German Russian Easter Bread aka heaven!

Sorry, no picture as there are many viruses out there attacking flicker feeds. If you google "russian easter bread" and look at the images (don't click any!) you can see what the glory looks like! Although, i would recommend a thin, light frosting unlike some of those pictures that look like they have a cup (literally) of frosting on them. yikes! A traditional decoration in our family was jelly beans, cut in half and they will stick right in the frosting. This particular recipe is from Janice Hegel.

A few notes: you can use regular water instead of potato water, you can use milk instead of cream and there was no cooking time listed in the recipe. I would say probably at least 30 min maybe? To get the domed shaped loaves, you would use metal coffee cans :) You can also add a few drops of yellow food coloring to achieve a more festive looking loaf.

Mommy, can we make a cake?

Well, of course we can! But, I'm not much in a mood to make a cake, so let's make a quick one. Boy, do I love it when Lily asks to bake. At 3 ½, she's already found her inner Betty Crocker. She even insisted we both wear our aprons. Don't worry. I've also taught her the most important part of baking. Licking the spatula ^_^

So we mixed and stirred and whisked and poured. And then we licked. Of course, we made a mess! But then, we had cake.

Reflecting on 2010

A lot happened in my little world this past year. A lot of bad and a lot of good. I think it is safe to say that we are ending on a good note. Although, we did think we were starting on a good one. In the end, here I am in eastern North Dakota with my video game junkie husband and smart and sassy little girl. We are both employed and Lily still likes to sleep in everyday. Things are pretty crazy around here at times, but then when they slow down, I feel restless and bored.

I came across a very moving blog post this weekend that really made me stop and think for a moment. You can read it here: Life in Grace. It really brings into perspective all of the good that has happened this past year. I don't think we can ever adequately thank all of the wonderful people who helped us when the going got incredibly rough. So, once again, thank you to everyone for your support and understanding! We may never see any money from the man who ripped us off, but we at least have the state of North Dakota attempting to make him pay. I would like to be able to say that I do not hate that jerk, but it may be awhile still.