I am a good dad, but a rotten baseball coach.

Granted he was two, but I'm pretty sure that unless he's sliding in to avoid the tag or dodging a high and inside brush back pitch, he shouldn't be on the ground. As of right now I think hes just attracted to the violence of hitting things with a bat. I hope that he will develop into a decent athlete despite all my "help." Otherwise we may need to hide from his swing away mentality. You can't really tell from the video but I am holding him back from swinging and as soon as I let his bat go he's attacking anything in the way with all his might. He's all boy that,s for sure, and he's figured out a lot of boy things without my help. Most of the time his mom, sisters and I wonder where he's getting all the things he comes up with. For the most part we are just holding on for dear life and trying to stay out of the range of his swing. Luckily this video didn't meet the AFV standard for baseball videos.

God bless us and our cake

As I stated in the Monte Cristo post, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is my favorite book. Ever. One of my favorite holiday traditions is to read it starting after Thanksgiving, finishing it on or near Christmas Eve. I enjoy the many retellings on film with my favorite being the Muppet version followed closely by the 1951 version featuring Alistair Sim (see below). Ebeneezer Scrooge's story of reclamation usually succeeds in bringing a bit of holiday moisture to my eyes especially during Jacob Marley's impassioned lamentation for the good he could have done and let pass by because he was consumed by his business. "Business...mankind was my business..." is my most favorite written line in literature. If human beings could all remember that sentiment and not just at Christmas time we would not force the ill favored children of men, "Want" and "Ignorance," to appeal for relief to anyone but their rightful parents.

I LOVE this beautiful reminder to open ourselves up like Scrooge's nephew Fred and share the goodness of life with those around us. Or the portly gentlemen seeking to provide warmth and Christmas cheer to the poor and destitute. There is much good we can do for our fellow travelers to the grave if we would but open our eyes to see it.

Even young Ebeneezer was treated to "a curiously heavy cake" by his schoolmaster upon leaving school at Christmas time. And while the implication in the indictment of the "curiously light wine" leaves me thinking the cake wasn't so much a delicacy as an affront to yuletide pastry, it made me think of devils food cake, which is at once heavy and deliciously rich. I had aspirations to share this beautiful creation with some neighbors but the fork moved faster than my will to share and it was gone before I knew it. Perhaps I still need to learn the lessons Scrooge was fortunate enough to learn from the ghosts, past, present, and future. Maybe I will be visited by aparitions warning me of dire consequences if I do not change my ways. Or perhaps I will notice my clothes shrinking and realize that I gotta stop eating everything I see and start exercising again. Oh the Ghost of Christmas Treadmill leave me be!!!

And so I give you...

Moist and Tender Devil's Food Cake

From cooksillustrated.com

Why this recipe works:

Makes three 8-inch cakes Regular, or natural, cocoa like Hershey's can be used with good results, though the cakes will bake up a bit drier, redder, and with slightly less chocolate flavor.

Ingredients

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 cups water (boiling)
• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, plus extra for greasing pans
• 1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, grease three 8-inch cake pans with butter and line bottom of each pan with parchment paper round. Combine chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl; pour boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Sift together flours, baking soda, and salt onto large sheet parchment or waxed paper; set aside.

2. Place butter in bowl of standing mixer and beat at medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium-high and add eggs one at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce speed to medium; add sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 10 seconds. Stop mixer and scrape down bowl. With mixer on low, add about one third of flour mixture, followed by about one half of chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with flour mixture; beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not overbeat. Remove bowl from mixer; scrape bottom and sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix gently to thoroughly combine.

3. Divide batter evenly among cake pans, smooth batter to edges of pan with rubber spatula. If baking three 8-inch cakes, place two pans on lower-middle rack and one on upper-middle rack. Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 23 minutes for 8-inch cakes. Cool on wire rack 15 to 20 minutes. Run knife around pan perimeter to loosen. Invert cakes onto large plate; peel off parchment, and reinvert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely before icing.

