what could be sweeter?

It seems that the major themes of my blog tend to be either Liam or baking.   I guess it’s clear where my priorities are.  That said, here are some holiday highlights in our house this week, some regarding the former and some the latter.

On Monday we were driving home from gift shopping and listening to Christmas music on the radio.  One song was about baby Jesus so Liam sang along in the softest sweetest falsetto “baaaaby, baaaaby, ahhhhhh”…..melted my heart!

Later that day we went to see a house in Mill Creek famous for its light display, which is choreographed to music that they broadcast from a short wave radio station.  We parked across the street so Liam could get out of his car seat and see.  He was jumping up and down at the window with excitement.

On Tuesday Liam donned an apron to make gingerbread cookies with Grandma Patty for the first time.  I’m sure Grandpa Keith will enjoy eating them!

Then on Wednesday Phil and I were up until 1am baking a dozen dozen (that’s 144!) Mint Chip Fudge Cookies to take to all of our neighbors.  Our house smells delicious!

Mint Chip Fudge Cookies


Adapted from “The Good Cookie” by Tish Boyle


Makes about 4 dozen cookies

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped


2 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped


2 cups all-purpose flour


1 tsp baking soda


1/2 tsp salt


11 tbsp unsalted butter, softened


1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar


3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar


1 tbsp unsulphured molasses


1 tbsp vanilla extract


2 large eggs, at room temperature


1/2 cup nonalkalized cocoa powder, sifted


12 oz (1 bag) of mint chips (you can substitute your favorite flavor of chip such as dark chocolate, white chocolate, peanut butter, cappuccino, etc.)

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Melt chocolates together, stir until smooth, and set aside. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

2. Beat the butter on medium-high until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually beat in sugars and continue to beat for 1 min. Beat in the molasses and vanilla, then the eggs one at a time. Beat in the cocoa powder, then add the melted chocolate and mix until blended.

3. Reduce the speed to low and blend in half of the flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Then, using a wooden spoon, fold in the remaining flour, then the mint chips. Do not overmix.

4. Drop dough in walnut-sized mounds, 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets. Flatten the balls slightly, and bake for 11-13 minutes, until tops are puffed and cracked. Do not overbake, or cookies will be dry. Cool on baking sheets for 3-5 min, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

gift bag makeover

I often wonder why gift bags can cost upward of four dollars when seemingly equal-quality bags are given away for free at local department stores.  The only difference is the store logo.  So, why not reuse some scraps of pretty wrapping paper from past gifts to add strategically placed festive décor to conceal said logos?  Get crafty, save money and be eco-friendly at the same time!

all dressed up

comfort & joy

What could be better than a fire in the fireplace, Christmas music playing, candles lit and PILES and PILES of cookies on the counter!  Today I hosted a tea party and cookie exchange with my homebuilder ladies while my husband and son went Christmas shopping.  Now we're eating cookies and watching "It's a Wonderful Life", which I have never seen before (I know, I know).  Ahhh, Christmas time.  What else can I say.

Visions of Sugar

Cookie Monster!

Here is the recipe I made:

Sour Cream Honey Snowflakes

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup honey

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon orange zest

1/8 teaspoon salt

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, sour cream, honey and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture. Cover and chill for 2 hours or until easy to handle. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with a 3-inch cookie cutters dipped in flour. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie baking sheets. Bake at 325° F for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Decorate with white icing and granulated sugar. Yield: about 8 dozen.

Hawaii!

Ok, I finally got around to posting my journals from our Hawaii trip.  Reading it makes me want to go back already!

