Thursday, August 21, 2008

Pass the coffee, please

Lilah woke up at 4:00 this morning, apparently mistaking the PITCH DARK for broad daylight. After a few attempts to get her to settle down, I gave up and took her downstairs for breakfast. I had 8 dozen brownies made before 7:00 (see below for explanation of ridiculous number of brownies). Since I got up with her yesterday at 5:45, Matt was going to sit with her until 6 and then go back to sleep (I can't go back to sleep right after I've fully woken up--I'll have to nap later in the day if I can). She pitched a screaming "mamamamamama" fit, so I ended up feeding her breakfast at 5 something. Then she acts tired and cranky, and it's like, I'm not the one who picked this wake-up time! By 8:00 I had 8 dozen chocolate chip cookie bars done, too. At this rate, I'll have all the muffins I need finished by noon.

Knitting: I actually did knit a bit on Placket Pullover. I finished sleeve #2 and I'm at the yoke decreases. If I didn't need the sleep so badly, I'd finish it when Lilah naps. This one is in an orchid color for a baby, and I'm thinking of doing another one in blues for her 2-year-old brother. I usually add a button hole or two instead of the bead thing in the pattern. Then I can pick out cute buttons.

Reading: I finished The Empress of Weehawken by Irene Dische. What a fabulous book. I haven't written up my review yet, but I should have it up tomorrow on On My Bookshelf. It was very complex and moving, so I'm reading the gentle children's series Why Some Cats Are Rascals. Very sweet.

Writing: Nope.

Cooking: I made another batch of jam, this one Mixed Berry. I used 4 cups of strawberry and 1 cup each of blackberries and raspberries. I meant it to be more even, but some of my berries had succumbed to The Creeping Mold, so I had to work with what I had. I added a couple tablespoons of kirsch for a little punch. I used the recipe on the pectin box, pretty much exactly. Jam is fun, and so much less of a production than I'd expected.

We have our playground build this weekend, so I've been baking to feed volunteers. Boring bar cookies, mostly, to keep oven time to a minimum. Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and brownies. I'm also making scones (Cranberry--meant to be Cranberry Orange, but totally forgot to get oranges at the store, oops!), Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (recipe at link on left), Blue Blueberry Muffins from Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke, and Raspberry Cheesecake Muffins.

For us, I made Pasta With Beans, Greens, and Lemon from Cooking Light (Sept 07), a favorite. I'll be making various Mediterranean dips at some point and Gallo Pinto. I have it in my head to make Strawberry Vanilla Jam, and maybe another peach jam. Matt thinks the jam-making is nuts, but he showed a flicker of interest when I told him it makes great holiday gifts for neighbors.

8 comments:

GBK Gwyneth said...

Whoa! You've a veritable bakery over there! Do you deliver? :)

Last night, we had vanilla ice cream and used your homemade ice cream topping on it. YUM!

Rain, rain go away.

mle said...

All this talk of baked goods is making me hungry!

Marie said...

mmm....I love hearing about your preserve-making, makes me want to try my hand at making some jams (and adding kirsch...yum!). :) Hope Lilah finds a better wake-up time soon!

YarnThrower said...

That lack of sleep thing is such a bummer! When my first son was born, my mom gave me the book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," and I followed a lot of the guidelines in that book and it worked out great to get us on a good schedule, though I understand if it's not for everybody. I found it very helpful, though... When that same son was about two and a half, he was rising on his own really early in the morning and running in to wake us up, at 5:30, then 5:00, 4:30, etc. Finally, I bought a digital clock from radio shack that has huge numbers on it, and I wrote "6:00" in LED format really big on a notecard and taped it to the base of the clock. I told my son that he could get up when the time on the clock matched the 6:00 on the notecard. That worked like a charm. He would lie in bed and wait for the clock to say 6:00, then come running into our bedroom saying, "Mommy, it's six zero zero, time to get up." My kids are still early risers, but I make them wait until at least 6:00... Anyway, good luck with getting more sleep.

Funny about your husband perking up when he learned that homemade jam makes nice gifts for the neighbors :-) I wonder if there is a way to use something similar in the knitting venue -- perhaps "dishrags make great Christmas gifts for the neighbors," though that might be more labor intensive than what I'm looking for...

Stefaneener said...

Weirdly enough, one of my favorite memories from Thing 2's early days was taking her for a walk along the beach (the one I run on now) in the sling, and watching the sun come up. Don't know why that one stayed with me, but it did.
This, too will pass, but I loved the book another commenter suggested.

The cookies and jam sound lovely both. Lucky playground people.

Knittypants said...

You always amaze me with all your cooking, it sounds so yummy at your house :-)

Hope you can catch up on your sleep.

String Bean said...

Isn't she SUCH a little angel? I'm never having kids.

Hello, Suzie Homemaker!

We had some cinnamon bread succumb to that same mold. Damn this damp weather.

KnitPastis said...

Whooo, that's alot of baking! Wished I could capture the aroma of all the good baking smells in your home.

Wishing the little one and mom a good nights sleep.