Irish Eyes Are Smiling

I know it's a little bit late for St. Patrick's Day, but it was cold and windy here in LA this weekend, and I wanted to curl up with tea and Irish bread. My mum didn't bring her recipe to Florida, so I'm making do with this one from the Boston Globe. It has the delicious surprise of whole wheat - definitely not traditional in my family, but really delicious and a welcome addition. I was out of white flour and had to use cake flour for the white, so this is a little different than the original, but delicious nonetheless. Also, kudos to Lauren for recommending the Lurpak butter - go out and try it - it is so delicious! This was the perfect food for a weekend spent recuperating from some sort of 24 hour bug and doing lots of laundry!


Irish Bread (also known as "Soda Bread) from the Boston Globe

2 cups whole wheat flour (I find King Arthur brand is available at regular supermarkets)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I won't be using cake flour again hopefully)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda (hence "Soda Bread")
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I increased the liquid from 1 1/3 cups and the butter because whole wheat can be dry)
1/3 cup canola oil (I used 1/2 cup of melted butter and loved it - I am not sure about oil in Irish Bread!)
2 cups golden raisins (I opt out of raisins on principle, but I realize I'm in the minority!)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients until well blended.

2. In mixer, beat the eggs. Melt the butter in the microwave, and add it to the eggs, along with the buttermilk. Slowly add in the dry ingredients to the liquid until it becomes a dough.

3. Turn the dough on a lightly floured counter and knead gently a few times until smooth. (Since you are using a mixer, you don't really need to do this as much - but I wouldn't skip it if I were mixing by hand). Turn the dough into two equal balls, and mark a cross in the top of each. I forgot this step - but it is definitely traditional - my Nana used to say it brought good luck.

4. Bake the breads for 25-30 minutes or until they are puffed and browned and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

5. Cool on a wire rack. Cut in thick slices (it will crumble if sliced too thinly). Serve with hot tea, butter and jam as a snack, or alongside a main course - it's particularly good with Easter if you do a leg of lamb!

4.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

I hope yours was filled with good beer and green cheer. I don't have any green maternity clothing, so I am celebrating in spirit! I did make sure to bake some potatoes with my roast chicken for dinner, but despite my Irish roots, I cannot stand corned beef and cabbage. Right now I'm craving Irish bread, and I'll share if I can get my mum's recipe (it's actually from my godmother originally and it is delicious!).

I was browsing on the Idaho potato website, and thought this recipe for Irish nachos looked delicious - and a good way to celebrate for those of us in the west! http://www.idahopotato.com/recipes/id-709

In other news, we have our big learn how to feed the baby class tomorrow night, and are having house guests. I'm definitely getting the fatigue at the end of pregnancy - I'm ready for a nap by the time I get to the office in the morning!

Sweets to the Sweet

What do you bake when you want something really delicious that can be whipped up easily, is portable, and is loved by all? The answer would be blondies/chocolate chip pan cookies/congo bars (which is what my family calls them).

We had dinner at my brother in law's last night, and his girlfriend made delicious short ribs in the slow cooker. (I'm totally buying one, and will practice on it when I'm on leave waiting for Baby Icing). She asked me to bring dessert, and I wanted to share this recipe - not only does it make really pretty toffee colored cookies, but it couldn't be simpler!
It is from the back of the Guittard brand of chocolate chips (but I think it would work well with any brand).

Congo Bars

2/1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c. butter (I like to use unsalted butter, but I think you could use salted as well - maybe then no added salt?)
3/4 c. granulated sugar
3/4 c. dark brown sugar (packed firmly)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups (one bag) chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts - I generally leave these out because I never keep them around.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars until light. Add in vanilla and eggs.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
3. Add the chocolate chips. Spread into pre greased 9" x 13" pan (the original recipe calls for a 10" x 15", but I don't have one and this worked out well)
4. Bake for 25 minutes (again, 20-25 if you're using the larger pan). You may need to give these a couple of extra minutes, but they do continue cooking as they sit on the cooling rack.

I'm making them again tonight, because I want to bring them to my office as a thank you for the really adorable shower they threw me today! I got tiny and cute outfits for Baby Icing, and a gift card to Babies R Us that I'm sure is going to come in handy for those last minute necessities!

In other news, we had an absolutely lovely, but tiring weekend. I managed to drag myself out for exercise both days, but my three mile walks are starting to seem like 10 miles. I'm taking it easy, and carry water and a cell phone with me, but I have a really hard time sleeping if I don't get any exercise during the day.

