Chocolate Banana Pancakes and Signs of Hope.

Dear Noah.

I'm confused. I've had you pegged as a picky eater for some time now, but it seems like lately you're toying with the idea of becoming a foodie.

What is up? Is this a ploy to give me false hope or are you really tuning over a new leaf?

Tonight at dinner, you devoured two shrimp and avocado summer rolls like a seasoned eater (peanut sauce included) and not at all like the finicky three-year-old of the past. Sure, you suspiciously inspected the mango and cilantro inside, but they didn't seem to deter you and you asked for thirds--a request that made my heart beat a little faster, I have to admit.

Now that I think about it, you've been slowly evolving in the food department; I'm remembering that entire chef's salad you ate recently. Salad!

"Look, Mom, I'm just like Benjamin Bunny!"

you said, as a bowl full of lettuce disappeared down the hatch.

Oh, and don't think that we haven't noticed that you are calling us "Mom" and 'Dad" now, instead of mommy and daddy. Humph.

Yes, I know, you're getting to be a big boy now. You can count to a hundred, write your name and do simple math, so have you also decided not to be picky anymore and eat your dinners like a man?

I've always told you, life can't be all-pancakes-all-the-time, but just in case this recent progress doesn't last, I'll keep this recipe handy.

Love Mom(my)
xoxoxo


Chocolate Banana Pancakes with Nutella and Fresh Banana Slices

1 cup sour cream or yogourt
1 ripe banana
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk or buttermilk
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 Tablespoons coconut (optional)
2 Tablespoons wheat germ
1/4 cup butter, melted

Combine sour cream, banana and vanilla in a large bowl and pulverize with a hand blender until smooth. Add milk and blend some more. Crack in the eggs, add a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly.

In another bowl, sift together flours, cocoa, and baking soda. With a wooden spoon, stir in coconut and wheat germ, if desired, then add entire dry mixture to the sour cream wet mixture. Fold gently together. Pour in melted butter and mix just to combine.

Heat a cast iron pan and grease with vegetable oil. Ladle a few tablespoons of batter onto the pan to make several small, round pancakes. Add a slice of banana in the middle if you like, but be sure to dab more batter on top so they don't stick to the pan when you flip the pancakes. Cook on even medium heat until bubbles start to form. Flip pancakes and continue cooking.

Remove from pan and layer with Nutella and fresh banana slices. Serve!

Happy Mother's Day and Giveaway Winners!

Happy Mother's Day to all! I hope it was special. I can't believe it was my fourth Mother's Day already, I still feel like a new mom.
By now your little ones are probably tuckered out and fast asleep in bed--I know mine are! We tired them out tromping around Mount Royal, hunting the first wildflowers of the season. Hey, we had to work off our lobster lunch somehow. We found some flowers.


Oh, would you look at that! A lovely glass of chilled Mission Hill Pinot Blanc has just appeared at my elbow--it appears there's still a few hours of pampering left for this mother! OK, I won't keep you for long, but we have some winners to announce!
Did you forget? My giveaway ended last night and three lucky commenters are going to win a copy of "The Day My Baby Was Born" by LaNita McMeekan-Cates.

Ready? Thanks to selection by random.org our winners are...

Kim McKee

Sofie

Tania

Congratulations, Ladies!! Please contact me ASAP with your mailing addresses and we'll get those books shipped out to you soon.
A big thank you to everyone who entered, and for your super sweet comments and words of congratulations. They mean so much. I wish I could sit down with each one of you over a cup of coffee and hear your birth stories!

Remember, if you still would like a copy of the birth stories collection, it is conveniently available to order on my sidebar!!

I leave you with these photos that keep cracking me up of Noah holding the lobsters we cooked up today. We dined in for Mother's Day lunch, creating a vibrant spring warm lobster salad with poached rhubarb and fiddleheads. You must try this recipe, seriously.
Anyway, after much begging on my part, Noah got up the nerve to pick up first one and then two live lobsters. That is no easy feat for a three-year-old, I mean, those things thrash around something fierce and they are heavy--and slippery. For those of you who don't know him, he may look like he is smiling, but these are expressions of sheer trepidation.


