8 months

Steven turned 8 months on Monday. He is growing like a weed--just starting to grow out of his 9 month clothes and into his 12 months. He's also starting to chub up a little bit, finally, helped along by the fact that he is an eating machine. We haven't weighed him in a while, but just lifting and carrying him I can tell the difference from just a few weeks ago.

He's made a lot of motor milestones lately, too. He can crawl now and it quite quick about it. It's still not "real" crawling up on his hands and knees, but more of the wounded-soldier-dragging-himself-by-his-arms crawling (which, Mike, is different than the "army crawl" which is also on the belly but does involve the legs taking an active roll). Regardless, it gets the job done and I have a heck of a time keeping up with him. No more running upstairs to throw in a load of laundry and leaving him downstairs in the family room unattended. His favorite things to seek out are cords, so we have to watch where we plug in our laptops, phones, etc. We're also going to have to move our TV into the corner so we can plug everything in behind the console and thwart him a bit more. In the meantime I can always stick him in his exersaucer if I need to keep him contained and out of trouble while I get things done.

I love cords--they are fun to shake!

A few days ago he started standing independently as well. He had kind of done it before for about 2 seconds at a time, but this time it was for about 10 seconds straight. He looked pleased, surprised, and a little apprehensive all at once. He's been practicing every day, and only really falls once he tries to take a step. He'll figure out walking before we know it. I'm glad and scared all at the same time.

Crawling is great--I can get to all kinds of new toys!

Candy making madness

Back when I was living in Iowa City, my friend Anne Marie invited me to join her in making candy to share with friends and family. It was a very fun and busy day and got me hooked on candy making (not to mention supplied me with several good recipes!). This year I decided to go with some old favorites and try some new things as well. Mike's partners and clinic staff will enjoy most of the spoils, but I also packed up some boxes as treats for my fellow bell-ringers at church.

First off was mocha fudge. Didn't get a picture, but I doubled the amount of instant coffee powder in the recipe and it tasted awesome!

Next was Mint Oreo cookie drops, made with crushed Mint Oreos and cream cheese plus a little extra mint extract to really bring out the flavor. I dipped them in green candy melts and drizzled with dark mint chocolate.

Then was peanut butter bon-bons. I had a recipe that I liked but wanted to try a recipe with rice krispies this year to give some extra crunch. After an on-line search I found a few recipes and mixed and matched them with my old recipe to come up with something kind of on the fly. Luckily they turned out great. I dipped them in milk chocolate and sprinkled with chopped toasted peanuts.

  

Next up: cookie dough truffles. These are awesome. The recipe is basically a regular chocolate chip cookie dough recipe minus any leavening agents or eggs, and with sweetened condensed milk to hold it all together. I put in mini chocolate chips and finely chopped walnuts, dipped in semi-sweet chocolate and sprinkled with Christmas-colored nonpareils.

 

Then I made two batches of butter pecan fudge (again, no picture of the fudge). I made two because the first batch turned out very crystalline and crumbly and broke into all kinds of tiny pieces when I tried to cut it. Again to the internet to figure out what went wrong (I have made it in the past and it turned out fine, but it has done this before, too). I tried again using a candy thermometer (instead of just timing the boiling step the way the recipe is written) and adding a little bit of corn syrup to the mix to try to prevent crystallization. The second batch was better but not great, so I'll have to take notes and make more adjustments next year.

Finally, I decided to put my new KitchenAid mixer (thanks, tendonitis in my elbow!) to good use and try my hand at homemade marshmallows! I used the recipe and directions from Alton Brown on the Food Network, but substituted almond extract for vanilla and rolled the edges in crushed almonds once cut.

They turned out pretty well, but again I would make some adjustments if I make them again. Alton called for spraying the pan with cooking spray and then dusting with a half cornstarch, half powdered sugar mixture before adding the marshmallow mixture, then dusting the top again before allowing to set. I could taste both the cornstarch and the cooking spray in the final product, so next time I think I would either use butter or no spray (ie use wax paper or similar) and use only powdered sugar for dusting (which is what Ina Garten's recipe suggested), or just use nuts on all sides. Marshmallows are really easy to make with the mixer (you have to leave it whipping on high speed for 10-15 minutes!) but super messy and sticky. Fortunately everything cleans up easily in hot water!

Then I really went overboard and decided to get crafty. I went to Michaels and bought cake boxes (in the wedding section; these are boxes meant for wedding guests to take home leftover cake), which turned out to be the perfect size for six pieces of candy. I made a little guide for the top of the box and a paper band to help hold it shut. I think the final product turned out pretty cute!

After making individual boxes for Mike's partners and my bell gang, I put the rest in boxes and tins for Mike to take to work for the clinic staff to share. We had about 5 or 6 pieces of each kind leftover for us to keep, which is just about perfect. We can't keep all that sugar in the house!!

Scandinavian Smorgasbord

Our church has an annual tradition of having a Scandinavian Smorgasbord in early December of each year. It was started by a woman of Swedish heritage (hence smorgasbord) but soon expanded to all Scandinavian food. We went last year and back again this year. Great food, although since our Norwegian interim pastor and his wife left there was no lefse this year. There was, however, a gorgeous kransekake made by one of the church members.

As I was passing through the buffet line the woman in charge of the event was refilling a bowl with mustard. She said, "I had this mustard sent in from Ingebretsen's in Minneapolis." Sigh.




Of course Steven had to wear his Viking hat to a Scandinavian event. (Yes, we know that real Vikings didn't have horns on their helmets!) He was a big hit and got many oohs and aahs and "how cute"s as we walked in. The woman who puts together our church newsletter was taking pictures during the evening and got a great one of all of us together, which she was kind enough to send to me.