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Thankful Fluff

I love to cook. Sadly, Jason and I are not often home long enough for me to do any serious cooking these days but I always insist on preparing a number of desserts for our Thanksgiving dinners whether time permits or not.

I quite enjoy cooking even when there’s an overabundance of it to be done.

This year I made Mayan chocolate pecan pie, sweet potato praline pie with maple sauce, pineapple upside-down cake, and a host of from scratch toppings for banana splits, including marshmallow fluff. As you might have guessed from that long list, I was in the kitchen for 5 or 6 hours baking alongside my faithful assistant Jason. We didn’t finish until around 1:30 in the morning.

Obviously, I only volunteered to taste the from scratch marshmallow fluff we made because I care about the quality of my cuisine.

Despite our grogginess at the time of cooking completion, all of our food experiments turned out well. While everything tasted yummy, the marshmallow fluff was my favorite of our treats simply because crafting it was like creating a magical brew. It mystically transformed from a thin frothy concoction to shiny sticky stuff in a matter of minutes. Maximo Marshmallio Fluffius!

The Mayan chocolate pecan pie I made contained a few extra ingredients: ancho chili powder, Kahlua, and semi-sweet chocolate. Therefore, it was extra tasty.
Jason made a great sous-chef. He happily chopped, washed, or crushed anything I asked.

Thanksgiving was a little crazy for us this year, as always, with our dual family appearances but our pies disappeared quicker than we had to so yeah for that! Yes, not only did our goodies go fast but we were able to hang around long enough to catch a few rays at the park with my family, as is tradition, and chill with the Sabin clan until any and all spare abdominal compartments were overflowing.

After cooking for five hours our kitchen was quite the mess. But no need for disgust, we had it all tidied up by the next day.
My family always heads to the park after our big meal. Sunshine is a good digestive catalyst.

I feel I cannot boast of culinary and familial holiday success though without confessing my secret shame: I didn’t make my piecrusts. How could a food scientist not make her own pastry dough? You don’t need to tell me what’s wrong with that. Next year I vow to create any and all crusts. I would have attempted that feat this time but easily-bungled gastronomic research is best left to when you’re not feeding company. (I have learned this lesson the hard way over Thanksgivings past.)

We ate dinner number two with the Sabins. My stomach did not appreciate this double-supper design.

Being able to see both our families every year on Thanksgiving is a joy and a burden. We enjoy spending this holiday with every single one of our loved ones but it wears us out. We come home at the end of the day exhausted. I guess baking until the wee hours of the morning doesn’t help either but sometimes sacrifices must be made in the great cause for deliciousness. Even with my complaints about the fullness of our Thanksgiving, I must admit that between fluff and family I have much to be grateful for.

Rachel December 4, 2012 No Comments

PJ & B

The sages have shared timeless guidance through the ages on how to prolong opportunities for loungewear wearing. Their great wisdom has taught us that if you can’t bring your nightgown to the shindig then bring the shindig to your nightgown. It was my turn to host Bunco this month and I decided to take this enlightened advice to heart by turning Bunco into a pajama party. Oh yeah, time to live it up like it’s 8 AM!

Pajamas and slippers are always in vogue at my house.

Breakfast and pajamas are kind of a packaged deal so I opted to make a morning meal our sustenance for the evening. Several years ago my mother-in-law Sue taught me how to make her recipe for British pancakes, AKA crepes, and I chose to share its deliciousness with my Bunco girls. Sue would be proud except I didn’t cover these goodies with her customary lemon juice and sugar. Oh the crepe corruption! Instead I concocted a variety of homemade toppings: caramel sauce, fat-free chocolate syrup, and fat-added chocolate syrup. I paired these condiments with ripe berries and freshly whipped cream for an even greater fat impact. Don’t tax your calculator by trying to count those calories; it might explode.

The creping went slowly and sloppily but pretty tastily too.