What an awesome kid. I'm one proud mama this Mother's Day.
Good night all!

Maple Walnut Cookie Dough Ice Cream

I love May for so many reasons; watching the tulips waving from their beds, receiving Mother's Day construction paper cards, celebrating seven years of married bliss, being excused from housework to garden, attending weddings...Oh, that reminds me, I have a wedding coming up and a cake to make.

It always seems like such a fun idea when I agree to make a cake; it is usually on a dismal January day, when the month of May and its weddings seems like a distant fantasy and I have no recollection of those panicky days leading up to 'cake day'. Heck, why not, I tell the client, it will be fun! I wish this time was different, but as I stockpile butter and eggs and sketch the anatomy of the four-tiered beauty, I'm feeling the familiar butterflies and am wishing it was over already! Oh well, don't worry about me. I'll find a way to channel my stress! At least the client is a friend, and a polar opposite to a Bridezilla--she a sweetheart.

Enough about Project Wedding Cake--I also love May because it ice cream time!
OK, so this bonjour!-to-summer ice cream is amazing. Is actually Maple Ice Cream with Maple-Walnut and White Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Enough of a mouthful?

When Julie professed her love of these Maple Walnut White Chocolate Cookies and sang the praises of the dough itself, I knew I wouldn't be waiting long to try them. A bottle of homegrown maple syrup from our families sugar shack outing was calling from the fridge and fortunately I had just stocked up on white chocolate chips from Bulk Barn. (A first in Quebec, Bulk Barn is my latest and greatest culinary discovery. Think Costco meets Ares meets Anatol.)


I don't think it was coincidence that I also had a half a batch of Ben & Jerry's Sweet Cream ice cream base in the fridge. The other half had already been made into strawberry ice cream and consumed entirely, but the rest was awaiting a destiny of cookie dough ice cream.
So I chunked up some cookie dough with a knife, spread it out on a tray, and threw it in the freezer to freeze solid. Then I added 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup to the ice cream base, churned it 'til it was hard and folded in the cookie dough right at the end. A few hours in the freezer and it was ready!


It was way better than the B& J original cookie dough ice cream--and I am a huge fan. I love nuts in ice cream so the walnuts made me happy. It was just nice to have a maple ice cream that didn't taste artificial.
You could leave out the white chocolate chips as maple cookie dough ice cream is pretty spectacular as it is.

And if you don't have an ice cream maker, or *gasp* ice cream just isn't your thing, try a batch of Julie's cookies. They will rock your world! Recipe at the bottom of the post.


Maple Walnut Cookie Dough Ice Cream with White Chocolate Chips

1/2 recipe raw Maple Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookie dough (recipe below)
1 recipe Maple Ice Cream Base (recipe below)
White Chocolate chips to taste

Have a 1 quart sized Tupperware container chilling in the freezer, ready to receive the ice cream.
Chop the cookie dough into bite-sized pieces, place on a tray, cover and freeze.
Prepare the ice cream maker and add Maple Ice Cream Base. Freeze following the manufacturers instructions until quite stiff.
Add the chopped cookie dough and a few handfuls of white chocolate chips. Continue freezing until the ice cream is ready. Scoop into your chilled container and place in freezer to freeze further. Enjoy licking the dasher of the ice cream maker--this is one of the fine things in life.
Enjoy your ice cream!


Maple Ice Cream Base
adapted from Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream & Dessert Book

2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Using a hand held blender, whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and milk and whisk to blend. Finally, add the maple syrup and whisk thoroughly.
Chill completely before churning.


Go ahead and bake off some to eat, too.

