Tag Archives: ericiv

day 2522: Be The Ball.

day 2522: Be The Ball. I.

i don’t know why but even though we’ve been doing it for many years, i am still surprised that we occasionally find enjoyment by going out and hitting a small ball around a course.

we go maybe 3 or 4 times a year which is not nearly frequently enough to get any good ( although i do occasionally win awards ), but infrequently enough to find it an amusing way to pass the time. perhaps we’ve stumbled upon the secret to enjoying the game of golf.

hitting a few buckets of balls on the driving range has become a semi-traditional start to summer.

day 2522: Be The Ball. II.

odin, silently pondering his shot? or attempting to tune out all the advice we are trying to give him about putting his hands this-way-and-not-that-way and placing his feet just so? or both?

day 2522: Be The Ball. III.

overall, odin has nice form, though we are still working on “keep your eye on the ball”.

day 2522: Be The Ball. IV.

observant golfers will note that odin might be a “lefty”, but only with golf a golf club. in tennis, hockey, baseball etc he’s most comfortable holding the raquet, club or bat as a “righty”, but such is not the case with a golf club.

we keep thinking he’ll adjust but he never does even after having proper lessons. time to buy some lefty clubs?

recipe: triple chocolate ice cream!

recipe: triple chocolate ice cream! I.

being the lucky guy that i am, kris and odin got me an ice cream maker for our kitchen aid mixer for my birthday so, naturally, i set out in search of the perfect recipe for first batch.

i knew i wanted something that really played to the home field advantage of being able to use eggs laid fresh in the morning by The Girls and i didn’t have to look very far since the recipe booklet for the ice cream maker had a wonderful-sounding recipe for triple chocolate ice cream that called for eight egg yolks!

anything with 3 kinds of chocolate, heavy whipping cream, half and half and eight egg yolks has to be super tasty, right? it’s like that old joke about pizza, even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.

and remember, if you’re going to make ice cream, why not use the very best ingredients like *cough* shameless plug *cough* organic valley heavy whipping cream and half & half 🙂

( note: don’t miss the 2 cooling steps! i did which extended the whole process to three days given my schedule. you can certainly make the ice cream in one day if you plan ahead. )

triple chocolate ice cream

ingredients
2 cups organic valley heavy whipping cream
2 squares ( 1 oz, 30 g each ) semisweet baking chocolate, cut into chunks
2 squares ( 1 oz, 30 g each ) unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into chunks
2 cups organic valley half & half
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
8 egg yolks
4 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 bars ( 1.55 oz, 46 g each ) milk chocolate, chopped ( about 1 1/2 cups )

recipe: triple chocolate ice cream! II.

in a small saucepan, place 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, semisweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate. heat over medium-low heat until chocolate melts, stirring frequently. remove from heat; set aside. in medium saucepan over medium heat, heat half & half until very hot but not boiling, stirring often. remove from heat; set aside.

recipe: triple chocolate ice cream! III.

in small bowl, combine sugar and cocoa powder. set aside. place egg yolks in mixer bowl. attach bowl and wire whip to mixer. turn to speed 2 and gradually add sugar mixture; mix about 30 seconds, or until well blended and slightly thickened. continuing on speed 2, very gradually add chocolate mixture and half & half; mix until well blended.

recipe: triple chocolate ice cream. IV.

return half & half mixture to medium saucepan; stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until small bubbles form around edge and mixture is steamy. do not boil. transfer half & half mixture into large bowl; stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream, vanilla and salt. cover and chill thoroughly, at least 8 hours.

recipe: triple chocolate ice cream. V.

put ice cream “freeze bowl” and mixing attachments in place and turn on speed 1. pour chilled mixture into freeze bowl.

recipe: triple chocolate ice cream. VI.

continue on speed 1 for 10-15 minutes or until desired consistency, adding milk chocolate during last 1 to 2 minutes of freeze time. immediately transfer ice cream into an airtight container and freeze for at least 4 hours.

yield: 16 1/2 cup servings.

recipe: triple chocolate ice cream. VII.

so, how does it taste? if you’re into chocolate and creamy, rich goodness, then really, really, really good. it rides right up to the line of over-the-top richness and stops just short.

in a blind taste test, odin said he preferred my triple chocolate homemade ice cream to the leading organic store brand ( store brand is in the bowl on the right, recipe results are in the spoon about to be consumed )! and both he and his mother said it was THE BEST ICE CREAM THEY’VE EVER HAD!!!!. and i sampled the ice cream at lunch at work to a pretty discerning group of ice cream fanatics to rave reviews.

all-in-all, i’d rate this recipe a knock-it-out-of-the-park homerun. two big thumbs up.

day 2518: The Last Day of the Last Year of Kindergarten.

day 2518: The Last Day of the Last Year of Kindergarten. I.

sigh. the day finally arrived. odin’s last day of kindergarten. a bittersweet day to be sure. of course, odin is nothing but excited because not only is it the last day of school, but the Summer Birthday Kids also collectively celebrate their birthdays.

