{TWD} Creme Brulee

Thank you to Mari from Mevrouw Cupcake for choosing Creme Brulee! You have no idea how excited I was for this week.
I do not remember the very first time I had Creme Brulee, but I do remember that I loved it. It was an instantaneous love affair with a dessert that seemed so complicated. Bobbys mom and I shared a chocolate espresso one at a hotel in Los Angeles once. And my favorite restaurant in Glendora (Chelsea) had it.

A few years ago I happened to be wandering around Williams Sonoma and saw a kitchen torch. I wanted it but didn't have the cash for it at the time. A friend was over and we were talking about Creme Brulee. A few days later a kitchen torch showed up on my front porch. Apparently my friends church was doing a series on giving above and beyond to others. She thought it would make me happy and it made her happy to give it. Well, I was so excited about it but I was really nervous about using it. So, there it sat lonely and unused in my cabinet. I have now had the excuse to use it and that baby is not going back in the cupboard. So, I loved the gift back then and I am so excited about it now!

I should have known from the start that a recipe that was so simple would be one I could mess up...well the results were good but I made a mess. First of all, I got a small bottle of whole milk and stuck it in the back of the fridge...where it froze. After running it under warm water I got it thawed enough I could get the appropriate amount of milk out of the bottle.

After getting the milk and heavy cream on the stove I turned my back for 1 second to put something away. That would be the moment it decided to boil over...all over the inside of the stove top.


I was flustered but got over it quickly enough to through in some bittersweet chocolate to make my creme brulee be chocolate.
One of the Playing Around ideas was raspberry creme brulee. I thought that would go well with the chocolate so I threw a few raspberries in each dish before pouring the creme over the top. I made 5 small dishes with mine since a lot of it went all over the stove. The recipe said to put it in the oven for 50-60 minutes at 200 degrees. Well, after an hour it wasn't even close to firm so I cranked it up to 275 and let it stay for another 15 minutes. That did the trick and they were set nicely. Oh yeah, I don't have a strainer so mine were bubbly on the top.
Since I was making such a delicious dessert I couldn't have anything simple for dinner. I made a marinade for steaks, baked potatoes and corn on the cob. Bobby grilled the steaks to perfection. Our kids loved dinner and were excited they were going to get such a fun dessert.

We took the kiddos in and Bobby held them up so they could see me torch the sugar on top of the creme brulee. The thought it was so cool to see the sugar melt the way it did. Obviously I didn't do a real good job of burning it evenly. There was a little extra around the sides.

I savored every bite of mine and thought I did a pretty good job myself. Bobby ate all of the parts that had crunchy stuff and said he would eat it again. Little Man wanted nothing to do with it. Munchkin ate every bit of hers. All and all, even with the mess, the frozen milk, and the uneven sugar it was a resounding success at our house this week! :)

Precocious Moments with Munchkin

Last night Bobby, in a joking manner, said "why are we going to Lifegroup when the debate is on?"

Munchkin responded with "Because God has given us friends and we should spend time with them because they are more important that some TV show!"

Books R Fun

Little Man had My Gym today. Now, if I drive him to where he has to go right before class he is a mess due to falling asleep in the car. If I take him early and let him play with the train table at Barnes and Noble, he does great. This morning when we got to B&N one of the workers came over and said they were having ongoing story times and asked if we would come listen. Turns out we were the only ones there. I thought the first person to read was Mae Beavers (State Senator) but I was wrong. Turns out the first person was Brad Schreiner. She read Brown Bear, Brown Bear to our little audience of 1. Little Man was very nervous but did answer her when she asked which animal was his favorite. She scooted out and Chris Hughes (Sumner County Commissioner sat down to read. He made a big mistake. He let my 4 year old choose the book. What did he choose you ask? Oh, a Lightening McQueen book with a lot of words on every page. By this time there was another little guy running around. Little Man was a little distracted but by the middle of the book he was sitting next to Mr. Hughes and looking at the pictures. Poor guy, I hope he wasn't too discouraged by two little guys running around while he read that crazy book.

The third reader was Don Long, Sumner County School Board Vice Chair. He read two books. One was a Mickey Mouse book and the second was Dr. Seuss. That was funny!
The whole experience was really fun. To see Little Man transition from being terrified to sitting next to Mr. Long was great. He really liked being the center of attention and I don't think he really missed the trains too much today.

I hope in the future they will advertise a little better. It was a real treat but obviously not well attended.

Things you don't say to your wife

Flying

Uncle Joe

Uncle Joe (aka Bobbys brother) was here for a quick visit the other day. Our kids love him to death. Of course they love the other aunts and uncles too but Joe was here and pics of Joe is what you get! :) We took...oh about 20 pictures trying to get the best ones. These are the best ones!

