Lacy Cakes

One of the things I remember about my childhood is how much I loved helping my Daddy cook Saturday morning breakfast. I guess it was an unspoken agreement that he would cook breakfast most Saturdays, and my sisters and I loved to help him mix up the ingredients for whatever it was we were making. Some of the things I remember best are: cheese biscuits, pancakes, and (best of all) lacy cakes. There is something so fun about lacy cakes: the batter is really wet, and you have to stir it well in between each spoonful you spoon out. The sizzle the batter makes when it hits the hot skillet, and the way the milk/egg combo makes the batter wiggle out over the pan to make a ragged circle...I just love everything about it. Best of all: we ate as many as we wanted (or at least it seemed that way - I'm sure it's just that there were so many to be eaten).

I still love hearing my dad say, "Whoooo wants lacy cakes?" But now it's my boys that run to the kitchen to help. I just reap the benefits and eat as many as I can.

The tradition continues in my kitchen, too. Anthony, Benjamin and I made lacy cakes this morning and they each got to stir the batter, and watch as I spooned the lacy cakes onto the skillet. And Anthony said some of the same things I remember thinking - how fun it is to watch the lacy cake make its shape, and how the sizzle sounds "cool" when the batter hits the skillet.

Anthony ate four lacy cakes this morning, sprinkled with powdered sugar - plus a banana (Benjamin ate two plus a banana). He claims to be full. But I bet he'll eat another one or two later this morning. And I was paid the ultimate compliment: "These taste JUST like the ones Paw Paw makes, Mom!"

I can't wait to give him a copy of the recipe when he's older. I hope he'll have as much fun making them with his kids as I have. And I hope his kids will have as much fun making them with their daddy as I had with mine.

I'm sharing the recipe here. I don't know where he got the recipe from, or I would give credit to the cookbook (it's a good bet that he didn't search the internet for this recipe way back when!). My copy is on a card hand-written by my mom. She gave it to me at one of my wedding showers, and it's laminated in my "Must Keep" recipe binder.

Daddy's Famous Lacy Cakes
Yields: 2 1/2 dozen

2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups yellow cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon salt

Combine eggs, milk, and oil, mixing well. Combine cornmeal and salt; stir into egg mixture. Stir well. Drop batter by 2 tablespoons full onto hot (medium to medium-high), lightly greased griddle. Stir mixture well each time. Turn cakes when tops bubble and edges look cooked.

Serve hot with butter and powdered sugar. Yummy!

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Things I have watched my dad do, and that I do as well:
-Pour a little vegetable oil into the skillet (griddle) and wipe the skillet with a paper towel to cover it completely with the oil. Save the paper towel and give the skillet a wipe with the oil again in between each round of lacy cakes.
-When the tops of the lacy cakes start to look dry, carefully move the spatula around the edges of the lacy cake to separate it from the skillet, then flip it.
-My dad uses a non-stick skillet; I have no non-stick skillets, so I use a cast iron one. Either works fine. I have had zero success when trying to make them on a metal pan that is not non-stick.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks, Daddy; for the recipe and the memories.

Question and Answer

Anthony, what makes you love Daddy?

"Because he likes to play with me and because he loves me."

Tell me about Daddy. What is a Daddy?

"He is a adult. He's a boy. He goes to his work so he can make some money. And he spanks, sometimes. But that's OK 'cause he loves me. And he reads books to me at night, and doesn't let the Nibbly Bugs bite me. And he gives me Pop Tarts and brings me to school."

What about Grandpa?

"He goes to Michigan. He always plays with me. He finds things. Like the raccoon!"

OK. Tell me about Paw Paw.

"Paw Paw goes to work. And he has a new bathtub. He hides the cups for me! And he comes to my house to swim."

Anything else about Daddy?

"He gived me his liver 'cause mine was sick."

There you have it folks. Question and Answer about the three most important men in Anthony's life.

Happy Father's Day!

Pictures

Fun times at my parents' house last Friday. One of my mom's cousins from St Louis came to town with her husband and daughter. We had a great dinner, but an even better time visiting with family we love but don't get to see that often.

Anthony helped Paw Paw pick up sticks in the backyard while we were waiting for dinner to finish cooking.


And he got DeeDee to pull him around the backyard.


Here's Darlene with our cousin Patty from St. Louis.


Anthony with Patty's daughter, Emily. Anthony had just gotten a chocolate egg from a candy dish, unwrapped it, showed it to Emily and said, "Chocolate". He knows he's not supposed to have candy without Mommy's permission, but he said it so cutely that I couldn't scold him.


