mama’s sewing circus

Will’s dinner request:

School is back in session and we’re running ahead of schedule in our tour of childhood infectious diseases having missed the first half of Will’s first week due to viral pink eye in both eyes (and one of mine). I apparently also got the knock-you-dead-with-aches respiratory virus to go with it which he somehow missed. Feeling left out, Sylvie brought us all head lice, and so we spent our evening last night de-lousing and nit-picking. Whee!

All of this excitement has me making preparations for my end because at this rate, I don’t have long. When I die, make me into a record, here.

When you leave to take your dog for a walk…
6 drummers, one apartment. It starts a little slow, but I did laugh out loud.

car overtakes car in front by jumping/driving over it.

in this order, wants to sign up for yoga classes, then guitar, then swimming and if he has time left over in his schedule maybe soccer.

I can’t figure out if he’s already realized girls take yoga or if he really is still too cool to care what the other kids think. Either way, I’m quite amused.

An entirely different note, Justin Timberlake would just die if he saw this:

Magic happens when you let your cookie dough sit for 36 hours according to the New York Times. They aren’t just trying to sell newspapers, they know what they’re talking about!

Read, bake and be the judge.

There are 6 layers of cake freezing in my freezer for Saturday’s party. Still deciding on a filling, but I’m pretty sure this will be frosted in fluffy white meringue frosting, because well, clouds go well with rainbows. No?

Summer around our house looks like a low budget horror movie with the red juices of summer’s bounty dripping from my countertops and children. When the cherry harvest is finished, the strawberries and beets kick in to carry us through until winter.

I’ve never been a beet eater, but our CSA is seeing to it that this is not for lack of trying. Dirty and with the greens removed they look like beheaded dead rats. Blood and all. And their dye tinges everything. Thinking of saving a few for Halloween… They’ve been great julienned and sauteed, but having just baked up 4 of our 20 zucchini (thanks, again CSA), I’m thinking a chocolate cake might be the best resting place for one of our many bundles of beets. A quick google returns a ton of recipes. I’ll let you know if I get that far.

In the meantime, I just finished baking my favorite sponge cake recipe yet. It is from Marion Cunningham’s Fannie Farmer Cookbook (though at the link you’ll find the recipe hers is based on). Though there are several variations, my variation used 5 eggs, separated; 1 cup sugar – separated 3/4 and 1/4; 1/4 tsp salt; 2 tbs lemon juice and 1 cup flour.

The end result is a fluffy cake with a chewy/crispy caramel coat that would be delicious on its own, though at the request of the birthday child, mine was promptly filled with chocolate chips, vanilla ice cream and topped with buttercream frosting. It sits chilling in the freezer, now.

One cake down, and one more to go before the week is out. The big celebration gets a rainbow cake. Can’t wait to get started. Check back Sunday night for pictures.

My public service for the day – tips for spotting a drowning. May you never need to know this, but just in case you do.