{TWD} Dimply Plum Cake

This weeks TWD was chosen by Michelle of Bake-En. I love that name! It made me laugh the first time I saw it! Thanks Michelle for choosing such a delicious recipe!

Over at TWD this recipe really got mixed reviews. I can see how it would be a love it or hate it recipe though. It was actually supposed to be baked in an 8 inch square dish but mine was in the dishwasher. So, like the non-rule follower I am, I baked it in a round Pampered Chef dish. It called for Cardamom and I used PC Cinnamon Plus. I would have followed the rules on the spice except there was none at the store I was at AND the tag said it was ten bucks! No thanks.

I personally love plums so I really liked the way this turned out. Munchkin liked the bread but doesn't like cooked fruit. Little Man also ate the bread and picked out the plums. Bobby was out of town the day I made it and wouldn't even try it when he got back. I guess it didn't appeal to him. Oh well. Maybe I can make it for a potluck sometime....

Fantastic....

Little man either got bit by a brown recluse or a tick. It looks like he has STARI like Munchkin had last summer. Here we start 2 weeks of antibiotics. Woohoo......

Annoyed-All the way around

My day started off pretty good. Actually, it is still pretty good but I am having a hard time getting my mind off of a few things. So, maybe if I write them down and get them out there I will be less annoyed by them.

1. (Disclaimer: My home school friends, I love you. Don't take this personally but any feedback would be great. I think homeschooling is great for those that are doing it.) I am reading a book called "The Spiritual Power of a Mother" by Michael Farris. He is or was head of the Home School Defense League and the Chancellor of Patrick Henry College. The book is supposed to be a book of encouragement for those moms already homeschooling their kids. It is not a book to get one to homeschool. And, I think it misses the mark in certain respects. As a mom who has a daughter that is thriving in public school reading it makes me annoyed. I guess part of it in the first chapter he talks about Samuel's mother and Moses mother. Hannah prayed for a son and finally had Samuel and then gave him back to the Lord. So, wasn't he taught by the finest teachers...not his mom? Then Moses was sent down the river in a basket. His mother was able to be with him as his wet nurse but once again wasn't he taught by the finest teachers in Egypt? It was just interesting to me that the examples he gave were those of people taught by others.

Then another chapter talks about the blood line of Jesus and the 4 women that show up. He puts it as 2 prostitutes, a foreigner, and an adulteress were redeemed and used why can't you with your past. The part that annoyed me was that after saying the blame with David and Bathsheba is to be laid at the feet of David he comes back around says Bathsheba was a willing participant in the adultery. Now, forgive me if I am mistaken but weren't women property and if the king called you went? His words were Bathsheba was not molested. She appears to have willingly committed adultery with the king. Accordingly, we have to say that she also sinned. I think he is stretching here to make his point.

I know, I know...it is a book of encouragement for those homeschooling their children. It is just annoying me today.

2. Feedback on our house. Today we got feedback from our showing yesterday. Apparently the outside and inside of the house is POOR, it smells bad and the bathroom "What is THAT?" Seriously? That is your feedback? how about something constructive like "The bathroom is not my taste and I hate the smell of fresh baked cookies out of the oven!"

3. Trying to get ahold of someone that knows something about a position at a school. Erg. No one actually knows anything about a part time position listed on the schools website.

4. Gas shortage. Seriously people stop filling up 5 gas cans so those people that actually need gas to get kids back and forth to school and back and forth to work can actually do that. I did get gas this morning at the one station near our house that has some. There were only a few cars ahead of me so I didn't have to wait long. Of course it is the station that the shop guy a few weeks ago said not to go to because there is so much water in the gas.

5. I am annoyed with myself for being so annoyed. Ha! I just laughed in my head because I just hear the Pink song lyric "It's bad when you annoy yourself!" :)

Ok, I think I am done. I am off to the Dr. to take Little Man again.

Flute Lessons

I am trying to be creative and find different things to do to make some money. I have one flute student right now but would love to have some more. If you know of anyone who wants to take lessons have them email me karenreinsch at gmail dot com.

I have been teaching for 15 years, playing for 22. I charge $17 a half an hour or $33 an hour. Weekly or bi-weekly lessons are available (taught in my home) paid at the beginning of the month.

If I get enough students we will have a parent night in the winter and spring.

I will be looking forward to your email!

Also, check out Flute Lessons By Karen

Fill er up!

As you may or may not be aware, there is a gas shortage in Tennessee. I have not been terribly worried about it until today. I am almost out of gas in my economical, 30 MPG sedan. There are few gas stations that have gas and if they do they look like this:
The rest have signs like this:

These would be the two stations near our house. No gas.... At least it is the weekend. Maybe we will get more before Monday. Otherwise Munchkin, Little Man and I may be using our Lambrefeeties to get to school. That is a really long walk for my little ones though. Our gas hog SUV has a full tank so Bobby may be running Munchkin to school on Monday.
It is amazing how much we really do rely on fuel. You really don't realize it, and take it for granted until there is none.

