After church we headed down to the Seattle area to my brother's house. And I forgot my camera. You'll just have to believe me that it was a gloriously beautiful day. In fact, the temperature got all the way up into the 70's and we had to use the air-conditioner. (I'll wait until some of you at the lower latitudes stop laughing.) We ate out on the deck and the kids brought scooters and skateboards and played in the street. (It's a cul-de-sac, don't worry.)
All the moms were suitably honored.
And just in case you wondered? I won the Mommy-Lottery, because I have the best mom of all. Kind of funny how the longer I'm a mom, the more I appreciate her and hope to live up to her example. :D
According to my boys I apparently secured a nearly unanimous vote for Mother-of-the-Year and would have swept the field, but Podger (the male rabbit) voted for Polly (the female rabbit) - the lone dissenting vote. (The details on the polling process remain unclear.) Therefore I have been bestowed with the title of Queen Dictator for the Day and they will cheerfully do my bidding. Unless that includes wiping the crumbs off the kitchen counter. *sigh*
By the time we headed home my ears were ringing (my family does talk a lot) and a nap sounded good. Do you sleep in the car? (Well I wasn't driving. Good grief.) We've burned up and down this stretch of highway so many times that a little snooze just makes the time go faster ;D
Then when we got home, to top off a lovely day, Gunnar looked me in the eye and asked, "Are you thirsty, Mom?" Well, sure, I guess I am. I was thinking of a tall ice water, but that sweet boy went downstairs and made me... a mug of scalding hot cocoa. Child, I am in a tank top for the first time this year. I've been sitting in the sun and actually sweating. But you are bringing me a cup of love and I will drink it.
And that was Mother's Day with my family.
And in case you wondered, yes, I remembered the cookies this morning (three cheers for my short-term memory). And since my friend Q asked, here's the recipe:
Lemon Meringues
Turn your oven on to 350F, to heat while you mix the cookies. (That's about 176, for you Celsius folks.) You'll need:
2 egg whites - whipped until frothy
1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tartar - beat until stiff peaks form
3/4 Cup of sugar* - beat until glossy
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel OR 1 tablespoon lemon juice - fold in
Hint: you'll definitely want an electric mixer. It's a LOT of beating.
Covering your baking trays with foil makes it a lot easier to peel the finished cookies off, since you DON'T grease the pans. These cookies have next-to-no fat (I guess there's a tiny bit in the egg whites).
You'll want to make these cookies SMALL for a couple of reasons. Of course, you want them to cook all the way through, but also they are really (really!) crumbly and it's much nicer to just pop a little one into your mouth whole rather than trying to bite them. They have an unusual texture. (My kids call them styrofoam cookies, but that's not quite right!) They're very light and have lots of air bubbles baked into them.
If you're fancy, feel free to pipe the mixture into pretty little shapes. Or you can do what I do - spoon little piles onto your cookie sheet. They won't spread very much when they're baking.
I can fit this recipe onto one cookie tray, but we often double it. Especially at Christmas, when we substitute mint extract for the lemon, and add chocolate chips... not so fat-free, but oh-so-yummy :D
To bake: Slide the tray into a 350F oven and shut the door. Wait until the oven gets back up to temp, and then turn it off and leave the cookies all night. I suppose you could make them during the day and just figure that by the time the oven got completely cool (how long?) the cookies are done baking, but I find it easier just to make them in the evening. They only take a few minutes to whip together.
My non-fancy version looks like this:
*Some people use super-fine sugar (not powdered sugar). The last time I made these I used a Cuisinart to grind my regular sugar into super-fine. Well. That was a fun little adventure, but I couldn't really tell any difference in the finished product.
So Happy Mothers Day to all my mom-friends. May your children rise up and call you blessed.
3 comments:
Yum - thanks for sharing the recipe. So glad you enjoyed your Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day Back... (and a wee bit late on my end.)
I love making meringues, but would have thought they would be impossible in your humid climate to make, perhaps that is why the "oven all night method" works. I'll have to give it a try... When I make them, even if there is a threat of rain mine turn out a wee bit gooey in the middle... So yummy but oh so temperamental!
Yes! I bet you're right! That's why the all-night method works better. And even so, they're sometimes a little gooey... another good reason to make them small :D And on a very dry day ;D
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