Zitronenplätzchen/Lemon Curd Cookies

Another recipe I want to share with you. I found this onlne when I was searching for something to use some left-over homemade Lemon Curd. They are really good, light and fluffy and if you don't watch it you can easily eat 5 of them in a row.

German Recipe, scroll down for English version

400 g Mehl
100 g Speisestärke
300 g Butter
150 g Puderzucker
Prise Salz
1 Pkt. Citroback
1 Ei
1 Eigelb

Füllung
1 Eiweiß
1/2 Tasse Lemon Curd (gekauft oder selbstgemacht)
75 g Puderzucker

Aus den Zutaten für den Teig einen Mürbeteig herstellen und den im Kühlschrank ruhen lassen.
Dann den Teig ca. 4 mm dick ausrollen und mit einem runden Ausstecher Plätzchen ausstechen. So ungefähr 4-5 cm Durchmesser.

Mit einem Teelöffel eine kleine Menge Lemon Curd in die Mitte des Plätzchens geben und den Rand mit Eiweiß bestreichen. Das Plätzchen zusammenklappen, so dass die Ränder aufeinander liegen. Mit einer Kuchengabel zusammendrücken.

Bei 175° (Umluft 150-160°) ca. 15 Minuten hellbraun backen.
Die abgekühlten Plätzchen mit Puderzucker bestäuben.


English Recipe

4 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup Corn Starch
1 1/3 Cups Butter
1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 tsp. Lemon Extract
1 whole Egg
1 Egg Yolk

Filling
1 Egg White
1/2 Cup Lemon Curd (store bought or homemade)
1/2 Cup Confectioner's Sugar

Make a dough for all ingredients and store in the fridge for at least one hour. Roll out and cut out 2 inch rounds with a Cookie Cutter. Put a teaspoon of Lemon Curd in the middle, brush the sides with egg white and fold to make halfmoons. Bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes, let cool and sprinkle with Confectioner's Sugar.


Enjoy!

Irene

Oh Jared...

Please excuse if this post is a little blurry and I use phrases like OH MY GOD or equal a lot...I am still in a kind of post-concert bliss and I feel like a teenager again.

Why is that you ask? Well, I went to a Rock-Concert yesterday, and not just any Concert, it was 30 Seconds to Mars and it was absolutely GREAT!!! Better than I had ever imagined, I had been anxiously waiting for the day ever since I ordered the tickets in June and I was all giddy and excited all day. Even the fact that I had to sit at the doc forever (had a check-up appointment but they had an emercency coming in and I had to wait for over two hours) wouldn't put me in a bad mood like it usually does.

I know, being over 30, I am not a "normal" teenie-fan anymore, and I was made aware of that even before the concert when we were watching the "hardcore" fans down on the floor (we hads seats on the stands) sweating and getting squished in the front row. I used to be one of them, pushing my way to the front or second row (no matter how much the others would kick me or swear at me), sweating, jumping, singing band songs really loud, but watching that yesterday I couldn't imagine myself down there (at least not until I saw them being brought up on stage to sing with the band during the concert, THEN I wished i would have gotten floor tickets!). There was one girl who had to be taken out by the medics even before the show started because she had fainted and there were a few more during the concert.

We were there around 6 pm, the doors open not long after that, we found our seats, got something to eat and I bought a T-Shirt as a souvenir. Then we waited and watched the crazy people down on the floor. At 8 there was a pre-band, actually it was some 30STM Crew Members playing Cover Songs for about 30 minuted and then more waiting until the band came around 9:10 pm.

What I really like about 30STM or especially their front man Jared (besides him being a real hottie) is that they are soo close to their fans. During the show Jared would stop singing and just talk to the fans, interact with them, get some of them out of the front rows to put them on stage and talk to them like they were friends. At one point during the show he was at the front of the stage, really close to the fans singing "Hurricane" unplugged (just him and his guitar) and they pulled on girl out, she was obviously dehydrated and about to faint. He stopped singing, asked what's happening to her, if she is OK and talked to the security to put her up on stage with him. he had her sit on stage, close to him for about 15 minutes while he sang, every so often checking on her, talking to her, hugging her and gave her a kiss on the cheek (which nearly made her faint again). It was sooo absolutely great. OH MY GOD, how I would have loved to be her or to be close enough to the stage to be chosen as one of the fans to be up on stage for some of the songs.

