For the love of baking

Do you see this sweet lady???? It is all her 'fault'. It is because of her that I love to bake so much and appreciate the joy of crafting something delicious for others enjoyment. This sweet lady is my Grandma, and when I say sweet, I mean salt of the earth, the most caring, loving, giving person who God could have given me for a grandmother. She bakes up the most wonderful things out of nothing, things that were lowered in wells or tucked away under pillows to rise just to turn into delicious pastries that are famous in her village. She is in her 76th year and it is nothing for her to get up at 3 am to turn 15 pounds of flour into warm buttery biscuits and rolls to please any cultural event in her village - in fact there are no public gatherings without her goodies. She refuses to use time saving or electric devices, still kneads her bread and whips her cream and meringue by hand. The joy and happiness that her baked goods bring out of people is her biggest complement - you wanna win my grandma's heart 'dig in and enjoy' (it worked for Jeff). She shares all her receipts and hears it a lot that "I tried it, but mine was just not like yours' - and this is how she ends up doing the holiday baking for half of her village friends.

My grandma was the one who planted the seed and nurtured my love for baking. She let me crack - and ruin - dozens of eggs before I learned to separate the white and the yoke, she let me stir the batter both ways - despite superstition that it would flatten your cakes, taught me to braid and fold and twist and to put all your love into what you are making (and always 'draw' a cross over anything that you put in the oven - I bet you all wonder now how come your baking sometimes doesn't come out right?!). She has always been and she will always be my inspiration, my go to person when it comes to new or really old receipts and I hope I can preserve and master making some of her delicious goodies.

I think I have came a long way. I know that, as sometimes I can't pass along my receipts, because I can't remember how much of what I put in it. But it has not always been like that. I mean yes, I was always lousy at following receipts, the 'I know better' attitude often ended up with something bad. But I was not always a good baker. There were times when I got the bread baking fever and baked away 25 pounds of flour just to be disappointed over and over. They were not failures, just small steps. Those were the times when the ducks would run away when they spotted me on the trail - in memory of my previous loaves that they could hardly swallow even if they were choking it down with water. Or the days when you could have a loaf of my 'wonderful' bread for a doorstop any day of the week. Yup, those days, they were fun, especially when I found out that the pound of yeast that I wanted to use up was not SO active any more - hence the bricks that kept coming out my oven.

But now things are as easy as pie, as whipping up a great loaf of bread or making birthdays cakes in shape of insects or flowers or cars or you name it. I love baking and I love sharing my baked goods. This is why I am so thankful for my family and friends who love to eat so I can stay in the kitchen. And I am so thankful for my wonderful grandma who helped me find this joy in my life and who inspires me every day.

This was fun ... held together by 'nails'.

One of my grandma's famous pastries - plum jelly filled with toasted nuts on top.

Oh, and the .... no comment.

Our Christmas Story

It is almost the middle of January and I am just getting around to record our Christmas memories ... I guess better later then never. Looking at this picture I realized ... again ... how fast our children are growing and that I really don't have any day or hour to waste. I need to spend as much time as I can with them, enjoy their company, their humor, and innocence.

Christmas was fun and relaxing, we had lots of family time together and found countless excuses to just do nothing but watch movies and eat popcorn. Christmas was so anticipated this year ... mostly because I totally confused the children with all the things that I used to do growing up and wished to share with them. In the same time we started new traditions too, like making our gingerbread house from scratch and ending up using real carpenter tricks to keep it together. We laughed so hard as I struggled to build it ... must be a repeat next year.

We got our tree only a week before Christmas - we always do it this way, so the whole concept of the Holidays stays special. Our tree reminded me to Hungary, with the cool little ornaments that my Mom used to make out of pine cones and cinnamon sticks. Lutza and I spent a lot of time making felt stars and hearts which we gave away as presents to friends .... and none actually made it to be hang on our tree. It also took us a week to complete the popcorn string ... on all those cold evenings the popcorn was just eaten faster than I could string. BUT when it was finally done, it served the children well on nights when they didn't eat their dinners and got hungry before bedtime ... imagine a competition of who can bite the kernels off faster without using hands.

