Help Yourself to Some Cookies Too, Dear

I broke down and made hot dogs for lunch yesterday. As you may already know, this is pretty unusual for me since I don't believe that hot dogs are actually food.

The kids thought it was cool.

They come in a package of eight. Ravenous Boy had two, Microtween had one, the big Little had two, the little Little had one, and I had one (but don't tell anyone or I'll blame it on the cats). That's seven, so there was one left over.

I told the little Little he could have it if he was still hungry after he ate his first one.

After we finished I forgot what I'd already said and asked if anyone wanted the leftover dog. Three voices answered at the same time -- Ravenous Boy and both of The Littles.

Here's how it went down:

"Never mind. They can have it," said Ravenous Boy.

"I want it!" cried the little Little.

"But I told you your hair looks beautiful," asserted the big Little, referring to a compliment he had given me as I was drying my hair earlier in the morning.

I made The Littles split the last hot dog.

Snow Daze

So the powers that be have canceled school now for three days in a row. Just before winter break, too. And with the new snow expected today that means the kids will be home for THREE WEEKS STRAIGHT. Oh, what to do...

A Perfect Loaf of Banana Bread

It was too cold to go out yesterday and I had a couple ugly bananas in the fruit bowl so I got out my favorite banana bread recipe -- the special one with nutmeg and rum. It has a wonderful sparkling sugar crust on top that makes it the best banana bread ever.

The recipe calls for a little dried coconut instead of nuts, but I forgot. However, the bread is still good without it and the kids will eat more of it without either of those things in it. My neighbor puts chocolate chips in hers and it's wonderful that way, too.

I always burn the banana bread. I even tried baking with the oven turned down 25 degrees, but it still got a bit dark on top and around the edges. If it was done on the inside, it was black somewhere on the outside. But, wow! Take a look at this beautiful loaf!

Thanks to Dad's instructions and the oven thermometer he bought me, I set the thermostat on the oven and baked (for the first time) a perfect loaf of banana bread. It turns out that the oven was more than 50 degrees hotter than it was supposed to be.

Now that it is fixed, I can't wait to see how cookies turn out! I'm ready to go on a holiday baking binge and this is just the start. I have in mind to make some Rolo Cookies, Snickerdoodles and Pfefferneusse. And definitely more banana bread!

Snow Day

The Littles woke up this morning with snow on their minds. They have been wishing for snow for the past three days, so were very excited that it finally happened. The other two are still sleeping, and probably will be for a few more hours.

Our house is only about 200 feet above sea level and we rarely have snow. From the weather reports, it sounds like we are due for some sub-freezing temperatures for the next week and the snow will be sticking around for a while.

Happy Monday!

Breakfast spontaneity from the littlest of The Littles.