Easy Week Night Dinner

Here in the Northeast, school still isn't out. Yes, I know we are edging into late June but we're still packing lunches each morning and doing homework at night. And because of all the snow we got this Winter, we have had 4 days tacked on to the end of our school year so the kids are not out until Friday June 25th! If you are a parent, you know the end of the year is busy, busy, busy so it helps to have some easy week night dinners the whole family can enjoy.

One of our favorites is a grilled Panini brimming with all sorts of goodies. Layered with taleggio cheese, prosciutto, spinach, peaches, and drizzled with honey, the salty sweet flavor of this very sophisticated grilled cheese is heavenly. Brush the cibatta bread with extra virgin olive oil and grill in your panini press until the cheese is melted, the spinach is wilted and the bread is browned. 

Now that summer is approaching, this pressed sandwich could be tweeked to include the season's freshest produce. I'd love to hear what you do with your summer paninis!

Today's program is brought to you by the letter C.

I've got the letter C on my mind lately because C is the first letter of the name we've chosen for our newest daughter. I also have cupcakes on my mind. Why, I do not know. But considering I had the opportunity to bring a dessert to a group dinner last night, I figured I'd make a go of a cupcake that has been dancing around in my head.

Coconut Cardamom Cupcakes 

(lots of C's up there, no?)

The cupcake itself is a vanilla coconut cake batter and the frosting is a standard cream cheese (more C's) frosting infused with cardamom.

But I decided to fill the cupcakes with a little surprise in the center.

The filling is a Saffron Cream. A sweet pastry cream with a twist.

The cupcake batter baked up really well and I cut holes in the centers in which to pipe in the saffron cream. 

After I topped the cupcakes with the cardamom cream cheese frosting I sprinkled some toasted coconut on top to add some color.

They were delicious!

Vanilla Coconut Cupcakes with a Saffron Cream filling and a Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake

1. 2 1/4 cups cake flour
2. 1 tablespoon baking powder
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
5. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6. 1 teaspoon coconut extract
7. 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
8. 1 cup granulated sugar
9. 4 large eggs, separated

Saffron Cream

1. 1 cup milk
2. 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
3. Large pinch of saffron threads, crumbled
4. 1/4 cup granulated sugar
5. 1/4 cup cornstarch
6. Pinch of salt
7. 4 large egg yolks
8. 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Frosting

1. 3/4 pound cream cheese, softened
2. 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
3. 3 cups confectioners' sugar 
4. 3/4 tsp ground decorticated cardamom 
5. 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut or unsweetened coconut flakes

 Directions

1. 1. MAKE THE CAKE: Preheat the oven to 250°. Line your cupcake tin with papers. In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour with the baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the coconut milk with the vanilla and coconut extracts.
   2. In a bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter with 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well between additions. With the machine at low speed, add the dry ingredients in 4 batches, alternating with the coconut-milk mixture.
   3. In a large bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. With the machine on, gradually beat in the remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar until the egg whites are thick and glossy. Scrape the beaten whites into the cake batter and fold until just combined.
   4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Transfer the cakes to a rack and let cool to room temperature.
   5. MEANWHILE, MAKE THE SAFFRON CREAM: In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, coconut milk and saffron and bring to a simmer over moderate heat. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in the egg yolks until smooth. Gradually whisk in half of the hot saffron milk. Scrape the mixture into the saucepan and cook over moderate heat, whisking, until the saffron cream is thickened and just comes to a simmer, 4 minutes. Transfer the cream to a heatproof bowl and stir in the butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the cream and refrigerate.
   6. MAKE THE FROSTING: In a medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the cream cheese with the butter until smooth. Add the confectioners' sugar and cardamom and beat well. Fill a pastry bag with a decorating tip of your choice and tefrigerate until chilled but still pipeable, about 10 minutes.
   7. Using a corer or a small serrated knife, cut holes into the cupcakes but do not go all the way through. Discard most of filling from hole but keep the top. Using a piping bag and a large tip, fill cupcakes with saffron cream. Place top of cake piece over hole to hide filling. 
   8. Pipe frosting onto cupcake. Less is more with this b/c of the cardamom flavor in the frosting. No need to go over board with the frosting.
      