I topped it with

Fluffy White Frosting 
From
The All American Dessert Book
Nancy Baggett

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup egg whites (about 4 large), completely free of yolk and at room temperature.
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water, plus 3 Tablespoons warm water, if needed (divided)
• Scant 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1. Place the whites in a completely grease-free large bowl. Set the bowl in a larger bowl of very hot water and let stand, gently stirring occaisionally, until the whites warm to 100° F (or very warm to the touch), about 10 minutes. (It's usually necessary to replace the water with more hot water once or twice to warm the whites sufficiently.)
2. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup of water in a heavy 2 quart saucepan, stirring until well blended. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. With a pastry brush dipped in warm water or a damp paper towel, wipe away any sugar from the pan sides. Continue boiling, without stirring further, for 2-3 minutes longer or until the mixture reaches 240° F on a candy thermometer. Remove from the heat. (To test for the doneness without a candy thermometer, remove the pan from the heat after 1 minute. Drop a teaspoon of the syrup iinto ice water. if cooked enough, after 10 seconds the syrup will form a firm ball that softens just slightly when squeezed between your fingertips. If the ball is not firm, cook for 30 seconds longer, remove the pan from the heat, test again, and continue cooking, if necessary, until it is the right consistency.)
3. Using a mixer (with a wisk-shaped beater, if available) on low speed, beat the whites, cream of tartar, and salt for 30 seconds. Increase the speed ti medium and beat until the whites are very frothy and opaque and just begin to peak. Immediately reheat the syrup just to simmering. 
4. Beating the whites on medium speed, immediately begin slowly pouring the syrup in a thin stream down the bowl sides (avoid the beaters, or the syrup will stick to them). Pour so that all the syrup is incorporated in about 30 seconds. Continue beating on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Raise the speed to high and beat until the mixture stands in stiff but not dry peaks and has cooled to warm, 3-4 minutes. Beat in the vanilla until evenly incorporated. The frosting is easiest to spread when fluffy and fairly soft (the consistency of stiffly whipped cream). If it seems too stiff or at all gummy, gradually beat up to 3 tablespoons warm water to soften. (Note that the frosting will continue to stiffen as it cools and stands.)
5. Frost the cake immediately, following the directions provided in the specific cake recipe.

  Together this cake and frosting created an oreo effect. It was good enough for my picky kids and I think I ate half the darn thing myself.

Don't repeat my mistakes or the same waistband awaits you!!!

Do enjoy sharing some cake this holiday season and Merry Christmas!  

Science is so cool!!

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

My dad used to work at a facility where they used liquid nitrogen on a fairly regular basis. I remember him freezing a spider once. I was fascinated by that. I have always wanted to "play" with the stuff since then but nothing has made me want my own bottle as bad as watching science expert Kevin Delaney, make a cloud on the Jimmy Fallon show. The full video is awesome if you are into cool science tricks (which I obviously am) check it out below. You know, if I was better at math I think being a science expert would have been a really awesome career choice. Of course it's not all making clouds and floating tinfoil boats on tanks of sulfur hexaflouride. For someone who grew up watching Bill Nye and even some of the later Mr. Wizard shows this is awesome. 

because of all the Sand-wichs there...at Disneyland...and it's yummy.

Yes, I am aware that the Monte Cristo sandwich was not eaten within the pages of this book. The savory predecessor to the sweet Monte Cristo, the Croque Monsieur wasn't noted on a menu until the early 1900's. When I was trying to come up with books to include in the blog, my beautiful bride asked me what my favorite book was. Aside from A Christmas Carol, which will be the subject of a later post, The Count of Monte Cristo is my almost tied for favorite book. I read it when I was in the 8th grade (probably a condensed version at 600 pages. Only recently when I read it again did I realize that its really closer to 1400 depending upon the translation). I was taken with the idea of revenge upon those who destroyed Edmond Dantes prospects as well as his good fortunes upon escaping the Island prison, Chateau d'If. I felt the tragedy of Dantes' situation but it always stuck with me that many innocent lives were swept up in the devastation of Edmond's revenge and the impression I got from the ending was that his revenge was still not fully satisfying. 

The Monte Cristo sandwich was a no brainer. I have always wanted to try one and when you say the name of the book you can't help but think about it. Apparently Disneyland has a legendary one and i found a multitude of Pinterest pins entitled "copycat Disneyland Monte Cristo sandwich." If you have never had one, the best way I can describe it is that is like a pancake-french-toast-ham-and-cheese sandwich. It can be deep fried or pan fried. and the batter in the recipe I used made a terrific pancake once the sandwiches were all made. So make up a couple of sandwiches and settle down for a good long read, you will be there a while...

So, without further ado... I give you...

Copycat Disneyland Monte Cristo Sandwiches

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 4 mins

Total time: 9 mins

Author: Karlynn Johnston aka The Kitchen Magpie

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Sweet Batter Ingredients:
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 large egg
• ¾ cup of milk
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Sandwich Ingredients:
• 8 slices Swiss cheese
• 8 slices Turkey
• 8 slices Ham
• 8 slices Texas Style White Bread or any square formed white bread
• Vegetable Oil - an inch deep in a large skillet
• Powdered Sugar
• Raspberry jam for dipping

Instructions

1. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the milk and egg thoroughly.
3. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and combine until there are no lumps. The batter should be fairly runny, yet still thick enough to stick to the sandwich.If needed, add a teensy bit more milk.
4. Make the sandwiches by layering a slice of swiss cheese, then the 4 meat slices, then swiss cheese, top with the remaining slice of bread. Putting cheese on either side of the meat ensures a beautiful melty goodness when you are done!
5. Leave the sandwiches whole for frying, as you lose the cheesy goodness inside otherwise. Only slice them after they are cooked up!
6. Place a toothpick on each corner of the sandwich.
7. Dip the whole sandwich in the batter, covering the surface completely and fry in 340 degrees F oil until golden. The Texas toast will take longer to heat up the inside, thus the lower frying temperature. If you are using normal bread, you can go up to around 360 degrees F for frying.
8. Remove and drain on paper towels.
9. Remove the toothpicks and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.
10. If you want the real Disney deal, dip your sandwich in raspberry jam!

