2011 – a hippie with a minivan

Sucre à la Crème

Like the recipe for Pouding Chomeur that I shared a few years ago, Sucre à la Crème is a traditional Québecois dessert. Unlike the Pouding Chomeur which is more of an everyday dessert, Sucre à la Crème is traditionally served around the holidays.

I have heard some non-Quebec Anglophones call it “maple fudge” but I don’t like that term.. traditionally it doesn’t have any maple syrup and the texture is not fudge. It is dense and sweet and creamy but slightly granular without at all being grainy. It is simply Sucre à la Crème… but if you had to translate it I would call it an addictive pan of creamed sugar…

For years I have been looking for the perfect recipe and have failed at many attempts. The biggest problem in that most recipes are no longer traditional. They are made in the microwave and have evaporated milk instead of cream. Other recipes don’t have the steps written out well and the results are either too hard or too soft.

There is nothing complicated about the ingredients but not being a seasoned candy maker, using a glass of water to determine is it is at a “soft ball” stage doesn’t help me in the end… maybe one day I will be there, but I am not there yet…

What you need:

1 cup of sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup of cream (I use 10%)

2 tbsp butter (30 grams)
1 tsp vanilla

(I double everything and make a double batch because a single batch just wouldn’t be enough for this family…)

First in a heavy bottomed pot (large pot because it will boil up) mix together the cream and two sugars and place over medium-high heat. Stir a few times and then when you start to see it boil around the edges, place your candy thermometer on the edge careful to not touch the bottom and then don’t touch the spoon again.

Boil until the temperature hits exactly 236F (113 C) and then take off the heat…

Still not touching the mixture… add the butter and vanilla… reject the impulse to stir!!

Now.. let the mixture cool until the temp hits 110F (43C)… if you let it sit it on the stove it will take about 45 min, but you can speed up by placing the pot in a sink with cold water.

While you are letting it cool, prepare a pan by buttering it and set aside. (I use a 8X8 square pan for a double batch but you can use a loaf pan for a single)

Once it hits 110F it is the crucial part… take your wooden spoon and stir, stir, stir until the mixture starts loosing its lustre (basically around the time that you feel like you will lose your arm if you keep on stirring) and then quickly pour into the prepared pan.

Timing is really crucial here. Don’t stir long enough it will be too soft and won’t hold together. Stir a few seconds too long it will start hardening right in the pan and will be impossible to spread out.

Smooth out the top of the Sucre à la Crème and then let cool and cut into small pieces.

Enjoy this rich, sugary, creamy perfection…

I hope you make it and taste a bit of the holidays here in Québec!

Xmas 2011

Just a few pictures…

On the eve…

No pictures of the rest of the evening… but we went on to have a great Fondue Supper with my mom and her boyfriend… The boys ate first and then went to bed around their normal times and when they were asleep we had supper and talked into the evening.. Wilhelmina had fallen asleep late for a nap so she woke up as the others were heading to bed and stayed up with us until around 1am…

The presents appeared under the tree in the night and the boys were wide awake bright and early Xmas morning… but it wasn’t too early so all was good…

Ready for gifts….

They were all excited and couldn’t wait to open their gifts…

Wilhelmina got a book, a new doll and a stroller…

She had so much fun opening the gifts though she did it very carefully…

Xavier got a few books, a transformer, a robotic arm, a Zelda game and a Physics Solar workshop

Colin got books, a transformer, a Kre-o transformer set, a play d’oh kit, a crayon maker and Paper

Khéna got a book, a Playmobil Crane, A play d’oh kit with play d’oh and a Hexbug habitat.

The family got a Zoku quick pop maker which is a hit and will definitely be fun for a long time to come…

Simon got a book and a bottle of vodka shaped as a skull,

I got chocolates, a Perplexus Epic and reusable hand warmers…

After my mom left on Xmas morning, she called to say that my uncle had once again been brought to the hospital and was in the ICU because of his diabetes. Is three years in a row considered a tradition? It sure feels like it…. Luckily, it is not as bad as last year when he was in a coma and we almost lost him… but it is not the kind of tradition we wish to have… I am not too worried, so it’s good, I just wish he would choose to control his illness more effectively.

Simon is working two days this week and we have plans for his next few days off but nothing that we don’t want to do… We’re having quiet family time, spending time together and enjoying the holidays. I am loving the lights and the newly fallen snow and the warmth of the house… it feels complete and that is a great feeling to have…

From my family to yours, I hope your holidays have equally been filled with love and joyful….

Spritz Cookies

Spritz cookies, or “Swedish sugar cookies” are a holiday staple. Like the sugar cookie, they are light and buttery but they are so much easier to make. I don’t mean that the sugar cookie is a really complicated cookie, but the dough can be finicky, you have to chill and roll out and cut and place etc. With the use of a cookie press, these spritz cookies take a few minutes to put together to make about 4 dozen cookies. You could also use a piping bag or even a ziplock to make your shapes.

First, pre-heat the oven to 375.

For the dough:

1 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I use my own)
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt

First cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add egg and the extracts and mix until creamy. Slowly incorporate the four and salt and mix until you have a nice soft dough but don’t over mix.

Place dough in cookie press or in piping bag and form your cookies and place 1″ apart on an ungreased pan. Before baking you can add chocolate chips, jelly, sugar etc if you wish…

Bake for 6-9 min or until edges are slightly turning golden, and then transfer to a rack to cool…

After my cookies were cooled I went ahead and dipped a few in melted chocolate laced with a bit of coconut oil to give in a slight coconutty taste… yumm….

Catching up….

