And speaking of baking...

I throw most catalogs out - but I really like the King Arthur Flour company catalog. It's more like a magazine out of Vermont. The editor of the catalog, PJ Hammel is a breast cancer survivor, and this month she is selling pink ribbon cookie cutters. See...if I knew how to bake I could order a set of those and some adorable cookies with my girls!

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/

Check out the blog on the website, too.

I'm definitely going to learn how to bake. King Arthur sells lots of mixes...many of them are organic. I think "box-mix girl" is the kind of baker that I might be! Hey...it all makes the house smell good, right?

Half Baked

I really am not a very good baker.  Baking requires peace and patience, time, and exact temperatures and measurements.  Baking is a science.  I'm not so good at the things that require specifics.  

I'd like to know how to bake though!  I LOVE to cook...and I love BAKERS!  I have quite a few friends that can bake, and I have to say that they are the nicest people.  I don't think I've ever met a bitchy baker!

Jen Pesut always has something baking at her house.  Even when the guys were on deployment, she would have cookies, or brownies, or a coffee cake in her kitchen.  I'd meet her at her house at 5:15 AM, and we'd go and run 5 miles.  Then we'd come back and grab a cookie or a brownie and a coffee, and we'd head our separate ways to our jobs in Brunswick. To me, Jen baking for herself showed me that she thought that each day, even days when you were on your own, missing your man, and living in a new place with new people, was important enough get into the kitchen and bake.  Either that, or she had an out of control sweet tooth.

My friend Alicia can bake too.  I remember one sultry summer evening in New Orleans, the kids were in bed, and there was a gentle tap on the door.  I knew it was probably a friend...everyone lives so close to each other in New Orleans, that it's easy to visit at all hours of the day.  When I opened the door, there was sunny Alicia, lit up in the light on the porch. Her eyes were twinkling, her shiny pearl buttons sat on ears, her flurry of blond hair was whipped up on top of her head, and she appeared as if she had been working on some kind of project. In her hands, was a warm basket of something that smelled GOOD.  

"Hi!  I went blueberry picking today with my niece and nephew!  Here are some muffins for you!  BYE!"

Ummm...HELLO?  Warm blueberry muffins with fresh picked blueberries?  Okay...okay. Everyone just take it easy.  People that bake are loving people.  Alicia probably doesn't have much time to practice her craft these days.  Like me, she has four children.  Unlike me, her children were all BORN ON THE SAME DAY...and those four precious, healthy girls are not even one year old yet.  Alicia...those girls will love berry picking and muffin making with their mother one day.  And one day you will actually have time not just to bake a muffin, but to eat that muffin too.  I hope that you have yours with a big Irish coffee which you deserve.

My mom bakes BEAUTIFUL things.  Truly.  She is so talented in the kitchen.  Pies, cookies, cakes, breads...I even remember her making pizza dough for us when we were little.  I need to learn how to bake.

I was thinking about the bakers in my life for a few reasons.  One is that when I went to Jen's with the kids for dinner the other night, she had a jar of homemade cupcakes.  They were plain and un-iced.  Jen says that, "Whenever we want a cupcake, we just take one out and ice one!"  Is she the coolest mom, or what?

I was thinking of Alicia, because she wrote a letter, IN THE MAIL to me.  It was a "just because" letter.  I have no idea how Alicia found the time to put pen to paper...and truly, she could have written to me just to say, "You are a moron," and it would have meant so much because she has FOUR INFANTS, but she didn't.  This girl of many words (ME!) can only say two to you, Alish - THANK YOU.  

And my MOM!!!  I love my mom!  She's getting ready to fly the coop back to Florida with all of her Easton Golf Team (it's more like a drinking club...but it's she, my dad, and lots of their friends that play golf and have fun) for the winter.  I am really going to miss having her here. She baked an apple crisp for us the other night, which we all loved.  She's been baking that thing since I was a little girl, and it's actually one of the things that I CAN bake.  And if I can do it, then you can too.  I've included the recipe after the photos.

Love to all of my ladies in the kitchen, and to those of you who just wait to lick the spoon too!

Take it east there, Charles!

It's still summer here in Maryland!  An October night, company with Nan, and some warm apple crisp...LIFE IS GOOD!
Like that, HJ?
APPLE CRISP

given to Mom by Auntie MaryAnn

6 cups of peeled, cored, sliced tart apples - spread into a glass 9x13 pan

1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 t. baking powder, 1/4 t. salt, 1 egg - combine all and mix with a fork until crumbly - sprinkle it over the apples

1 stick of melted butter - drizzle it over the topping on the apples

cinnamon - sprinkle as much as you'd like over the topping

Bake it at 350 for 45-60 minutes

This is a great breakfast, too!