November 12, 2010

“Relaxing” is not a word you would think to describe a six hour trans-Pacific economy class flight with a one year old.  But this was one of the best flights I have ever had.   After waking up at 3am to make our first connection to LA, we had a five-hour layover before our flight to Kona.  Liam was good on the first flight.  He was so sleepy that he was pretty zoned out.  At LAX we had breakfast and then parked ourselves in a corner of the terminal and watched Liam bounce up and down as he held onto the window ledge, enthralled with all of the action out on the tarmac.  He would exclaim, “ooh!” and point at each plane and we would say “yes, an airplane” and he would point to the sky and we would say “yes it’s going to take off into the air”, and then the conversation would repeat.   He sat and read books to himself, examined every light on the walkway, and played soccer with Phil between rows of seats.  By the time we boarded the plane, he was so exhausted that he fell asleep before we even took off.   The flight was only about three quarters full so we had the entire back row to ourselves.  I stretched across the seats and snuggled up with Liam on a pile of pillows.  We slept for almost three hours while Phil watched movies.  It was so great.  He only protested a little as we were landing but then he was thrilled to look out the window and see the other planes.   As we exited everyone commented on how good he was and how they didn’t even notice there was a baby in the back of the plane.  When we got to our hotel we ate dinner at the boat landing café and then went to sleep.

Are we there yet?

November 13, 2010

After a great night of rest we woke up early (because of the time difference) and went to breakfast.  Our package included daily breakfast at the resort buffet, which is amazing!  Coconut French toast, papaya, star fruit, dragon fruit, homemade doughnuts, Kona coffee!  Yummy!  After Liam’s nap we swam in the main pool, which has a sand-bottom kids area, a waterfall, slide, and rope bridge.  We ate lunch at the poolside café and then walked all around exploring the resort.  In the evening we looked around the outdoor shopping centers down the street and heard some local music in the square.  Liam is being really cute.  He is so thrilled to be with Phil all day long that he just clings to him all the time.  Today he started giving hugs without prompting.  He will just lay his head down on Phil’s shoulder and wrap his arms around him as he pats his shoulder, just like we hug him.  It’s so cute.  When we got back to our room after dinner Liam kept bringing us his shoes and then our shoes and pointing at the door so we got the picture that he wasn’t ready for bed yet.  He’s been saying “yeah” a lot the past few days so when we asked him if he wanted to go get ice cream before bed he emphatically nodded his head and said “yeah, yeah”.  So we did.  It’s vacation right?  It’s ok to spoil him once and a while.

November 14, 2010

After breakfast we hit the road and headed to South Kona for the “green market”, a farmer’s market of organic and locally mad/grown goods.  It was very hot but I was glad we went.  We might have been the only tourists there.  We bought a 2.5 pound mango, a giant avocado, kettle corn, passion fruit iced tea, an art print and a blown glass octopus pennant that we will use for our Christmas ornament of this trip.  Liam ran around and made friends and listened to the live music.  On the way back we stopped in downtown Kona at the Lava Java Bistro for lunch.  Very yummy!  Then we walked along the waterfront and did a little shopping before heading back.  After Liam took a good nap in the room, we went swimming in the river pool before cleaning up and going for a late dinner at the Lagoon Grill.  As we walked to dinner the sun had just set and we heard the sound of the shell horn as the torch lighter ran past us to light all of the tiki torches on the grounds.  We watched him run from torch to torch, all along the water’s edge out to the end of the point.  It was another wonderful day!

November 15, 2010

Today we got an early start and drove around to the Hilo side of the island.  It was 85 degrees when we left our hotel and by the time we got to Volcanoes National Park it was 61 degrees and raining.  I completely forgot to bring jackets for us because it was so warm in Kona.  So, we wrapped up in the beach towels we had with us and went on a short hike through a lava tube, then drove to the coast and hiked along the lava fields.  The trail access is constantly changing based on volcano conditions so we weren’t able to go close enough to actually see fire like we were hoping.  We still had fun though.  We found a little outdoor café near the park and ate lunch under the awning as the warm rain poured down.  Later, the rain stopped so we decided to go to the Panaʻewa Rainforest Zoo.  Liam really liked that.  It is a very small free zoo but there was hardly anyone there so we were able to get right up close to the animals.  We saw a white Bengal tiger, lots of tropical birds, and many different kinds of monkeys including a tiny squirrel monkey which came right up to the fence and we had to hold Liam back because he wanted to pet it.  The drive back was beautiful.  We traveled through valleys and hills and saw so many interesting trees and plants.  Right before we got back to our resort the sun set and turned the whole sky a beautiful bright pink and purple.  After the long day, Liam was exhausted so we had a quick dinner at the boat landing and then went for a short walk around the resort.  It was very windy and Liam could hardly walk without being blown over, but he loved to run from one tiki torch to the next and put his hands up to say “hot” like we do when we tell him not to touch fire.  One other cute thing he did today was when Phil was driving and turned on the turn signal, Liam copied the “click click” sound it made by clicking his tongue.  He is such a silly kid, he makes me laugh every day.

