Key Lime Pie with Meringue

For our(hopefully) monthly couples' dinner, i was in charge of making dessert. So, i made something that i've been meaning to bake for a couple of weeks - Key Lime Pie!!

It was surprisingly easy pie to make, from the graham cracker crust to the filling and even the meringue(which i've never done before) was a piece of cake(or pie??).

I was feeling a little gleeful as the meringue turned into a golden mound in the oven. So, as usual, i goofed off!! Then next time i looked, my meringue was browner than i wanted! Arrrgghh....!!!

And then to make things worse, i stuck the pie in the fridge and my beautiful meringue deflated and wept! *sigh*....

My deflated meringue key lime pie

Anyways, the taste was actually pretty good. A little sweet and very tart! Maybe some adjustments next time. I need to do some research on meringue!!!

Jim, who is a big key lime pie fan, gave me a thumbs up despite the initial skeptism on the meringue.

Reading the Lorax

After a sleepover at the Chandrasomethings house, Tyler and Cody went to the reading of the Lorax at our local target store.

The Lorax book

It wasn't the best reading in the world, but the boys seemed to enjoy it and they liked their goody bags at the end.

On our way to the show

Check out that hat

Tyler is a Lorax

Flowers and cake decorating - Lesson 3

These are some flowers that i made from the 3rd lesson of my class. We used royal icing to do all of these flowers. So, they become really hard after you've dried them. I think i did OK in this class.

Daffodils, rose, lily, rose and violets

a better look at the lily

Chocolate near disaster

I've been melting chocolate to make desserts for a long time and i've always wondered what the fuss was about regarding the whole double boiler and having the water NOT boil but slow simmer. Well, i found out today because i think i was getting a little cocky!

Either overheated or seized chocolate

If you're reading this and you're attempting to melt chocolate, please be aware that those cook books really do know what they are talking about. Don't boil the water and make sure you keep watch to make sure:

a) the chocolate is free of water

b) the chocolate does not get too hot.

I was not a happy camper to have to remelt new chocolate and of course i ran out of my good chocolate. Good thing i had some other Ghiradelli ones in the fridge.

The one on the left is what it's supposed to look like.. smooth and homogenous!

Anyways, i was NOT ready to throw away 12 oz of my precious french chocolate. So, i looked up and tried to "fix it". I think i got close..

Added shortening to "fix it" and it sorta worked!

So, anyways what exactly is the end result for all these hoohah??

Chocolate mousse!!!

Even got to use my new piping skill!!

Let's hope it's good. It's currently chilling in the fridge, no, it really is chilling..

Update : General consensus is that the taste is good but the texture is a little off. Kinda grainy. Though it does get a little better when it's left out to "thaw" a little. 

I'll be less cocky next time and respect the temperature a little more!

My 36th birthday party

For my birthday party this year, I organized it at a small Japanese restaurant that served really good food but is not very well known. I thought I'd help drum up some business.

It was a tiny place and with 23 adults and 5 kids, they closed their business for the night! Yay! It's my dream to close down a restaurant for a private party!

I was happy to have everybody show up to celebrate with me!! Food arrive at a reasonable time and yummy as always though my request to wow my guest fell a little short, I felt.

Anyways, here are the photos!

Click for Pictures

Playing dress up with Siobhan

One of the things that i don't get to do is play dress up. Dressing up with boys is just not the same! While i was out shopping last weekend, i found some cute little barretts and got them for the two little girls in our lives - Sienna and Siobhan!

Since I got permission from Sabrina and we were babysitting Siobhan, i got to play a little dress up with a little girl tonight! She is like the best little girl, no fuss, enjoying getting her hair done and flirting with the mirror!

Who's the pretty girl?

Hello cute stuff!

Let's comb it a little more

Smile!

All that dressing up is tiring!!

Dinner with the Krouts

It's not often Alan invites somebody home. But on Tuesday, Nicole and Toby(who used to work with Alan) came to visit and i made dinner for all of us. (i didn't think 5 kids at a restaurant was a good idea for me, i'd probably get a nervous breakdown!)

As they have a tight schedule, i had to make sure that dinner was executed with precision(which doesn't always happen in our household). I served Lasagna with caprese salad and garlic bread with fruits and ice cream for dessert!

Dinner was served on time and the Krout kids couldn't have behaved any better and dinner was done at 6:47 pm! And we had a good time catching up with Nicole and Toby.

The Krouts!

Nicole her lovely kids.. unbelievably polite!!

Promises of repeated visits were made, let's hope we don't have to wait another 8 years for the next reunion!! :)