Vacation: Day 9 Pittsburgh, Part One

Well, better 3 months late than never, right?

Our time in Pittsburgh was one of my favorite parts of our vacation this summer, so I don't know why it has taken me so long to post about it. At long last here it is.......

We left the mosquito ridden shores of Assateague Island just as thousands of poor saps were rushing in there for the weekend. We took a detour through the Antietam Battlefield and then rolled in to my brother Eric's house in Pittsburgh about 10 pm on Friday night. Everyone there was already in bed so we just threw some blankets on the floor and passed out. (Our first night not in a tent for 8 days.)

On Saturday morning we just vegged out, eating pancakes and watching the kids play. Eli and Kinley particularly enjoyed the princess shoes. Then on Saturday afternoon we packed up and went to a beautiful State Park near Pittsburgh. We hike through boulders along the river, watched the kayakers negotiate the rapids, explored an old grist mill and saw a covered bridge. It was our first real "nature" experience of the trip, which is really strange for us. Usually we are out traipsing around in the woods all the time when we are camping. Ironically, I apparently did not take my camera on this outing....or I forgot to use it. I'm not sure which.

Saturday evening it was time for the big event.....the reason we were there....well, not the reason we were in Pittsburgh, but the reason we were there on that particular weekend.....The Cardinal Game!!!! Eric got tickets for all of us to go together. We packed all of our red just for the occasion. On the way to the game we would have to drive right past the bridge that Eric's company was building. So we stopped for Eric to give us a tour.

It was drizzling a little bit but luckily Kira had an extra umbrella for Kinley to use.
At first we explored the job site from the ground. You can see how huge the support pillars are. Before they could be built the Allegeheny River had to be dammed around the job site and a base of rock many, many feet deep had to be built up.In this picture you can see the existing highway bridge (steel structure) on the right, and then the two new two lane bridges they are building on the middle and the left. As you can see they first build the vertical support columns and then they start pouring concrete horizontally in each direction for the actual road. They have to keep it balanced by pouring evenly on each side.
Pouring concrete horizontally in mid-air requires this contraption. I don't remember the technical term but I think we referred to it as a creeper. It is a form for the concrete that stays in place while the concrete is poured and while it cures for a couple of days, then it slides (or creeps) out a little further so that the next section can be poured.

These two sections of the bridge are just about to meet.Eric decided we could get a better view of the bridges from up on top but none of us wanted to climb the switchback scaffolding all the way to the top like the workers do. (If you look closely in the picture of the three bridges you can see it going up the side of the middle bridge. Scary.) So he took us around, through a tool plaza and up on top.

From there we could see the view that the workers have everyday of the river far, far below.

This is the creeper contraption. It is hard to make heads or tails of what all of the parts are but you get the idea.

This is the finished product before the next section is poured. The workers eat lunch inside these tunnels inside the bridge on cold or rainy days instead of going down to the ground. The bridge is actually open all the way from one end to the other.And here are the two new bridges, one mostly complete and the other still under construction. We were kind of shocked at how close together they were. (And you can see the existing bridge with traffic going by in the background too.) You can also tell that the guardrails have not been poured yet. That made it a little scary watching 5 kids run around up top.

The boys loved seeing the construction site and learning all about what Uncle Eric does. Truth be told so did I. "Engineer" is such a broad term. It was fun to see exactly what he has been engineering. I'm so proud of him.

Cainan and Eli were excited to see a real Gator up on the bridge.

I'm not sure what the people driving by on a Saturday evening thought when they saw 12 people, dressed all in red, roaming around an unfinished bridge, but who cares? We had a great time and we learned a lot. We had to tear the kids away, but the promise of Cardinal game did the trick.

It was time to get on the road and go to the game. First we had to get back through the toll booth just outside the construction site. Eric went up to a State Trooper on duty at the "pass-through-for-free-gate" that the construction workers are allowed to use. He said the magic words and we all got through without paying a toll. Whew!

On to the game.......to be continued.......

To read about Day One traveling and Day Two in Gettysburg go here.

To read about Day Three in Baltimore go here and here.

To read about Day Four in Washington D.C. go here.

To read about Day Five in Washington D.C. go here. and here.
To read about Day Six on Assateague Island go here.

To read about Day Seven on Chincoteague Island go here.
To read about Day Eight at Antietam go here.

Four Grain Batter Bread

If you've read this blog for more than one week you know that I love to bake and that bread is one of my favorite treats. Not sweet breads or fruit breads, just plain old yeast breads. That said, they do take quite a bit of time and little know-how to make correctly so I don't make them every day, or even every week. But now I've found a recipe that is so easy and DELICIOUS that I could make it every single week.....if not for the fact that I would eat it all and gain 200 pounds.

