Holidays, Family Illness, Vacation – But I’m back!

When your 23 year old son tells you it’s time to write a post I guess it’s been too long.  December 22.  Yup! That was my last post.

I got influenza Christmas Day and the rest of my family followed me one after another. We left on a trip on New Year’s Day just as the last one was recovering.

I thought I would catch up on posting during the trip since I had my new Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro along and I really hadn’t had much opportunity to use it since I received it for my birthday.  Little did I know it would totally die just days into our trip.

What to do, what to do? I decided to just sit back and enjoy my family.

Our vacation plan was to drive south from Minnesota until it was warm enough to bike. Another surprise! There was a cold front across the entire US that week. It even snowed in Texas. We ended up in New Orleans since none of us had ever been there before.

Our guys managed to bike 250 miles even though some mornings they had to wait for the temperature to be above freezing. Yes, they are addicted to biking!

The girls and I were delighted that the coffee shop we had wanted to check out in the French Quarter had a little version just a mile from our motel by Lake Pontchartrain so Café du Monde became our hang out. Our standard order was Lattes and Beignet’s (amazing French donuts served warm and covered in powdered sugar).

My memories of this trip could be put into four words – porches, pillars, bridges, and Beignet’s.

We discovered that people in Louisiana have mastered porches and pillars. Every house has them from the tiniest home to the biggest there is a porch and several pillars.

I don’t like bridges. I can’t swim. But my husband always says the same thing he says to me when we have to fly over water – you’ll be dead before you hit the water.  Another surprise – you can’t get anywhere in New Orleans without going over a bridge, especially if you are by Lake Pontchartrain and you want to go to New Orleans. Then you get to drive over the 25 mile causeway across the Lake – and you get to pay for the privilege of being terrified since it’s a toll bridge.

We went to the French Quarter twice – during the day – we enjoyed the street musicians, the market, and had an amazing lunch at a sea food place – the name is forever lost on my dead laptop (they had to replace the motherboard)– but left before evening both days.

Home now, everyone is back to work and/or school and life goes on.

The girls and I got into National Pie Day last week and made several amazing pies. We had to look for recipes, right? And we found an old standby and a new chocolate one we just had to try.

Strawberry Pie

1/12 cup sugar
1/12 cup water
1/4 cup corn starch
mix well. cook on medium heat to a rolling boil,
stirring constantly. take off heat when thick and add 1 small pkg. strawberry jello
2 drops and red food coloring

Stir until jello is dissolved and cool in a pan of cold water.
Put whole hulled strawberries in a baked pie shell and pour this glaze over berries.
Chill several hours. Serve will whipped cream.

And my new favorite:

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Oreo Pie

1 package (about 36) whole oreos
1 cup (16 tablespoons) butter, divided
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
1 12 bag 1 (12 oz) dark chocolate chips
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1. Finely crush the Oreos with a food processor or blender. Stir crumbs together with 8 tablespoons melted butter until well combined. Press into the bottom and sides of a pie pan. Freeze crust for 10 minutes until set.
2. Combine remaining 8 tablespoons butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture begins to bubble. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Slowly whisk in 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream until smooth. Cool caramel about 15 minutes. Pour the caramel over the Oreo crust, then return to freezer for about 30-45 minutes until just chilled and set. (You don’t want the caramel to fully freeze.)
3. Place chocolate chips in a glass bowl. In a saucepan, bring 1 cup heavy whipping cream to a simmer over medium-high heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate chips and let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk until completely smooth. Pour the chocolate over the caramel and freeze for a final 30 minutes, until just chilled and set. OR refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve. Before serving, sprinkle the top with a flaky sea salt like kosher salt or Fleur De Sel.
Store covered in the refrigerator and serve chilled. Makes 8-12 servings.

I got this from Paradise Praises National Pie Day article.  There are lots of options to check out there.

This one is so good we’re having it again on Friday for Dan’s birthday.

It’s good to be back! I love travel, but I’m always so thankful to be back home.

O LORD, thou [art] my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful [things; thy] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth. Isa 25:1 KJV

Finding Joy in the Journey,
Phyllis

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