November 16, 2010

Today we swam in the lagoon and played in the sand.  We rented a stand-up paddle board and took turns trying it out.  Then we all got on it together, Phil paddled as I sat on the front with Liam and we circled the lagoon.  We saw a sea turtle and lots of fish.  We walked around the resort and looked at the waterfalls again, then we sat and watched the dolphin show.  After Liam’s nap we got to talk to Mark & Heidi & Eli on skype.  We went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant nearby.  This time we took the train back to our room because Liam really likes to ride it.  Last night we were waiting for the boat and the train came by and then shut its doors to leave and Liam started crying because we didn’t get on.  He likes to point to the train every time it goes by us on the resort.  He likes the boat too but I think he likes the train better because of the automatic doors. 

November 17, 2010

Liam took a nice long morning nap today so Phil hung out in the room while I went out to the point and lounged in one of the sun cabanas.  I felt really spoiled getting to lay in the sun reading magazines as the waves crashed onto the rocks nearby.  I can’t believe how lucky we are to be here.  It has been such a fun vacation.  After that we headed up to Hapuna Beach State Park to play on the beach.  Liam wasn’t sure about the waves at first but then he started to like it.  Mostly he just wanted to draw in the sand with a stick.  Phil and I took turns swimming while Liam happily dug away in the sand.  I love being someplace where the ocean is warm!  Later we played mini golf as the sun set.  Liam even got to have his own mini golf club and he had fun trying to hit the ball.  After that we had a late dinner at the Lagoon Grill by the dolphin pool.  There are so many wild cats here that it is hard to get Liam to sit still while we eat.  He is always wanting to get down and chase them.  We also discovered that he loves reggae music.  When he hears it he starts dancing and laughing.  It’s so cute.  Because it was our last night here we decided to let Liam stay up late and we all went swimming at night.  It is so pretty at night when the waterfalls are all illuminated.

November 18, 2010

Our last day of vacation.  After breakfast we went straight to the pool.  We swam and played on the waterslide for an hour or two trying to soak up as much sun as possible before we head back to Seattle (where the forecast is snow!).   After packing up and checking out of the hotel we still had several hours before our flight so we decided to go to the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park where we saw wood carving, hut replicas and sea turtles.  Liam’s favorite part was the lava rocks.  He kept picking them up and trying to carry them around with him but every few steps he would drop them and have to start over.  As the sun went down it started to rain so we headed to Kona for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  We sat out on the deck overlooking the water as the warm rain poured off the awning.  Liam even ate shrimp for the first time!  It was a nice end to the vacation.  

return to madness

We just spent a week in Hawaii, our first real family vacation!  It was amazing and I will write about it soon, right after I deal with the chaos of coming home.  The day after our return we had Thanksgiving #1 with the Kuhnau Clan.  I made 2 pies.  Then last night we had our monthly fellowship dinner.  I made another pie.  So now it’s Monday and Phil is back at work and I am trying to get back into a normal schedule, except our house is falling apart and, it’s SNOWING!  So it’s amazing and beautiful and all I want to do is take Liam out to play but I know once I let him see it he won’t want to come back in so I am making him wait.   So, back to the house falling apart.  Yesterday between church and making pie I actually took a brief nap as Phil was getting ready to leave for his basketball game.  He came over to kiss me goodbye and I smiled as he whispered in my ear, “By the way, I just broke the kitchen sink.”  WHAT!  I was expecting “I love you” or something.  So yeah, now our kitchen faucet is snapped off at the base.  It can still be turned on; if you just barely lift the handle it will trickle like a drinking fountain.   But, if you apply just fractionally more pressure then it will spray across the room like a fire hose.   I have already changed my shirt twice this morning.  In addition to the faucet, our living room heater is broken, the outlet near it started to smoke when in use, and then there is all of the lighting fixtures that still don’t work.  

