Flashback to wedding (10 years) and creative writing class (18 years)--not the best title.

****** 

"Excuse me...we certainly hear the alarm.  But I'm calling to see if this is real," Caryn, one of my bridesmaids, asks.  I can barely hear her over the repetitive shriek of electronic beeps.    

"Because we have a bride here," she continues, "and if this is just a drill, we'd like to stay in place."

After a short pause she simply states "oh," and quickly glances my way before looking to the other bridesmaids, dressed alike in silver and black silk gowns.  She raises her eyebrows and nods and they are a flurry of motion. 

I, in contrast, sit still for a moment more, rooted at the dressing table in the hotel suite and look at my reflection.  My hair is freshly styled, the veil securely pinned in place.  I am wearing my crinoline and other underpinnings because I was about to step into my wedding gown.

Instead, I reach for the same black cardigan I had on just moments ago.  I hastily button it, misaligning the buttonband, and reach down to fasten the straps on my pristine shoes.  I hear someone yell, "get the dress" and see Kristin, my maid of honor, and another bridesmaid, Jenn, hauling it, still encased in its protective wrap, over their arms.  We step into the hallway together but our group is quickly disbanded by the crowd, a hotel's worth of guests descending the staircase at the same time.

We find one another outside, along with my parents and a handful of wedding guests, and gather into a jagged circle.  Nervous jokes and comments fill the chilly morning air as fire trucks race into the parking lot, sirens blaring, as if to punctuate that this is indeed real.  Firemen rush the building.  But it's not long until they give the all clear.  Before they leave, they pause to take a picture with us--the impressively dressed huddle protecting a garment bag.

Two hours later, after the dress is on and I've heard stories from guests whose hotel rooms were flooded by the sprinkler system, I am on my father's arm and walking down the aisle.  I look at the room filled with loved ones and at my best girlfriends lining the front of the church.  And then, of course, I see Charlie.

******

Looking back, it makes sense that our wedding day should have such a start.  Surprises and unlikely events, both good and bad, seem to gravitate towards us.  And now--ten years, three boys, and many, many adventures later--I feel as if we're just getting started.  Happy anniversary sweetie.  And thank you.  I'm glad we have forever to fit it all in.

Sandra

Coconut banana bread with lime glaze.

When I saw this recipe on Made, I knew I had to try it.  It has many of our favorite ingredients:  coconut, banana, citrus.  Plus, it's a lower calorie recipe.  We still love the banana blueberry bread recipe that I previously posted, but this is a wonderful way to vary the bread box.  I made our first loaf on Friday and it was gone before dinner that evening.  I then made two loaves on Sunday, thinking they would get us through the week.  They were gone by Tuesday.

On the first batch, I only glazed half of the loaf because I wasn't sure if the boys would take to the lime glaze.  It turned out to be their favorite part, so for the following batches, I used a skewer to poke holes in the loaves before glazing.  Yummy pockets of lime goodness ensued.

Dana has great step-by-step pictures over on her site.  But I make my quick breads a little differently.  Basically, I do things in the order my cooking guru, Alton Brown, tells me to do it.  I'm posting my take on the recipe here.

Coconut banana bread with lime glaze

care of Cooking Light Magazine, via Made

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
• 1/4 cup yogurt (I used vanilla)
• 3 Tbl apple juice or applesauce (I used apple cider)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1 Tbl coconut to sprinkle on top of bread
  
  Glaze 
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbl fresh lime juice (approx 1 lime) 

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Prep loaf pan (spray with a baking spray that has flour incorporated or grease and line loaf pan with parchment paper)
• Mix the 2 cups flour, 3/4 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt in a large bowl, whisk, and set aside
• Place the 2 eggs, softened 1/2 stick of butter, and 1 cup sugar into a mixer bowl (I just used my hand mixer) and beat on medium for one minute
• Add the following ingredients:  mashed bananas, 1/4 cup yogurt, 3 Tbl apple juice/applesauce, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 cup coconut flakes;  mix just until everything is incorporated
• Dump wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients and hand stir until just blended (no dry pockets)
• Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan, sprinkle remaining 1 Tbl coconut on top, and bake for approximately 1 hour (mine was perfect at an hour but my oven is true to temp--do not over bake)
• For the glaze, stir together the juice of one lime with 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• After removing loaf from oven, allow it to rest for 5 minutes in the pan
• Remove the warm loaf from the pan and drizzle with glaze (I used a skewer to poke random holes through the loaf from the top before glazing because we loved the glaze)

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Sandra 

Winter hat 1 of 5, check.

I finished knitting Charlie's winter hat a few weeks ago.  But I never got around to posting about it because I still need to steam block it--our iron is dying a slow, leaky death and I have yet to pick up a new one. 

The pattern is called "Turn a Square" by Jared Flood. More details and my notes can be found on Ravelry by clicking the image

Mother Nature, however, apparently cannot wait for me to run my errand and has decided to go ahead and make it cold outside.  She seemingly is also ignoring the calendar because temperatures at certain times of the day are dipping pretty low considering it is only October.  Now, I've lived in Northern Virginia for quite some time.  And so I'm pretty used to erratic weather.  But this shift was completely without warning--we were wearing tees and shorts during a pop up heat wave merely a week and a half ago.  And I'm pretty sure that a neighbor went so far as to put out their slip n slide.  But now it's cold. 

And that, my friends, is the story of how the unblocked hat was placed into immediate service during some late night furniture painting in the garage.  The End (because I have moved on to knitting winter hat 2 of 5 and there is no chance that hat 1 will ever be blocked).   

Sandra

39.

Have I ever mentioned that for an entire year, I had my age wrong?  As in, I thought I turned 39 last year?  And that I kept telling folks I was 39 up until someone who knew better overheard me and corrected me?  I don't think about it much, I guess. 

But I'm straight now.  And so I can finally report that my last birthday as a thirty-something-year-old did indeed happen (right?  I think I'm right) and it was really nice.  I was awoken with a cupcake and heard from lots of friends and family.  Thoughtful notes and emails peppered my day, making sure I was smiling (I was).  And of course, plenty of snuggles from these munchkins made me feel extra special...

as did receiving a gift certificate to a local yarn store and several craft books, including this one (!)...

I am one happy birthday girl.  Who is about to gain 20 lbs. from cake pop mania because I'm totally going Julie/Julia Project on this book.  Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Sandra