Christmas was special because the children made it special. Lutza and Vidor exactly knew what to expect ... so we mixed it up a little bit.

Santa comes to Hungary on December 6 ... due to some weather delays he only arrived to us on the 7th (in reality I totally spaced out). He requires children to clean their boots and put them in the window ... of course he only comes to good children so listening, obeying and well behaviors were A+'s on that day. Wish we could do this well every day .... work in progress I guess.

On this picture is the drawing Lutza made for Santa ... I took a picture of it in the evening ... good thing because Santa liked it so much he took it with him.

The Hungarian Santa is a humble Santa, in my childhood he used to bring only oranges and nuts, maybe something a little sweet. So keeping the traditions, the children got only a few little things.

Christmas is about Baby Jesus ... he was a gift to us and we celebrate his birth by getting gifts from him. In Hungary, Jesus brings the Christmas tree and the presents. Sorry Santa, but by this time you are already back in Finland, resting up for next year.

But, we had to bring in the American traditions as well ... So Santa (this time the one from the North Pole) came and left presents in our stockings for Christmas morning .... AGAIN (talking about confusion). Among all the toys, cars and dolls, the packages of underwear were a huge hit for all three of the children - favorite characters ... "Can I put one on right now?" So we had to do laundry too on Christmas morning so our darling little children could wear their new undies.

Oh, life is good ... small pleasures and memories make it so special. I can't even express how grateful I am to have such a wonderful family!

Vidor and the Beanstalk

We had lima beans in our soup last night, so daddy told Vidor a story. This is Vidor's first time retelling it.

Goo is two!

Little less than three years ago we were living in a small house with two babies, I just applied to a Teaching Certification program and we were planning our future .... but God had different plans and little did we know, but his plans changed our lives like we would have never imagined. Our dear baby, Bendeguz was on the way and he quickly reorganized everything. We are so grateful to have him and he reminds me every day that "In his heart man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

Our little boy is the wild card in the bunch, the sweetest-cutest little man who goes by many names: Guzman, Guzer, Guzie, Goo-Goo, Gu. And as many the names are, even more are the adventures with him around.

He is the little boy who sings "Happy Birthday to Me" - origin unknown. I have no idea how he found this grammatical tweak to the song, but he used it generously during his birthday week.

He is the little boy who loves to sit on people's faces - so they can't even take a breath - who climbs tables and chairs and performs acrobatic trick just like his brother and sister. On this picture he proudly wears his pirate mustache that he got after climbing the office table and him and dad found an eye-liner.

He is the boy who goes along with every game, but who is very picky and particular about his clothes. Out of three costume options, at Halloween he would only wear the elephant with joy. Just like L&V, he also refuses to wear certain shoes, pants or coats if it does not suit his fancy - making me throw my arms up in dismay "but he is not even two". He also enjoys putting sister's clothes on (hopefully he will not get upset at me in about 12 years that I spilled the beans).

Did I say yet that he is 'all boy' ... he is right in Daddy's footsteps. Dirt, grime, sand don't bother him. As one of our relatives would say 'go big or go home' - this could easily be Guzer's motto.
He only has two speeds: fast and faster - regardless of being on wheels or foot.

He is the little boy who had this smile since he knew how to smile. He is a master of copying faces. As a chain reaction, particular faces sweep through the family - starting from sis to brother to him. If he does not get his way, he folds his arms, crinkles his nose and says "I am angry" in such a way that I can't stand not to smile.

He loves Avocados "Cado" as he calls it. He is known for eating two in a sitting, along with anything that is made out of meat. He could also win any eating competition against his brother and sister. One day he will have a plank on a restaurant wall for his accomplishments.

We celebrated his birthday with turkeys in a blanket and chili - a few of his favorites - and a sad fire engine cake that was not the height of my cake decorating career (the only time I used store bought frosting due to Guzies allergies, and it slowly started to flow down .... bad news big time). The presence of special friends and lots of balloons however made the day.