the parents of the Summer Birthday Kids are also excited because they get to have a special morning with the kids where we hang out with them in the play yard before the bell rings and go for the children on their morning walk and watch a special little celebration filled with laugther and songs and stories.

as is quite typical of a waldorf education kindergarten morning at his school, odin begins by climing his favoritest tree!

i’ll bet he’s climbed this tree every day for the past two years ( for those that don’t know, in a waldorf school kids usually don’t start first grade until they are seven, so odin is finishing his second year of kindergarten ).

day 2518: The Last Day of the Last Year of Kindergarten. II.

he’s looking for a caterpillar that he discovered in the tree yesterday and was very eager for us to see it, but alas, the caterpillar had wandered off.

day 2518: The Last Day of the Last Year of Kindergarten. III.

looooooots of running and laughter in the morning. it’s seems like A Proper Way to start the day and i can’t imagine it any other way ( sitting at a desk?! ).

day 2518: The Last Day of the Last Year of Kindergarten. IV.

then we went on a walk and watched the children empty their compost into the compost buckets and even got a little tour of the greenhouse where the older kids are growing all sorts of green things for the school garden.

day 2518: The Last Day of the Last Year of Kindergarten. V.

and then it was time to take off the outside shoes and light candles and listen to songs and a wonderful story told by Miss Shannon about birthdays and make music and watch odin walk over a “Rainbow Bridge” laden with silk scarves to mark the passing of The Kindergarten Years ( no cameras allowed for that part 🙂

’twas, indeed, a wonderful morning.

day 2516: (Almost) The End of Kindergarten (and Another Trip Around The Sun for Poppi).

day 2516: (Almost) The End of Kindergarten (and Another Trip Around The Sun for Poppi).

when i was growing up i always extra enjoyed having a may 25th birthday because it came just around the time the school year was ending and the unofficial start of summer, memorial day weekend. all kinds of awesomeness happening all at once.

now, my approaching birthday reminds me that odin is almost done with another school year, ending his Kindergarten Years, and i’m another year older ( and certainly not getting any younger ).

which is all good. it is The Way of Things. though i sure wish i could bottle of the feeling of walking together to school with odin nearly every day of The Kindergarten Years.

he still wants to hold hands, for now. when he’s not riding his bike.

day 2516: a shell for Miss Shannon.

day 2516: a shell for Miss Shannon.

it’s hard to believe that odin is approaching the end of The Kindergarten Years at school. he’s already super excited to start first grade but he’s also a little sad to be saying goodbye to his kindergarten teacher so he decided to give her a special little gift – a shell from the shores of maine that we collected on our vacation while possibly in search of jasper.

he quietly gave it to her after we walked to school and they exchanged a glance that made me quite sure she really appreciated the thoughtfulness of his sweet gesture.

day 2503: documenting the first harvest of asparagus!

day 2503: documenting the first harvest of asparagus! I.

odin and i gave his mother a camera for mother’s day, but i think there’s a little confusion over just whose camera it is! but he has good instincts – when i said it was time to go pick our first harvest of asparagus from the family garden, he asked to wait a minute and ran inside and grabbed his, er, her camera 🙂

day 2503: documenting the first harvest of asparagus! II.

i’m impressed with his ability to manage the camera and the plate while composing the shot 🙂

here’ a little video he shot while picking the first harvest.

and less than 20 minutes later it was being enjoyed at the dinner table.

day 2500: Scenes from a Happy Mother’s Day Morning!

day 2500: Scenes from a Happy Mother's Day Morning! I.

happy mother’s day!

odin was up very early putting his new finger knitting skills to good use as he wanted to make his mother a Very Special Bracelet before she woke up. he’s getting so good with the required eye hand coordination that i have to ask him to slow down to take a good picture.

he can crank out a nice 4 string bracelet or bookmark or whatnot in very short order while i still struggle with the basic concept of how to finger knit.

day 2500: Scenes from a Happy Mother's Day Morning! II.

the finished product! he thought it would be a nice touch to take the picture with it shaped like a heart. i like his thinking. i’m sure his mother will love it.

now, let’s see, if i can get him to work 12 hours a day making bracelets and bookmarks…

day 2500: Scenes from a Happy Mother's Day Morning! III.

then it’s time to wrap up a super secret gift we both got for her that she’s been wanting for A Really Long Time. odin thought it would be fun to wrap and color the entire box to make it super special.

day 2500: Scenes from a Happy Mother's Day Morning! IV.

i love, love, love that he whistles while he works. and a kind-of lonesome cowboy tune to boot that i can’t remember the name of at the moment.

day 2500: Scenes from a Happy Mother's Day Morning! V.

to this day i still marvel at the wide assortment of colors in the modern box of crayola crayons and can’t help but feel like i got shorted as a child.

we briefly debated whether or not cerulean blue could be an acceptable substitute for indigo when coloring a rainbow.

day 2500: Scenes from a Happy Mother's Day Morning! VI.

aaaaaand done! just moments before mama comes downstairs to what will hopefully be a big surprise 🙂