Pretty good motor control for a five year old

I drew on the cake with a toothpick and R filled it in. She wanted to crouch under the table to do it in case he came home from work early and ruined the surprise.




Many ways to say Happy Birthday Daddy, and many ways to spell it. The circles at the top are rings on the monkey bars on the playground. Daddy has looooong legs so he can lift her up to them.

Sign for the wall.

Happy Birthday D!

We love you. I can't find those 1966 baby pictures--I wanted to put one here. I'll keep looking.

No fancy lunch for the birthday boy today. Why didn't I think to do that. What a lame birthday for you so far. I will have to make tonight specTACular.

Spring Snow

Once again, the backyard photo bench is piled with snow.

A Note

I don't know why these notes crack me up so much. I find them all over the house.

I found this one in R's room last night after she had gone to bed. She had tried to tape it to her door with a bandaid but it fell down. I believe it says "Please don't come in here."

Vitamin C for a chilly day

March 30

Back in the routine, and more snow.

Sunday Brunch

Brunch to see some cousins visiting from San Francisco.

Only children are always so much more worried about crying than kids with siblings.

Wrangling the talent.

Success!

And this is the lemon tart I brought to the brunch. I am still trying to use up the box of Meyer lemons from Costco. I wanted more of a lemon curd, but I didn't start until 10 the night before and we didn't have enough butter and sugar. So I made a lemon chiffon filling. You could use oranges and regular lemons, but the Meyers are so subtle and perfumed.

Tangerine and Meyer Lemon Chiffon Tart

Ingredients

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Dash of salt
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed Meyer lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh-squeezed tangerine juice
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon grated Meyer lemon peel
1 teaspoon grated tangerine peel
4 egg whites
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

Mix gelatin, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt in saucepan. In separate bowl, beat together egg yolks, fruit juices and water. Stir into gelatin mixture. Cook and stir over medium heat just until mixture comes to boiling point. Remove from heat and stir in lemon peel. Chill for an hour or two, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon. Do not allow it to harden.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar, beating to stiff peaks. Gently fold in chilled gelatin mixture. Spoon into cooled pie shell. Chill until firm, several hours to overnight. Trim with candied lemon and tangerine slices.

The crust is Dorie Greenspan's Sweet Pastry Dough (or pate sablee.) The original recipe is below. I used all whole wheat pastry flour, added some wheat germ and flaxseed, and added 1 T of water to the egg yolks to compensate for the heavier flour and additions.

Dorie Greenspan's Sweet Tart Crust

- makes enough for one 9-inch crust -
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons; 4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Procedure

1. Put the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in—you should have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses—about 10 seconds each—until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change—heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

2. To roll or press the dough into the pan: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.

* If you want to roll the dough, chill it for about 2 hours before rolling (unless you've used frozen butter and the dough comes out of the processor firm and cold, in which case you can roll it immediately). I find it easiest to roll this dough out between two sheets of plastic film – make sure to peel away the film frequently, so it doesn't get rolled into the dough.
* If you want to use the press-in method, you can work with the dough as soon as it's processed. Just press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Don't be too heavy-handed – press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but don't press so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture.

3. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

4. To fully bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F.

5. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil (or use nonstick foil) and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. (Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon (or prick it with the tip of a small knife). Bake the crust for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown, brown being the important word: a pale crust doesn't have a lot of flavor. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature.

Storing: The dough can be wrapped and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. While the fully baked crust can be packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months, I prefer to freeze the unbaked crust in the pan and bake it directly from the freezer – it has a fresher flavor. Just add about 5 minutes to the baking time.