We love you little Guzie so much, thank you for teaching us new things every day!

Dear God, thank you for the snow

My little Lutza turned to me while looking out the window watching the snow fall "Mommy, thank you so much for making the decision that we will have snow". I thought it was so sweet ... that in her eyes I can make huge things like snowfall happen. So I told her "oh, no, Mommy did not do that, you should thank God for sending us snow". "Ohhh" she said, "I can do that".

She folded her little hands, put her elbows on the window sill and said a 'grateful-prayer' that just blew my mind away. It went something like this:



"Dear God! Thank you so much for the snow, thank you that it is really coming down now and sticks too. Thank you for the trees and the grass and the backyard! Thank you for our warm house and our clothes. Thank you for my friends and for my stinky brothers (she quoted this from one of her favorite books). Oh, and thank you so much for our soldiers, our good soldiers who fight the bad soldiers to protect us. And thank you for bubble gum!"



Needless to say, I could not listen to her without tears in my eyes.



"Dear God! Thank you for my little Angel who is sleeping away in her bed now so she can play in the snow in the afternoon."

Things that I learned this Halloween ...

Children in costumes remain miraculously still.

Putting the seeds back into the pumpkin is more fun than taking them out.

Eating oranges while carving pumpkins is not a good idea.

It is hard to put frosting on cupcakes without using your tongue.

Princesses don't wear cardigans ... and most certainly don't wear leggings under their dresses.

Friendly neighbors transform ... a lot ... but they are still friendly.

Chubby elephants tip over and they stay that way.

ALSO

Draw whiskers on your pirate boy so he does not notice what you are doing (otherwise he will FREAK out from the sight even though he is super handsome).

Don't underestimate a child's imagination when it comes to monsters - Monsters are everywhere.

Lay off the "What do you say?" after each received candy.

One lollipop can keep a child from wanting to open every single piece of candy.

But three lollipops will give a child the worst tummy ache and never seen tantrum effects.

And finally please, please, please know when to turn around when Trick or Treating.

P.S. Let me know if you need any candy.

Hellooo Fall!

I am so happy that fall is here ... well, I have been happy about it for about a month but did not have a chance to share how much I was looking forward to crisp mornings and the smell of pumpkin pie. Summer was fun and even though I never wanted it to end, it was great to get back to school and to our old routine. It may sound strange, but when I have more things to do and a lot on my plate I can get so much done (and get them done right) ... unlike on long summer days when I have all the time it the world and lazy to do a thing.

We have all started school and the three children are attending their Toddler/Pre-school classes while I teach. With a rough start - read it as Bendeguz screaming for three hours day after day - we slowly settled into our routine and finally going to school does not make my little babies shake their heads in dismay 'no-no-no-school' when I turn into the parking lot.

The small pleasures of fall and the turning of the season surprise us every day. All the new things like getting out the coats and boots, drinking hot chocolate or harvesting our goodies from the garden are loads of fun for these three babies. I am so grateful to have them so I can look at the world through their eyes and truly find joy in the smallest things.

So these are the things we have done in the last month:

Harvested apples from our small tree.

Enjoyed the last rays of warm sunshine with special friends.


Climbed the Great Harvest Bear even though we were not supposed to.

Were brave enough to go down on the big slide ... but only once.

Found cool pumpkins to sit on.

Went SUPER high on the swing.

Drove with the biggest smile.

... and like Lightening McQueen.

Said 'Cheese' in a rather cheesy way.

Tried to find the way out of the maze.

Ran like crazy for the first 5 minutes until it sank in that we actually have to find the way out ... and it is not that easy. "Are we going to spend the night here?" was Lutza's first worry.

Rode the cow train.

And found one that was just perfect for our Guzie - the Lucy Goosey.

Motorcycled on the beach.

Looked pretty.

Shared the fun.

And were proud and grateful to have such wonderful brothers and sister.

Welcome Fall!!