Best cake EVER.

Okay, so today is my beloved Emma's fourteenth birthday. I know. Fourteen! It's mind-blowing. We had a whole day's worth of plans, which all had to be put aside this morning when Macklin began throwing up; so Emma called her best friend Bryn and together they went grocery shopping with Blaine (doesn't that sound like exactly what you'd want to do on your birthday?), wandering around Wal*Mart doing whatever they wanted while he filled the cart. Then Blaine took our eldest four and Emma's friend sledding in a blizzard. Fun times.

We had one of Emma's favorite meals for dinner—yakisoba, Japanese fried noodles and vegetables—but the best part of the entire thing (see subject) was the cake. We've been on a lemon cake jag for a while now, everyone wanting lemon on their birthday, so I was glad when Emma said, "Um, cinnamon?" It gave me a chance to flex my culinary muscles a little. So I made a regular white cake, but I took out two tablespoons of the dry ingredients and mixed in two tablespoons of sugar and one of cinnamon, sprinkling that over the batter and swirling it in. Tasty, sure, but it wouldn't have been something to blog about.

If it hadn't been for the brown sugar frosting. When she said "cinnamon" I thought "brown sugar" and the cake came together in my head; but together in the pan, and then in the plate (and then on the fork and then in my mouth) was something else entirely. It was just...seriously, it was too good. I could open a shop with this cake and frosting and nothing else.

Brown Sugar Frosting

1Tbsp butter (and I used margarine with great success)
5 Tbsp cream (which, soymilk works perfectly)
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a small saucepan combine the brown sugar, margarine, cream/milk, and salt. Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Cool slightly, add vanilla, and beat until the frosting is cool and slightly thickened. If the frosting gets too thick, add a few more drops of cream.

But that's not how I made it. I used only 3/4 cup of brown sugar, because I wanted something really like frosting, spreadable, and this recipe didn't sound spreadable. (Actually—true confessions—it was more like icing, just the tiniest bit runny and oh-so-incredible.) So to the small saucepan I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and just 3/4 cup of brown sugar, and then as I was beating it while I cooled I added in powdered sugar in the normal-making-frosting way. It probably took 2 cups of powdered sugar, I didn't measure exactly, I just eyeballed it.

It was a thing of beauty, I'm telling you. If I could give you each a piece of this cake I would.

Happy birthday to my Emma Joy!

A clean slate. Again!

We had a delightful New Year celebration.

In mid-December we'd gone to a party where we played Name That Tune 80s. It was actually sort of embarrassing how good Blaine and I were at that game. I'm sure I came off like Hermione, answering every question before my teammates had even understood what was being asked. (They were younger than me, and didn't have the same knowledge of music in the 80s. And I was just having so much fun!!)

So I tried to think of people who would make worthy opponents for us, and I settled on my elder sister Joan and her husband Laron. We were all, collectively, so into music in the 80s. Well, and still, but that's something else altogether. So we packed up the clothes and the kitchen sink and we headed to SLC to my sister's house on New Year's Eve; the kids played like crazy with their cousins, we played Name That Tune, and a good time was had by all.

Except that my car is having transmission problems, and only made it half the distance to SLC. Yes, I'm bracing myself: this is the sort of thing that's probably going to cost $3000 to fix. Sigh. But the car is almost paid off and hasn't given us any trouble in the years we've owned it, and it's likely once we take care of this we'll be good for several more years. *pets Suburban* For the time being I'm driving Blaine's mom's Suburban, which is newer and oh-so-much-nicer. She has satellite radio, which might just be worth the "inconvenience" of not having my own car for a few days. *pets satellite radio*

Today I'm researching, planning, and making a list of my resolutions for this month, a companion list to my resolutions for the year. Last year I set out to do my resolutions on a monthly basis, and I kept up three or four resolutions a month for the first eight months. Very good things came of my efforts. So I'm trying again this year to break goals off into bite-sized chunks, and to focus on weeding out that which does me harm or little good and replace it with things that are dynamically good and improving.

