Tiramisu Cake and Questionable Parenting Practices; TWD

Dorie introduces this cake by saying that in the 1990s, the only way to avoid tiramisu was to go to Antartica. I cannot figure out why anyone would want to avoid tiramisu. Heck, I would probably be willing to travel to Antartica to get it, if that was the only place it was available. Luckily, Dorie makes it available in a layer cake form, with homemade yellow cake instead of storebought ladyfingers. This cake is wonderfully delicious, drenched in espresso syrup and a little amaretto kick. It is the perfect "pick me up".

Traditionally, this is a dessert made with the ladyfingers, mascarpone cheese mixed with some liqueur, espresso, and a dusting of cocoa powder. I didn't have any mascarpone, but had ricotta I needed to use, so I used that. I had read you could use ricotta and to whir it in a food processor to make it smoother. I was rushed, so I skipped that part. I was worried it would make the filling and frosting too grainy, but after sitting in the refrigerator over night, it is very smooth. I knew I would love this recipe at this point:



This cake gets more than just a dusting of chocolate. The layers are filled with chunks of chocolate. I had some of this on hand:



A perfect choice for this cake. Making the cake was fun and simple. I was getting out the ingredients and asked Little E to do some quick math for me to figure out how many grams of cake flour I needed. After telling me the answer was 224, he came to see what I was doing. I was pouring the cake flour onto the scale. Oooops, 225 grams. I pulled a spoon out and got lucky and scooped exactly one gram. So I said to Little E, "If you ever need to eyeball one gram of white powder, this is what it looks like. hee hee." I'm not sure what is wrong with me, that I would make a drug joke to my thirteen year old. He responded, "Well, hopefully I'll be dealing in kilos, not grams, hee hee." So I stopped giggling and made it clear that it is not really funny.

Little E brought home a stray cat two nights ago and we are letting it stay here while we find it a home. It is mentally ill I think, and continuously sucks on your shirt and kneads at you like it is nursing. Constantly. It has kept him awake for the past two nights so he was really dragging this morning. Of course, I offered him a piece of the tiramisu cake for breakfast. He really needed a "pick me up". He was running late, so he grabbed a piece and headed out the door. There goes my teenager, heading to school eating a 'breakfast' not only filled with sugar, but laced with alcohol and espresso as well. At least I did not make any more cocaine jokes.

I would guess this cake has the potential to be addicting though. It is really delicious. This recipe was chosen by Megan, of My Baking Adventures. She has the recipe and great step by step pictures on her blog. It can also be found on pages 266-268 of Baking, From My Home To Yours, by Dorie Greenspan.

Chocolate Amaretti Torte; A Grown Up Cake for a Grown Up Kid

Yesterday was Big E's 16th birthday. I was not totally prepared for it. (Well, emotionally, of course I was not prepared; it seems like just yesterday that he was a little, ten pound baby!) With the kids being home all week, and with the holiday, and working extra hours at my temporary online job, and with my general failure as a mom, yesterday morning arrived and I had no presents and no cake. I actually was going to do these tasks Sunday night while Big E was spending the night with Jennifer's kids. (And I wonder where he gets his procrastination tendencies from.)

Unfortunately, I spent that time in the ER with Gram instead, until 2 a.m. Grandma was fine, but birthday morning I felt like I was operating in zombie mode all day. Stress and lack of sleep made it difficult to think or function or make a cake. I knew I also had to do my Tuesdays With Dorie project, Chocolate Amaretti Torte (chosen by Holly, Phe*MOM*enom.) Luckily this cake is also called "Fifteen Minute Magic" and Eli told me he wanted a cheesecake or an ice cream cake. I knew what I could do. I sure as heck wasn't making a cheesecake (like I did for little E's birthday, just now remembering). Dorie says this torte is good served with coffee ice cream or vanilla ice cream. Big E likes coffee ice cream and vanilla ice cream. I decided to make this fifteen minute magic torte into a thirty minute magic ice cream cake.

It is called a fifteen minute magic torte because you just throw the ingredients into the food processor, put in a pan, and bake it. Super Simple.