Maple Walnut White Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Dinner with Julie

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (not flavoured pancake syrup)
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla or maple extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup each white chocolate chips/chunks and chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar and maple syrup until well combined — the mixture will have the consistency of wet sand. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the flour, baking soda and salt (stir them together first only if you want to) to the butter-sugar mixture and stir by hand until almost combined; add white chocolate and walnuts and stir just until blended. It may seem dry at this point - I always find it easiest to get in there with my hands toward the end. Drop spoonfuls of dough (or roll rough walnut-sized balls) about 2” apart on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Flatten each a little with your hand, just to give them a head start. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until pale golden and set around the edges but still soft in the middle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes 20 cookies.

Mother's Day Announcement and a Giveaway!

Mother's Day is just around the corner and so this post is keeping with that theme...
A while back I hinted at a small announcement I would be making soon and I asked "What do you get when you combine a Pregnancy, a Pen and a Publisher?" Well, for starters, let me just say that NO, I am not pregnant as a few of you speculated...but I am thrilled to share that I have had a short story published. For reals!

It's a true story, one very dear to my heart, because it is about the birth of my firstborn, Noah. My story, together with over fifty other birth stories from real moms around the world, is published under the beautiful title "The Day My Baby Was Born...".
Could there be a better announcement for Mother's Day?


I wanted you, dear readers, to be the first to know, because so many of you are mothers yourself (some very recently!) and you are the best group ever! At the bottom of the post you will have a chance to win one of three copies of this book, so keep reading.

About the book:

Let me just say a few words about The Day My Baby Was Born (Sourcebooks Trade, 1 Edition April 2009). It is beautiful, honest, humorous, raw, inspiring, emotional and impossible to put down. Reading it will make you so proud to be a woman! I heartily recommend it as a gift for that special mom in your life. It has just become my #1 baby shower gift!
This book was the creative idea of author/mother LaNita McMeekan-Cates and a result of several years perseverance trying to get the manuscript published. I am honoured that she chose my story to be included in her remarkable project. Congratulations, LaNita, on your first book--your hard work paid off beautifully!

My contribution to The Day My Baby Was Born is entitled "Night of the Full Moon", and is neither an astonishing nor particularly exceptional birth story. It is merely the story of one very stubborn 27-year-old determined to give birth without medical intervention and wishing to embrace the experience without painkillers. Along the way she discovers a deep inner strength, one that she believes is bestowed upon all women, and this strength helps her reach her goal. It's an enlightening moment for her, and one that she will compare all future struggles to, knowing now that she is infinitely stronger than she had ever thought.


Mother's Day Accolades:

Since this is already a lengthy and personal post, let me just take this opportunity to quickly spotlight three moms who I think are extraordinary (read their stories and you'll see why) and wish them a very special Mother's Day.

My sister Haidi gave birth to her third child just a few weeks ago. She delivered it at home. By herself. Yep, that's right. A home birth had been planned, but the baby came so fast she beat the midwife. My sister did what she had to do and caught the perfectly healthy Amélie Soleil herself. I think I would have called 911, but hopefully I'll never have to test that theory. You're hard core, sista'!

Caroline is my sister-in-law, mother to 11 month-old Angelique and pregnant with her second baby. So far this pregnancy has been similar to her first, except for the fact that her husband has been deployed on a six month mission with the Canadian Forces to Afghanistan. Caro, your strength, faith and steady smile are amazing to see. We're here for you. Happy First Mother's Day!

Although she is a distant relative and we have never met, I have been grieving with young mother, Gigi, over the recent loss of her only child, five-year-old Braeden. Sweetie, know that he is looking down on you this Mother's Day and is suffering no more. Your strength and peace is an example to us all and a true testimony of the amazing woman you are.

Of course, sending lots of love to my own dear mum, Zoe!

Mateo & I. Photo by Tim Chin

GIVEAWAY!