Another World

If you have expected to hear from me in the last few days, I'm sorry! I have been lost in another world. One full of vampires and werewolves. I have seen the books with the black and white covers with a splash of red every time we have stepped foot in Barnes and Noble. I know Paula has mentioned them. I ignored them. I was engrossed in Stori Telling and Eat This Not That for Kids while the littles played at the train table. But now I am hooked.

Munchkin has dance class on Mondays. Lucky for me it is close by a walmart that has a somewhat decent book section. Monday Little Man and I walked to Wallyworld to pick up an eraser and a box of crayons and to check out the book section. He kept busy with the kids books while I started the book Twilight. All of a sudden he needed to "go baf-woom wiwwee baaadd" so we ran through a checkout and ran to the potty. Since the book was conveniently priced I bought it and took it back to the dance school to read. One of the other moms asked what I was reading and we had a little discussion about it. Apparently moms are raving due to there not being any s-e-x in the books. It is all romance.

Monday night was spent engrossed in book number one. I had almost finished it Tuesday and had to run back to Walmart to get New Moon (book 2). I finished that one last night and got about 85 pages into Eclipse (book 3) while sitting at Barnes and Noble. Little Man and I were once again waiting for Munchkin. He played with the trains while I read.

I am not sure why I like these books so much. They are not scary, they are really a love story about star-crossed lovers. Obviously they are geared for teens, hence the really fast read. But still, I like them. Now to get my hands on my own copy of Eclipse and Breaking Dawn would be good. Of course we are out of money so I guess I will have to wait until payday to find out what happens next.

If you don't hear from me, you'll know. I have been kidnapped by vampires and werewolves but I will be back soon!

{TWD} Chocolate Chunkers

This weeks Tuesday With Dorie recipe was chosen by Claudia of Fools for Food. All I can say is CHOCOLATE!!!!! If you like chocolate you will love these. They were supposed to have raisins and some kind of nuts in them but I opted instead for dried blueberries and craisins. No one in my family eats raisins in their cookies...well except Little Man. And, I don't know why people find it necessary to mess up cookies by putting nuts in. :)
I shared a bag of these with Munchkins dance school last night and shared another bag with some neighbors today. It seemed like everyone liked them a lot. They were a little expensive to make but worth it for such a delicious chocolate hit! :)

Cacophony

Cacophony from Dictionary.com

1.	harsh discordance of sound; dissonance: a cacophony of hoots, cackles, and wails.

2.	a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds: the cacophony produced by city traffic at midday.

3.	Music. frequent use of discords of a harshness and relationship difficult to understand.

Yesterday was the Musical Petting Zoo at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Bobby was out of town and I figured we should do something that was fun and free. We have lived here 7 years and have never been to the Country Music Hall of Fame. And it wasn't until recently, when I was in the Capture Music City contest, that I realized the building is built to look like a piano. I have driven past it a million times. Just got it...duh.

After finding a parking meter right next to the building, digging for change to stick in said meter, we were off to the Musical Petting Zoo. My friend Amy asked how I always know about these free events. Well, I pick up the Nashville Parent every month and go through the calendar section to find fun free things to do with the kiddos. You can also go to Nashville Parent online and check out the calendar there. You do have to have a user name and password, but it is free.
I was equal parts glad and distressed that the room we were in was quite small. I could keep an eye on both kiddos without to much effort but there is a reason the post title is Cacophony. My neck started to feel tight in here and I tried to pop it. Bad idea. I started to get a small headache.
Little man was a huge fan of the bongos.
There was no stopping these kids once they got started with the instruments. We did have a time limit of 48 minutes. That is how much time you get for 3 quarters and a nickel.
This was the closest we got to guitars. We have plenty of guitars at home so neither of the kids even touched them. They were both really excited about the violins and the slide guitar. They both played tons of percussion, a banjo and a mandolin.

She looks like a natural doesn't she?
While we were at the Musical Petting Zoo I got a text from one of my band wife girlfriends wondering if we could get together for dinner. Since we were already halfway to her house I decided to take the kids to the zoo. Also free thanks to our zoo membership from Joe and Rox. (Thanks again guys! Best gift ever!)
The kids wanted to go straight to the petting zoo. Haha! I thought it was funny that we went from one petting zoo to another. Of course the reason they wanted to do that was because there is a spray station in the way. Unfortunately it was not working when we went past the first time.

We did make it into the petting zoo and got a good look at Mr. Camel. Munchkin didn't want to get too close as she was afraid it would spit at her. I am not sure where she got that idea.

