taking care of Liam, keeping my house in order, making food, and getting life organized. One of the projects that I finished this week was a peg board for the kitchen. Our apt only has 3 drawers so I had to figure out something to do with all my kitchen gadgets. It was really easy to do and only cost about $30.

All the supplies

Dylan helped with all the drilling

The final product painted green (I couldn't resist)

Every Wednesday we get together as LHS for some development. Last Wednesday we were privileged to hear from Dr. Jim Coffield. He is a counseling professor at RTS here in Orlando. His talk was good, but the Q & A afterwards was great. One of the things that he said was "Sometimes I love the story of the redemption rather than the redeemer." And that is so true of my life. I find myself loving the gospel more than the one who created it. It's so easy to get caught up in the work and the mission instead of just loving Jesus. He also touched on parenting which was exactly what I needed to hear right now. Here are a just a couple of snippets:

"Parenting is more about you being faithful then how your kids turn out. It should be measured by faithfulness, not results"
"Our sacrificing is for out behalf not our kids"
"Maybe God just wants our hearts to be broken about parenting"

This is liberating. There is no formula for having the perfect child, and it's not my job to produce the perfect child. I just need to be faithful to the charge that God has given me.

Our group listening to Dr. Coffield

Adjusting

So we've been in O-town for 2 weeks already. Things have been going well. We are learning to adjust to a VERY different schedule than we are used to. I used to think 9 am staff meetings were ridiculously early and would laugh at friends who went to bed before 11pm. Boy are things different now. Yesterday I was asleep by 10pm, and when I was getting up for the day at 7am Dylan was already at the gym. Such a different life, but I'm glad that life is settling into a routine. I've also been adjusting to days without Dylan. I've been sooooo blessed to have had Dylan be home with me for the last 5 months (since he's been able to do some work from home). There is no way I would have survived without him and I think God knew that. Liam is doing better. He's sleeping more through the night (sometimes 7 hours straight) and not giving us too much trouble during bedtime. But for some reason he does not want to go down for naps, especially when we are out. I don't really know how to get him to sleep in public. We've tried and it goes horrible wrong, so I don't know what to do about that.

Anyways, we haven't really taken any pictures since we've been here, so I guess I gotta jump on that. Here are some pictures of our last couple of days in Miami. Oh how we miss MIA.

Lunch at Green Street Cafe. I was enjoying my watermelon lemonade and Liam was enjoying his duck.


Our last meal at Casa Larios with friends. And of course, Marcus stealing Liam.