P.S. I didn't deep fry mine so I only coated the top and bottoms of the sandwiches with the batter. I also cooked the remaining batter as a pancake. It was such an awesome pancake that I may just use this batter as a pancake recipe from now on. 

Christmas

I love nativity paintings. This is one I haven't seen before. I love the contrast between Mary, Jesus and the shepherds. Also The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has produced the video below to help us focus on the Savior of the World similar to the way Bartolomé Esteban Murillo intended us to focus on his painting. This really is the most wonderful time of the year but not because of the reasons Andy Williams sings about, as good as those reasons may be. And sometimes my propensity to wax long winded gets in the way. Like now. I am going to shut up and let this video speak for itself. Enjoy!!

C & H not the sugar.

Newspaper comics have a special place in my heart. I don't know why but I love to read them. My beautiful bride laughs at me because when I have the funny pages in my hands I have to read them in a certain order and don't even think about reading them to me or spoiling punchlines. Reading the Funnies is serious business. My three favorite of the syndicated strips include Cul-De-Sac by Richard Thompson, Lio by Mark Tatulli, and, last but not least, Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson.  Watterson's portrayal of adolescent hedonism contrasted with a philosophical intelligence beyond Calvin's six years has made for some well beloved moments snuggled in a blanket with a C & H collection in front of me. It's also made for some milk through the nose moments which has made me reluctant to drink anything while reading.

The inspiration for today's post comes from Calvin's mom. One day, after playing out in the cold snowy weather, Calvin's mom bundles him up in front of the fire with a mug of hot cocoa, some peanut butter crackers, and some comic books, which sounds a little bit like heaven to me. I wanted to personalize it a bit and changed the crackers to vanilla frosted graham crackers (chocolate would be better on their own but since the hot chocolate recipe is rich enough to satisfy your need for chocolate for a few hours or minutes I felt vanilla was a better match.

 

I have to warn you This hot chocolate is so rich you may need to add some milk to it or keep a glass of water handy. It's really good but I don't want to be responsible for putting anyone in a chocolate coma. So enjoy at your own risk but I give my full and complete endorsement to do just that. So without further superlative verbosity I give you...

Creamy Crockpot Hot Cocoa {Best Ever!}

from 

Mrs. Happy Homemaker

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups whipping cream
• 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
• 6 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups of chocolate chips (milk chocolate OR semi-sweet depending on how sweet you like it. I have a heck of a sweet tooth, and I love the milk chocolate, but others prefer the semi-sweet)

easel.ly

Mistakes, Cake, and Christian Children's books

C.S. Lewis is considered by some to be a prolific Christian apologist. His treatment of the battle between the forces of good and evil from the devil (Screwtape and Wormwood) perspective is fascinating and a bit self revelatory. His explanation of love in The Four Loves is eye opening to say the least. My favorite of his works, however, is the series revolving around the magical kingdom of Narnia and the people whose lives are affected by up close encounters with life and the relationships they develop with each other. I don't remember the first time I read these but I remember loving the stories even before I could understand the Christ centered symbolism.

In looking for a food item in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (which I still read as the first book in the series) I came across sugar topped cake during the meal with the beavers on their dam. A quick internet search suggested that a streusel topped coffee cake would work just fine to satisfy my sweet tooth. As you can see from below it did not turn out as I would have hoped. It was in fact very chewy and the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture ended up on the bottom instead of the top. I don't know what i did wrong but it tasted OK.

I went with it though because if I learned anything from this book series it's that mistakes will be made. Some mistakes are costly, some are negligible, but everyone of us makes them. In the books Aslan pays the price for Edmund's folly, in real life Jesus Christ paid the price for everybody. I am still going to try to avoid making mistakes but when I do make them, I know there is a way they can be righted. So in the spirit of Edmund Pevensie I give you sugar topped cake...

Or as the America's Test Kitchen calls it..
Quick Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake

Ingredients

• Streusel

• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar (2 1/3 ounces)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (2 1/3 ounces)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup pecans, almonds, or walnuts, chopped coarse

• Cake

• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk or whole plain yogurt
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar (7 ounces)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)
• 3 large eggs
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

easel.ly

     Aparently its not supposed to look like this,
good luck with yours
and enjoy
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe