Tower Cafe French Toast

This is a recipe that was in the Sacramento Bee for Tower Cafe's French Toast. I've made it a few times for holidays and it's pretty spot on. This is not an every days recipe, unless you have a really high metabolism. I'm making it for Christmas morning so I'll try and attach a picture.

The recipe includes calories. I'm not going to include them because if you're making this, you're not making a low calorie meal.

Tower Cafe French Toast (Taken directly from the Sacramento Bee)

Prep time: 35 min

Cook Time: About 10 min per batch.

Ingredients:

1 Loaf French bread (not Sourdough)

4 eggs

½ cup heavy or whipping cream

½ cup milk

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla

Dash of salt

Butter for cooking surface

Whipped Butter (see next recipe)

Powdered sugar, syrup, fruit, optional toppings

Instructions:

Cut French bread at an angle to make six 1-inch-thick slices, roughly 3 inches by 6 inches.

Whisk eggs, cream, milk, vanilla, sugar and dash of salt together until uniform. Pour into a shallow pan and place the slices of bread in the batter. Let sit for 5 minutes. Turn over and let soak, covered, for 15-20 min or until batter has been absorbed, turning if needed.

This will keep well in the refrigerator for several hours if you have late risers of want to prepare it ahead of time.

Heat a griddle or shallow frying pan over medium-high heat. Butter the cooking surface generously and grill the battered bread until crispy and golden on each side. Tom with a scoop of whipped butter while the French toast is still hot.

Alternatively, top with powered sugar syrup, or fruit, or a combination of any of these, if desired, although this is very sweet on its own.

Whipped butter:

¼ c milk

½ pound butter, softened

Instructions:

Turn on the electric mixer to medium speed. Whip the butter for a few minutes Add a bit of milk to the butter if you’d like to make it fluffier and easier to spread. Beat milk and butter together until light and fluffy. Scrape solid butter pieces off the bowl’s sides with a spatula and continue mixing with the electric mixer until no solid butter is left and the butter is light and fluffy. Spoon the whipped butter into airtight containers. Cover the containers and refrigerate.

Why not?

I've decided to read at least a book a month. I want to get my brain working a little bit better. I chose this list…

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/264.Books_that_everyone_should_read_at_least_once

There are many books on here that I have read and completely forgotten about so I'll read them again. There are also books I want to read with my daughter.

Hopefully I'll make it past #1.

Playroom

We have a smallish house. It fits us well and comes with a spacious backyard which was difficult to come by in Sacramento circa 2004. Slowly the house has been evolving to better fit our needs. With the arrival of Nora almost 2 years ago, our needs have changed and we've taken a major step in making a "kid friendly" home. My goal is to make a home where adults and kids can socialize, play and feel comfortable. I grew up in a home that was not very kid friendly and where it was difficult to have friends over. This home is going to be filled with creativity and love.

That being said we are turning our dining room into a playroom/eating area. Most of our house is carpeted and we need a room that can withstand spills and play. I've even started a pinterest page to gather ideas.

http://pinterest.com/mindab/ideas-for-our-playroom/

I've been taking my time trying not do rush through it like I normally do, but I only have 2weeks until my brother is going to come over and lay our floor. We painted today. It's blue, really blue. It may need some clouds.

Inspired

I'm feeling so inspired since I discovered pinterest.com. We're in the middle of remodeling our kitchen/playroom and there are so many amazing ideas to do in the room to make it Nora friendly. I want to create a place for us to discover, play, create and enjoy ourselves. I'm hoping to have it done by Christmas.

Until then, I thought I would make my winter want-to list.

1. Keep up my healthier eating. (AKA stay away from fast food!)

2. Come up with an awesome Halloween costume.

3. Make a Gooble pumpkin. (and maybe Foofa too since I have pink spray paint)

4. Start my first winter garden.

5. Keep up with my physical therapy and finally be done with my leg issues.

6. Take Nora to Cleveland to meet her family, play in snow and look at Christmas lights.

7. Make a memorable play room for our family.

8. Take time to make a proper memorable playroom for our family. (AKA don't rush into it like I usually do.)

9. Get on a better exercise routine.

10. Do an art project with my students at least once a week.

11. Don't go crazy on spending for Christmas.

12. Pay off 2 bills.

13. Tutor to pay off said bills.

14. Send out awesome Christmas cards.

Art, Art, Everywhere

So I've been very busy with my Want-To list and learning about the world from the eyes of my daughter (with a little mommy-time thrown in to boot.)

I'm finishing up STAR testing with my second graders so I've been researching art blogs to get ideas to do with them the last 4 weeks of school. Here are a few with some really good ideas. I'll post pics after we do a few of them.

www.deepspacesparkle.com

www.origami-instructions.com

oodlesofart.blogspot.com

teachkidsart.blogspot.com

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends. I've been a mom for only a year. Here are some words of wisdom I learned I should have paid more attention to.

1. Put hats on the babies when they are small so when they're bigger, they'll be used to wearing them. (and not take them off in three seconds.)

