Good Morning Friday

[Marguerite]

G'day, folks. It's going to be a busy evening for us so I'm getting in now, while I can.

difficult child 3 did a bit of work on his film today, I'd really like him to do a helluva lot more.
Tomorrow we have a friend visiting, a combined play and study day. I'm hoping to use the time to get difficult child 3 to do more work, as well as help the friend with some coaching she needs. In between we'll have some fun on the Wii and with other games.

Today is mother in law's birthday. I've been playing with food in the last couple of days, I bought a new silicone cake "tin" on Wednesday and have been dying to try it out. I figured I would bake a birthday cake for mother in law with it. Only trouble is, the sides collapsed under the weight of the cake mix. I hope it turns out OK, I just took it out of the oven. I'm going to wait a bit, let it cool a little and firm up before I try to unmould it. If it doesn't work - well, I also made three cupcakes.

husband has just driven in the driveway, so it's time to go. I need to grab some meat, pick some fresh vegetables form the garden, grab a few utensils and jars of things - and keep my fingers crossed about that cake! No time to ice it, it's too hot anyway. I was just going to dredge it with icing sugar.

ENjoy your Friday.

Marg

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Good Friday Morning!!!


Marg, happy birthday to mother in law. You know, I tried those silicone baking supplies (muffin tin) and I did not like them. Give me my old crusty metal!!!! Hope it was a nice celebration this evening.

Listen, easy child and I went to an aqua energy class last night. It was done by the aquatic director at the club. I had heard she was fabulous. Let me tell you, I've been doing these classes for a little over two weeks and I've never been sore before. She did the most awesome stuff last night. 40 mintues of cardio but some fabulous core stuff that actually used your own body rather than weights, etc., to work particular muscle groups. Then she got the dumb bells out and wow! Everything was really slow and controlled. My inner thighs, shoulders, and triceps are crying a little this morning! It was incredible.

I'm taking today off!! I'm going to weed around my patio and that will be the extend of my physical exercise. Then I'll soak in the hot tub! Actually, I'm going to go ahead and tackle that remaining closet in the family room that holds the coats and winter gear, and a bunch of other "junk" that the kids have tossed in there. But that doesn't count as physical since I'll have easy child and difficult child right there doing the "pulling out" - I'll be the director !!!!

Other than that, I'm sitting on my bum! difficult child wants to go see the Batman movie, but I know it's going to be crazy out there. Not sure exactly what our final plan on that desire will be.

Wishing everyone a fabulous Free Choice Friday

Sharon

 

[Andy]

Good Morning!

Marguerite - Those silicone pans look intriguing but I just can't seem to trust myself with them - I use metal but am transitioning to stone. I hope difficult child 3 has a great play/study day tommorrow.

Little Dude's Mom - O.K., Pain is actually fun? I think it has been too long that you have had a painfree day? I am not sure that you are doing a successful job at getting anyone else to go through this program? It will be good to get that last closet taken care of.

Yesterday the weather was beautiful for the fair. I worked 11:00 - 10:00. Today I go in at 1:00. I am not sure if I should try to see a doctor or dentist this a.m.? Yesterday it felt like my jaw "popped". Up near my left ear but it has become more painful - hard to eat - I am not sure if I have an infection going on or not? It does feel better this morning so I may take my chances to let it go the weekend and see what happens - My daughter said that she had same thing that lasted several days. I can hang in there as long as I know there isn't an infection starting - that would possibly mean a visit to ER this weekend! What a hassle!

Happy Friday everyone - Find a way to make your difficult child laugh today.

 

[Marguerite]

G'day again folks.

Sharon-LDM, go easy on yourself. The exercise class sounds great though.

And Adrianne, I was wondering how you were getting on with the fair. Sorry to hear about your jaw. Sounds painful. Doesn't sound like infection, though. An infection causing that would have probably given you a fever by now. Sounds more like TMJ dysfunction. Massage, heat, and time to unlock the cramped muscle. See a doctor or dentist if it's worrying you.

mother in law's dinner went really well. I quickly cooked up pork medallions in plum sauce with some stir-fried vegetables and enoki mushrooms on the side, followed by the cake and some choc-walnut brownies I baked last night. She felt really spoiled, which was exactly what I was after.

The trick with the silicone baking things - you should stand them on something solid and preferably metal, such as an old pizza tray or scone tray.

You might need to dust inside with a little flour or icing sugar first, or a little oil instead, although I've never had anything stick.

And when you take something out of the oven, DO NOT unmould it right away because whatever you just took out will be at its softest and most vulnerable. Instead, wait about five minutes and THEN unmould it.

I'm so sold on the stuff that I went out and bought a silicone baking sheet. It needs to be put on a metal tray (otherwise biscuits etc will just sag and fall through the bars of the oven) but it's like using non-disposable, non-slip baking paper which just wipes clean. I also use it as a pastry sheet to keep my kitchen bench clean. I can roll out pastry on it, cut the pastry out and bake it, all without having to move the pastry from the sheet if I don't want to. Very good for complex shape cookies.

I even bought silicone patty pan cases the other day, I used some tonight. I love them!

The only trouble is, some of the stuff is so cheap that it's not as strong as it needs to be. But the worst that can happen (other than putting it in an oven that's too hot, which I've never done) is what happened tonight, when the sides of the cake mould collapsed a bit under the weight of the mix. But the end result - you really wouldn't notice. It turned out with an almost mirror-smooth finish like it had an egg wash and looked great dredged in icing sugar. Next time, I'll make brioche in it, that shouldn't collapse.

I strongly recommend you buy something cheap and play with it. Even those patty pan cases - put them in your muffin tray if you like (I didn't, I just sat them on the flat metal sheet I had the cake on). And because they're plastic, I was able to get them out of the oven with my bare hands (not recommended to grip, just touch and drag).

Go on. Go play! My cookware cupboard is looking more like the toybox every week!

Marg