It's About Time!!!

My computer is on the fritz...

So, as I write this to you, the bottom third of my computer is wiggling up and down and giving me quite the headache. It's nearly impossible to read what I'm writing, so I do not accept blame for spelling errors, as I can't be sure that I've made a mistake...oh well.
This post is long overdue so I suppose I can deal with the sad computer and get some pictures from the trip up! Ya!!!

Joe and I got back from France a couple of weeks ago. It was such a great trip. Good friends, good fun and LOTS of good food!!! I haven't uploaded all of the pictures to my computer (because I figure I'll have to just do it again when I get my new laptop because the motherboard or some such nonsense is pooping out on me). So, I will just have to give you what little I do have. Most of these photos were taken by my dear friend Michelle, whom I met at Le Cordon Bleu in the Bread Baking course that I took while in France. We had such a wonderful time making great bread and getting to know the great people there. I feel especially blessed to have taken the class with these great people and have enjoyed sharing tips and tricks for duplicating the recipes in the states (which is not as easy as I had originally anticipated because the ingredients are NOT the same...so sad).

Anyhow, I hope you love the photos and I am sure I will get more coming. I have made excellent progress on my Baguette recipe, which I have been making every couple of days and it just gets better each time. They are so easy and so worth the extra time it takes to make it instead of buy it. Nothing quite compares! I have also been able to duplicate the Caramel Ice cream (from a dry caramel, and YES we did learn to make ice cream in my bread making class, what fun) and the Chocolate Sorbet. I also made a killer batch of Croissants, which are super time consuming and much to my surprise, turned out better at home than they did when I made them in class. This was a big surprise because I've had the opposite problem with every other recipe. I was happy to get at least one thing perfect on the first try! I bought the chocolate sticks so I can make the croissant with chocolate in the middle (how can you go wrong with that, huh). Hopefully my next batch will be at least as good as the first and maybe it will get better?!?!

I've also been making some really great brownie, chocolate cake, double chocolate chip muffins and other recipes that I acquired in France (we came home with chocolate and baking books from France and that was about it...can you tell)!?! Oh, and I made a French Butter Cream Icing for the chocolate cake that was SUPER out of control...delicious!! Just don't ask how much butter was in it, you'll actually feel yourself getting fatter if you do.

Look at all those yummy baguettes!!! Don't worry, this is only a small part of what we did in ONE day of baking. Just think of what you could accomplish in 7hrs of non-stop baking...we came home with so much bread it was crazy!

MORE yummy bread! I believe these were day two. The small rolls are a Batard bread made using the Poolish method, I think my baguettes are good enough to begin the Batard next...we shall see if they compare...

And who can complain about spending all day on their feet making bread when they serve you lunch food that looks this good?!?!?! Talk about living it up! They served us breakfast and lunch every day and it was superb! I think that's what I miss most, they have amazing food...amazing.

This is my favorite. This is just after Chef gave me my certificate for successfully completing the Bread Baking Course. He was super sweet and I loved every second of it!!!

All in all, the baking class was worth every penny of the trip and I would do it again in a heart beat. It was so much harder than I anticipated to be gone from the kids for so long. I think I'll have to drag them along next time so I can at least see them each night before bed. It's been so nice to hold them and squeeze them. I have spent lots of time catching up on all my snuggling that I missed out on with Max. They all seem to have grown up while I was away...how is that possible?

Oh, and in unrelated, but just as important news: Clay finished his Bear while he was at his Gpa and Gma's house while I was away! Not only did he earn his Bear, but he also earned enough arrow points to earn one gold and five silver arrows!!! Go Clayton! I just hope I can find enough to keep him busy for the next NINE months until he's a Webelo!
Also, I got a new calling in church today. I am the new Miamaid Adviser. It's been so long since I last worked in YW that I am a little out of touch, but I am really looking forward to working with these girls and getting to know them better. Girls camp is just over a month away, I can't think of a better initiation than that!!!