Fun Saturday

We need to say a huge thank you to everybody who has offered prayers, sympathy, and support for us over the past week as we have gone through one of the biggest trials of our lives with a failed adoption.  We know that the healing process will take a while, but we didn't want to keep the blog private any longer than necessary.  And thanks for putting up with my drama while I took the blog private so I could tell the whole story once for friends and family rather than having to relive it over and over in the retelling on a case-by-case basis.  For now, I have unpublished the post where I described the details surrounding he failed placement but plan to republish a shortened version in the future.

For now though, I thought I would talk about our fun Saturday.  We spent the morning at the farmer's market where we tasted peaches, strawberries, blueberries, plums, pluots, nectarines, tomatoes, walnuts, apricots, salmon, spinach bolani, gluten-free brownies, snow-cones, kettle-corn, naan with cilantro mint chutney, cheese curds, and more.  Clara was in heaven with all the fruit.  We bought our Sunday dinner - fresh fettucine, heirloom tomatoes, onions, and smoked peppercorn salmon with the most amazing fresh peaches for dessert.  I can't decide whether I should make a peach cobbler or whether we should just eat them plain, they are that sweet and delicious.

While Clara took a nap, Paul went to the bike store and picked up his new blue beach cruiser and a helmet for Clara that he picked out himself.  We had a fun time riding around the neighborhood once Clara woke up, although she still doesn't seem to know what to think yet about this mode of transportation. 
 

Clara was NOT very happy about the helmet at first.  Her naps were really short today and she kept waking up grumpy.  Paul dressed her this morning, and he made me smile when he came out and told me that she was wearing purple so that they could match.  I just love him.

I do not like this helmet, Dad!!  It is messing up my pigtails!

Once we got going she did lots better though.  She especially liked when I would ride by and make faces at her.  Paul's new wheels are pretty sweet, right?

Another fun thing we did today was to make homemade chocolate ice cream with a recipe that our friend texted us from the Ben & Jerry's ice cream book.  Apparently this is the chocolate base in many of the Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors.  It did not disappoint.  It was super chocolatey and very rich and we will DEFINITELY be making this again (probably with dark chocolate pieces and marshmallow and carmel swirls, a la Phish Food, which is Paul's favorite ice cream).  I loved it with the fresh raspberries we picked up at the farmer's market.

Want the recipe?  Here you go:

Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Ice Cream

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups milk
2 large eggs
1 cup heavy sugar
1 cup heavy or whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla

Melt the unsweetened chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water.  Gradually whisk in the cocoa and heat, stirring constantly, until smooth.  (The chocolate may "seize" or clump together, which is totally what happened to us and was kind of frightening, but it dissolved once the milk was added and we whisked it for a while.)  Whisk in the milk, a little at a time, and heat until completely blended.  Remove from the heat and let cool.

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and vanilla and whisk to blend. 

Pour the chocolate mixture into the cream mixture and blend. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 1 to 3 hours. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.

Clara approves.  Look at the chocolate on that little face. 

And to end the night, Paul and I watched and rewatched this little video that Paul took a few weeks back of Clara showing up some crazy dance moves when she was way tired and couldn't keep her balance.  It had us cracking up and trying to keep from laughing too loudly so as not to wake her tonight since she had already gone to bed.

It was such a wonderful Saturday spent reconnecting as our little family of three.