Baby Joseph Brendan is here !!

Congratulations to Olivia & Sean!  I have a new cousin - a BOY cuz!! It's very exciting. 7lbs 11oz.  I'm looking forward to meeting him on my next trip to NY.  Welcome to the world baby Joseph Brendan.  I hope he likes his blanket & the amigurumi snake I made him.  I think they both came out great.    
I went all over looking for safety eyes which snap together - great for toys.  I ended up finding them at Joann Fabric - go figure.  I hope she gets lots of use out of the blanket.  I used Bernat Baby Clouds - machine wash & dry - gotta love it.  I made Lex & Lila blankets with the same yarn.  It gets softer with washing - and they get lots of washing!!  I got it mailed out just in time!  She probably got the package Friday - HAHAHA - 2 special deliveries LOL.
   

On Sunday Frank & I went fishing offshore - Black Sea Bass season opened on Friday.  The reef we were fishing looked like a boat parking lot.  Of course everyone had the same idea for a perfect Sunday afternoon.  We came home with 2 nice keepers, brought up lots of junk fish, I lost 2 rigs (the fish grab the bait and swim around the wreckage & that's the end of your line), caught a remora & two 3-4' sand sharks.  They were fun to fight for a couple of minutes on such light tackle. 

The night before, I dropped our friend Rich's 2 crab traps in the river at The Ford Plantation.  We ended up with 29 nice Blue Claw Crabs which I steamed, cleaned and shared with friends.  I still have tons in the refrigerator so I think I'll be having crab tonite for dinner. Possibly Crabcakes ??!! I dropped them in the same spot we shrimp.  There's a big tidal drain there - you can see the water rushing thru, so the crab, shrimp AND gators hang out there since there's always fresh clean water and food.  And yes, the gators were eyeballing me while I emptied my crab traps.

 I wish I had one of these baguettes to go with dinner tonite.  They were beautiful and crunchy on the outside & perfect on the inside.  On Friday I made GARLIC KNOTS and they were off the chain!!!! I made 75 and the next day there were NONE!!!  Leslie & I brought some home for ourselves - fringe benefits! I mean really,,,I'm making them - I'm certainly not waiting for leftovers.  

Walnut Mocha

I'm really happy with the way I've improved my bread baking skills.  Having the mixer & Henry's kitchen to myself has really allowed me to experiment & make some really great breads & desserts.  Here are some of the cakes I've done recently.  I have to say that icing cakes is probably my least favorite thing to do though.  I love doing pastry, pastry cream, pies, & tarts much better.  I have to do 4 different desserts every week, so I think I'll have plenty of time to be creative.  

Yummy Crumb cake for breakfast

Chocoholics dream

 

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