I had Jennifer's torte on Easter and knew what it tasted like and it was very delicious.


Jennifer's torte

I baked the cake in an 8 inch springform, took it out, and cooled it. Then I put it back in the springform, topped it with Breyer's coffee and vanilla ice cream, then froze it a little and topped it with the chocolate glaze. I thought I would try to make a white chocolate "16" for the top. I couldn't really make my 6 look right.



In my sleep deprived, zombie mode I started feeling like a demonic candy maker.



It was not the most attractive cake, but it was really good and Big E liked it.



Everyone else, except for my husband liked it as well. Husband only ate a few bites and threw his away. I retrieved his piece from the garbage and finished it for him. (It was sitting right on top and was not touched or contaminated by the other garbage and I was really sleep deprived.) This reminded me of a really sophisticated brownie sundae.



Big E said he had a nice birthday. We wanted to play a game together and he picked poker. Here is a picture of him and grandma:



This is literally 30 seconds later, when he sat down to play cards:



Quickly transformed into his poker face, just how he seemed to grow up in an instant.

You can find the recipe for the super delicious and easy Chocolate Amaretti Torte on pages 276 and 277 of Baking, From My Home To Yours, and on today's post at Phe*MOM*enomom.

Little E's Muse

Little E performed his solo today for IMEA solo and ensemble contests. He asked for this particular piece of music for his birthday in December. You can't complain when your 13 year old son asks for sheet music, theater tickets, and piano lessons for his birthday. (You can make gay jokes, Husband and Rotund Reader, but I am quite proud of his talents and interests.) He wanted to play Pachelbel's Canon. This was a little difficult for his skill level, but I thought he did a great job and wanted to share. (The first 2 seconds of this are him trying to ask his accompanist if he can warm up a few notes, since his performance was delayed. It is kind of funny.)



What is also funny is his inspiration for wanting to do this song. He likes this routine by Rob Paravonian.

Tomorrow, I Will Have Two Teenagers

Little E turns 13 tomorrow! I cant believe how quickly my children have grown up. I know every parent says that, but until it happens to you, it is just so abstract.

Being in the bar business, there are a few days of the year that are about impossible to get off. New Years Eve is one of them. I've been really lucky, and work for good people, and haven't had to work on Ethan's birthday for the past several years. This year though, we had a couple servers quit at work and I was told I have to work the day shift that day. At least that was better than working at night, but I was not thrilled.

Another bartender, K, came to my rescue and is going to work my shift for me! Even though he has to work at a different bar that night. So, he will work 10:30- 7:00 at The Strip Club, then 7:30 until 5:00 a.m. at JP. I was so happy he would do this, I gave him $50, even though he told me it wasn't necessary.

When I told Little E this, (thinking he'd be thrilled to have me home on his birthday) he said, "You could have spent the $50 on a present". Yep. I have a teenager.

Brain Freeze

After work last night, my back hurt, so I took some Tylenol PM. As I went to bed, my back pain lessened and luckily the diphenhydramine worked quickly, sending me off to sleep, bacause I started thinking, "shoot, I took some Xanax earlier, didn't I? I think I remember hearing it is dangerous to mix sleep meds and benzos, it may have Heath Ledger like consequences. But it was just some OTC sleep medicine, and I haven't had any alcohol." But before I could think it through or research it further, I fell asleep. I slept well, but was super groggy this morning.

When I woke up, Husband and Big E had already left, and little E was trying to rouse me to put his eye medicine in his eyes before he caught the bus. I groggily put on my glasses and squirted salve in his eyes, noticing his hair was sopping wet. "Little E, you need to dry your hair before you go." "OK, Mom, I will."

I laid back down and snuggled under the covers, but a minute later, Little E came running into my room saying "Mom, Mom, I just remembered I have to be at school early this morning to get filmed for the three words project! It is my turn at 8:05! Will you drive me? Hurry, hurry!"

