Strawberry Tiramisu

Every year Jamey, Laura and I do our version of Iron Chef Alabama and fix a fabulous dinner to celebrate my parents' anniversary. 46 years and she hasn't killed him yet! Go Mom!

Anyway, this year, I ended up in charge of the desert. Bored with chocolate, we went hunting for inspiration and found a recipe by Giada de Whatsherface for raspberry tiramisu. Sounded yummy. Except that I hate raspberries. Bleck. But, one of the advantages to living in the South is that Florida is just a hop, skip and a jump away, and strawberries are coming into season in early February. Good strawberries just might be better than sex.
















So, strawberry tiramisu.

First, slice up about 16oz of strawberries. I quartered three-fourths of them and then halved the rest. The halves went on the top to look pretty. Sprinkle them with a couple of tablespoons of sugar and let them get happy while you work on the other stuff.
















Next, you're going to mix 1 cup of strawberry jam and 4 tblsp of orange liqueur. Something like Grand Marnier, only we used a knock off that Martin brought back from Puerto Rico because GM is $40 for the small bottle. Yikes.

















Mix 16 oz of marscopone cheese and 2 more tblsp orange liqueur.
















Then add 1/4 c of sugar and 1 tblsp of vanilla to 1 cup of heavy cream.














Whip until soft peaks form. Fold the whipped cream a little at a time into the marscapone.

Now put a layer of ladyfingers in the bottom of your dish. A trifle bowl works best, but we were too lazy to walk to Nanny's and get one, so we just used a pretty bowl.
Dab those ladyfingers with some more of that orange liqueur.
















Top with a layer of the jam...















then a layer of the whipped cream and marscapone...
















then a layer of those luscious strawberries. Try not to eat too many.
















Continue for two more layers.
Arrange some whole strawberries on top and sift on some powdered sugar to make it all pretty and.....Voila!
















Chill for a couple of hours or overnight before serving.

Just lovely.

















Yum!




















Aren't you jealous?

Reflections on a decade

On this first day of 2010, I've been thinking about how much has happened in my life in the last decade and hoping that the next ten years are just as wonderful. Ten years ago, I was newly engaged and trying to finish graduate school and plan a wedding. The wedding was lovely, the master's degree didn't get finished. That's my only real regret in life. But still, I've accomplished so much in the last ten years.

I have gotten married. Bought a house. Given birth to three gorgeous children. Written two books, even if they will never see the light of day again. Adopted pets. Buried pets. Buried a grandparent in law. Made new friends. Celebrated with old friends. Had fights. Made apologies. Gone on vacations. Sunk into depression. Lived life to the fullest.

In other words, I've lived and loved and mostly had a wonderful time doing it. I cherish every memory and hope the next ten years is packed just as full of laughter and life as the last ten years.

Happy 2010 everyone!

Man sick.

You know what that means, right? It's what we women call men who act like they're dying when they just have a little cold. They lay around on the couch and whimper and beg for sips of tea.

I have a confession to make. Bill is not the person in this house who gets man sick. When he's sick, he piles up in the recliner with his laptop and proceeds to work from home all day long. I offer medicine and tea and he usually refuses. He's pretty good at being sick.

Me, on the other hand, well, I'm the one who gets man sick. I hate being sick, so I get whiny. I curl up on the couch with books and tea and a blankie and try to get Bill to do all the work around here.

I have a cold right now and I'm moping around this morning whining to myself about how much my head hurts and my sinuses are on fire and whah whah whah whah whah.

Yep. The woman of our house is secretly the man as evidenced by the fact that I get man sick.

Autumn is for Apples

We eat tons of apples in our house. Quick, healthy, yummy snacks. Apple pancakes. Apple crumble. Fried apples. You name it, we probably like it. Ellie likes Granny Smiths, Emma likes Galas, Sam like Yellow Delicious and Galas. I like them all, but my absolute favorite is the elusive Honey Crisp. It is apple perfection. Crispy, juicy, sweet and crunchy. Not mealy or mushy or tart or dry. Honey Crisp apples are the greatest apple ever. And apparently the growers know it because it is rare to find them for less than $4 a lb. I won't buy them at that price, but last week Target had them in a 4lb box for $5. Heaven. I ate one on the way home and another once I got home. We'd eaten most of the box in less than 24 hrs. A box of Honey Crisp apples is better than a bowl of candy any day.

A Blessed Veteran's Day

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

Better late than never

We had a great Halloween. Kids had a blast, got tons of candy. Trick or treater numbers seemed to be down this year. I don't know if people were thinking it was going to rain and planned something else or if they were afraid of the piggie flu. But, we had fun.

In the spirit of the day

Be it Samhain or Halloween for you, I made pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. And the kids loved them. Ellie said they were better than my usual pancakes. Maybe I can come up with other things to do with pumpkin that she will eat.

So, Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain to you all!