Ode to Paula



Can I just interrupt my 'catching up streak' to say that Paula Deen kicks absolute culinary butt?!

I mean, come on. Pretention, vegetarianism and health-consciousness aside: the woman loves butter almost as much as Audrey and me. She wraps just about every freaking thing she makes in bacon and then usually also coats it with batter or cheese. As if this wasn't enough, even her 'healthier' sweets--such as trail mix, contain sweetened condensed milk. Seriously, people. Pontificate on the virtues of haute cuisine; truth be told, if you were stranded on a deserted island and could choose only one person to cook for you for the rest of your forsaken life, no reasonable person in this universe would choose anyone but Paula.
I was reminded of this because I borrowed a DVD of her Food Network series from the library.

Though Jesus is building His church on Peter, I am 100% certain that He gave Paula the keys to the culinary kingdom and that she will be standing next to old Saint Pete at the pearly gates refusing admittance to all of the people who use light sprays of PAM and profess to love salad without dressing. So don't bother complaining to the management when you get turned away; Jesus has already said, in so many words, that He will say to you, 'I was hungry and you gave me Wasa. Paula, on the other hand, gave me deep-fried, bacon-wrapped macaroni balls. An act of love equal to pouring oil on my feet. Away from me you anorexic, culinary Pharisee! I know you not!'

God bless Paula Deen's bacon-wrapped heart.

August 9, 2008--A.M.

Wake up and help mommy frost 60 cupcakes.



Have breakfast at Fat Alberts (MM pancake!)



Head to Shady Dell Train Park. (We lucked out this year because this event was arranged by our Sellwood Playgroup months ago) It's a miniature train park where the kids ride real, running trains--over bridges and through tunnels too! They were in absolute kid-heaven.


At the train station...all aboard!


Here the come round the bend!


Audrey's buddies Julia, Aram and Gideon, pictured with their (grand) parents...


Gideon is one of Audrey's favorite friends in the neighborhood (and we like his parents alot too). Gid is the pensive and sensitive type. Collects flowers and such. Yes, his folks know he's sporting a mullet. They can't bare to cut his hair and hearing them wax poetic about the extra inches blowing in the breeze when he does this and that, can almost make you pee your pants. A grouchy old man even confronted them on it recently. The codger said something like, 'that's quite the hair-do he's got there.' To which Cheyenne, his mom replied with a laugh, 'yeah, we think it's cute.' To which codger replied, 'well that's certainly a matter of opinion.' People can be so rude.

It was a lovely and merry celebration with friends...and cupcakes too.
Pistachio, cherry-chip, chocolate, chocolate marshmallow, spice, bacon and muffins for the nutritional lightweights.



The cupcake you see below, next to blueberry oat muffins, is an idea shanghaid from Kelly's Voodoo donut experience. It is a spice cupcake with cream-cheese maple icing and crispy bacon. Amazingly, it worked. One parent at the park said it was better than the donut. Hurrah! (Note--for those who might try this at home: you will not achieve a 'mapley' enough icing using maple syrup. You must resort to imitation maple extract. Unfortunately, the taste we have become accustomed to on maple bars cannot be achieved through natural means. Nature is just not that mapley. Oh--and on my test run the day before, the icing was too thick and overwhelmed the flavor combo. So keep it modest.)

Very bad blogger

Sorry, I have become a very bad blogger. Always erratic in this sphere, my posts have become increasingly rare since moving to PDX. I think it's a good sign though- we're too busy living life to write about it. That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it. At the same time, it is an excellent way of keeping in touch with the lives of those in our extended community, so I'm sorry for not doing my part.

There is so much to catch up on that I think I have to work backwards. Starting with today, going to A's bd, and then to our fun-filled visit with Marian and Peter.

This morning, I noticed that Audrey has created tactile art in our kitchen:



I have these little Chinese tea cups on a shelf in our kitchen. A loves to play with them, but today I saw that she is stashing these in case of emergency (since she's really only supposed to have them when she sleeps.)

Happy Birthday Punkin'



To our amazing, sweet and funny little girl...we are so lucky to have you in our lives these two years (+9 months).
Precious beyond all words in the entire universe.