Unanticipated consequences

So one of the other fellows kindly offered me a single piece of chocolate from her bag of goodies this morning. It was delicious. But as soon as I finished it, a craving for chocolate of monstrous proportions came over me. So I had some chocolate frozen yogurt as soon as I got home after lunch (moment of silence for my last half day). But that didn't do the trick. So I grabbed the chocolate syrup out of the fridge and made myself a nice tall glass of chocolate milk, which helped for a couple hours.

I decided it was time to pull out the big guns.

Any guesses?

I know it might be hard to tell from the photo, but this is a hot fudge brownie sundae.* Now that's better. So... what's for dinner?

*Time is of the essence when warm brownie, hot chocolate sauce, and cold ice cream are involved. I couldn't dilly dally over the photography here.

Trick question

We ate at Texas Roadhouse the other day. It was delicious, as always. A pair of giant cow horns mounted on the wall caught Elle's attention.

Nick: Yeah, those are horns. From a cow. What does a cow say?
Elle: Moooooo,
Nick. Yup. But actually, those are from a dead cow. What does a dead cow say?
Elle: [blank stare]
Nick: Ha. Yup, that's right. A dead cow says nothing. Good job.

Too rich for my blood

Since our move is only two months away, I toured a few area daycares this morning. Now I'm not gonna name names, but I am gonna tell a story on one of them.

I knew I was in trouble when the lady had me sit in an overstuffed (real) leather chair by the aquarium while I waited for the director who would give the tour. I really knew I was in trouble when I had to stifle laughter several times just while reading the little new parent information packet. I tried counting the instances of "empowered" but lost track. In the section about communicating with your child, it actually said if your child is absorbed in an activity, you shouldn't interrupt her; rather, you should wait for her to finish before you speak. Um, beg pardon?
Then the tour commenced. The rooms were much quieter, more somber, and frankly more... beige than the rooms at the other places I toured. I'm sure this was to promote an environment of thoughtful learning or some such nonsense. Can't you just picture my child screaming, tearing through those hallowed halls? I can, and I don't think they'd find it as funny as I do.
My visit fell at lunchtime, so she showed me the toddlers sitting down to eat. With classical music playing in the background. All sitting quietly at the table, which was covered with an actual tablecloth. With a (glass) vase with flowers in the middle. All the kids had their home lunches (all hot meals, of course). I didn't even recognize most of the food (too snooty and/or ethnic); only one kid had chicken nuggets on his place (I love chicken nuggets). And the best part...I'm not kidding you... A teacher was pouring a little girl's milk into (no seriously, I'm not joking) a miniature glass goblet. For real. 
So my kid is a daycare baby, and I think she might be a little too... scrappy for the likes of these folk. There was apparently an episode the other day where another little girl snatched her blanket just as lunch was ending, right before nap. Elle took her down in a furor of tears and spaghetti sauce and emerged the proud victor and rightful owner of her blankie. I don't know if that sort of behavior would get her past the screening assessment required before enrollment. Whatevs. We'll just take my baby and her savoie faire to some place that will appreciate her for it.

A few big hits and a let down

Whew! Life is busy busy busy for Bethie lately. We're in the midst of contract negotiations for a (potentially) fabulous house. I actually started working at my (less than) glamorous job. And I co-hostessed a (no doubt about it) legendary baby shower for Meagan last weekend. And my rheum boards are just under 2 weeks away. Eek.

So how about a little culinary break? I meant to take pictures. I really did. Sorry.

Out of the park good:
1) Strawberry cupcakes with orange cream cheese icing
The first time I've made a strawberry cake that really, truly, actually tastes like strawberries. Thank goodness HEB carries freeze-dried strawberries because I couldn't find them at any other grocery store. My other option was to buy a lot of Special K with Red Berries and pick out the red bits.
The icing was really good, but I think it took some of the glory from the cupcakes. Next time, I'll do a plain vanilla cake to put the icing at the forefront or plain cream cheese icing to let the strawberries have their 15 minutes of fame.

2) chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake
I made mini-cheesecakes in a muffin tin. I think it would be better as a full-size cheesecake because I couldn't fit all the cookie dough bits into my allotted 30 mini-cakes. Layering them into a full cheesecake would give a more optimal dough to cheesecake ratio, methinks. And when you make this (which you should), I recommend a chocolate crumb crust. I made them both ways in testing, and you just need to trust me on this one.

3) Mediterranean phyllo dough pizza
An oldie but goodie that dates all the way back to med school. Basically, it's layers of phyllo dough brushed with butter/olive oil with mozzarella + Feta + parmesan sprinkled in between and piled on top along with thinly sliced cherry tomatoes. Cheese + butter + roasty tomatoes = yum.

Eh, it's ok
1) PB&A
So there's this great restaurant in Nashville, Bread & Co. They make delicious artisan breads than they then fashion into delicious sandwiches. And the cookies. Oh, the cookies. What I wouldn't do for a white chocolate toffee cookie from B&C right now. I took Angela there when she visited me, and it was good enough to make it into both a blog post and a scrapbook page. But my favorite was always the PB&A, which is cranberry-pecan bread with peanut butter, honey-cinnamon cream cheese, and thinly sliced Granny Smith apple. HEBs cranberry walnut bread is good but frankly just doesn't compare. And my cream cheese wasn't sweet enough. So this will be attempt #1 at re-creating my old favorite. I'll toll the bells to let you know if I ever pull off a good copy.

Happy munching, and I'll see you again sometime soon. Or at least soon-ish.

The sweet spot

Well, guys, I'd planned to do this post last weekend, but when Saturday afternoon rolled around, my heart just wasn't in it. What was supposed to be a fun and exciting final weekend of ultimate freedom before starting my new job turned into a grumpy, headache-y, stressful mess. I mean, nothing awful happened, but it just didn't meet the expectations I had in my head, which were admittedly lofty.

But believe it or not, all my Saturday hopes and dreams just showed up a little late, rolling in on Tuesday afternoon. I started my new job yesterday, but it was a little anticlimactic since apparently my office isn't fully set up for me to see patients just yet. So I got all the glory of my new badge (F is for faculty!) but none of the anxiety of seeing my first patient in two months. And since orientation ended a bit early, I still scored some afternoon chill time with my favorite baby. And then Nick and I met our realtor to do a second showing of a house that I think is just perfect for us: a little worn, definitely in need of updating, but on a big corner lot in the right school district. When I close my eyes I can see how beautiful we'll make it. And then to finish it off, fajitas at Pappasito's under the guise of stalling until rush hour traffic died down but really just because we've been in the mood for them ever since noticing their sign last week encouraging you "in queso emergency stop here."

So yesterday was as good as it gets here in reality. And don't worry; I'll keep you posted about the house status. But watch out; if we get it, my Pinterest explosion will begin anew.