 

me before the Concert

♥ Jared on stage ♥

They played for 90 minutes and it was soooo GREAT! Really, it was such a great Concert. I actually came home and checked online to see were they are going to be next and I am seriously thinking about going to the Concert in Hamburg, because they will be there in 10 days and we will be visiting my parents that time, they live about an hour away from Hamburg. They Nuremberg  Show was inside, the one in Hamburg will beOpen Air which I think is even better. Open Air Shows in the Summer are the best things ever!!!

And now excuse me, I will go and listen to some music or watch the Closer to the Edge Music Video once again (it's the BEST Video!!) or surf the web, look at some Jared Pictures and drool ;)

Irene

Busy

Yesterday morning I sat on the couch and thought about posting another entry but couldn't really come up with anything. I was gonna name the blog post "Bored" and tell you all how bored I am and also tell you that I had recently read a blog post from someone (on a blog I found when I was blog-hopping because I was so bored) who wrote about the "Epidemic of the "I'm so Busy-i-tis" " which is a sarcastic look onto people (or moms) who think it is necessary to tell the whole world how busy they are by rattling off their to-do lists to anyone who will listen because it makes them feel important. You can read her blog post here (and she also has some more intersting ones). I was thinking about it and actually realized I was totally "un-busy" right then. I mean there are a lot of things that need to be done around the house, but I didn't feel like doing them. But then I thought about it again and said to myself "get your lazy butt off the couch an do something" Hubby is on a business trip, due to be home tonight and wouldn't it be a nice surprise if the whole house is squeaky clean (for once, usually it's on a "clean enough"-level) because both of us don't feel like spending our weekends frantically cleaning toilets or dusting. And with him working during the week and me, well being a housewife (you know, housewife TV, Coffe parties, shopping trips, doing my nails ;) ) there is no time during the week for frantical deep cleaning.

So I spend yesterday morning cleaning, continued after picking up my son while he was taking a nap and even got a few things done in the afternoon while he was playing (first he helped me by dragging his toy vacuum cleaner behind him playing "vacuuming" but then he went back to making a mess in his freshly cleaned bedroom) because my daughter all of a sudden was able to spend some time at the neighbours playing with a boy from her kindergarten (his grandparents are our neighbours and he often spends his afternoons there with his mom, they really like Jenny). In the evening a friend came over and I offered to help her with something so that also kept me busy for a while this morning. For lunch I went to meet her to talk about stuff and after picking up Fynn from the kindergarten I should be finishing my cleaning spree right now but as I saved the best for last (cleaning the bathrooms) I don't really feel like it... *sigh*

Oh well, off I go...

Irene

P.S. somewhere in between I also applied for a job, waiting for a response now so please keep your fingers crossed, who knows maybe I will be busier that I want to in the near future.

Gnocchi with Cheese Sauce

Sharing a recipe today that I came up with myself. Well, I googled a bit to find out how much I need of each ingredient to make enough for me and hubby (and maybe the kids even though I didn't think they would eat it). To be honest, it's basically a "clean out my fridge"-recipe because I had a lot of different kinds of cheese left over from other dinners I made the days before. But it turned out really good and hubby liked it a lot so I thought I would share. It's also really easy and fast. And you can use other pasta if you like, we ate the rest of the sauce two days later with regular pasta. You can also use other cheese but I suggest not using to many different kinds and not ones that have a strong taste.

Gnocchi (as many as you need) I bought a pack with 400g which was enough for me and hubby and the kids
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Flour
1/2 Cup Milk
different kinds of Cheese, I had some left-over goat cheese, some cream cheese, grated pizza cheese (Gouda and Mozzarella), Gouda.and Parmesan.
cherry tomatoes
roasted almonds (I would have preferred pine nuts but didn't have any)

*Melt Butter in a small pot, add Flour, stir constantly until it combines and immediately pour milk to make a thick sauce, put in the cheese and melt together, add milk as you go to make thinner. Put in salt and nutmeg if you like (i don't, but I saw it in one of the recipes I found).
* cut cherry tomatoes in halves
* roast almonds or pine nuts in a pan until slightly brown
* boil water and put in Gnocchi (or cook other pasta)
* arrange Gnocchi on plate, pour sauce on top, top with some cherry tomatoes, nuts, Parmesan Cheese and fresh basil.