   Make Ahead The unfrosted cake can be wrapped in plastic and kept at room temperature overnight, or frozen for up to 1 week. The frosted cake can be refrigerated, covered, overnight. Serve at room temperature or lightly chilled.
   *Recipe adapted from Tyler Brown and Food & Wine.  

Pre-Placement

Last night, just as I was about to leave for my quilting class, I got an email from CCAI telling me that in a few hours my pre-placement packet would be ready for downloading from their website!!! Whooopieeee!!  Just the word placement directed at me is a thrill.

When I got home from the class, I downloaded the pdf and read through all the material. It was basically a thorough outline of all the steps we will go through between referral and travel.

And in other good news, the quilt is nearly done. I am piecing together all the rows and then next Thursday at class we will sew the rows together to finish the top of the quilt. I'll post a picture in the quilt section of the blog asap!

Projections are out and they look GOOD!

Each month, a few days after referrals are mailed, RQ does a post about when we might see the next batch of matches and then makes some projections based on history of how big or small the batch may be. She's often right but in last month's case she was wildly wrong in a good way. But even so, those of us 5 years in, hang onto any piece of information regardless of how speculative it might be. In just a few cases the CCAA has not even gotten to her worst case scenario so that is always a possibility. That was what happened in April.

Her projections came out today and here is her little box:

So what does all this mean? As China started doing fewer and fewer matches each month, RQ kept having to downsize the typical batch size. So Spring of 2008 we thought they were doing really small batches only to learn a few years later the batches would get even smaller. So Spring2008Small is a bigger estimated size than Spr 2010, and Wntr 2011. It seems that in nearly any scenario, we are next. And just typing that made my heart race so fast I got lightheaded.

But if China does the same size batch they did this time around at the end of June, they will get to about July 22nd. When I tell you that, if that happens, you will hear screaming from CO to the East Coast and everywhere in between. As I mentioned in my last post, I have been waiting all these years with some wonderful people whom I've grown very attached to and the thought of some of us not traveling together breaks my heart. So if all you readers out there could cross your fingers and say a little wish for us, wish that the CCAA gets to 7/22/06 next time.

A huge collective wish just might make it happen.

There is so much to say and while I find moments where the words come, in truth, my emotions are overwhelming my ability to get them on paper!

So let's start with the facts. Last summer and fall the CCAA (the organization in China responsible for matching babies with families, which has also recently been renamed but let's face it, after 5 years I'm really not going to start calling them anything different) seemed to start picking up the pace with referrals. Then the late fall/winter hit and they started skipping months and massively reduced the number of families matched each time. So yes, wicked depressing.

As of last September I thought my referral would be here in February. Then there was a bit of a slowdown and I thought maybe it would be May or June. Then I did this analysis in late March hoping to see us get through 6/22 in the next batch. But in a massively disappointing day in late April, the CCAA only matched families up to 6/20 which was the smallest group I'd seen yet. And let's not forget how long I've been at this referral watching/analyzing business. So I was sad.  Very very sad. I thought, okay, another push back. Looking at the numbers, I knew the CCAA would only do 6/21 and 6/22 in May's batch of referrals. I tried to wrap my head around the thought of an August or September referral for us, but that was not easy.
 
Last Wednesday, on May 25th I was happy to send birthday wishes to a very good friend, play with my children after school, and go to a book club meeting in the evening with my friends. But underneath it all, I was trying to ignore the wee small rumor that the CCAA was going to match families through 6/30 this month. nah. that just can't happen. 6/22 is such a huge day that there is no way they are going to get past that LID day. Some obscure person in Europe reported this rumor and then there was nothing. So I went to my book club and said nothing. Not even to the other mom there who in 2007 brought home her daughter from China. I was guarding my heart like a fierce beast. I would not be let down again.

Thursday, mid-morning, someone else posted that their European agency was talking about the 30th too. By Friday we had people in Canada and Europe with a 6/30 LID saying their agencies had called and they were in. THEY. WERE. IN.

