Baked Alaska

So, because the cake I made for George and his mom was such a disaster, I decided to make a different cake for George's official Birthday. The cake I chose? BAKED ALASKA!

It's this amazing combination of chocolate cake, ice cream, meringue, and homemade caramel sauce. It's fairly simple, but has several steps so it is rather time-intensive.

You start out making the chocolate cake and allowing it to cool. When it's cool enough, you pack a bunch of ice cream in the bottom of a metal bowl and top it with the chocolate cake and put it back in the freezer for about 4 hours so it sets nice and hard.

While still in the freezer (right before you get the cake out), you whip up some meringue.

And then you spread this wonderful fluff all over the cake!

The cake then goes back in the freezer until you're read to eat it. During this time, you make the caramel sauce.

First-time experience for me: not only was this the first time I've ever attempted to make Baked Alaska, it was also my very first time inside an ABC store. The caramel sauce is supposed to be flambeed and the recipe called for hazelnut liqueur (don't worry... it all gets burned out!). No stores carried it, so I had to go into the ABC store. I felt super guilty because I had both Lance and Jude with me while I perused the alcohol. Lance kept asking what was in the bottles and wanted me to read the labels. I felt like people were looking at me and judging me for bringing my children with me to buy booze.  I must really love George.

George came home from work and helped by making the sauce.

After going to dinner with Nate (George's brother), we came home, browned the meringue, and dug in. There were a few cracks on the top because I think the ice cream was a little soft and I didn't whip the meringue long enough, but all in all, it was a fly-away success!

Yum!

July 11th

Just a couple pictures I thought were cute we took at my mom's house up in Ashburn.

Jude thought this was so much fun!

Stephen, Jude, and Jason--what good uncles!

Happy Birthday Mom and George!

In George's family there is a tradition that you are supposed to celebrate your Birthday before the actual day (as opposed to after) because celebrating after is bad luck. Today was George's only day off, so we decided to drive up to Ashburn to celebrate his birthday that happens on the 14th and his mom's birthday that happens on the 12th.

It was fun to be with his family, even though George only got to stay for a few hours. We drove up after a baptism that George spoke at this afternoon and went out for sushi with his family.

Sushi never disappoints. George's parents were watching Callie and Bryce that night because Jen and Eric were at a concert so it was really fun for Lance. Not as much fun for the adults who had to keep reminding the kids to stay in their seats and keep their voices down. :)

After dinner, we came back to the Glass's house for cake. So, the story behind this cake. I wanted to make George a Birthday cake and had him find the cake he wanted. He found a great recipe off Food Network and I set to work this morning. I made three tiers, but because we were in a hurry to get to the baptism, I neglected to shave off the domed top of the second layer and simply iced it and placed the third layer on top, assuming the weight would flatten the dome out. I was very, very wrong. By the time the baptism was over, the third layer had cracked completely down the middle to the filling and was slowly sliding off the sides. By the time we got to the Glass's house the top layer was completely off, leaving a crumby, melty mess underneath. I cleaned it up the best I could, but was left with this:

Yum. A puddle. It really was a tasty cake, but the presentation left it a little wanting.  I'm excited to try it again the future. Valuable life lesson learned: always make sure the top and bottom of each layer is flat before you stack.

The kids all helped put the whole package of candles on the cake for George and his mom to blow out. Lighting them was a process undertaken by the Birthday boy and girl.

And of course, after we sang all the kids helped blow out the candles.

Lance and I went out a couple days ago for him to pick out a gift to give George. The gift he chose?  An Ironman toy he'd been trying to convince me to buy for him a day before. After George opened it, it didn't leave Lance's hands until we left for my mom's house around 10:30 p.m. I got him a shirt that had a quote from Arrested Development, one of our favorite shows. It was a lot of fun!

George had to drive back down to Charlottesville so he can work 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. tomorrow. The boys and I decided to stay up in Ashburn because Stephen gives his welcome-home address at Church tomorrow. Hopefully he'll get a good night's sleep in a quiet house. He deserves it!

Cookies and a Cushion

This past week has been one of movies, staying inside, and running the occasional errand (but of course trying to avoid them due to the extreme heat wave). Most days we sat around inside enjoying the air conditioning and relaxing while George valiantly went to work every day.

One of the highlights of the week was making cookies. George and I were surfing our favorite food website and found a picture of these great looking chocolate chip cookies. Apparently it's a recipe from the New York Times.

They turned out great! You have to make the dough a day before, but the wait is well worth it. Here is the recipe from the New York Times:

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons

(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Totally worth it!

And, to end, just a couple pictures from the week.

The boys were playing in their room and Jude crawled right over to Lance and cuddled up on the pillow. I love my boys!

Here is the cushion part of the post. So, one evening after a long day, Lance was downstairs and wanted to watch a(nother) movie. I was upstairs checking my email on the computer and when Lance yelled upstairs that he wanted to watch a movie, I mistook his tone as defiance and immediately countered with an angry "no, and you can't talk to me that way" response. George came to Lance's rescue and explained what had happened. I sheepishly went downstairs to apologize to Lance (who was crying) and when he looked up from the cushion he was crying on, we saw this:

We both ended up laughing really hard and I ran to take a picture. You can even see where his nose was running... yuck. I can't say I'm proud of the fact that my actions caused this response, but you have to admit, it looks pretty funny.

Just another day...

Musical Beds

2-4 players
Mother, Father, Big Boy, Baby Boy

Object of the game:
Players attempt to get a good night's sleep.