Enjoy!

Irene

Waiting in Line

Ok, so one of my pet peeves is people who try to sneak in front of you while waiting in line, or people who pretend they are in a hurry and ask if they could go ahead, even though I don't really have a lot in my cart. If I do have a lot and the person behind me only has like 3 things I will tell them to go ahead anyways most of the time. I act the same way, I will gladly move ahead if someone offers but I rarely ask. It's a nice gesture to let someone go ahead and think it is just a matter of politeness if you have a shopping cart that's really full and the person behind you only has a frozen pizza and a bag of chips to let them go ahead.

I am usually a calm person, I think it is a waste of time and energy to start arguing with people who are ignorant and sneak in front of you just to save a minute or two. I usually don't go grocery shopping in a big hurry so I don't care if it takes a few more minutes. But I've had a situation once which kinda upset me and really made me mad. We were at an open house with my mom and the kids, it was almost the end of the day and the kids were tired. There was this guy who was blowing up ballons and making them into llittle figures and shapes for the kids and my daughter wanted to get one. There was a line, or well, more like a lot of parents waiting for their turn while the kids were all up front watching him do it. I was standing there and next to me (not behind or in front, but kinda left of me) was this woman. She had (I think) three kids, her husband, her parents and some other woman with her plus two strollers. As the line was really long my mom and I had taken turns waiting (and walking around or chasing my son who wouldn't wait in line patiently) and I asked her if they were in front of us and she said she thinks they kinda snuck into the line, but she wasn't sure. The woman was impatiently watching and commenting about how long it takes and stuff, which was kinda annoying. My daughter was up front watching and she is very curious so she asked a lot of questions like "what are you doing, is that an elephant, why are you not taking a blue balloon but a red one", I mean, she is 4 and she wasn't doing any harm, just jumping around really excited asking questions (in no way was she trying to sneak in or go ahead). That woman was looking around, and it seemed she was trying to find the mother to whom "that girl" belonged, probably fearing she would have to wait a lot longer just because one kid will sneak in front of her kids. At one point one of the kids wanted a butterfly and my daughter said "I want one, too", I heard that woman mumble something. Then my daughter said "but I want mine to be purple, not blue" and that woman serioulsy snapped at her saying "sure, but you will have to wait your turn first like everyone else." My daughter looked at her puzzled and was a little unsure if she meant her, so she looked at me.

I was about too explode, but I was just by myself and she had like 5 other people with her so I didn't. I called my daughter to come stand next to me, gave that woman an evil look and waited (it only took like 5 more minutes). If she had said anything else I probably would have snapped at her with some really bad words.

Yesterday I had another weird encounter with someone who apparently doesn't believe in waiting in line. I was at the gas station and it was really crowded, lots of cars there so I had to wait. I drove up behind a car whose driver had just finished pumping and was walking inside to pay. I had to park pretty close to him, almost touching his bumper so another car could pass behind me, it was clear that I was next. I saw that man inside had paid and was walking out so I started my car. And all of a sudden some old guy is walking past my car, sneaks in front of it, lifts the nozzle and starts filling the gas canister he is carrying. The other car drove off and I had to maneuver around him and then back up to get close enough to the pump. He was standing there, not moving an inch until he was finish and then slowly walked inside to pay. Something like that has never happened to me before and it totally caught me off guard. I looked around and saw that two other pumps were free, so I have no idea why he chose the one I was waiting at.

So seriously, having to wait in line (or being stuck in traffic) is probably the worst thing and can totally ruin my day, especially when dumb people are around me.

Irene

Poop

Yep, you read that right. I was going to tell you that little story yesterday but then I was lazy and all of a sudden it was 5 pm. I still had to do some grocery shopping and also our old neighbours (which are good friends) wanted to visit for a BBQ.

