A Naturist Doctor???

Tonight after his bath, while air drying, Mikah was pretending to be a doctor. This is one of his favorite games; he gets to check us over for any ailment, imaginary or real and then treats us in the way that he best sees fit. His remedies vary from a loving kiss, a gentle wipe with a cloth, a hard whack or a poke with a painful object, or a new solution... spitting on the bruise. He told me that that is what a Dr. does to make a bruise feel better.

He also told me that Dr.'s don't wear diapers, or pants for that matter. They have bare bums. I wonder how his future patients will feel about his naturist philosophy.

Mmm, Haggis...???

Alek has been after me for months to make him Haggis. Why??? I have no idea but I'm thinking that I have his teacher to thank for this particular idea. It seems that the grade 2's had an in depth study of Scotland going on near the end of the year.

I have tried everything to dissuade Alek from the notion that Haggis is really something that he wanted to eat. I told him that I would NEVER cook it (yuck), and I even showed him a YouTube video of someone cooking Haggis. It was disgusting, but his eyes never strayed from the screen. I could hardly watch, but it only renewed his passion for Haggis. I finally broke down and told him that if we ever went somewhere to eat where Haggis was on the menu I would happily order it for him. Then he was happy.

Last night was Alek's lucky night. Folk Fest is happening in the city right now and I heard that the Scottish Pavilion serves Haggis. Yay!!! So, the Mr. and I planned a little surprise for Alek and we loaded the brood into the van and headed to Prairieland Park. I had told Alek earlier in the day that we had a surprise for him that night, and he had been busy guessing for hours what it was that we were going to be doing. Man, that kid has an imagination! But, most of you know that already LOL! When we showed up at the exhibition grounds and he saw all of the cars he REALLY got excited. "Is it the RV show???" he screamed with more enthusiasm than a future Arizona-bound-snowbird. I think he actually leaped out of the van before we had even parked, he was that excited about touring trailers and RV's. "No," I finally managed to tell him when he would let me get a word in, "it's not the RV show. We're going to experience some culture." "Ok," said Alek, who still managed to look excited. "Wait a minute, isn't yogurt made out of culture? I can't believe you brought me to a place where all they have is yogurt!" His happiness had quickly been replaced with horror and anger. Which only deepened when he heard how hard Lev and I were laughing. Only our 8 year old son could make the leap from culture to yogurt! God, it was so funny, and maybe a little scary for me. There are times when I just can't believe how much this kid knows.

After that, Lev broke down and told him what I meant by "culture", and what we were about to do. A big part of me really believed that when confronted with the imminent arrival of Haggis, Alek would change his mind. But he didn't. He loved it. He licked his plate. I had two bites and still can't seem to get the taste out of my mouth. Alek wanted to buy an imported tinned Haggis to take home. We drew the line there.

Movies, Movies, Movies and Popcorn

I'm feeling the need people! You know, the need to go out and indulge in a big bag of buttery popcorn and a great movie.

Here are some that are on my "wish to watch" list

• Funny People
• Julie & Julia
• The Ugly Truth
• Away We Go
• The Time Traveller's Wife

And movies that I need to watch while cozied up on my couch

• I Love You Man (I'm so buying this today!!!)
• Two Lovers
• Sunshine Cleaning
• One Week

Wedding Cupcakes

Okay, I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of the cupcakes that I made for my cousin's wedding. I've even had to sneak home for a few uninterrupted afternoon hours to get it done. Maybe I'll get other things accomplished around the house too, but I doubt it.

The cupcakes were painstaking but I loved every minute of it! Everything was handmade, right down to the tiny gumpaste flowers that decorated the stands. The cupcakes were a huge hit, and it was so nice to see people freely wandering past the table all night long snagging a treat for themselves. The carrot cupcakes with rich cream cheese icing were the hands down favorite; with many people requesting the recipe, and no, it's not a family secret.

So... here it is (note... I didn't have coconut in the cupcakes that I made).

Moist Carrot Cake

3 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups shredded carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x12 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well.
In a medium bowl, combine shredded carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple.
Using a large wooden spoon or a very heavy whisk, add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well.
Pour into prepared 8x12 inch pan, and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. Check with toothpick.
Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Sinfully Rich Cream Cheese Icing
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 or 3cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy (about 6 minutes). Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Whip until light, about 3minutes. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Incognito

Don't you wish that you could just slap one of these on your face and go about your business. I would just be the strange mustache-lady moving about the house doing chores. The kids would be much too wary of me to make contact in any way.

Maybe something would finally get accomplished.

Cupcake Crazy

Oh, the things that I willingly get myself into LOL! My cousin is getting married August 1st, and I offered to make the cake for them. It sounded like fun because they want cupcakes instead of a traditional tier, and I was up for trying something new. Cupcakes sounded so much easier than my usual fondant covered tier cakes. And it has been, but what a lot of baking! My oven sure got a workout this weekend. Hmm, I think it deserves a few nights off. ~hint hint~

I baked 8 dozen Extreme Chocolate cupcakes on Friday and 9 dozen Carrot Cake muffins today, along with a 8" Carrot cake layer cake for the happy couple to cut into. I'm so glad that all the baking is finished!

I'm hot and tired, but it sure smells good in here!

A Look Inside My Head

Just the other night I finally realized that I spend an awful lot of time fantasizing about one particular thing. The fantasy never changes, and it can occupy me for hours. Before you get too excited, it's not that kind of fantasy. I fantasize about moving way up north and stockpiling groceries. I've done it now, I've just admitted how crazy I am.

I like to think about what I would take; what we couldn't live without; how much we would take; and about dropping a ridiculous amount of money on groceries and how long I would be able to make them last; and how organized my pantry would have to be. Can you say, OCD??? I seriously think about this all the time.

It just occurred to me that I've been thinking about this for much longer than a few years. I think it goes all the way back to the movie, Mountain Family Robinson. I loved that show, and even then I was interested in what they took for food staples.

I have more issues than I first thought.