**Update:This giveaway has ended and the winners are posted! Thanks to all who commented!**

The book's author, LaNita McMeekan-Cates and I are teaming up on a giveaway that will allow three of you a chance to win The Day My Baby Was Born. I will host the giveaway, and after a week pick three winners. You will send me your shipping addresses and LaNita will ship each of you an autographed copy of this precious book!

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post!

Note: for extra entries you can Twitter this giveaway (leave another comment letting me know you have done so) OR blog about it, making sure to link back to this post so I can track you.

Giveaway ends Saturday, May 9 at Midnight. Winners will be announced on Mother's Day (May 10)

If you are feeling unlucky or wish to own The Day My Baby Was Born regardless of the outcome of the giveaway, you can purchase it through the Amazon widget on my sidebar. That would just make my day! Thanks!

Good luck to all!!

DIY: Pita Bread

This post was originally published on May 4, 2007

On these beautiful spring days, it's tough deciding how to spend the mornings: head outside and weed among the daffodils or throw on an apron and get floury in the kitchen? Here's a quick bread recipe that lets you do both--Pita! With a relatively rapid rising time (30 minutes) you can have the satisfaction of having your hands in both dough and dirt in the same morning.
Just be sure to use that nail brush in between!


Pita bread is something my family has been making for as long as I can remember. They are so fun to make and puff up nicely, leaving a hollow center to fill with grilled chicken, veggies or whatever you desire. They are pretty amazing just warm from the oven with a drizzle of olive oil.


Here's my favorite hummus recipe, in case you need an accompaniment for your pitas!

Wimbush Family Pita Bread

1 tablespoon yeast
1 ¼ cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt
3- 3 ½ cups flour

Dissolve yeast in water for about 5 minutes in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add salt and 1 ½ cups flour and with the dough hook, beat to make a batter. Add additional flour until a rough, shaggy mass is formed. Knead 8 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Add more flour if it is too sticky.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into six pieces for large pitas or ten for smaller. I make all sorts of sizes to suit different snacks and meals. Form dough into balls, then flatten with a rolling pin into ¼ inch thick discs. Try and keep an even thickness as this is what helps them ‘puff’.

Let rest on the floured surface 30-40 minutes until slightly puffed.

Preheat oven to 425F.
With a large spatula, flip the rounds of dough upside down on to a baking sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes until light golden. Stick around for the first five minutes of baking when the pitas perform their magic and puff up from flat pancakes to proud, four inch high pitas.

These store for up to two days well wrapped or frozen for three weeks.

Reminiscing over Italy and the sandwich that came of it.

If you were to rewind ten years back you would find me eagerly stepping off a boat on a rainy April morning onto Italian soil. Six weeks of backpacking in South East Asia had left me ravenous for some good, crusty bread and I knew I wouldn't have to look far. An apparent dependency on all things yeasty had surfaced amidst the many bowls of perfect Pad Thai and sublime Nasi Goreng, and despite my love of those flavours, I couldn't help but dream about the focaccia and calzone of 'the Boot'.

I had arrived in Brindisi via a flight to Turkey and a boat from Greece and to me, this port town had it all going on. No, there was no Ponte Vecchio or Trevi Fountain, but I quickly found all I needed- a bakery.
It had just opened it doors for the day and the shelves were stacked high with the most knee-weakening array of Italian specialties I could have ever hoped to see. This small-town Canadian girl nearly swooned at the perfectly dimpled Focaccette al Rosmarino, fruit and nut studded Cantucci and Biscotti, rustic peasant Pagnotta and perfect Grissini.

I don't remember all that I purchased, but it was way more than I could possibly eat for breakfast. Standing at a small bar, I washed everything down with a perfect café and the gruff yet efficient clerk wrapped up the leftovers in brown paper and string for me, rations for the long train ride to Roma.
The rain soaked me as I walked the nearly deserted streets, but I barely noticed. My belly was happy and so was I.