Anyways, let me tell you this little story about my son. It is kinda gross but also kinda funny and definitely something to remember and tell at his wedding one day (*evilgrin*)

Fynn is a little over two years old now (his birthday is in May) and he is still wearing diapers. We have tried sitting him on the toilet once in a while, he sometimes even demands it when he sees his older sister or one of us. So far nothing really happened, he once pooped a bit but that was probably pure luck because it was almost right after dinner. Usually he would sit for a minute and then decalre he is done and wants his diaper back. I am fine with that, no need to hurry.

Our daily routine during the week is that I pick him up for the kindergarten around 12:45 pm, he has lunch there around 12 and after picking him up I put him down for a nap until around 3 pm and then we go and pick up his sister. He usually sleeps those two hours and most days really needs it because they go outside to play a lot and run around so he is tired. But every once in a while he comes home and doesn't feel like sleeping. He will throw a fit when I try to put him to bed and will yell and scream and cry for a while. Sometimes it takes up to an hour for him to fall asleep. Some days he will go to bed without any problems but will sit there and babble, sing, call my name, tell me he's not tired and other things. It doesn't happen very often but has occured a few times that he will not sleep at all during those two hours.

A few weeks ago was one of these days, he was bbaling, calling my name and singing and all of a sudden he called me and said "Mommy, Fynn no diaper, I took it off." I went upstairs and there he was, standing in his bed holding his diaper. He had managed to take off his pyjama pants, open the buttons of his onesie and took off his diaper. I told him that's not nice and he is a bad boy. I also told him he would wet his bed if he pees in his sleep without a diaper (trying to explain that to a two-year old is probably a waste of time, but oh well). That day I had to go up to his room two more times before he slept. He would just smile and giggle and had a good time chasing me around.

It happened again and that time he actually peed in his bed. Hubby was home and after putting the diaper back on twice didn't really care anymore. He told him it is his own fault if the bed is wet (the man's way of doing that). Which it was about half an hour later. That kinda helped and he didn't do it again for a while. Well, until last Friday. I had put him down for a nap around 1 pm and he was not amused. he was crying and didn't want to sleep. Around 1:45 pm he suddenly was silent and I thought he had fallen asleep. A few minutes later he suddenly started crying, really loud, kinda hysterically. "Mommy, Fynn pee, mommy look pee". So I went to check, turn on the light and he shows me his hand, suddenly quiet and smiling "look mommy, chocolate". I scan his bed and say "eww, that's not chocolate, that's poop" (bad idea). He starts crying again "mommy, wash hands, eww, poop, look my legs". It was everywhere. His hands, legs, his bed...and outside of his bed was his (clean) diaper. Guess he took it off and fell asleep.

So I called hubby to come upstairs and we put him in the bathtub to clean him off. I cleaned his bed and put new sheets on and after putting him back to bed he was asleep in no time.

He talks about it every day now, when his diaper is full or if he sees his sister use the toilet so I guess it stuck. Let's just hope he won't do it again, it was really gross.

Irene

Tiramisu

This recipe is one that I have made many times, it's one of the favourite desserts of my family. Usually my dad (and I) would make it for every party or celebration. We would also bring it to parties as a gift.

It calls for one ingredient and I don't know if that is available everywhere. Löffelbiskuit (Google tells me it is called Ladyfinger Cookies in the US). Basically they are dry sponge cake cookies that are shaped like fingers.

 

(c) http://www.baking911.com

Recipe: German version, scroll down for English Version

500 g Mascarpone
4 Eier
2 EL Zucker
1 Pkg (250 g) Löffelbiskuit
1/4 Liter Espresso (oder starker Kaffee), kalt
Kakaopulver
Eierlikör oder Amaretto (nach Geschmack)

* Kaffee zubereiten und kalt stellen
* Eier trennen, zuerst Eiweiß steif schlagen, danach Eigelb mit Zucker cremig schlagen
* Mascarpone mit Eigelbmasse verrühren
* Nach Belieben Alkohol zufügen
* Eischnee unterheben
* Löffelbiskuit kurz in kalten Kaffee tauchen und in eine Auflaufform nebeneinander legen
* Mascarponecreme drüber geben
* Mit Kakaopulver bestreuen
* Kalt stellen, eventuell im Tiefkühlschrank kurz anfrieren


Recipe


500 g Mascarpone
4 Eggs
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 Pkg (250 g) Ladyfinger Cookies
1 Cup Espresso (or very strong Coffee),cooled
Cocoa Powder
Amaretto or Advocaat (Egg Liqour - kinda like Egg Nog) - if you like

* make Espresso or Coffee and let cool completely
* separate Eggs, beat Egg Whites until stiff, beat Egg Yolks and Sugar until very creamy
* add Mascarpone to Egg Yolks (and alcohol if you like)
* carefully fold in stiff Egg Whites
* dip Ladyfingers in cooled Coffee and arrange into square (glass) pan
* pour Mascarpone Cream over Cookies
* sift Cocoa Powder over Cream
* let cool in the fridge, or stick in in the freezer for a short while to eat it slightly frozen

Enjoy!

Irene

Vanillesandkuchen (Vanilla Madeira Cake)

I decided that I will share my favourite recipes with you. Mostly baking recipes I think but also cooking recipes that I really like. Some recipes will be ones that I have used 1000 times, some will be ones I found online, tried once or twice and liked. But I will have tried all of them before sharing them on here - I promise.

Todays recipe is for Vanillesandkuchen. (Google told me that the English translation for Sandkuchen is Madeira Cake)

I found this recipe on www.chefkoch.de, a German Recipe Website were you can post your favourite recipes and others can rate them. I was searching for a fluffy and moist cake for my daughters Barbie Cake back in January and this was one of the first I found. It is really easy and fast to make (especially if you have a Kitchen Aid or something similar) and absolutely yummy! I've also used it to bake muffins and it works well. Best way to eat it is with some lemon icing on top (you know, water, lemon juice and powdered sugar). You can also adapt the recipe and use lemon flavour instead of vanilla if you like. The cake is really moist and will stay that way in an airtight container for a few days. As the Barbie Cake was pretty big and the girls all just ate a small piece we still had leftovers for I think 4 days and it still tasted great on day 4.

Here is the German Version, scroll down for English Version

200 g	Mehl
1 Pck.	Puddingpulver (Bourbon Vanille)
10 g	Backpulver
160 g	Butter (zimmerwarm)
120 g	Puderzucker
3 Pck.	Vanillezucker
4	Eier
125 ml	Schlagsahne
½ Flasche	Buttervanille-Aroma

* Weiche Butter mit Zucker schaumig rühren
* Eier dazu geben und sehr cremig rühren
* Mit Backpulver versiebtes Mehl und die restlichen Zutaten einrühren.
* Den Teig in eine vorbereitete Hupfform füllen
* Im vorgeheizten Ofen bei 160° Umluft ca. 35- 40 min backen (Stäbchenprobe).

2 Cups	Flour
1 Pack	Instant Vanilla Pudding (Jell-o)
1 Tbsp	Baking Powder
3/4 Cup	Butter (room temperature)
1 Cup	Confectioner's Sugar
3 Packs	Vanilla Sugar (in Germany you can get little packs of vanilla flavored sugar, each contains about 15 g - if you can't get it use a bit more sugar and also more Vanilla Extract instead)
4	Eggs
1/2 Cup	Heavy Whipping Cream
	Vanilla Extract

* Cream Butter and Sugar
* Add Eggs one at a time until very creamy
* Sift Flour and Baking Powder together and add to mix
* Add remaining ingredients
* Fill into Pan (recipe calls for a Bundt Cake but I used a regular one, about 26 cm (10 1/2 ''))
* Bake for 35 - 40 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean) at 320° F

Enjoy!

Irene

Grumpy

Arghhh...shouldn't it be summer? Sunny, warm, gorgeous outside? Birds, flowers, butterflies? Kiddy pools, sunbathing and ice cream? A typical day should start with the sun waking you up, putting on shorts and flip flops, grabbing an iced coffee or vanilla frappucino from the fridge and either walking the kids to the kindergarten or taking them in the car with the windows down.

Well, it wasn't really like that before we went on vacation. I guess it was nice weather about 2 times a week, the other 5 days were either grey or rainy or started out great but became grey and rainy around noon, and even if the day was nice, there was definitely a thunderstorm in the early evening and rain during the night (so no sitting outside with a glass of wine enjoying the sunset). We tried having dinner in a "Biergarten" once and ended up eating our food standing under a roof because it was hailing and thundering.

Tuesday was nice, around 28 Celcius, so we went to the pool with the kids in the afternoon, Wednesday I planned to do the same but it started raining around noon, today I woke up to heavy rain and also just found out that a lot of streets and basements/cellars have been flooded in my hometown because of constant rain during the last days. My parents are on vacation so I called them, they asked a neighbour to check and just called to tell me they are on their way back home (about a 3 hour drive) because one of the rooms in the cellar is wet (fortunately not their bedroom). *sigh* It's really depressing !

This weather is making me grumpy, even more because I got used to the wonderful sunny weather on Crete only to return to THIS. Add grumpy and annoying kids plus a few other things not going as planned and it all makes me want to stay in bed all day!

So here we go, a list of things that annoyed me in the past week (in addition to the grey weather):

a) Hubby being sick. I know it wasn't his fault because stomach bugs can happen to anyone, but it totally messed up our schedule and I had to take care of the kids myself instead of relaxing and spending some quality time with my hubby at home. Plus hubby rarely is sick, but if he is he is whiny and miserable.

b) My friend Pascaline came to visit on Monday and we wanted to catch up but the kids were either clinging to me, fighting over nothing or interrupting us with nonsense questions just because they were bored.

c) Pascaline invited me to go out for dinner on Tuesday (no kids or hubbys) so I went out with her while hubby got food from McD's for dinner for the kids. I had done laundry and turned on the dishwasher during the day. We came back from the pool right before I had to leave and while I got ready and hubby checked his work emails to see something important came up while we were gone the kids scattered toys all over the living room. Guess how it looked when I came back around midnight? Yep, exactly like it did when I left. No hung up laundry, no empty dishwasher and all the toys were still there ! Plus dirty dishes everywhere.

d) When I asked hubby what exactly he did Tuesday evening he said: "I was tired and went to bed almost the same time the kids did. I didn't feel like doing housework and anyways, the kids are at the kindergarten during the day so you have enough time to do it yourself." ARGH...

e) Our heating oil was empty right after we came back from vacation. I wanted to take a shower and only got cold/lukewarm water. Had to order some and it was exactly after the price had just gone up. Lots of money to spend which we didn't expect to spend.

f) My microwave is slowly quitting it, it has been acting up for a while now by not heating up stuff anymore on HIGH and only heating stuff to lukewarm on lower wattage (or taking forever to heat it up to hot) every now and then. It worked if you would give it a good smack but now that only works 1 out of 3 times. I know it is old (about 11 years now) so it is OK if it quits working. But getting a new one means having to spend even more money plus I need to search for one that is good, not to expensive, that I like and which fits into the space were the old one is now (it is build into one of our cupboards).

*SIGH*

Irene

Baking (how it all started)

As you can see on my about me and as I have mentioned before in one of my first posts, I really LOVE baking (and eating cake - which is not helpful regarding my weight). One of the many reasons why I decided to start blogging is that I want to display some of my creations. When I first started to do "fancy" baking I went online to search the WWW and I found a million wonderful food blogs, full of wonderful recipes and even more wonderful pictures of the results. I was stunned and fascinated and thought "hey, you can do that, too" While my baking and decorating skills have improved, my photography unfortunately have not (not enough time for it), so most of the pictures are rather "amateurish", taken in my kitchen or on the dinig room table, with bad or no lighting at all. One of my next goals is to learn (teach myself) some basic food photography skills to be able to take better pictures. I once read something like this about good food photography:

To learn how to do good food photography, go and buy a burger and fries at a fast food store, put them on a table and take pictures. If you still feel hungry and your mouth starts watering when you see the pics, you did a good job.

And basically I think that is true, all the pictures I have seen are taken in a way that makes you want to lick the screen or bite into whatever the picture is showing right away. One of my favourite baking blogs is the one from Rosie/Sweetapolita (find it here), her pictures are wonderful and make you (well, me at least) want to start baking and decorating right away. I want to be as good as her one day. Not just with photography but also with baking and decorating.

My fancy baking adventure started at the beginning of this year. My daughter turned 4 in January and I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday. I had been checking out a lot of websites before and had also been enviously looking at my friend Janets' wonderful cake creations, which she shared on her Blog and Facebook. I decided that I wanted to bake a fancy cake for my daughter, no matter what it takes. She told me that she wanted a Horse cake and a Barbie cake, one for her actual birthday and one for the party which we had on the following weekend.

I went online to find a recipe for homemade fondant (that sugary white stuff which often covers cakes or of which edible decorations are made). It is made of marshmallows and powdered sugar and basically feels like Play-Doh. I coloured it brown and made her a small comic horse including a saddle and fences, I also made some of it green and made grass. All of it was put on a star-shaped chocolate cake and she LOVED it.

Here is a picture of the horse:

 and one of the finished Cake:

She wanted her Party to be a "Princess"-Party and so I made her a Princess Barbie Cake. It was a lot of work and looking back (after making a few more) I can see some flaws (but that's just my "wanna-be-perfect" inner self). My daugher also LOVED that one and I was so proud to show it off to the other moms when they brought their daughters to the party.

As a coincidence my sister gave me a book for my birthday...the home guide to cake decorating by Jane Price. She didn't know I had planned a fancy birthday cake, but the gift was absolutely perfect. I found a few cakes that I really wanted to try, learned a lot about fondant and buttercream and decided I would never bake a plain boring cake ever again in my life. Since then I have baked a few fancy cakes, I also discovered Cupcakes, which are actually even better because you can adapt the recipe so you only end up with 6 of them (just to try a new recipe) instead of a huge cake which would feed 10 people (and might not even be tasty or something your family doesn't like to eat).

I was asked to bake a cake for my neighbours 50th birthday and after about two weeks of planning, finding the perfect recipe and sending emails to strangers (I found a gorgeous cake online and asked the blog owner if she could give me any advice on how to do it) I baked her a Sponge Cake with Cherry-Joghurt Filling, topped with cherries and wrapped in white chocolate Panels with Fondant flowers. Her guests were stunned and she loved it. I was soo proud of myself and still like that cake the most of all of the ones I made.

I baked a few more Barbie Cakes, for the daughters of friends and even for one of the moms (she like her daughters cake so much she wanted one for her birthday - she is my age *lol*), a Cars Cake and a Digger Cake for my son and a Cake that looked like a BBQ Grill for my hubby (because he loves to BBQ). I experimented with real buttercream for the first time and tried new recipes for all kinds of cupcakes. I realised that baking is my way to relax, it's a way for me to relieve stress.

One Saturday when I wasn't feeling good I decided I would try out a new recipe (and actually ended up with two because I couldn't decide which one was better). I told my hubby I needed some stress therapy and would spend the day baking. I actually spent 7 hours straight in my kitchen, I baked a dozen cupcakes and a Three Layer Cake, my back hurt from standing all day but I felt good and the results were delicious.

Brownie Batter Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes (recipe can be found here)

and a Triple Layer Cake from Sweetapolita (she used Blueberries but I didn't have any so I used fresh Pineapple)

The only really negative side effect (aside from gaining weight) is that I can't really bake a normal cake anymore. They just look so boring. *lol*

Irene

Work

I've had the discussion about whether or not housework is really work with my hubby a few times and yesterday I was again reminded that housework is not really considered work by him. It was his first day back to working after our vacation and naturally there is a lot to catch up with. He still wasn't feeling 100% back to normal after being so sick last week so catching up with some 100 emails and stuff went a little slow. As Fynn is home on mondays I couldn't really get a lot done in the house because he was constantly disturbing me, doing things he wasn't supposed to, throwing toys or wanted my attention. I usually would start something and had to stop after a few minutes, start/continue and repeat that a few times. Also a friend had said she would stop by after work to catch up and hear how our vacation was and I wanted to be done with everything by then which proved to be impossible.

Well, I wasn't finished with cleaning and stuff and barely finished the cupcakes I had baked and also the kids were really annoying when she came. It was around 5 pm and hubby was supposed to be finished with work also. Well, he came upstairs (he is working in his home-office in the basement) to watch the kids for a while so we could talk and I had thought that he would go on to play with them so I could finish my work but as soon as my friend left he went back downstairs telling me he wasn't finished (and his work is far more important than mine!) and I could do my work while watching the kids.