Oh yeah, and our camera broke in Hawaii so all of the vacation photos you will see are actually shot as stills with our video camera.  So, I guess that’s our Christmas list above.   But, I guess I should quit complaining because I did just get back from a week in Hawaii and it’s a beautiful winter wonderland outside and I do have plenty of firewood to heat our house.  I am blessed.  So, I think this morning I will forgo trying to do dishes with a drinking fountain/fire hose and instead opt to play outside with my toddler who is still staring out the window bouncing up and down and signing “please”.

Liam's first time seeing snow!

three events one day, three coffees the next

In the life of a work-from-home mama, social contact comes as feast or famine.  Thursdays are Phil's class nights so he is gone from 6am to 9pm.  Many of those nights Liam and I are literally pressing our faces against the front window for the last hours waiting for him to get home, sick of only seeing each other all day long.  Today was the exception.  As I was preparing for a lunch meeting at my house with cousin Susanna, her fiance Kyle, and both of their moms to discuss wedding plans, Phil surprised us by coming home for lunch, AnneMarie stopped by to borrow something, and my dad called to say he would be by later for a quick visit.  Between all of this Liam only managed a short nap and I had time for only part of my lunch and two cups of coffee.  By the time I finished the lunch dishes it was time for me to pack him up and drop him off with Tim and AnneMarie while I went to meet some of my fellow working-wife gal pals for (yet more) coffee, which ended up being my dinner, to discuss the wonders and woes of starting one's own business.  So, here it is 12:17am and I am bursting with creative inspiration (or is that caffeine?) and I finally have the energy to write about the crazy/fun Saturday I had last weekend.

It was a three-event-day that began at 4:30am.  Luckily I was only in charge of the first one, a fundraising breakfast for Puget Sound Christian Clinic  that I had been working on all summer.  It went really well, everyone was very friendly and helpful and we had a great turnout.  

After that, it was home to get dressed for event number two, a costume party with about ten thousand toddlers and lots of candy...good thing there was also sangria for the grown ups.  It's also a good thing that my own toddler doesn't like candy (or at least doesn't know any better) and still prefers mini tomatoes.  With the amount of energy he has inherited from his father he needs no artificial stimulation so we're trying to keep him in the dark about the wonders of sugar.  

What tomatoes?

We returned home in time to make another quick costume change and leave the napless, partied-out kiddo with his Auntie and Uncle for (drumroll...) our first night apart from him ever!  This involved us transforming from halloween-costumed to formal-event-presentable in just a matter of minutes and I think the time constraint was the only thing that saved me from changing my mind.  By the time I realized how much I would miss him we were already half way to Bellevue for the Tierras de Vida banquet benefitting Agros International.  This is a really amazing organization that Phil and I have both been interested in and a colleague of mine invited us to be part of her table.  Because our table hosts were coordinators of the event, we also received a complimentary room at the Bellevue Hyatt that night.  The event was wonderful with a very moving testimony from a woman who is part of one of their villages in Honduras.  You can read her story here.  It was so relaxing to have a night away.  In the morning we enjoyed a fabulous breakfast at Twisted Cork and by then I was ready to get back to my little boy.  I burst through the door calling "Hi Liam!" and bent down to greet him as he ran down the hallway... only to have him shoe me away with his hand so he could lean around me to smile at Phil.  I guess it's clear he's his daddy's boy.

pumpkin patch!