Saturday night, we had dinner at Mastro's - if you go - get the warm spinach salad and the lobster mashed potatoes. We had a lovely time celebrating our friend's birthday, and are so excited to hear that his wife will be having a baby in late September! Honestly, being pregnant has been a bit lonely, because I really only have one friend who has a baby! I'm thrilled, and can't wait to meet their little one, who I am sure will be a very good friend to Baby Icing.

I also managed to make some red lentil soup and some more blueberry muffins for the freezer. Tonight I made another batch of regular lentil soup - I'll post this recipe soon. I'm working on having a decent amount of soups and nutritious meals frozen so that we don't have to eat takeout all the time.

We have friends from college stopping by on Wednesday night which should be fun, and I'm hoping that work stays calm this week because I'm about wiped out by 3:00 p.m. every day! I'm still mulling over potential baby announcements. Only 5 weeks to go starting tomorrow!

Weekend Thank Goodness

I'm tired! So, after hitting up Ralph's for the groceries, I'm sitting on the couch with a cup of tea and a scone (see the recipe from this past weekend's post). Baby Icing is doing well per my latest appointment, and we have an ultrasound scheduled for my next check up to see her one last time. My doctor doesn't do lots of ultrasounds unless there is a need, so we haven't seen her in about 16 weeks! I can't imagine what she looks like, and I'm so curious to see if she has lots of hair (we all have black hair in my family)!

Here's my original little girl - isn't she sweet? She is the most gentle little cat ever. She doesn't play bite or scratch, and she is so clever at hiding that I have thought we've lost her several times. She likes strong foods, like hummus, yogurt and salmon, and weirdest of all, duck grease poured over her cat food. She also likes peanut butter, but I only give her a tiny bit because I'm pretty sure it's not good for cats. She likes to sleep in the pregnancy pillow during the day, and loves to snuggle on the couch. She is also half the size of our big kitty - but she's just as cute!


Since I had a little time to kill before my doctor's appointment (and I parked at the Beverly Center), I toddled down to Bloomingdales to pick up some pretty spring lipgloss - check out Bobbi Brown's "Tangerine." It is the perfect pinky peach - just right for spring and summer when you have a little bit of a tan. (BTW, I say "toddle", because I am starting to feel like a weeble - like I could just roll over at any time from the weight of this ginormous tummy!).

This weekend I'm cleaning, washing Baby's bedding in Dreft, and hopefully starting to work on stocking the freezer with some nice pasta sauce and soups to reheat after Baby Icing arrives. I can't believe she'll be here in around 6 weeks!

Going Private - The First Notice

Hi all. I want to use this as our platform to share all the Baby Icing photos after she arrives (safely, God willing), so I'm going to be turning private in mid April. If you are interested in reading, please send your email so that I can send invitations. I'll do a couple more reminders too!

Odds and Ends

Happy almost weekend everyone! I think Baby Icing is ready for the weekend too - she's been staying up pretty late at night, so I think she wants to sleep in!

How delicious does this brownie sundae look? It's one of my favorite features in the LA Times; their food section does a recipe on request from a local restaurant. I'm going to try to make these brownies...I may just buy the coffee ice cream and fudge sauce though! http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-sos11-2009mar11,0,6537428.story That's the link for you to check them out yourself. BLD is a great restaurant (and a really fun place for brunch) if you're ever in LA!

I picked up this pretty cherry blossom photo on Etsy. Here's the link to the seller: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5246696 I think it will be pretty in Baby Icing's room!

This weekend we'll be keeping it pretty low key. I have a long meeting tomorrow morning/mid afternoon, and then a doctor's appointment (I get so nervous for all of them that I'm wiped out afterwards). I'm thinking of picking up some duck breasts and good cheese/bread/salad for dinner, and then whipping up the brownie sundaes for dessert. Saturday, we're going to Mastro's for a birthday party. I've never been, so I'm excited to try it, but I'm also nervous - I hope I can still squeeze into my party dress one last time!

Other than that, it will be organizing Baby Icing's room, and working on gathering the little essentials that we need for her. Let's hope tomorrow goes by quickly!

To Do List Progress

I've made some headway:

1. Scheduled meeting with pediatrician within walking distance of our place for two weeks from now.

2. Cleared a lot of junk out of Baby Icing's room.

3. Scheduled a breastfeeding seminar at UCLA Santa Monica (apparently it is NOT easy to learn at all!).

4. Ordered the first batch of nursery essentials from Diapers.com - check out MMM's blog for a review and discount!

5. Taken my pretty Bold and Noble poster for an expensive but very attractive framing! I can't wait to see it hung up!

6. Confirmed that the remaining parts of the Pottery Barn Kids order are still coming - I was getting nervous, but it looks like delivery should be coming around this week or next!

7. Provided my certification to my office confirming my last day of work is April 1. I can't believe it!