Good Days

   The past few days of Lee have been rather yucky, but I can't remember a day more beautiful than this one.  It's so pretty outside.  For the first time in months, it wasn't too hot to go walking around the neighborhood, bringing our daughter and our dog for a bit of exercise.  It was good to get out.

   I don't know if I'm finally adjusting to J being in my bubble, or if I've just had a rare streak of good-naturedness, but the past few days have been so much fun.  Perhaps it could also be attributed to the fact that my darling has begun to help me around the house, without being asked!  Whatever the reason, I've found myself being able to relax a bit more and just enjoy having my little family back together.

   As I've mentioned, we were in the path of Lee this past weekend, but the storm wasn't bad in this area.  Sunday, after too much time in the house, we decided to go to the Disney store to find Monkey's Halloween costume.  She wants to be Ariel.  When we got there, though, I really didn't like the only Ariel costume they had.  It wasn't even like Ariel at all.  It was a purple and green dress.  When did Ariel ever wear a purple and green dress in the movie???  Never!  Accuracy matters people!

   We wound up exploring the rest of the store for way longer than my darling J could stand.  It didn't help that when we got there, Monkey wanted an Ariel doll, but then she saw Dumbo so she exchanged Ariel for him.  Then I saw a sale where you could get two smaller dolls for the price of her large Dumbo.  I managed to convince her to trade her large Dumbo for a smaller Dumbo and another toy of her choosing.  She chose Jiminy Cricket.  That's when Daddy wanted in on the act and tried to convince her that Dumbo and the mouse from the movie Dumbo would be better.  So she said 'goodbye' to Jiminy.  Then she saw Bullseye and wanted him.  That meant she wanted Jessi too.  By this point J was pulling his hair out.  Finally we ended up with Jessi and Bullseye and the Disney Villain version of Monopoly.  We left the store with a happy Monkey holding her two new toys, a happy mommy hanging onto her new board game, and a frustrated Daddy clutching his head and vowing "never again".

   That game turned out to be our sanity's savior while we were rained in.  I came upon the realization that my poor husband has never played Monopoly in his life!!!  After the first game he was hooked, and last night he forced me to stay up way too late to finish our game.  I wasn't feeling well yesterday, so by 11:00 I was trying my hardest to lose.  He thought that was the funniest thing, but when you're that tired I guess everything is funny.  The game FINALLY ended with J as the victor.  I went to bed to the sounds of "please put in on Facebook that I beat you".  Yeah, perhaps he had a touch of cabin fever....

   At any rate, I tried a new breakfast recipe Sunday.  I made Cinnamon Apples, and they were yummy.  They were easy too.  Use however many apples you want, cut off the top, and without cutting the bottom remove all of the seeds and form a well in the middle.

Stuff each apple with 2 TBS butter and 2 TBS brown sugar.  Place all apples in a baking dish, and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until apples are tender.

   These were great on the side of Snickerdoodle Scones.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup sour cream 
1/2 tsp baking soda
For the topping-
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix sour cream and baking soda together in a small bowl and set aside. In the bowl of a food processor, place sugar, cinnamon, flour, baking powder, salt, and cream of tartar. Pulse a few times to combine.  You could also do these steps by hand if your food processor isn't big enough.
3. Cut in butter, pulsing in your food processor, until butter is broken into small chunks throughout. 
4. Beat the egg into the sour cream mixture and pour into the flour mixture. Mix by hand, just until moistened. Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet and pat into a large disk.
5. Cut disk into 8 wedges and separate slightly. (My disk was hard to form, next time I might just drop chunks of dough on the sheet) Mix cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the scones.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.


Enjoy!  Monkey loved the scones, and J loved the apples, so everyone wins.