I’m a list maker, a binder gal, an iPhone app junkie. I own not one, not two, but THREE label makers. (One for home, one for the office, and one simply because I liked the fonts better). Yes, I have a problem. I like to organize things. Alas, I was far better organized before I had a family. My loving JavaKids [...]
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I love to tell people that one of the blessings of living in Northern Virginia is that we drive to the east to find museums and drive to the west to find farms. I’ve blogged before about our membership in the CSA (community supported agriculture) program with Great Country Farms, but last week we joined [...]
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Look what I the kids got for Christmas! I’ve waited a long time to get for the kids to be old enough to get an Easy Bake Oven! I remember how much I loved mine as a little girl, foisting impossibly tiny cakes on my parents.
Now that I’m the Mommy, I realize just how awful those little cakes really taste when you aren’t bursting with that I-made-it-myself pride.
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The Floridian in me never ceases to be amazed when it snows enough to actually stick to the ground. I just love looking at the whole world being draped with a nice, white blanket of snow. And of course, the JavaKids and I have to find a way to turn it into a way to make something in the kitchen!
I’m linking you to a post from earlier this year for snow cream and snow candy — both delicious and easy to make! I was going to add photos, but to be honest, unless you a professional food photographer, snow candy while still in the snow does not look much different than — uh– yellow snow from a dog — and once you lift if out of the snow, it is in a child’s (or Mommy’s) mouth so fast, you can’t get a photo of it! Snow cream doesn’t look like much more than white mush in a photo!
You can also mix up a little food coloring and water and get out there and do a little snow painting. Or just go out and roll around in the white, fluffy stuff! Just have FUN!
When you come in, mix up a huge batch of my favorite hot chocolate, read a good book, indulge in a bit of Robert Frost, and relax! (Until it’s time to deal with those sopping wet jackets, snow pants, boots, mittens and so on….)
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It’s been a little rough in the JavaFamily household this week… JavaDad has had the flu and a kidney infection and when JavaDad is sick, no one is happy! It is clear how much we function as an entire unit — when one of us is out of commission, it throws the household out of whack.
So pardon the absence of posts of late, but I thought some of my readers might enjoy a couple from this time last year:
Happy Thanksgiving to you, and among my many blessings are YOU — the readers of Caffeine and a Prayer, which is now ONE YEAR OLD!
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It’s been a while since I’ve posted a fun treat. Here’s my “oh my goodness, I need to make 42 cupcakes” solution for some Halloween fun. I did not invent these, in fact a friend described to me that she was making spider cupcakes and I did a quick search on Google and found tons of variations.
Sadly, my digital camera decided to die a sad Error 18 death this week, so this grainy photo from my phone will have to do. Note that these are not up to Martha Stewart’s standards as my children insist on helping (can you imagine?!) and I have long ago decided that family fun far outweighs aesthetics. Oh, and my son was quick to point out that spiders have eight legs, but as many people mentioned in their instructions, eight legs get a big cumbersome on a cupcake. My son said spiders also have multiple eyes, but I informed him we were sticking to just two.
What you’ll need:
Make the cupcakes and allow to cool. Recommendations online varied about doing legs before or after frosting, but we chose to do them before, poking them into the cupcakes themselves. I recommend putting them as close to the edge as possible and poking them downward (instead of at an angle) and then trimming so that the bottom hits the same point as the bottom of the cupcake. You can cut with kitchen scissors.
After that, smooth on icing with a knife or small icing spatula. You can just roll it right over the tops of the legs and don’t worry about icing underneath the legs (see the beauty of having chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing?) It does NOT have to be perfect — kids will eat these in a nanosecond. Plop on two eyes and you are done. I personally prefer that the Ms of the M&Ms are hidden, JavaGirl insists that they are face-up.
Some people like to add candy corn fangs to the front.
Other suggestions for legs are: pretzel rods, fat black licorce (these would be fat legs that stick straight out), and pipe cleaners (non-edible, of course).
The whole family was able to get involved – JavaDad attached legs, I frosted, and the kids added the eyes. The whole family was able to get involved – JavaDad attached legs, I frosted, and the kids added the eyes. JavaGirl was thrilled to take them to school today and JavaBoy can’t wait to take them to his class tomorrow. Seeing the pride in their eyes makes me glad I didn’t succumb to the temptation to just buy store-bought cupcakes.
Enjoy!
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They Shoot Fat Women, Don’t They? was the title of a 1989 episode of a TV show called Designing Women. In the episode the character played by Delta Burke, Suzanne Sugarbaker, always proud of her beauty queen looks, realized that she was now seen as “the fat girl” by her friends at a high school reunion. She was awarded the “Most Changed” trophy at her fifteen year reunion, as a snark at her physical appearance, and she accepted the award with a lovely speech letting everyone know that she was going to take it as a testimony of how she has changed from shallow beauty to a woman of intellectual and emotional substance rather than the hurtful comment on her weight gain it was originally intended.
I remember reading an article about this particular episode a long time ago, because the episode was written specifically to address Burke’s real-life weight gain. She was a gorgeous, sexy slender woman when hired, and her weight gain became a problem on set between Burke and the show’s producers/writers. Burke’s weight gain was due to a combination of physical and psychological issues and the more she felt pressured about it, the worse it got. Since then, her weight has see-sawed and she has launched a line of plus-sized clothing. At some point she shifted from running from her weight to trying to help others who were heavy feel better about it.
I’m outing myself as a fat woman. I have been terrified of old friends seeing photos of me online in the shape I am in currently and I have decided to end the terror now.
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When you go from being a serial plant killer to actually producing edible vegetables, it is quite an amazing transformation. The sense of accomplishment makes you feel giddy inside and yet it seems almost ridiculous to feel so proud for the simple act of putting seeds into soil and adding water and sunshine.
Yet there I was, proud as could be, when I found actual produce in my yard yesterday. A small harvest, yes, but signs of success. The JavaKids and JavaDad joined in the jubilation as we have all eagerly anticipated the fruits of our labor.
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