because I miss Hungary...

.. I made a marzipan torte (or marzipan cake with raspberry sauce). If you have picked yourself up off the floor at the thought that my baking was a SUCCESS, compose yourself and try your hand at the recipe.

3 TBSP all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder (NOT BAKE SODA, have made that mistake many times)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
8 oz almond milk pulp from this recipe (or almond paste in a can). Try it my way and you get yummy almond milk for the kiddos, while the "pulp" is used in the cake.
2 eggs seperated
2 TBSP orange juice

Mix first 3 dry ingredients in a small bowl and put aside. With electric mix, Beat butter until creamy, add sugar and almond pulp or paste, continue to beat on low until well blended. Add dry ingredients, beat some more. Put in 2 egg YOLKS (put the egg whites aside), beat some more, put in final ingredient OJ, beat some more.

In a seperate bowl, beat on HIGH the egg whites until firm peaks form (took me 5 min!!). Gently fold in the egg whites with the rest of the cake mix. Pour into a wax paper lined or springy pan, this is a fluffy cake and does not do well with the flip and cool method once its done (TRUST ME). I drizzled some melted choc on top and put raspberry sauce on the side. The raspberry sauce is a bit of frozen fruit beat with mixer, some OJ and sugar. Oh yea, and bake the cake for 45 minutes at 300 degrees. Jó étvágyat! (or bon appetit in Hungarian).

I'm starting to think the new, taller fence we are installing out back, is more for the containment of my children... than for the new dog.

Joy Joy turns 2!!

Our precious "baby" daughter Amelia Joy turned 2 this weekend. It seems like just yesterday I was staring at an ultrasound photo, wondering what on earth I was going to do with 3 girls. How would this little girl be different? Would she be her own unique little person, would I get to spend one on one time with her EVER?? Or would she blend into the mix, forever to live a life of wearing someone else's hand-me-downs and called by her middle name. Well, life with Joy certainly does make things interesting, and she is NOTHING like her other sisters. Sure, they have their moments of similarity, being ALL GIRLS AND ALL! But for the most part, she is already making her mark on the world in her own "unique way". She has a big voice, big hair, big laughs and a big heart. She is fearless, jumping into anything with water, pool, ocean, bath, etc, and already has two chipped front teeth to prove it. I don't remember what life was like before her, and I can't imagine our family without her. As a mommy, your heart immediately grows to love another child, I don't know how it happens, it just does. Now the patience it takes to raise children... well the growth potential for that is slightly slower. At age 2, she likes to suck her thumb, crawl into Emma's toddler bed, LOVES SHOES, runs around the house yelling "hey guys!", and is learning to use the potty, with a pretty advanced vocabulary. Here are some pics from her 2 yr old beach adventure!