I was to stumble upon a market a little later in the day and again satiate my bread-lust with a roasted vegetable-laden focaccia and a sausage-stuffed panini--both of which today's immense sandwich reminded me of.
I guess that is why we took this little trip back in time; flavors have a strong tendency to transport one back to a certain spot, no matter how many years have passed. How amazing that memory fails, but taste buds do not!

I finished my gastronomical feasting for the day with a lemon gelato and another coffee before heading to the station to catch my train. Brindisi had been good to me and the rest of Italy awaited.



Ciao Brindisi Panini
serves 2

1 Italian sausage, grilled, sliced lengthwise
2 slices slab bacon, cooked, or Pancetta
4 slices Provolone
1 red pepper, quartered and seeded
1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise into four
4 thin slices of lemon
1/4 red onion, sliced into 4 wedges
olive oil
salt
Two crusty bread rolls, Ciabatta or 'petit pain'

Preheat grill.
Combine red pepper, zucchini, lemon and red onion in a bowl with a generous splash of olive oil and toss to coat. Season with salt and grill everything until soft and cooked. The lemons will only take a few seconds on either side.
Reduce the heat of the grill to low.
Slice buns in half, brush generously with olive oil and grill slightly. Pile all ingredients onto the bottom two buns and place the top bun on the pile. Yep, it will look gigantic!
Grill in a panini press until cheese is melted OR, if you are like me and don't have a panini press, simply wrap a brick with tinfoil and place it on top of the two sandwiches on the BBQ. You will need to flip the panini once if you are doing this.

Enjoy possibly the best sandwich you have ever had.

Happy Earth Day

Today I am over at SimpleMom talking about eating in season. Come find out why this is important and pick up two recipes for seasonal spring tarts!

While you are over there, be inspired to do your part for Earth Day by reading SimpleMom's 40 Ways To Go Greener At Home.

Happy Earth Day!

One For the Babies: Sweet Potato Pancakes

By now you know that if I discover something great, I'm going to share it with you, and so here is a find for all the new or soon to be mama's out there! My latest and greatest haunt is Nurture-Baby, an adorable site all about making your own baby food.

I know, you probably think I've got that area pretty much covered, I mean, how hard is it to make a puree, right? But since my kids are so frustratingly picky, I'm more than open to new mealtime suggestions and Nurture Baby has provided some fresh fodder for under the high chair!

Broken down into categories such as 'recipes', 'nutrition' and 'techniques', this site is a thorough resource for homemade baby food. I love how the recipes are categorized by the babies's age and guess what? the photos actually make the dishes look appetizing! Not easy to do when the subject is, hmm, brown mush!

Noah and Mateo gobbled up-and I mean inhaled-these Sweet Potato Pancakes.


We're pancake fiends around here, so I knew I had to try this recipe.
Thank goodness it makes a generous batch because they were sooo good! Think: pumpkin pie pancakes (psst! I think they should be renamed) thanks to the spices, sweet potato puree, brown sugar, and melted butter. Maple syrup complemented them wonderfully, but they really need no dressing up and were perfect finger food for Mateo.


Danny and I scarfed these pancakes for breakfast the next day, so this recipe is by no means just for little ones! I recommend thinning out the batter with an extra 1/4 cup of milk or so and cooking them on a medium-low heat to ensure they are cooked through.


Eager for another success, Noah and I baked up a batch of Banana Oatmeal Cookies and were rewarded with delicious soft cookies that we couldn't stop eating. Reminiscent of banana bread, these healthy cookies make a huge batch and are sure to please the somewhat critical playgroup gang.

I'll be recommending Nurture-Baby to all my friends with new little ones--maybe they will stop pestering me for those baby food tutorials!!

Everyone's Friend:Yellow Butter Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Frosting

(Thank you to those who wrote and sent their love over the past few days. I am working through some personal stuff right now, but please don't mistake my tone in this post for flippancy--humour is simply my way of working through things.)

