Graduation and Blessing Day

Still catching up here. Please don't judge me!

So my [our] Rexburg trip concluded with two big events: Cecilia's graduation, and Blessing Day for our sweet little Giselle. Cecilia has worked hard to keep her grades up and get everything done and complete for her graduation. This is no small task when you consider that she was doing it while pregnant, and then also as the first-time mom of a newborn.

Commencement -- we couldn't even find her in the masses here:

Brandon was pretty proud of her, too.

It's not easy juggling a new baby and school, but she sure did it!

So proud of her!!

The family came down to Rexburg to join us for graduation and the blessing, and one evening we slipped down to the river at Idaho Falls for some pictures.

Oh, it was so beautiful there, and so, so peaceful.

The following Sunday, we went to church with Brandon and Cecilia, and Giselle was blessed. Cecilia's mom made a pretty blessing dress for her, and I made a little memory bouquet for her wrist.

Todd's aunt LaRee came, too -- it was so good to see her again. It's been a long time!

(Do we look old enough to be grandparents? Don't answer that!!)

My sweet niece, Lyndsey and her hubby Ross also came that day -- so fun to see them again and have them join us!

I'm such a sucker for baby-yawns.

At the end of the day, THIS is what it's all about.

Since it's so much later now that I'm recording this, I have a different perspective, perhaps. Or maybe it's just that I've had more time to think about it. Right now, this little angel is pretty far away, and we haven't gotten to see or hold her lately. I think I've got newborn withdrawals. (Even though she's not a newborn anymore!) Just sure am missing this little one.

But oh, what joy comes with a baby!!

Oh, Baby!!

So, this post is throwin' it back ... like to July.

Because that was when Todd and I became grandparents for the first time!

Hard to believe, right? That's what we keep thinking, too.

And after some thought, I finally figured out why I don't "feel" like a grandma. When I was a little kid, my grandparents were already elderly. They were in their seventies. Retired. Gray-haired. Moving slowly. Lots of wrinkles. In fact, three out of four of my grandparents had passed away by the time I was 13 years old. And the fourth grandparent passed away before I got married.

So in my mind's eye, a "grandparent" was a really, really old person. If I stop to compare, I am a quarter of a century YOUNGER than what I remember my grandparents being. It's a completely different place in life than they were.

Yeah. Now I feel a little better!!

So, this is Giselle -- the beginning of the Next Generation of Huffakers!! Isn't she a doll?? We ran down to Rexburg to hold this little sweetie, almost as soon as we got the news.

(She did undergo light therapy for jaundice for a couple of days, but we think she's pretty darn special.)

Her first outing --- to the Fourth of July parade.

While we were there together, we celebrated our anniversary -- 29 years together!!

Cecilia was a real trooper, and got right back into things right away. She and Brandon had three more weeks of school until the end of the semester, and Cecilia was heading for graduating with her bachelor's degree. As adorable as they are, a newborn baby isn't real conducive to classes, homework, projects, and finals.

Since Cecilia's mom was unable to come, we decided it might be best if I stayed in Rexburg until the semester's end, to help out with meals and baby care while her parents worked madly through the end of their school year. We had Emma stay with me, since the rest of the family was busy with work and Girl's Camp and activities that would limit what Em could do.

And Emma absolutely LOVES holding Giselle!!

And I can attest that our two lovely new parent-students ..... were more than just a LITTLE tired!

We had to come up with some ideas to keep busy while we were there, since we don't get to hold a baby ALL the time.

One day, we went to Cameron's apartment, and gave haircuts to him and two of his roommates. How about a before-and-after?

(Yes, he really needed a haircut!!!)

Here's a few other things that Emma and I did ....

Roller blading. And yes, I got up on rollerblades. And no, there are no photos of me here. I was lucky to fit my foot into the skate. (More on that in another post.)

 

There is a city park that has a carousel AND a free kids' splash pad. Score!!! We liked that a LOT!

We bought a cheap little frisbee at D.I., and played frisbee together after dinner at a pizza joint.

Emma likes helping out with food preparation -- but she really only wants to help make things that she already knows she likes. Like brownies. And meat loaf.