The best thing about having a kid is getting to do all of the fun "kid stuff" without feeling like a grown-up dork. For years we have been going to get our pumpkins at The Farm at Swan's Trail in Snohomish (www.thefarm1.com). However, without a kid at your side you can't fully appreciate all of the festivities of this place. Last year we tried to join in on the fun, saying it was for Liam's benefit, but at 2 months old he wasn't much of an alibi. This time, it was for real and we got to totally indulge the experience with him. I mean, this place is like an autumnal theme park! In addition to the pumpkins and much-publicized Washington State shaped corn maze, there is a hay maze, playground, petting zoo (with 1 day-old baby piglets!!!), hot apple cider, duck races, pig show, old tractors to climb on, and a whole room full of dried feed corn to roll around in! We met a few of our friends there, donned our colorful boots and rain gear, and reveled in the October wonderland! Afterward we headed to a carving party where we were up to our elbows in pumpkin goo. We finished the evening off with fully-loaded caramel apples. Halloween sure is a good consolation for summer being over with.

grown-up prom

Remember how the best part about going to a high school dance was spending the whole day getting ready with your girlfriends?  That's just what we did this past Sunday.  The credit all goes to John and Tash, whose fabulous idea this all was.  A group of us Homebuilders (young marrieds class) girls spent a couple hours at my place sipping champagne (well, those of us who weren't pregnant), trying on dresses, and painting our nails while our wonderful husbands were down the street at the Croziers' place cooking us a fancy dinner.  We had a blast before the evening officially began and then went on to enjoy a lovely group date night away from our kiddos.  We even had a prom-style photo station!  We must make this an annual event!

blomberg boys don't sit still

What a week!  Mark and Heidi got to come to Seattle before they leave the country again so Liam got to meet his cousins Eli and Jack for the first time in person!  Now they'll know each other better when we talk on Skype.  It's been a whirlwind of visiting the zoo, kiddie pool, Ballard locks, Great-Grandma, jumping on the trampoline, staying up late, roasting marshmallows, and fighting over toys.  Ahhh, toddlerhood.

a piece of cake

Every non-scheduled Saturday morning this summer we have spent strolling the Edmonds Farmer’s Market; Liam strapped to Phil’s chest in the carrier and waving to everyone we pass.  This weekend was no exception.  I sipped my pumpkin spice latte and filled my canvas bag so full of organic veggies that it dug into my arm.  To counter all that healthiness we were sure to stop by the booth that makes fresh mini doughnuts.  This was a great way to start a day of baking inspiration.

In preparation for an “Under the Sea” themed double baby shower I was throwing on Sunday, I whipped up a batch of cupcakes and had way too much fun with my frosting piping set!  Fish-delish!

Couldn't help but hum the Little Mermaid soundtrack as I worked!

That evening was a birthday party for my cousin Stew to commemorate him surviving a quarter-century.  I decided to go all out and bake him a 4-layer cake with alternating layers of carrot and devil’s food chocolate.  I’m not much of a rule-follower so I can’t resist messing with recipes.  So, for the carrot I went beyond the usual cinnamon and vanilla and threw in some ground ginger, almond extract and a touch of cocoa powder, just to give it harmony with the chocolate layers it would reside next to.   I frosted the whole thing in a cream cheese icing and covered it in orange polka dots.  I wish I would have thought to take a photo before it was devoured.  Instead, I will post a poem written for me by Stew’s roommate in praise of my bakery creation:

HANNAH.. in honor of your complete dominance and skill in bakeryism, I have written an acronym out of your glorious name.

H: Hot diggity dog, that was a GooOOOoooD piece of cake!

A: Amazingly talentedesteresterest baker

N: Never before have I tasted perfect perfection of double, almost triple rainbow, but today I did.

N: No nonsense heavenly carrot/chocolate cake, aka carocolate!

A: A+

H: Happiness.

because my to do list isn't long enough already....

For me, September always felt like the new year rather than January.  Maybe it is from growing up with teacher mom who's schedule revolved around the school year.  Or, maybe it is my intense connection to summertime that causes me to feel a sense of mourning and rebirth at it's end.  This past year has been the best and craziest of my life so far.  I had a baby, quit a job I loved and started my own business which I love even more. It's been a year of self-discovery, euphoric joy, unexpected heartbreak, overwhelming thankfulness and overpowering love.
I have been feeling the need for an outlet to express the inner monolog I narrate in my head all day, so I decided to jump on the blogwagon and put it out there for the world to see, even if no one reads it.  Well, my mom probably will (if her dial-up internet is working that is).