HAVE FUN!

A Place for Everyone

Enjoy!

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6034397

She's Got It!

Some folks have said that Mike and I have good senses of humor.  We do prefer laughter to ANYTHING...so that's a real compliment.  Mike is so smart and funny.  Oh my.  In these times, I feel lucky that my favorite things (like a joke, a funny story, or a laugh with a friend) are FREE! 

Our oldest daughter, Margaret, is quite serious.  She was born that way.  She is intense...she is a perfectionist.  She is responsible, empathetic, and sensitive.  She likes to talk to the grown ups.  She has a lot of energy to burn, and she can run fast and far.  When she comes home from school each day, she's got a lot of emotions to let out...emotions that I guess have been supressed all day becuase she has been trying so hard to do her best at school.  Mike and I are serious too...but I don't think that I was ever as intense as Maggie is.

So now we have to do spelling.  We practice Maggie's words each night.  Last week, one of Maggie's words was "pass."  Maggie needs to be able to use the word in a sentence, read it, and spell it.  So her sentence was this: "Who just passed gas?"  She broke up into a silly giggle that she couldn't control.  So did I.  "Maggie, you are funny." I told her.  I find that I tell her often, as if I am surprised.

So tonight, we were doing our spelling.  I'm barely awake on her floor, reading words.  She writes them on her Magna-Doodle, while Caroline listens.  I rattle off the words.  "State."

Maggie responds, "State.  Okay.  Got it. Next."

"Sudden."

"Mmm Hmmm.  Sud den.  Got it."

"Puppet."

"Pup pet.  Okay.  Next."

And we go on for eight words.

Stone faced, Maggie hands me her list.  It says:

Mississippi

Mommy

Stinkee

Pup

Pet

Daddy

Cacktis

Poopy State

Not only was every word wrong, every word was a word that wasn't even on her list.  Maggie started screaming with laughter.  So did I!  Oh is she clever and funny!!!  She put on such a good show!  She made it seem like she truly was doing her spelling words, and she was fooling me and tricking me the entire time.  What a clever, funny girl!  Maggie...you can run from those crazy goofball genes, but you can't hide.  I wouldn't want you to, anyway.  It's fun to be who you really are.

Here are a few photos of my girl.  I can't believe how she's grown, and I can't believe that she's ours.  She's a GREAT KID.  

Here's Mags with my dad.  Maggie is named after both of my grandmothers, my aunt, my great-grandmother...and ME!  My name is Jennifer Margaret.  

Running in the sprinkler, fully dressed, under a full moon.
My mom has taught my big girls how to knit.
And Dad and Mike are teaching her how to fish.
But she's still little enough to love a cartoon with her sibs at Nanny and Poppy's house.

Each child is different.  Each child is loved, and for each child, there is a place in this world.  Love to ALL of my Beautiful Burkes, and to the little ones of all of my family and friends out there.  Our happiness depends on YOUR HAPPINESS!!!  We love you, and we always want you to be WHO YOU REALLY ARE!

Herbal Tea Sucks

I'm drinking herbal tea now at night, instead of my "glass and a half" of wine.  I can no longer ignore the risks that everyone from my OB/GYN to Susan G. Komen, to Yahoo! Health tell me over and over.  More than one a night (that's a tasty boozy alcoholic beverage...not cup of tepid water smells like the lawn cup of decaffinated herbal tea) raises your risk of icky old breast cancer.  

"Why not have just one small glass?" you query politely.  

Well why don't you go try to eat one effing potato chip out of a "Party Size" bag?!  Or how about if you go and nibble on ONE M&M.  YUM!!!  THAT'S FUN!  That's REALLY SATISFYING!  Wheeee!

"Okay, then, Jennie...have your glass and a half.  I'm sure it's not a huge deal."

Have you seen the size of our wine glasses?  They are like bath tubs balancing on toothpicks.

It's okay...what's done is done.  If I get to have seven glasses a week then I'm drinking all seven on the same night.  See you Friday when we are going to have a rocking good time!!!  Until then, good night from boring, boring (but tremendously healthy and responsible)

ME!

P.S.  No I do not "Wanna Make A Bet" on how long I will keep this up!  HAVE A LITTLE FAITH, PEOPLE!