2. Swaddle. Swaddle early and keep it up.

3. Babies are easy from 0-3months. (I personally think 3-6 are the glory months.)

4. Put the baby to bed earlier. They have a different schedule than your normal 11 pm bedtime.

5. Go out with your friends once in a while.

6. It is very important to have date night with your spouse.

7. Get out with the baby early.

I'm sure there's a million more, but I can't think of them.

Holy cow, how could I forget "Sleep when the baby sleeps." Seriously, let the laundry go. Underwear is light enough to carry a load of it while your still holding the baby. Buy paper plates for a few months. Splurge on a ROOMBA. For God's sake, sleep when the baby sleeps.

There's a funny place called Tomales

We don't get to spend as much time on the coast as I would wish, but when we do, we usually go to the little town of Tomales. Tom's family has a great little house down there filled with 50+ years of family memories. This is Nora's second time down there and she did an excellent job of discovering everything.

She loved playing in the yard and especially loved climbing the stairs over and over again.

We took her to Bodega Head since it was too cold to go to the beach.

Another awesome part of the weekend was Burns and Ariel were our surprise guests. We escaped for an hour and stuffed ourselves silly with oysters.

I love this...

http://perezhilton.com/2011-04-22-celebrity-cameos-galore-in-beastie-boys-make-some-noise-music-video

My Spring Want-To List

This idea is came from my best friend's website http://www.sacramomato.typepad.com/, I'm making my Spring Want-To List for now until we finish school in June. Notice it's not a To-Do list. No need to pressure myself into an overwhelming list of things I may not get a chance to get to. I'm also adding a few things that I've already done this spring to start the momentum going.

1. Throw a fun birthday party for Beans.

2. Plant my tomato garden. (yes, I have a certain spot that is perfect for sun-loving tomatoes)

3. Pull up my kitchen floor.

4. Have a garage sale. (as much as I hate the idea)

5. Plant veg. garden: cucumbers, squash/ zucchini, peppers (chili, green, jalapeno) As a bonus, I would love to make it a raised garden, but that might have to be next year's project.

6. Lose 5 lbs.

7. Make it to the gym at least 4 times a week.

8. Go to the coast at least once a month.

9. Discover at least 3 new places to take Nora.

10. Read at least 2 books.

11. Take at least 30 non-TV minutes to myself every day.

12. Get thank you notes mailed out from Nora's party.

13. Make jam from our strawberries, blackberries and raspberries.

14. Plan an end of the year party for my class.

15. Stretch everyday.

16. Find 3 new blogs to learn from.

17. Write down 14 healthy/ easy recipes to enjoy with the family.

18. Make a tres leche cake. (I know it counter acts that diet thing, but it will be for a lot of people.)

19. Have a royal wedding party with my hubby.

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

It was Easter today and like most family events there A) A lot of people. B) A lot of food and C) Not enough Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs. We all gathered at Uncle Paul's and Aunt Saralyn's farmhouse and had a wonderful little egg hunt and a delicious feast.

Somehow Nora didn't lose a shoe or get strawberries on her sweater.

She kind of grasped the idea of the egg hunt, but she had more fun shaking them.

....And Joe found a beer.

Vacation Post 2-First Birthdays and Plants

ELEANOR ELIZABETH is O-N-E!

Nora turned one this month. It was a monumentous event. She is growing beautifully and is charming the pants off of most of the people she meets. This was one of the most special events I've ever experienced since I feel like I've done something right for the first time in my life.

For her actual birthday we had a small gathering at the house with her parents, grandparents, 2 aunts, an uncle and a cousin. As usual, she was too busy to sit down and celebrate. A quick song and a couple bites of cake and she was off to play with her new toys and books. She loves to read and can sit already for 20-30 minutes enjoying her books. She even has been giggling at the pictures.

A few weeks later we had the big party. It was Yo Gabba Gabba themed and her Auntie Robin got her a Foofa dress that I know I will be putting on her quite often this summer. By watching one of the big girls she learned the joys of her DJ Lance Rock hat that she now finds and (tries) to put on when we watch an episode.

She was a girl on a mission that day. She played with all the big kids, said hello to everyone and ate, ate, ate. For the first time she seemed to enjoy sweets with her little cupcake, but most of it ended up on the ground and in her bib. The weather was beautiful and we were able to be outside for the entire day. She crashed out for a bit when everyone left but while there was company, she had people to see and toys to play with. My favorite part of the day was watching all the kiddos play around. I've decided that the good people in our lives have done an excellent job of making other really good people.

Gardening

I've begun gardening again for the first time in 4 years. It's amazing how fast the time has gone. In 2007 we were married and besides a few plants there wasn't much of a garden, we had too many things to focus on. In 2008 I had my second foot surgery in June so I spent that summer recovering. 2009 was the summer of traveling and finishing my masters, too many things going on...but boy did we have fun. 2010 I had Beans and had my third foot surgery. Tom would have completely melted down if I would have given him more responsibility.

