Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Making the Best of Gray April Days

The weather has been a bit gray and dreary, but we are enjoying the freedom to run around outside now that the snow is gone and the mud has tamed itself down.

Wayne has been baking up a storm. He's not interested in making your basic cookies, or brownies, or cake. No. He's interested in making more unusual desserts that call for white wine and ricotta cheese. Such as cannoli. 
rolling and cutting the dough for cannoli

cannoli are not healthy

frying in shortening


We do not have cannoli forms, so Wayne improvised by making some from tin foil.

Wayne says that when he's an adult, he's going to be a professional baseball player, a special effects movie engineer, and a baker with his own bakery.  He says that because he will be so busy with all of his careers, he is going to hire me to manage his bakery. However, when I took over frying so that he could go help Wes boil sap, he didn't look so confident in my abilities. The cannolis that I fried came apart and opened up. I like to call the "taco cannoli."
Disclaimer: the wine is in the shell so alcohol evaporated in the cooking process. Cannoli are safe for children to eat.
Finished product. The filling is made with rocotta cheese, confectioners sugar, and whipped cream.

Meanwhile, outside as I  mentioned was gray, but warm. Heather has been craving a bike ride. My bike had a flat tire and I couldn't figure out how to use Wes's new air compressor, so I walked along behind her.

We stopped and said a quick hello at Joanie's house. 
Then on to the barn.
We headed back home when the sprinkles began.
The spinkles stayed sprinkles and when we got home, we found Wayne and Cole flying kites that they had gotten for Easter.



This is Cole's alien kite before it got away from him in a strong wind and flew off free into the world somewhere.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

More Easter Pics

Random photos of Easter. I wasn't very good about taking pictures.

We decorated eggs from our own hens.

Wayne made a pancake breakfast.







Sunday, April 20, 2014

Happy Easter

The kids made a bunny cake for Easter dinner dessert.



Happy Easter!

Monday, April 14, 2014

First Dinner on the Porch

It hasn't been so pretty around here lately. These photos were taken on Saturday.
 Our vehicles are taking a beating from the driveway. Welcome to mud season.
 Spike still can't get to his dog house. Not that he's complaining.
 The hens are happy with the warmer temps.
 Today was a VERY warm day, even reaching up into the 70s in some places. Wayne, Cole, and Heather had dinner for the first time this year on the porch. You can see in the background that a lot of  the snow disappeared today.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

First Boil

 The ground is still snow covered, but we've been enjoying mild temperatures. The sap has finally begun to run, which is good news for sugarmakers everywhere. And good news for Wayne, Cole, and Heather!
Heather takes her first taste of sap of 214.

 It's so nice to be outside without hats and mittens.

A fresh batch of maple syrup has led to Wayne making pancakes again for Sunday breakfast!


This is a weird picture.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

10 Times Around the Sun

My grandmother used to refer to our birthdays as trips around the sun. Seems fitting, especially for Cole, who is so interested in space and astronomy. Cole has now made 10 trips around the sun.

His friends William and Zephyr came over after school.  They played for a while, had a trackster ride, and then it was time for dinner. Cole's favorite things: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad, and watermelon.
 We were a little crowded around the table. Zephyr and William were charming and entertaining. They had lots of stories to share about their lives.
 After dinner, the kids played a little more while the adults let the meal settle before diving into cake and ice cream.
 Cole asked for lemon layer cake. The frosting is lemon buttercream.
 Heather helped light the candles.
 William, Cole, and Zephyr.

Happy 10th Birthday Cole. We love you so much.