A Week of Baking

Last week could be classified as the baking week.  It started with making mushroom pie for dinner early in the week and culminated in cakes for Saturday and Sunday dinners.  (I did chicken out of also making Tarte Tatin for Saturday as well, mostly because being a mother of a then 7 week old child I could not spend all day baking.)

The cakes required a lot of planning and baking ahead, since I never have more than 2 hours at a time for any activity, and I was not going to give up my precious fewer than 6 hours of night time sleep.

The Saturday cake was inspired by the Miroir aux Fruits, or Fruit Mousse Miroir cake, from the Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts book.  I say "inspired" because I changed just about every single component called for by the recipe--sheet genoise instead of Biscuit Joconde, no egg whites in the fruit mousse, raspberry  instead of apricot jam for the mirror.  One of the wonderful things about this cake is that you are supposed to freeze it as part of the preparation.  So it is perfect for the very occasion when you do not want to be cooking on the day of the "event".

I tried to reproduce the "look", and I might have achieved it if I managed to make enough mousse. That would be something to look forward to next time.

Taste wise, my raspberry mirror mousse cake was definitely a success, which you could not say about the Sunday cake.

Sunday cake was planned to be a true cake in the American style--multiple layers, lots of frosting, etc.  However, I went a bit overboard.  I have used all the components of this cake in other combinations with success--super moist chocolate cake, ganache, swiss meringue buttercream, raspberry puree.  However, all of these wonderful things together made such a rich cake, that it almost felt like we were eating a little bit of cake with a lot of sweet butter.  Nick and I "struggled" for 2 days, but tossed almost half the cake in the end.

To redeem myself I made just the chocolate cake yesterday, which Nick and I have been enjoying without any filling or frosting.

Week End

Even a couple of weeks ago I would still get excited on Fridays about the prospect of the weekend.  Oh, the weekend!  It used to mean extra sleep, doodling around working on my various sewing and graphic design projects, re-watching my favorite period dramas.  Not anymore. Now I live in a kind of a "Groundhog Day" time warp--every day is exactly the same.  The only exception is Nat.  Nat's behavior changes gradually, but very noticeably, sometimes even day to day.

Nat loves his "caterpillar" outfit

As I pushed the stroller round the park a few days ago, I thought about my day-to-day activities.  Taking care of baby Nat has been tiring and satisfying--an experience that I find hard to describe.  I enjoy feeding and entertaining him during his awake hours.  At the same time I also enjoy the time I get to myself while he is asleep--a bit of baking and sewing somehow makes me feel a bit more "normal", whatever that means.

Outdoors is just SO bright

As a result I often feel in conflict with myself.  I look forward to Nat's awake times, so that I can play with him.  At the same time I look forward to his bed time, so that I can relax and do my own thing.  It is an endless debate whether or not my feelings are "normal", or whether I should be entirely devoted to my little baby, to the point of being incapable of thinking of anything else.  For my own sanity's sake, I try really hard to avoid this debate with myself.

And now I am off to work on another quilt until the next feeding. Happy Mother's Day!

The Joy of a Quick Dessert

I have become a big fan of the yogurt cake for two very simple reasons.  It tastes good, and it is super easy to make--no exotic ingredients or special tools required.  You do not even need an electric mixer!

Another positive aspect of this cake is that you can make it in a variety of ways, changing its flavor to whatever pleases you most.  The plain version is great by itself, or with a thin layer of raspberry jam.  I also love the blueberry lemon and the cranberry orange variations.  There are many other variations to try too.

The recipe I rely on is the Yogurt Cake by Clotilde of Chocolate & Zucchini.  I do tend to skip rum--just not the flavor I like in this particular cake.  If you are out of yogurt, the recipe also works with sour cream.  You can make it as a cake in a 9 inch cake pan, or in a 8 x 8 inch baking dish.  You can also bake the recipe as muffins, though the baking time will have be adjusted.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs 
• 1 cup plain unsweetened yogurt 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• a good pinch of salt 
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla paste/extract

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F
2. Line the bottom of a round 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides.  (When I bake this in the 8 x 8 square dish, I skip the parchment paper, and just butter the dish.)
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and oil. 
4. In another (smaller) bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
5. Add the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture and mix together just until everything is wet.  It is very important not to over-mix, or large pockets of air will form in your cake.  
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.  (In my oven, the baking time is usually longer (40-45 minutes), but I usually start checking after 30.)

For the cranberry orange variation, before the above step 5 do the following:

• add a cup of cranberries (I usually use frozen ones) to the flour mixture and mix (DO NOT use craisins here)
• add zest of 1 orange (or to taste) to the yogurt mixture and mix

For the blueberry lemon variation, before the above step 5 do the following:

• add a cup of blueberries (I usually use frozen ones) to the flour mixture and mix
• add zest of 1 lemon (or to taste) to the yogurt mixture and mix

Enjoy!

A Bottle and a Museum Visit

Nat experienced several "firsts" today.  A big milestone was trying out eating from the bottle.  (Before any of you take issue with the content of the bottle, I assure you it is still breast milk!)

Nick gets to feed Nat for the first time,
and Nat test-drives a bottle.

Luckily, the bottle seemed to present no obstacles between Nat and his milk.  Later in the day he proved not to have forgotten how to access milk in a more, should we say, old fashioned way, which made us parents even happier.

In the afternoon instead of our usual stroll around the park, Nat made his first visit to the Museum of Fine Arts. (I could not resist checking out the new exhibit of Alex Katz prints.)  Unfortunately our visit to the MFA was very short--I will definitely have to go back to see more of the exhibit.  Without steady movement of the stroller, Nat woke up sooner than expected and started to vocalize his emotions, forcing me to evacuate us from the gallery.  On the positive side, I am now aware of the fact that the museum has a nursing room--how great is that!

Boston Marathon

I really wanted to take Nat to see his first Boston Marathon.  I thought it would be something fun we could do as a family, even though I realize that Nat would not remember any of it, nor can he see anything beyond what is a foot away from his nose.

16 days old

However, Nick and I decided that today's weather (sunny and high 80's F) was not only less than ideal for the runners, but also would be tough on our little baby.  So instead, Nick went out to see the lead runners, while I went out later to cheer my fellow coworkers.  And Nat spent the day at home.

Kenya's Sheron Cherop and Jemima Jelagat Sumgong

Levy Matebo and Wesley Korir just after Kenmore Square

Two Weeks Already?

Nat is two weeks old today.  I find it hard to believe that it has already been two weeks since he was born.  To me it feels like it was just yesterday.  Nick, on the other hand, feels like it has been ages.

2 weeks old

Nat definitely is more awake and alert and looks around a lot more.  He no longer gets upset during diaper changes, nor does he mind his baths.  His awake times are still mostly centered around eating.  In this aspect, Nat and I are not very different, despite our huge difference in size and age.

It turns out milk production requires a lot of energy--more than anything I have ever previously experienced, more than the pregnancy or any marathon training.  I spend most of my day sitting on the couch.  However, I have switched to 4 meals per day, I eat a ton of snacks in between, and I snack in the middle of the night.  All this madness is to avoid further weight loss.

Today we had a visit from a lactation consultant.  According to her, my kid "sucks milk in like a vacuum cleaner"...