So having mastered the art of ebleskivers, I decided it was time to up the ante and attempt my first batch of honeycandy. Last night, the girls were sleeping, Julie was at the gym, so I decided the timing was right... it was just the cats at home to giggle at me burning my fingers.
Let me start out by saying that I totally underestimated the talent required to make it. Little did I know that it was a lot more art than science, which is very unfortunate for me. I learned a few lessons that I thought I would pass along. Namely, don't skimp on greasing the pan. I think I lost about half of my batch to the cookie tray! Next time I will make sure there is adequate butter ALL over the place. Equally as important is the cooking temperature. After serious consultations with Mom, we decided that 294 was the perfect point. Well, I pulled the honeycandy till I was done, let it sit, and over an hour later all I had was taffy. It was definitely NOT what I was after. I am thinking I didn't cook it long enough... or didn't stretch it long enough... or didn't let it set up long enough... ?
Being the good person that I am, I documented the final product. I was marginally pleased with the outcome (I had really low expectations going in). The color was definitely a *few* shades darker than Dads but I did manage to get an air bubble or two in there.
-- The decent section --
However, I totally underestimated how hard it is to get a nicely shaped piece of candy that is all about the same diameter. For some reason, mine was kinda lumpy then skinny... as you can see here. Eefa. Not quite up to par with that one.
Final score after the first round: honeycandy 1, Joel 0.
Today we went to the picture place and got Alia's 3 year photos taken. It was a lot of fun and even Ashlyn wanted in on the action. I put the new photos up here.
Alia is now in ballet class once a week and absolutely loves that. Her new thing is to call Julie "Juwee" instead of Mom. It is really funny to listen to her jabber all the time and call Buddy "dude". Actually, it is usually "hey dude". He is a good sport that puts up with a LOT of bear hugs from Ashlyn. You can regularly find her smack on top of him giving him loves.
Ashlyn has figured out that she is just tall enough to turn off the lights. She is absolutely thrilled with that prospect. I wish I captured her elated yell last night as she turned out all the lights while we were getting ready for bed. She was soooo pleased with herself. Unfortunately, it gets a little old when you need to actually see something. Then it becomes a race through the house to turn on lots of lights so that it takes her longer to get them all turned off again :)
Hope everyone is happy and well!
Hey Everybody!
Just thought I would let ya'll know that there are two whole pagesof new Christmas pictures up. What would we do without pictures of screaming children on Santa's lap?!?
It was strange (again) to celebrate Christmas in short sleeves and tee shirts. We celebrated Christmas eve at our friend's house. She insisted on having a fire... so they opened up the windows to make sure we all didn't roast out. Kind of funny. I just checked the weather and we will be upper 70s this week. I guess that means it is time to go golfing again :)