Summer

Ah.... There is nothing like Summer time.  Staying up late and sleeping late in the morning. The staying up late is easy, but my dog has other ideas for me sleeping late in the morning.  I must admit, he will sleep late sometimes too.  My eating schedule is way off during the summer.  At school, when the children eat breakfast, I become hungry. Then there is snack time, lunch time, and snack time after school if I help with after school activities.  Oh, and let's not forget the birthday cakes (for monthly birthdays) and little candies and gifts brought to us by the students.  How can one refuse to eat candy when a little one has just presented you with a bag full of all of their favorites? Yes, candy is a breakfast food!!  Hopefully, I will get myself back on track weight wise during the summer. Just a few pounds that can be easily dropped with a slight change in eating habits.   I will admit that I do eat salad almost every day at school, but I eat more often during my work day.   It's now almost 4pm and I've not had a thing to eat today.  I'm not hungry, so I don't eat.  I'm sure I will eat a huge salad tonight for dinner.  I found some lasagna in the freezer that I made about a month ago, so just trying to clean out the freezer. My sons will enjoy that!  There is a frozen cheesecake and ice cream in there too which will also get my attention.

During summer break, there is nothing more enjoyable than going out for an occasional breakfast.  Oh to sit down and enjoy a breakfast at a leisurely pace is so much fun. Sometimes, I can get my eldest son to join me for breakfast.  Both of my sons have such busy schedules that if one wants to sleep late, by all means, he gets to sleep late.   So many places close to our home to enjoy. I'm so used to coffee or hot tea in a thermos at work.  Eating quickly before the children come to class in the morning, eating while getting ready for the day, is fine and good during the work week.. A piece of fruit or a cheese, ham, and butter sandwich suits me fine during work. My trusty thermos keeps my coffee or tea hot for hours, so that is great! Sure coffee tastes the same if it is in a paper cup, bone china cup, or a heavy mug, but I do enjoy it in a fine bone china cup though.  It just goes with the relaxation of the meal.  Paper cups, plates, etc... usually designates that one is in a hurry and can't sit and linger.  Even the coffee shops only have paper cups now.  We live in a fast paced world where people don't take time to sit and enjoy the simple things.  Oh to sit at an outdoor cafe in Paris, relaxing with a cup of coffee watching the hustle and bustle of the city.  That's my kind of day.  Since I'm not in Paris.  I will enjoy eating a delicious strawberry doughnut, drinking coffee out of a paper cup and relaxing outside my local doughnut shop.  No where to go...... a favorite book or local newspaper close at hand allows me to linger and enjoy my breakfast time.  Only better thing is to enjoy it with family and friends!

Birthday Cakes

My mother was not a baker at all.  If there was any baking in the house, it was by me.  My cooking skills have grown from mud pies in the back yard (baked in the sun in a chicken pot pie aluminum pan...remember those?), gourmet Easy Bake Oven chef,  making simple box pizza, bologna and cheese sandwiches ( for my brothers) to making homemade eclairs. Cooking has been so much fun for me.  People never understood that it was fun to sometimes make my own birthday cake.  It was fun for me to try different recipes.  I fondly remember making a Paris Brest cake, Sacher Torte, or Black Forest Cake, to name a few of my favorites..  Needless to say, birthday cakes have had many different varieties in our house.  My sons are not big cake eaters, so we have had the famous doughnut stack birthday cake, brownies, ice cream pie, pizza and my sponge cake (real sponges frosted for my son's 21st birthday) and the case of Red Bull drink that I frosted for my eldest son when he turned 21.  We are a unique family that doesn't have to have everything "status quo".  We step outside the "cake" box most of the time in many things we do.   Being a native of Atlanta, GA, my sons both know that I drink no other soft drink except the best!  I love Coca-Cola and will never willingly purchase any competitors products except for water or Jones Soda (Coke just doesn't make the flavor combinations of Jones Soda...yet!.  For some reason, it tastes better out of the smaller bottles.  This is my birthday dessert which was purchased for me by my son.  My favorite drink, my favorite fruit, and a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate mousse between the layers.    It was the perfect birthday dessert!

The next day, a friend of my other son, came over with a beautiful birthday cake for me.  What a treat!  Two birthday cakes.  This looked like a frosted cake, but when she said it was fruit salad, I'm sure my eyebrows came together and a look of utter confusion crossed my face.  Yes, it was shaped like a cake, but it was actually fruit.  A small round watermelon (seedless) was cut, frosted with vanilla yougart, topped with fruit, and the sides were coated with almonds.  It was so refreshing and and sweet.  No, the birthday fun did not end there...... At work, the two April birthday girls in the kindergarten hall had chocolate cake and Key Lime pie for a dessert treat!  Wow!! Four different birthday desserts to enjoy.  I must say this was a record in my book.