I first tried Four Grain Batter Bread at my sister's house in Florida this fall. She made it for our dinner one night. It was so moist and tender and scrumptious that I asked her for the recipe. I think it came from The New Betty Crocker Cookbook, but I'm not sure. So here it is reprinted for you: (Sorry no pics this time....we ate it too fast.)


Four Grain Batter Bread

4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups all purpose or bread flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 pkgs. active dry yeast
2 cups milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup quick cooking oats

Grease bottom and sides of two loaf pans with shortening and sprinkle with cornmeal.

Mix 3 1/2 cups bread flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and yeast in a large bowl. Heat milk and water in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until warm (120-130 degrees). Pour over flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until moistened. Beat 3 additional minutes on medium speed.

Stir in whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oats and enough remaining bread flour to create a stiff batter. Divide batter between two pans. Pat tops of bread smooth with floured hands. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm place until the batter is one inch below the rim of the pan.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes or until tops are browned. Remove from pans to wire rack to cool.

EAT!!!

For a yummy white batter bread check out my post on Sally Lunn Batter Bread.

This recipe has been linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tuesdays at the Table. Head over there for more great recipes.

Manic Monday

Love and Marriage

Kinley is very interested in marriage because she has seen Cinderella and Jasmine get married in the movies. ("But not Snow White. She just rides on the prince's horse.) Last night Kinley saw a wedding picture of us. Shocked she said,

K: You got married?!?

Me: Yep.

K: And Daddy was the King?

Me: Uhhhhh, yeah, I guess.

K: When I get big like you can I get married?

Me: Yes.

K: But who will be the king?

Me: I don't know. You'll meet some boy that you fall in love with.

K: Maybe......Ryker.

Me: No. You can't marry your brother.

K: (after a long pause) I guess I'll just marry myself. I can't think of anybody else.

Happy Halloween

Sadly, gone are the days when I could pick out my kids' Halloween costumes. No more themed costumes for us. They all have their own ideas and they don't know the word compromise. So I just let them dress up however they want and try to enjoy it.

This year Ryker decided to go as Darth Vader. Luckily a friend had made a big black cloak for her son a few years ago. We added a mask we had and some black clothes and Voila! it was the mighty Sith himself.

Cainan had been planning for months to be Noah...of Noah and the ark. He wanted me to make a cardboard ark for him to pull around with him. When I told him that wasn't going to happen had decided to be Indiana Jones instead. (I thought he had already been IJ once, but I was mistaken. That is what he dressed up as for his birthday party, not Halloween. Silly me.) So we bought a hat on clearance at a Halloween store and planned for him to wear some khaki pants and a leather jacket. Then on Oct. 30th he decided he would stick with Noah.

At least I had all of the costume components at church so it wasn't a big deal to do a last minute switch. He spent the whole night complaining that everyone thought he was Moses. Seriously, how can you tell one bearded guy in a dress carrying a staff from another one? He was sensitive on that topic, however.

Kinley wanted to be Ariel, the Little Mermaid. I planned to make her a cute little fish tail dress. I was really looking forward to it....BUT....in a moment of weakness alone in the store with her, Brian bought her a pre-made Belle from Beauty and the Beast costume. You know the kind made of really cheapo fabric that lasts about 3 days? Before Halloween night I had to stitch up 4 different places on it. I was disappointed that I wouldn't get to make her a costume (of better quality) but it was a very low stress Halloween because I didn't have any sewing to do.

Of course they all got lots of candy and had fun painting pumpkins for the contest at school too.Ryker took a snake gourd and painted it as a snake.


Cainan took an apple gourd and painted it as an apple with a worm coming out of it. (Aren't we original?)And what else would a princess wanna-be do with a pumpkin? She painted it gold and glued jewels all over it.

Now our favorite holiday of the year is over and we are already planning our costumes for next year. I'm not going to start sewing quite yet, though. I have a feeling that opinions may change over the next 360 days.

Giant Ice Cream Sandwich

Ryker's birthday was this weekend. (I can't believe he is 10 already.) And as always, we can't just have cake. We have to have some kind of fabulously indulgent dessert. This year Ryker chose "Mom's Special Occasion Ice Cream Cookie Dessert", which I prefer to call "The World's Biggest Ice Cream Sandwich".

It is basically an ice cream sandwich made in a 10 inch springform pan. You layer chocolate chip cookies, walnuts, homemade chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream to make a very scrumptious...and very rich dessert.

All of our guest loved it and several asked for the recipe. More importantly Ryker loved it. So I give you, "The World's Largest Ice Cream Sandwich".....