Emily, Darlene, my mom and my grandmother:


Then on Sunday we went to a crawfish boil hosted by my dad's company. Mimi and Maw Maw took turns dancing with Anthony.




And Anthony had a ride on the REALLY big slide there.


It took me forever to decide which pictures to post. There were only a million great ones from this weekend! Next week is finals, so don't expect much!

Love, Laurie

Easter Pictures

Here are some pictures from our Easter weekend! Anthony got to spend some great quality time with KiKi (my sister who lives in Georgia) and Uncle Matt (Mark's brother who also lives in GA). We haven't seen either sibling for a few months, so it was fun to watch Anthony drag them all over the place and enjoy being with them.

On Saturday, Anthony helped Grandpa wash Nana's car.


Then on Saturday evening, Anthony got to dye eggs with Parrain and Uncle Matt. It was a very messy experience. Grandpa had to scrub the counter afterward, even with all of the newspaper that was laid down.




Sunday was spent between both families. A family reunion in Madisonville on the Tchefuncte river Sunday morning/early afternoon...KiKi and Anthony walked by the water a lot. KiKi taught Anthony to say "Be careful!" when near the water, and that he should always hold someone's hand when he's walking by the water.




And then back to Nana and Grandpa's to knock eggs and see what the Easter Bunny brought to their house. Anthony got a bubble blower and a Magna-Doodle.
Chasing bubbles:


Guessing what Uncle Matt is drawing on the Magna-Doodle...his cows were terrible, but his shapes were VERY good. :)


Knocking eggs with Daddy:


The weekend was a great one, but it was hard to get back into the swing of things on Monday. I've got this week and next of school and then a week of finals. I'm so glad that this semester is almost over! I'll have a month off from school before heading right back in to my clinical program. I got word the other day that I have officially been accepted into the Medical Technology program, so I have to go shopping for scrubs and gear up for tougher classes!

Tomorrow I'll take Anthony to his surgeon to take another look at the infection on his scar. I'm not sure it IS still infected, but I want the surgeon to make that call. I'll post with news on what's going on there sometime tomorrow.

Love to you all!

Love, Laurie, Mark and Anthony

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Thursday: surgeon
Friday: probably back to day care
Saturday: chillin'
Sunday: crawfish boil!

Can't Sleep

Anthony's coughing again. I've given him some Dimetapp, but this has been going on for weeks now! He'll go without medicine for a few nights, and then we're back to the Dimetapp (or Benadryl depending on how bad the cough is) for another few nights. It's nothing less (or more) than the pediatrician recommended, but it's getting old! Since he's been on antibiotics for a few days, too, I'm hoping that if this is more than just seasonal allergies, the antibiotics will help kick this. We'll see!

So when Anthony's awake and coughing, Mama's awake, too. Where's Daddy? Snoring, of course! Then again, it's almost always been up to me to wake Mark in the night when Anthony needs something. So now, unless I'm totally incapable of doing whatever it is that Anthony needs on my own, I just don't wake him. Lucky guy.

And, as usual, Anthony goes right back to sleep after I wake him up to give him medicine. It'll be another two hours before I drift back off...right in time for Mark's alarm to go off and my day to start! Yippee!!

The good news is that I've got pictures to share! What? You're tired of seeing pictures of Anthony? Never! Couldn't happen! Well, if you are, just don't look below (but SHAME ON YOU!).

This was at the Easter egg hunt Saturday. Anthony's checking to make sure there are no more eggs in this spot.


On Sunday we went to a family reunion for my dad's family (his father's family, Anthony's namesake). I always have thought that Anthony and my dad are very similar in their mannerisms. I've seen Anthony give me a look that makes me wonder if he's not more like my dad than we all suspect. This picture proves my point. Check out the position of their heads, the way they hold their bodies when they walk, the step they're both taking...it's eerie to me (Mark even noticed it).


Then yesterday Anthony was Nana's personal gardener. I'm going to have to teach him how to water MY garden! Of course, Anthony's always loved to play with anything water.


Last night before I got home from class, Anthony and Mark played out front waiting for me to arrive. This is a picture of Anthony "calling" me. Instead of cupping his hands around his mouth, he puts his hands on his cheeks and says, "Mom-MEEEE!"


And this one is in here because I just love that dirty little face!


Love, Laurie

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Tuesday: day care
Wednesday: Mimi comes home from Florida
Thursday: Kri Kri comes in from Atlanta
Friday: Speech therapy, a crawfish boil at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's, Uncle Matt comes in from Georgia
Saturday: a day at Nana's
Sunday: EASTER! And THE family reunion (more on that later)

A Fun Weekend

We had a great weekend at the zoo, and with both sets of grandparents. Enjoy your pictures!