Don't get me wrong, I know he is the one earning money, he has important meetings, phone conferences, calls from the customer and deadlines to meet. But I also have work to do, and I also would like to be able to do it in one session without being disturbed 100 times. Just imagine how really annoying it is when a simple job like sorting dirty laundry, putting it in a basket, taking it to the laundry room and putting it in the washer doesn't take 10 minutes but two hours because:
a) right after you started sorting laundry your son throws a toy down the stairs and starts crying because you closed the safety guard so he wouldn't fall down the stairs and he can't get it back,
b) once you put the laundry in the basket he cries because he stumbled over said toy which is lying on the floor instead of the table and hit his head on a chair
c) while you are downstairs putting the laundry in the washer he tries to get some juice and spills half the bottle of sticky orange juice on the table and floor (good thing you didn't turn on the washer yet, you can just throw his wet clothes in there too)
d) turning on the washer has to wait until you cleaned up the mess and eventuelly you get distracted enough to forget about it alltogether and suddenly realise you haven't turned it on around 9:30 pm when you sit on the couch trying to relax a little. Which makes you cringe because you have something in there that needs to be clean the next day and the washer needs about 1 1/2 hours to finish. Which obviously means you have to stay up until 11 to be able to either hang up laundry or put it in the dryer once the washer is finished (and you had planed to go to bed early that day).

I honestly forget my laundry a lot, not the "turning it on"part but turning it off and putting it in the dryer, so my dryer usually runs late at night while I sleep.

But back to comparing work and housework. There is a song in Germany "Das bißchen Haushalt macht soch doch von selbst sagt mein Mann, das bißchen Haushalt ist doch kein Problem" which basically translates to "that little bit of housework is doing itself says my husband, that little bit of houswork is not a problem" (sorry for the bad word by word translation). That basically sums up what most men think about housework. I remember my mom telling me that my dad once said how she can count herself lucky for being able to meet her girlfriends for coffee every morning and that she can sit in front of the TV all day and doesn't have to hurry because of any meetings or deadlines. YEAH, right!

Being a mom is a 24/7 Job, your kids don't care if it is 3 am, if they wake up and are thirsty you have to bring them water otherwise they will yell and cry and wake up the whole house, if they decided to get sick and throw up at 10 pm you have to hurry and clean up and turn on a load of laundry (good thing you forgot to turn it on earlier so you don't just have a pair of sheets and some pyjamas alone in there). In the morning you have to take care not only of your own outfit but also 1/2/3 others so no one runs around with dirty socks or in short sleeves when it is snowing outside, you always have to pack more than just your own suitcase when going on vacation, when eating you have to watch them so they don't play with or throw their food or feed them. You hurry to daycare, then grocery shopping, then maybe the dentist for your own yearly checkup (already about 3 months too late but oh well), back to pick up one kid from daycare, put it down for a nap, try to do as much as possible in those 2 hours (laundry, cleaning, having a coffee and the first real food that day), wake up the kid, get the other one from daycare, make snacks, play, comfort them when they cry after fighting over toys...now it is around 5 pm and you haven't really been able to sit down or had a decent conversation with someone your age.

I talk a lot during the day but most of the time it is talking to a 4 and a 2 year old, which I wouldn't consider "grown-up" conversation. Yes, some talks are serious business, like explaining why you a little plastic horse should not be showed down someones throat, that you don't hit your brother on the head because he touched your favourite Barbie or that addressing your sister with "stupid Jenny give me that" is not an appropriate way to talk to family members. So in the evening I just want to have an adult conversation with my husband, who in turn has had a lot of adult conversations with colleagues and customers during the day already and doesn't feel like talking or listening at all anymore.

I really love my husband (and my kids) but I honestly wish he would realise how much work I do and how hard it is some days. Oh, and the most important thing (which is the point that is mostly annoying me):

a) i don't get paid for any of my work (I mean moneywise - not being rewarded with a smile and a picture my daughter painted for me)
b) I don't get any constructive emails or get praised by anyone when I do good work, most of the time I don't even get a "thank you"

That is really frustrating me!!

Irene