So I jumped out of bed (8:00) without asking questions and raced to the car. On the way, I asked, "So what is this project?", noticing his hair is dripping onto his coat.
"All the seventh graders picked three words and then we get filmed for three seconds while we do something while we are saying the words."
"What three words are you saying?"
"I'm charged up!"
"Oh, and what are you doing while you say that?"
"Well, before the camera starts, I am going to rub my hair on a chair and then it will be standing up all over while I say 'I'm charged up!' I'm going to have to run to Mrs. W's room! Bye!"
(8:04; hair is now a popsicle) "Ok, well, good luck with that Sparky."

"I'll Love you forever, I'll like you for always. As long as your living, my baby you'll be"- Robert Munsch

My older son, Big E, is a sophomore. He has a challenging course load. He is in the honors track for English, Algebra, Chemistry, and Political Science. He is also in marching band, which fills his schedule in the fall. He struggled a lot with honors English last year, and I really questioned whether he should continue at honors level this year. He really wanted to and we agreed to let him. I feel frustrated with his mediocre grades but try not to be a perfectionist. What really bothers me though, is he does not like to read.

I read to him in the womb. When he was born, we chose Atticus for his middle name, after Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. His earliest “toys” were board books, Pat the Bunny, Goodnight Moon, Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs and the whole Sandra Boyton collection. When he was a toddler, we spent hours with Dr. Seuss, Arthur, Little Bear and Thomas the Tank Engine. When he was four, he started reading to us. It started with Where the Wild Things Are, which he may have memorized, but soon he was reading and loved to do so.

All through grade school we read as a family every night. Junie B. Jones, Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket. Of course we included your childhood classics, Watership Down, A Wrinkle in Time, Bridge to Tarabithia, etc. We finally decided both kids were ready to experience the book that I loved from first reading in 8th grade, the book that shaped my morals and impassioned my love of justice and longing to be a loving parent, To Kill A Mockingbird. The boys liked it. We watched the movie. A little while later we read it again.

Somewhere along the line our bedtime readings gave way to bedtime audio books, listened to in separate bedrooms. Somewhere along the line, audio books fell to T.V. And somewhere, Big E lost the joy of reading. He now says he hates reading. Ouch. How can this be? I realize it may be a phase. I realize it may be a personality trait or just something we differ about. He is becoming his own person with his likes and dislikes that are usually quite different than mine. It’s hard to let them grow up. He has a C- in English right now. He got 2 Cs and an F on the last 3 quizzes. I implored him to read and study for the final test and he got a C. What book are they reading? To Kill A Mockingbird! I don’t understand what he could possibly not understand about the book at this point. I think I need to read it again and ask myself, “What would Atticus do?”

Times, they are a changin'

This morning, I was taking 14 year old Big E to school and having him summarize the scene of Romeo and Juliet he had to read for his English assignment. As he was finishing talking, we heard the “Dear Aspen” segment come on the radio station, http://www.1057thexrocks.com/. The question was something about a guy wanting to play with his girlfriend's “pooper” and wanting to know if he should ask permission or just give it a go. Aspen’s advice was to NOT ask permission, “just give it a little tickle”, and if she doesn’t seem to protest, it is OK to proceed. I felt compelled to disagree. I mean, I guess this might be OK advice for two adults who have been together awhile and have made it clear they are comfortable experimenting and know they will be open and honest about their likes and dislikes. But in general, I think it is best to get clear permission before touching any private areas of someone else’s body. I think this is especially good advice if you are directing it to the radio listening public, which may include teens or preteens. (That may be the target demographic for this station.)

So, not knowing if he had even listened to the segment, when it was over, I said, “I disagree.”

Big E- “About what?”

Me- “About her response to that question.”

Big E- Silence

Me- “Did you hear the question?”

Big E- “No”

Me – (willing to drop it, but worried that he DID hear the question but was too shy to say so) “Well, the guy was wanting to know if he should ask a woman’s permission before touching her anus.”

Big E- weird laugh

Me- “You definitely should ask permission.”

Big E- weird laugh

Me- (pulling up to the school)- “So, have a great day, honey!”