How to play:
The game begins with each player in their respective beds. This is often accompanied by procrastination by Big Boy asking for more stories, to watch a movie, or pleading for Mother to lay next to him in his bed. Baby Boy usually goes to bed without a fuss and is sleeping soundly by the time game begins. Father has just popped Melatonin and with the aid of fatigue from a long day, crawls into his bed and attempts to go to sleep. Finally, after Big Boy falls asleep, Mother gets in respective bed and crashes within seconds.

Step 1: Sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. Baby Boy wakes up. If Mother and Father are lucky, Baby Boy will go back to sleep without other player's participation. Repeat x2-3.

Step 2: Although Big Boy slept soundly throughout Baby Boy's noisy attempts to bed-swap, he inevitably will wake up sometime in the wee hours of the morning and make his way into Mother and Father's bed. Usually, Mother player is too incoherent to really know what's going on and moves over to make room.

Step 3: Father player, tired of being pushed around in bed and needing to get up in a couple hours to start his day at the hospital, makes his way downstairs to the couch for some solitary rest.

Step 4: Baby Boy wakes up and needs to eat. Mother player stumbles her way into Big and Baby Boy's room and makes use of the Big Boy's bed while Baby Boy eats.

Step 5: Mother and Baby Boy fall asleep on Big Boy's bed just as Father is waking up to get ready for work.

How to Decide the Winner:

4th of July Weekend

Quick recap:
We got to see Chad for a little less than 24 hours. He flew in to see Stephen come home and then took the train back up to New York the next morning. He's been studying for his Dental Boards and was going to take the test in just a few days, so every second counted. Before he left, he gave Stephen, Jason, and Jacob haircuts. It was so good to see him!

Lance and Vera had a good time playing together as usual. They're good friends. :)

Lance spent the weekend with his dad in Fairfax. They had a great time doing a BBQ with some friends of ours (the Tuckers) and watching fireworks on Sunday with some other friends. Lance is really excited because in his dad's front yard is a nest with two baby robins. They check on them daily.

Friday night Jason went on a double date along with our cousin Kailey. While they were gone, Amy, Stephen, Jacob, and I went and saw Toy Story 3. Jude was down for the night, so he stayed with Mom and Glenn. It was fun to see it without the interruptions. Great movie!

Jude and I made our way down to Charlottesville on Saturday and spent the day cleaning, doing laundry, and mowing the lawn. We were planning on having dinner with some friends, Matt and Lindsey, but George had to stay late at the hospital so we had to cancel. We were pretty bummed.

Sunday George worked in the morning and then we just relaxed that afternoon. Jude is cutting some top teeth so he was a little cranky that evening and we ended up staying home for the fireworks.

Monday was another nice day just being together. We organized and threw things away because we're moving to an apartment in a few weeks. Even though it was mundane and boring, it was so nice just being together.

Stephen is home!

Yesterday, June 30th, Stephen came home from his mission! He served for the past two years in San Antonio, Texas. We were so excited! Monday for FHE Lance and George and I made a couple posters to hold at the airport when Stephen arrived. 

Lance and his poster--The people in his poster, starting at the Left:

Mom (me), Lance (in blue), Jude (the red at Lance's feet..."Jude's crawling"), "my little sister" (the pink---not an announcement), Uncle Stephen (blue), the green is Vera (my mom's dog, with a couple puppies), and DaddyG (orange)

George trying his hand at poster-making. Haha!

George had to stay in Charlottesville because of his hospital rotations, but the boys and I loaded up Wednesday morning and drove up to Ashburn. Stephen was supposed to land at 4, but for one reason or another his flight was cancelled and he had to fly stand-by on a later flight. How disappointing! 

We filled in the time with baths, tidying up the house a bit, and--cementing the patio in the back yard?

Jude after his bath. 

Lance helping fill in cement between the top rocks that were loose.

Tyler is so handy! He and Jake mixed cement and fixed the loose rocks on my mom's back porch in the couple of extra hours we had. Lance thought it was incredible and even got to fill in a crack or two.

Chad flew in that afternoon from New York and was going to just stay at the airport until Stephen arrived, but thanks to Amy (who forgot her phone at work, didn't get our messages that Stephen's flight was lost and thus showed up the airport) he made it home to spend an hour or two with us. This was Lance's reaction when he saw him:

We finally got the word that Stephen was on a plane, so about 30 minutes before he landed we all got to the airport. 

Getting ready...

We positioned ourselves in front of the door we knew he would be coming through (according to the baggage claim officials) and waited. A couple flights of people came through the door and then we were getting people from Stephen's flight! We were watching and waiting, and even had the security guard watching to alert us when suddenly...Stephen walks up behind us and taps Amy on the shoulder!

Apparently, he wanted to surprise us, too, and planned accordingly. It was so good to hug him and have him home again!

Mom and son

Lance was so excited to see Uncle Stephen!

Chad and Stephen

Good buddies--Jason and Stephen (and Amy)

Amy and Stephen

Yay!

Uncle Rob, Tyler, and Jake--thanks, guys!

Lance trying on Uncle Stephen's hat

Welcome home, Stephen!

All the kids with Mom and Glenn

Walking to the car with Mom and Glenn

We had all ridden in Mom's 12 passenger van and with Stephen, there were just enough seats for everyone. We squeezed in and Jason drove (yes, my youngest sibling is now driving) us all to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was so good! If you ever go, get the shrimp scampi. The BEST!

Everyone

Chad and Jude. I needed the extra set of hands because...

Lance was out!

Stephen is one-in-a-million and one of the best people I know. Just ask anyone who knows him. It's been a long two years with lots of changes. We are so excited to have Stephen back home!