We went up on campus a lot and hung out and played games while Brandon and Cecilia were in classes. I think I read three of the "Work and the Glory" series while we were there.

And we took every opportunity to snuggle with this cute little bug! 

Cute little family!

Now, if I can only figure out what to be called ..... Nana, Gran, Gram, GG, ..........

but I'm thinkin' I will stick with the classic, "Grandma".

2014 Summer Blur. Not the photos, the life!

It's all just a blur, really.

If I didn't have the photos, I'd probably forget at least half of what's been going on for the last three months. Craziness -- that's what's been happening.

And, to complicate things, I had attempted to do a giant blog post that would catch up on everything. The whole summer. The works. Only problem was, it didn't work. While attempting to publish it, the whole thing locked up on me and I lost it. It was rather discouraging, and I didn't have much heart for trying to re-create it.

So, some of our summer happenings will have to go by the wayside. The takeaway lesson is, don't procrastinate. If I'd just kept up with things, it would have been a series of shorter blog posts. Oh, well. When I thought about some of our busy, busy happenings, this picture seemed appropriate:

I'm sure that's not what Darcie meant when she wrote it. That is one girl who would love to travel. And here I was thinking that my to-do list is endless!!

Well, before I start on catching-up [yet again], I want to share just a couple of photos with you from earlier this summer.  One morning, I slipped out of bed way early, grabbed Darcie, and off we went to the river's edge to grab some summer sunrise photos. It was a beautiful morning!

And it was WAY early!!

But I caught the sun and shadows of the hill....

If I could only take the peacefulness in this picture and infuse it into my heart, I'd be golden. No pun intended.

Sometimes I just feel like life is zooming by, and I'm only halfway "with it", but I'm being dragged along for the other half!!  And it's pretty easy to look at others, and think they're a whole lot more put-together than I am.  Maybe someday, right?

In the mean time, here's to playing catch-up!

Raspberry Decadence

Where have I been?

It's all just a blur, really. The past month, that is.

I know it all happened -- there's photos to prove it. 

But why get caught up on the blog, when you can just post an amazing recipe, instead?

Right? Right??

So, I found this recipe online a year ago, for Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Bars. It sounded good, I tried it out, and I'm sold on it! Definite keeper, and I'm thinking this is an annual thing now. With a long row of raspberry plants in the garden, I'm virtually guaranteed berries each summer to make this. (Best part is that it only takes a cup of berries, too!) I think we served these at Alyssa's graduation open house, among other things. I pre-cut these into bars and freeze them in airtight containers with each one nestled inside a paper muffin tin liner. Then I can easily take out as many as I need to thaw at a time. You can also freeze an entire batch, uncut, and then you have this decadent dessert ready for unexpected dinner guests.  

A friend of mine asked me for the recipe a couple of weeks ago, so Becca -- this one's for you! 

(Quantities and full instructions are at the end.)

You start by making a basic shortbread crust, but with brown sugar.

1 ½  cups all-purpose flour

½  cup plus 1 tbsp butter

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Process in a food processor until the mixture is crumbly. Or do like I did, and just use the mixer.

I think mine was a bit too crumbly.

But it still worked fine. Press the mixture into the bottom of a parchment lined or lightly greased 9x9 inch pan.  (My glass dish is 7x11") Bake at 350̊ F for 20 -25 minutes. The shortbread bottom should just be slightly golden brown at the edges. Remove from oven, and drop the oven temperature to 300̊ .

Then it's on to the compote. In a small saucepan, put

1 cup raspberries

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp water

Bring to a gentle boil and thicken with a slurry made by mixing together 1 rounded tablespoon corn starch with 2-3 tbsp water. 

So here's my Food Network tip. It's not a tip from Food Network -- it's what I imagine I would tell people, if Food Network asked me to give a cooking tip to others. I learned this one from my sweet mother-in-law.

So, corn starch is used to thicken liquids. The method is to mix cornstarch with water, then add it to boiling liquid. Here's what I want my kids to know:

1. The water needs to be COLD. (to prevent lumps)

2. My mother used to stir it in a small cup. But Todd's mom taught me to use a small canning jar. Just put the cornstarch and water in the canning jar, close it tightly with the canning lid, and SHAKE it up! It mixes fast, and really doesn't lump at all!

