Tres Leches=Tres Yummy

If you have ever had Tres Leches dessert at Cafe Rio or Costa Vida, you know how WONDERFUL it is. After much searching, I finally have found an great recipe for it. So, nine eggs later, here you go:

Tres Leches
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
9 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
9 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tarter

2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 5 ounce can of evaporated milk
1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well with each addition. Add vanilla. Sift together flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture alternately with milk. Beat well after each addition. In a large glass bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until whites form stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg white into the cake batter using a rubber spatula. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. (If you live in a high altitude like me, it takes closer to 40 minutes.) Let cake cool.

In a small bowl, stir together the cream, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. Pour the mixture over the cake until it won't absorb any more. You may have 1/3 to a 1/4 left over.

Refrigerate cake until serving.

To serve, put a spoonful of extra milk mixture on the plate and then place cake on top of it. Garnish with fruit. I like a combination of berries, but mango is also yummy.

Thank You President Bush

Thank you for your eight years of service. I am sad to see you go. God bless. And, I do feel the history books will recognize you as a great president during perilous times (regardless of what people are saying now). Thank you.

Sometimes Miracles Do Happen

On New Year's Day, I got a phone call from my sister, saying that her 2nd son (age 18, freshman at BYU) was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Scary, scary stuff.

After millions of tests, sleepless nights, lots of prayers and fasting, and finally a brain biopsy, the results came back as not a "true" brain tumor. Instead it is a cluster of healthy, existing gleocells (brain tissue). We are told it is one in many million to come back as this and not the cancerous kind they were expecting to find. Truly a miracle.

And, if we have not made it clearly enough, thank you to the many doctors, nurses, radiologist (thanks Adam, yes everyone from Boulder, that Adam), and pathologists who handled all of this with such compassion and grace. Also, thanks to the many people who prayed and fasted for him as well.

My Controversial Red Sweatshirt

As I make very clear, I often purchase things from Hannah Andersson. During their Christmas sale, I purchased this sweatshirt in red. Red is a good color on me. The price was right and I own the very same sweatshirt jacket in pink and I wear it constantly, so I was thrilled to get it.



It arrived and I immediately wore it. That was when the problems began. You see, I live on the borderline between BYU (blue) Cougar country and U of U Ute (red) country. I went to BYU, so I am a Cougar but I am not nuts about it. But, I learned most my neighbors are nuts.



When I walked out of my house wearing a red sweatshirt, immediately, I started getting comments from both sides, "Oh, so I see you finally got a brain in your head and decided to start cheering for the right team." "Janice, you know "we" (a fellow Cougar) don't wear red." "What happened? Ever since the U beat Alabama, you are a Ute now?" I even got yelled at that I was a traitor.



What? It is a red sweatshirt. It has no insignia on it. It keeps me warm. Who knew wearing a particular color would create such a stir.

Sometimes I Pay Full Price for Hannah Anderson

The Hannah Anderson catalogue arrived at my house a few days ago. I rarely look at them anymore because we are trying to not spend money and I usually only buy things unless they are on sale. Thus, some of the strange things I come up with for dinner because shredded cabbage was on sale and it is good for us, so I had to buy it and make everyone eat it.

For some reason, dentist husband . . . (who, by the way, is my only husband. A friend pointed out that it makes him sound like one of many, like I have a dentist husband, lawyer husband, truck driver husband, Wal-Mart greeter husband, etc.) . . . was looking at the catalogue and said, "If someone was designing an outfit for you, this would be it." And, looking at it, he was right. I have this thing for stripes. I love them. I love navy and white. Most of the skirts I own are flared and short (since I am barely 5'3", long skirts make me look like I am standing in a hole). So he looked at me and said, "I know what you are thinking, go ahead and buy it, even if it is not on sale."

What a generous, wonderful man! The entire outfit (with the exception of the shoes since I already own some cute navy ones that will match perfectly) are ordered and on their way.

Time to Change Some Bad Habits

I stepped on the scale this morning and was not surprised but more disappointed in what I saw. I have known for the last few months that I have added some bad habits to my life and now it is time to pay the piper. The weight gain is minimal (only close friends, sisters and my mother would notice) but if I don't conquer it now, it could get worse.

So, what are my bad habits?

--Cut out regularly eating the Sausage McGriddles at McDonalds. I know better.

--Quit ordering the Tres Leches dessert at Cafe Rio and Costa Vida.

--Start walking again.

--Going back to forcing myself to eat one leafy green vegetable, one citrus, one apple and one carrot a day.

No, I am not giving up my Diet Coke yet. Or anytime in the near future.

And, on a side note, why is it when something goes wrong with the car, the immediate question is "What did you do?" (Can't cars just develop problems unrelated to something I did?)

Well, time to get crackin'! I've got some Tres Leches and Sausage McGriddles to work off.

Bongo Board

This is a bongo board. Do any of you remember this item? Back in the 70's this was a really common fun play item. My elementary school even had them and we did them a lot during PE. They were developed to help with balance and I think "strengthen your core." My sister even held the school record for being able to balance on it the longest.

My parents refused to buy one, so my sisters and I fashioned one out of a piece of plywood and I think some round blocks taped together. Maybe it was cans of food.

Anyway, after asking my husband and family for one for the last five years or so, I finally just bought one for myself. I feel like I am living a childhood dream and have spent a ton of hours on it already. My kids love it and even my four year has figured out how to balance on it. Did we need one? No. Was it as necessary purchase? No. Am I loving finally owning one after years of wanting one? Yes.

On a different subject, I don't write much about what I am reading anymore since I keep track of it on goodreads.com. I am currently loving the last three books in the Maisie Dobbs mystery books by Jacqueline Winspear. Highly recommended. On a more serious note, I am also enjoying "The Strong Man" by James Rosen. It is fulfilling my love on non-fiction/history reading.

Sometimes It Is Good to Pay Others to do a job you thought you could do

For the last year, I have been teaching my kids to play the piano. I took piano since I was junior in high school for heaven's sake (even if my ability doesn't really show it). So in an attempt to save money and actually use my piano playing skills, I decided I would be their first teacher.

It really wasn't a big deal at first. My kids wanted to learn and they were good little students but as the busyness of life took over, we were having lessons less often and practicing almost never. After having to help my kids do homework, remind them to make their beds, put away their shoes, eat their dinner, be on them to clean their rooms, etc. none of us were up for another "Mom" to-do thing. I was also worrying that I wasn't teaching them proper finger technique and I was afraid I was messing up their future piano playing skills.

So, I swallowed pride at my crappy attempts to teach them piano, asked around and found a high recommended nice lady who lives close to teach my kids. Last night was their first lesson and what a difference it made for my kids to have someone else teach them. She let me sit in for their lessons and both my kids thrived under her direction. It was amazing. Instead of bursting into tears like she normally did with me when she got a note wrong, my daughter handled it and moved forward. My son said to me, "Mom, piano is a lot like math and I love math. I know I will be a good piano player."

So, the $140 I am going to spend a month on piano, appears to be worth it. Maybe I should outsource house cleaning as well. :)

What Happens When You Let Your Four Year Old Take "One" picture