The preparations for this culinary endeavor went pretty smoothly. There were only two hiccups. Making individual crepes for 8 girls took a lot longer than planned and my hot buttery skillet coughed out more smoke throughout the process than a holey chimney. Luckily girls know how to talk so while I cooked away my guests were content chatting amid the lingering billows that made my kitchen resemble a seedy bar. I did complete the food fabrication though before we all passed out from smoke inhalation and the results were satisfying. My tummy would never accept a meal this rich in the AM but for a fake breakfast dinner it was pretty yummy. On a side note, I did practice my crepe making over the weekend and I think I’ve figured out a few tricks to make the process go considerably faster. So the next time I cook for a long line of famished ladies I believe I can fill their plates at a significantly quicker rate.

And the pajamas? So nice. Can we just play Bunco in our PJs every month? Seriously, it’s going to be hard to go back to rolling in regular clothes.

Thanks ladies for joining me for a cozy and stuffing evening. I appreciate your patience with the creeping creping and I hope your pajamas enjoyed their big night out.

Rachel November 28, 2012 No Comments

Summer of the N00bs

I guess it’s time I face the depressing certainty that the mountain biking season is pretty much dead. Sadly, all it took was a little snow to squelch my delusions of cycling grandeur. It seems appropriate during this time of mourning to discuss our pedaling happenings over the last 6 months so, like it or not, here it comes.

Jacob may not have been the most graceful biker I’ve ridden with on the Pipeline but he kept getting back on his seat mishap after mishap and that counts for a lot.

Jason and I have always extended an open invitation for any daring souls that wish to take a shot at mountain biking to come with us on our adventures anytime. In recent years I don’t think we’ve gotten any takers on that offer. As many of our friends have become pudgier, lazier, or more timid their desire to attempt an extreme sport has dwindled I suppose. That’s why we were surprised when several pals simultaneously indicated that they wanted to try their luck in the mountains with us this year. Adam, Jacob, and Abigail rode with us on multiple occasions over the summer and lived to tell the tale…although some of their skin did not.

Millcreek’s terminus overlooks Salt Lake Valley. It’s an excellent spot for gawking and for taking photos of the conquering variety.

We took Jacob to the Millcreek Pipeline for his first singletrack experience. We picked this trail because we thought it would adequately introduce him to mountain biking without killing him. Technically we were right; it didn’t kill him but it sure hurt him more than we were expecting. Jacob crashed his bike and toppled down steep declines, AKA cliffs, no less than three times while we were on the Pipeline. He got scraped up and shaken but that didn’t stop him from happily hitting the slopes again after each tumble. Way to not be a wimp Jacob!

Adam may not have been thrilled about going up Big Spring Hollow but going down suited him just fine.

Adam and Abigail came with us up Big Spring Hollow for their mountain biking premier. This trail, I’ll admit, is a bit grueling in the uphill direction but its downhill bliss makes up for any ascending anguish. Adam didn’t quite reach the top but he made a valiant effort despite his regular neglect of regular exercise. Abigail, on the other hand, loved this path and asked to go down again after our first descent. Jason and I were happy to oblige.

Abigail didn’t let her hybrid bike get her down.
Ridiculousness sometimes speaks for itself.

We also took all three of them to Lambert Park, one of our favorite singletrack biking spots. Lambert Park is pretty technical but, surprisingly, we didn’t end up having to use the first aid kit I brought on this outing like I thought we would. Abigail and I both had little accidents but neither required bandaging anything except our pride and Jacob, miraculously, broke with tradition by not finding a fine precipice to fall off. Nice going gang!

It’s obvious from this picture that I am an expert. In fact, I expertly hit a root and catapulted myself into a tree just minutes after this was taken.

Along with taking our buddies on some awesome terrain Jason and I hit a few of our favorites solo. The best of those rides, in my opinion, was one we took up American Fork Canyon near the end of September on the Great Western Trail. Fall was in full swing and the bright scenery was gorgeous. The aspens formed a bleached blanket over our heads with their gilded leaves as we rode along. Vibrant yellows and reds consumed the landscape like a surging tide. It was an intense mix of color and cardiovascular.

It’s impossible to overstate the beauty of an unbroken sky above a canopy of twinkling leaves.
Rubbernecking is glorious when you’re tunneling through boughs of golden leaves.

Hooray for biking and hooray for some pals that didn’t let the threat of exercise and injury intimidate them. I hope next year they will hit the peaks with us again and not retreat when the peaks hit back.

Rachel November 20, 2012 No Comments
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