Riding the "train" at the zoo.


Being a "Zee Bruh!"


A really BIG fwide!


A baby giraffe close to the fence.


Riding the REAL train.


In the hammock at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's.


With Maw Maw and Paw Paw in the hammock.

He Ain't a Baby No More.

Anthony looked like a big kid yesterday. There are some times when I think he still looks like my little baby. Yesterday certainly wasn't one of those times. Well, except for when he slept on either me or Mimi while Mimi and I were having lunch. He zonked out in the car while we were on the way to Rocco's to have a shrimp po-boy for lunch (yes, Friday's during Lent are SO HARD to bear here in the south.). Normally Anthony won't sleep in noisy places, and Rocco's was pretty loud. I guess Ms. Heather (his speech therapist) wore him out yesterday morning!

Anyway, after lunch we went to my parents' house to bring Paw Paw a shrimp po-boy. We played outside for a while before leaving to hit Wal-Mart up for some groceries.

Enjoy the pictures! Anthony has labs on Monday, so I'll update then with the great labs I'm sure he'll have.

Playing with Maw Maw Peck and Ta the dog:


Snoota face:


Hangin' with Paw Paw in the hammock:


What. I'm 2. I can have meat on Fridays:


Love, Laurie, Mark and Anthony

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Saturday: Parrain has a lacrosse game and we're going!
Sunday: um. hm. no clue!
Monday: Labs, and the start of Mommy's Spring Break week!
Tuesday and beyond: stay tuned!

Time OUT

Well! Anthony was put in his first time out EVER this morning! While watching his morning Baby Einstein video and eating his requisite bowl of cereal, Anthony decided to dump his bowl of cereal over (no milk, just dry cereal). We picked up the cereal, had a little "talk" about why we don't dump out our cereal and continued with the show. A little while later, after Einstein had ended, Anthony was making moves towards his cereal bowl with a gleam in his eye. I told him not to dump the cereal out. He picks up the bowl, looks at me, and dumps the bowl OVER HIS HEAD. So he got a two minute time out for that, and I'm just glad that no strangers could see the way he carried on over having to sit in Daddy's chair with NO BOOKS, NO MILK, and NO CEREAL for two whole minutes! It was pure torture. For him, too. It's an experience I hope we don't have to repeat soon. Of course, now I know that when he's finished with his cereal, I should just pick the bowl up instead of leaving the temptation there.

On Monday night we helped my parents decorate their tree. Anthony got to put the angel on top of the tree, and we got a few cute pictures out of it.

Speech therapy is today, and we're anxious to show Ms. Heather our new words. He's really picked up on the "No, no!" big time, and he's saying more and more words clearly.

Final exams are next week. I've got six exams and one paper due. I took one final yesterday, and am glad to get that one (Psychology) out of the way.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the pictures!

Love, Laurie, Mark and Anthony

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Saturday: breakfast with Santa at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's church, dinner with Nana and Grandpa and a ride to see Christmas lights!
Sunday: breakfast with Santa at Nana and Grandpa's church
Monday: back to school!

Please notice that Paw Paw and Anthony have matching expressions on their faces. He does have a BIT of my family's genes in there, somewhere!


This kid's gettin' heavy!

Fair Days and Dragon Races

First off, if you've got a dial-up connection, I apologize. This post will take a WHILE to download. I've got eleven pictures to share here.

Anthony's labs from Friday were fine. We won't go back until the beginning of November for another round of lab work.

Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days I've seen here in Louisiana in a while. The weather was beautiful, the temperature was perfect, and we had two fun events to attend that were held outside.

We took Anthony to a Church/School Fair first, and he got to ride a few kiddie rides. Mark and I each took him for a ride down a tall slide, and he thought that was pretty great, too.

Engineer Anthony:


Anthony pointing: THERE'S Daddy!


Anthony enjoyed the slide so much that he tried to climb back
up it after we came down.


Anthony takes his driving VERY seriously.


Relaxing on the Choo Choo while another kid "drives"


Grandpa had to take him on the horses again


Coming down the slide with Daddy.


After the fair, we drove to the LSU lake (small man-made lake on the campus) where my dad and some of his coworkers were in a dragon boat race. Unfortunately, his team didn't qualify for the final rounds. He had a good time, though, and Anthony enjoyed cheering for his Paw Paw. My dad is the guy with the white baseball cap on.









Hope you're all having as great a weekend as we are!

Lots of love, Laurie, Mark and Anthony

Coming up in Anthony-land:
Sunday: a visit with some of Paw Paw's family
Monday: first dentist appointment, then day care
Tuesday and beyond: stay tuned!