Ingredients:

1 batch of chocolate chip cookies, baked according to pkg directions for bar cookies
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 T. melted butter
1 T. brown sugar
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 cup semi sweet morsels
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate baking bar
2 T. butter
1 T. vanilla extract
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

1. Bake cookies and let cool completely.

2. Chop cooled cookies into small pieces.

3. Combine walnuts, melted butter and brown sugar in an 8 x 8 square pan. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Stir well. Cool completely.

4. In a medium saucepan, combine evaporated milk, chocolate morsels, confectioners sugar, baking bar and butter. Cook over med-low heat, stirring occasionally until chocolate is melted. Continue cooking for 5-7 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Cool completely.

5. Spread one third of cookie crumbs onto bottom of 10 inch springform pan. Top with 1/2 of the ice cream and half of the chocolate sauce.

6. Combine remaining cookies with walnuts. Spread half of cookie/walnut mixture over chocolate sauce in pan. Top with remaining ice cream.

7. Reserve two tablespoons chocolate sauce. Pour remaining sauce over ice cream layer. Top with remaining cookie/walnut mixture.

8. Drizzle with reserved chocolate sauce.

Keep frozen.

This recipe is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays and Tuesdays at the Table.

October 30th is National Candy Corn Day

I love candy corns.

I dressed Cainan as a candy corn for his very first Halloween.

I lost all respect for Moose A. Moose when he sang his "I Don't Like Candy Corns" song.

In honor of the tastiest little seasonal treats ever I thought I'd share some cute candy corn ideas.

Check out these candy corn cookies from Bake at 350.

Or if you are on a diet you might prefer this GIANT Candy Corn yard ornament idea that I found at Zakka Life.

Either way, enjoy some candy corn today. I know I will.

A Dry Dilemma

I'm a victim of my own success.

The kids loved the macaroons so much that now Ryker wants me to make some for his birthday this weekend, in lieu of cake.

He wants four different flavors......and colors.

Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but macaroons need to be dry, dry, dry. That means no liquid flavorings or colorings can be added. I have some powder food coloring left over from my cake decorating days, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I can add cocoa powder to the recipe to make chocolate ones and I have some powdered chai flavoring I'm going to use on another batch. They loved the cinnamon macaroons so I'm going to make those again too, but how do I make a strawberry flavored macaroon without using anything even remotely liquid?

For the fillings I think I'll try a vanilla buttercream in the chocolate macaroons, a pumpkin filling of some sort in the chai macaroons and chocolate ganache in the cinnamon ones again. If I can't get the macaroons flavored strawberry maybe I can make a plain vanilla macaroon and make the filling strawberry somehow.

Any ideas?

Haunted House

Originally published Oct. 28th, 2007

I often complain to Brian that since Ryker started school I don’t feel like I have much time with him. It is especially rare to have time alone with him, without Cainan or Kinley. It is hard to go from being together all 12 waking hours to just being together for the last 4 waking hours. I do his reading assignments with him and his piano practice but that is about all we have time for between church responsibilities and his playing with Cainan.

Brian tries to find ways for us to be together. He’ll send us to the store alone or on a special errand, which is really nice. But his most recent idea was that I should take Ryker to the local Jaycee’s Haunted House. I was not fond of the idea. I don’t particularily like haunted houses, especially not when I am supposed to be the big brave adult in the situation. If I have Brian with me and I can be the one that is scared and clinging to him with my eyes closed they aren’t that bad. Brian assured me that since it was just the measly Jaycee’s it couldn’t be too scary. It would be fun.

I wasn’t going to mention the idea to Ryker and just let it drop. No such luck. Brian told Ryker about it and he was so excited. He really wanted to go. So last Saturday night we headed out there. Brian called us on the way and was teasing Ryker about being too scared to eat supper when we got home. To which Ryker’s response was, “Bring it on!”

It was a little bit chilly and we had to stand in line for 30 or 45 minutes outside. Apparently they were only taking in 2-3 people at a time so the line was moving very slowly. We struck up a conversation with the people behind us. It was a man and his 13 or 14 year old son. They were irritated about the slow moving line so I told them that they could go in with us if they wanted to. They agreed.

Finally we went into the pitch black fortress; Ryker first, then me, then the boy and then the man. The guide asked Ryker to hold on to her arm as she led us through the maze of cardboard box walls. It all started out harmlessly enough. We walked through rooms with dead bodies lying on slabs and saw prisoners in an insane asylum moaning. But then it started to get a little scary.Thank goodness for the man behind us. Scary people started coming out of dark corners and chasing our group, but the man in back caught most of that and Ryker and I didn’t really see it.