* * *

Believe me when I say I really wanted to come back with a healthy, non-dessert recipe, but the truth is I've been living off of these cupcakes for days.

You know what else is the truth? After a few days away from keyboard, I start to miss blogging--and I especially start to miss all of you. That's why I'm back already; I couldn't stay away.


I got through the busy weekend pretty well, thanks to a lot, and I mean a lot, of Cadbury mini eggs. Well, it wasn't all smooth sailing, there was that minor mishap on Easter Sunday morning when we were getting ready for church. In my ever-present battle against Noah's dry skin, I grabbed what I though was his moisturizer and liberally-yes, even hastily-applied it all over his arms, torso and face...only to discover seconds later that it was my moisturizer with a hint of sunless tanner.
What ensued afterward was an encounter with a washcloth so thorough, it left us both more than a little hot under the collar.
That stuff streaks like nobody's business.

OK, so it's a little late to be bringing you Easter treats, but you must look past the mini eggs and focus on The Perfect Cupcake: Yellow Butter Cake with Dark Chocolate Frosting. This one is Martha Stewart all the way and there is simply no need to mess with it. She's serious when she says it's a crowd-pleaser; it's a combination so classic and homey that no one can resist. I've certainly demonstrated that I can't.


The duo also makes one heck of a layer cake. I'm giving directions for both cake and cupcakes. Both recipes are from The Martha Stewart Baking Handbook, one of my favorite baking cookbooks. (Psst! If you don't own it yet, you can purchase it via the Amazon link on my sidebar. Yay!)

So there's some pretty cool stuff coming up on Under the High Chair that you'll just have to see to believe. Yep, more super cool giveaways, a pancake the tastes like pumpkin pie, and...An Announcement. Ohhh.

I'll give you a hint: what do you get when you combine a Pregnancy, a Pen and a Publisher?
Find out soon and don't bother to try and drag it out of me, my own mother doesn't even know!


Yellow Butter Cake

Makes two 9-inch cake layers or 24 cupcakes

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans; line the bottoms with parchment paper. Butter parchment, and dust with flour, tapping out excess; set aside. FOR CUPCAKES: Line two standard 12-cup muffin pans with paper liners.

Into a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined after each addition. Divide batter between the prepared pans, and smooth with an offset spatula.
For Cupcakes: divide the batter evenly among the prepared cups so that each is about two thirds full.

Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until cakes are golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. (20 min. for cupcakes) Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 20 minutes. Invert cakes onto the rack; peel off the parchment. Reinvert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.
Frost with Dark Chocolate Frosting



Chocolate Frosting

Frosts one 9-inch layer cake or 24 cupcakes, generously.

24 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiling water
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
Pinch of salt

Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water. Turn off heat; stir occasionally until chocolate has melted completely, about 15 minutes. Set bowl on countertop, and let chocolate cool to room temperature, 25 to 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine cocoa powder and boiling water in a small bowl; stir until cocoa is dissolved.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, confectioners' sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add melted chocolate; beat on low speed until combined, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in cocoa mixture.

To frost a layer cake: Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level; brush off crumbs. Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate or lazy Susan. Place the first layer on the cake plate, and spread top with 3/4 cup of frosting. Place the second layer on top, bottom side up, and spread top with 3/4 cup of frosting; repeat process with the third layer. Place the remaining layer on top of the third layer, bottom-side up; insert a dowel into the center of cakes if necessary. Spread entire cake with remaining frosting.

UtHC AFK

If you take the usual packed schedule of Easter, add a birthday brunch and a wedding shower, you have my agenda this weekend. Toss in a sick computer to the mix, and it makes for a few days of difficult blogging.
On top of things, my family and I are both celebrating the birth of a new baby and mourning the death of an uncle this week, and so I'm sure you'll understand why I'm taking a brief hiatus from UtHC and all my favorite online haunts.

Miss me.

Happy Easter.