So I hopped on that rollercoaster knowing full well I would enjoy the ride for a while but it could end with my head in a barf bag. I checked RQ madly each hour and reports slowly grew that the rumors were not rumors, but in fact truth.

I decided I wouldn't believe it until I saw someone with a 6/30 LID say they had a referral in their hand. But then reports came today that the CCCWA, which is the new name for the CCAA, changed their document processing box.
 

 
So are you asking yourself what does this all mean for our family? Well our LID is 7/6/06 so now that the CCAA is finished matching families with June LID's from 2006, they must start with the July families. And since we are early July, we could be next!!!

did I just say that? Could the words I might be next actually come out of my mouth and onto this blog? After so many years this is not only exciting but incredibly surreal!

Gratitude

I am not sure I have ever had a moment in my life where I have had so much to be grateful for than I do right now. Today was my last day at 5 Corners Kitchen and it was with an incredible amount of sadness that I left this afternoon. I've been trying for the past month to put into words what that place means to me but I just can't seem to find them. It was a life long dream of mine to work in a professional kitchen and I can say now that not only have I done it, but I loved it. Working at 5CK quite literally fed my soul in so many ways. The things I learned about not only food, but myself and life itself, will last me a lifetime.

The people I got to know and spend time with are gold. They became what I looked forward to most about going to work. We joked, we told stories, we made fun of each other, we helped each other out, we laughed and then today I cried. So why with all this goodness I have I left? Well, because I am lucky enough to have two beautiful children and an amazing husband who have had to suffer some pretty serious mommy and wifely neglect these past 10 months while I pursued my dream. And while we absolutely could have found a way for me to continue at the restaurant and streamline things here at home, we are also expecting another baby some time soon by way of China. Referrals keep plugging away slowly each month and the CCAA is up to 6/20/06 and we are 7/6/06 so we're getting pretty damn close.

As I close the 5CK chapter of my life, I find myself longing to wander back to the restaurant but I also want to be home preparing for our new daughter. It is a tough one. But how lucky am I to have so much wonderful in my life? So while I am sad at this moment about something that feels like a loss, I know for certain, I have lost nothing.

I really do feel like the lucky one. So here's to you, universe, thank you for all the crazy good shit you've brought my way recently. I truly am grateful!

I Heart Faces: Pets

I have not entered the weekly I Heart Faces contests in a while since I've been busy doing other photography projects. How could I not enter a shot of our newest member of the family.  Parker joined us the week before Christmas this year and here is a picture of Buddy holding him the day he came home. We adore this little chocolate labradoodle. He truly is the best dog ever!

March Referrals thru June 15th

Hi everyone,

Woke to snow covered ground and it is still coming down heavily. Wish that were an April Fools joke. But it's not. Even the kids are sick of it. Sweetpea is walking around grumbling in her sleepy voice, "when will it stop? when will it stop?".

In good news this morning, the cut off according to 2 european agencies is the 15th. Some expect referrals to land today.

 The following information is based on information gathered at Rumor Queen:

According to the new poll on RQ, the number of RQ families getting referrals in this batch is 56. So at least that seems like a slight improvement. But if you want to compare apples to apples, the number of RQ families getting referrals according to the OLD poll is 42 so that would indicate there is no improvement.

Moving forward, here is how batches in the mid-50's looks like with new poll stats - (and remember the number of RQ families receiving referrals is just a slice of the population. Those of us obsessively crunching numbers use her numbers as an accurate picture of how big or small any given set of referrals is and then we use her numbers to project future months.)

Late April: thru the 21st gives us 39 families referred but the 22nd has 24 people which would bring the number to 63. So I'd say the NEXT batch of referrals will actually make more of a statement.

So we'll have two scenarios for the following months. The first number will represent what may happen if April's batch is bad and the second number will represent what could happen if april's number is good.
Late May:  6/27 or 6/29
Late June:   7/4 or 7/6
Late July:  7/14 or 7/22
Late August: 7/31 or 8/3

So it seems that when 6/22 is included is our biggest tell in this crazy game of poker.