Here goes! :)

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Now playing: Coldplay - Square One
via FoxyTunes

The door is so delightful

I love taping the Christmas cards all around the calendar on our school room door. It so just such a merry thing to see all those colorful cards and pictures! I have received totally delightful greetings from friends and family, and even from abroad to add to the jolly melange! Thank you so much. *cuddles all my Christmas card senders*

We had a totally fantastic Christmas day. The kiddles seemed satisfied with their presents (which were mainly Transformers toys for the boys, a little clothing, American Girl stuff, and for Kyrie a cupboard for her kitchen toys) and played together all day long, bringing joy to their parents' heart. And I got some fantastic snuggle time in with Blaine! What more could a girl want?

I hope everyone's holidays were merry and bright.

Q & A

My excellent friend Lillian has tagged me for two memes, and I'm going to tackle them both here. Gather 'round the fireside and Learn More About Al. ;)

Making a difference

1. In your opinion, what does it mean to make a difference?
It means to change the world, even in a small way—to do something that simply wouldn't be done if it weren't for me.

2. What is an example of a unique way to make a difference?
I wish I knew! Ah, I struggle to really reach out; it is so much more natural for me to hang around home here and immerse myself in this life. But I do know from experience that it is the littlest things—the seemingly innocuous and insignificant ones—that end up meaning something.

3. Who has made a difference in YOUR life this week?
So many people, I hesitate to choose just one. But I'll say Blaine's biggest client, Cindy. She thanked him in a tangible way for what he does, and it made me so happy to see him realize/acknowledge the worth of what he does all day every day.

4. If you didn’t have a blog, would you still be making a difference
Ack, I'd make a bigger difference if I weren't so addicted to my darn laptop, blogs included. :D

5. What is your favorite thing about the internet?
Information. So much learning at the tips of my fingers! And the downside: it's hard to know when enough info has been gathered, and it's time to stop surfing.

Seven Things

• Share seven random facts about yourself, in your blog.
• Include these rules.
• Link back to the person who tagged you.
• Tag seven more people and list their names & blogs. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged.
  

1. I can resist chocolate, I can resist cake and pie, I can easily turn down ice cream, but cookies own me. I just... must. eat. them.
2. Favorite book: Pride and Prejudice. (Even as wild as I am for the Twilight series, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are the bomb. They pwn. Srsly. :D
3. I love music. I love it so much, not being able to listen to music of my choosing was my One Major Concern about serving an LDS mission. I just didn't see how I could possibly not listen to my favorite bands for 18 months!
   
4. What I would do with my time if I didn't have all that other stuff going on: writing. I plot a new novel virtually every day. Think how many books I'm saving ya'll from reading simply by having all these children and homeschooling!
5. Though I'd never eaten one until I was 30 years old, I adore red bell peppers. Yum!
6. Someday I hope take up snow skiing again. I was just remembering, today, the good old days when Solitude was $10 for a day pass, and Alta was feeling pricey at $15. Thank heavens I cut school so much to ski back then. *tee hee*
7. Because my babies all slept in my bed with me (and because I so often got up quietly in the morning and left them there sleeping, and even put them down for naps in my bed) I have been about 10 years out of the habit of making my bed in the morning. Perhaps "make the bed" will be my January resolution!

Um, I'm treating rule #4 as optional, since I don't even know seven people here at blogspot. So if you'd like to join in and tell your blog readers about you, please consider yourself tagged!

Thanks for letting me play, Lil. *hug*

Pink Lemons

Happy birthday to our four-year-old Kyrie Grace. She wanted a lemon cake. She wanted pink frosting. So what did she get? A pink-and-yellow swirl cake with lemon pudding underneath and pink-colored lemon-flavored frosting on top.


Happy birthday sweet little girl! You're so precious to us.