May Daring Bakers Challenge: One challah good challenge!

As those who are close to me (or are just within earshot while I'm gabbing about my baking) know, I've been on a serious challah kick over the past couple of months. When I saw that the May Daring Bakers challenge was to make challah, I giggled with glee and did a rather elaborate happy dance.

The initial  reason behind my challah journey was simple: challah makes great French toast (how multi-cultural, huh?). I looked on the Internet and through my cookbooks for a good recipe, but wasn't sure which would fit the bill. So, I did what any person in my situation would do, I called my honorary auntie who is Jewish! Mrs. Simon isn't a baker herself, but offered to look through her recipes to find a good recipe for me and wound up emailing two from her synagogue's cookbook. She also regaled me with humorous stories of her husband--a wonderful, wonderful man, but also not a baker--when he attempted to make challah. (I can listen to her tell stories all day long ... the laughter is wonderful for the soul!)

I whipped up the recipe from Mrs. Simon and was very happy, but still tried a few others that I found online. Eventually, I started to mix this recipe with that recipe and throw in a few of my own ideas. Eric and I realized we like the sweeter challah recipes (more often used for holidays) and I kept that in mind as I worked on my own recipe. I also liked how some of the recipes called for the addition of honey, which added a wonderful depth of flavor that I fell in love with. After many, many, many, many loaves of challah, we officially have a winner, which I have dubbed Catholic Girl Challah.

Not only do I enjoy baking and eating challah (really, who wouldn't?), but I also find myself drawn to the braiding side of challah. I prefer the 6-strand braid (definitely not easy to get the hang of, but so pretty) and I like braiding the 4-strand round loaves. Pretty and yummy .... win, win!

Voila!

6-strand Catholic Girl Challah

Up close and personal

May’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge was pretty twisted – Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from “A Taste of Challah,” by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads.

GRRR!

This morning, Annika's BFF Allison came over for a few hours. The girls had a wonderful time playing and we got a kick our of eavesdropping on their conversations; they truly are a hoot together and have amazing imaginations!
A few days ago, Annika got it in her craw that she wanted to have her face painted and I figured it would be a good activity for the girls to do while they were together.

Eric, the artist of the family, picked up the required face paints yesterday and took up the brush today to transform the girls into orange and black tigers. After the paint was done, they had a marvelous time running around the house playing and growling with each other.

ROAR!!!!

Their version of "pretty tigers"

Having fun

True friends!

Visiting Ethan

On Sunday, Annika and I visisted her little friend Ethan at Children's Hospital. Ethan is one of the sweetest kids you'll ever have the chance to meet; he and Annika are just a few month apart in age and play really beautifully together. I truly hope this is a friendship that lasts the test of time, and I have to believe it has a good chance of doing so because we're also friends with Ethan's parents, Jim and Elaine. (Back story: When I was expecting Conor, we quickly discovered that two of our friends (Elaine and Rachel) were also pregnant and due about the same time. Our babies were born in a 6-day timeframe; we had Conor, Elaine and Jim had Grace, and Rachel and Eric had Liam.)

Ethan was born with a congenital heart defect and had surgery on October 20th to basically replumb how his heart works. We were very excited that Ethan was up for us to visit him yesterday and I think it was good for Ethan to have some fun kid time, too. The look of sheer delight on his face when we walked into his room just about brought tears to my eyes. It was beyond a look of utter joy. We brought Ethan a little get well care package that contained some invisible ink books and a sticker/activity book. He and Annika cozied up at his hospital table and had a great time coloring and making their way through his activity books.

While the kids played, I caught up with Jim and Elaine. I can't even imagine the stress and fatigue they must be experiencing. Not only do they have their 4-year-old son in the hospital for multiple weeks, but they also have a little girl at home who is 19 months old. Oh, and they have full-time jobs. God bless them and the care, compassion, fortitude, and endurance they're displaying.

After about 15-20 minutes, Ethan's pain level started hiking up, so Annika and I made a quick departure so Ethan could get medicated and feel a bit of relief. I hope we'll be able to visit again soon ... even better, it would be great if our next visit is at his home instead of in the hospita. Hoping he gets discharged soon and feeling better even sooner!




Color, color, color!

 

Silly kids!