So this is the year. I've been weeding and planting for the past couple of weeks and we're going to get a rototiller next week to really get going on the garden. As a mother's day gift I've asked that Tom makes my ground level garden into a raised garden for Nora and I to plant cucumbers, peppers and squash. The strawberries and tomatoes are already planted and there are some beautiful potted plants throughout the yard. I've found that I've become a more patient gardener and I don't get so hung up on the placement of plants. I'm kind of going by instinct and it seems to be working really well. This year I'm not going to plant things just to try and grow them. I know what I can do and what I can't. Things that I will not attempt to grow include, artichokes, cilantro, basil, parsley and any kind of lettuce. I have tried and failed many times. However, I can grow tomatoes with my eyes closed and cucumbers from seed so I hope Nora enjoys both of them.

Vacation Post 1-Weight Loss

Well, it' s been coming down the pike for a long time. I have to lose weight. My husband likes me big, I like to eat, it's been a win-win situation for a really long time. However, my joints disagree with me that this weight loss is a good thing. My first goal is 5 pounds and I've already reached 2 pounds. I'm going to use this little blog of mine to push myself through the process. I know I can do it, I have no choice in the matter. My big goal is 60 pounds so that I can rock a bathing suit in Hawaii next year for our family trip. I want to be able to enjoy the beach to the fullest extent with Nora.

My first step is getting exercise into my routine again. I've signed up for a month at Cal Fit for Tom and me. I thought he would be excited. I was wrong, so with or without him I'm going. They have a pool. I bought a new suit and I'm excited to use it. Hope I don't like it too much since the membership is only a month and I think they're too expensive for us to do on a regular basis.

My next step is coming up with 14 recipes that are healthy and tasty that I can rotate in and out for our dinners. I'm going to work on that starting tonight.

Wish me luck, I know I can do this. I'm one of those "if you put your mind to it...." kind of people.

The Bigger Picture

For a few months I had been struggling with a serious bout of depression. Since starting the school year I have been looking for that utopia where I can do everything to be the best wife/mother/friend/teacher out there. Then my washer died. It sent me into a tizzy which got worse as the laundry started to pile up. Instead of just going to a Laundromat, I was dragging laundry with me everywhere, including school. (My awesome classroom neighbor is the special ed teacher whose classroom has a washer.) I became obsessed with making sure my daughter had warm pajamas to wear during this cold January. It took me 2 weeks after having my new washer to finally start coming out of my slump.

Then one of the nicest human beings that I ever me passed away. Her name was Shellie and she was the custodian/eyes and ears of the first school I ever taught at. To say she was amazing was the understatement of a lifetime. Everyday she would come into my room and chat while doing her job perfectly. I looked forward to our chats and missed them when I moved to my current school. It got me thinking about how I know it's impossible to ignore all the mean people out there, but I've decided I want to spend my energy enjoying the kindness, creativeness and humor of the great people in my life.

I hope I can keep this up. I feel better about things and have been enjoying life a bit more these days. I'm off to enjoy the company of an ailing friend. Then I'll come back home to spend the day discovering things with my daughter while my husband works on report cards. Until later. Enjoy this site on dealing with difficult people, but remember, don't spend too much time with them.

http://thinksimplenow.com/happiness/dealing-with-difficult-people/

Bones, God Damnit

The soup was a big hit. I went for the white bean and ham. I slow cooked the ham with the veggies and it was great. There was a parade of crockpots working overnight turning shanks and hocks into delicious soup. It was great until I realized there were a bunch of little bones in the soup. Hope the six families that took them home eat it slowly. Luckily it was deamed "Awesome!" by by husband.

Pictures to come.

My discovery today is that I'm freaking tired. That's it. I'm just tired.

I'm Bored...

Last week I was at yoga and the instructor said, "Don't let yourself stay in a position that isn't comfortable." I started thinking that it was time to do something different. I only thought about this for a minute because I was supposed to get all the thoughts out of my head but I have been thinking about it all week.

I love the Internet and I am a certified addict to the Internet. What a dream-come-true for a curious soul who has a raging case of ADD. In a matter of seconds I can be reminded the name of that guy that was in that movie, find a cure for my current ailment, or buy that magic book and/or toy that

will make my child happy and/or brilliant.

But, like most things in my life, I became bored. My friends had lives that they wanted to live and Facebook was becoming stale. My email is a menagerie of marketing and I don't have the time to look for new and interesting websites since the birth of my daughter. So in keeping with that idea of getting out of my comfort zone, I thought I would utilize my friend t

he internet to look for and blog about new experiences and things.

My first post isn't necessessarily a discovery, but

a re-discovery. If you are ever looking for a new site for wonderful food, look no further than Simply Recipes. My best friend turned me on to this site a number of year ago. www.simplyrecipes.com

I'm going to my first soup swap this weekend and I need recipe to make 6 quarts of soup so I'm going to turn to Elise. I think I'm going to make the ham and bean soup and I'm hoping I can convince my beloved to make fancy labels so they get picked and taken home.