Last weekend with all we did in the house, I didn’t get around to taking the holiday pictures that I wanted in front of the tree to include in the family picture book I am making. So on Monday, I asked all the kids to get dressed, got dressed myself and took pictures. Simon wasn’t there and Wilhelmina was in a bad mood, so taking pictures was a bit interesting, but it worked!

Not only did I get photos of the kids, Xavier took the camera and got some photos of me and Willa as well…

And even a rare photo of me nursing… not that I don’t nurse often… it feels as though she is always nursing at the moment… but because it is rare that I am in front of the camera instead of behind it. Honestly, the only way I get pictures of myself is when I ask for a picture to be taken…

She looks so small cuddled in my arms nursing…

Another thing we did last week is to go to the hospital with Wilhelmina for a follow-up Mag3 Renal scan…. The test was a bigger one than I thought. For the other tests in nuclear medicine she would have a dye injected and then we would wait a few hours and then head back for images. This test however started the second that the dye was injected and because timing is everything in this one, and there were two injections involved and her bladder needed to drain etc. our first stop was the nursing station where she had an IV and catheter put in. The nurses were amazed at how well she reacted to having the IV put in. She wasn’t happy, but didn’t fight and didn’t need to be held down. I told them that her veins were awful and they saw what I meant when they put the needle in and her vien rolled away. The nurse was patient, took a deep breath and changed the needles direction and got it. Only one poke and a rare one of the many, many IV’s that blood return. The second she got it and I told her “I love you” she said it right back directed at Wilhelmina for how easy she made it. They hooked up the IV so that she would be hydrated and then put the catheter in which was not fun at all. When the catheter was in she cried and cried and screamed peepee until I told her to just let it go and pee around the catheter… she did and it helped.

We headed to the nuclear department and she was strapped to the table (her arms free) and they injected the dye and the test started. The camera was under her and nothing moved so she just talked to me, watched a movie and held my hand. At the 30 min mark they injected a diuretic (the goal of the test is to see kidney function and see how well they drain) and they helped her empty her bladder with the help of the catheter and she stayed calm through the whole test. Another 25-30 min later they analysed the test quickly to make sure at least 70% of her kidneys had drained, they did so we were able to leave right away.

We went to see her doctor after the test but he was in surgery so the secretary said that we would get the result either by the end of the day or the day after… He called the next morning to tell us that everything looked great. Only one more test in a month and then we will hopefully be able to put this all behind us.

The last thing I want to catch up on is what we are doing in the house. I am not completely finished the kitchen but we are a bit closer. I was able to clear up a problem spot that we had next to the water machine.

I found a picture of what it used to look like… that little container with drawers was where we kept blank paper, makers etc… and that basket above it was mostly things that I wanted access to but that did not have a “home”. We would tidy it up often but within a day or two it would go back to looking like that…

Furthermore, I had a high storage bin with drawers in the sewing room with craft stuff that was never being used because it was out-of-the-way. So I decided to bring that into the kitchen in the opposite corner, clear it out and again only keep what we will use. that cleared up more than enough space to put the stuff that was in that basket. The smaller bin now has a crayons, pencil crayons and markers all in their respective drawers and can be put on the table when the kids are using it.

That space that got cleared up ended up being the perfect size for my dehydrator. I was getting ready to put the dehydrator in a bottom cupboard but that would mean that I would have to get it out and move things around when I wanted to use it. So having it out-of-the-way but plugged in is great for me and now I have that much more counter space back. It’s great!

I also did my kitchen drawers. I was surprised that I didn’t need to take much out as I use most of it on a regular basis, but it did need a big over haul of organization and once that was done it looked like it al took up only half the space that it did before.

The other thing we tackled was our room. I went through my clothes and took out what I just don’t wear even though I might like the idea of wearing it and then cleared out our closet and got all of the dust out. We really don’t have much clothes hanging so our next step might be to put Simon’s dresser in the closet and then we could put Wilhelmina’s toddler bed in our room, she has never slept apart from us but I think it would be fun for her to have a space of her own.

So the big cleanup is continuing and our regular house work seems to be suffering a bit because we are focusing on the stuff behind the scenes. But when we do clean up now, things are actually being put away instead of travelling from one temporary home to another and are now gaining permanent homes.

I am loving the results and can only see more positive ahead.

Progress

This weekend was not perfect but we did make some progress…

When I was out grocery shopping at my usual time late Saturday morning, I was reminded why I no longer want to keep that habit. Not only are there so many people but it takes up such a large chunk of our day and therefore the weekend. I have always liked to go grocery shopping on Friday evening. There are no lines, the isles are quiet, the shelves are well stocked and then we have the whole weekend to ourselves. So I am going to try to change my habits and go then.

So what progress did we make this weekend? Doesn’t sound like much but more than half of my kitchen is decluttered. Though it might not look like we did much from on first glance it’s the inside that counts right? I wish I would have taken pictures of before!

In those cupboards, everything that we don’t and won’t use is gone.

Everything that we want to use is accessible.

Things that should be together are together.

Things that we had too many of have been trimmed down.

I even went through all of my tea, some boxes were even years old So I threw out nearly everything that I haven’t used in the last few months. The thing is, I love tea.. but I have my favourites and though I love those other flavours, when I open my cupboard to make myself some tea they are never the ones I reach for, so why keep them?

Because we go rid of so much I was able to take out two shelves from two cupboards to accommodate larger things to clear up space on my counter and in other cupboards. That means my blender and food processor are put away but are easily accessible in the cupboard above my usual workspace. Next step is to find a place for my dehydrator which will free up tons of counter space.

I am so inspired… Now everything has a logical space. I can’t wait to tackle my dreadful drawers next!

That’s a big deal for me… I actually want to do it!