Then we came to a very narrow passage and the guide told us to be sure and stay to the right. I, in all my wisdom, scooted as far to the left of the passage as I could. I was not about to let someone grab my feet. My mistake. A chainsaw started up right beside my ear and blew my hair into a giant tangled mess as I screamed and practically trampled my son in my attempts to get away. It was at this pointed that Ryker started saying that he didn’t like it and wanted to get out.

I tried to laugh it all off and make fun of the guys in dorky costumes, but I don’t think it worked very well. I even pointed out the fact that our guide had made two cell phone calls and yelled out things like ‘Hey Dave, it’s 8:30!’ as she led us through the maze. Ryker just continued to hold tight to the guide’s arm with one hand and cover his ears with his shoulder and his other hand. I don’t know if he kept his eyes opened or closed. Well, to make a long story short we walked through a graveyard** and some kind of alien hospital room where a zombie tried to get our blood (which interestingly was the part that terrified Ryker the most).

At the very end we had to crawl through a tunnel about the size of a refrigerator box laying on its side. Of course it had a couple of corners in it that you couldn’t see around and Ryker made me go first. I went, but I knew that something was going to be waiting for me around that first corner. Sure enough some kind of zombie guy came crawling toward us. I tried to back up but the guys behind me were staying firm. The undead man retreated so I continued to inch my way forward through the tunnel until the guy behind me said, “Hey, you’re leaving your boy behind.” Apparently, in fright Ryker had crawled backwards past both of those guys and was still cowering in the tunnel. I couldn’t turn around in there so the three of us coaxed him into crawling forward up to where I was.

We finally made it out into the fresh night air and Ryker said, “I am never doing that again! Why did Daddy make us do that?” I was thinking the same thing. The night ended OK because they also had a fun house that was shaped like a pirate ship. We went through that and Ryker felt a little better after laughing at himself in the silly mirrors.

Brian felt really bad when we got home and told him what happened, but now he tries to put a positive spin on it and say that Ryker and I built priceless memories that night, blah, blah, blah. I guess it is one experience that we will always share and hopefully never repeat.

**On a side note I was once again reminded of how old I am, even in the midst of a haunted house. When we walked through the graveyard the guide told us to make a conga line and hold on to the waist of the person in front of us so that we wouldn’t wander off the path and step into any graves. I heard the 13 year old boy behind me whisper, “You do it Dad.”

French Macaroons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macaroons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Let me warn you all....this is not an "American macaroon". Like me, most of you have probably only eaten macaroons made of globs of coconut and gooey sweetened condensed milk. And they're good. But they aren't real French macaroons.

These macaroons are a cookie made of egg whites, almond flour and confectioners sugar with a filling sandwiched in between. We could choose any flavoring or coloring for the macaroons that we wanted and we were also encouraged to try different fillings. I decided to go with a cinnamon flavored macaroon and a chocolate ganache filling.

I followed the recipe exactly....well pretty much. I couldn't find almond flour in the lone grocery store in town so I had to grind my own. I had no idea how many almonds I would need in order to produce 2 cups of almond flour. Turn out one bag is only enough for 1 1/2 cups. So I had to add in 1/2 cup of all purpose flour. That was probably the kiss of death, I know.

My macaroons did not develop the "feet" that they were supposed too. Maybe the flour was the problem. Maybe its the rainy weather and the 100% humidity around here. Whatever the cause they are still really delicious. Since I've never had a real macaroon before I'm not sure if they are exactly the right texture, though. They are somewhat chewy, but I like that.

I think they are marvelous and I will definitely try them again some time. I'm dying to go to a bakery now and try a "real" macaroon to see how mine compare. For now, here is the recipe so that you can try it yourself.

Cinnamon Macaroons with Chocolate Ganache Filling

Ingredients

Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)

Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)

Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)

Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature, preferably aged)

(For this recipe you need to age your egg whites for 3 days or so. That means leaving them out on the counter at room temperature, like this.....Just remember that we Americans tend to have an obsession with refrigeration that the rest of the world does not share. Eggs are safe even if they are not kept cold. Room temperature egg whites whip up SO much better than cold ones....and "aged" egg whites that have some of their moisture evaporated out are even better.)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t over fold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip. You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

(Just for fun I made two HUGE macaroons, just for me!)

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Filling:

4 oz. semisweet chocolate

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

Heat cream to boiling over medium heat. Add chocolate to cream. Whisk as it melts. Whisk in butter. You will have a beautiful, shiny, creamy chocolate ganache. Pipe into macaroons.

(Please refrain from licking your computer screen!)

This recipe has been linked to Tuesdays at the Table and Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.