Two of the 3 pygmy goats were out and about and being chased by all kinds of kids. Both kids were able to get in and pet them though.
One of our favorite destinations at the zoo is the alligator house. We never get to see them up close though. Imagine our surprise when they were all in the water and close by the window. We went around to the "house" part after awhile to check them out from inside. That was cut short by some lady who felt it necessary to bring her cigarette into the small building and stand in there smoking it. For those not in the know...The zoo is smoke free!
By this time both of my children were complaining that their feet hurt. Next time we go to the zoo they are both wearing tennis shoes! No sandals! This was the first time we noticed the marble lions on our way out. Munchkin immediately climbed up on this ones back because she is the queen!

We went and met Melissa, her sister and her little guy at Bar-B-Cutie (which is so much better than Whitt's, by the way). The one down there on Nolensville is wonderful!!

All in all a great day. The kids and I were exhausted by the time we got done. I had to go home and take a nap to get rid of my headache. I am glad I did too as we were in for a little nighttime drama.

As we were having a little movie night, watching Underdog, and minding our own business the power went out. This is not terribly unusual. When we moved here seven years ago our power would randomly go out all the time. Well, last night it didn't come back on. I looked out the window and saw my next door neighbor still had power and decided we needed to leave the house. I think I have seen too many movies when the power has been cut! We got Kelseys leash on and headed for the door. Since we were only planning on going on the porch none of us put shoes on but I did grab my phone. Yeah for priorities! My other next door neighbor wasn't home so none of their lights were on. We decided to take a little walk around the block, shoeless and in our jammies. My neighbor behind me was out and was trying to call NES to find out the problem. There were 9 houses without power and no one knew why. I ended up calling my brother in law in California (everyone we know here was at Disney on Ice) to look up NES for us. Isn't it a crazy world when I can call Joe in California, he can look up NES and tell me there are 9 people without power and there is no truck assigned? Crazy I tell ya!!

I finally took the kids in at about 9:15 and had them get on the hide-a-bed. I sat in the recliner and fell asleep. All of the power finally came back on at about 11:30 I think. I was asleep so I am a little foggy on that. Munchkin turned on the dining room light this morning and cheered! Both kiddos were so excited.

I know there are so many people in Texas without power. Heather! I am glad yours is back already! Our 5 hours without is piddly but a good reminder of how blessed we are to have electricity.

Bobby got back this afternoon after helping a trucker out of his cab. A semi blew over in front of the band van. The guy was OK and they stayed with him until help arrived. Whew! oh the drama.
Now...what to fix for dinner?

I am in LOVE!!!!!

With whom you ask? Well, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center and Sir James Galway of course!!! It has been far too long since I have been to the symphony. To actually hear dynamics and amazing acoustics blew me away.

For my birthday (since we septemberites try to stretch it all month long) I really wanted to go see James Galway at the Schermerhorn. Bobby let me pick the tickets and they were awesome! We were in row JJ in the middle. I have listened to James Galway since I was a baby. So imagine how cool it was that I could see James Galway's cuff links. I could see the spit drip out of the end of his flute (gross I know but kinda cool at the same time). I could see him breathe! There is a reason this man is the most recorded flute player in the world. His playing is lyrical and emotional and technically perfect! Bobby and I wondered what other symphony players think of him. I guess we are comparing how indie rockers get all offended when their favorite artists "sell out" or actually get played on the air. Is it different with the symphony?

Typically I do not get starstruck. Hubs is a rock star ya know so I have met a few "famous" people. Tonight I was totally starstruck! I am not one to stand in autograph lines but tonight was different. I ran in the gift shop and bought a CD while Bobby held my place in line. When we finally reached the front Sir James asked if I played flute to which I replied (with a silly grin on my face) "oh yes! I have been playing for 15 years! That's a long time..but not as long as you!" What a dork! Bobby took our picture and the darn flash wouldn't work. I think he got a little frustrated with us. The lady behind us understood though. She had a piece of flute music for him to sign. By the time we were done my hands were shaking and I was grinning like a fool!
I actually had to sit down at a table in the courtyard to compose myself before walking back to the car.

Back to the Schermerhorn. Being able to hear all of the different instruments playing together was inspiring. I really miss playing with a group like that. Being there tonight made me really want to practice and somehow get involved with some kind of performing group again. Those of you in the Nashville area have probably seen the silly ads with the new conductor Giancarlo Guerrero. They make him seem really fun and make the symphony seem accessible. Tonight his personalty really was evident in his conducting. There were several moments when he launched himself in the air and his rapport with James Galway was amazing. They laughed together, made eye contact and really were in harmony!

If you get a chance go to the Schermerhorn! You will not regret it! Oh yeah and you should also start your night off as a redneck eating at the Wild Horse Saloon and then move down the street to your refined symphony experience. Make sure to finish the night off at Mikes Ice Cream on Broadway. You will have a spectacular night!