The Great Flan Experiment

Trial 1: I bought a Wilton cake pan to caramelize sugar, just like my mother-in-law showed me. My only concern was that it was a non-stick pan (all the pans in the stores were non-stick) and my mother-in-law's pans predate the non-stick craze. My concerns were not unfounded. After a couple of minutes heating on the burner, the non-stick coating was bubbling and encasing the whole apartment in noxious smoke. Doors were opened and fans turned on. The pan was put into a garbage bag and thrown onto the patio.

Trial 2: I took out one of my stainless steel cake pans and placed in on the burner on medium heat. After letting it heat up, I poured sugar into the pan which resulted in instantaneous flames. (And I thought only marshmallows on a stick caught fire that quickly.) I stayed calm, reached for the flour, thought for a second, then grabbed the box of baking soda and dumped half of its contents on the fire and placed a lid on it. Once again the doors were opened and the fans turned on. Now I had a pan of burnt sugar tar.

Trial 3: With the help of the Internet, hydrogen peroxide and a wooden spoon, I was able to clean my pan and start again. I placed the pan on the stove top set to low heat and poured in the sugar. This time the sugar turned into a liquid with no giant smoke plumes. Success! I was so excited; I actually made a flan. It came out of the oven looking like it should, my knife came out clean after a night of refrigeration, it slipped easily out of the pan and looked perfect on the plate. Best of all, it tasted good and we all had seconds.

There Was Snow

Last Thursday we had our first snowfall. It was only three inches, but it was beautiful. We went walking as a family, but our little hairy one went back inside after five minutes to get warm. Though he did have a lot of fun plowing through the snow. Gabe and I continued on out first walk in the snow together. We attempted to through snowballs, but it wasn't packing snow. As the snow fell on us, an occasional snow flake would lad on our gloves and against the dark background we could see the pattern of the individual snowflake. It was Gabe's fist time seen snow fall. It was magical for both of us; a cherished memory.

No the temperatures are going into the 40's and the weather prediction is supposed to stay that way. Our weather forecast is for rain, but no more snow. The average temperature of January is supposed to be in the low 30's for Louisville and we ought to have more snow. But with the climbing temperatures, the little snow we had is melting rapidly and there looks to be no chance to build a snowman this year.

A First New Year's Resolution

I typically do not make a New Year's Resolution because I know I will not keep it. But this year I want to make one. My resolution is to go on a nature outing once a week. I was inspired by going to Butterfly World while I was in Florida for holiday. Butterfly World is an amazing place where hundreds of butterflies fly around you and land on you. It also has beautiful exotic plants, and humming birds too. A couple of the birds flew so close to me that I felt there wings brush against my head. I had been there once before about four years ago. If I lived there I would go there every week to sit and observe. It lifted my spirits spending the morning there.

Now there is nothing like Butterfly World in Louisville, but there is plenty of nature. There are a lot of parks, the Falls of Ohio and caves. Even walking around my street is pretty with many types of trees and birds to see. I know that there will be many nature outings for me to discover. I am going to try really hard to keep my first resolution because not only does in provide spiritual fulfillment, but it will also give me interesting topics to write about for this blog.