3. Stir the liquid you're wanting to thicken as you pour in the slurry.

4. The liquid needs to boil for at least 1 minute for the cornstarch to reach its full thickening capacity.

In this case, boil only for an additional half minute or so, stirring constantly until the mixture completely thickens. Then set it aside to cool slightly.

While that's cooling, you're going to make the vanilla cheesecake part. 

Beat together until smooth:

8 oz cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

(I use 2, because I love vanilla!)

Then beat in 1 egg for about a minute. 

(My eggs are the extra-large ones from Costco) See how creamy-dreamy that makes it? We're not done yet. Now blend in 1/3 cup whipping cream until smooth. 

Pour over the prepared crust. 

So smooth! Now, drop big gobs of the raspberry compote, kind of evenly spaced apart, onto the cheesecake batter:

Then, using the handle of a wooden spoon, swirl the raspberry compote through the cheesecake batter.

Ok, so I used a butter knife. Whatever.

Then bake for 25-30 minutes at 300 degrees f until the center sets.

The other thing I do to ensure even baking, is to place the baking pan into a larger baking pan and fill the big one half way up with boiling water. This seems to slow down the cooking process and require a  little extra baking time but the cheesecake will bake more evenly from the edges to the center. So if you use this technique (let's get technical, practice our French, and call it a "bain-marie" -- [say "ban mah-REE"]), you should pad the cooking time with an extra 10 minutes, because it will take longer.

I find it's easiest to put the pans on the oven rack, and then carefully add the boiling water to the larger dish. Make sure you don't get the water into the cheesecake itself. If you have a tea kettle, that works really well for this. I don't have one, so I dunk a heavy glass measuring cup into a big pot of boiling water. Then carefully slide the oven rack back in, and close the door.

When you're done, it should look something like this!

Cool completely before cutting into bars and serving. Store in the refrigerator or freeze until needed.

Important Experience Note: 

If you happen to be freezing other strongly-flavored foods at the same time, the dairy nature of this cheesecake will cause it to take on the flavor of the other food. EVEN IF YOU HAVE REMOVED SAID FOOD FROM THE FREEZER, the odor and taste will remain and will taint the cheesecake.

Ask me how I know.

(Becca knows, too, poor girl!!)

Note to self: put the stupid bell pepper strips in the other freezer, for pity's sake!

Ok, so as promised, here is the recipe in its entirety. Thanks to Rock Recipes as the source, -- though I may have edited it a bit for myself.

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Dessert Bars

Shortbread Bottom

1 ½  cups all-purpose flour

½  cup plus 1 tbsp butter

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

Process in a food processor until the mixture is crumbly, then press into the bottom of a parchment lined or lightly greased 9x9 inch pan. Bake at 350̊ F for 20 -25 minutes. The shortbread bottom should just be slightly golden brown at the edges. Remove from oven.

Raspberry Swirl Compote 

1 cup raspberries

1/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp water

Bring to a gentle boil and thicken with a slurry made by mixing together 1 rounded tablespoon corn starch with 2-3 tbsp water. Boil only for an additional half minute or so, stirring constantly until the mixture completely thickens. Set aside to cool slightly.

Vanilla Cheesecake Top

Beat together until smooth:

8 oz cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 to 2 tsp vanilla extract 

Beat in 1 egg for about a minute. Then blend in 1/3 cup whipping cream until smooth. Pour over the prepared crust. Drop tablespoonfuls of the raspberry compote, evenly spaced apart, onto the cheesecake batter. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, swirl the raspberry compote through the cheesecake batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 300 degrees f until the center sets.

To ensure even baking you can place the baking pan into a larger baking pan and fill half way up with boiling water. This may slow down the cooking process and require a  little extra baking time but the cheesecake will bake more evenly from the edges to the center.

Cool completely before cutting into bars and serving. Store in the refrigerator or freeze until needed.

Just don't eat them all yourself!!